Daily Devotion with Pastor Tong Liu: Daily Devotion

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River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english

1 Corinthians 15:50-54

I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 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. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."

Where does someone go when they die? In Luke 16:19 31, Jesus used the story of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man does not believe in God while Lazarus believed in God; After they died, the rich man was in hell and in great torment. He looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.' But he discovered that there was a great chasm that has been fixed between them, so that no one could cross over from one side to the other.

When Jesus was crucified on the cross, next to him was a robber who said to Him, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." Jesus clearly promised the robber saying, "Today you will be with me in paradise!" His soul will enter paradise because of his faith in the Lord. Hence, those who do not believe in God will go to hell, and those who believe in Him will enter paradise. Nevertheless, this is a temporary condition. When Jesus Christ comes again, the book of revelation chapter 20 says all the dead will be made alive as described in verse 13: The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done.

Hence, in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul mentioned that when the Lord comes again, our bodies will be changed to that which is similar to the body of Christ, that we may dwell with God forever. May the Lord help us to understand that we have this glorious hope and know that death is not the end to our lives, but the beginning of eternal life.

Pray with Pastor Tong Liu

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Lord, we thank you once again for giving us such a wonderful promise, so we know that after we die, we have the hope of dwelling with you forever in Christ. May you put this hope of glory in us, so that we may hold fast to this hope of eternal life and strive to run the race ahead of us. We thank you and pray in the victorious name of Jesus, Amen!