Every Easter season, believers around the world focus on the bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The bodily resurrection of Jesus is the citadel and cornerstone of our faith. All of our spiritual blessings flow out of the empty tomb.
As Robert J. Morgan reminds us, “Because of Easter, all our problems are temporary, all our pressures are momentary, all our fears are fragmentary, and all our blessings are extraordinary.”
One of the extraordinary blessings of Christ’s resurrection is the promise that the bodies of those who trust in Him will also be resurrected one day, as brand-new remodeled bodies fit for glory. The older we get, this is something we look forward to more and more.
Sometimes I feel like the person who said, “Mirror, mirror on the wall. You’ve got to be kidding.”
New, Glorified Bodies
In 1 Corinthians 15, the resurrection chapter of the Bible, the Apostle Paul—after discussing and defending the resurrection of Jesus—describes our future bodies:
35 But someone will say, “How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?”
42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; 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. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. 47 The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. 48 As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.— 1 Corinthians 15:35,42-49
While the Bible doesn’t satisfy our curiosity about every detail of our future bodies, it does give us a basic idea of what our new, glorified bodies will be like. This should fill us with excitement and anticipation!
Generally, we know that our new bodies will be like the resurrected, glorified body of Jesus. Paul describes it in Philippians.
For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.—Philippians 3:20-21
John writes about it as well:
Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.—1 John 3:2
The Resurrection Body of Jesus
What was Christ’s resurrection body like? He ate food. He was recognized by His disciples. He was not limited by space. On two separate occasions, Jesus came right through the walls of the room where the disciples were meeting (John 20:19,26).
Our future bodies will be just like the resurrection body of Jesus, and we will be able to do the same things He did in His body.
Joni Eareckson Tada, who was rendered quadriplegic by a tragic diving accident as a teenager, knows the hope of resurrected body like the body of Jesus. She wrote this passage in her book Heaven: Your Real Home:
Somewhere in my broken, paralyzed body is the seed of what I shall become. The paralysis makes what I am become all the more grand when you contrast atrophied, useless legs against splenderous resurrected legs. I’m convinced that if there are mirrors in heaven (and why not?), the image I’ll see will be unmistakable “Joni,” although a much better, brighter Joni. So much so, that it’s not worth comparing.…I will bear the likeness of Jesus, the man from heaven.
8 Fabulous Facts About Our Future Bodies
They will never be subject to disease, decay, or death. They will be imperishable. Our present bodies are born with an expiration date. Our future bodies will never wear out.
They will be perfectly suitable to our new environment. They will be “heavenly” bodies.
They will each be unique and diverse from one another. Just like different stars and planets are unique and have varying degrees of glory, we will each maintain a uniqueness and diversity in heaven.
They will be vastly superior to our present bodies—as superior as celestial bodies are from this earth.
They will be glorious, or “full of glory.” They will never disappoint us.
They will be powerful. The future body will be an invincible fortress. It will never get tired, never wear out, and never yield to sin.
They will be spiritual. This doesn’t mean they won’t be real or physical. It simply means that our new body will allow us to fully express our spiritual nature.
They will have continuity with our present body, yet vast change.
Planting a Seed
In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul used the metaphor of planting a seed to represent the placing of a body in the ground at death. When you plant a seed in the ground, there is continuity between what you put in the ground and what comes up. A barley seed produces barley. An acorn becomes an oak tree. A grain of wheat produces wheat.
But there is also vast change. Think of the difference between an acorn and a mighty oak. Or the difference between a brown, ugly, hairy tulip bulb and the beautiful flower. You can’t imagine the grandeur and majesty of a mighty oak by looking at an acorn.
That’s the way it will be with our new body. There is continuity between the body (seed) that is buried (planted), but also incredible change that we can’t imagine by looking at our earthly bodies.
The best news about our new resurrection body is recorded in 1 Corinthians 15:43 where it says that our new body will be full of glory and will never disappoint us. In this life, everyone seems to have a part of the body—or maybe several parts—that they would like to change.
What part of your appearance would you alter if you could? Maybe it’s your weight, your height, your hair, your facial features or something else. Our culture accentuates these imperfections by focusing so much attention on physical appearance. We are bombarded daily by ideal images of beautiful, well-built people.
But in heaven, there will be no fad diets, no Weight Watchers, no aerobics, no exercise bikes, no personal trainers, no physical therapists, no Stairmasters, no weight rooms, no saunas, no jogging tracks, no low-fat foods, no diet drinks, and no plastic surgeons. God will give every one of His children a glorious, unique, diverse, perfect new body that will never disappoint them. I can’t wait!
When Do We Get Our Resurrection Body?
The answer in Scripture is clear: at the Rapture. When Jesus comes back to rapture the Church to heaven, every Church-age believer will get a new body. The bodies of believers who have died will be raised first. These bodies will be raised incorruptible and imperishable. At that time these perfected bodies will be rejoined to their perfected spirits that have been with the Lord since the time of their death.
Then, those who are alive on earth at the time of the Rapture will undergo an immediate, instantaneous transformation as they are “caught up” to heaven. This transformation will occur in the amount of time it takes to blink your eye.
This resurrection of the dead and translation of the living is described in two main places in the New Testament.
Paul writes about it in 1 Corinthians:
Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will all be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.—
1 Corinthians 15:50-53
He discusses it again in 1 Thessalonians 4:
For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.—1 Thessalonians 4:15-17
My prayer is that Jesus will come in my lifetime, so I can do an end-run on the grave. As one of my friends used to say, “I’m looking for the upper-taker, not the under-taker.”
But either way, whenever the Rapture comes, God will give each of us a brand new body.
How Old Will Our Resurrection Body Appear to Be?
The Bible never explicitly tells us how old we will be or appear to be in heaven, so answering this question requires a little bit of sanctified speculation. We know that God created Adam and Eve with “apparent age”—that is, they were not created as children who went through the normal stages of physical development.
Presumably, Adam and Eve were created at the optimal stage of physical development, for God declared that they were “very good.” Also, when Jesus died—in His thirties—He was resurrected at the prime of His physical development. When He was resurrected, He came back in a body that was recognizable by His followers, so it must have appeared to be about the same age as when He died.
The Bible says that when we receive our new resurrection bodies they will be like Jesus’ resurrection body. While this doesn’t necessarily mean that our body will appear how we looked in our thirties, it does mean that our body will be perfect. There will be absolutely no deformities. What we can safely say is that the Lord will give us a body that reflects how we looked in the prime of our earthly life. For those who died before they reached the prime of life, the Lord who knows all things will give them a body that reflects how they would have appeared at the optimal stage of development in their life.
Whatever the exact make-up and appearance of our new bodies, we need to remember and rejoice that the resurrection of Jesus is the basis for our hope that we will one day receive a new body fit for eternity.