1Cor. 13:12 “Will We Know Our Loved Ones in Heaven”
1COR 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I
know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
Into: The mystery of the resurrection has always fascinated men.
There has always been people who do not believe in a resurrection.
Then there are those who believe in a ‘spiritual’ resurrection
which eliminates all thought of a literal body. Then even among
those who believe in a literal bodily resurrection there are those
who cannot believe that we retain our individual identity. Let’s
examine the Bible for the answer.
1. The certainty of The Resurrection.
A. Jesus clearly stated this truth.
JN 5:25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the
dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.
JN 5:28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the
graves shall hear his voice,
JN 5:29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of
life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
LK 14:14 And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou
shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.
B. The Old Testament Saints hoped for it.
JOB 14:13 Oh that thou wouldest hide me in Sheol, That thou wouldest keep me
secret, until thy wrath be past, That thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and
remember me!
JOB 14:14 If a man die, shall he live `again’? All the days of my warfare would I
wait, Till my release should come.
JOB 14:15 Thou wouldest call, and I would answer thee: Thou wouldest have a
desire to the work of thy hands.
IS 26:19 Thy dead shall live; my dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, ye that
dwell in the dust; for thy dew is `as’ the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast forth
the dead.
DAN 12:2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some
to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
PS 17:15 As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied,
when I awake, with thy likeness.
C. Paul Clarified it.
1COR 15:12 Now if Christ is preached that he hath been raised from the dead, how
say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?
1COR 15:13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither hath Christ been
raised:
1COR 15:14 and if Christ hath not been raised, then is our preaching vain, your
faith also is vain.
1COR 15:15 Yea, we are found false witnesses of God; because we witnessed of
God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead are not
raised.
1COR 15:16 For if the dead are not raised, neither hath Christ been raised:
1COR 15:17 and if Christ hath not been raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your
sins.
1COR 15:18 Then they also that are fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
1COR 15:19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most
miserable.
1COR 15:20 But now hath Christ been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of them
that are asleep.
II. The Characteristics of Those Resurrected.
A. It will be a Body.[1cor. 15:35-44]
B. It will be a Glorious body.
PHIL 3:20 For our citizenship is in heaven; whence also we wait for a Saviour, the
Lord Jesus Christ:
PHIL 3:21 who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, `that it may be’
conformed to the body of His glory, according to the working whereby He is able
even to subject all things unto Himself.
1JN 3:2 Beloved, now are we children of God, and it is not yet made manifest what
we shall be. We know that, if He shall be manifested, we shall be like Him; for we
shall see Him even as He is.
C. It will be a Known body.
MT 12:41 The men of Nineveh shall stand up in the judgment with this generation,
and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, a
greater than Jonah is here.
MT 12:42 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this
generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the ends of the earth to hear
the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
III. The Criteria for the First Resurrection.
A. First a person must know Jesus Christ as Saviour.
PHIL 3:7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
PHIL 3:8 Yea verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the
knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and
do count them but refuse, that I may gain Christ,
PHIL 3:9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of mine own, `even’ that
which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness
which is from God by faith:
PHIL 3:10 that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the
fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed unto his death;
PHIL 3:11 if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection from the dead.
1COR 15:23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; then they that are
Christ’s, at his coming.
B. The Body must be Planted in hope.
1COR 15:42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is
raised in incorruption:
1COR 15:43 it is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is
raised in power:
1COR 15:44 it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a
natural body, there is also a spiritual `body’.
1COR 15:45 So also it is written, The first man Adam became a living soul. The
last Adam `became’ a life-giving spirit.
1COR 15:46 Howbeit that is not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural;
then that which is spiritual.
1COR 15:47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is of heaven.
1COR 15:48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the
heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1COR 15:49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the
image of the heavenly.
1COR 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the
kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
C. Then some will be changed without death.
1COR 15:51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We all shall not sleep, but we shall all be
changed,
1COR 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.
1COR 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must
put on immortality.
1COR 15:54 But when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this
mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is
written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
1COR 15:55 O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?
1COR 15:56 The sting of death is sin; and the power of sin is the law:
1COR 15:57 but thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ.
1COR 15:58 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always
abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not
vain in the Lord.
