A "sermonette" or "devotional" I shared with my church yesterday morning, to "kick off" the service. On Friday we had a funeral in my church, for a very dear brother, Alexei Yegorovich Zolotaryov. I chose to pick up on certain thoughts our pastor Vladimir Gorbenko ("Volodya") shared with us and take them a step or two further.
This is a translation from the Russian.
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I want to extend a bit the thoughts that brother Volodya shared with us here at the church on Friday after the funeral of our dear brother Alexei Yegorovich. Volodya spoke about how none of us in fact are "home". We're all on the way there, the way home.
It does happen that, along this earthly life, we enjoy "cozy" moments, so pleasant that we could wish time itself would stop, or at least take a pause, so we could enjoy the moment longer.
But no. It's such an obstinate thing, Time, and it isn't going to slow down for anybody!
All moments, both grievous and joyful, are passing, fleeting, BUT--take note--they're not "ephemeral." Their meaningfulness doesn't evaporate, but remains and compounds and all goes into that SEED which our life in Christ is becoming. The seed that will be planted in the earth in expectation of the great day of the resurrection of God's saints, all those who in Christ have completed their earthly course.
But of course it's not the soul that's planted in the earth. The apostle Paul wrote (read 2 Corinthians 5:8, about "away from the body is with with the Lord").
Nevertheless, the buried body of God's child serves, in its way, as a pledge on that eternal treasure that God has invested in the soul in grace, in the redemption won by the very life of God's Lamb, Christ Jesus.
(Read 1 Corinthians 15:35-49)
God's power to raise His children doesn't depend on our understanding. Sometimes some ask, "But what if the body of the believer was burned to ashes? Or what if the body has completely returned to the earth and become part of other living organisms? What then?"
But wasn't the apostle Paul perfectly aware of these things? That's why he writes, under the leading of God's Spirit, that God's intention to raise His own on that great day surpasses all human, and all physical, explanation.
When we plant a seed--say an apple seed--what happens to the seed? Does it stay there forever just as it was when we planted it? If I dig up an apple tree so that all its roots are exposed, will I find the seed, the seed that the tree grew out of, somethere there among the roots? Of course not.
(Read John 12:24, where Jesus talks about the seed that must die in order to produce fruit.)
So here's a paradox: the seed is gone, it disappeared, it "died"! Yet, in fact, it hasn't disappeared because, look: there it is, the apple tree! The seed fell to the earth and died. But look, it's alive, as an apple tree; it wasn't lost. "Everything has become new."
Just like the body of the Lord was planted in the earth and three days later appeared, the same but different, the same one but glorified. Not a ghost, but physical, living. Yet no longer limited by the physical laws of this fallen world. It is a paradox beyond our understanding.
The risen body of the Lord Jesus is a victorious body, the body of the conquering life of the Father's eternal Son. The conquering LIFE located within shines through the glorified body, in the unity of perfection.
This is what Paul means when he writes (read 1 Cor. 15:42-45 again, emphasizing the difference between the "natural" [in Greek "psychic", i.e., "soulish"] body and the "spiritual" body).
The risen body of the Lord Jesus is a spiritual body. NOT in the sense--let me underline that, categorically NOT in the sense--that it isn't physical (which would be heresy). It's physical, as the Lord Himself plainly asserted (read Luke 24:38-43, where the Risen Christ invites the stunned disciples to touch Him and see that He's no ghost, and then asks for something to eat...not because He was hungry!).
But it's a SPIRITUAL body, according to Paul's explanation. Spiritual in the sense that it has completely transcended the limitations of this passing, decomposing world, and now belongs utterly to the principles, the power, and the might of His Father's kingdom in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, in the eternally abiding perfection of love and righteousness.
"Spiritual body" isn't the opposite of "physical body." Paul says it's the opposite of the "natural" body we now possess, the corruptible body that can never enter that realm.
The spiritual body is a body that will never again suffer the least alienation from the fullness of God's presence.
The spiritual body is the body able to experience and "soak in" the raptures of God's unveiled kingdom just as much as, and in absolute harmony with, the spirit within that body.
Which is impossible for us on this side of the resurrection.
This exceeds all human understanding, but it's God's promise to us in Christ. This glory is to be found only ahead, on the horizon, where it awaits and summons us forward. Time itself is eagerly rushing there, so don't bother asking Time to hold up a bit and slow down. It won't listen!
Our destiny in Christ: (read, in conclusion, 1 Cor. 15:50-58).
