We live between the already received “redemption, that is, the forgiveness of sins” and the not yet received “redemption of our bodies.” In Christ Jesus we have already obtained “redemption, that is, the forgiveness of sins” (Col 1:14; Eph 1:7). But because we have not yet received “the redemption of our bodies” (Rom 8:23), we are waiting.

Living between what we have already received—the redemption, the forgiveness of sins—and what we have not yet received—the redemption of our bodies—our inner person delights in God’s law, yet there is another law in our flesh that fights against the law of our mind and still makes us prisoners of the law of sin within us (Rom 7:22–23). In other words, our minds follow God’s law, but our flesh follows the law of sin (v. 25). But when the last trumpet sounds, we will all be changed in a moment, in the blink of an eye (1 Cor 15:52).

When the Lord comes down from heaven with a command, with the voice of the archangel, and with God’s trumpet, He will transform our lowly bodies to be like His glorious body (1 Thess. 4:16; Phil 3:21). At that time, the victorious believers who died in Christ will rise first as those who will never perish (1 Thess. 4:16; 1 Cor 15:52; Rev 21:7). After them, the believers who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and will enter the new heaven and new earth—the Holy City, the New Jerusalem—to be with the Lord forever (1 Thess. 4:16–17; Rev 21:1–2).