INTRODUCTION
As we get older, we see our bodies begin to fail. Weakness, illness, disease, injuries, and the infirmities of age ravage the body, and there is nothing we can do to stop them.
Should this cold reality leave us in despair? Certainly not if we are Christians, for we have the confident expectation of casting off these failing bodies in order to receive new bodies in the resurrection.
LONGING FOR OUR DWELLING FROM HEAVEN
The natural decline of our mortal bodies does not diminish our hope of eternal life.
Ever since Adam sinned, man's physical body has declined toward death. God told Adam, "For you are dust, and to dust you shall return" (Gen. 3:19). Thus, Adam and all of his descendants were destined to physically decline, grow old, and die.
Christ came to overcome the damage first done to the race by Adam as Romans 5:17 states:
For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
This hope in Christ extends beyond this life so that we do not despair over physical decline.
Notice 2Corinthians 4:16-18:
16Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. 17For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 18while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Paul's "momentary, light affliction" was his ordeal of suffering for the sake of Christ, which had the reward of "an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison." The general decline of man due to age and sickness does not carry this reward, but we can consider this passage as an example of the attitude a Christian should have about his life, both temporal and eternal.
If a Christian faithfully serves the Lord, then he can look beyond the pain and weakness of his temporal, decaying life to the hope of his eternal life, which has yet to be seen.
Rather than being discouraged by our earthly decline, we should long even more for our dwelling from heaven.
If our entire existence were limited to this world, then our physical decline toward death would be devastating. It would mean the loss of everything.
However, Christians have a hope of life that is far more glorious than the temporal life of this world so that death is rightly viewed as the gateway to eternity.
Notice 2Corinthians 5:1-8:
1For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, 3inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. 4For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. 5Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. 6Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord -- 7for we walk by faith, not by sight -- 8we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
Here we have only an "earthly tent," which is a temporary dwelling, but God is preparing for us a "house not made with hands" that is permanent and eternal.
Our earnest desire is "to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven." It is not that we have a death wish, but rather we have a wish to escape the death that plagues this mortal life and to be immersed in eternal life.
Therefore, we should be "always of good courage" as we anticipate taking leave of our physical bodies and going home to be present with the Lord forever.
WHAT KIND OF BODY?
In his great treatise on the resurrection, Paul anticipated the questions of those who have doubts, and he answered them.
In 1Corinthians 15, Paul explained that the resurrection is essential to our faith and hope. If there is no resurrection, then "we are of all men most to be pitied" (v. 19).
Nevertheless, there is a resurrection, and we know this because Christ Himself has been raised. Notice 1Corinthians 15:20-22:
20But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. 21For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
In 1Corinthians 15:35, Paul anticipated the doubts and questions, such as "How are the dead raised?" and "With what kind of body do they come?"
Paul's answer to these questions begins with the exclamation, "You fool!" The meaning of this is that those who question the resurrection because they cannot grasp how it is physically possible are foolish. They should know that God is able to raise the dead with an appropriate body just as He gives appropriate bodies to different entities in the material world (1Cor. 15:36-41).
Our new bodies will not be like our earthly bodies, for they will be imperishable, glorious, powerful, and spiritual.
Notice 1Corinthians 15:42-44:
42So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; 43it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
Each of these contrasts shows the superiority of our new bodies.
Notice that if God gave us natural bodies that were suited to the material world, which He did, then He will give us spiritual bodies that are suited to eternity.
Consider 1Corinthians 15:45-49:
45So also it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living soul." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. 47The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. 48As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. 49Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.
In this world, we suffer physical decline in the likeness of Adam.
In eternity, our bodies will be in the likeness of Christ. Notice 1John 3:2:
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.
Notice 1Corinthians 15:50-53:
50Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52in 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 be changed. 53For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.
To inherit the kingdom of God, we must put of these mortal bodies. It is for this reason that "we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven" (2Cor. 5:2).
Remember the question of verse 35, "How are the dead raised?" The answer is that the dead are raised in an instant by the power of God.
CONCLUSION
Dear Christians, every one of us who remains faithful to the Lord will experience the resurrection just as we have studied here. We will have new bodies, and the infirmities of this life will be left behind.
How faithless it is to cling to life in this world as if it is all that we have and hope. God has eternal life in store for us, which is so much better than anything we have ever known here. Let us diligently seek for it!