We shall be changed
The last trumpet
Paul describes the moment of final transformation with breathless speed: in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet — for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. The great change for which all creation groans will come not as a slow process but as an instant event, quicker than a blink, when the trumpet sounds and everything is made new.
The heart of this hope is the resurrection of the body. The Christian hope has never been merely that our souls float off to heaven, but that our very bodies — sown perishable, weak, and mortal — will be raised imperishable, glorious, and immortal. The redemption Paul says we groan for includes these bodies, transformed and made new, fit for the life of the world to come.
And the result is the final defeat of our last enemy: when this perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal puts on immortality, then the saying will come true — death is swallowed up in victory. The transformation at the last trumpet is the moment death itself is undone, swallowed up, defeated forever. The pilgrim's body, like the pilgrim's soul, is destined not for the grave's final say but for resurrection and glory. In the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, we shall be changed — and death will be swallowed up in victory.
“In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.”
— Paul, to the Corinthians — 1 Corinthians 15:52 (WEB)
Hold the full bodily hope — that at the last trumpet you will be raised imperishable and changed in an instant, and death itself swallowed up in victory.
“When this corruptible will have put on incorruption, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then what is written will happen: Death is swallowed up in victory.”
Our imagined heaven has often shrunk to a soul drifting free of its body, and with it shrinks the hope, leaving the grave looking far too strong. The interior work is to recover Paul's vast and physical vision — the last trumpet, the dead raised imperishable, these very bodies changed in the twinkling of an eye — and to rest on its outcome: that death, our last enemy, is swallowed up in victory and does not get the final word.
This week, when death looms over you or someone you love, hold the full resurrection hope: not merely a soul's survival, but bodies raised imperishable at the last trumpet, and death itself swallowed up in victory, letting that vast hope steady your grief.
The world reduces resurrection to a vague survival of the soul and inflates the power of the grave, until death seems to hold all the cards. But a soul that knows the body itself is destined for imperishable glory, and death already swallowed up in victory, faces that last enemy with a confidence he cannot break.
The Christian hope is often shrunk to the idea that our souls float off to heaven when we die. Paul's vision is far greater and more physical: at the last trumpet, in the twinkling of an eye, the dead will be raised imperishable and we shall be changed. The redemption we groan for includes our very bodies — sown perishable, weak, and mortal, raised imperishable, glorious, and immortal.
This bodily resurrection is the heart of the pilgrim's hope, and its result is the undoing of our last enemy. When the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality, then death itself is swallowed up in victory, defeated forever. The grave does not have the final say over the believer's body any more than over the soul. So when death looms, over you or those you love, hold this vast hope: a trumpet will sound, the dead will rise imperishable, we shall be changed in an instant, and death will be swallowed up in victory.
- Have I shrunk my hope to a soul floating off to heaven?
- Do I believe my very body is destined for resurrection and glory?
- Does the promise that death is swallowed up in victory steady me before the grave?
Lord, I shrink my hope to a soul's survival and let death loom large. But at the last trumpet the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. Let me hold the full hope of resurrection, and face the grave knowing death is swallowed up in victory. Amen.