Glory - 1 Corinthians 15:40-44
Blog Series: Since Jesus Rose from the Dead
Devotional Thoughts on 1 Corinthians 15
Week 9
Glory - 1 Corinthians 15:40-44
The beauty of the heavens is a lasting tribute to the Triune Creator God who designed, created, and decorated it. “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands” (Ps. 19:1). “The heavens declare His righteousness, and all the peoples have seen His glory” (Ps. 97:6). Paul now continues his argument concerning the resurrection with the concept of glory.
There are both heavenly bodies, and earthly bodies, and each has its own glory. There is a distinct kind of beauty to be found in everything created to be located on the earth. The majesty of the lion is in contrast with the beauty of the bioluminescent (glowing) algae in a nighttime surf. Each is glorious in its own way.
But the heavenly bodies, including the sun, the moon, and the stars, are glorious in a different way. They fill the sky with light. The sun shines in its blinding glory during the day, and then its glory gives way to the silvery beauty, the glory, of the moon (which is, in fact, reflecting the light from the sun, but its light is quite different). Though we know that the sun is a star, to the ancients the distant stars were beautiful lights of their own kind. God designed the sun to accomplish on the earth, through its light and heat, what could not be done by any of the distant stars. But the combined effect of all of the stars, galaxies, planets, and nebulae is a glory that is different and is overwhelming.
We often explain the glory of the Lord as the “outer manifestation of His inner nature.” In a creaturely sense, the glory of each of the heavenly bodies (except for the planets) is a brilliant effect of the inner workings of each star. That is further enhanced by the collective brilliance of all the bodies within a galaxy or a nebula. The planets are different, of course, because, like the moon, they reflect the light from the sun.
Paul is careful to emphasize that the stars differ from one another in glory. That is, some stars are brighter than others because of the differences in their size, their motion, and their distances from the earth. But whether a pinpoint of twinkling light, or a planet the size of Jupiter, each object possesses its own strength, power, and glory.
Next Paul compares the body of the resurrection with the glories just described. Our earthly bodies are prone to death – the seed of death is in every living thing. But when the body is raised, it is imperishable: it cannot experience death again. It is born with a sin nature – a source of shame. But in the resurrection, the sin nature is completely eradicated, and the person is glorified; capable of living forever in the glorious presence of God. The church as a whole is pictured as the combined end result of the sanctification and glorification that is in Christ Jesus: “that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless” (Eph. 5:27).
The body is sown in weakness, subject to all of the ravages of life in this world, but it is raised in power, the power of the One who raises it, and a power that will be resident in it that will bring it everlasting endurance. The body on earth is a fleshly body, prone to respond to life in a carnal way. The raised body is a spiritual body, and body that is empowered by, responsive to, and characterized by things that pertain to the spirit. It is a body that is fully attuned to the Spirit of God and is motivated by the things of God that were in warfare with the sin nature before resurrection.
Because of the resurrection of Jesus, the one who believes in Him, though born in a natural body, will be raised in a spiritual body. If we think of the body of Jesus, though He was the God/man, he was born as a Jewish baby, He rose in a spiritually perfect body. Even as the writer of Hebrews wrote, “He himself partook of flesh and blood” … “made like His brethren in all things” … “tempted in that which He has suffered” to render the power of the devil powerless, to free those who are slaves to the fear of death all of their lives, and be a merciful and faithful High priest in making propitiation (a satisfaction before God) for the sins of the people. As imperfect as our bodies are now, they shall be perfected in glory.
Week 9
Glory - 1 Corinthians 15:40-44
40 There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. 42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
The beauty of the heavens is a lasting tribute to the Triune Creator God who designed, created, and decorated it. “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands” (Ps. 19:1). “The heavens declare His righteousness, and all the peoples have seen His glory” (Ps. 97:6). Paul now continues his argument concerning the resurrection with the concept of glory.
There are both heavenly bodies, and earthly bodies, and each has its own glory. There is a distinct kind of beauty to be found in everything created to be located on the earth. The majesty of the lion is in contrast with the beauty of the bioluminescent (glowing) algae in a nighttime surf. Each is glorious in its own way.
But the heavenly bodies, including the sun, the moon, and the stars, are glorious in a different way. They fill the sky with light. The sun shines in its blinding glory during the day, and then its glory gives way to the silvery beauty, the glory, of the moon (which is, in fact, reflecting the light from the sun, but its light is quite different). Though we know that the sun is a star, to the ancients the distant stars were beautiful lights of their own kind. God designed the sun to accomplish on the earth, through its light and heat, what could not be done by any of the distant stars. But the combined effect of all of the stars, galaxies, planets, and nebulae is a glory that is different and is overwhelming.
We often explain the glory of the Lord as the “outer manifestation of His inner nature.” In a creaturely sense, the glory of each of the heavenly bodies (except for the planets) is a brilliant effect of the inner workings of each star. That is further enhanced by the collective brilliance of all the bodies within a galaxy or a nebula. The planets are different, of course, because, like the moon, they reflect the light from the sun.
Paul is careful to emphasize that the stars differ from one another in glory. That is, some stars are brighter than others because of the differences in their size, their motion, and their distances from the earth. But whether a pinpoint of twinkling light, or a planet the size of Jupiter, each object possesses its own strength, power, and glory.
Next Paul compares the body of the resurrection with the glories just described. Our earthly bodies are prone to death – the seed of death is in every living thing. But when the body is raised, it is imperishable: it cannot experience death again. It is born with a sin nature – a source of shame. But in the resurrection, the sin nature is completely eradicated, and the person is glorified; capable of living forever in the glorious presence of God. The church as a whole is pictured as the combined end result of the sanctification and glorification that is in Christ Jesus: “that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless” (Eph. 5:27).
The body is sown in weakness, subject to all of the ravages of life in this world, but it is raised in power, the power of the One who raises it, and a power that will be resident in it that will bring it everlasting endurance. The body on earth is a fleshly body, prone to respond to life in a carnal way. The raised body is a spiritual body, and body that is empowered by, responsive to, and characterized by things that pertain to the spirit. It is a body that is fully attuned to the Spirit of God and is motivated by the things of God that were in warfare with the sin nature before resurrection.
Because of the resurrection of Jesus, the one who believes in Him, though born in a natural body, will be raised in a spiritual body. If we think of the body of Jesus, though He was the God/man, he was born as a Jewish baby, He rose in a spiritually perfect body. Even as the writer of Hebrews wrote, “He himself partook of flesh and blood” … “made like His brethren in all things” … “tempted in that which He has suffered” to render the power of the devil powerless, to free those who are slaves to the fear of death all of their lives, and be a merciful and faithful High priest in making propitiation (a satisfaction before God) for the sins of the people. As imperfect as our bodies are now, they shall be perfected in glory.
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