Resurrection of the Body { Part 7}

Resurrection Of The Body...
Jesus came to give you and me salvation, rescue, to a new life now, a new beginning!
Third, Jesus came to give you salvation (rescue) for the life beyond this life ? a GREAT FUTURE.
He came to help people live with an expectant, positive hope for the future.
Salvation is rescue for the future. You can't do this on your own. You need a Savior.
I have observed some people who have tried to figure out the future life on their own. We read more and more about "near-death" experiences.
Several weeks ago, someone described to me how a friend of theirs was literally proclaimed dead by the doctors, but he had come back to life. He told a graphic story about hovering above his own deathbed, watching as the doctors applied the heart paddles, doing their best to revive him. He saw the light of the future and was convinced that he was on his way to heaven ? Only to suddenly be brought back into his body as he was revived.
A few days later, a woman came to me for counseling, quite concerned. She herself had recently had a cardiac situation in which she could not be revived. The doctors had used the paddles, they had flat-lined her, declaring her dead ? and then, amazingly, she was revived. She came to me with great concern as to why she had not seen the light and had the near-death experience of which others had spoken so graphically. What was wrong? After all, here she was, a believer in Jesus Christ. Did this mean that there was something wrong spiritually with her?
I was privileged to share with her the fact that we claim the promises of God's Word in the Scripture, not the stories of experience of others who, although medically declared dead, weren't really dead because they are still alive here. We are not dependent on stories of near-death to know what the future holds.
What can we for certain know about the future?
For some weeks now I have been studying The Apostles' Creed. The Creed declares, "I believe in the resurrection of the body." That phrase was not put there by accident. It was put there to emphasize biblical promises of a life beyond this life.
I hope that you are familiar with 1


Corinthians 15. The Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, declares the wonderful teaching about the life beyond this life. He writes: "If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being, for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:19-22