Having taken some look as to the idea of the after-death last night, I’d like to look into the nature of the body of the believer. My stance is that our bodies will be, in many ways, the same, although I can anticipate some functions changing in some ways. When we see Christ in the Scriptures, we see him raised in a body that is now glorified, but we are not given the extent of this glorification.
I do think it could be likely though that Christ’s body is even more glorified in Heaven where the glory of God is round about and that is shown even more through the glory of Christ. I do not believe what I have just written is honestly adequate to convey the thought. A writer normally would not critique his own work, but it’s my hope that the reader realizes the idea of what I said and that I just think it could not be adequately expressed were I to have thousands of pages to write and all the time in the world.
Paul writes in1 Cor. 15 that we do not know what kind of body we will rise up in. I do not think the contention is that we will rise like some creature in fantasy literature or something of that sort. I think it’s that we don’t understand all the ins and the outs of the new body. We do not understand how glorious it would be. Here, we are beset with sicknesses and we have to eliminate waste from our bodies on a regular basis and we are certain such will not exist in the after-death. We just don’t see how that will happen. What of eating? Eating seems to naturally lead to waste. Will we have a glorious metabolism? We really don’t know.
It is my belief though that we will be what we were meant to be entirely. I happen to have a steel rod on my spine now. It could be that I might somehow have it in Heaven. I do not know for sure. If I do, it won’t be anything that holds me back and if there is any scar that I bear, it will be one of glory. There will be nothing that is ugly about me in Heaven.
Heaven is the place where we will fully be ourselves and to me, this is one of the great joys. I will be there and realize that, “Yes. This is who I was meant to be all alone.” Many of us today can wonder around in existential quandaries at times pondering if we are doing what we should be doing and who we really are. Why do we do the things that we do? Why do we like the things that we do?
In Heaven, we will know as we are known. I will be able to understand myself and understand God as I ought. In Heaven, everything “fits.” There is nothing out of place. There is perfect love and communion with myself, with my neighbor, and with God.
In fact, if you want to see true human beings, Heaven is the place to see them. Heaven will get rid of all in us that is not human and make it truly human. Heaven will remove all impurities from our souls and we will live as we ought.
The nature of that? We don’t know entirely, but we can be sure it will be done. We are to be conformed to the image of the Son. That doesn’t mean we become deity, but we reflect the character of the Son. The Son is a true human being as well as being deity. So we shall be true human beings.
But what of unbelievers?
That is for tomorrow…..
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