What Type of Bodies Will We Have?

Welcome to the last Wednesday in November, and to another edition of “You Asked For It!”. I challenged you to ask me anything you’d like to know more about, or to get my opinion on various subjects in Scripture and you have not disappointing!

Our question for this month is : “What type of bodies will Christians have in Heaven between death and the Rapture of the church?”

Here is my answer: I don’t know.

Let me rephrase that a bit: No one knows.

Now let me rephrase that a bit as well: No one knows, for certain.

The reason I say I don’t know, or that no one knows for certain, is because the only people who do know for certain, are in heaven today, and they’re not writing about it!

Now that I have gotten that out of the way, let me say that the operative words to hold onto are “for certain”.

My pastor would often refer to two types of bodies, one given to believers who have died before the rapture, and another given to all believers at the rapture. The bodies he referred to respectively as: and intermediate body at the time of death, and a glorified body at the rapture.

The reason he referred to them in this way makes sense. At death, our immaterial parts depart from our physical part. That is our spirit and soul depart from our physical body. Our spirit and soul are eternal, but our bodies are not…can I get a witness?

At the rapture, we know that “the dead in Christ will rise first” and then, “we which are alive and remain will be caught up...”. The rapture involves the bodies of the departed being resurrected and caught up to heaven and reunited with their soul and spirit.

My pastor suggested that what he called the “intermediate body” was a temporary body while saints awaited their resurrected or glorified body. Why would we suggest an intermediate body awaiting the rapture?

Let’s consider the evidence for:

An Intermediate Body

Luke 16:19–23 KJV 1900

19 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: 20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, 21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

1 Samuel 28:11–14 KJV 1900

11 Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel. 12 And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice: and the woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul. 13 And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth. 14 And he said unto her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself.

In both cases the people were able to see and recognize the departed.

The rich man in Luke, saw both Abraham and Lazarus, he also saw his situation, which indicate he at the very least had eyes, but also a body - BTW - this is a good indication that those who are not saved receive some form of intermediate body as well. It is interesting that eternity is to be experienced by all aspects of our senses, bodily and spiritually.

In the case of Samuel, God allowed him to appear to Saul from the dead. Saul and the witch both recognized him for who he was. This seems to indicate there was some form of a visible body.

The evidence is pretty clear that we will have some form of a body, we will be recognizable, we will have our “senses” so that we can experience heaven fully

Now, I will admit, you will search in vain for the words, “Intermediate body” and “Glorified body” in the Bible, but there is definite evidence for both!

We’ve examined the evidence for an intermediate body, now let us move onto the evidence for...

A Glorified Body

What is meant by “glorified body”? In short, it is a resurrected body. Again, I’ll point out there is not a chapter and verse we can turn to regarding this subject, however there is plenty of evidence to demonstrate that we will have bodies similar to that of the resurrected Savior.

1 John 3:1–3 KJV 1900

1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

This is a body that has no limits -

John 20:19–23 KJV 1900

19 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. 20 And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. 21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: 23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

A body that is recognizable -

John 20:24–29 KJV 1900

24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. 26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. 27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. 28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. 29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

A body that is relatable -

John 21:9–14 KJV 1900

9 As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread. 10 Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught. 11 Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken. 12 Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord. 13 Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise. 14 This is now the third time that Jesus shewed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead.

A body that is immortal and sinless -

1 Corinthians 15:51–57 KJV 1900

51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Closing Thoughts

While there are key differences between the intermediate body we receive at death, and the glorified body we receive at the rapture, the biggest difference is between both of the future bodies and our current body.

Why is a new body necessary?

If we are going to sin today, we are going to do so in our bodies. No sinful thing can enter God’s presence, therefore these sin-cursed bodies must be left behind before we can enter his presence.

For this we are thankful that our new bodies will not have been touched by our sinful nature and will be able to endure for eternity in God’s service. It is exciting to be a Christian!