Touched By Salvation

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. --1 Corinthians 15:53

So I have been thinking lately about this passage. I used to think that when we are raptured or resurrected that everything would be put back as it was when God first created the world. That we would be given bodies like Adam had before he sinned. But when I read this passage from 1 Corinthians 15, (which is becoming one of my favorite passages!) I am becoming convinced that what God has in mind for us is way better than what Adam had before the curse.

We will have incorruptible bodies after the resurrection. (v.52) That means we will have a body that is impervious to sin. We will have bodies that will no longer be subjected to temptation. WE WON’T EVEN BE TEMPTED TO SIN! We will have bodies that cannot be corrupted! That is way better than the body Adam had because his body was able to be corrupted by sin. (obviously!)

So why the difference? Why is it that after the resurrection we will be given bodies better than Adam’s? The answer can be summed up in one word, salvation. Church, once we have been touched by the salvation of Jesus we are set on a path that will one day lead us to complete freedom from sin or even the ability to commit sin! That is why we will be able to live in the very presence of God for all eternity! Adam and Eve only got to meet with God in the cool of the day – one moment each day. But we will live with Him eternally! Why because salvation is just that powerful!

Our Rescue!

So last night I went to bed early, but I woke up around midnight and turned on the TV. The second of the Chilean miners was being brought up out of the mine. Those men had been over 2,000 feet below the surface of the earth since early August. I couldn’t help but see the comparison between those miners and our own situation as Christians waiting for the day when we hear the blast of the trumpet and are rescued from our present life.

On that day many people who have been in the ground for a very long time will be brought to the surface and then immediately rocketed into the sky to come face to face with the rescuer. (This by the way is exactly what savior means!) Reunited with family and friends just as that miner. Also think of the change that is coming, their lives will never be the same. And the same goes for us! There will also be a change in living conditions. Just as those miners were forced to live in darkness only receiving occasional messages and help from above to encourage them to hold out until the day would come. We too are looking forward to living in a world that far surpasses where we are now!

But more than that, for almost 70 days these men have been living in captivity to their underground world. And while they were down there they spent those days preparing for their freedom from the ground. Believe it or not they worked 12 hour shifts to help clear debris away from the area where the hole would be drilled for their rescue. Church, every thing we are doing during our 70 or so years ought to be in preparation for the coming of our rescuer! The culmination of our earthly existence is for our ascension to our heavenly home.

Lastly, we no more belong on this earth than those miners belonged in that half mile deep hole in the ground! Someday soon a light will pierce through the clouds, the sky will open the blast of the trumpet will sound and we will be set free!

The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away. --Psalms 90:10