The Valley of Death Epic Journey of an Oak Seed

The Valley of Death

Epic Journey of an Oak Seed

It may seem hard to understand how our bodies which decay or are cremated can become anything but a part of the dust and dirt of the earth

But we should be reminded of the acorn seed, if it is a good quality seed with the right conditions it will become a giant oak tree

Yes, that is amazing and something we can see even though the oak tree has a life expectancy greater than ours

So think of your body as a seed and with God-given potential our bodies will be changed with a body that will live forever

Epic Journey of an Oak Seed

Seeds are an amazing thing.

God created seeds for a purpose.

A seed is not meant to remain a seed.

Seeds are meant to be transformed, changed.

The Apostle Paul uses the seed analogy to illiterate

what happens to our bodies after we die.

Think of an acorn, it is a seed.

Acorns like other seeds will always be an acorn

unless they are buried in the ground.

 

That seed while in the ground begins to

germinate and when it rises above the ground

it no longer looks like an acorn, but a tree.

The acorn has one body but

is raised to be another body.

You and I are made by God as spirit and body.

The body we have God created from the earth.

After God made the body, He breathed into it and

the body became a living being or soul.

  The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and

breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

Genesis 2:7

From scriptures we see that when a person

breathes his last breath, he dies.

Solomon describes the process this way…

And the dust returns to the ground it came from,

and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

Ecclesiastes 12:7

In 2 Corinthians 5 we get further details…

We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body,

and to be present with the Lord.

Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent,

 we may be accepted of him.

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ;

 that every one may receive the things done in his body,

according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

2 Corinthians 5:8-10 KJV

So when our spirit leaves our body it goes

to the presence of the Lord, but that does not

mean all spirits will be accepted by God.

There will be a judgment by a just God.

But the body according to 1 Corinthians 15

is sown into the ground.

Like a seed the body is sown into the ground.

It is perishable.

So will it be with the resurrection of the dead.

The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;

it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

1 Corinthians 15:42-44

For the Child of God who is born again

according to John 3 and 1 Peter 1:23

their perishable body will be resurrected.

The timing of this will be at the

last trumpet, 1 Corinthians 15:52.

For the Child of God, the body we lived in…

The body that is sown back

into the ground will be changed.

Like an acorn seed comes up out of

the ground not like a seed, but a tree.

We, too, our corruptible body will come up

out of the ground an incorruptible body.

Just like every seed that is put into the ground

does not grow into a plant, so it is with us.

There are conditions for a seed

and conditions for us.

In order for a seed to germinate

(the process of a seed transforming into a plant)

it must have the following conditions…

Moisture, warmth, nutrient rich soil,

sunlight, good quality seed.

We, too, have conditions in order to be

resurrected with an incorruptible body.

The point of this devotional is simple…

Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 talks about different

types of bodies and the resurrection.

It may seem hard to understand how our

bodies which decay or are cremated can become

anything but a part of the dust and dirt of the earth.

But we should be reminded of the acorn seed,

if it is a good quality seed with the right

conditions will become a giant oak tree.

Yes, that is amazing and something we

can see even though the oak tree has a

life expectancy greater than ours.

So think of your body as a seed and with

God-given potential our bodies will be

changed with a body that will live forever.

Scripture Reading

1 Corinthians 15:42-16:1 NIV

42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, 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.

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.

50 I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."  

55 "Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?"  

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.