Putting On Incorruption and Immortality

Exodus 19:1-18

I am going to start you off here, to get a similar look at what we will read in 1 Corinthians 15.

In this particular setting the children of Israel have just escaped captivity. They were slaves of the brutal Egyptians and the Lord delivered them out and destroyed Pharoah and his soldiers with the crushing power of the Red Sea that was held back for God’s people to cross on dry ground.

As the children of Israel was travelling through the wilderness, they came to Mt. Sinai (God’s Holy Mountain). This is where God will meet with His people and most especially Moses.

Listen to God as He talks to Moses: Exodus 19:1-6........

God directs Moses to tell the people this:

“You have seen what I have done”...............

God bore them on eagles wings, describing their journey from Egypt to Mt. Sinai!

This was the Lord’s doing! Psalm 118:23 “This is the Lord’s doing; It is marvellous in our eyes.”

This could have been composed by David on his accession to power, or by some later writer in memory of the restoration from Babylon. Not sure but the idea is that no human had a hand in it, only God Himself!

This also has the idea of what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:10 “But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”

This is what God is telling Israel!

Brought them unto Himself! His people! This has been it all along, He wants to be with His “special treasure”!

Revelation 21:3 “And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.”

The special treasure has to be set apart, because we have ruined our outer and inward garment!!

The only return to this special treasure status is to obey His Voice and keep His Covenant (Jesus Christ)

Now, as Moses returns to the people to relay the “if you will” statement by God, right to their faces, all of them said “we will obey His voice and keep His Covenant”!

Moses returned to tell the Lord and the Lord told Moses that He was coming unto them, so that they can hear God when He speaks with Moses and therefore believe what Moses says!

So, God is coming unto them and He tells Moses to sanctify them for 2 days, even washing their clothes, preparing for the coming of the Lord, for the 3rd day He will come unto them!

Sanctify! Being spiritually ready, even physically ready! Clean yourself inside and out!

To get serious about their dedication to God!

Basically Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.”

On the third day........The people cannot get close, but He will be in the midst, do not as much touch the mountain or you will die! Not even the animals!!

Until the trumpet sounds a long blast, they then can come to the mount!

Thunders roared and lightning flashed as the presence of God descended in a thick cloud on the mountain!

Then a trumpet sound was heard long and very loud! The Lord was there with them and He spoke to Moses and told Moses to come up!

All of these things that basically announced the Lord’s coming, more than impressed the onlookers, it caused them to tremble!

Side note, there are some that try to look sharp and say that this was a volcanic eruption! I cannot understand why a so-called Christian writer would even suggest something like that!

This was clearly the announcement of the coming of the Lord!

1 Corinthians 15:50-57......The trumpet that the chaste virgin (His church) is waiting on!

The Corinthian church was being plagued with false teachers, but also, influence from Greek philosophers were infecting their belief in God!

False teachers (Sadducees) denied the resurrection of the believers. (When you die, that is just it)

Philosophers could not be convinced of the resurrection of the dead, especially if it was the work of Jesus Christ that gained us the eternal life with the Father!

Some Greek philosophers believed that the body wouldn’t be raised only the soul. The body was a prison where the soul was held in captivity. At death, the soul was freed, only to go floating around who knows where! No body would unite with the soul!

This church located in the heart of all these so-called smart people, was struggling with making heads or tails of this!

Paul is writing to reassure them in what they have been taught! He reveals to them, what he calls a mystery, which is a truth not previously known by anybody or hidden from mankind.

There are some mysteries that God has never and will never reveal, there are some He possibly will reveal in the future, and there are some mysteries that has been held back until Jesus Christ has fulfilled His complete work on earth, such as this one!

First Paul tells them that the body (flesh and blood) cannot enter into the kingdom! It is defiled by disobedience and just cannot.

Defiled because of sin........the frailty of the human body did not exist until the “FALL of man”, then you see as the OT moves forward the average lifespan begins to get shorter and shorter! We went from possibly and average life span of 800 years to 80!

This is the result of being at enmity with God, separated from Him!

We have this defiled body and it is not suited for Heaven!

Here is the truth that was not previously known........The body shall not sleep......but we shall be changed!!! We are putting on our new body.........1 Corinthians 13:12 “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”

I like what John says about this: 1 John 3:2 “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.”

However, as you analyze this, the most important part of this is this trumpet sounding, then in a moment and a twinkling of an eye, we shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed!

If our bodies are dead at this moment our souls will be united with a changed, incorruptible body!

No disease can infect this body, no sort of condition can limit this body, you will be fitted with a perfect body which resembles Christ, it is His children following after Him!

Corruptible vs. Incorruptible--We go from not lasting TO a continuous state of being!

Mortal vs immortality—Being susceptible to death TO not being able to die!

What a breathtaking thought! As I look around and see a lot of places where saints used to sit and now have passed from this life to the next, I will see them one day with a pure body, unaffected by the ills of this life! PRAISE THE LORD!!

This change, Paul says happens in moment and a twinkling of an eye!

Moment is defined as something that cannot be divided or cut. It is so small, therefore it cannot be cut.

Twinkling of an eye meaning the blink of an eye.

This trumpet blast, some have speculated when and what this is.......Some say that it is the beginning of the judgement trumpets spoken of in Rev. 8-11........or when Jesus actually comes back to earth on the white horse with His sickle in His hand to judge.......I personally believe that this is the beginning of the terrible tribulation called the Rapture!

I believe the trumpet blast is the calling to Christ’s bride, His church, to come on up, to come Home!

According to 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 “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.”

Meeting the Lord in the air seems to be the main phrase that points to the rapture. At His 2nd coming Jesus will actually come down to earth and reign for a thousand years!

Anyway, the main idea for us here is that trumpet blast and the changing of our corruptible and mortal bodies!!!

We go from not lasting TO a continuous state of being!

From Being susceptible TO death to not being able to die!

Death has not sting to it anymore and the grave no finality!!!

John 11:25-26 “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. Believest thou this?”

Because of the Person and Complete Work of Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ and Him crucified, sting of death because of sin has been eliminated and the strength that sin had because it revealed our inability to keep the law, has no power over those that are Christ’s!

Thank You God, Thank You God!!!!!!!!

Because of this truth we can be stedfast and unshakable, abounding in what Christ has done, our faith, our endurance, is not without reward!!!

Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.”