Atomas

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Atomas

"Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep (the sleep of death), but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump..."

The Greek word translated here as moment is actually ATOMOS, from whence we get our English word ATOM. In other words, the change that is coming, and "the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time" (ref. 1 Peter 1:15), will take place on a sub-atomic level---NOT from without, but from within the very cells of our bodies.

It will be the result of the outworking of our salvation that first began in our spirits! Isn't that exciting? It's true that Jesus came "to seek and to save that which was lost," and to restore us back to the state in which man was originally created in the garden, before death had taken its toll. A type of this is seen in the Old Testament book of Joshua, when the Israelites were about to cross over into "the promised land," where they would lay claim to their birthright inheritance.

As you may recall, the Ark of the Covenant (a picture of Christ) was to be transported across the Jordan River first (the name Jordan means, "the descender;" and it has always been associated with death). The people were instructed to wait patiently, and not to remove their place to go after it, until there was a space of "about 2000 cubits by measure" between it and them.

They were also told to "come not near it, that you may know the way by which you should go; FOR YOU HAVE NOT PASSED THIS WAY HERETOFORE" (Josh 3:4). Their eyes were to stay fixed on the Ark!

Whenever the feet of the priests who were bearing the Ark stepped off of the river bank, a remarkable thing occurred--- the waters parted as they did at the Red Sea, and were rolled upstream, all the way back to a city named---are you ready for this? "ADAM." Read it for yourself in Joshua 3:16!

Surely the symbolism is clear enough, and the shadows are easily interpreted. JESUS our Savior has conquered death some 2000 years ago, when He was raised from among the dead. HE ALONE can show us the way we should go, for we're entering into virgin territory (the "promised land" of a new, redeemed body). The glorious thing about it is, He's not just taking us back to where Adam was, before the Fall occurred; but BEYOND, to the place where Adam never reached, himself, in the eternal purposes of God (immortality, glorification). NO ONE has ever passed this way before, save the Ark of God's Presence, Jesus. ~Terry Crisp