In 1 Cor. 15: 44 – 45 speaking of the resurrected body of the righteous we read: “It (the body) is sown a natural (physical) body; it is raised a spiritual (spirit) 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 (Christ) was made a quickening (quickening: dzo-op-oy-eh-o in the Greek: it means: to make alive or life giving) spirit”. Christ the second Adam was made a life-giving spirit at His resurrection by the Holy Spirit which is the very essence and nature of what God is and is inherent to both God the Father and Christ Jesus (Eph. 4: 4). So you may say Thomas (one of Christ’s disciples) was able to physically touch Christ after His resurrection! Well doesn’t Christ or even His angels have power to appear in the physical realm when necessary to accomplish the work of God? Read through the “Old Testament” for countless examples.

At the first resurrection the people of God will be resurrected not in physical (flesh and blood) but as spirit beings. In 1 Cor. 15: 50 we read: “Now this I say brethren that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold I show you a mystery; we [the Christian] shall not all sleep (die) but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound and the dead [dead in Christ] shall be raised incorruptible and we (Christians who are still alive) shall be changed”. We shall not all sleep. At the appearing of Christ while lots of Christians would have already died (sleep) there will be lots of Christians who are still alive (we shall not all sleep). The dead Christians will be raised up with spirit (incorruptible) bodies while those Christians who are still alive will be change instantly to immortal spirit beings. We can read about that in 1 Thess. 4: 13-17. It reads: “But I would not have you to be ignorant brethren concerning them which are asleep (dead) that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so (just as Jesus died and rose again) them also which sleep in Jesus (the Christian in the grave) will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord that we (the Christian) which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent [precede] (phthano: in the Greek and it means to precede) them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel and 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”. Yes at the coming of Christ the Christians which are alive will not precede the Christians who are asleep but rather at the calling of Christ and the sound of the trumpet the Christians who are asleep will first rise from their graves as immortal spirit beings while simultaneously those Christians who remained alive at Christ’s coming will be change instantly at the twinkling of an eye to immortal spirit. Then together they all will meet the Lord in the clouds. Not in heaven but in the clouds. They will be with Christ who is descending to earth and not ascending to heaven as is popularly taught.

Being “caught up” to meet the Lord in the clouds in simply a “gathering together” of the saints in order that Christ can bring them with Him. It is not an ascending to heaven. You can read that in 2 Thess. 2: 1. It reads: “Now we beseech you brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him”. At Christ coming the saints will come from every corner of the earth to be gathered unto Christ in the clouds then they will descend into Jerusalem with Him. 1 Thess. 3: 13 tells us: “To the end he (the Lord) may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God even our Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints”. The saints will come with Christ at His coming so they must first gather unto Him. The gathering will be miraculous and is necessary because Christ will not sit by upon arrival in Jerusalem waiting for His saints to come to Jerusalem from the four corners of the earth by boat aircraft train or what have you.

Speaking of the resurrection Christ said in Mat. 24: 31: “And he (Christ) shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other”. After the gathering together Christ and the saints will descend into Jerusalem where He will establish the Kingdom of God and will rule over all the nations of the earth. In a prophecy dealing with Christ’s return to establish and reign over God’s Kingdom Zechariah 14: 4 reads: “And his feet (Christ’s feet) shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives which is before Jerusalem on the east and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst (middle) thereof

towards the east and towards the west ….”.

Christ spoke about that change which takes place at the resurrection in John 3: 5 – 8. Christ said to Nicodemus: “…Verily verily I say unto thee except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3: 5). Christ continued to explain: “That which is born of flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee you must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence (from where) it commeth and whither (where) it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit” (John 3: 6 – 8). Read it in your own bible! Jesus Christ said that when a man is born again of the Spirit he is like the wind: invisible! After Christ had chided Nicodemus for not knowing “these things” (John 3: 10) he went on to explain to Nicodemus: “And no man [flesh and blood] has ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven even the Son of man which is in heaven” (John 3: 13). There you have it! Christ made it clear that “No man” made of flesh and blood has ascended to heaven! It is just not possible. The spirit world is a totally different dimension and so “flesh and blood” simply cannot enter into that dimension called the Kingdom (family) of God. The Bible tells us in 1 Cor. 15: 50: “Now this I say brethren that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption”. Now isn’t that consistent with what Christ said! Yes the Kingdom of God is a literal government but also a family (Eph. 3: 14 15); just as you have for e.g. the plant kingdom or animal kingdom.