Daily Devotion for WEDNESDAY, JULY 20, 2022

WEDNESDAY, JULY 20, 2022

TEXT: 1 Corinthians 15:51-58

51. Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed,

52. in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

53. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

54. When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

55. “Where, O death, is your victory? Where O, death is your sting?”

56. The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

57. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58. Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

(New Revised Standard Version Holy Bible)

TOPIC: RESURRECTION BRINGS GREAT CHANGES TO ALL

From today’s reading, we are assured of the great change that will occur at resurrection to all believers – dead (asleep) or alive. But unbelievers, dead or alive, have no part in the first resurrection until their own time appointed by God comes.

It is a mystery that will command the utmost attention of all creation (vs. 51-55). “For the Lord will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpets of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air…” (1 Thessalonians 4:16,17).

Death will become powerless at that time because the Lord Jesus will have given us victory over it. So, when this corruptible has put on incorruptible, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your sting? … the sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law” (vs. 54-56).

It will then be clear that death is not the conqueror, but a punishment for man’s sins. God will give a new life that comes after death to those who have faith in Jesus (v. 57). In the light of the great events of the resurrection and the assurance of being with Christ, Paul admonished the Corinthian church to “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (v. 58).

QUESTION: Are you ready to partake in the great change at the resurrection of the saints?

PRAYER: Give me the grace, dear Lord, to be steadfast, immovable and always abounding in the work of righteousness, in Jesus name, Amen.