<p> </p><p style="text-align: right;">March 31, 2023</p><p style="text-align: center;">Brief thoughts on resurrection</p><p> </p><p>1 Corinthians 15:42-43 "So also is the resurrection of the dead It is sown in dishonor, it is raised (resurrected) in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power."</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>When I was a child, an acquaintance jokingly told me that heaven was already full and there was no more room.</p><p>Most people have difficulty believing in the resurrection of Christ and their own resurrection because they can hardly imagine the resurrection of a dead person.</p><p> </p><p>When I was about 8 years old, I injured my right hip, but at that time I did not think seriously about my future. However, when I was about 17 years old, I began to think seriously about the possibility of getting a job with a broken leg, so I decided to go to college for a job opportunity. As I was preparing to take the university entrance exam, I had a moment when I thought that life was meaningless because I was going to die anyway, and I wondered if all my hard work would be worth it then. I fell into nihilistic thinking and lost motivation to prepare for the entrance exam. However, I suppressed my nihilistic thoughts and studied hard again, and I passed the university entrance exam with good grades. Then I was invited to Bible study, and through Bible study I came to believe in Jesus Christ and the resurrection, so my nihilistic thoughts disappeared and I became a happy person. </p><p> </p><p>Our present body is perishable, earthly, weak, and natural.</p><p>But our heavenly body is imperishable, glorious, strong, and spiritual.</p><p>The Bible leaves open what exactly the new resurrection world will look like.</p><p>We will be transformed into a new form resembling Jesus Christ.</p><p>However, our unique characteristics will remain after the resurrection, allowing us to recognize our friends, family members, ex-spouses and ancestors in the faith.</p><p>Most importantly, we will see the glorious God, that is, Jesus, and His glory.</p><p>We will be like angels.</p><p>We will be full of joy and grace and so happy that we will not need marriage. We will not be involved with each other, but we will have a warm relationship with each other.</p><p>We will experience God's grace, glory, beauty, etc., and we will rejoice and glorify God.</p><p>We will be filled with holy hope there, worship God with all our hearts, and love all our brothers and sisters in faith with warmth and holiness.</p><p> </p><p>I once preached on the glorious martyrdom of Stephen when I was to be sent out as a missionary from South Korea at the end of 1977.</p><p>In Acts 7:55 we read, "But he (Stephen) was filled with the Holy Spirit and looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God."</p><p> </p><p>This passage impressed me so much that I preached about Stephen at that time, and as a result Peter Suh, the church leader, suggested that I call myself "Stephan" to be a friend to the Germans. But I didn't want to die as a martyr, so I didn't use that name for a while. But when I came to Germany, I realized that my German friends could not pronounce my Korean name "Myeong-Hwan" correctly. So I introduced myself as "Stephan," and they immediately said, "Hello, Stephan!"</p><p>So I changed my name to Stephan. God gave me this name so that I would be a witness to the resurrection of Jesus.</p><p> </p><p>May God give us the hope of the resurrection so that we can live and work joyfully and hopefully as witnesses of Jesus' resurrection.</p>
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