15:51 ¶ Behold, I shew 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 trump: for the
trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall
be changed. 53 For this corruptible must
put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on
incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be
brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where is thy sting? O
grave, where is thy victory? 56
The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the
law. 57 But thanks be to God,
which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Here is a passage that has perplexed many a ‘pretribulation
rapture’ Christian like myself. Not everyone will die but everyone will be
changed, transformed with the spiritual, heavenly body promised. The issue is
that when this takes place, from a literal perspective, is at the last trump, a word denoting the
sound of a trumpet. When is that specifically? When is the last and seventh
trumpet sounded? The Bible says;
Revelation 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were
great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his
Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
I’ll just leave it at that as I am not sure that the literal
placement of the last trump in this passage exactly corresponds with the last
angel sounding in Revelation 11. In any event the purpose of much prophecy is
not to give us exacting knowledge beforehand but so that when something happens
we will know that God told us it would.
John 14:29 And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when
it is come to pass, ye might believe.
John 16:4 But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye
may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you
at the beginning, because I was
with you.
Here is another
confirmation of what Paul mentions in this passage.
1Thessalonians 4:13 ¶ But I would not have you to be ignorant,
brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others
which have no hope. 14 For if we believe
that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God
bring with him. 15 For this we say unto
you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them
which are asleep. 16 For the Lord
himself shall
descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in
Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we
which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the
air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18
Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
We have the victory over sin and death through Christ alone, who
is also the way we are to follow, the truth we are to believe and the life we
will have eternally. I’ve already pointed out how the Bible defines words in
context sometimes by cross-referencing and word-substitution. This is what God
intended, for truth and victory to be synonymous.
Isaiah 42:3 A bruised reed shall he not break, and the
smoking flax shall he not
quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.
Matthew 12:20 A bruised reed shall he not break, and
smoking flax shall he not
quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory.
Then, there is this all-important verse.
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the
truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Christ not only came to conquer sin and vanquish Satan’s work but
to deliver us from death.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the
gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
58 ¶ Therefore, my beloved
brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,
forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
Paul closes this part of his letter pleading with the Corinthians
to not waiver in their faith and to understand that the things they do for
Christ are not done in vain.
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