II Timothy 1:9 “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, 10 But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:”
Through our Lord’s Sacrificial Death, Burial, Resurrection, and Ascension; He has illuminated our knowledge and understanding of Eternal “life” and “immortality”! The Old Testament prophets wrote such things as, “He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.” (Isaiah 25:8). Now, we know exactly what that means, and what it means to us. It means that, because He rose and ascended, so shall He raise us up at the last day: “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:” (I Thessalonians 4:16). At the very instant of “death”, when our soul, spirit departs to be with the Lord (Luke 23:43), our bodies then began to “corrupt”, they begin to decompose; but, in the Resurrection our “dead” bodies “shall be raised incorruptible” (I Corinthians 15:52); we will never again die; “and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (I Thessalonians 4:17). The Grand Theme of the “gospel” message is that, at the instant of our Resurrection, the Lord will take everyone that the Father “hath given” (John 6:39) Him, to be forever with Him in that Heavenly Place that He has prepared for us (John 14:2). Thus, we have such pleasant passages as, “How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!” (Romans 10:15).