THE HOPE OF RESURRECTION

1 Corinthians 15:23 “When Christ comes again, those who belong to him will be raised to life."

Suppose you were walking past a farm one day and saw someone sitting in the field crying. There they sit, inconsolable at the head of a furrowed row. Concerned, you approach them and ask what’s wrong. They look up from beneath their John Deere tractor hat and extend a palm full of seeds in your direction. “My heart breaks for the seeds,” they weep. “Excuse me?” you might ask. Between sobs they explain, “The seeds will be placed in the ground and covered with dirt. They’ll decay, and we will never see them again.” As they weep, you are stunned. Finally, you explain to them a basic principle of farming: Out of the decay of the seed comes the birth of a plant. You kindly remind them: “Don’t mourn the burial of the seed. Don’t you know that you will soon witness a mighty miracle of God? Given time and tender care, this tiny kernel will break from its prison of soil and blossom into a plant far beyond its dreams.”

Any farmer who grieves over the burial of a seed needs a reminder—a time of planting is not a time of grief. Any person who anguishes over the burial of a body might need the same reminder. We may need the reminder that Paul gave the Christians in Corinth. The resurrection should be one of the most anticipated events of Christ’s coming and it’s an essential element of the Christian faith. When Jesus returns the first major event will be the resurrection of the dead. In fact, the Bible says, “the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 NLT).

Just as with our Lord, our bodies, which are now perishable, dishonored, weak, and natural, will be raised into bodies that are imperishable, glorious, powerful, and spiritual. The coming resurrection is the hope and motivation of the church and of all believers. Whatever happens to our present bodies—whether they are healthy or unhealthy, beautiful or plain, short-lived or long-lived, or whether they are indulged or tortured—they are but a seed that is placed in the ground and one day our blessed hope and assurance is that these created natural bodies will be transformed into wonderful, eternal spiritual bodies. Although we have only a glimpse of what those new bodies will be like, it should be enough to know that “we shall be like him.”

Unless Christ comes first, your body will be buried. Like a seed is placed in the ground, so your body will be placed in a tomb. And for a season, your soul will be in heaven while your body is in the grave. But the seed buried in the earth will blossom in heaven. Your soul and body will reunite, and you will be like Jesus.