What will we be like when we're raised

Good morning and happy Valentines Day,
Today Paul answers the question: "what will we be like when we are resurrected?" It's a good questions we might all be curious about, even if Paul seems to think we should know better. Notice, Paul's answer isn't really specific, probably because there's a lot we can't know about the resurrection. What he says is that the body we live in is like a seed: it's planted in the earth when we die and only then can it come to life in its full form. It will rise again not simply a physical body as it was planted, but instead it will rise a spiritual body. I don't know exactly what it will be like, but it sounds exciting. It's amazing to think that all the wonders of our body and our life are like a bare seed compared to the glory God has in store for us when Christ returns.

Our second passage, especially meant for those who are unable to make it to worship this week, is the Old Testament lesson from our Sunday service. This is take 2 of Moses bringing the Ten Commandments. Part 1 was the unfortunate Golden Calf incident. So Moses carved new tablets, spent 40 days on the mountain with God to write the commandments on the tablets and then returned to the people with this covenant between Israel and God. The direct contact between God and Moses left Moses' face glowing, which scared the people, but also reminded them that God was with them.

God's blessing on the reading and on our worship today,
Sam

1 Corinthians 15:35-49

35But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.

39Not all flesh is alike, but there is one flesh for human beings, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earthly is another. 41There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory.

42So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. 43It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 44It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. 45Thus it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual. 47The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. 49Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.

*Exodus 34:29-35

29Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. 30When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him. 31But Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them. 32Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.

33When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face; 34but whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would take the veil off, until he came out; and when he came out, and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35the Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of his face was shining; and Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.