I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. (1 Corinthians 15:50, 42–44, NIV 1984).
My Musings – “Man’s fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?” (Ecclesiastes 3:19–21, NIV 1984).
If this were true (“the same fate awaits them both“), then “everything [would be] meaningless.” Solomon was wise, but not all-wise. He did not know “if the spirit of man rises upward.” God’s plan of redemption was still a mystery. “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.” (1 Corinthians 15:51, NIV 1984). But the mystery has been revealed.
My Advice – The sad part is that the “all” Paul is speaking to are only those who have placed their faith in the risen Christ. There are still way too many who cannot fathom the mystery or reject its revelation outright. For those, the sting of death remains. The sting is that they will not merely return to the dust from which they came, but to eternal damnation. If we love a great mystery, we should place our faith in Christ and “rise upward.“
The Brew Is A Musing 