1 Corinthians 15:50-58 - ”The Victory of the Resurrection” - Daniel Pernell / November 26, 2023

Paul has just spent the last several verses discussing what the resurrected bodies of believers will be like. He now explains to the church in Corinth about the change that must take place for those that are in Christ to enter into the glorious presence of King Jesus for all eternity. This change is necessary because “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable” (1 Corinthians 15:50). “The perishable” is describing our current bodies, and “the imperishable” is describing our eternal glorified state in God’s kingdom. Dead in Christ or alive in Christ, it doesn’t matter. When the last trumpet sounds, those that have not fallen asleep and those that are already dead—all will be changed “in the twinkling of an eye” (v. 52). To hammer home the point of the necessity of this change, Paul uses the word “must” twice in verse 53. Our perishable and mortal bodies are not fit, as currently constructed, to enter into glory. The saints receiving their glorified bodies is the last step in the unbreakable, golden chain of redemption. “And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:30).