Do you like your body? Probably the majority of people have some complaint about their bodies. Either they are the wrong shape or size or their functioning is poor. Or both. If you have a body that you consider beautiful, that is great. Don’t get to comfortable with it. Age comes to everyone.
We will all grow old, unless we die young. We will acquire physical misfunctions. That is the way it works in a world altered by sin. And that is really all we deserve. It is only by the forgiveness that comes through Jesus’ death and resurrection that we have a promise of more.
This blog has tried to bring out what is promised in the Bible about life after death. There is Sheol and then, after Judgment Day, the lake of fire for those who remain unforgiven. There is Heaven and then, at Judgment Day, a resurrection of the body and a New Earth for those who belong to God. Details are limited. Questions are abundant.
Do we get a body in Heaven? The resurrection of the body is for the New Earth, so is Heaven a sort of body-less dream state? There is surprisingly little said about our heavenly experience, but there is enough said to establish that Heaven is a destination for the Redeemed. A couple of passages talk about our heavenly “physicality”. First, 2 Corinthians 5:1-5:
For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, 3 if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. 4 For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
Because Paul is using a metaphor, you might not catch that “the building” is your heavenly body. Our spirit is “clothed” with a body (house) “eternal in the heavens”. Now that is confusing. We know that we will have a resurrected body on a New Earth from the Bible. How can we have also a body that is eternal, not temporary, in the heavens? Furthermore, why would you want a resurrected, earthly body if you have an eternal, heavenly body? What are the differences?
I will be honest, I don’t know. But I am really excited to find out. I also have a theory that I can neither test nor substantiate. More about this in just a bit. Another passage that seems relevant here is 1 Corinthians 15:39-41:
39 For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40 There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.
While “heavenly bodies” may refer to the type of thing mentioned in verse 41, but I think it is referring to our heavenly bodies. The glory of that body is different than the glory of our resurrected earthly body, but we have no details of how they are different. They both glorious, however.
When we consider the complex creativity of the function of our present bodies, you could say that they have a glory of their own. It is a glory altered from the original design, accumulating genetic flaws as we move generation to generation, and slowly dying because of sin. We can count on sin, aging, defect and disease being gone in our future bodies. Isn’t it exciting to think about what capabilities God has in store for us and what beauty!
A metaphor that comes to mind is the girl who was awkward and a little homely in middle school, who grows up to be a knockout as an adult. We might be quite a mess at this point, but just wait.
The converse is true for the damned. There seems to be a body for those in Sheol, for they suffer physical torments. The resurrection of the body is for all, but the damned are forsaken by God and cast into Hell.
So besides the vague description of differing glories, how can we have an eternal heavenly body and a resurrected earthly one? My theory is that it has to do with where you are dimensionally. I think Heaven is in a different dimensional space, so our heavenly bodies are constructed to be a part of that “universe”. Our resurrected and current bodies are for this dimensional space. Perhaps, after Judgment Day, we can move freely in both.
afterdeathsite 