双语灵修（葛培理牧师）：8 月 28 日 奥秘之事

8 月 28 日

奥秘之事

我如今把一件奥秘的事告诉你们：我们不是都要睡觉，乃是都要改变。

哥林多前书 15:51

保罗并没有说死是个奥秘。他很坦然地谈论死，告诉我们基督已战胜死亡。所以我们不必害怕死。保罗告诉我们的奥秘是：我们现今所住的这必死的身体，会变成不朽坏的身体，这不朽坏的身体将与耶稣基督复活的身体一样。这种转变是个奥秘，它超越了人类的思想、科学探究，甚至人类的理解能力。

一个神秘的过程怎么能用言语表达清楚呢？不能！这就是为什么保罗称之为“奥秘”。

是的，那在基督里死了的人必先复活（这真是一个奥秘的事！），以后我们这活着还存留的人，（在目睹这一不可思议的事之后）就在一瞬之时、“眨眼之间”就都改变了。我们将被提到空中与主相遇，这样我们就永远与主同在（这简直是头等舱的飞行！）。

神让基督在一切事上都领先，所以祂先我们而死，进入复活的生命，向我们展示了我们将来会怎样。正如我们相信祂能拯救我们脱离罪的刑罚，使死亡和地狱永远与神隔绝；我们也必将在新生命中与祂同在。即便在坟墓里，也无所畏惧，因为我们知道，在短短旅程的另一头，祂等着牵我们的手，迎接我们进入祂（和我们）的居所，就是祂为我们预备好的居所。

奥秘吧？是的，但神已经给了我们足够的事实，所以，让我们相信祂所告诉我们的其余的一切。

今日祷告：

天父，我们知道我们必从死里复活，像耶稣一样，我们为此欢喜雀跃；奉耶稣的名祷告，阿们。

August 28

DEATH: NOT JUST A MYSTERY

Lo! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.                                  1 Corinthians 15:51, RSV

Paul did not describe death as a mystery. He was quite open about death and the fact that Christ had defeated it, so that we would have nothing to fear. What Paul described as a mystery was the transformation of these mortal bodies we now inhabit into immortal bodies that will be precisely like Jesus Christ’s resurrected body. This transformation is a mystery because it transcends human thoughts, scientific inquiry, and even human understanding.

How can a miraculous process be reduced to mere language: It cannot and that is why Paul referred to it as a “mystery.”

Yes, the dead in Christ shall rise first (talk about a mystery!) and then those of us who remain (after witnessing this incredible event) will be changed in a moment, “in the twinkling of an eye.” We will be caught up in the air to meet the Lord, and so we shall be with the Lord forever. Talk about flying first class!

God wanted Christ to be first in everything and so He preceded us in death and into a resurrected life to show us what it would be like. As we trust Him to save us from the penalty of sin, which is death and eternal separation from God in a literal hell, we can also follow Him in newness of life, though the grave, without fear, comforted in the knowledge that He waits on the other side of a very short journey to take our hand and welcome us into His (and our) dwelling place where the mansion He has prepared for us stands in readiness.

Mystery? Yes, but God has given us enough facts so that we might trust Him for the rest.

Pray for the Day:

Father, we know that we will be raised from the dead, even as Jesus was, and in this we rejoice; in Jesus’ Name, Amen.