How are the dead raised up?
How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? 1 Corinthians 15:35
But some doubting man will say: "How are the dead raised up and with what body do they come?" Aren't they dust and ashes?- You fool, if God in His Word promises anything, would you then doubt His ability to perform it? And that which you sow into your field, must it not first die and decompose before it germinates and is quickened and sprout? You say: Yes, but this germinates in the midst of decomposition, and I see no germination in corpses. No, you see nothing of that in corpses; but notwithstanding God will bring about life and resurrection. What is the limit to God's omnipotence? And as to your question, with what manner of body shall the dead come forth from the grave, let me refer you again to the seed which you sow into your field. Is the seed which you sow the body which shall be and rise from that seed? Will the seed come forth just as you cast it into the ground? Certainly not! This is but a bare grain, say, of wheat or some other grain. But God gives to the seed, when it sprouts, a body as it has pleased Him, as He has determined; to every seed He gives his own body. Just look at the seed you sow. You drop it into the ground. Now it sprouts. How? First there is the young green blade. Then it grows into an ear. After that there is the full grain in the ear. How different the grain is when it shoots up from the grain that is laid into the ground! How much more glorious is the body it receives when it comes forth! And yet that quickened body is the very body of the grain that has been laid into the ground. Isn't it? Likewise our body will not rise just as it has been laid into the ground. Far from it! It will rise infinitely more glorious. And yet it will be the same body that was laid into the ground. And hark! In the resurrection we shall know full well that we are ourselves again. For we are human beings, not the fruit of the field. And our dear ones will know us, and we shall know them. Didn't Peter, James, and John on the Mount of Transfiguration know Moses and Elijah who appeared to Jesus with glorified bodies?
PRAYER: - Lord God Almighty, I am waiting for the great miraculous salvation which You will manifest in me. Most mightily and miraculously and gloriously You will raise me up from the earth and lead me into life everlasting. So I will gladly and rejoicingly be laid into the ground as Your cornseed, O heavenly and omnipotent Sower. Grant that through Your Holy Spirit I may belong to Jesus, the first-fruits of resurrection, that I may follow Him, and likewise rise when the great springtime comes. Amen.