Heavenly Bodies

Earthly and heavenly bodies

For 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. 2 For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, 3 inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. 4 For 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. 5 Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.

This earthly body is breaking down and eventually it will stop working. The good news is that we have a heavenly body awaiting us that will never breakdown or cease to stop working.

The house we currently live in is subject to the curse of sin.

15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. 16 The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not [n]eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” Gen 2:15-17

God created us to live forever. He gave Adam clear instruction on what he needed to do in order to live forever. I find it interesting that the instruction was to enjoy everything God had made for him. Notice God said that he could have any tree of the garden except the one that would cause death. It doesn’t seem like it was a very difficult thing to do. However; Satan was on the earth at the time and confused the situation

4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! 5 For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Gen. 3:4-6

Satan convinced Adam and Eve that the blessing of God was not good enough. He persuaded them to believe that God was holding back from them the most important and that God would not allow them to die. Guess what!!!

Our bodies now die as a result of sin. I am a firm believer that disease and struggle in life are a direct result of sin. This is why we groan in our existing bodies, longing to be clothed in our heavenly bodies.

Our Heavenly bodies will be a return to the original. It will not be subjected to the curse of sin because their is no sin in heaven

25 In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed; 26 and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; 27 and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. Rev. 21:25-27

Can you imagine a place where their is no wickedness or sin. This is where believers will spend eternal life. Satan is not in heaven and will not ever be allowed into heaven to ever deceive man again. As a matter of fact he is thrown into the lake of fire to burn forever.

10 And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and [f]brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Rev. 20:10

Unfortunately those who reject Jesus Christ and His salvation will face the same fate as Satan.

13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if [k]anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Rev. 20:13-15

This brings me to another point. Those that reject Jesus will also receive a new body that is prepared for destruction.

22 [n]What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? Rom. 9:22

Jesus is a loving God but He is also a Just God. He does not let unforgiven sin go without punishment. He demonstrates this by making vessels prepared for the wrath of God.

The choice is ours. It is like Adam and Eve. We can choose to receive the salvation of Jesus or we can face the judgement of Jesus.

God gave us a pledge for eternal life.

How can a person know if they have eternal life? They have the Holy Spirit dwelling within them. He is like God’s collateral. You see Jesus has taken our sin debt and paid it in full. We will realize this when we enter eternal life. In the mean-time we have the Holy Spirit to enable us to communicate with Jesus. He convicts us of sin so we can be conformed into the image of Christ. He also guides our paths so we can fulfill his plan. You see the Holy Spirit is a little taste of heaven here on earth!

In The Presence Of The Lord

6 Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight— 8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

Paul says that we can be of good courage because we know that we have a better future ahead. This requires faith! We have not experienced what it is like to be face to face with Jesus, nor do we know what eternal life in heaven will be like. We can read about what the Bible says about heaven, but we are limited by a human perspective. As a matter of fact when John describes heaven in Revelation, i believe he can’t do it adequately because he is limited by language. What I am saying is that eternal life is better than we can ever imagine.

20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations [n]forever and ever. Amen. Eph.3:20-21

Mercy Me has written a song about what they believe it will be like to stand in the presence of Jesus and what we will do. Let me read you the lyrics.

I can only imagine what it will be like When I walk, by your side I can only imagine what my eyes will see When you face is before me I can only imagine I can only imagine

Surrounded by You glory What will my heart feel Will I dance for you Jesus Or in awe of You be still Will I stand in your presence Or to my knees will I fall Will I sing hallelujah Will I be able to speak at all I can only imagine I can only imagine

I can only imagine when that day comes When I find myself standing in the Son I can only imagine when all I would do is forever Forever worship You I can only imagine I can only imagine

There is coming a day for the believer that our faith will become sight and we will live in the promises of God forever!

You see Paul even says he prefers to be in the presence of the Lord rather than live the life he is living. Folks we have awaiting for us goodness beyond our wildest dreams!

Pleasing to the Lord

9 Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.

A characteristic of a true believer is that they want to be pleasing to Jesus. A believer wants to please their Lord. If one is ambitious about something they will do whatever is necessary to fulfill what they are ambitious about. If a person is ambitious about pleasing the Lord, then they will find out what pleases the Lord. This can only be found by studying His word. His Word tells us exactly what pleases Him. Love God, Love People, and make disciples. This is what pleases Him.

It is not enough to just know what please the Lord. We must do it!

22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his [x]natural face in a mirror; 24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, [y]he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. 25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but [z]an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in [aa]what he does. James 1:22-25

What are you ambitious about?

Heavenly Judgement

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

We will all stand before the Judgment seat of Christ to be judged on our heavenly reward. What will it be like? 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 describes it.

10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. 11 For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, [a]precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test [b]the quality of each man’s work. 14 If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

There are various materials a person can build their house with here on earth. The better built the house the greater the reward. The cheaper a house is built, you will lose reward.

John Macarthur puts it this way:

And that’s exactly what the judgment will be like. It’s like if you came walking up there and you had your whole basket full of gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay and straw, and it was all put in the fire, and what would come out? Gold, silver, precious stones, not wood, hay and straw, it would be gone. That’s just the imagery, the illustration he’s using. The fire is going to test the quality of each man’s work. We’re talking about quality here, we’re not talking about moral good or evil. “If any man’s work that he has built upon remains, he’ll receive a reward.” Whatever had lasting eternal value, you’ll be rewarded for. “And if any man’s work is burned up, you’ll suffer loss, yes, but you will still be saved.” You see it there? “So as by fire.”

The issue is of rewards, not salvation. That’s why it says at the end of verse 5 in chapter 4 that every man will receive praise from God. So, the point is simply this. Paul says what motivates me is there’s coming a day when I’m going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ and He’s going to take all the stuff of my life, all the activities of my life, and He’s going to just burn away the stuff that had no eternal value and what remains, the gold, the silver and precious stones, according to verse 14, is the substance of my eternal reward.

And what is that reward? I believe it is an eternal capacity to glorify and serve God. I believe our eternal capacity to glorify and serve God will be the expression of the earthly – the reward for the earthly service. So whatever – whatever I can do in my body in this world has direct implications to the capacity I’ll have to serve and glorify God forever and ever and ever and ever. Paul says I seek the highest goal, my ambition is to be pleasing to Him. I seek it at the widest possible level of devotion, whether I’m alive or dead, whether I’m in this body, or out of this body. And I am motivated by the deepest motive and that is that I want to be able throughout all eternity to serve the Lord God and glorify Him and honor Him to the fullest capacity possible. And that means I must take this body and use it to serve Him.