In A Moment...

1Co 15:52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 

Who shall be raised at the last trump?

The dead.

Why? For what purpose are they raised? Aren't they already incorruptible? Haven't they already been changed? Seriously, haven't they? The majority of Christians believe there are no dead people in the grave. I'm not talking physical bodies, because no one can dispute the fact a lifeless body is left and begins the process of decaying instantly upon death. We take those bodies and bury them or dispose of them in other ways- and people console themselves by saying the thing that made that person who they were in personality has now taken on spirit form and is invisible, and heaven bound. Very few Christians believe that the personality of that person who has died is now sleeping- knowing nothing at all.

The Bible does say this--

Ecc_9:5  For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

Psa 6:4  Return, O LORD, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies' sake. 

Psa 6:5  For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks? 

Psa 115:17  The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence. 

Isa 38:18  For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. 

Isa 38:19  The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth. 

God's word tells us- the 'dead know not any thing', 'in death there is no remembrance of thee', 'in the grave who shall give thee thanks?', 'the dead praise not the LORD,' , 'for the grave cannot praise thee', 'death cannot celebrate thee', 'they that go down into the pit cannot hope…'

Curiously- if you believe upon death a person in spirit-personality goes to heaven don't you think they'd be praising God, celebrating God? I'm being serious, we need to ask ourselves these types of questions because if for some reason Satan wants to deceive people and he uses death to do this on a very grand level, then people need to know, don't they?

What was so miraculous about our Savior rising from the dead, if all humans who die are raised from the grave in spirit? Our Savior's body was raised unlike all those who die, but why does it matter if people already inherit heaven upon death? What will be raised at that last trump?  I know I've talked about this many times, but it bears repeating.

If you believe your loved ones who have died are in heaven, what will be raised at the last trump? Will their personality, spirit empty bodies rise up? If those empty bodies are being called from their graves what happens? I can't find a single verse that says our spirits will be reunited with our bodies at the last trump.

I do know this…Jesus said Lazarus was sleeping- and clarified that he was dead, and then Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. What was he raising, a body without personality, without spirit? Or did he snatch Lazarus' personality/spirit from heaven where he'd been (supposedly) rejoicing with his previously deceased loved ones, and put it back into Lazarus' body, and if so how awful that must have been for Lazarus to have been in heaven in personality/spirit only to be taken out of heaven and put back upon this earth only to have to face eventual death once more.  However… if Lazarus was sleeping death's sleep the sleep his personality, his mental faculties, and every cognitive means he possessed was sleeping- how awful would it have been to simply wake up again?  When a person falls asleep the next thing they know is waking up. When a person dies and falls into death's sleep all their brain function ceases- it doesn't slip into spirit form and take off for heaven. They will remain sleeping death's sleep where they can no longer praise or worship God, where they will know nothing at all, until that last trump sounds and they are raised- their bodies changed in the blink of an eye.  Called from that sleep they will wake to new bodies- putting incorruption- never to have their bodies decay again in their new form. The joy they will experience as they meet their Savior in the air will be unimaginable!  Yet how could it be that they raise up to meet their Lord in the air- if they've already met Him, lived with Him for who knows how long, what is the point? If they've already put on incorruption and immortality, how does it make the least bit of sense that they'd need to put it on again?  Exactly what DEAD are there to rise, if they are already risen? 

I think people don't want to face the truth because they want to imagine their loved ones still living, still filled with their personality, in a form no longer subject to any pain. People want to skip the death's sleep part and jump right to the heaven home with our Savior. And some may say there is no harm at all in believing that way, it hurts no one. But it does and therein lies the deception. Eve was told by Lucifer that she would not surely die, and guess what? Eve didn't die instantly upon biting the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, forbidden by God. She did however- die. She ceased to live. And if ceasing to live only means exchanging one sort of life for another sort of life the she never really dies- right? There is never a true death to be raised from when that last trump sounds.

Act_13:36  For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption

Hundreds of years later and Paul talks about David- beloved of God- died- fell to sleep, and he was laid in the grave with his fathers and saw corruption. David wasn't raised from the dead. And I ask again- if David were alive in heaven in any form at all don't you think there would be a mention made of that fact? Wouldn't there be at least a couple of books, or even chapters in a single book on the wondrous spirit form we take on after dying and how we love being with others who died before us, and how we are living a new existences in heaven? You'd think there would be a lot more confirmation of this life after death, so much so there would be no doubt whatsoever. There certainly was A LOT written about Jesus and His life after death- which truth be told wouldn't be all that spectacular if people just never died at all regardless of their beliefs. We are told that the angels witness a lot, but not told a thing about all the dead people in heaven witnessing things as well.

If we want truth, we'll believe what the Bible says and not opinions, not fables concocted by taking bits and pieces of scripture, using parables with meanings totally not related to what it is being explained.  We won't follow the crowd, we won't be duped.

May the Holy Spirit open hearts and minds to this important truth!

All through Jesus Christ our Lord, our Savior, now and forever!!!!!!!