However, once this fact is established, we must also add that, in the case of the Christian believer, the body that is resurrected undergoes certain definite and tremendous changes.

This whole question is raised and discussed by Paul.

“But someone will say, ‘How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?’ Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain – perhaps wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body.” (1 Cor. 15:35-38)

Here Paul uses the analogy of a grain of wheat planted in the ground to illustrate the relationship between the body that is buried and the body that is raised up in resurrection. Out of this analogy there emerge three facts which may be applied to the resurrection of the body.

There is direct continuity between the seed that is planted in the ground and the plant that later grows up out of the ground from that seed. The basic material of the original seed is still contained in the plant that grows up out of it.
The plant that grows up out of the original seed undergoes, in that process, certain definite and obvious changes. The outward form and appearance of the new plant is different from that of the original seed.
The nature of the original seed determines the nature of the plant that grows up out of it. Each kind of seed can produce only the kind of plant that is appropriate to it. A wheat seed can produce only a stalk of wheat; a barley seed can produce only a stalk of barley.

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Last week we considered the first phase of the resurrection, called by Paul “Christ the firstfruits.” We saw how exactly and completely the account of Christ’s resurrection given in the New Testament fulfilled the prophetic typology of the ordinance of the firstfruits as ordained for Israel in the Old Testament. We shall now go on to consider the second main phase of the resurrection – that which Paul refers to as “those who are Christ’s at His coming” (1 Cor. 15:23).

Notice carefully the exact phrases which Paul uses concerning this second phase of the resurrection. First, the Greek word here translated “coming” is parousia. This is the word mainly used throughout the New Testament to denote that aspect of Christ’s second coming which primarily concerns the Church – that is, Christ’s coming as the Bridegroom to take His bride, the Church, to Himself.

Second, we must notice how carefully Paul specifies those who will take part in this second phase of the resurrection. He says, “Those who are Christ’s.” This phrase indicates possession. It is equivalent to saying “those who belong to Christ.” This certainly does not include all those who make a profession of faith in Christ. It covers only those who have so fully and unreservedly yielded themselves to Christ that they are entirely His. They are no longer their own; they belong to Christ.

Paul describes a double “seal” that marks those who fulfil this requirement.

“Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: ‘The Lord knows those who are His,’ and, ‘Let everyone who names the

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