We are reflecting on our thoughts regarding the resurrection body that all who belong to Christ will receive when Jesus returns. John the Apostle wrote that we will be like Christ on that Day:
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:2, Emphasis added).
Just as our physical life was inherited from Adam in that we became like him, we will likewise be like the last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, at the resurrection. The Apostle Paul wrote, “And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven” (1 Corinthians 15:49). Additionally, Paul wrote about our transformation in another place:
But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord who is the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18).
In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul writes that there will be varying degrees of glory among believers in this transformation (vs. 38-42). He compares it to the different levels of brightness seen between stars and planets. God created our physical bodies for life in the physical realm; however, these bodies must be redeemed and transformed into the spiritual and physical bodies that God has designed for us to wear. Those who belong to Christ will shine with God’s glory based on how much of Christ’s character is within us.
The life we have received from Adam is insufficient for entering this heavenly kingdom without the addition of the life we receive from Christ—the gift of God (Romans 6:23). I believe God's plan of redemption for humanity is for His people, the Church of the Living God, to exist in both spiritual and physical realms, just as Christ did for 40 days after His resurrection (Acts 1:3). Christ Jesus has not abandoned His body on Earth; He resides in Heaven with a resurrected body that is both physical and spiritual. “Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God” (Romans 8:34). This is what also happened to Enoch, the man of God. God cherished his company so much that He took him to heaven in his physical form: "Enoch walked with God; then he was no more because God took him away" (Genesis 5:24).
A similar occurrence took place with Elijah. He, too, was taken up to heaven while still clothed in his physical body (2 Kings 2:11). Some believe that Enoch and Elijah are the two witnesses mentioned as testifying to the world's sin in the Book of Revelation (Revelation 11:3). These two individuals have yet to experience death (Hebrews 9:27), so they may descend from heaven to proclaim God’s grace and then be killed. Of course, three and a half days later, God raises them from the dead, much to the dismay of the Antichrist's followers (Revelation 11:11).
What we will become will only be known when we shed this physical seed we have planted during our life on Earth. All who have received Christ Jesus have been given the heavenly spiritual seed that Christ bestowed upon us through His death on the cross. Here’s how Jesus explained it:
23Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life (John 12:23-25).
We’ll carry on this thought of the seed of the physical body tomorrow. Keith Thomas
If you would like to share this on your Facebook or Twitter or get the link to send in an email, click the icon of your favorite social media at the bottom of this page, and it will open automatically. All you'll have to do is hit the "send" button.
Taken from the series Insights into Eternity. Click on study 3 or the link: The Resurrection Body. Here are our teaching videos on YouTube: