Bible Study - Sabbath School Podcast - Episode 2857 - Lesson 8 - Thursday August 20 - Final Victory over Death ✌

Final Victory Over DeathRead 1 Corinthians 15:54-57. What does this passage tell us about our ultimate victory over death?Paul begins the last paragraph in 1 Corinthians 15 with an intriguing statement: "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor. 15:50, NKJV). Many Bible readers use this declaration to say that Paul defends an immaterial existence in heaven. But the context indicates otherwise. The parallelism of 1 Corinthians 15:50 suggests that "flesh and blood" is in parallel with "corruption," such as "the kingdom of God" is in parallel with "incorruption." Just as happened in 1 Corinthians 15:42-49, here as well Paul is contrasting the body now (or even the corpse) to the resurrected body. The buried body is marked by corruption and mortality, whereas the resurrected body is characterized by incorruption and immortality (1 Cor. 15:50, 53, 54). Simply put, Paul is saying that our bodies need to undergo a radical transformation in order to inherit heaven.In short, Paul uses the ideas of corruption and mortality to refer to our sinful nature. In Jewish writings, "flesh and blood" is a phrase for fallen humanity, which is why our bodies must be transformed and purged of all imperfection at His return.Only when our sinful nature is removed (1 Cor. 15:54) and we go through the experience of glorification (1 Cor. 15:51-53, 1 Thess. 4:13-17) will the proclamation " 'Death is swallowed up in victory' " (1 Cor. 15:54, NKJV) be fulfilled. Then, this bold and defiant hymn will be Sung:" 'O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?' " (1 Cor. 15:55, NKJV). This all will take place at the second coming of Christ (1 Cor. 15:51-52).Think about it: we close our eyes in death, and the next thing we will experience is the second coming of Jesus, when He raises us from the dead. No matter when a believer died, even thousands of years ago, "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye," they will be made alive "at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed" (1 Cor. 15:52, NKJV).Who hasn't bemoaned how quickly life passes us by? In our own experience, that's how quickly t