Cleared for Takeoff? by David Jeremiah

Friday, June 9

Cleared for Takeoff! 

For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 
1 Corinthians 15:52b 

Recommended Reading 1 Corinthians 15:50-58

Richard and Catherine Dotson, both born in 1797, were married for fifty years. Catherine died in 1877 and Richard in 1884. They were buried in the family cemetery in Savannah, Georgia. During World War II, an airport was built nearby; and after the war, a runway was built through the cemetery. Most of the graves were moved, but the Dotson family refused permission for their ancestors to be exhumed. So the runway was built over their graves, and markers were placed in the runway honoring their remains. That’s why Savannah has the only airport in the world with grave markers embedded in its runway.

On reflection, we can see the appropriateness of that. For Christians, our cemetery plots are not our final resting places. They are the runways or launching pads from which we’ll be caught heavenward when Christ returns. The resurrection of the body will be sudden, literal, physical, and glorious. We’ll be snatched up into the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

Without death, there would be no resurrection. That’s why death holds no terror for the Christian. We’re living on a higher plane.

Our resurrection bodies will never wear out or grow old. Your new body will be designed for eternity. It will not be subject to accident, disease, aging, or death. It will never wear out and never die; it will outlive the stars. 
David Jeremiah