They are now dead, they live no more; those departed spirits do not rise. You punished them and brought them to ruin. But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead. (Isaiah 26:14, 19, NIV 1984).
My Musings – “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:19, NIV 1984). Such is the judgment of all mankind. Out mortal bodies destined to die and return to the dust from which we were made. But mankind is not just body. We have a spirit. For “those departed spirits” who chose to be at enmity with God, their departed spirits “do not rise.” Doomed to an eternal conscious death in hell.
But “your dead,” the dead in Christ, not only will their spirits live on with Christ in Heaven, but their bodies will also rise. “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory. “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?'” (1 Corinthians 15:51–55, NIV 1984).
My Advice – “We will all be changed?” “Raised imperishable?” Victorious over the “sting” of death? All? Not for “those departed spirits [who] do not rise.” Nor for the living who have rejected Christ. “All” is reserved for those who have accepted Christ as their Savior. We have a hope and a future.
“Brothers [and sisters], we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep [in the Lord], or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we [in Christ] who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so, we will be with the Lord forever.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13–17, NIV 1984).
Choose Christ. With Him, “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” Without Him, the “sting” remains.
The Brew Is A Musing 