PROPHECIES CONCERNING THE BELIEVER'S RESURRECTION BODY

We hear talk about “the immortality of the soul.” The distinctive teaching of the Bible is not soul immortality (usually meaning future existence—Pagans taught as much)—but resurrection of body.

The full hope of the Christian is not deliverance from the body but redemption of the body. (Rom. 8:19-23). No saint will be complete until his spirit is clothed in an incorruptible body at the Lord's coming.

Resurrection does not simply imply reanimation of the present body—bringing back together every particle that exists in it. It involves newness of life—the union of the spirit with a new kind of body.

MUST BE IDENTITY OF SUBSTANCE

Remember, however, that if there is not identity of substance, it would not be resurrection (“a rising of that which fell”). There are elements of a redeemed body that can never be destroyed, never assimilated by anything else. It matters not where they are. God will claim them and they will become the seed of the new body.

This does not mean that God will have to search through the universe to bring back all the gases, water and other substances laid in the grave. “God giveth it a body.”

It will be a different body—yet the same. Our Lord arose from the dead. He took up His own identical body. It was the same —but it was different. It left the tomb before the stone was rolled away. It disappeared out of the grave clothes. (Lazarus who was brought back from the dead into a mortal state, had to be loosed from his grave clothes. Jn. 11). Our Lord's body appeared and disappeared as He willed. (Jn. 20:19, 26; Lk. 24:32-43).

He brought life and immortality to light. He was the “first fruits.” We shall be “like him.” Therefore we will not pass into creatures of another order, but we will be human beings with bodies that are celestial instead of terrestrial.

PAUL'S SUMMARY IN 1 COR. 15

Paul in 1 Cor. 15, after showing that Christ's bodily resurrection is essential, faces the question: “How are the dead raised up? With what body do they come?” (v. 35).

One who sows seed knows that the seed rots and dies, yet he sees it spring up into a beautiful plant. He does not think of asking “how?” Paul shows that the same difficulty of explaining exists in all directions. We must be satisfied with the facts. But learn this: the body that is planted is “not that body that shall be.”

It will far excel it, yet it is the outgrowth of that substance. Do not worry about the dust. “God giveth it a body as it pleases him,” and “to every seed his onwn body.” (vs. 35-38).

In this world we know there are varieties of flesh, adapted to exist in different environments. They were adapted by the Creator to certain conditions in which He intended them to live. In the same way there are bodies terrestrial and there are bodies celestial. Cannot God who gives to His creatures flesh suited to its conditions, hereafter give His redeemed another form suited to the new conditions in which they are to be placed? (vs. 39–41).

The new body is to be a spiritual body. It will be fully adapted to a perfect spiritual atmosphere. It will be in no way limited by weakness, fatigue or affliction. There are two bodies for every believer, just as really as the seed and the tree, the bulb and the lily, the worm and the butterfly are two— yet the same. (vs. 42–44).

From the first Adam we derive our natural bodies and natures. From the Last Adam, who is “a life-giving Spirit”, we will derive spiritual bodies and spiritual natures. (vs. 45-49).

What is the great change? Read vs. 5054. With what bodies? Not “flesh and blood.” Blood stands for the physical nature. “The blood is the life of the flesh.” The resurrection body of Christ was bloodless, but it consisted of glorified “flesh and bone.” (Lk. 24:39). He was still human.

The resurrection body will be bloodless but beautiful. Blood carries on the work of repair in mortal bodies. The new body will have no need of repair. It will be of flesh made celestial—no longer subject to corruption—made imperishable, eternal, glorious—“like unto His own glorious body.” (Phil. 3:21).

Mark the fact that immortality has reference to a resurrection body and is to be the gift of Christ in His second coming, to the redeemed. We know of no Scripture asserting the immortality of the lost.

ADDITIONAL LIGHT IN 2 COR. 5

We have further light in 2 Cor. 5: 1-8. Emphasizing the transitory character of our earthly bodies, they are here compared to “tents.” In contrast, the new body is a temple, a building of God.” Paul is still thinking of the spiritual body referred to in | Cor. 15.

Some teach that this “building of God” referred to here is an intermediate body— that the spirit is at no time disembodied. Note, however, that it is “eternal in the heavens.” This would not suggest that it is a body later to be exchanged for another in the resurrection. V. 8 clearly shows that to depart from this life by death is to be absent from the body, though at home with the Lord. Paul's great longing, however, reached beyond the disembodied state (though this is “far better” than abiding in this life— Phil. 1:21–23). He was ever looking to the final victory, the highest state—to be conferred at the Lord's coming.

Few are anxious to be unclothed by death. Rather would we contemplate being alive at the Lord's appearing, translated and transformed without death. (v. 4). But we may have to wait and “be absent from the body” until the resurrection. And who is not “willing to be absent from the body” (v. 8) since it means to be “present with the Lord”? Though death does not bring immortality, it does make the believer at home with the Lord, and among the saints gone before, he may wait the resurrection.

Let us not forget that the body is included in the recovering scheme of grace. It is purchased by the blood of Christ. That which was the partner of the spirit in the worship and service of the Lord on earth, will share in the rewards and honors of the future life. Read l Cor. 15:55-58.