Page 24 - Signs of the End

18 THE SIGNS OF THE END

For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrec­
tion of the dead.

For a s in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

But every man in his order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they
that are Christ’s at his coming” (I Cor. 15:20-23).

The ideal of every man ascending in his own order certainly dovetails
with the fact that the dead in Christ shall rise first. Christ, “the
firstfruits”, w as the first man permanently resurrected, and we shall
all follow in the order in which we cam e to faith in Flim.

Obviously, we cannot arrive in heaven in exactly the form we are
in this earthly life. Paul goes on to explain that we will undergo
miraculous changes:

“Behold, I shew 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 trump: for
the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorrup­
tible, and we shall be changed.

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal
must put on immortality” (I Cor. 15:51-53).

The author once saw the first verse above displayed on the door
of a church nursery.

Our corruptible flesh will be outfitted for eternal life when we are
taken in the Rapture. Our mortal bodies will become immortal and
we are to live in the presence of the Lord forever. Paul went on to exult:

“O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”
(v. 55)