Asleep in Christ (Part 2): When Do They Get Up?

We saw in Part 1 that to be “asleep in Christ” refers to a born-again believer who is physically dead and awaits the return of Christ. That is when believers will “wake up”! That is our great hope for the future. Now let’s see more of the how and when those who are asleep in Christ will get up.

Now Is Christ Risen

I Corinthians 15:3-8:
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.
And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.

The Apostle Paul mentions some of the many eyewitnesses who saw Jesus Christ alive in his resurrected body. They include Cephas (Peter), the twelve apostles, more than five hundred believers at one time, James (Jesus’ half-brother), the apostles, and finally Paul (who had a vision of the risen Christ: Acts 9:3-6; 22:6-10; 26:12-18).

People are born again by believing that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead (Romans 10:9,10). The resurrection and ascension of Christ are real. Yesterday I was running along the ocean and met a man named Mike. He wasn’t sure that Jesus Christ had been raised. I shared with him that I had proof in my life that he was. I told him about the power of the holy spirit and some of its manifestations, like speaking in tongues and God giving us revelation on things we need to know. After describing a time where God clearly showed me how to protect myself from life-threatening danger, he understood.

I Corinthians 15:19,20:
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

If Jesus Christ didn’t really get up from the dead, we believe a lie and are miserably deceived. But Christ has risen from the dead. And he is coming back for all born-again believers—those who have died and those who are alive when he returns.

I Corinthians 15:51-54:
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
In a moment [atomos], 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.

Christians whose bodies have corrupted and decayed will get a new body. Believers who are alive will have their mortal bodies changed. This will happen in an “atom” of time. How exciting it is to anticipate this great event!

I Thessalonians 4:13-18:
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
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.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

We are sad when a believer dies, and we will miss them. But we don’t sorrow as those who don’t have the hope of Christ’s return. Since we believe that Jesus Christ died and rose again from the dead, we know that those who have died (asleep in Jesus) will also get up when he returns. Once again we see that the dead are raised and those alive are changed. And what will these new bodies be like?

Our New “Heavenly” Bodies

I Corinthians 15:44-50:
It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening [life-giving] spirit.
Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is 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.
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Adam, the first man, had a natural body made from the dust of the ground. He was alive because God breathed into his nostrils soul-life (Genesis 2:7). He was a living soul. When Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, he got a brand new spiritual body. The natural came before the spiritual.

It is the same for those of us who are born again. As we first bear a natural body that is animated by soul life, we will later have a spiritual body. We bear the “image of the earthy” because all of us go back genetically to Adam. All men are made of one common blood (Acts 17:26). We who are born again will also bear the “image of the heavenly,” our lord and savior, Jesus Christ.

Philipppians 3:20,21:
For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
Who shall change our vile body [because it is natural and earthy], that it may be fashioned like unto [become in the same form as] his glorious body [body of glory], according to the working [energizing] whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

We have the treasure of holy spirit in “earthen vessels” (II Corinthians 4:7), our physical bodies. That gift of spirit is called “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27) because it is a token of the glorious body we will have someday (Ephesians 1:13,14).

Just imagine what this new spiritual body “fashioned like unto his glorious body” will be like. During the forty days before his ascension, Jesus Christ appeared in this new body. He could eat, disappear, take on a form so that he was not recognized by some of his disciples. Truly, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (I Corinthians 2:9). Whatever these new, glorious bodies are like, we will have them for eternity!

I Thessalonians 4:17:
…and so shall we ever [always] be with the Lord.