In 1st Corinthians 15 Paul defines The gospel from the cross of Jesus Christ. Paul qualifies himself as the 12 born in due time as one having seen the Lord, of which is the main qualification to have seen the Lord “to take part in this ministry” (Acts 2). Paul however did not witness the physical cross and Jesus with his eyes but that of a light that shown from heaven that blinded him. The eyes of his understanding. He saw the Lord as He truly is.Â
Â
Paul lays out the gospel saying “Now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits, for as “in Adam” all die, even so “In Christ” all live, but each one in their own order. First Christ, the first fruits than those at his coming, then comes the end when He delivers the Kingdom up to the Father.
Â
The topic today is the “made alive”. From verse 22 “In Christ all live” or “all are quickened”. This comes from Strong’s # 2227 and used also in these verses.
Â
John 5.21 As the Father raises the dead and quickens them, even so the Son quickens whomever He wants”.
Rom 4.17 God who quickens the dead and calls the things that don’t exist as though they do. (like the quickening)
Romans 8.10+ If Christ is in you the body is dead. And He who raised Christ from the dead quickens your mortal bodies by His spirit who now lives in you”.
2 Corinthians 3.6 the letter kills but the and spirit quickens.
Â
These verses all define the “made alive” or the “quickening” not as a future event associated with a second coming but that which happens when you receive the Holy Spirit. That at one time we were like zombies but when the grace of God appears we receive that we are then quickened, we are made alive.
Now back to 1 Corinthians 15.22b “in Christ all are quickened in their own order” Have you not been quickened? Have you received Gods Holy Spirit? Rom 8 For as many as are led by the spirit of God, these are the children of God. How then is it the 2nd coming seeker gospel has taken the power out of the cross and assigned it to an event they call His 2nd coming?
Paul continues to develop this quickening and how a seed must be sown corruptible to be raised incorruptible. That the first man Adam became a human being, but the last Adam (Christ) is a life giving (quickening) spirit”.
Are we not born from Him? This is not talking about a future event on planet earth that happens to a select group of people who anticipate this quickening they define as a rapture followed by a tribulation. But “As many as are led by His spirit, these are the sons of God” having been quickened. Or are they are gonna be His offspring at a later event? I think not. It is “all are made alive in their own order, Christ, the first fruits, then those who are His when He appears (like Paul who was blinded by the light that appeared from heaven for his time had come. It was his own order) then the last enemy that is destroyed is death”
Has Christ not already done that? Didn’t He do that at the cross for you? Or does He have to do that again in the future when He comes on a white horsey? Blasphemy!
Â
John 5.24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. 25 Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.  How about you?
Â
Do you now believe? Can you now receive? Â If yes then lets sacrifice this modern sacred cow at the altar of the living God, Â of the 2nd coming seekers that preach of a jesus who has yet to deliver (save) his people from planet earth. They say He must do so by a humanly visible rapture seen by the carnal eyes. But it does not because it is “in the twinkling of an eye” faster than humanly discernible we have already been quickened and made alive by the working of faith (the greater works we shall do of believing in Him) and we have been catapulted past death to life. And this is from “Him who calls things that are not as that do not exist (to the human eyes) as though they do (because they are). For our corruption does put on incorruptibility as we learn to put on the new man made in His likeness. This visible puts on the invisible. His very invisible attributes. This is true godliness, god-like-ness.
Do we not put off the old person and death at baptism? Are we not then raised with Him by the working of faith? Did you then see the spirit descend on you and make you alive new by the Holy Spirit? No! All that happened in the blink of an eye as do all works of the spirit. Â They are all as invisible as He. “So when this corruptible puts on incorruptible it is then that corruption puts on in-corruption for death to be swallowed up in victory because of the cross and not of a 2nd coming. And it is at our baptism that we confess this publicly. “Each in their own order” Have you done that?
Do we each then deny this article and foundation of our faith and trade it for a mausoleum of a 2nd coming as though there is only a 1st and 2nd? And that the victory is later?Â
Why is it the teachers today say Elijah must come? Jesus said; I tell you Elijah has come†And of the 2nd coming seekers not only believe Elijah must come but everything is later. That Jesus must come too. They reject Elijah and the Lord.  It is the spirit of Elijah even now that sacrifices the sacred cows of false prophets.  Is this your Elijah come? Can you throw that fodder of end time teachings into the fire?
If you are “in Christ”? Then the victory is now for you because of the cross, for it is not a 2nd coming gift. Are you not in His (resurrected) body? Part of the body of Christ? Or are you in a different body? A later to become lord at a later to become kingdom with a later to become victory? A different jesus.
Â
Paul wraps up his discourse of this topic with these words in verse 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” This victory was the cross that defeated death and brought immortality to light through the gospel. This is the true gospel.
Â
Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand!