From Perishable to Imperishable

“ Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift”  — Mary Oliver

We really hold too much regard for the living we do on this earth.  We get overly attached.  The value of life here is found not in the living we do but instead in the Quality of the dying we do while here.

For we are,

Always carrying about in the body the liability and exposure to the same putting to death that the Lord Jesus suffered, So That … the [resurrection] life of Jesus also may be shown forth by and in our bodies. For we who live are constantly [experiencing] being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake, that the [resurrection] life of Jesus also may be evidenced through our flesh which is liable to death. Thus death is actively at work in us, but [it is in order that our] life [may be actively at work] in you. Assured that He Who raised up the Lord Jesus will raise us up also with Jesus and bring us [along] with you into His presence. Therefore we do not become discouraged (utterly spiritless, exhausted, and wearied out through fear). Though our outer man is [progressively] decaying and wasting away, yet our inner self is being [progressively] renewed day after day. For our light, momentary affliction (this slight distress of the passing hour) is ever more and more abundantly preparing and producing and achieving for us an everlasting weight of glory [beyond all measure, excessively surpassing all comparisons and all calculations, a vast and transcendent glory and blessedness never to cease!],  2 Corinthians 4:10-12, 14, 16-17 AMPC

Take notice! I tell you a mystery (a secret truth, an event decreed by the hidden purpose or counsel of God). We shall not all fall asleep [in death], but we shall all be changed (transformed) And when “this perishable” puts on the imperishable and “this that was capable of dying” puts on freedom from death, then shall be fulfilled the Scripture that says, Death is swallowed up (utterly vanquished forever) in and unto victory. [Isa. 25:8.] O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? [Hos. 13:14.]  1 Corinthians 15:51, 54-55 AMPC

For since [it was] through a man that death [came into the world, it is] also through a Man that the resurrection of the dead [has come].              I Cor. 15:21

For just as [because of their union of nature] in Adam all people die, so also [by virtue of their union of nature] shall all in Christ be made alive. But each in his own rank and turn: Christ (the Messiah) [is] the firstfruits, then those who are Christ’s [own will be resurrected] at His coming. So it is with the resurrection of the dead. [The body] that is sown is perishable and decays, but [the body] that is resurrected is imperishable (immune to decay, immortal). [Dan. 12:3.] It is sown in dishonor and humiliation; it is raised in honor and glory. It is sown in infirmity and weakness; it is resurrected in strength and endued with power. It is sown a natural (physical) body; it is raised a supernatural (a spiritual) body. [As surely as] there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body.                         1 Corinthians 15:22-23, 42-44 AMPC

For … those who receive [God’s] overflowing grace (unmerited favor) and the free gift of righteousness [putting them into right standing with Himself] reign as kings in life through the one Man Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).  Romans 5:17 AMPC

Toward the loving and loyal You will show Yourself loving and loyal, and with the upright and blameless You will show Yourself upright and blameless. To the pure You will show Yourself pure, and to the willful You will show Yourself willful. And the afflicted people You will deliver, but Your eyes are upon the haughty, whom You will bring down.                    2 Samuel 22:26-28 AMPC

So That, [just] as sin has reigned in death, [so] grace (His unearned and undeserved favor) might reign also through righteousness (right standing with God) which issues in eternal life through Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) our Lord.  Romans 5:21 AMPC

But someone will say, How can the dead be raised? With what [kind of] body will they come forth? You foolish man! Every time you plant seed, you sow something that does not come to life [germinating, springing up, and growing] unless it dies first. Nor is the seed you sow then the body which it is going to have [later], but it is a naked kernel, perhaps of wheat or some of the rest of the grains. God gives to it the body that He plans and sees fit, and to each kind of seed a body of its own. [Gen. 1:11.]        1 Corinthians 15:35-38 AMPC

Blessed (happy, to be envied) and holy (spiritually whole, of unimpaired innocence and proved virtue) is the person who takes part (shares) in the first resurrection! Over them the second death exerts no power or authority, but they shall be ministers of God and of Christ (the Messiah), and they shall rule along with Him a thousand years.                  Revelation 20:6 AMPC

After that comes the end (the completion), when He delivers over the kingdom to God the Father after rendering inoperative and abolishing every [other] rule and every authority and power.  I Cor. 15:24

And the Ever-living One [I am living in the eternity of the eternities]. I died, but see, I am alive forevermore; and I possess the keys of death and Hades (the realm of the dead).  Revelation 1:18 AMPC

No one is so fierce [and foolhardy] that he dares to stir up [the crocodile]; Who Then is he who can stand before Me [the beast’s Creator, or dares to contend with Me]?   Job41:10

Smoke went up from His nostrils, and devouring fire from His mouth; coals were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens and came down; thick darkness was under His feet. He rode on a cherub and flew; He was seen upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness His canopy around Him, gathering of waters, thick clouds of the skies. Out of the brightness before Him coals of fire flamed forth. He sent out arrows and scattered them; lightning confused and troubled them.  2 Samuel 22:9-13, 15

For [Christ] must be King and reign until He has put all [His] enemies under His feet. [Ps. 110:1.] The last enemy to be subdued and abolished is death.  I Cor. 15:25-26

Picture by Cody F. Miller.  He was inspired by a poem by Mary Oliver and Psalm 18:28