The Resurrection Body
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“For
the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an
archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will
rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up
together to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the
Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thess.
4:16-17). Nothing colors life like
the knowledge that “all die.”
Therefore, nothing becomes more precious to many than the Bible’s
promise of eternal life. The death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ are among the most proven facts of
history. Since Christians know this event actually took place, they can
be equally certain that the souls of the believers will be reunited with
Christ when He comes for them. There is hope, not only
for the souls of those who died in Christ, but also for their bodies.
The bodies of the Christians who die will be resurrected just before living
Christians are caught up to meet the Lord in the air. Jesus Christ at this very moment is
sitting at the right hand of God the Father in heaven (Rom. 8:34; Eph. 1:20;
Col. 3:1; Heb. 1:3). At a future time, He will leave this position and return
to the earth to fulfill His promise to take the believers with Him to a place
that He has prepared for them. “Do
not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My
Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told
you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for
you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you
may be also. (Jn. 14:1-3). The Dead Shall Rise
First Just how are the dead
raised, and what kind of body will they have? These are questions that
Paul was asked by the Corinthian church. “But
someone will say, How are the dead raised up and with what body do they come?
How foolish! What is sown is not made alive except it die” (1 Cor.
15:35-36). Belief in the
resurrection is like belief in spring seed-planting and autumn harvest.
Although it cannot be completely understood, it is very real. When planted,
the seed actually dies before the life within springs out. This is God’s way
of teaching us that physical death comes before real life begins. The Resurrection Body is
Superior to the One that Dies As God has the power to
create the physical bodies used by those of us in Adam’s human race, He also
has the power to create superior bodies for those who are connected to the
Lord Jesus Christ. “And
what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but a mere
grain-perhaps wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as He
pleases, and to each seed its own body. All flesh is not the same
flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of animals, another of fish, and
another of birds. There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but
the glory of the celestial is one and the glory of the terrestrial is
another. There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and
another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in
glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in
dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised
in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
There is a natural body, and there is also a spiritual body” (1 Cor.
15:37-44). A shiny corn seed, when
planted into the ground, does not remain a shiny corn seed. When it breaks open,
it produces a very beautiful plant. God has designed a beautiful body
to take the place of the Christian’s physical body that dies. The new
resurrected body will be a perfect body. Why? Because God is the
designer! If it pleases Him, then it will be perfect. The new resurrection
body will also be the only one of its kind. To each seed God gives its own
plant. To every body God will give a unique resurrection body. Our
resurrection bodies will reflect the uniqueness that our physical bodies had
while upon the earth. In the heavenly realm, like on earth, there
will be no one exactly like you.
God has obviously made
the flesh of man different from that of fish, and the fish different from the
birds. Likewise, He will give to the resurrected body a new flesh,
unlike any that we know of in this physical world. It will be a flesh
designed for eternity. It will
be a body crafted by God for a different world. Each new body will shed
light upon the creative genius of God. Paul said that there is one
glory of the sun, one of the moon, and another of the stars. So what about
our heavenly bodies? They will be far superior to those connected to
this world. Paul contrasts the
physical body connected to Adam the first and that which is connected to the
second Adam. “So
also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption,
it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in
glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a
natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and
there is a spiritual body” (1 Cor. 15:42-44). Our earthly bodies will
die and be planted in corruption, destined to physically decay. However, the
new body will be raised never to decay again. It will be an eternal body. It
will be sown in dishonor, disgrace, and humiliation; but it will be raised to
shed light upon the One who created it. It is to be sown a natural body but
raised in power and glory with no limitations. A Body like Jesus Christ “And
so it is written, ‘The first man Adam became a living being.’ The last Adam
became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the
natural and afterward the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, earthy.
The second Man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are
those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who
are heavenly. And as we have born the image of the earthy, we shall also bear
the image of the heavenly man” (1 Cor. 15:45-49.) The first man, Adam, was
of the earth, and thus called earthy. He produced a civilization after
his “earthy” kind. It is a civilization born physically alive but
spiritually dead. It is born in union with old Adam, using physical seed,
cursed in Adam and possesses a strong Adamic nature. It is part of an old
birth, old physical life, old physical body, old relationships, old earth and
an old heaven with an earthy citizenship. But the second Man is
the Lord from heaven. He is at this very moment producing a heavenly civilization
after His kind. This second Adam's new civilization is reborn in union with
the body of Jesus Christ, made spiritually alive and possesses a new nature
given by God. It is produced by spiritual seed, marked by a new spiritual
birth and new life, and is destined to possess a new heavenly body, heavenly
life, heavenly relationships, and to live upon a new earth and heaven. By faith in Jesus
Christ, believers have become citizens of a new world. “For
our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be
conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able
even to subdue all things to Himself” (Phil. 3:20-21). Those Who are Alive and
Remain “Behold
I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed- in
a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the dead
will be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. For this
corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on
immortality” (1 Cor. 15:51-53). What about Christians
who are alive on this earth when Christ returns? Paul says clearly that flesh and blood cannot inherit the
kingdom of God. “Now
I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God;
nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable” (1 Cor. 15:50). The dead “in Christ”
will be raised first and then the living will be instantaneously transformed.
Like the dead, the living will exchange their physical bodies for their
glorified bodies; but this will occur while they are physically alive.
Christians today call
this mysterious transformation “the Rapture.” Though the word “Rapture”
does not occur in Scripture, the truth that it represents certainly
does. “Those
who are alive and remain shall be caught up together to meet the Lord in the
air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:17). This supernatural
transformation is the believer’s great hope. We pray that we will be alive
when the Lord returns in order that we may be instantly caught up. But either
way, whether by death or by life, we will all be changed and we will all be
with the Lord. “So
when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on
immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: Death
is swallowed up in victory. Oh death, where is your sting? Oh Hades, where is
your victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through the Lord Jesus Christ”
(1 Cor. 15:54-57). The
tragedy of the fall of man in the Garden of Eden and the seeming gloom of
Calvary’s cross were both reversed by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Death came through the disobedience
of the first Adam, but life came through the obedience of the last Adam (Rom.
5:18-19). Upon faith in Christ,
life comes to the believer along with victory over the grave and the promise
of a new beginning (1 Cor. 15:23). |
Though the word “Rapture” does not occur in
Scripture, the truth that it represents certainly does. What kind of body will believers have? |