God bless you in the name of Jesus Christ
The number eight denotes a new beginning. The eighth use of “but God” deals with the new beginning of the believer in the next administration.
I Corinthians 15:35-44:
But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? 36 Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: 37 And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: 38 But God giveth it a body as it bath pleased him,. and to every seed his own body. 39 All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. 40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. 42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: 43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is spiritual body.
Again, God uses an analogy from the natural world to teach a spiritual principle. People wonder how are the dead raised up and with what body they would come. However God has shown in the regeneration of plants that very principle.
The question of life after death is not a new one. Job asked, “If a man die, shall he live again?” There were entire sects developed within Judaism along the question of the resurrection. The Sadducees, the sect not believing in the resurrection, presented Jesus with a hypothetical situation:
Mark 12:19-27:
Master, Moses wrote unto us, If a man’ brother die, and leave his wife behind him, and leave no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. 20 Now there were seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and dying left no seed. 21 And the second took her, and died, neither left he any seed: and the third likewise. 22 And the seven had her, and left no seed: last of all the woman died also. 23 In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife. 24 And Jesus answering said unto them. Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God? 25 For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven. 26 And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? 27 He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err.
The answer of Jesus is as accurate today as it was then. People err today for two reasons: they do not know the scriptures and they do not know the power of nod.
God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. When? In the resurrection. Therefore he is going to have to quicken the dead. I Corinthians 15:44 states that in so doing he will also give it a body. However, the new body will not be a natural (i.e. corrupt or mortal) one, but rather a spiritual (i.e. incorruptible or immortal) one.
The new spiritual body the believer will receive will be incredible. when Jesus Christ was here on earth in his new body he did some amazing feats. He appeared and disappeared. He ate. He had flesh that could be felt. He was recognized at times and yet not recognized at other times.
The question of the resurrection is so vitally important to the believer. Because if the dead are not raised then was Christ not raised and we are yet in our sins. Grain must die in order to be quickened, but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him. If He can do that with grain, certainly He can do that with his sons and daughters who are born-again of His spirit.