At death, the believer is presented faultless before the presence of Christ's glory with exceeding joy!
Our old tired, broken down bodies, racked by sin, are sheared away from us, for they are not fit to appear in Glory. Had the saints dragged their bodies along into heaven, they could not have been presented faultless!
The saints have been redeemed already by Christ's sacrifice. We are alive by the quickening of the Holy Ghost.
But our bodies are not yet quickened. They are still dead and dying and corrupt and sinful and weak, and we ourselves groan, waiting for the redemption of our bodies. This will take place when Jesus returns at the resurrection.
So at death, that part of the believer that is still dead is taken away, and he is presented faultless before Christ!
Paul laments this deadness and proclivity to sin in his own body, and asks the question, who shall deliver me from this body of sin?
The answer is, that God will deliver us all through Jesus Christ. The very same Spirit that raised up Jesus will quicken our mortal bodies one day soon.
So we are now alive in Christ, but our bodies are still, as it were, dead because of sin.
This is why Paul teaches that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Instead, our bodies must be raised unto new life, changed from corruptible to incorruptible, changed from mortal to immortal.
God is going to change our vile bodies like unto the glorious body of our Lord Jesus when He comes back for us. At that time, death for the saints is finally defeated in our own bodies.
God's power to save His people is through Jesus Christ, Who because we are flesh and blood, took part of the same. |
