The Blessed Hope

“What you sow is not made alive…
Unless it dies.
And what you sow,
Is not that body that shall be,
But mere grain…
But God gives it a body as He pleases,
And to each seed its own body.

So, also is the resurrection of the dead.

The body is sown in corruption,
The body is raised in incorruption.
The body is sown in dishonor,
The body is raised in glory.
The body is sown in weakness,
The body is raised in power.
The body is sown a natural body,
The body is raised a spiritual body.
There is a natural body,
And there is a spiritual body.
‘The first man Adam became a living being.’
The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

The first man was of the earth, made of dust;
The second Man is the Lord from heaven.
As was the man of dust,
So, also are those who are made of dust;
And as is the heavenly Man,
So, also are those who are heavenly.
And as we have borne the image of the man of dust,
We shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.

Behold, I tell you a mystery:
We shall not all sleep,
But we shall all be changed—
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,
At the last trumpet.
For the trumpet will sound,
And the dead will be raised incorruptible,
And we shall be changed.

For this corruptible must put on incorruption,
This mortal must put on immortality.
So, when this corruptible has put on incorruption,
And this mortal has put on immortality,

Then, shall be brought to pass the saying that is written:
‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’
‘O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?’

Thanks be to God,
He gives us the victory…
Through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved brethren,
Be steadfast, immovable,
Always abounding in the work of the Lord,
Know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”

1 Corinthians 15:36-38, 42-45, 47-49, 51-55, 57