A GREAT TRANSFORMATION IS COMING!

By Doug Pierce

In 1 Corinthians 15:42-44 the Apostle Paul described our resurrected bodies as he wrote, 

“So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; 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. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So  also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in  incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; 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. There is a natural body,  and there is a spiritual body.”

A GREAT TRANSFORMATION IS COMING! 

Have you looked in the mirror lately and cringed? I mean, the image you see is not what you want to see.  Perhaps there are wrinkles . . . or flab . . . or bald spots . . . or blemished skin. You thought, “My body is wearing out right before my eyes!” I know I’ve done that very recently! I can readily recognize my joints are not what they used to be. My body is stiff and sore much of the time. I can remember turning 50 and I was told, “Well, you’re ‘over the hill’ now!” 

I believe that. and it seems like it’s been ‘downhill’ ever since! Trust me: getting older isn’t for cowards! Many of you reading this can relate. Some of you are saying, “Just wait until you get my age. When you’re 75 plus, just about everything quits working by then.”  

Hey, is there any good news for an aging body? YES! A new body is in store for every Christian. Because Jesus rose from the dead, you can be assured that God will raise you up one day too… and will give you a resurrected body that will blow you away!

IT’S LIKE A SEED. 

In our verses for today, Paul said that the resurrection of the body is much like a seed planted in the ground. A seed doesn’t look like much when it is planted, but when it comes out of the ground it sure does. An acorn is not something to shout about, but a mighty oak tree is. 

Someone has said, “When you’re down and feeling blue, just look at an acorn and see what a nut can do.” God says that our bodies are sown in dishonor and weakness. Our physical bodies are perishable and perishing. It’s just like the little boy who was peeling his sun-burned skin and said to his mother, “I’m only four years old, and I’m already coming apart.” How true! The moment we start to live, we start to die. The Bible says, “For which cause we  faint not; but though our outward man (the body) perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day” (2 Cor. 4:11). We all have a perishable body.

IT’S A TRANSFORMATION.

But the imperishable is coming. Glory and power are coming to the child of God . . . in his/her body! A caterpillar may look pretty ugly as it inches along the ground, but one day, that same ugly caterpillar is going to emerge from its cocoon with the wings, beauty and glory of a Monarch butterfly.  

There is a transformation coming to you, if you know Jesus! You see, when Jesus saves a person, he saves the whole person: spirit, soul, and body. The initial and immediate transformation takes place in the spirit as we are justified and made right with God and we’re born again (John 3:3). At that the moment we receive Christ into our hearts as Savior and Lord. The ongoing transformation takes place in the soul as we are sanctified and made more like Christ each day in our hearts as we seek Him and obey Him. The last and final transformation takes place in our bodies as we are given a spiritual body that is just like our resurrected Lord’s (1 John 3:2).

Our new, imperishable bodies that are given to us when the Lord returns will not be governed by limitations, sickness, fatigue, pain, or death. That’s why the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to write about this transformation that will happen when Jesus comes for us in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52. It’s in this passage he wrote, “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep (the body laid to rest in the grave), but we shall all be changed (transformed). In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed (a new body).” (See also 1 Thess. 4:13-18). 

WOW! That’s where our hope should be!

SO REMEMBER AND DON’T FORGET!

Because, like me, some of you will look at the most recent picture of your high school graduation class and think you’re looking at a group from a nearby convalescent home. Or, it might be when you look in that mirror again and don’t like what you see . . . or, you may get up in the morning and feel a pain in your back . . . or, maybe it’ll be when you squint to read the street signs . . . or, you might begin to experience constant fatigue . . . Or, it could be when you get a not so good report from the doctor . . . whatever the case might be! Just remember that a great transformation is coming! It’ll be ‘out with the old and in with the new!’ Take time today to praise God that He has a new body on layaway for you! It is going to be awesome and it is something to shout about! Because we believe that Jesus died and rose again, a wonderful change is coming for all who love the Lord and faithfully follow Him! 

Think it over!

Doug Pierce is a Church planter and a pastor. In 2003 he started, and continues to pastor First Independent Methodist Church in Madison, Mississippi. His #1 priority is to glorify God in all aspects of ministry. He does this through teaching his congregation to Love God, Love One Another, and Love Others to God. Prayer, outreach, and church growth through evangelism are vital parts of his ministry. He and his wife Suzanne live in Madison, Mississippi where they also enjoy their children and grandchildren. To find out more about Doug‘s ministry visit the FIMC Website

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