"What kind of bodies will we have in Heaven?"

We will not spend a great deal of time on this question, because, when we studied about our resurrection, we learned that our bodies will be like that of Christ following his resurrection. We spent considerable time then on what our resurrected bodies will be like. There are, however, some additional things I would like to discuss as it relates to our heavenly bodies.

The first thing I want to point out is that Christianity is the only belief system in which the person become more than we were before we died. Gnostics of all kind, whether Platonists, Hindus, Spiritualists, Manichaean's say we will become pure spirits - sort of like the angels. Some believe your consciousness becomes one with the cosmos (Buddhism) or are reincarnated, per Shirley MacLaine. Some parts of Islam believe they will have earthly bodies, with harems for the men. Other pagans speak of something like a "happy hunting ground."

Christianity, however, teaches we will have transformed and glorified, yet real, physical bodies. And we point to the resurrected body of Jesus as the prototype of our bodies.

Paul draws a contrast between our present bodies, which will die and decay, and our resurrected bodies, which will be full of glory and power and will never die. And all this was made possible by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who became the first of the great harvest of those who will yet be raised to life again. And, like Christ, our heavenly bodies will be both superior and, at the same time, similar to our present bodies.

Probably all of us are looking forward to getting a new body in heaven. This is especially true of those who suffer from one or more of "the 5 B's of old age. - Baldness, bifocals, bridges, bulges and bunions."

Since the disciples were able to recognized Jesus, it is obvious that there is some continuity our new bodies will have with the old. We will not be limited totally by space. Jesus was able to go places at will. His body could pass through walls and doors without openings.

We will say more about recognizing each other in heaven in a future lesson. But, although our bodies will be similar to what we have now, they will be so much better and superior to what we have right now. The difference between our future glorified body and the body which we have now will be more stark than the difference between our present body and the body we had as a fetus in our mother's womb. If a fetus saw a picture of itself at age twenty, it would at first not recognize itself. Yet it is the same self, even the same body, but even now grown radically more mature.

1 Corinthians 15:35, 42-49 (NKJV)

35 A Glorious Body But someone will say, "How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?"

42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.
43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.
44 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
45 And so it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual.
47 The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven.
48 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.
49 And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.

From these verses, we can draw seven clues about our resurrected body.

1. They will be imperishable - they will never decay or die.

2. They will be heavenly bodies - they will be perfectly suitable to our new environment.

3. Each person' body will be distinct from all others - each will be unique.

4. They will be glorious - "full of glory."

5. They will be powerful.

6. They will be spiritual

7. They will be just like Christ's resurrection body.

For me, the best thing about our new body is number four from the list. 1 Corinthians 15:43 says that our new bodies will be full of glory. To me this indicates that our resurrection bodies will be so wonderful and glorious, that it will be exactly what we have always dreamed of in a body. It will never disappoint us.

If you are like me, you probably have one part of your body (or maybe several parts) that you would like to change. Maybe it's you weight, your height, your hair, or something about your face. To make it even worse, our culture bombards us daily with images of beautiful, well-built people.

But in heaven, there will be no latest fad diets. There will be no Weight Watchers, no aerobics, no exercise bikes, no personal trainers, no physical therapists, no Stairmasters, no weight rooms, no saunas, no jagging tracks, no low-fat food, no diet drinks, and no plastic surgeons.

Our new bodies will be glorious.

Last Updated: Wednesday September 07 2011
©2001 John's Notes