I Corinthians 15:51

I Corinthians 15:51

“The Twinkling of an EYE”

I Corinthians 15:51-58, “Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 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. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. Ah yes a mystery. A mystery is something which hath been hid for ages past but now is made manifest. This mystery we call the rapture. Now the word rapture is not in the Bible but it comes a latin word. It would be much more accurate to call it the twinkling of an eye instead of calling it the rapture of the church.

We shall not all sleep. The Word sleep here means to be dead. The mystery is that not all the believers shall die but rather that they shall be changed. Changed how, changed in what way, what does it mean to be changed? The next several verses will go on to explain that the change is from corruptible to incorruptible and from mortal to immortality.

But before we look at that notice the phrase in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. This is something that is going to happen quickly. It will happen in the twinkling of an eye. I like the phrase in the twinkling of an eye more than the word rapture because the phrase in the twinkling of an eye is the exact words of the Bible. And it puts an emphasis on what God is going to do. On day Christ is going to look down at the church on this earth, His bride, and when he does His eye is going to twinkle. Because that is what the eye of a lover does when it looks upon his bride when the bride of Christ has become the beautiful woman that it should be, painted by the blood of martyrs, decked beautifully by all those who have suffered and sacrificed and laboured, then the eye of God shall twinkle and He shall come to deliver us from this present evil world.

There is another passage which describes the phrases in a moment, and in the twinkling of an eye. It is I Thessalonians 4:15-17 which says “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

Behold I shew you a mystery we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye the Lord shall descend from heaven the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. This gathering together is going to happen suddenly and quickly.

I Corinthians 15:53, “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”

Why the rapture, or rather the twinkling of an eye means to not have to suffer death. Incorruption and immortality is a glorified body. What a blessing of grace it would be indeed to be alive for the twinkling of an eye!.

We shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed. The God of all grace, hath called us unto his eternal glory. They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.This is incorruption and this is immortality to be like him changed from sinful corrupted flesh into the brightness of his eternal glory.

I Corinthians 15:54 says, “So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.” This verse is quoting the Old Testament, the book of Isaiah. In Isaiah’s day the mystery of the rapture was mentioned. How blessed we are indeed to have this truth revealed.

Death is swallowed up in victory but woe nay not yet it is not because when and not before when I am glorified when my body becomes a glorified body then death is swallowed up in victory.

Death has been called the last great enemy of mankind. Of course in thinking of death we should remember there are two kinds of death physical death and spiritual death. Through Jesus there is victory over both kinds of death without Jesus there is not.

“O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” How much suffering and sorrow death brings when we lose those that we love.

“the sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.” Why tis no wonder there is no sting nor victory left for death not for those who believe in Jesus Christ. Christ has washed away our sins with his blood when he died on the cross thus we say O death where is thy sting? If you die in your sins then the sting of death is there. But if you die knowing Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior death is nothing more than a doorway which you pass through into heaven.

“the sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law” The law is fulfilled in Christ His righteousness is imputed unto us there fore sin has lost its strength and death its sting.

“But that’s be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Even though this passage of scripture is dealing with the twinkling of an eye for those Christians who have died and for those generations which will die before the rapture there is still victory.

What a blessing of grace it would be to be one of the rapture ones one of the Christians who at the twinkling of an eye is taken to heaven. To not see death is something that has not happened since the time of Enoch who walked with God and was not for God took Him. As Christians we should hope for the twinkling of an eye. But even if we must face death we face it in victory because of Jesus Christ.

If you have never turned from your sins to Jesus please do so today and you too can have eternal life.

___________________________________________________