The Dead in Christ Rising at His ComingBible World
15:511 Corinthians 15:51
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
The verse reveals the mystery that not all the righteous will sleep in death, but all will be changed. Sleep is death in the grave where the dead rest until awakened to life and immortality. The change takes place in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump when the trumpet sounds and the dead are raised incorruptible. It is a change from mortal and corruptible, subject to disease, to immortal, incorruptible and glorified, with bodies fashioned like Christ's most glorious body. At His personal glorious return the living righteous will be instantly transformed without dying while the dead are raised immortal, and together they are caught up to meet the Lord in the air, for mortal people cannot inherit God's everlasting kingdom without being fitted by this change.
Meaning and Context
The verse discloses a mystery that not all the righteous will die in sleep before the resurrection, but all will be changed at Christ's return. At the last trumpet the dead will be raised incorruptible and the living will be changed, with mortal and corruptible bodies putting on immortality and incorruption. This change brings death's defeat and fulfills the promise that death will be swallowed up in victory, with its sting and power gone. It belongs to the triumph of the resurrection morning, when the sleeping saints are raised to live forever with the Lord and receive immortality, and the righteous dead raised immortal together with the living saints changed at the same time are caught up to meet the Lord.
Sleep means death in the grave, where the dead rest as precious dust in their last resting place until the trump of God awakens them from slumber to life and immortality. For loved ones who belong to Christ, death is sleep and rest in Jesus, and they stay in that rest until Christ the Lifegiver comes to awaken His precious loved ones to a glorious immortality. The day of exile is nearly ended and the time is at hand when all sleeping in their graves will hear Christ's voice and come forth, some to everlasting life and some to final destruction. Christ will raise all His saints and change them by glorifying them with an immortal body and opening to them the gates of the city of God.
The change occurs in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump when the trumpet sounds and the dead are raised incorruptible. It comes when Jesus is seen in the clouds of heaven, after deliverance and the turning of captivity in distress and bondage, when a glorious light shines upon the tried saints and all marks of care and weariness are gone and health and beauty are seen in every countenance. At that same time the graves are opened and the trumpet awakens the sleeping saints, who come forth clothed with glorious immortality crying victory over death and the grave. Together the changed living and the risen saints are caught up to meet their Lord in the air with shouts of glory and victory on every immortal tongue, to remain with Him, and those who are holy and have followed Christ will welcome Him with joy. The saints alive at the last trump will thus be changed from mortal to immortal by God as the source of all natural and spiritual life and the believers' present strength and support, and all the pain that can be borne in that instant can be easily endured.
The change is from mortal and corruptible, subject to disease, to immortal and glorified and incorruptible, with this corruptible putting on incorruption and this mortal putting on immortality. It belongs to those who have purified their souls by obeying the truth, believed in Jesus Christ, and followed His example, and who will receive a higher nature. It is not a reason to fear, but calls for willingness either to live or die as God wills while longing for Christ's return. Changed bodies will be fashioned like Christ's most glorious body, and the hope of it makes Jesus' coming welcome. Then sin will have an end, and the changed will enjoy sanctification forever, with no devil to tempt and lead astray. Only those who come up to a higher plane of action and work from a higher standpoint than before will be among those looking for the Lord to come the second time to receive the finishing touch of immortality.
The verse belongs to Paul's teaching on the resurrection and the change from mortal to immortal life, explaining how the dead are raised and with what body they receive. Its grain illustration shows that the matter of the mortal body need not become the matter of the immortal body for personal identity to continue, because identity rests in organization rather than in the same particles. The promise applies especially to Christians alive on earth at Christ's second coming, not only to Paul and the Corinthian believers of his time. It will be fulfilled when the Christians of the last generation are translated to heaven without tasting death, while others will die and rest until the sleeping saints awake to immortality. The spiritual gifts were given for the perfecting of the saints and the edifying of the body of Christ till all come to unity of faith, knowledge of the Son of God, and perfection, and that purpose will only be fully realized when the last generation is brought to that unity, knowledge, and perfection by the last warning message and all the means God employs to prepare them for translation, with the church's gifts helping prepare them. The transfer to the future immortal life takes two forms: if alive, to be changed, and if in the grave, to be brought up from the grave. Being in position for that transfer requires spiritual knowledge and spiritual experience now in order to face the future and meet opposition.
Change at Second Coming
At Christ's personal, glorious return the righteous living will be instantly transformed without dying while the righteous dead are raised immortal, and together they are caught up to meet the Lord in the air and remain with Him forever. The change of the living happens at the same time as the resurrection, when Christ descends with the trumpet, and the living are gathered with the resurrected righteous and carried by angels from the earth. The faithful living will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, as the graves open and the saints rise immortal to join them in being caught up together.
The event comes with Christ descending on the cloud wrapped in flames of fire with the sound of His silver trumpet and His voice calling to those sleeping in the dust to awake and arise. Then in a mighty earthquake the graves open and the dead come up clothed with glorious immortality, while in that same moment the living righteous are changed and caught up together with the risen saints to meet the Lord in the air. This follows the voice of God shaking the heavens and the earth and delivering the tried saints from distress and bondage under a death decree, with buildings thrown down and a triumphant shout and glorious light, while enemies fall like dead men unable to endure the light on the delivered holy ones. Amid music thousands of thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand angels encircle Christ, and the saints ascend in the cloudy chariot with wings on either side and wheels beneath, rolling upward amid cries of Holy from wheels, wings and angels and Glory, Alleluia from the saints. At that same time those who acted the most prominent part in rejecting and crucifying Christ are raised to see Him as He is and to see the saints glorified, and they mourn.
At the change all marks of care and weariness are gone and health and beauty are seen in every countenance, from glory to glory when Jesus is seen in the clouds of heaven. The change removes the effects of disease and death, with every deformity removed by the Life-giver's healing touch and pain all gone, giving eternal life. Together the changed living and the dead saints come forth clothed with immortality crying victory over death and the grave, with shouts of glory and victory on every immortal tongue as they are caught up to meet their Lord in the air.
Together the changed living and risen saints are taken upward to the holy city, where Jesus opens the gates and leads them in because they kept the commandments of God and have right to the tree of life. They ascend with songs of gladness, enter the city and receive harps and crowns and welcome, with the crown of life and thrones, to sit with Christ upon His throne as He sits upon His Father's throne. Then they take every crown from their heads and cast it at the feet of Jesus in praise and glory to the Redeemer, to see the King in His beauty and Jesus in His glory and majesty. This change and entry into the city come before the thousand years, when Jesus and the saints sit together in judgment with the books opened before the city descends to earth.
The changed will recognize friends and loved ones, for the change transforms saints into His glorious image without destroying personal identity or the human image. Every family relationship among saints will continue in mutual knowledge of one another, and they will enter glorious companionship with heavenly angels with the veil between mortality and immortality rent away. A buried husband will be met again not in the poor body that went into the grave but in an immortal, glorious body, so that mourning partings and present sorrow following loved ones to the grave give way to reunion, comfort and joy.
The change brings death's defeat and fulfills the promise that death will be swallowed up in victory, when at the last trumpet the dead are raised incorruptible and mortal and corruptible bodies put on immortality and incorruption. Its sting and power are gone, for the Lifegiver crowns with immortality all who come forth from the grave. On that morning Satan's triumph ends and Christ triumphs with glory and honor.
Even those who are mentally broken, childlike in understanding, and innocent will be restored to wholeness in the change to inherit future immortal life. They come forth from their graves crowned with glory, honor, and immortality, with a crown of glory on every brow and joy beaming from every countenance, supported by His arm through the dark valley of the shadow of death. The redeemed rejoice in the unfading glories of the earth made new in an endless life of unalloyed happiness.
Types and Witnesses
Elijah, translated without seeing death, is the type and representative of the living saints who at the second advent will be changed from mortal to immortal without tasting death and translated to heaven, while Moses, who died and was raised, represents those who will be raised from the dead at the second appearing of Jesus. The verse means that those alive in Christ at His coming will not die before being changed, but will be instantly changed to immortality and taken to heaven, distinct from those who come forth from the grave. This applies to the saints living on earth at the close of earth's history, who will be changed without tasting death.
Moses and Elijah standing with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration displayed in miniature the kingdom of the redeemed and the future kingdom of glory, with Christ the King, Moses for the risen saints and Elijah for the translated ones. Together they are a witness to Christ's victory over sin and death, showing mortality becoming immortality and corruptibility becoming incorruption for the living without dying.
Enoch's translation to heaven before the world was destroyed by water pictures the translation of all the living righteous from the earth before its destruction by fire. Those alive on earth when Christ comes the second time will be translated without seeing death and will all be changed instantly at the last trump, borne by angels to heaven as Enoch was borne without dying. At that translation the saints will be glorified in the presence of those who hated them for loyal obedience to God's righteous commandments, having separated from the world and unrighteous practices, sought purity of thought and holy conformity to God's will until His image is reflected in them, and warned the world by holy conversation and godly example.
The resurrection of Jesus is the sample of the great resurrection day, showing that although humanity has fallen under death, people can live again because death is conquered. The people raised when Jesus rose were a pledge of the future resurrection and a witness to victory over death, when God's voice and the trumpet will call the righteous dead from their graves to immortal life and they will be changed. The raising of Lazarus represents and pledges that resurrection of all the righteous dead, when at the second coming the righteous dead shall be raised incorruptible and the living righteous translated without seeing death by the Saviour's power as Author of the resurrection and the Life-giver. Those who have fallen asleep in Jesus will then be raised to glorious immortality, ascend to the city of God, and see the King in His beauty.
Doctrinal Implications
The resurrection is essential to Christian hope, for the dead do not already enjoy their full reward in heaven but sleep in the grave until Christ comes. The promise that the living will be changed as well as the dead raised shows that future blessedness depends on His return and the resurrection, not on receiving immortal life at death. The dead rest as sleepers to be clothed with glorious immortal life when He comes, with living and dead receiving the change together.
Human beings do not now possess immortality in themselves; all the immortality now held is by faith in hope of the future gift. That hope becomes actual at the appearing of Christ when the change takes place. It is then possessed in reality when the redeemed rest in the holy city and reign as kings and priests through the thousand years.
Mortal and corruptible people in their present state cannot inherit God's everlasting kingdom, so the change to incorruptible immortality is required to fit them to inherit it. At Christ's personal return the righteous living will be changed rather than die, while the righteous dead are raised incorruptible, and all put on immortality at the last trumpet. Thus made immortal, they are ready to enter the city and see the King.
This bodily change from corruptible to incorruptible is the second stage of redemption and the finishing touch of immortality, not a moral change. It is only the changing of corruptible bodies into immortal bodies fashioned like Christ's most glorious body, not a purifying and refining of character to fit men for heaven. All hewing, fitting and polishing of character must be done beforehand on earth during probation, as stones for Solomon's temple were fitted in the quarry before being laid without ax or hammer, and only a symmetrical and perfect character entitles men to that finishing touch. The character formed through a lifetime is fixed at His coming and is not altered by the change, so that if a defect even in one particular has not been overcome before He comes the person loses heaven, while one who has barely overcome at the last extremity is still saved with character as it is. Those translated will therefore be translated with the character they have formed in this life, which is why preparation means seeking perfection now through sanctified speech and purified thoughts, with moral fitness gained in this life through the lifetime God has given.
The change transforms saints into Christ's glorious image and likeness without destroying personal identity or the human image. Because He died and was raised, the redeemed come forth from the tomb from mortality to immortality to glorious companionship with heavenly angels. They will recognize the faces of loved ones, and every family relationship among saints on earth will continue in mutual knowledge in heaven. The veil between mortality and immortality will be rent away, the Bible will be understood in a higher, broader, clearer sense, and they will see His face.
At His second coming in glory and splendor Christ comes as the Life-giver to raise the dead and change the living. This work stands in connection with His life and sufferings and His declaration that He is the resurrection and the life. The hope that the dead will rise at the last trumpet, freed from the grave and awakened to glorious immortal life, comforts believers grieving for the dead. The faithful still alive will be changed and receive immortality, but will not precede the righteous dead who first rise, showing that death does not keep the righteous from sharing the immortal life He brings when He as Life-giver calls them to life in glory.
Timing and Order
The resurrection of the dead saints and the change of the living saints take place after all seven last plagues are poured out on the earth and prior to the second advent, and knowing that order presses with greater force the command to watch and pray always to be counted worthy to escape all these coming things and to stand before the Son of man.
The change follows the voice of God, the mighty earthquake, darkness, and the time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, when deliverance turns captivity for the tried saints. After the voice shakes the heavens and the earth and delivers them from distress and bondage under a death decree, with a mighty earthquake that throws down buildings, the faithful living are changed instantly from glory to glory just before Jesus is seen in the clouds of heaven. The clouds of heaven clash in darkness, then a voice from heaven rolls the clouds back like a scroll to reveal the bright, clear sign of the Son of man, which the children of God recognize, while a triumphant shout and glorious light remove all weariness and marks of care and give health and beauty to the delivered holy ones. Enemies fall like dead men unable to endure the light resting on the delivered saints, while amid music the graves are opened and the dead are raised, with thousands of thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand angels encircling Christ, and the changed living are then united with the saints raised immortal crying victory over death and the grave to be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air with shouts of glory and victory on every immortal tongue.
The change and entry into the city come before the thousand years, when Jesus and the saints sit together in judgment with the books opened before the city descends to earth. At the voice of God the living saints become mighty and terrible as an army with banners, but they do not then execute the judgment written. They are changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and are caught up with the sleeping saints who are raised, and receive their harps and crowns and enter the city, and only after that change and entry do Jesus and the saints sit together in judgment through the thousand years.
At that same time those who acted the most prominent part in rejecting and crucifying Christ are raised to see Him in glory and the saints glorified. Those who put on Him the purple robe and the crown of thorns and nailed His hands and feet, who pierced, scourged and crucified Him, are raised to see Him as He is in His return in glory and to see the saints glorified, and they mourn. At the deliverance of God's people the faithful dead are also raised and glorified, and among them are those who died in faith under the third angel's message while keeping the Sabbath. The last trumpet announces the event when the dead come from their graves clothed with immortality to meet their Lord.
Not all believers will live until Jesus comes; some will still be alive on earth and will be translated, while others will have gone to the grave and fallen asleep in death to rest in hope until the glorious resurrection morning. The promise of the final change embraces both the living and the dead. Those who do not live until He comes are still to work on faithfully until death bids them lay off the armor. Those who die before His return must be ready for the change to eternal life, for people whose probation closes and are laid in the grave unprepared will not be fit for that final change, so readiness must be made before death and not left for a later outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Preparation must be sought now because no one knows how long life will be spared, and some faithful soldiers will be laid in the grave through overtoil and rest there till the morning of the resurrection, blessed as those who die in the Lord who rest from their labors while their works follow them.
At Christ's voice, when the day of exile is nearly ended and the promised change is at hand, all sleeping in their graves will hear and come forth, some to everlasting life and some to final destruction. Christ will raise all His saints and glorify them with an immortal body and open to them the gates of the city of God.
Those waiting for Him in 1844 believed without doubt that when Jesus comes He will raise the dead and change the living saints to immortality and then take the kingdom and possess it forever and give deliverance and the everlasting kingdom then. Those accepted with God, with Jesus' image reflected in them through full sacrifice and entire consecration, waited with fasting, watching and almost constant prayer in holy solemnity, placing their affections on heaven and tasting immortal deliverance in sweet anticipation. Yet the time they anticipated passed while they remained on earth where the effects of the curse remain visible, without deliverance, leaving their hopes unrealized in sad disappointment like the disciples who had lost their Lord.
Preparation and Hope
The change at the coming is only the changing of corruptible bodies into immortal bodies fashioned like the most glorious body, not a purifying and refining of character to fit for heaven. All hewing, fitting and polishing of character must be done beforehand on earth during probation, as stones for Solomon's temple were fitted in the quarry before being laid without ax or hammer. Only a symmetrical and perfect character entitles to the finishing touch of immortality, which is given to those who have followed earnestly and faithfully, purified their souls by obeying the truth, believed, followed the example, come up to a higher plane of action and worked from a higher standpoint. Both the resurrected and those alive at the coming will be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air, each fitted for the great change and taking proper place in the temple of God, and everyone no matter who or what, ministers and presidents of conferences included, lives under the eye of Jehovah and must find out whether ways please the Lord in preparation for that last change.
Those thus changed must first attain Enoch's godly character, purity of heart, conformity to God's will, and likeness of Christ in the midst of prevailing iniquity. Enoch's translation before the destruction of the world by water pictures the translation of the living righteous before destruction by fire, and his close connection with God shows such a holy life is possible for anyone. Loyal people in the last days will separate from the world and unrighteous practices, not conform to the spirit and customs of unbelievers, seek purity of thought and holy conformity until the divine image is reflected, walk in continual communion with the abiding presence of Christ, seek close relation and trust with consequences of doing right, and while fitting for heaven will instruct and warn the world and condemn unbelievers by holy conversation and godly example. At translation the saints will be glorified in the presence of those who hated them for loyal obedience, and such walkers will either be translated without dying or come forth from the grave changed to dwell through eternal ages, with the faithful dead coming up in the first resurrection.
Moral fitness for that change must be gained now, and hygienic reform, Christian temperance, and purity of soul, body and spirit are part of present preparation for bodies changed to immortality. Those claiming to be preparing for translation must make diet of the most simple kind now, eating grains and fruits prepared free from grease and in as natural condition as possible, not placing meat before children because it excites and strengthens lower passions and deadens moral powers. Becoming a butcher is inconsistent with that preparation because the work tends to debase and let lower propensities overpower the spiritual. Preparation for gathering by Christ at the last trump takes place now in the home, where children closely follow example set in word and deed, and right living helps parents and children be ready. Since the translated keep the character formed in this life, preparation means seeking perfection now through sanctified speech and purified thoughts, denying self in every way to help send truth where it will be received and give its light to all that can be reached, because only very little time remains to work.
The hope of receiving the finishing touch of immortality and being translated calls for keeping sound judgment, a sense of Christian duty, and dignity belonging to followers, rather than submitting to degrading man-made tests of humility. God does not require groveling exercises such as creeping as a religious duty, but gives elevating tests and duties in His Word. Living aright now ensures living on to be made immortal when the Lord comes.
The change is transformation by renewing of the heart, with the character of Christ becoming the individual character by carefully studying the Word, eating it, digesting it, making it part of being and living it, and this alone is safety so nothing can prevail to separate a living Christian from God. At the change from mortal to immortal all deeds of sanctified goodness will be made manifest and preserved through eternal ages. Love, courtesy, amiability are never lost, and not one good deed however small or simple is ever lost; cherishing the attributes of Christ immortalizes goodness, and through merits of imputed righteousness these deeds preserve their fragrance.
The great event of opened graves, raised dead and changed people should occupy the mind and lead to use of opportunities to prepare for future immortal life. Being in position for that transfer — if alive, to be changed, and if in the grave, to be brought up — requires spiritual knowledge and spiritual experience now in order to face the future and meet opposition. Preparation must be sought now because no one knows how long life will be spared, and some faithful soldiers laid in the grave through overtoil will rest there till the morning of the resurrection, blessed as those who die in the Lord who rest from labors while works follow them.
The living will be changed from mortal to immortal in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, when He comes in the clouds with power and great glory to take children home. In that welcome day vile bodies will be changed and fashioned like the most glorious body, then sin will have an end and the changed will enjoy sanctification forever with no devil to tempt and lead astray, and all pain that can be borne in that instant can be easily endured. Those who live nearest to the Lord most earnestly long for His appearing and desire the wheels of time to roll swiftly to bring it, willing either to live or die as God wills, welcoming the return and ready to meet Him.
True religion never degrades the receiver but prepares for being changed when He comes in judgment, following His present work of pleading human cases with the Father as the ladder joining sin-separated earth to heaven. Until that change to future life no one ever graduates from the Word; believers must stay learners all earthly life if they are to be teachers presenting things new and old, continually discovering rich veins of precious ore as priceless treasure, spending no moment in indolence but keeping hearts open for the Spirit to rest upon them, and after the change learning will go on through all eternity.
The verse reveals the mystery that not all the righteous will sleep in death, but all will be changed. Sleep is death in the grave where the dead rest until awakened to life and immortality. The change takes place in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump when the trumpet sounds and the dead are raised incorruptible. It is a change from mortal and corruptible, subject to disease, to immortal, incorruptible and glorified, with bodies fashioned like Christ's most glorious body. At His personal glorious return the living righteous will be instantly transformed without dying while the dead are raised immortal, and together they are caught up to meet the Lord in the air, for mortal people cannot inherit God's everlasting kingdom without being fitted by this change.
Meaning and Context
The verse discloses a mystery that not all the righteous will die in sleep before the resurrection, but all will be changed at Christ's return. At the last trumpet the dead will be raised incorruptible and the living will be changed, with mortal and corruptible bodies putting on immortality and incorruption. This change brings death's defeat and fulfills the promise that death will be swallowed up in victory, with its sting and power gone. It belongs to the triumph of the resurrection morning, when the sleeping saints are raised to live forever with the Lord and receive immortality, and the righteous dead raised immortal together with the living saints changed at the same time are caught up to meet the Lord.
Sleep means death in the grave, where the dead rest as precious dust in their last resting place until the trump of God awakens them from slumber to life and immortality. For loved ones who belong to Christ, death is sleep and rest in Jesus, and they stay in that rest until Christ the Lifegiver comes to awaken His precious loved ones to a glorious immortality. The day of exile is nearly ended and the time is at hand when all sleeping in their graves will hear Christ's voice and come forth, some to everlasting life and some to final destruction. Christ will raise all His saints and change them by glorifying them with an immortal body and opening to them the gates of the city of God.
The change occurs in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump when the trumpet sounds and the dead are raised incorruptible. It comes when Jesus is seen in the clouds of heaven, after deliverance and the turning of captivity in distress and bondage, when a glorious light shines upon the tried saints and all marks of care and weariness are gone and health and beauty are seen in every countenance. At that same time the graves are opened and the trumpet awakens the sleeping saints, who come forth clothed with glorious immortality crying victory over death and the grave. Together the changed living and the risen saints are caught up to meet their Lord in the air with shouts of glory and victory on every immortal tongue, to remain with Him, and those who are holy and have followed Christ will welcome Him with joy. The saints alive at the last trump will thus be changed from mortal to immortal by God as the source of all natural and spiritual life and the believers' present strength and support, and all the pain that can be borne in that instant can be easily endured.
The change is from mortal and corruptible, subject to disease, to immortal and glorified and incorruptible, with this corruptible putting on incorruption and this mortal putting on immortality. It belongs to those who have purified their souls by obeying the truth, believed in Jesus Christ, and followed His example, and who will receive a higher nature. It is not a reason to fear, but calls for willingness either to live or die as God wills while longing for Christ's return. Changed bodies will be fashioned like Christ's most glorious body, and the hope of it makes Jesus' coming welcome. Then sin will have an end, and the changed will enjoy sanctification forever, with no devil to tempt and lead astray. Only those who come up to a higher plane of action and work from a higher standpoint than before will be among those looking for the Lord to come the second time to receive the finishing touch of immortality.
The verse belongs to Paul's teaching on the resurrection and the change from mortal to immortal life, explaining how the dead are raised and with what body they receive. Its grain illustration shows that the matter of the mortal body need not become the matter of the immortal body for personal identity to continue, because identity rests in organization rather than in the same particles. The promise applies especially to Christians alive on earth at Christ's second coming, not only to Paul and the Corinthian believers of his time. It will be fulfilled when the Christians of the last generation are translated to heaven without tasting death, while others will die and rest until the sleeping saints awake to immortality. The spiritual gifts were given for the perfecting of the saints and the edifying of the body of Christ till all come to unity of faith, knowledge of the Son of God, and perfection, and that purpose will only be fully realized when the last generation is brought to that unity, knowledge, and perfection by the last warning message and all the means God employs to prepare them for translation, with the church's gifts helping prepare them. The transfer to the future immortal life takes two forms: if alive, to be changed, and if in the grave, to be brought up from the grave. Being in position for that transfer requires spiritual knowledge and spiritual experience now in order to face the future and meet opposition.
Change at Second Coming
At Christ's personal, glorious return the righteous living will be instantly transformed without dying while the righteous dead are raised immortal, and together they are caught up to meet the Lord in the air and remain with Him forever. The change of the living happens at the same time as the resurrection, when Christ descends with the trumpet, and the living are gathered with the resurrected righteous and carried by angels from the earth. The faithful living will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, as the graves open and the saints rise immortal to join them in being caught up together.
The event comes with Christ descending on the cloud wrapped in flames of fire with the sound of His silver trumpet and His voice calling to those sleeping in the dust to awake and arise. Then in a mighty earthquake the graves open and the dead come up clothed with glorious immortality, while in that same moment the living righteous are changed and caught up together with the risen saints to meet the Lord in the air. This follows the voice of God shaking the heavens and the earth and delivering the tried saints from distress and bondage under a death decree, with buildings thrown down and a triumphant shout and glorious light, while enemies fall like dead men unable to endure the light on the delivered holy ones. Amid music thousands of thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand angels encircle Christ, and the saints ascend in the cloudy chariot with wings on either side and wheels beneath, rolling upward amid cries of Holy from wheels, wings and angels and Glory, Alleluia from the saints. At that same time those who acted the most prominent part in rejecting and crucifying Christ are raised to see Him as He is and to see the saints glorified, and they mourn.
At the change all marks of care and weariness are gone and health and beauty are seen in every countenance, from glory to glory when Jesus is seen in the clouds of heaven. The change removes the effects of disease and death, with every deformity removed by the Life-giver's healing touch and pain all gone, giving eternal life. Together the changed living and the dead saints come forth clothed with immortality crying victory over death and the grave, with shouts of glory and victory on every immortal tongue as they are caught up to meet their Lord in the air.
Together the changed living and risen saints are taken upward to the holy city, where Jesus opens the gates and leads them in because they kept the commandments of God and have right to the tree of life. They ascend with songs of gladness, enter the city and receive harps and crowns and welcome, with the crown of life and thrones, to sit with Christ upon His throne as He sits upon His Father's throne. Then they take every crown from their heads and cast it at the feet of Jesus in praise and glory to the Redeemer, to see the King in His beauty and Jesus in His glory and majesty. This change and entry into the city come before the thousand years, when Jesus and the saints sit together in judgment with the books opened before the city descends to earth.
The changed will recognize friends and loved ones, for the change transforms saints into His glorious image without destroying personal identity or the human image. Every family relationship among saints will continue in mutual knowledge of one another, and they will enter glorious companionship with heavenly angels with the veil between mortality and immortality rent away. A buried husband will be met again not in the poor body that went into the grave but in an immortal, glorious body, so that mourning partings and present sorrow following loved ones to the grave give way to reunion, comfort and joy.
The change brings death's defeat and fulfills the promise that death will be swallowed up in victory, when at the last trumpet the dead are raised incorruptible and mortal and corruptible bodies put on immortality and incorruption. Its sting and power are gone, for the Lifegiver crowns with immortality all who come forth from the grave. On that morning Satan's triumph ends and Christ triumphs with glory and honor.
Even those who are mentally broken, childlike in understanding, and innocent will be restored to wholeness in the change to inherit future immortal life. They come forth from their graves crowned with glory, honor, and immortality, with a crown of glory on every brow and joy beaming from every countenance, supported by His arm through the dark valley of the shadow of death. The redeemed rejoice in the unfading glories of the earth made new in an endless life of unalloyed happiness.
Types and Witnesses
Elijah, translated without seeing death, is the type and representative of the living saints who at the second advent will be changed from mortal to immortal without tasting death and translated to heaven, while Moses, who died and was raised, represents those who will be raised from the dead at the second appearing of Jesus. The verse means that those alive in Christ at His coming will not die before being changed, but will be instantly changed to immortality and taken to heaven, distinct from those who come forth from the grave. This applies to the saints living on earth at the close of earth's history, who will be changed without tasting death.
Moses and Elijah standing with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration displayed in miniature the kingdom of the redeemed and the future kingdom of glory, with Christ the King, Moses for the risen saints and Elijah for the translated ones. Together they are a witness to Christ's victory over sin and death, showing mortality becoming immortality and corruptibility becoming incorruption for the living without dying.
Enoch's translation to heaven before the world was destroyed by water pictures the translation of all the living righteous from the earth before its destruction by fire. Those alive on earth when Christ comes the second time will be translated without seeing death and will all be changed instantly at the last trump, borne by angels to heaven as Enoch was borne without dying. At that translation the saints will be glorified in the presence of those who hated them for loyal obedience to God's righteous commandments, having separated from the world and unrighteous practices, sought purity of thought and holy conformity to God's will until His image is reflected in them, and warned the world by holy conversation and godly example.
The resurrection of Jesus is the sample of the great resurrection day, showing that although humanity has fallen under death, people can live again because death is conquered. The people raised when Jesus rose were a pledge of the future resurrection and a witness to victory over death, when God's voice and the trumpet will call the righteous dead from their graves to immortal life and they will be changed. The raising of Lazarus represents and pledges that resurrection of all the righteous dead, when at the second coming the righteous dead shall be raised incorruptible and the living righteous translated without seeing death by the Saviour's power as Author of the resurrection and the Life-giver. Those who have fallen asleep in Jesus will then be raised to glorious immortality, ascend to the city of God, and see the King in His beauty.
Doctrinal Implications
The resurrection is essential to Christian hope, for the dead do not already enjoy their full reward in heaven but sleep in the grave until Christ comes. The promise that the living will be changed as well as the dead raised shows that future blessedness depends on His return and the resurrection, not on receiving immortal life at death. The dead rest as sleepers to be clothed with glorious immortal life when He comes, with living and dead receiving the change together.
Human beings do not now possess immortality in themselves; all the immortality now held is by faith in hope of the future gift. That hope becomes actual at the appearing of Christ when the change takes place. It is then possessed in reality when the redeemed rest in the holy city and reign as kings and priests through the thousand years.
Mortal and corruptible people in their present state cannot inherit God's everlasting kingdom, so the change to incorruptible immortality is required to fit them to inherit it. At Christ's personal return the righteous living will be changed rather than die, while the righteous dead are raised incorruptible, and all put on immortality at the last trumpet. Thus made immortal, they are ready to enter the city and see the King.
This bodily change from corruptible to incorruptible is the second stage of redemption and the finishing touch of immortality, not a moral change. It is only the changing of corruptible bodies into immortal bodies fashioned like Christ's most glorious body, not a purifying and refining of character to fit men for heaven. All hewing, fitting and polishing of character must be done beforehand on earth during probation, as stones for Solomon's temple were fitted in the quarry before being laid without ax or hammer, and only a symmetrical and perfect character entitles men to that finishing touch. The character formed through a lifetime is fixed at His coming and is not altered by the change, so that if a defect even in one particular has not been overcome before He comes the person loses heaven, while one who has barely overcome at the last extremity is still saved with character as it is. Those translated will therefore be translated with the character they have formed in this life, which is why preparation means seeking perfection now through sanctified speech and purified thoughts, with moral fitness gained in this life through the lifetime God has given.
The change transforms saints into Christ's glorious image and likeness without destroying personal identity or the human image. Because He died and was raised, the redeemed come forth from the tomb from mortality to immortality to glorious companionship with heavenly angels. They will recognize the faces of loved ones, and every family relationship among saints on earth will continue in mutual knowledge in heaven. The veil between mortality and immortality will be rent away, the Bible will be understood in a higher, broader, clearer sense, and they will see His face.
At His second coming in glory and splendor Christ comes as the Life-giver to raise the dead and change the living. This work stands in connection with His life and sufferings and His declaration that He is the resurrection and the life. The hope that the dead will rise at the last trumpet, freed from the grave and awakened to glorious immortal life, comforts believers grieving for the dead. The faithful still alive will be changed and receive immortality, but will not precede the righteous dead who first rise, showing that death does not keep the righteous from sharing the immortal life He brings when He as Life-giver calls them to life in glory.
Timing and Order
The resurrection of the dead saints and the change of the living saints take place after all seven last plagues are poured out on the earth and prior to the second advent, and knowing that order presses with greater force the command to watch and pray always to be counted worthy to escape all these coming things and to stand before the Son of man.
The change follows the voice of God, the mighty earthquake, darkness, and the time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, when deliverance turns captivity for the tried saints. After the voice shakes the heavens and the earth and delivers them from distress and bondage under a death decree, with a mighty earthquake that throws down buildings, the faithful living are changed instantly from glory to glory just before Jesus is seen in the clouds of heaven. The clouds of heaven clash in darkness, then a voice from heaven rolls the clouds back like a scroll to reveal the bright, clear sign of the Son of man, which the children of God recognize, while a triumphant shout and glorious light remove all weariness and marks of care and give health and beauty to the delivered holy ones. Enemies fall like dead men unable to endure the light resting on the delivered saints, while amid music the graves are opened and the dead are raised, with thousands of thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand angels encircling Christ, and the changed living are then united with the saints raised immortal crying victory over death and the grave to be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air with shouts of glory and victory on every immortal tongue.
The change and entry into the city come before the thousand years, when Jesus and the saints sit together in judgment with the books opened before the city descends to earth. At the voice of God the living saints become mighty and terrible as an army with banners, but they do not then execute the judgment written. They are changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and are caught up with the sleeping saints who are raised, and receive their harps and crowns and enter the city, and only after that change and entry do Jesus and the saints sit together in judgment through the thousand years.
At that same time those who acted the most prominent part in rejecting and crucifying Christ are raised to see Him in glory and the saints glorified. Those who put on Him the purple robe and the crown of thorns and nailed His hands and feet, who pierced, scourged and crucified Him, are raised to see Him as He is in His return in glory and to see the saints glorified, and they mourn. At the deliverance of God's people the faithful dead are also raised and glorified, and among them are those who died in faith under the third angel's message while keeping the Sabbath. The last trumpet announces the event when the dead come from their graves clothed with immortality to meet their Lord.
Not all believers will live until Jesus comes; some will still be alive on earth and will be translated, while others will have gone to the grave and fallen asleep in death to rest in hope until the glorious resurrection morning. The promise of the final change embraces both the living and the dead. Those who do not live until He comes are still to work on faithfully until death bids them lay off the armor. Those who die before His return must be ready for the change to eternal life, for people whose probation closes and are laid in the grave unprepared will not be fit for that final change, so readiness must be made before death and not left for a later outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Preparation must be sought now because no one knows how long life will be spared, and some faithful soldiers will be laid in the grave through overtoil and rest there till the morning of the resurrection, blessed as those who die in the Lord who rest from their labors while their works follow them.
At Christ's voice, when the day of exile is nearly ended and the promised change is at hand, all sleeping in their graves will hear and come forth, some to everlasting life and some to final destruction. Christ will raise all His saints and glorify them with an immortal body and open to them the gates of the city of God.
Those waiting for Him in 1844 believed without doubt that when Jesus comes He will raise the dead and change the living saints to immortality and then take the kingdom and possess it forever and give deliverance and the everlasting kingdom then. Those accepted with God, with Jesus' image reflected in them through full sacrifice and entire consecration, waited with fasting, watching and almost constant prayer in holy solemnity, placing their affections on heaven and tasting immortal deliverance in sweet anticipation. Yet the time they anticipated passed while they remained on earth where the effects of the curse remain visible, without deliverance, leaving their hopes unrealized in sad disappointment like the disciples who had lost their Lord.
Preparation and Hope
The change at the coming is only the changing of corruptible bodies into immortal bodies fashioned like the most glorious body, not a purifying and refining of character to fit for heaven. All hewing, fitting and polishing of character must be done beforehand on earth during probation, as stones for Solomon's temple were fitted in the quarry before being laid without ax or hammer. Only a symmetrical and perfect character entitles to the finishing touch of immortality, which is given to those who have followed earnestly and faithfully, purified their souls by obeying the truth, believed, followed the example, come up to a higher plane of action and worked from a higher standpoint. Both the resurrected and those alive at the coming will be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air, each fitted for the great change and taking proper place in the temple of God, and everyone no matter who or what, ministers and presidents of conferences included, lives under the eye of Jehovah and must find out whether ways please the Lord in preparation for that last change.
Those thus changed must first attain Enoch's godly character, purity of heart, conformity to God's will, and likeness of Christ in the midst of prevailing iniquity. Enoch's translation before the destruction of the world by water pictures the translation of the living righteous before destruction by fire, and his close connection with God shows such a holy life is possible for anyone. Loyal people in the last days will separate from the world and unrighteous practices, not conform to the spirit and customs of unbelievers, seek purity of thought and holy conformity until the divine image is reflected, walk in continual communion with the abiding presence of Christ, seek close relation and trust with consequences of doing right, and while fitting for heaven will instruct and warn the world and condemn unbelievers by holy conversation and godly example. At translation the saints will be glorified in the presence of those who hated them for loyal obedience, and such walkers will either be translated without dying or come forth from the grave changed to dwell through eternal ages, with the faithful dead coming up in the first resurrection.
Moral fitness for that change must be gained now, and hygienic reform, Christian temperance, and purity of soul, body and spirit are part of present preparation for bodies changed to immortality. Those claiming to be preparing for translation must make diet of the most simple kind now, eating grains and fruits prepared free from grease and in as natural condition as possible, not placing meat before children because it excites and strengthens lower passions and deadens moral powers. Becoming a butcher is inconsistent with that preparation because the work tends to debase and let lower propensities overpower the spiritual. Preparation for gathering by Christ at the last trump takes place now in the home, where children closely follow example set in word and deed, and right living helps parents and children be ready. Since the translated keep the character formed in this life, preparation means seeking perfection now through sanctified speech and purified thoughts, denying self in every way to help send truth where it will be received and give its light to all that can be reached, because only very little time remains to work.
The hope of receiving the finishing touch of immortality and being translated calls for keeping sound judgment, a sense of Christian duty, and dignity belonging to followers, rather than submitting to degrading man-made tests of humility. God does not require groveling exercises such as creeping as a religious duty, but gives elevating tests and duties in His Word. Living aright now ensures living on to be made immortal when the Lord comes.
The change is transformation by renewing of the heart, with the character of Christ becoming the individual character by carefully studying the Word, eating it, digesting it, making it part of being and living it, and this alone is safety so nothing can prevail to separate a living Christian from God. At the change from mortal to immortal all deeds of sanctified goodness will be made manifest and preserved through eternal ages. Love, courtesy, amiability are never lost, and not one good deed however small or simple is ever lost; cherishing the attributes of Christ immortalizes goodness, and through merits of imputed righteousness these deeds preserve their fragrance.
The great event of opened graves, raised dead and changed people should occupy the mind and lead to use of opportunities to prepare for future immortal life. Being in position for that transfer — if alive, to be changed, and if in the grave, to be brought up — requires spiritual knowledge and spiritual experience now in order to face the future and meet opposition. Preparation must be sought now because no one knows how long life will be spared, and some faithful soldiers laid in the grave through overtoil will rest there till the morning of the resurrection, blessed as those who die in the Lord who rest from labors while works follow them.
The living will be changed from mortal to immortal in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, when He comes in the clouds with power and great glory to take children home. In that welcome day vile bodies will be changed and fashioned like the most glorious body, then sin will have an end and the changed will enjoy sanctification forever with no devil to tempt and lead astray, and all pain that can be borne in that instant can be easily endured. Those who live nearest to the Lord most earnestly long for His appearing and desire the wheels of time to roll swiftly to bring it, willing either to live or die as God wills, welcoming the return and ready to meet Him.
True religion never degrades the receiver but prepares for being changed when He comes in judgment, following His present work of pleading human cases with the Father as the ladder joining sin-separated earth to heaven. Until that change to future life no one ever graduates from the Word; believers must stay learners all earthly life if they are to be teachers presenting things new and old, continually discovering rich veins of precious ore as priceless treasure, spending no moment in indolence but keeping hearts open for the Spirit to rest upon them, and after the change learning will go on through all eternity.