#DailyDevotion The Lord Will Raise Our Bodies Gloriously
1Co 15:35-42 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” (36) You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. (37) And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. (38) But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. (39) For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. (40) There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. (41) There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. (42) So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable.
The Scriptures don’t talk a lot about the intermediate state (what most people call going to heaven). We do not have a whole lot to go on about the resurrected state either but we do have some idea as St. Paul gives us some clues here. People often do ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” People I talk to probably wouldn’t be pleased with me answering like Paul, “You foolish person!” Paul uses several analogies to teach us about the resurrection of the dead. The first is that of a seed. It must be buried and die before it springs forth to life. What come forth looks nothing like the seed, though its germ is in the seed. You get a plant, a flower, some herb or even a mighty oak. So it is with the resurrection of the dead. The body we bury is not going to be like the one that is resurrection. As an acorn is to the oak, so is our current body to our resurrected body. It will be like our present body but better. Think about our Lord Jesus Christ risen from the dead. His disciples did not recognize him but in actions and speech.
Our earthly bodies are different from our heavenly, spiritual bodies. Note I didn’t say ‘spirit bodies.’ They are spiritual bodies because their life is from the Spirit of God. Our flesh will no longer be corrupted by sin and enslaved to sin’s impulses. Now we have a body of death. Then we will have a imperishable body.
Does the Scripture give us any other clues of our resurrected body? Most definitely it does. Peter writes, 2Pe 1:4 …”he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, …” Paul writes, 2Co 3:18 “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.” We are renewed in the image likeness of God in righteousness, holiness and knowledge (Eph 4:24, Col 3:10) Heb 12:10 “…that we may share his holiness.” John writes, 1Jn 3:2 “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” Paul also reminds us, 2Co 4:17 “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,…” So the body we get at the resurrection is something we hope for and are looking forward to putting on.
Gracious God and Father, just as you had prepared a body for your Son Jesus Christ, you have prepared a body for us when we enter into your eternal kingdom at the resurrection. Ever keep this hope before our eyes that we may endure all things until day you raise us from the dead bodily in the bodies you have prepared for us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.