We Shall Be Changed | 1 Corinthians 15:50-58

I’m NOT registering anything shocking when I say we are living in turbulent times. We feel the pressure of inflation and economic volatility. We feel the effect of supply chain issues, and the shortage of people willing to work, while those who want to work can’t find a decent job. Current events are reported with such prejudice, there is almost no way to know what one can believe. Our world has turned into a minefield where one’s relational and vocational well-being can implode in a careless second IF one fails to remember or acknowledge another’s preferred pronoun. The same egg-shells are scattered on the ground of our Christian sub-culture. Nearly every communication is carefully analyzed with a, “What did he/she mean by that?” and then cautiously responded to with a “it depends.” Anxiety spreads through every system as people wonder if they will be cast aside as “woke” or “wimpy” or dismissed as a “narcissist” or a knuckle-headed ninny. “Deconstruction” has is the new “apostasy.” It’s like something from a post-apocalyptic movie where you have no idea who you can trust.

At a more personal level, we know a good many of you have endured dramatic change. Some of you have relocated from all over the country. Some of you have lost loved ones. Some of you have been “let go.” Some of you are in the wild and wonderful throes of the child-rearing years. While others are in the tough but tender throes of the “caring for aging parents” years. Many of us have never been more aware of our personal vulnerabilities. 

Where do we turn for stability? Where do we drop our anchor where it’s going to hold and we won’t drift? We’ve sought to tether ourselves to God’s holy and authoritative Word. We’ve tethered ourselves to Gospel-centered preaching and teaching. We’ve pinioned ourselves to the mountains of reformed theology and, in particular, the sovereignty of God. And we have found that each of these anchor points engender stability and peace in the midst of our turbulent times.

But on this resurrection Sunday, I want to draw your attention to yet another anchor point. And this powerful foundation stone is one that looks, not only back to a history altering event, but forward into our future and to a day when we shall all be changed. I invite you to stand and hear God’s Word.

In 1 Cor. 15:50-58, the apostle Paul writes,

“I tell you this, brothers, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

 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 imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

 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.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

 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.

—1 Corinthians 15:50-58

This is the Word of God. 

In 1 Cor. 15:50-58, the apostle Paul answers the question: “What is the foundation for Christian stability, perseverance, and joy in this life and in the next?” In this crazy, turbulent, uncertain, “deconstructing” world, where do we go? And Paul’s answer in this text is, “the resurrection of the dead.” The Christian hope of resurrection from death is the foundation of stability, perseverance, and joy both in this life and in the next. Or if we follow Paul’s order, a Christian’s hope and assurance of being raised from the dead is his/her foundation for stability, and perseverance, and joy both in heaven and on earth.

The Resurrection is the Foundation of Stability, Perseverance, and Joy in Heaven and on Earth

And Paul’s order makes sense. Among the people of the 1st century church in Corinth there was not a little care and confusion regarding what happens if/when a Christian is raised from the dead. The inference of 1 Cor. 15:51 is that unless Jesus comes again first, we all shall die. We shall all “sleep”, to use Paul’s metaphor. Our dying, or “sleeping,” as it were, is as inevitable, and immoveable as this coming Saturday, when our taxes are due. But, according to v. 51, Paul assures us, “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51).

That is, we shall all be raised. We shall all experience resurrection from death. Rising from sleeping. So this is the bedrock - namely, the assurance of change. The assurance of our own resurrection.

The Assurance of Change

And Paul is emphatic! His language communicates force. There’s a note of challenge. V. 50, “I tell you this . . . (v. 51) Behold! I tell you . . . We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed . . . (52) The trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised . . . and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:50-52).

Death is such an unsettling thing. It is the ultimate ending. And it shakes us. It rocks our world. Simply anticipating it can be disequilibriating. My wife and I recently sat through a sales pitch for funeral pre-planning. Yea. That’s where our heads are at. Even a conversation like that has an effect on you. And for those who have lost a loved one, there are deeper effects. Questions rise like, “where are they now?” “What is reality like for them now?” “What will it be like in heaven?” “What will we be like in heaven?” And Paul says, “We shall be changed!” And today, we can know that we shall all be changed, because God has promised we shall all be changed. And He's put the promise in writing.

“Then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” (Isaiah 25) “O death, where is your victory? O death where is your sting?” (Hosea 13)”

—1 Corinthians 15:54-55

And Paul leaves no doubt about when and how we shall 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 imperishable, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:52).

Three vivid phrases, each with a particular nuance indicate that Paul is NOT making this up. “In a moment.” It’s the Greek word “atomo” from which we get the English word, “atom.” We shall be changed in the smallest possible amount of time. “The twinkling of an eye” refers to the length of time it takes to blink. And “at the last trumpet,” a military term that signals a celebration and triumph, triumph, in this case, over the “last enemy,” death itself. 

So, the assurance of our resurrection transformation is the ground for the greatest victory party the world will ever see. And its bedrock is laid in the very promises of God. Which leads to my second observation, namely, the agency of change.

The Agent of Change

It is signaled first in vv. 51-52, “We shall all be changed . . . the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52).

Notice the emphasis on the passive verb tense. We are not the ones acting. Which should go without saying. The dead don’t act. They are acted upon. And the one doing the acting, the changing, the raising, is the One who with a word, created galaxies, the sun and moon and every star, and the world and everything in it. He’s the changer. For it is He who gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. In Him we live and move and have our being, in this life and in the next. And so Paul breaks into a spontaneous moment of worship in v. 57, “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57).

Thanks be to God! Thanks be to God the Father, and to God the Son. In 1 Cor. 15:20, “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:20-22).

 The One who raised Christ Jesus from the dead is the same One who will raise those who are joined to Christ, through faith. Rom. 6:5 says, “If we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Romans 6:5).

The ground of our stability and perseverance and joy, whether it be in this life or the life that is to come is in the same power of the same God who raised Christ Jesus from the dead! And it’s not only divine power to raise, but divine power to fit us for eternity. We need to be changed.

 The Necessity of Being Changed

And Paul explains why. “I tell you this, brothers, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable . . . For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:50, 53).

 The reason our perishable and mortal bodies must be changed, is because our physical and moral vulnerability cannot withstand God’s holy presence. David Prior comments,

 “These physical bodies of ours are simply incapable of coping with the glory of God.” 

Or as John Piper writes,

 “The worshipping, loving response of Christ’s people can never be what it ought to be if we must meet the Lord on that day with the meager, sin-infected, weak, fallen emotional capabilities of our present condition.”

 He goes on.

 “If we are to enjoy and glorify God as we ought, and as we desire, we must not only be counted perfect in Christ, but made perfect – mind, heart, and body – by Christ. That change will happen at the coming of Christ.”

This is what Paul is getting at in 1 Cor. 15:40-49. “There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars. For star differs from star in glory. So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable. What is raised is imperishable. 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. Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust. The second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven” (1 Corinthians 14:40-49).

In other words, God produces bodies that are specially and perfectly suited to their respective environments. Our bodies as they are, may be suited for our earthly existence. But they are useless in the perfection of God’s kingdom. David Prior writes, “They need to be buried when their work is done, so that from such raw material God can produce a spiritual body perfectly suited for inheriting the kingdom of God.”

What, then, is the essence of our resurrection bodies?

The Substance of Change

Since they will be changed from perishable to imperishable, and from mortal to immortal, our resurrection bodies will no longer be able to get sick, or decay, or otherwise succumb to loss. We will forever be all that we were created to be, in fullness, without defect.

Since they will be changed from dishonor to glory and bear the image of man of heaven, we’ll have a body like the risen Christ. Paul writes in Phil. 3:20, “The Lord Jesus Christ . . . will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body.”

Since our bodies are “sown in weakness,” but will be “raised in power,” in heaven we will never grow tired or lack the energy to do God’s will. No longer will it be said, the “spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Our perfected souls will receive equally perfected bodies, empowered to live for eternity.

And since our natural bodies will be raised spiritual bodies, we shall be perfectly and eternally governed and filled with the Holy Spirit. Gordon Fee writes,

 “The transformed (resurrection) body . . . is not composed of ‘spirit.’ It is a body adapted to the future existence that is under the ultimate domination of the Spirit.”

Whereas sin has diminished our powers of observation, reasoning, and memory, we shall be changed, and our thinking will be resurrected. Whereas sin has spoiled some of our emotions, such as fear, and has shrunk others, such as love, we shall be changed, and our affections will be resurrected. 

But in 1 Cor. 15:51 Paul writes that “all shall be changed.” Not only will those who have trusted Christ put on immortality, so also will those have rejected Christ for other things. One 17 century pastor describes their eternal state.

“If all this cannot commend to you the state of heavenly glory, cast your eyes down into that deep and bottomless pit, full of horror, full of torment, where there is nothing but tears and shrieks and gnashing of teeth, nothing but fiends and tortures. Look where there is darkness that can be felt, yet where there is perpetual fire. 

Where the condemned are ever burning, but never consumed, where they lie ever dying, but are never dead. Look where there is constant complaining, never any mercy. Where the glutton begs for a drop of water, yet, alas, whole rivers of water could not quench those rivers of brimstone which feed this flame. 

Look where endless pain has no intermission, where after millions of years there will still be no possibility of comfort.”

—Joseph Hall

Think of it. To NOT be changed is to NEVER be happy. To NOT be changed is to remain in a worthless/vain condition. Do you dare to let another moment pass before you turn from preferring other things before God? Entrust yourself to Christ today for the forgiveness of your sins, and for the hope of change – change that will fit you for eternal joy at God’s right hand. 

But the hope of resurrection transformation is not only significant for the future. The reality of being changed changes everything today.

The Present Significance of Change

It functions now. It gets things done now. The resurrection is the foundation of stability, perseverance, and Joy, not just on the last day when the trumpet sounds and Christ ushers us into heaven. The resurrection is the ground of our stability, perseverance and joy today this side of heaven. 1 Cor. 15:58, “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.”

The source of our emotional resilience, and relational endurance, and spiritual perseverance, and kingdom fruitfulness IS NOT THE STRENGTH OF OUR RESOLVES. Rather, the source is the reality of the transforming grace that is ours in union with the person and finished work of the crucified and risen Christ. Since we will be changed, since it is the power of God through Christ who will change us, since it is the power of God in Christ that is at work in us, knowing all this, in reliance on this, live your remaining days, years in this world, steadfast, immovable, unshakable, full of joy, bearing good fruit according to the life of the risen Christ within you. Let’s pray.