I would imagine that more than one church has a sign inscribed with 1 Corinthians 15:51 outside the door of the nursery: “We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed.” Paul, of course, talks about a different kind of change in this verse. He describes this truth as a “mystery,” not implying that it is unfathomable but saying that it is new information.

This is the culmination of his answer to earlier questions about how the dead are raised and what kind of body they possess. It is not an ordinary body of flesh and blood like the ones we now have. In verse 50, he explains that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” Whatever the apostle means by this, he cannot be saying that we do not have bodies. One of the earliest affirmations of faith recorded in Scripture is a testimony to the hope of resurrection. “And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God,” Job asserts. “I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” (Job 19:26–27).

The change Paul describes is outlined further in the second phrase of the verse when he observes that the perishable cannot inherit the imperishable. The believer’s resurrection body will be suited for eternal life. God will replace our perishable bodies with ones like Christ’s glorious body. Unlike ordinary flesh, which slowly decays, this transformation will be instantaneous. Verse 52 reveals that it will happen “in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye.” It will be a result of God’s command and timing, signified by the sound of the trumpet. In the Old Testament, a trumpet blast signaled a sacred assembly (Lev. 23:24).

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