The atoning death and triumphant resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and the resurrection of the saints from the dead are the foundation of the Christian Gospel. They form the great hope that "whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

To a much greater extent than often is preached, the resurrection of our physical body and the accompanying rewards of power and glory are the "life" promised in the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

Our confession of faith in Christ, when we come to Him for the first time in repentance of heart and mind, is our entrance into the race for eternal life. Our initial experience of salvation is by no means the fullness of eternal life, it is only the beginning—a firstfruits.

While it is true that we pass from death to life at the moment of sincerely receiving Christ, nevertheless it is also true and scriptural that we are pressing toward the attainment of eternal life—particularly eternal life in our body (see Philippians 3:10,11 above).

First Corinthians, Chapter 15, which may be the most important passage of Scripture concerning the first resurrection from the dead (the resurrection of the victorious saints), states that the life that Christ came to bring to us has much to do with the life that will enter our dead body at the return of Christ to the earth.

It appears that in our day the salvation of our spirit and soul has been emphasized almost to the point of totally ignoring what the Scriptures teach concerning the resurrection of the body.

Notice carefully:

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. (I Corinthians 15:22,23)

"They that are Christ's at his coming."

Think of the statements in the above passage. Physical death, the death of our body, as well as of our spirit and soul, came into being on the earth through the disobedience of Adam and Eve.

But the obedience of Christ reversed this calamity. Eternal life will be given to those who believe in Him. The Divine Life will come first to their spirit and soul. Then, at the coming of the Lord their body will be redeemed with eternal life.

And not only they [the material creation], but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. (Romans 8:23)

"The redemption of our (physical) body."

First Corinthians 15:23 declares that the coming of our eternal life is in the future, being an inseparable part of the coming of Christ in the clouds of glory.

"Afterward they that are Christ's at his coming." It is at His coming that we will be "made alive."

What kind of eternal life will Christ bring to the saints at His coming? It is the fullness of eternal life in our body. We understand this from the statements in the fifteenth chapter of First Corinthians.

To be continued.