Thought for December 10, 2024

• 1520: Martin Luther publicly burns the papal edict calling on him to recant
• 1768: First part of Encyclopedia Britannica published
• 1864: Sherman reaches Savannah
• 1869: Wyoming Territory grants women the right to vote
• 1884: "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" published
• 1901: First Nobel Prizes awarded
• 1903: Marie and Pierre Curie win Nobel for study of radiation
• 1904: Ivan Pavlov wins Nobel for studies in digestion
• 1906: Theodore Roosevelt is first American to win the Nobel
• 1907: Rudyard Kipling wins Nobel for literature
• 1909: Selma Lagerlof is the first woman to win Nobel for literature
• 1919: Woodrow Wilson wins Nobel Peace Prize
• 1925: George Bernard Shaw wins Nobel
• 1926: Hitler publishes the second half of "Mein Kampf"
• 1927: Grand Ole Opry called that for the first time during a Barn Dance radio broadcast
• 1935: James Chadwick wins Nobel for discovery of the neutron
• 1954: Albert Schweitzer wins Nobel Peace Prize
• 1962: "Lawrence of Arabia" premiers
• 1964: Martin Luther King wins Nobel Peace Prize
• 1978: Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat win Nobel Peace Prize
• 1984: Desmond Tutu receives Nobel Peace Prize
• 1986: Elie Wiesel wins Nobel Peace Prize
• 1994: Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat receive Nobel Peace Prize.
• 2009: Barack Obama receives the Nobel Peace Prize
• Born: Thomas Gallaudet [educator of the deaf], Ada Lovelace [first computer programmer], Emily Dickinson, Chet Huntley, Dorothy Lamour, Dan Blocker, Tommy Kirk ["Ole Yeller"], Bobby Flay, Joe Burrow
• Died: Afred Nobel, Horace Dodge, Damon Runyon, Walter Johnson [baseball HOF], Otis Redding, Karl Barth, Adolph Rupp, Armand Hammer [Occidental Petroleum and Arm & Hammer], Faron Young, Eugene McCarthy, Richard Pryor:

Thought:

Yesterday, we were thinking about the fact of the resurrection. Today, I am reading about the order of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:20-28. Paul also writes about this in 1 Thessalonians 4. Now, I do not understand all about the Day of the Lord and the resurrection. What I read is that Christ will come with those who have died in Christ and those who are alive at His coming will be raised to meet Him in the air. Paul wanted to make sure that the church did not think those that died before Christ's return were somehow disadvantaged in the resurrection.  So, I understand that whether I have died and gone to Jesus or whether I am alive at His coming, I will be with Him in the resurrection. That is really all I need to know. 

Now take a look at what Paul tells us we will get to see and experience. We will be present when Jesus delivers His kingdom to the Father--presents us to God. As the old hymn says, "what a day of rejoicing that will be; when we all see Jesus we'll sing and shout the victory." But we will also see Him abolish all rule and authority that challenges His kingdom. [15:24] Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is King to the glory of the Father. And we might sing, "And the kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ and He shall reign forever and ever."

And the last enemy to be defeated is death. [15:26] So death will give way to life eternal for those in Christ Jesus. And we will live with Him in a place where pain and tears and sin and death no longer exist. I love that hymn by Dottie Rambo and sung by Sandi Patty--"we shall behold Him, o yes we shall behold Him, face to face in all of His glory. We shall behold Him, our Savior and Lord." In the first part of the chapter, Paul assures the church of His resurrection based upon eye witness accounts and his personal experience. Now, he tells us that we too shall see the resurrected Savior face to face. Hallelujah! Now that is the REAL PEACE PRIZE!

Blessings

Larry