Yesterday in our Bible study, we talked about the truth that even this earth recognizes that things are not how they are supposed to be because of sin’s impact. Even more than this earth, we human beings can feel it, too. Every broken relationship, every diagnosis, every loss, and every heartbreak are reminders that things are not how God intended them to be when He created the first human beings, Adam and Eve. Sin corrupted life as God wanted it to be for humanity. The sin, death, and brokenness, however, are not the end of the story. One day, God is going to restore everything sin destroyed. Until that day, we hold on to the promise that God will make everything right.
After explaining in Romans 8 that all creation groans, waiting for the day when God will make everything right and redeem and restore everything, Paul taught readers that we believers groan, too. He wrote in this passage of Scripture, “We believers also groan…for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering” (verse 23). In other words, our bodies all recognize that things are not how they are meant to be. From physical pain, emotional pain, and relational pain, every single person, but especially believers, understands that things are not as they should be. Until the day when God makes everything right, we believers groan, waiting for God to restore all of the loss, brokenness, and pain that was brought about by sin.
In another book of the Bible he wrote, 1st Corinthians, Paul taught in chapter 15 about the day when God will restore everything destroyed by sin, including our earthly bodies. “Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die,” Paul explained (verse 42). “But,” he continued writing, “they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength” (verse 43). I do not have to convince you that our bodies are “buried in weakness.” My brother, who is in his thirties, just hurt his back picking up a sock off the ground. Yes, you read that sentence correctly. He hurt his back picking up a sock. Maybe you can relate, and something similar has happened to you. If not, it’s coming. Indeed, our bodies are “buried in weakness.” The hope we have in Christ is that one day, God will give us new “spiritual bodies” that will never experience pain, whether physical or emotional, and will never die (verse 44).
This earth is not our home. Our physical bodies that let us down and ache will one day be no more, and we will have bodies that are not dying and that have not been corrupted by sin. What a promise to hold on to! Until that day, we seek to honor God, and we spread His message with everyone around us, as weak and feeble as we may feel. After all, every single person living on this earth is in need of the hope that Christ has to offer!
Who do you know who needs the hope of Christ and the promise that those who place their hope in Him will spend eternity with Him in new, glorified bodies? Reach out to them today and share with them the Bridge Illustration, your two-minute story of the difference Christ has made in your life, or invite them to come to one of our weekend services with you this week. Pray for that person throughout your day, that God will make Himself known to them and that they will find hope in Him.
“God, as I focus on the calling to make You know in this dark world, stretch me…”
1 Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. 2 It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place.
3 I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. 4 He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. 5 He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. 6 After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. 7 Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him. 9 For I am the least of all the apostles. In fact, I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God’s church.
10 But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace. 11 So it makes no difference whether I preach or they preach, for we all preach the same message you have already believed.
12 But tell me this—since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead? 13 For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. 15 And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. 16 And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. 18 In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! 19 And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.
20 But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.
21 So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. 22 Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. 23 But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back.
24 After that the end will come, when he will turn the Kingdom over to God the Father, having destroyed every ruler and authority and power. 25 For Christ must reign until he humbles all his enemies beneath his feet. 26 And the last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For the Scriptures say, “God has put all things under his authority.” (Of course, when it says “all things are under his authority,” that does not include God himself, who gave Christ his authority.) 28 Then, when all things are under his authority, the Son will put himself under God’s authority, so that God, who gave his Son authority over all things, will be utterly supreme over everything everywhere.
29 If the dead will not be raised, what point is there in people being baptized for those who are dead? Why do it unless the dead will someday rise again?
30 And why should we ourselves risk our lives hour by hour? 31 For I swear, dear brothers and sisters, that I face death daily. This is as certain as my pride in what Christ Jesus our Lord has done in you. 32 And what value was there in fighting wild beasts—those people of Ephesus—if there will be no resurrection from the dead? And if there is no resurrection, “Let’s feast and drink, for tomorrow we die!” 33 Don’t be fooled by those who say such things, for “bad company corrupts good character.” 34 Think carefully about what is right, and stop sinning. For to your shame I say that some of you don’t know God at all.
35 But someone may ask, “How will the dead be raised? What kind of bodies will they have?” 36 What a foolish question! When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn’t grow into a plant unless it dies first. 37 And what you put in the ground is not the plant that will grow, but only a bare seed of wheat or whatever you are planting. 38 Then God gives it the new body he wants it to have. A different plant grows from each kind of seed. 39 Similarly there are different kinds of flesh—one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.
40 There are also bodies in the heavens and bodies on the earth. The glory of the heavenly bodies is different from the glory of the earthly bodies. 41 The sun has one kind of glory, while the moon and stars each have another kind. And even the stars differ from each other in their glory.
42 It is the same way with the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever. 43 Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength. 44 They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies.
45 The Scriptures tell us, “The first man, Adam, became a living person.” But the last Adam—that is, Christ—is a life-giving Spirit. 46 What comes first is the natural body, then the spiritual body comes later. 47 Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven. 48 Earthly people are like the earthly man, and heavenly people are like the heavenly man. 49 Just as we are now like the earthly man, we will someday be like the heavenly man.
50 What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever.
51 But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! 52 It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. 53 For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.
54 Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
56 For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. 57 But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.
