“Flesh and blood cannot inherit kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” (1 Cor 15:50)
Question: Why can't perishable inherit imperishable?
Our mortal bodies cannot inherit the kingdom. But this does not mean we cannot partake of the kingdom of God here and now. There is a difference in “entering” and “inheriting”; we can enter the kingdom by being born again of water and Spirit (refer to Jesus' encounter with Nicodemus, John 3:3,5). But Paul states the need for resurrection to happen for us to inherit the kingdom, for us to be heirs with Christ. There's a flaw in our fallen mortal bodies; because we still bear the image of Adam—the image corrupted by the Fall—we cannot inherit the kingdom while still bearing that image in our bodies.
John 5:25-32 seems to account for this difference. Jesus says, “an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live” (v.25). Note he says “now is,” meaning, “right now,” spiritually dead people can hear the voice of the Son of God and live. This is equivalent to entering the kingdom. Later in the passage he says, “an hour is coming (future tense), in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life... etc.” (v.28-29). This seems, as in 1 Cor 15:50, to refer to the time of resurrection, when the elect will inherit the kingdom of God with Christ.
Therefore, the act of inheriting happens when we go to Heaven and are wholly united with Christ. The New Testament seems to always talk of “inheritance” of the kingdom along with the idea of death. For instance, the rich young ruler says, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” In his letter to Ephesian church, Paul says, “[Holy Spirit] is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it” (Eph 1:14), implying that the act of inheriting has not happened yet.
I think my explanation was better. ;)
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