1 Corinthians 15:51 Commentary and Bible Study

I reveal to you a mystery; it will be no longer a mystery. Yes in the Old Testament, they knew about the resurrection. Job knew about the resurrection; David knew about the resurrection; but that is about all they knew. They didn't know the details of it. They didn't know the ‘when’; they didn't know the ‘how’. There was an awful lot they were not told. In that sense, it was kept a secret by God until New Testament times. So the apostle Paul can say, Now I show you what has hitherto been a mystery. The first element of the mystery – ‘We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.’ Certainly, that is an issue. People could ask, ‘When Christ comes, will there be Christians still alive on earth? Will they have to die before they are resurrected? No, says the apostle, we shall not all sleep, or die, but we shall all be changed, radically transformed. That doesn’t mean that Paul thinks the Lord is coming any minute in his time and that he will still be alive when that happens. He is including himself with the people of God in all ages, and saying that there will be those still alive when Christ returns who will not have to go through death. ‘In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye’, at the last trump.’ There's a sense in which this – one of the greatest verses of the Bible – has a disappointing element for preachers. It is not quite the same, but you could say, ‘in the blink of an eye.’ How is that disappointing to preachers? Well, the preacher can really describe that last day! ‘The trumpet shall sound’; ‘the voice of the archangel’, elsewhere in 1 Thessalonians. He can dwell upon this tremendous sound. Trumpet is obviously a metaphor, something vastly bigger and grander than a trumpet, a sound which at one the same time is so elating to the people of God, and so exciting, that it fills them with delight and anticipation. Christ is come: there is a sound which resounds all round the world and strikes alarm and terror into the heart of the unbeliever. Yes, but we cannot use any descriptive powers on this, and we cannot – as some preachers have done – spend time having this sound rolling round the world, and people responding and all sorts of things taking place, because, unfortunately, the apostle says it all happens in the blink of an eye. Spare the drama! But it is a fantastic event when Christ appears suddenly and his presence fills everything and his power and his glory. ‘And the dead shall be raised [in an instance] incorruptible [imperishable], and we shall be changed.’ Even unbelievers will be raised, but not to a glorious change. All will come forth from the grave; Christ says so. The resurrection of the just; the resurrection of the unjust. The ancient graves will be stirred and people will come forth in an instant.