Insights into Eternity

 

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Have you ever wondered what your body will look like after resurrection? In our study today, we will first explore what it will be like to go home to be with the Lord and, secondly, what it will be like to have an eternal body that will never grow weary, become sick, and be full of life as God intended from the beginning. First, let’s discuss Jesus’ promise that He will take us to be with Himself.

 

A Home Prepared

 

There’s something special about returning home to what’s familiar after being away for a while, whether for vacation, work, or other reasons. There are sounds, smells, and visual reminders waiting for us as we walk back into our everyday surroundings. It’s a very comforting feeling to be at home. We even refer to relationships where we feel "at home" with a particular person. What we mean is that this person allows us to kick back and be ourselves, just like when we’re at home. Everyone deserves a place of rest, a place to call home. Before He left this world, Jesus promised us that He would prepare such a place for us—a home like no other, where we will dwell with Him. The house we know in this life, no matter how humble or grand, will pale in comparison to what He has prepared for those who belong to Him.

 

As Jesus prepared to leave His disciples by way of the cross, He said to His disciples:

 

¹"Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. ²"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. ³"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 (John 14:1-3).

 

When I was just a teenager, I worked as a dishwasher on the Avalon cruise liner. The ship traveled from England to North Africa, stopping in Tangiers and Casablanca in Morocco, Gibraltar, and Spain. The temperature soared into the upper 90s, and there was no air conditioning on the vessel. The worst part was being in the kitchen/galley, which was much hotter than the deck. We had to take salt tablets each day due to excessive sweating. I worked long, hard hours for two weeks, but it felt much longer because of the intense conditions, mainly the heat. I remember weeping when the ship finally passed the White Cliffs of Dover, England; home was just an hour away! It was a deeply emotional moment.

 

What is your favorite story of returning home? Share a time that stands out in your memory; what was it that made returning home feel so good?

 

There is a story about an old missionary couple, the Morrisons, who returned to America after serving Christ as missionaries in Africa for 40 years. On the same ship was Teddy Roosevelt, the American president at the time, who was coming back from an African safari. Bands and parades filled New York as everyone gathered at the dock to greet Teddy as his transatlantic liner approached the quay. The crowds and press were eager to catch a glimpse of Teddy finally returning home. The Morrisons felt sad as they left the port that day because they had little money, just enough for a small apartment. Henry felt quite low as he witnessed the welcome that Teddy Roosevelt received. He told his wife that something must be wrong, as they had devoted 40 years of their lives to Christian missionary work, and no one cared enough to even come to the dock to welcome them home. His wise wife advised him to pray about it. A little while later, he returned with a beaming smile on his face, having been reminded by the Lord, "You are not home yet, Henry."

 

If you ever grow weary of this life, remind yourself, "You're not home yet." Similarly, if you become complacent and adopt a carefree lifestyle, pouring all your resources and effort into enjoying the comforts of this world, consider this: This is not all there is. If you are a believer, this sinful world is not your eternal home. This life is only temporary, and the time will come when the Lord takes us home to be with Him. We will pull up our tent pegs and collapse the tent (2 Corinthians 5:1-4), whether at our departure from the body (death) or when the Lord returns for us according to His promise. The Lord knows those who are His (2 Timothy 2:19), and He will send forth His angels and gather those who have received His gift of salvation:

 

And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other (Matthew 24:31).

 

At the coming of Christ, the Church will be raptured or caught up with Him in the clouds. The Apostle Paul describes what this will be like:

 

¹³Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. ¹⁴For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. ¹⁵According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17, emphasis added).

 

The passage above is the classic discussion on the rapture of the Church. As mentioned elsewhere in these studies, the term rapture does not appear in the Bible. The English word “rapture” derives from the Latin word rapere, which translates the original Greek word Harpazo. This term means to be snatched up or “caught up” (v. 17). A loud shout from the Lord Jesus Himself will precede this event, and those on Earth will also hear a loud trumpet call. All believers in Christ who have died or slept in Christ will be brought with Jesus (v. 14) and instantly transformed and reunited with their bodies. Those still alive on Earth will witness this event before they are caught up together with all believers around the world.

 

The Resurrection of the Body

 

The event known as the rapture of the Church is the same phenomenon described in another passage of Scripture referred to as the resurrection. During the rapture of the Church, God will instantly transform our bodies, just as He did with Jesus' body when He raised Him from the dead. Paul, the apostle, wrote to the Church in Corinth about the day when all believers will be raised from the dead:

 

⁵⁰Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. ⁵¹Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, ⁵²in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed (1 Corinthians 15:50-52, emphasis added).

 

This same event is preceded by the blast of a trumpet and the dead being raised, and I believe they refer to the same event: the rapture or resurrection from the dead. There are not two raisings of the dead; the rapture and the resurrection are one and the same. Our earthly tent, this sinful body we inhabit in this world, will be changed instantaneously. This change occurs in "a moment" (v. 52). The Greek word used is atomō; we derive the English word "atom" from this term. It describes an atomic particle of a second—instantaneously, the Lord will transform our fleshly body to be like His. The word "changed" appears twice and only in this passage of Scripture. The Greek word is allagēsometha, which means to change, alter, or transform. Before discussing this transformation, Paul the Apostle starts by writing about what happens to seeds. Let’s attempt to understand what he is conveying. We need to go back a bit in the passage, as he describes the process by which we, as believers in Christ, receive a glorified body:

 

³⁵But someone may ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?" ³⁶How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. ³⁷When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. ³⁸But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. ³⁹All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. ⁴⁰There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. ⁴¹The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor. ⁴²So will it be with the resurrection of the dead (1 Corinthians 15:35-42).

 

Paul uses the analogy of a seed, noting that a seed is fundamentally different from the plant that grows from it. He illustrates that our physical body is merely a seed that when sown at death, will undergo a significant transformation when this sinful age ends and the resurrection of the body takes place. Before we delve further into the concept of the resurrected body, we need to grasp how this transformation occurs.

 

The Life of God Sown in Our Hearts

 

When people dedicate their lives to Christ, something changes inside them. They are regenerated or born again by the Spirit. Jesus stated that without this experience of being born again or born from above, no one can see the kingdom of God:

 

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again” (John 3:3).

 

The apostle Peter writes, “In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3). A spiritual seed begins to grow within us from that point, gradually transforming us through the word of God, as well as our trials and life experiences, into the likeness of Christ:

 

For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God (1 Peter 1:23).

 

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full (John 10:10).

 

The characteristic of this living seed is spiritual life that is eternal and imperishable and that, as we live and respond to the Holy Spirit within us, is powerfully transformative of our character. The Greek word translated as "life" in the above passage of Scripture is the word zōē. It means: “to live.” My Key Word Study Bible says of this word:

 

It is a somewhat metaphysical term that denotes the very life force itself, the vital principle that animates living beings. Zōē is most often used in connection with eternal life. This life is the very life of God, of which believers are made partakers.

 

I don't understand how words can be like seeds, but I do not doubt their power. God spoke His Word and created the world. Throughout Genesis chapter one, creation occurred through God’s spoken Word. For example, God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light (Genesis 1:3). Consider how many times the phrase “And God said” appears. There is tremendous power in the spoken word of God.

 

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul states that God determines what a seed will become as it grows (v. 38). He notes that there are various types of physical bodies on Earth: humans, animals, birds, and fish. All physical creatures born on Earth originate from seeds. I observe Paul making two distinct analogies when he discusses a seed:

 

In some way, our resurrection body will be recognizable as us, yet it will be as different as a seed is from the plant that emerges from it. Paul writes:

 

When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else (1 Corinthians 15:37).

 

The DNA of the physical body resides within the seed. Oranges do not grow from apple seeds. There is a continuity of life linking the seed to the body it will ultimately become. Our heavenly resurrected bodies will resemble the seed of our earthly, fleshly body, but they will be vastly different, as distinct as an oak tree is from the acorn it comes from. I believe we will recognize one another in our resurrection bodies.

 

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).

 

Just as our physical life was inherited from Adam, making us like him, we will also be like the last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, at the Resurrection. “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).

 

 

 

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, the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18).

 

Paul explains that there will be varying degrees of glory among believers during this change. He compares it to how stars and planets possess differing degrees of brightness or glory. God has designed our physical bodies to exist in the physical realm; however, these bodies must be redeemed and transformed into the spiritual and physical bodies that God has intended for us to receive.

 

The life we have inherited from Adam is insufficient for us to enter this heavenly kingdom without the additional life we receive from Christ—the gift of God. Just as a computer program requires an update, there is also an update from God to exist in both realms of being: the heavenly and the physical realm. I believe that God's plan for redeeming humanity, specifically the Church of the Living God, is for the saints to live in the spiritual realm as well as the physical realm, just as Christ did during the 40 days after His resurrection. Christ Jesus did not leave His body on Earth; rather, He abides in heaven with a physical and spiritual resurrected body. Isn't that true of Enoch, the man of God? God cherished his company so much that He took him up to heaven in his physical form. “Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away” (Genesis 5:24).

 

The Transformative Death of Seeds

 

Spiritual life only comes at the death of the physical seed planted; the Lord Jesus Christ was that heavenly spiritual seed that gave His life for us as a seed:

 

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).

 

In our central passage about the resurrection body (1 Corinthians 15:35-57), Paul wrote that Adam, the first man, was a living seed who bore all of us in his image. He also noted that the Last Adam (Christ) became a life-giving spirit (v. 45). Paul mentioned earlier that what happened to Adam happened to us all. Adam was our representative because he was the federal head of the human race. It may not seem fair for all of his descendants to inherit his sinful nature, but the life of that seed, Adam's sinful nature, was passed down to all of us. However, Christ has come Himself to be the federal head for all who receive God's full pardon. In this way, the Lord brings His divine life through another seed, one that is perfect and free from sin. “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ, all will be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22). Just as Adam gave us our physical bodies and, with them, our sinful nature, Christ also provides us with the seed of new life planted in our hearts. He came to give us life!

 

The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; ⁴³it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; ⁴⁴it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. ⁴⁵So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. ⁴⁶The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. ⁴⁷The first man was of the dust of the Earth, the second man from heaven. ⁴⁸As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the Earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. ⁴⁹And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven (1 Corinthians 15:42-49).

 

What words or sentences stand out to you from this passage? Share your thoughts about this new body. What do you think we might be able to do that we haven’t been able to do in our mortal body?

 

The body raised from death will be completely different from the one buried in the ground at our physical death. God will make our resurrection body imperishable, meaning it cannot perish. It will not wear out, age, or ever become sick or diseased. Just as we received life in the physical realm from Adam, our forefather, Christians receive spiritual life from the last Adam, Jesus. Christ is referred to as the Last Adam, so we should not expect another. Just as we have taken on Adam's likeness, thanks be to God, we will also take on the image of the glory of Christ.

 

⁵⁰I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. ⁵¹Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— ⁵²in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. ⁵³For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. ⁵⁴When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." ⁵⁵"Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" ⁵⁶The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:50-57, emphasis added).

 

We Shall Be Changed and Transformed.

 

Who we are within—the person molded and shaped by the Holy Spirit—will someday be revealed. We will not be like our old nature; Paul writes that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God (v. 50). It will no longer be perishable, but imperishable (v. 53). Not all of us will sleep (not all Christians will be separated from their bodies); some will be transformed instantly without going through the process of death. When Christ comes, in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, God will change us from having a perishable body to being clothed with an imperishable body (vv 51-52).

 

…the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body (Philippians 3:20-21).

 

The Greek word translated into English as "transform" is "Metaschēmatizō." It is composed of two Greek terms: "meta," meaning a change of place or condition, and "schēma," meaning shape or outward form. To transform means to change the outward form or appearance of something, to refashion, or to reshape.

 

An imperishable body means it won't age or get sick. Our new bodies will be glorious all the time. You will always possess youthful strength and radiate beauty with God's glory shining from you. Just as Jesus walked through walls into the upper room when the door was locked for fear of the Jews (John 20:19), we too will be able to pass through walls and travel instantaneously, unbound by the physical realm. Our new bodies will not be limited to just one sphere of existence. We cannot comprehend this now since we are restricted in this life to this dimension on Earth. Just as a vast Redwood tree cannot be compared to the seed from which it grows, our spiritual bodies will transcend our imagination.

 

Paul states that our new body will resemble Christ's glorious body (Philippians 3:20). The radiance of Christ emanating from us will be both authoritative and beautiful, showcasing God’s transformative power. The Lord proclaimed that “the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father” (Matthew 13:43). Those who belong to Christ will command respect, a respect rooted in wisdom from above. Kindness and joy will be ours. It will also be a powerful body (1 Corinthians 15:43). I don't believe this refers solely to strength, although that will certainly be part of it. I believe there will be power and authority to operate in our bodies just as Jesus did and continues to do. We will engage with Him not only to worship Him but also to fulfill His will. Our bodies will be raised, and we will see His face and be transformed into His image. The prophet Daniel also speaks of that time:

 

¹"At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. ²Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the Earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. ³Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever (Daniel 12:1-3).

 

What does it mean that those who lead many to righteousness will shine like stars?

 

Daniel states that this will occur during a time of distress like never before. However, at that time (v. 1), everyone whose name is written in God's book will be delivered. I believe Daniel is referring to the rapture of the saints during the tribulation or time of distress. I cannot comprehend what it means to shine like a star (v. 3), but it certainly sounds like a glorious reward worth my effort and devotion to Christ in this life! The Lord Jesus spoke similarly, saying, “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father (Matthew 13:43). What God is doing inside you and through you will be revealed, and it will be glorious; the chrysalis of this old, decaying body will be transformed into an immortal body, just like our Lord's. It will be time to go home! Graduation day at last!" Nothing in this life will hold us back any longer. When we attend a believer's funeral and look at the body of a loved one, we must see beyond this world to a glorious new day when together we will don our magnificent resurrection bodies and reflect the glory of Christ.

 

For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory (Hebrews 2:10).

 

Prayer: Lord, thank you for preparing a place for us. Thank you for the message of Eternal Life to be with You in the Father’s House. May all who hear and read these words not delay in receiving new life but instead respond to your offer of complete forgiveness of sin. May your light shine in us ever brighter. Amen.

 

 

 

Keith Thomas
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Email: keiththomas@groupbiblestudy.com
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All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, Copyright Ó 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.Ô Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.