We Shall Not, But We Shall

"Behold, I show you a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed."  I Corinthians 15:51.The mystery is a truth that is being revealed or made known.  God is revealing a mystery.  This truth concerns death.  The word death seems final without anything thereafter.  Therefore, the text uses the word "sleep."  Sleep is not final.  We sleep and we awake.  All mortals will die.  This is the universal verdict of the human family.  We are born to life, but life ends and we die.  Thus, the Bible often uses the word "sleep" to describe death.  From sleep, we arise rested and refreshed.  This is not the mystery.  The mystery is that when we awake from our sleep of death, we will be changed.  We die as a human body, but we are changed into a spiritual body.  We die a corruptible body, but we are changed into an incorruptible body.  We die as a powerless body, but we are changed into a powerful body.  The body that comes from the grave is not the same body that goes into the grave.  This is God's mystery.  It is a mystery that removes fear.  It is a mystery that gives assurance.