Paul

If we traverse a 1000-year period, we come to the early days of the Church. The apostles are still alive. They are preaching the gospel to the salvation of souls. They are teaching and instructing their converts. They are leaving a written testimony that will convey the truth of God to many succeeding generations after they have long left this scene.
It is through these writings that we learn that the power of God was displayed in many remarkable ways in the days of the early Church in order to establish it in a hostile environment. There was a power to unloose the tongues of unlearned and ignorant men to reach out and touch the surrounding nations. There was power to heal the sick with a simple touch of the hand, and the power of an embrace to raise the dead. The Apostle Paul seemed to excel in all these acts of power. It is no small wonder that he is the one to tell of the power of God unto salvation. He certainly felt that power as he lay in the dust on the Damascus road.
What captivated the heart of Paul, however, was the power of God in resurrection. In the first chapter of Ephesians we read: "And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He WROUGHT in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places." vv. 19, 20.
Paul knew that the power that raised the Lord Jesus was going to be displayed again in the Church's resurrection day. Paul knew all of the details connected with that grand event. He taught them to the Thessalonian saints and to the Corinthian saints. He knew every minute detail. He even had a personal preview when he was caught up to the third heaven, but he was careful to state that he did not know whether he was in the body or out of the body. So vivid was this experience, however, that the whole direction of his life seemed to be in anticipation of that moment when he would again enter into those heavenly courts. That seems to be a fair evaluation in view of what we read in Phil. 3:10, 11: "That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.”
Paul understood very well the spiritual transformation that is to take place at that time, when mortal bodies shall put on immortality, when corruptible must put on incorruption. We might wonder whether Paul ever contemplated the physical significance of this event, whether he understood the engineering principles involved. His use of the word "power" seems to suggest that he did.
Consider for a moment that the power to raise a man's weight to the height of a typical cloud formation in the time of an eye blink is something like 50,000 H. P. And if we multiply this by the number of raptured saints making this journey, we are talking about trillions of H. P. Even the space age engines of our day pale into insignificance in comparison to this grand display of power. No wonder the Apostle was enthralled with the prospect of his participation in this event. But even the great Apostle had to learn that he must wait, just like the rest of us, to personally experience this mighty surge of power.