What's a Resurrected Body Like?
Notes
Transcript
Background to passage: As I spoke to Dianne this week about the sermon topic and title, her first reaction was “we don’t know.” In one sense this is true. In that sense we don’t know with detail and fullness about many of the topics in this Heaven series. However, in another sense the bible gives us clues and truths about parts of these things that we may emphasize and extrapolate to draw some conclusions and applications to do exactly what this series is designed to do: increase our desire for heaven and it’s glorious King.
20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
Opening illustration: “Our physical bodies are an essential aspect of who we are, not just shells for our spirits to inhabit. Death is an abnormal condition because it tears apart what God created and joined together. God intended for our bodies to last as long as our souls...The Bible sees it as unnatural and undesirable. We are unified beings. That’s why the bodily resurrection of the dead is so vital...When we die, it isn’t that our real self goes to the present Heaven and our fake self goes to the grave; it’s that part of us goes to the present Heaven and part goes to the grave to await our bodily resurrection. We will never be all that God intended for us to be until body and spirit are again joined in resurrection.”
Main thought: This morning we will consider the glorified body
1) It’s a physical body (Phil 3:21)
1) It’s a physical body (Phil 3:21)
21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
1) It’s a physical body (Phil 3:21)
1) It’s a physical body (Phil 3:21)
Explanation: Jesus’s body is a model - Garden accounts, road to Emmaus, upper room occurrences, Thomas particularly, Sea of Galilee interaction. Even in hell people have a physical presence for weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth, where the worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.
26 And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God,
27 whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!
42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable.
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.
Illustration:
Application: According to these examples, our earthly bodies will be the patterns, Jesus’s being the example, but know that your resurrected body will not experience loss of good things, but adding to or enhancing. All joys and pleasures of the body will be magnified. Remember,
2) It’s a relational body (v. )
2) It’s a relational body (v. )
2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
2) It’s a relational body (v. )
2) It’s a relational body (v. )
Explanation: I think this gets back to trivial or generic pictures and understandings of heaven in our minds. We speak of our loved ones going to heaven and seeing other loved ones and being with Jesus. Both of which are true, but let’s go beyond that. Can you imagine a big hug from a close loved one who died years ago? It is not “unspiritual” to imagine sitting on the front porch and listening to stories from the heroes of the faith. More importantly than that is that our relationship with Jesus will be face to face.
Argumentation:
“If you study his interactions with Mary Magdalene (John 20:10-18), Thomas (20:24-29), and Peter (21:15-22), you will see how similar they are to his interactions with these same people before he died...We will experience continuity between our current lives and our resurrected lives, with the same memories and relational histories.” -Alcorn
Illustration:
Application: You will get to see your loved ones again. You will recognize them. You will hug them and shake their hands. You will pick up on your relationship with them just as it was here. You will also have a relational access to Jesus. Complete speculation, but I don’t think Jesus will be like a movie star that our enamored fascination will only be thought about from a distance. Just like we have a personal relationship here, we will have one there.
Closing illustration:
Recap