Beyond Our Wildest Imagination



1 Corinthians 15:50-58
50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

There is a great deal of speculation about what happens to us after our physical death. And there is good reason for that. We aren’t given the information as to what comes next in solid terms. What we do know is that these bodies die and what makes us who we are – our spirit, our soul, goes on to something else - either with God or separated from Him. I am often saddened to hear what people say about those who have passed. The most frequently heard falsehoods are that the one who died “is watching over me now from heaven now.” Nope. Nowhere in the Bible do we find that idea being put forth. Why would we wish a continuation of the sorrows of this life on those who have died? Even more popular is the notion that the departed person has become “an angel.” Nope. Angels are angels and people are people. We do not become angels upon our death. We remain human.

What are we promised then, after our death? I want to thank Dr. Jeff Gibbs and Dr. Jeff Kloha, from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO, for their solid exposition of this chapter. What we know from the Scriptures is that upon our death, our bodies return to the dust from which they were originally formed in Adam. Our spirit / soul returns to the Father. But heaven is not promised until after Jesus' return in The Second Coming. Gibbs and Kloha describe that time immediately after death but before Jesus return as a “summit”, if you will. When hiking in the mountains, you may believe you are headed to the top of the highest peak, only to arrive at the first summit, where you may be able to see the peak that was your goal, only to find that it has not yet been obtained. You are in the presence of God and surrounded by His glory, but not yet entered the gates of heaven.

I find this an interesting concept and it completely jives with what we find in the Scripture. With this in mind, I think we can safely promise those who mourn that their loved ones are with God, safe in His care. We need say nothing more. There is no need to declare the deceased an angel or a guardian over us. We take comfort in the knowledge that those who die in faith are with the Savior. What more could we hope for them? What we know from this passage is that death has no power over us. Yes, these bodies may die (“should Christ tarry” as the old saying goes) but we shall be forever with the Lord – wherever He decides we shall be. That is enough for any of us.

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