(OPINION) Have you ever thought about what our resurrected bodies will look like and what abilities we will have in them? Will we still need to sleep and eat? And what about the babies we have lost in this lifetime?
This is a question that has intrigued believers for centuries, and I believe that the Bible provides some answers. I would like to share with you eight incredible facts about our resurrected bodies and the new heaven and earth that is to come.
“Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is”. – 1 John 3:2
This passage has always intrigued me because it gives us a clue as to what our resurrected bodies will look like when the day comes. John tells us that if we want to know what our resurrected and glorified bodies will look like and how they will be we are to examine the resurrected body of Jesus. Before we do that let’s look at some more clues that also coincide with this.
For example, The Apostle Paul teaches us in his letter to the Church at Corinth in the fifteen chapter, that Christ has risen from the dead, and has become the first fruits of those who have died in him. Then he asks an interesting question.
35 “But someone will say, “How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?” 36 Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. 37 And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain—perhaps wheat or some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body”.
Let’s read on here, 39 All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds. 40 There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.
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.
Paul is expounding to us here by the revelation of the Lord that we have a physical body and a spiritual body. The natural body will one day expire and return back to the dust of the earth but the spirit and soul of a man will return to the Lord and enter a place that Paul described as “paradise” in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. I want to emphasize here that this will only be the case for those who had a relationship with Christ and were truly born again. Paul gives more details of this when he said:
“For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, 3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked.
4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
6 So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. 7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord”. – 2 Corinthians 5:1-6
So again, we can see here that Paul is clearly telling us that we have an earthly tent (body) and a heavenly building (resurrected body). Once the earthly expires we then are clothed with a body that will be heavenly and no longer corruptible.
“Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption”. 1 Corinthians 15:50
Now that we have established this, let’s move into the more details of this new heavenly resurrected body that is awaiting us as believers. What will it look like, what will we be able to do?
“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself”. – Philippians 3:20-21
1- Our new bodies will not have limitations in the natural – The resurrection of Christ is revealed to us in the Book of John chapter twenty where we see that Jesus has risen from the dead and revealed himself to Mary Magdalene who then runs back to tell the disciples that Christ has risen from the dead and that she saw him with her own eyes.
We then discover that on the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
“Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to you.” But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit” – Luke 24:36-37
We can see here in these passages that Jesus who now has a resurrected body was able to walk through walls and was not confined to physical barriers. The doors were shut but he was able to go through the walls and stand in the midst of them.
One example of this can be found in Acts 12:5-10, where Peter was guarded by four squads of soldiers in the prison, and he was awaiting his trial but an angel of the Lord appeared in the middle of the cell where Peter was held.
The account states that the angel struck Peter on the side, waking him up, and instructed him to get dressed and follow him. As they walked, the angel led Peter past the guards, through the iron gates of the city, and eventually out into the streets.
Peter believed it was a vision at first, but when he found himself alone in the street, he realized that God had sent an angel to deliver him from prison.
In Daniel 9:21 the angel Gabriel is described as moving swiftly to Daniel in response to his prayer in Ezekiel 1:14: In the vision of the prophet Ezekiel, he describes “living creatures” associated with angels that moved like flashes of lightning.
This imagery portrays their agility and swiftness. Matthew 28:2-3: describes an angel descending from heaven, rolling back the stone from the tomb, and sitting on it. The angel’s appearance is accompanied by an earthquake, and his countenance is likened to lightning.
Lightning travels at approximately 224,000 miles per hour (360,000 kilometers per hour) or about 1/3 of the speed of light. Angels, spirits, and our resurrected bodies will possess the ability to transcend the barriers of natural resistance through barriers, space, time, and distance.
Our physical bodies prevent us to be able to perform things as described in the Bible that Jesus performed in his new resurrected body. Imagine being able to travel somewhere with the speed of thought.
2- Every pain and sorrow will be wiped away – It appears that the Lord will allow us to remember the good things in our lives on earth, the things that brought us joy, the birth of our children, our marriages, those moments in our lives that brought joy and laughter but the following passage in the Book of Revelation tells us that God will not permit us to remember those things that brought pain and sorrow.
4 “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” – Revelation 21:3-5
We can also see in this passage that all our infirmities, sicknesses, and diseases will be no more in the presence of God and our resurrected bodies will be disease-free, pain-free, and without sorrow, anxiety, worry, or fear.
3 – We will have full knowledge and understanding of mysteries – In 1 Corinthians 13:12, states, “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” This suggests that in heaven, we will have complete and intimate knowledge of God, far beyond what we currently comprehend.
It also implies that our understanding will be perfected. The limitations and partial knowledge we experience in this earthly life will be replaced by a comprehensive understanding of heaven.
Think about all of the questions we have had over the years. Why did God allow this tragedy or that person to die so young, Why did my spouse leave me, Why did I have a miscarriage? All of these questions will be answered and the mysteries unlocked.
4- We will look similar to what we looked like on Earth – This part can get a little complicated because when Jesus appeared to his disples after his resurrection that initially did not recognize him it raises speculation that we may look much different when he receive our new bodies however, there is some speculation that the disciple’s eyes were intentionally veiled for a period tome to conceal who Christ was but once again, we can only speculate here, however, I would like to point out that when Jesus did appear he showed Thomas the wounds on his hands and his side that he endured at the crucifixion. 27 “Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” 28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” – John 20:27-28
5- We will not be given in marriage like on Earth – “The same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying: “Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.
Now there were with us seven brothers. The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother. Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh.
Last of all the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her.”Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven”. – Matthew 22:23-30
6- We will still be eating and drinking – In John Chapter twenty-one, we see where Jesus starts a fire and has fish cooked and actually has breakfast with the disciples on shore. “Then, as soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish which you have just caught.” Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land, full of large fish, one hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not broken.
Jesus said to them, “Come and eat breakfast.” Yet none of the disciples dared ask Him, “Who are You?”—knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to them, and likewise the fish”. This is now the third time Jesus showed Himself to His disciples after He was raised from the dead. So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of [b]Jonah, do you love Me more than these?”- John 21:9-15
“And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations”. – Revelation 22:1-2
This event will take place after the new heaven and new earth will be presented and we will have our new glorified bodies. “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also, there was no more sea”.
7- We will no longer need to sleep – As long as we remain in these physical bodies sleep is a necessity because, without sleep, our brains would literally stop working. However, It appears that in the new heaven and earth, we will no longer need to sleep as we will be in our new spiritual heavenly bodies. “There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever”. – Revelation 22:5
8- If we lost a child before the age of accountability we will see them again – I believe when babies and young children die before ever given the ability to make their own personal choice to believe in Jesus they are taken to paradise with the Lord and will remain there until the resurrection.
There is an age of intellectual or moral accountability where children are “automatically” saved by God’s grace in Christ because of someone is incapable of making a decision for or against Christ, then that one is extended God’s mercy. Charles Spurgeon once stated “I rejoice to know that the souls of all infants, as soon as they die, speed their way to Paradise.
Think what a multitude there is of them!” The age of 13 is the most commonly suggested age of accountability, based on the Jewish custom that a child becomes an adult at the age of 13. However, I believe only the Lord truly knows the physical development of each individual child and their mindset because some children develop faster than others.
The greatest biblical support in my opinion for this age of accountability is found in 2 Samuel 12:21–23 where King David committed adultery with Bathsheba, impregnating her with a child. The prophet Nathan was then sent by the Lord to inform David that, because of his sin, the Lord would not permit this child to live.
David responded by grieving and praying for the child. But once the child was taken, David’s mourning ended. David’s servants were surprised to hear this. They said to King David, “What is this thing that you have done? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept; but when the child died, you arose and ate food.”
David’s response was, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who knows, the Lord may be gracious to me, that the child may live.’ But now he has died; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again?
I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.” David’s words seem to indicate that infants who die are automatically granted access to paradise in the presence of the Lord. This gives great hope and comfort to so many that have lost a child in a tragedy. a miscarriage or even an abortion.
