by Timothy W. Burnett
The second Adam was and is Jesus Christ who is alive and in heaven. He has a uniquely different body from all other people and angels. We can see from the Gospel accounts that he was able to appear and disappear before people�s eyes. At the same time he was able to eat and drink and even allow his body to maintain certain conditions such as the nail holes in his hands.
Jesus Christ will have the authority to make the rest of mankind alive again in due time. His authority is from his Father who is the one true God who created the heavens and the earth. We continue.
�Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which was natural. And afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy. The second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy. And as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly� (verses 46-49).
The reference to the Lord being from heaven does not mean that Jesus Christ was literally in heaven with God since the very beginning. It means that Jesus� authority is from his Father who is the highest King from heaven. He also came from heaven in that he was conceived by God and not by a man.
It says that God�s born-again children will also bear the image of that which is from heaven, or Jesus Christ. Last week we ended with Philippians 3:21, �Who shall change our vile body, that it might be fashioned like unto his glorious body�� This is about the glorious body of our Lord Jesus Christ who is in heaven with God right now.
1Thessalonians 4:13-18 shines more light on this glorious future event. They who are alive at the time of Jesus Christ�s coming will not come before the dead in Christ. The Lord Jesus �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� Jesus Christ.�
It will be during the above mentioned event, when God�s children will be made like our Lord Jesus Christ. Next week we will look at 1Corinthians 15:50-58, which will provide more detail about the same event.
Home