Behold a mystery-secret to you all I tell: we will not the whole sleep, however we will the whole be changed—in an indivisible-instant, in a wink of an eye, in the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised up incorruptible and we will be changed.
1 Corinthians 15:52 literal
Bringing out more of the concrete meaning in these words is important as it allows us to draw a some important connections with the Hebrew Scriptures. Paul chooses the word wink of an eye to help us understand this secret. This is the only instance of the the word in the New Testament. It is connected to the Hebrew רֶגַע rega which is a noun that means wink.
It is based on the Hebrew verb רָגַע raga, which according to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance means,
to toss violently and suddenly (the sea with waves, the skin with boils); figuratively (in a favorable manner) to settle, i.e. Quiet; specifically, to wink (from the motion of the eye-lids) — break, divide, find ease, be a moment, (cause, give, make to) rest, make suddenly.
Let’s examine a few scriptures where this word shows up.
Behold like a lion he is ascending from the majesty of the Jordan toward an enduring abode; for I am causing her to wink; I am causing him to run from upon her…
Jeremiah 49:19 literal
My flesh has been clothed with worms, and a clod of dust of my skin has winked.
Job 7:5 literal
For a triumphing of the wicked is from close by, and the gladness of the soiled is until a wink.
Job 20:5 literal
Pay attention towards me my kinship, and my tribe towards me give ear, for the law from me is going out, and my justice for a light, kinships I cause to wink
Isaiah 51:4 literal
And the desert-dwellers have met near the howlers, and the hairy-satyr upon his friend is calling; indeed there a female-night-spectre has caused to wink and she has found for her a resting-place.
Isaiah 34:14 literal