“But someone may ask, “How will the dead be raised? What kind of bodies will they have?” What a foolish question! When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn’t grow into a plant unless it dies first. And what you put in the ground is not the plant that will grow, but only a bare seed of wheat or whatever you are planting. Then God gives it the new body he wants it to have. A different plant grows from each kind of seed. Similarly there are different kinds of flesh—one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.”
1 Corinthians 15:35-39 NLT
Obviously, some people in the Corinthian church had asked two questions – “How will the dead be raised?” and “What kind of bodies will they have?” These seem like logical questions, perhaps asked by a new believer who had been raised in a culture that didn’t really believe in such things. Mainstream First Century Greek thought generally rejected the idea of bodily resurrection, viewing it as impossible, even for gods; to them, death meant the permanent dissolution of the body, with the soul going to a shadowy Hades. So here was a man called Paul, preaching about the Son of the only real God, the God-man who had been killed on a Roman cross, buried in a tomb carved out of rock, but who had been resurrected and provided with a body that was real, although it also had special powers. But Paul continued with the astonishing revelation that all believers will also receive a body just like that of Jesus.
My wife and I have a two-year-old great-grandson, who is at the “why” stage in his early years. Faced with a new situation, he has to find out “why” he is getting a particular response from an adult around him. His mind is like a sponge, absorbing all the new knowledge he is given, a process that places a specific responsibility on his parents and others who come into contact with him. A new Christian, recently saved, will also have many questions, although in the two questions today we have a “How” and a “What”, instead of a “Why”. In response, Paul used the analogy of a seed being planted to produce a plant. We all know the result of planting a seed in fertile soil: after a period of time, a green shoot will appear and keep growing until it becomes a mature plant. He said that the seed planted is different from the plant that grows, a process that follows God’s purposes for the vegetable kingdom. Paul continued to describe the differences with the animal kingdom.
There is a general belief that once they die, a person’s soul goes to Heaven and then looks down on the loved ones left behind, showing approval, or otherwise, of how they are living their lives on earth. But there is a problem with this expectation, because it is not based on anything more than an emotional whim. The Bible teaches that there are two places for the disembodied spirits in the afterlife. For a believer, their spirit immediately goes to be with the Lord in a state of conscious presence. “Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). Paul also wrote, “I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me. But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live” (Philippians 1:23-24). This state of “conscious presence” Jesus described as being in paradise. The thief on the cross next to Jesus said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.” And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise”” (Luke 23:42-43).
There, the spirit of the believer will live until it is given a new resurrected body. But the unrighteous go to a place of torment. We read in the story of the Rich Man and a poor beggar called Lazarus that the Rich Man died “and he went to the place of the dead. There, in torment, he saw Abraham in the far distance with Lazarus at his side. “The rich man shouted, ‘Father Abraham, have some pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in anguish in these flames’” (Luke 16:23-24). There, the unrighteous spirits will await final judgment in the “Lake of Fire” (see Revelation 20). To an unbeliever, all this seems a bit harsh, and, sadly, many people, when presented with Biblical facts, will reject them.
So, the responsibility for us pilgrims is to do what Jesus has asked us to do. To those believers questioning why it was taking Jesus so long to return, Peter wrote, “The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent” (2 Peter 3:9). We pilgrims have been commissioned to make disciples of the people around us, fulfilling God’s desires and purposes for this world. Jesus said that all who believe in Him will not perish. “Perishing” is the default state, leading to the position the Rich Man found himself in after death. But Jesus continued that all who believe in Him will inherit eternal life in a place He called Paradise. This has to be Good News. But we won’t find Good News presented to us in news reports and social media. Jesus has left the responsibility for spreading the Gospel to us. I carry tracts in my pocket just in case I meet someone whom the Holy Spirit has prepared for such an encounter. I expect pilgrims everywhere will do the same, but perhaps the next person we meet will go away with a new revelation of God, and the angels in Heaven will start preparing for a party. Are we ready for just such an encounter? Mordecai said to Queen Esther, “If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14). We pilgrims are in a unique place in history, in this world for “such a time as this”.
Dear Father God. You want no one to perish, and neither do we. Thank You for Your grace and patience. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 