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April 12, 2018 |
| Your Future Body | ||
At the Second Coming, when the Messiah returns, we will be given new bodies. This is well established in many verses. What isn't clear is what these bodies will be like. Very little is said about that. In fact the details are a secret that God is keeping to himself.
Beloved, now we are the children of God, and it has not been revealed [even] until now what we are going to be, but we know that when he has been revealed, we shall be in his likeness, and we shall see him just as what he is. (1 John 3:2)
That doesn't mean we can't know anything at all about them. The Bible does say some things, though they are spread over many chapters. If we take all of those references, put them together, and look at them as a whole we can certainly get a much better picture. That's what we will do in this study.
It's interesting that the best information about our future bodies comes from the 1st and 2nd letters to the Corinthian church. This focus on a single church shows Paul is dealing with a concern there about this matter.
The longest description of our future bodies comes from 1 Corinthians 15:35-54 and that's where we'll begin.
The first verse in this passage gives us some detail about the concern in this matter at the Corinthian church. We can't be certain that someone in the church has actually asked this question.
35 Someone among you will say, "How do the dead rise? With what body do they come?" 36 Fool! The seed that you plant will not live unless it dies.
It is the kind of question that can come from a person who is questioning the basis for his faith, or can lead a person to do so. From all of human experience and all of the Bible to this point, there has never been a person who died, his body decayed, and he was resurrected to life. So it's a natural enough question to ask - what body.
The question is even deeper than that. What if a man dies and his body is eaten by animals and some of it becomes part of the animal's bodies and then he is resurrected. What happens to the animals? Also some of his body is now animal excrement. What happens there?
To explain this, Paul is going to be using a seed as a metaphor for a person. So when he says "dies" here he is speaking of germination, what he thinks of as the death of a seed. Most of us don't view that as a death, but more as a transformation. Paul is not wrong though. The seed will be broken, something will start growing out of it, and the husk of the original seed will be left behind.
Transferring the metaphor to a person tells us that he doesn't mean only death but also the bodily decay that follows. The bigger point for the Corinthian church is that the body isn't coming back. It has done it's time.
37 And the thing which you sow is not that body which is going to be, for you sow a naked grain of wheat or barley or of other grain. 38 But God gives it a body just as he chooses and to each one of the grains a body of its nature.
Paul makes a critically important point here but at first thought it seems wrong to us. He says there is no connection between the body that is sown in the ground (planted) and the body that will be. He says God says determines what the new body will be.
For a seed, we think that's crazy because we understand a little bit about genetics. Even before mankind understood anything of genetics though, farmers knew that if you planted a Wheat seed, you were going to get a Wheat plant that would bear more Wheat seeds. They had learned not to expect Barley, yet Paul says God determines what the plant will be.
Remember though that God determined that rule for plants at the time of creation, that plants would bear fruit of their own kind. So God did choose "the body that will be" for seeds, but he did it at creation for all plants that would ever be.
Once again transferring the metaphor to a person tells us something important, that our future bodies will be given us as God chooses according to our nature. We know that our current body is not our true nature. God sees deeper than that. Our new bodies will be according to our true nature.
Along with that we understand there is no reason to expect that our future body will look like our current body in any way. We'll come back to that later.
We really can't take this line of reasoning any further because we don't know our own true nature. We may see glimpses of it and have guesses at it but we don't know much. We know even less about what body would be right for that nature.
Paul also recognizes this dead-end and moves on to his next point.
39 But not every body is equal to another, for there is the body of a man and another of an ox and another of a bird and another of a fish.
We have come to expect human bodies to fall within a statistical range. For example, some are much taller, up to a limit, and some are much shorter, down to a limit, but most people's height is at or not far from the average. We know of Goliath and the other giants of the Bible but we have never seen them so we discount them from the range. We know how tall basketball players are, though, and we know there are a very few people who are even taller.
So it is with most physical characteristics of our bodies, strength for example. Paul's point here is that we can learn from all the different animal bodies we see around us that we should expect far greater differences between our future bodies than we are used to with our physical bodies.
We'll see that Paul is referring to differences in the glory of these future bodies. But that isn't a quantifiable term for us. How is a body with a little glory different from a body with much glory? We don't have an answer.
40 And there is a Heavenly body and there is an Earthly body, but there is one glory of the Heavenly and another of the Earthly. 41 And there is one glory of the sun and another glory of the moon and another glory of a star, and one star is greater than another star in glory.
42 Thus also is the life for those who die. It is sown with corruption, it rises without corruption. 43 It is sown with disgrace, it rises with glory; it is sown in weakness, it rises in power.
Once again very little of this is measurable or can be related to a body. About all we can take from this that our current bodies with their corruption, disgrace and weakness will be replaced by bodies without corruption but with glory and power. Later he will add "indestructible" and "immortal" to that list. That sounds great but what does that look like - we don't know.
44 It is sown an animal body; a spiritual body rises, for there is an animal body, and there is a spiritual body. 45 Thus also it is written: "Adam the first man was a living soul"; the last Adam - the life giver spirit.
Paul begins a longer discussion here about the nature of the new body - that it is spiritual, not animal, and the Biblical support for that.
46 But the first was not spiritual, but the animal, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was dust from the ground; the second man, the lord Yahweh from Heaven. 48 Just as he who was a being of dust, so also is that which is of the dust, and just as he who is the being from Heaven, so also is the Heavenly. 49 And as we have worn the image of him who is from the dust, so we shall wear the image of him who is from Heaven.
We won't dig into this aspect in any detail but instead pull out the points that are important to this study.
We can see that nothing here says that Jesus wore a spiritual body at any time. While "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence" we can see that this would be the perfect time to make a powerful statement about Jesus wearing a spiritual body after his resurrection. Instead the text switches from referring to Jesus to referring to lord Yahweh, the Son of God. We'll return to this point later on.
50 But this I say my brethren: flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, neither does corruption inherit indestructibility.
The keyword here is inherit, being given something promised. These corrupted bodies of dust cannot be given these things. With that idea Paul transitions the topic from it's starting point, "what bodies the resurrected dead will wear", to, "the living at the time of the resurrection".
51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be transformed, 52 Suddenly, like the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet, when it shall sound, and the dead shall rise without corruption, and we shall be transformed.
53 For this destructible is going to wear indestructibility and this mortal shall wear immortality. 54 Whenever this destructible puts on indestructibility and this mortal, immortality, then that word which is written shall come to pass, "Death is swallowed up by victory." 55 "Where is your sting, oh death? Where is your victory, oh, Sheol?"
For the living, their old bodies are swallowed up in the blink of an eye and they are gone.
Paul summarizes this discussion about our new bodies by quoting prophecies from Isaiah 25:8 and Hosea 13:14.
The world thinks of spiritual beings as ghostly, like glowing, wispy remnants of a human body who cannot interact with the universe. The Bible never describes such a being. Quite to the contrary, spiritual beings are described as being quite different from that.
Angels appear to be capable of appearing in at least two forms, one is a glorified form where it is common for them to appear bright, metallic, or crystalline, in different combinations, and the other is a human form. Daniel had visitors of both kinds.
6 His body also was like beryl, his face had the appearance of lightning, his eyes were like flaming torches, his arms and feet like the gleam of polished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a tumult. 7 Now I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, while the men who were with me did not see the vision; nevertheless, a great dread fell on them, and they ran away to hide themselves. (Daniel 10:6-7)
The angel was there - Daniel wasn't seeing things or hallucinating. We know this because the men felt the presence, though they didn't see the angel.
In this glorified form it is common for men to be strongly affected by their presence. This is also sometimes true when they appear in human form.
Later in that chapter, Daniel sees another angel whose form is different.
16 And behold, one who resembled a human being was touching my lips […] (Daniel 10:16)
Matthew also describes the appearance of an angel and the effects of his presence.
2 And behold there was a great earthquake, for the Angel of the lord Yahweh descended from Heaven, and he came, he rolled the stone from the entrance and sat upon it. 3 And his appearance was like lightning and his clothing was white as snow. 4 And from dread of him, those who were keeping watch were shaken, and they became like dead men. (Matthew 28:2-4)
In Daniel, the angel Michael gives us some insight into the appearance of our future bodies as he prophesies about the appearance of the resurrected dead and transformed living.
2 Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. 3 Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. (Daniel 12:1-2)
Remember that Jesus also appeared in a form like this when he was transfigured.
Changing focus slightly, there is good reason to believe that some of our body parts would not exist in these future bodies or, at least, not have the same purpose.
30 For in the resurrection of the dead, they do not take wives, neither do men have wives, but they are like the Angels of God in Heaven. (Matthew 22:30)
It's outside of the scope of this study to explain why, but one of the things that disgusts Satan about us is urination and defecation - the fact that we need to. More parts we don't need.
We do need to take into account the environments these future bodies will live in. During the millennium after the Second Coming we will live in Jerusalem. After that we will live in the new Heavens and the new Earth, purged and made new by fire. There is every reason to believe that these will be physical and that these are places where we would feel comfortable. Our future bodies will be physical bodies (tangible, substantive) in a physical world, not vaporous and unable to interact.
Summarizing this section, there is good reason to believe that your future body will not be so different from the body of an angel, and likely greater and more glorious.
I think we all know the Bible tells us to put up treasure in Heaven and not on Earth so there is no need for verses to support that. What is that treasure, though? When do we get that reward? First we'll look at the question of when.
14 "And you will be blessed, for they have nothing to repay you, for your reward will be in the resurrection of the righteous." (Luke 14:14)
12 "Behold, I come at once, and my reward is with me, and I shall give to every person according to his work." (Revelation 22:12)
The answer is that our reward is brought to us at the Second Coming. Peter says the same thing but a little differently.
4 And to an inheritance which is indestructible, undefiled and unfading, prepared for you in Heaven, 5 while you are kept by the power of God and by the faith, for the life which is ready to be revealed in the last time (1 Peter 1:4-5)
So, what exactly is that reward?
1 For we know that surely this our bodily house that is in the Earth will be destroyed; but there is a building for us that is from God, a house which is not by the work of hands, in Heaven, for eternity. (2 Corinthians 5:1)
It's a new … BODY!!! Your new body is being built in Heaven, by God, for you, for eternity, as you read this. There is something important to understand though.
27 For the son of Man is going to come in the glory of his Father with the Holy Angels and then he will repay each man according to his works. (Matthew 16:27)
Your body is being built according to your works. There is even more to it than that though.
10 For we are all going to stand before the judgment seat of the Messiah, that each man will be paid in his body anything that was done by him, whether of good or of evil. (2 Corinthians 5:10)
Your body is made more glorious according to your good works, but less glorious according to your evil works.
This shouldn't be taken to mean that you should go out and do all the good works you can think of. How would you know which works are good? Just do the works God gives you to do.
Understanding that our new bodies will be made of the Holy Spirit leads us to understand why the unpardonable sin only applies to the Holy Spirit.
28 "Truly I say to you, all sins and blasphemies that the sons of men will blaspheme shall be forgiven them, 29 But there is never forgiveness to whoever will blaspheme against the Spirit of Holiness, but he is condemned to eternal judgment"; 30 because they were saying, "He has a foul spirit." (Mark 3:28-30)
Some people have argued that Jesus was in his resurrection body when he was resurrected. The only foundation for this is that he was resurrected and he was God.
The problems with this idea are:
For all of these reasons, it makes more sense to understand that the Son of God was brought back to life in his former body, just as Jesus had resurrected others. The difference with Jesus is that he is able to prevent his own death.
9 For we know that the Messiah arose from the place of the dead and he shall not die again, and death has no authority over him. (Romans 6:9)
People who support the idea that Jesus was resurrected to a resurrection body do not realize that they are contending against the Apostle Paul who said "We do not yet know what we will be." Their response is, "Yes we do. We will be exactly like Jesus."
We need to understand that Jesus' resurrection was not at all like the resurrection we expect. In our resurrection there are two paths as described in Thessalonians; those who have died receive new bodies, those who are alive are transformed. For Jesus, his body was kept in stasis so he could return to it.
It was necessary for the Son of God to return to that body for prophecy to be fulfilled.
10 "I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn." (Zechariah 12:10)
6 And one will say to him, "What are these wounds between your arms?" Then he will say, "Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. 7 Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and against the man, My associate," Declares the Lord of hosts. "Strike the Shepherd that the sheep may be scattered; and I will turn My hand against the little ones." (Zechariah 13:6-7)
Summarizing this section it seems clear that there is no reason to believe the Messiah received a new body at his resurrection and therefore there is nothing we can learn about our future bodies from his resurrection.
Some people say, look at the miracles Jesus performed after he was resurrected, those are the proof that he was in a resurrection body.
He could jump from place to place - If we look closely at Jesus' miracles, he did the same before he was crucified.
19 And they drove about twenty five or thirty furlongs [(3 1/8 to 3 6/8 miles across an 8 mile wide lake)] and they saw [Jesus] as he was walking on the lake, and when he drew near to the ship, they were afraid. 20 But [Jesus] said to them, "I Am (the living God), do not be afraid." 21 And they wanted to receive him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at that land to which they were going. (John 6:19-21)
John doesn't describe Peter walking on water but he does describe the boat as jumping from roughly the middle of the lake to their destination. So in this one case Jesus walks on water and jumps through space, all without a resurrection body.
His transformed body no longer was aged - Jesus spent only 40 days on earth after his resurrection. Aging happens much slower than that, so an observer couldn't know he wasn't aging. That doesn't mean his body was aging; he can control that.
His transformed body was not subject to sickness and death - It's true that there is no description of him getting sick during those 40 days, but then there is no description of him getting sick at anytime. Thus this says nothing about his resurrection body.
He could jump in time, that's how he got from place to place - Jumping from place to place certainly saves time but that is not the same as jumping in time. There isn't any evidence he jumped in time.
His resurrection body was glorious - We glimpsed his true glory when he was transfigured.
That doesn't mean everyone agrees. There are people who cling to one or two verses and ignore all the others. Even those verses they only understand by eisegesis - adding their own ideas. Sometimes this comes via the translation they use which puts them at the mercy of their translator.
Here is one of those verses
21 He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own (Philippians 3:21 NLT)
21 For he will transform the body of our humiliation into the image of his glorious body, […] (Philippians 3:21 ANT)
Notice how the NLT uses "like". English usage makes it very easy to change that into "exactly like" but that isn't what a more direct translation is saying with "in the image of". Remember that man was made in the image of God but we were far from being exactly like.
Also notice what has happened by taking this one verse out of context. Here is the previous verse which gives the context.
20 But our business is in Heaven and from there we look for the life giver, Our Lord [Jesus] the Messiah.(Philippians 3:20 ANT)
The reference in verse 19 is to the body of the returning Messiah. To say that body is the exact same body he was resurrected into is to insert personal opinions. The Bible doesn't say that.
We are familiar with our bodies, that they are made of skin, meat, fat, bone, and lots of other things. So, it's natural to wonder what our future bodies will be made from.
The Bible says nothing directly about this but the answer is there for the careful reader.
23 And not only so, but we also who have in us the first fruits of the Spirit; we groan in ourselves and we look for the adoption of sons and the redemption of our bodies (Romans 8:23)
We need to understand the concept of First Fruits to understand what is said here. Put simply, the First Fruits were a sample of a thing to show that the entirety of the thing would be good when it arrived. By saying that we have the sample in us, Paul implies that there is an entirety coming to us.
Now notice how this First Fruits reference is tied to our future bodies. In our current bodies we groan in ourselves as we wait for:
Paul's point is that the Spirit delivers both of these. When we have the entirety of him we become sons of God and receive new bodies.
22 And he has sealed us and he has given the down payment of his Spirit into our hearts. (2 Corinthians 1:22)
Here, Paul uses "down payment" where he used "First Fruits" before, but the concepts are the same. When you receive a down payment, you understand that the remainder will be paid later.
4 For as we are now in this house, we are made to groan by its weight, and we do not want to strip it off, but to put on over it, that its mortality may be swallowed up by life. 5 And he who prepares us for this is God; he it is who gives us the down payment of his Spirit. (2 Corinthians 5:4-5)
We understand then that we have received a sample of the Holy Spirit at this time and we await the remainder. We also understand that the Holy Spirit in us is related to our future bodies. In fact, our future bodies are made of the Spirit, which makes us sons of God.
It's easy to miss how important this change will be. Instead of a body that is constantly trying to get us to do wrong, we will have bodies that are always trying to get us to do right. Also, because of the perfection of ourselves that also comes at that time, we will desire to do what our new bodies want.
What a wonderful situation. The war between the body and the inner man will be over. Where the Holy Spirit guides us in small ways now, he will guide us in big ways then. There will be peace between the two.
Because we are human we tend to think of things in human terms according to human experience, even when we are told that "human" is no longer to be considered. It's the only frame of reference we have for understanding anything. Therefore it seems reasonable to ask how we will recognize old friends in new bodies and to wonder how we will learn the names of everyone else.
Fortunately Paul answers this question as well, though not directly.
8 […] for prophecies shall cease, tongues shall be silenced and knowledge will be nothing; 9 for we know partially and we prophesy partially, 10 but when perfection shall come, then that which is partial shall be nothing. 11 When I was a child, I was speaking as a child, I was led as a child, I was thinking as a child, but when I became a man, I ceased these childish things. 12 Now we see as in a mirror, in an allegory, but then face-to-face. Now I know partially, but then I shall know as I am known. (1 Corinthians 13)
When Paul says "knowledge will be nothing" he is speaking about learning, the acquisition of knowledge, and the result that some people know much and others know little. He says this will come to nothing. He means, everyone will know everything that can be known.
This would have to be startling at first. We are so used to remembering things that we have seen and done and so used to being limited to that. At that time we will be able to "remember" things that others have done and even "remember" things that no one has seen or done. Obviously the word "remember" takes on a new meaning.
For example you would be able to remember what it's like to walk on the surface of Jupiter, even though you have never done it.
We would still be able to reminisce with each other and say "remember that guy I met yesterday" even though you were the only one with that guy. We would also still want to hear other people's stories as they bring their experiences to our mind.
Perhaps most jarring of all would be that everyone can know everything about you. We are currently able to keep our thoughts to ourselves. This also allows us to lie and deceive. In those future bodies we wouldn't want to lie or deceive but we would be effectively transparent.
It might take a while to get used to.
1 http://www.frlouis.com/unless-a-grain-of-wheat-dies/
2 https://www.skipmoen.com/2012/02/the-last-adam/
