Sermonette: In the Twinkling of an Eye
#FT26-02s
Craig Sablich
Given 27-Sep-26; 17 minutes
description: Immortality is granted instantly (I Corinthians 15:51), yet God allocates a lifetime for preparation. Ecclesiastes 3:1 establishes that every season has purpose; temporality does not imply meaninglessness. The wilderness journey (Deuteronomy 8) reveals that experience tests the heart, moving knowledge from head to hands. While miracles impress, enduring character sustains. Abraham's trust in resurrection and the fiery furnace trio's unwavering loyalty demonstrate obedience independent of outcomes. Romans 8 clarifies that believers are joint heirs with Christ, being conformed to His image. Revelation 3:21 promises thrones to overcomers, but ruling requires prior submission. God prepares future rulers by teaching them to be ruled first. This formation occurs through daily work, relationships, failures, and repentance. The resurrection is instantaneous; the character required to wield eternal authority is forged over a lifetime, as God works within us to will and do His good pleasure.
transcript:
Well, you know, brethren, I've been in God's church a long time. One of the most common questions I've heard through the years is that three-letter word. Why? Over the last couple of messages, we've seen how thoroughly Satan has tried to destroy the biblical truth about death and the resurrection. The reality is man doesn't already possess immortal life. God gives life to the dead. At their appointed time, each in his own order. But there was one question we did not follow very far. Why? Reverend, today I want to begin with something Paul says about the resurrection in I Corinthians 15:51. He says, behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall be all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet. So let's think about that. When God's time comes to change a human being from mortal to immortal, how long does he need? Paul says, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. So if God can give us immortality in a moment, why does he give us an entire lifetime before he does? Why all these years of work and family, responsibilities and decisions, successes and failures, the challenges of pains of growing old. If God's purpose was simply to make us immortal, he can apparently do that at the snap of a finger. And once we understand that this lifetime before the resurrection begins to look very different. Solomon wrestled with that question in Ecclesiastes. He looked at work, possessions, pleasure, wisdom, success, and failure. And viewed only under the sun. He kept reaching the same conclusion. Vanity of vanities. All is vanity. Everything in this life is temporary. Build something magnificent and eventually somebody else owns it. Accumulate wealth, and somebody else spends it. Become wise, and the wise man still dies just like the fool. So if that's all there is to it, what's the point? But Ecclesiastes doesn't end there. Chapter 3 verse 1 says, to everything there is a season. A time for a purpose, for every purpose under heaven. So some things can be temporary without being meaningless. God has given us a period of time and apparently there is a purpose for that time. So, how does God use this temporary life to accomplish that purpose? Well, God begins by teaching us his word. He tells us what's true, how he thinks, what's right and wrong, and how he expects his children to live. But then comes that part that requires time. We have to live what he has taught us. Let's turn over to Deuteronomy chapter 8, please. Israel spent 40 years in the, in the wilderness. And in verse 2, Moses tells them why God led them through that experience. He says it was to humble you and test you to know what was in your heart. Whether you would keep his commandments or not. Israel already had the commandments. They knew who delivered them from Egypt. They saw the plagues, crossed the Red Sea, and heard God's law. The wilderness was not where they first learned they were supposed to obey God. It was where they had to live, what he had taught them. Knowing that God says to trust him is one thing, but standing in the wilderness wondering where tomorrow's food will come from is something different. The experience that the experience brought what was in their heart out into the open. Then in verse 3 So he says, so he humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna, that he might make you know. That man shall not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. So the answer to why is that he might make you know. God had spoken his word, but now Israel had to live it day by day. Day after day, they depended on him. And think about what else Israel shows us. They had the experience, they saw the miracles. They ate the manna from heaven. They were tested And still an entire generation failed to enter the promised land. So simply going through an experience doesn't guarantee we learn from it. The same difficulty can move one person away from God while another learns to trust him more deeply. So experience doesn't determine truth. God does. But he gives us a life in which that truth has to be used. So what makes the difference? Well, Abraham walked with God for years. He had seen God keep his promises. He waited decades for the son God said would come. And finally, Abraham could hold Isaac. Then Genesis 22:1 says something interesting. God tested Abraham. There is that same pattern again. And then God tells Abraham to take Isaac, the son through whom the promises were supposed to continue and offer him as a sacrifice. Now think about the problem Abraham faced. God had already said, in Isaac, your, your seed shall be called. So how could Isaac die and the promise still continue? Hebrews tells us that Abraham concluded. That God was able to raise him up even from the dead. There it is again, the resurrection. And being here at the feast, that should have special meaning for us because we know the 8th day points us toward a time when God will raise the dead and give them opportunity for life. But our question today is what happens before that moment. Abraham did not know how God was going to resolve the situation. But after years of walking with him, Abraham knew something about the one who had made the promise. God would not break his word. That's more than knowing a doctrine. That's trust beginning to direct the way a man lives. And we see that same kind of trust again in Daniel chapter 3. Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego are commanded to bow before Nebuchadnezzar's image or be thrown into the fiery furnace. And they knew God could deliver them. They said, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace. But then they say something remarkable. In verse 18, they say, but it's not. They knew God could deliver them, but their obedience to God did not depend on whether he would. If God delivered them, they would serve him. But if not, They would still serve him. Nebuchadnezzar could threaten their lives. He could throw them into the furnace, but he could not make them abandon the God they had chosen to obey. They understood something Abraham had learned before them. Even death does not place someone beyond God's ability to fulfill his purpose. So death was not the greatest thing they had to fear. Turning away from God was. That's the character God desires in his children. God's way must become more than something a person knows. It has to settle deep enough that even when we do not understand what God is doing, and even when the outcome is not what we want, God's way still directs the choice. And developing that kind of trust takes time. But that brings us back to our why. Why does God require that kind of character before he gives us eternal life? Well, Paul gives us an answer in Romans chapter 8, verse 16. He says, the spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Now notice what Paul just said. children Heirs, joint heirs with Christ. So what does Christ inherit? Hebrews 1:12 2 says, Christ is appointed heir of all things. And Romans says we are joint heirs with him. And Paul goes even further. Romans 8:29 says God has predestined his children to be conformed to the image of his son. So Christ just is not someone God's children will live with forever. He is their first born brother. And God is shaping his children into that same image. Think about what's being told. God is developing children who will become like his son. children who will inherit with him. children who will share the responsibility with him and what God is doing. God's purpose is not simply to keep us alive forever. Christ tells us in Revelation chapter 3 verse 21, to him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me on my throne. There is responsibility. There is authority. And notice what it is, when it is given. To him who overcomes. The overcoming comes before the throne. God is teaching future rulers, they must first be ruled by him. So now we see why God requires, God's character has to come before immortality. God is not simply preparing his children to live forever. He's preparing them for what he intends to entrust to them. And Paul gives us one more glimpse back in Romans 8:19. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. And verse 21 says that creation will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Scripture doesn't tell us every detail of what God will continue, will eventually entrust to his family. But it does show us that its purpose is much larger than simply giving us internal life. And whatever God intends to entrust to his children, he prepares those children before he gives it to them. God is not merely preparing life, eternal life for his children. He's preparing his children for eternal life. But we are not there yet. We're here. We're living this temporary physical life. We're going to work, raising families, paying bills, making decisions, dealing with our weaknesses. We're facing things we do not understand. And we are getting older And this is the life God has given us right now. And sometimes while we are looking forward. To what God has promised, it's easy to miss the value of what he's doing right now. Because temporary doesn't mean unimportant. That difficulty you're dealing with right now may be the circumstance where you finally learned to live something you've known for years. Remember what God said about Israel, that he might make you know. Not simply hear it, not just memorize it, but really know it. Live it with God long enough that his word begins to govern the way you actually respond. Walking toward Mariah probably did not feel like the right direction to Abraham. And a fiery furnace certainly did not look like the right direction to Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego. But God was working in both circumstances. So when we find ourselves in circumstances we do not understand. Maybe the question is not always, God, when are you going to fix this? Maybe sometimes it should also be father. What can I learn while I'm here? What does your word tell me about how to handle this? What does your way require from me? What response would reflect your character? Earlier Christ told us, to him who overcomes. And overcoming happens here. In this life It happens when something stands between us and a faithful allegiance to God. And we choose his way. And when we choose wrong, we repent, we get back up and we keep going. And little by little, God's way moves from something we know towards something that actually governs the way we live. But none of this is simply human determination, no. Paul says in Philippians 2:13, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to do for his good pleasure. Before God brings his children to glory, he is working in them. We still have our part We choose, we repent, obey. We endure We overcome But through all of it, God is working in us. And brethren, that doesn't happen in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. If God can give immortality in a moment, why does he give us an entire lifetime before he does? The resurrection takes a moment. But preparing the person who will be resurrected takes a lifetime. And one day this temporary physical life will end. The trumpet will sound and what God has promised will happen. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. Mortality will put on immortality. Corruption will put on incorruption. That change happens in a moment. But everything God is doing in us before that moment takes time. So use this life he's given you. Keep learning, keep repenting, keep growing, keep choosing God's way. Keep responding to the work God is doing in you. Because the whole creation may be waiting for the revealing of the children of God. But God is still preparing his children. And if God is preparing his children to become like him, And that leaves us with another question. Just who is God, really?
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