Connecting With Jesus

The New Earth

You Can’t Take It with You

Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption (1 Corinthians 15:50)

How would you like to inherit $14.4 billion? That’s what Laurene Powell Jobs collected as the widow of Apple cofounder Steve Jobs. She inherited his wealth and assets, which included shares of Apple stock and a 7.3 percent stake in The Walt Disney Company-which tripled in value after Steve’s death in 2011, making up more than $12 billion of her net worth. But just like with her husband, when Laurene dies, as the saying goes, “You can’t take it with you.”

Some people have read 1 Corinthians 15:50 and concluded that the kingdom of heaven is a fanciful, ethereal place full of wispy clouds, ghosts, and illusory beings that float around all day. If “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God,” then how can the redeemed be flesh-and bone people?!

To understand what the apostle Paul means by “flesh and blood,” we need to look at the context of this passage. Just a few verses earlier, he explains how our resurrected bodies will be different from our present bodies. “So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption (verse 42). He later adds. “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality (verse 53).

Sin changed our bodies and our very natures. Therefore, when we enter the paradise of Eden restored, our bodies will be changed so that we can fully enjoy the perfection of heaven. “Flesh and blood” is a figure of speech referring to the human body on this earth (see Matthew 16:17). Christ, in His resurrected body, declared that He was truly “flesh and bones” (Luke 24:39).

Flesh and blood refers to our corruptible bodies on earth. When Jesus comes, He will “transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body” (Philippians 3:21). When thinking of our old, earthly bodies. we’ll be glad to leave them behind.

Apply It:

What one thing do you look forward to leaving behind when you go to heaven?

Dig Deeper:

1 Corinthians 15:35-58; Galatians 1:16, 17; Ephesians 6:12

1 Corinthians 15:35-58 KJV
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 hath 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 a spiritual body. [45] And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. [46] Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. [47] The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. [48] As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. [49] And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. [50] Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. [51] Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, [52] In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. [53] For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. [54] So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. [55] O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? [56] The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. [57] But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. [58] Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

Galatians 1:16-17 KJV
To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: [17] Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.

Ephesians 6:12 KJV
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.