When I ask kids what they would like to have changed when they enter Heaven, many choose to have more formidable physical skills. ” I want to be better at basketball”, for instance. We are all often earth-bound in our imaginations of what a Heavenly or Resurrected body may be. That said, Scripture does say of the Resurrected body, “It will be sown in weakness, it will be raised in power.” What kind of power might this include?
Greater speed, strength, impermeable to damage or illness; I expect “yes” to all of them. Greater beauty, shorter recovery time, more intelligent? Sure, why not? According to Genesis people were living for hundreds of years prior to Noah’s flood. Is this merely mythic? I see no reason to say so. There is a branch of science that studies the genome looking for ways to extend human life expectancy. It is believed that there is a built-in clock within our DNA, and I agree. In Genesis 6, God seems to adjust that clock so that human life expectancy will slide back to 120 years. It eventually does so, and remains so to this day. Can God give us a different genetic code or even use a different means of encoding the construction of our bodies? I’m sure it is not even hard for Him. God is able to make us physically immortal. “The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable.” (1 Corinthians 15:42).
I expect our brains will be a vast improvement over current models. Many people ask if we will recognize each other. I expect that you will not only recognize those you knew, but you will also know those you never met. On the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter, James and John knew Moses and Elijah. They had the gift. It was not introductions or name tags. I expect we will be capable of vast learning without the frailties and maladaptions of our current brain.
Will there be pain, hunger, thirst, nausea, itching or other unpleasantries. “No” says Revelation 7 for the Heavenly body and Revelation 21 for the Resurrected body. Could there be any injury, or will we be like the Terminator? This is hard to say. There will be no mortal injury, but there might be a need for healing and the source will be quickly provided. The Tree of Life exists at least in the New Earth, and I expect also in Heaven. It is for the “healing of the nations”.
Will we age? Aging as it currently plays out is part of dying. It is the wages of sin. We will not get old and frail or lose our beauty, but there might be a life cycle. Isaiah 65:17 and following is a strange passage that says it is about the New Earth. In verse 20 it speaks about infants and old men. This passage needs to be understood in light of other passages that say that we are eternal. So how can you be an infant or old man; or is this just a figure of speech? The “Immortal Jellyfish” might give us a model. This species goes through stages like a frog or a butterfly, but it can revert from its “mature” stage back to its initial larval stage without dying. The Isaiah passage would be referring to the Resurrected body. Perhaps we go from infant to adulthood and back to infancy. Who knows? Eventually, we will.
afterdeathsite 