I attended the funeral the other day of a faithful old member of God’s Church. As they were lowering his coffin into the grave, it suddenly dawned on me that there is absolutely nothing of my old friend which is going into that grave that he will ever use again!
I remembered the scripture in 1 Corin 15:51-52 which says: “For the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed.” Notice, the dead shall be raised incorruptible, not raised corruptible and then changed to be incorruptible, but raised incorruptible. (Strong’s Concordance 1453, from the Greek word “egeiro”. “Raised” there means “To arouse from sleep, to awake,” akin to the idea of collecting one's faculties). The scriptures do not use the word "anabaino" which means to "ascend" or "levitate" regarding saints who are either dead or alive at the return of Christ, (anabaino is the word used to say that David has not ascended into the heavens, which means levitated) rather it says those who are dead will "egeiro" (awaken) and those who remain will be "harpadzo" (caught up) together with them in the air".
Physical graves do not have to break open to release spirit beings. In any case, since the dead in Christ are raised (i.e. awoken) incorruptible, there is absolutely nothing of a dead Christian which goes into the grave that they will ever use again! The word “grave” simply means a place where the dead are. Their spirits do not hover around where their bodies were buried. They return to God who gave them. (Eccl. 12:7). Some Christians were burnt to death and their bodies became smoke hundreds of years ago. Some were eaten by lions. At death, the spirits of dead Christians return to God in Heaven who gave them and the bodies of those who were buried return to dust forever. At their resurrection, God will place their spirits into immortal spirit composed bodies, like His, and bring them with Him when He comes. (1 Thes. 4:14).
