1 Corinthians 15:50-54 Now this I say, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither does corruption inherit incorruption.… I. OUR LIFE ON EARTH IS FULL OF CHANGE. Every hour brings changes and chances. The sun which rises to shine on happy children's faces, bright with laughter, sets over a desolate home. Have you ever seen the famous picture of "The Railway Station"? That, or the reality, will show you any day what "a tangle" life is. There you will see youth and age, joy and sorrow, success and failure, hope and despair, going their several ways in the great journey of life. II. BUT THE GREATEST CHANGE OF ALL IS YET TO COME. There will be a change — 1. In our bodies. The poor, worn-out clothing of flesh which was laid in the grave to decay, will be no longer needed. As the trees are clad with new clothing in the spring-time, so will our souls be at the great spring-time of the Lord's coming. As the beggar forgets his rags when wrapped in soft raiment, so shall we doubtless forget our poor bodies, or remember them only as a dream when one awaketh. Here they are constantly getting out of repair. When we are changed, we may believe it will be always well with us in body. 2. In our minds and feelings. We shall be improved by the lessons we learn, just as we see a child altered by wise and careful schooling. The man of science has a world of knowledge and beauty open to him which the unlearned does not dream of. So in the school beyond there must be a still wider world of which the cleverest men know nothing. Then our mind, no longer warped by prejudice, will understand rightly; then "we shall know even as we are known." We shall see clearly what seemed so dark and perplexing before. We shall understand how some of God's dealings with us, which appeared so strange and hard, were the best of blessings for us. III. THE CHANGE WILL BE VERY GREAT, BUT WE ,SHALL BE FITTED FOR IT. IV. THE CHANGE WILL NOT MAKE US FEEL LONELY. In that land none are strangers. Sometimes when one is going to emigrate, I have asked him if he did not expect to feel very strange and lonely, and the answer was, "Oh no, I have friends waiting for me there." And so with us. V. THOUGH THE GREAT CHANGE COMES THEN, THERE MUST BE A CHANGE IN US NOW. Our most constant, prayer should be, "Give me a clean heart, O Lord, and renew a right spirit within me." (H. J. W. Buxton, M.A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. |
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