The Ultimate Upgrade

"Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed-- in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed." [1 Corinthians 15:51-52]

Things break down-- that's the situation of things in this world. A car is headed for the junkyard usually a decade or two after being made. Clothes wear out. I have it on good authority that people's knees and backs tend to break down as they get older. And computers, well, they don't as much break down as become obsolete the day they leave the store. With my day job writing videogames on computers, and personal use of them going back almost 2 decades now, I've upgraded my computers quite often. And yet, upgrades don't work. A new system is really needed every few years to stay current.

We can thank Adam, Eve, and a certain serpent in the garden of Eden for this mess of death and decay. In Romans 5:12-13, Paul says "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned-- for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law."

What was done in the garden has partially been undone in Jesus's work on the cross, and will be completely undone at Jesus's return. All the problems, all the decay, will be reversed in the ultimate "upgrade"-- God will rebuild everything. Paul says this about this bodily upgrade: "So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body." [1 Corinthians 15:42-44] Whatever weakness we have now, will be taken away, and rebuilt in power. There's no death to fear with the second body-- it's indestructible.

We also have Jesus's assurances that we'll be resurrected: "And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." [John 6:39-40]

Jesus is the model for our resurrections-- he went through it centuries before anyone alive today. As promised, on that Easter morning, the tomb was empty. While Jesus had mostly (exceptions in Mark 6:45-50, Mark 9:1-8, and parallel passages in Matthew and Luke) lived according to the limits of the human body before his death, after the resurrection, he no longer felt compelled to walk from place to place: "As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight." [Luke 24:28-31], and "On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" [John 20:19]

While we may agree that this world needs replacement, God's promised to do more than that. The current Earth will be replaced. The current Heaven's getting replaced as well. Personally, I wasn't aware of anything in Heaven that needed replacement, but John writes this: "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea." [Revelation 21:1] Peter agrees with this fact: "But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness." [2 Peter 3:13] I guess that when God does some universe-cleaning, he goes all out in the process.

Looking forward to God upgrading everything? It's been promised, it'll happen. Look to Jesus's resurrection as the start of this upgrade; we'll be able to share in it later.