I Corinthians 15: 50-58 "Inheiting the Kingdom"

*Introduction

Christian it is through Jesus Christ that we inherit the Kingdom of God.

As believers we are the spiritual beneficiaries now in the current time and we will be physical beneficiaries in the future.

So we live with this understanding in the world because, in the practical sense, if we don’t it will not be long before we loose heart.

We have to fight for it and preach the good news of the Kingdom to ourselves every day of our lives because the enemy will attempt to distort our perception of this.

He fights us at the theological level because he knows that if we abandon truth then we will have a tendency to flounder in our despair because of the pain and trials of the world.

You see currently we live in a context where there are limitations in our experiential encounter with the Kingdom.

That is why there has to be a future change before we inherit the physical Kingdom. This is because there are limitations of the perishable as Paul explains in verses 50-53:

I. The Limitations of the Perishable (50-53).

The perishable is that which is of flesh and blood and due to sin it is subject to death. And it cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. Nor can the perishable inherit the imperishable.

This is because the physical Kingdom is a Holy and eternal imperishable Kingdom. Something that is limited can never match that which is unlimited.

So how can this dilemma be resolved for us in these mortal bodies that are subject to death?

Christian there is a mysterious change coming. We shall not all sleep in the sense that we will all die. Some will be alive when the lord Jesus comes again and they will never taste death. But we all shall be changed.

It will take place in an instant. Like an eye twinkling Paul says. At the last trumpet when the dead are raise on that day when our Lord comes in all of His glory.

We have seen from Matthew 24 that this event takes place after great tribulation on the earth. This tribulation is taking place during the time of the Man of Lawlessness working his deception on the earth.

When Christ returns He will raise the dead and rapture His covenant people and destroy the Man of Lawlessness.

And at His coming we will be changed when this perishable body is immediately transformed by putting on a imperishable body. The mortal will put on the immortal.

Now there is a lot happening at this future moment in time but the transformation to the imperishable is an important indicating event. It marks something significant. Look at verses 54-57:

II. The Indications of the Imperishable (54-57).

So when the perishable puts on the imperishable that is the indication that “Death is swallowed up in victory”

Now this is a quote from Isiah 25:8 which is a prophecy dealing with the manifestation of the physical Kingdom of God.

At this future transformation, physical death will have met it’s final defeat and it is put under the feet of Christ once and for all time.

Remember that we saw last week that Christ must reign until all His enemies are put under His feet and the last enemy will be death.

This marks the end of the Spiritual nature of the Kingdom and indicates that the physical nature of the Kingdom has begun.

Isaiah 25: 8 also tells us that God will wipe away every tear from their eyes and Revelation 21: 4 tells us that this will happen in a New Heavens and a New Earth.

If you have been paying attention over the past several weeks you may begin to notice that there appears to be no 1,000 year reign of Christ on the earth in all of this. It seems to be missing.

Just make a mental note of that because I think it will become increasingly clear when we eventually arrive in Revelation 20 in the weeks to come.

Then in verse 55 of I Cor. 15 we see the taunting question being asked, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

This is a quote out of the Prophet Hosea in 13: 14. This is a prophecy given in the context of the Lord declaring His covenant redemption that He will bring to His people by saving them from the power of death.

How did God work it? He conquered sin and met, through Christ, all the demands of the law through the finished work of Christ on the Cross.

Paul understand the magnitude of this work and declares in verse 57: “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The application of that Victory is seen in verse 58:

III. The Application of the Victory (58).

“Therefore” In other words, because God has given us the victory through the Lord Jesus Christ, my beloved brothers be steadfast and immovable.

The victory that we have in Christ is the foundation on which we stand.

But we are to be always abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that, in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

Christian this fits so closely with what we saw in the Sheep and the Goats parable in Matthew 25. Minister as unto the Lord.

Nothing we do in ministry to and for Christ is in vain. In vain here denotes the idea of doing something without meaning or purpose.

Christian when we labor for Christ it all points to an eternal purpose. Which in the end all points in the direction of Christ and His eternal glory and our hope that we have in Him.

Conclusion

I have thought a lot about death over the last week. We had the home going of Mr. Dulaney. His funeral was on Tuesday at Noon.

A week ago Saturday I got a call from one of my best friends sister. Dennis had terminal cancer.

Set up the face time call. Never heard back.

Coming to the office on Tuesday I was talking with my parents they were telling me my uncle died. Then I got the text that Dennis died before I even had time to get out of the car.

I was at the graveside reading Scripture from John 14 and then I read from Rev. 21 about Him wiping away all our tears. It was a very emotional moment for me.

Then I stood and watched as they lowered the casket into the ground. I stood there and was so glad to know the gospel has given us the victory and death will one day be destroyed.

Unbeliever

Believer

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