THURSDAY February 15th
1 Corinthians 15:23
‘But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.’
Here, Paul lets us know about the resurrection order, we know when the resurrection of Jesus as the firstfruit took place, it was on the third day after his death and his burial, and then it will be the resurrection of those who have come to faith in Christ and have died, this will take place at the second coming of the Lord Jesus. Although Paul introduces this for us here, he spends the best part of the rest of this chapter explaining what this resurrection of the believers will be like.
But what about the believers who are alive when Jesus comes again? Well, Paul covers this for us in his first letter to the church at Thessalonica, chapter 4:14-17, where he says this ‘For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.’
At the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the dead in Christ are raised, the living believers will be raptured and together we will be changed. Paul says this later in 1 Corinthians 15 ‘Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.’ (v51). We will look at what takes place in this momentous moment as we continue going through this chapter.
But what about those who have died as unbelievers? Scripture tells us that they too will be raised at a later time, at the end of the millennial reign of Christ upon the earth, but whereas believers will have been raised to enter into eternal life, unbelievers will be raised to face the judgment at the great white throne and the outcome will be the same for each one of them, they will be cast into the lake of fire, the place that has been reserved for the devil and all his angels, forever separated from the presence of God. (See Revelation 20:7-15)
So for us who are believers, that is those who are ‘in Christ’, the resurrection or the rapture is going to lead to something that is exceptional, and exciting, and eternity, which is out of this world, it will be to be found in the eternal presence of God, but, for unbelievers the news is terrifying, troubling and should cause any who read this devotion that has not yet come to faith to seek to put their lives right with God while there is still time.
There’s going to be a meeting in the air,
In the sweet, sweet by and by,
I’m going to meet you, meet you over there, (That is if you have come to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ)
In the home beyond the sky,
Such music there will be never heard by human ear,
‘Twill be glorious I do declare,
For God’s own Son, will be the leading one,
In the meeting in the air!