A New Body

I CORIN. 15:35-49

           I. The Proof For The New Body

              A.  Our resurrection body will have continuity.                    B.  Our resurrection body will have adaptability.                  C.  Our resurrection body will have individuality.

          II. The Perfection Of The New Body

         III. The Purpose Of The New Body

     Centuries ago Job asked the question, If a man die shall he live again? That is a question which has engaged the minds of men from his day until ours; all of us are interested in the subject, Is there going to be life after death? Now there were some in the days of the apostle Paul who said absolutely not, there is not going to be any resurrection of the body. There are those in our day who say that the resurrection of the body is absurd, that it is impossible, that it cannot occur. The Greeks in the time of the apostle Paul had gathered the immortality of the soul; it was commonly believed that the soul of man was immortal and that it would live on and on and on but the concept of a resurrection of the body was beyond their power to comprehend. Now the Bible teaches the resurrection. The very word “resurrection” suggests a resurrection of the body. It’s really made up of two words, the Greek word which means to stand, and a preposition which means again, so

resurrection means to stand again. And contrary to man of the religions of the world he Christian faith teaches that the believer is one of these days going to experience a resurrection of the body.

     Now in verse 35 Paul raises two great questions. Question number one: How are the dead raised up? and then question number two: With what body do they come? Now all of us are interested in these two questions; whether you are aware or not you are interested in these questions, you are interested in questions that have to do with the resurrection of the body. There may be those of you who have lost loved ones, you’re very interested in this question; you have experienced the loss of loved ones and how heart-rending and how grievous it is. Some of you, the last time you saw that loved one their body was covered with cancer and the last view you had of that body was a body covered with disease. There are others of you in this building and your loved one’s body was smashed beyond recognition in an accident, so you are very interested in this question, Will I know my loved ones, will I see my loved ones again? And then of course it gets very personal to all of us because we know that sooner or later, unless Jesus comes, we’re going to die, we’re going to experience decay, our body is going to be placed in a grave somewhere and so we are very interested in the question, How are the dead raised? and with what body will they come? So that’s the theme of the rest of the verses we’re going to study tonight, and in these verses Paul builds the case with devastating logic for the new body of the child of God. Ladies and gentlemen, one of these days, if you’re saved, if you know Christ in the forgiveness of sin, you’re going to have a brand new body.

     First of all I want to call your attention to the proof for the new body. Paul goes to the world of nature and using analogies from the world of nature he proves that the believer will have a new body. For instance in verses 36 and 37 you will notice that he goes to the world of botany and from the world of botany, plant life, he shows us that the new body is going to have continuity. Now what he’s doing here, and I wish I had a seed that I could hold up in front of you (use your imagination for a moment and just pretend that I have a seed in my hand), Paul is just raising that seed to our mind and he’s saying think for a moment what happens to a seed. He says this seed has got to die, it cannot bring forth life unless it dies. That’s what he teaches in verse 36. Well Jesus said the same thing in John chapter 12 and in verse 24, Jesus said, Except a grain of wheat fall in the ground it abideth alone but, He said, if it fall into the ground and die it brings forth much fruit. So what happens to a seed? You have a wheat seed, let’s say, you drop that wheat seed into the ground, it goes through a process of decomposition and disintegration, and then out of that seed there comes a plant, out of that seed there comes new life. Out of the death of the seed there is the life of the plant. So Paul is saying we know from the world of nature that there is going to be a resurrection body of the believer. You see, every time we see an acorn buried in the soil and from that soil a mighty tree appear, it is God’s message to us from the world of nature that there’s going to be a resurrection of the body.

     Now this new body is going to have continuity, it’s going to be the same and yet it’s going to be different; it’s going to be different and yet it is going to be the same. When you bury a wheat seed you will get a wheat plant; it will always reproduce after its kind, it will always have continuity. And, you see, that is exactly the way it’s going to be with our resurrection body. You know, they actually tell men that we’re dying all the time, that our cells are constantly dying and new cells are being made in their place. In fact I’m told that about every three years you have a total turnover in your cells, that every three years every cell in your body has died and new cells have replaced them, and yet you are recognizable. Three years from now we’ll still recognize that that’s you; five years from now, ten years from now we will still recognize it is you and yet a process of death and life is going on all the time. Well that’s what Paul is teaching is going to happen. Paul is saying there is going to be continuity, there is going to be something that is going to be recognizable. In other words one of these days Jerry Vines is going to die and my body is going to be buried in a grave, and then in the resurrection Jerry Vines is going to rise again from the dead, there will be continuity, I will be the same individual, I will be the same person.

     Now you say how in the world can that occur? Well you will notice in verse 38 he answers the question because he says God gives it a body as it has pleased Him, and to every seed his own body. Now what Paul is pleading here is the power of God. From a human perspective this is impossible but from a divine perspective all things are possible. You see, you always have to be aware of what your presuppositions are. You will always determine what you believe about a matter according to your presuppositions. You see, I start with a very basic presupposition, I start from the viewpoint that there is a God who is all-powerful, all-knowing, who created this universe and is in charge of this universe. Now if this all-powerful God was able to create our body in the first place, well then, friends, I’ve got news for you, He can create our new body in the second place. It resides in the power of God. So from the world of botany we learn that the resurrection body is going to have continuity. It will be different and yet it will be the same.

     Now in verse 39 he moves to the world of zoology and he takes us out to the zoo and he tells us that there is a difference in kinds of flesh. He says in verse 39 all flesh is not the same flesh. And of course we know that to be true. We know that every species has its own particular makeup, that the DNA of every particular species is different from any other. You see, when you’re born you get it all in a package. In your DNA everything about you has already been predetermined and you don’t have to wonder what you’re going to ultimately become. If you’re born a man you’re going to be a man all your life, you’re not going to be born a man and then seven years later be a 7-pound bass, you’re always going to stay the same. All flesh is not the same flesh, but every flesh has its own identity. So he says there is one flesh of men, another of beasts, another of fish, and another of birds. You see, the flesh of a beast makes it adaptable to its environment of caves. Or the flesh of a fish is adaptable to water. The flesh of a bird is adaptable to the air. And the flesh of a human being is adaptable to civilization.

     Now his point is this: that our resurrection body is going to have adaptability. Now one of these days this old world is going to be over. God has given us a body that is adaptable to this world, this physical world we know. We live in this world, we comprehend this world, we relate to this world by means of our physical senses. We see and we hear and we touch and we taste and we smell, we relate to this world on the basis of the kind of flesh that God has given to us. But, you see, God has promised us another world; God has promised that He has prepared for us a wonderful place called heaven. You see, Jesus said, I go to prepare a place for you. And He’s been up there two thousand years. You think about it. Now some of you builders do a pretty good job in six months, nine months, you can build a magnificent house, but you think about our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ, the great Carpenter himself, and for two thousand years now He’s been building heaven for us. Oh, friends, it’s going to be a wonderful place. But the resurrection teaches that our body will have adaptability, this resurrection body will be adaptable, it will be suited for the environment of heaven. Now I don’t know all that entails, I don’t have to know it all to enjoy it all, I just praise God that when I get to heaven I’m going to be perfectly adapted to my heavenly environment.

     So from the world of botany we learn that the new body is going to have continuity, from the world of zoology we learn that the new body is going to have adaptability. But then he takes us up into outer space and he moves us into the realm of astronomy and in the realm of astronomy he shows us that the new body is going to have individuality. Now what he’s trying to point our here by his reference to the sun and the moon and the stars, and that each of them have their own glory, is that each one of them has a different arrangement of matter, that each on of them is made up of a different arrangement of matter. For instance the sun’s surface is covered with gases, the moons surface is covered with titanium. You know those home movie screens we used to have and on those movie screens they had that shiny glittering stuff? That’s titanium. And when our first astronauts stepped on the moon they discovered that the dust on the surface of the moon was titanium. You know why? Titanium is a perfect reflector. Now that’s exactly what God said the moon was intended to be. God said that He created the moon in order to be a reflector of the light of the sun. So there is a different glory of the sun, there is a different glory of the moon: gas, titanium. And then of course there’s an altogether different constitution makeup of the stars; each star has its own magnitude, each one has individual identity.

     And, you see, friends, the Bible says that our resurrected body is going to be like the body of Jesus, as we shall see later on, it will be a glorified body like the body of Jesus Christ, and yet it will still maintain its individuality. There will be something about you that is different in your resurrection body from anybody else in the whole world. Now of course the same thing is true in our physical body isn’t it? None of us are exactly alike. No one has the same fingerprints. I used to see the insurance commercial that went like this: There’s no one else in the whole world exactly like you. That’s true isn’t it? Everybody is different. Well I am happy to announce to you that we’re going to have the same kind of variety and individual identity when we get to heaven. We’re all going to be different, we’re all going to have that special something, we’re all going to have that special identity. Now I’ll tell you it’s going to be an improvement, it’s going to be a real improvement when we get to heaven. I mean one of these days you and I will be walking up there in heaven and I’ll be walking this way and you’ll be coming this way, and you’ll look at me and you’ll stop and you’ll blink your eyes and you’ll rub them, and you’ll say, Dr. Vines? is that you? And I’ll say, Yes, that’s me. And you’re going to say, What an improvement; I hardly recognized you. Oh, yes. So from the world of nature he proves the reality of our resurrection bodies, the proof of the new body.

     Now then beginning in verse 42 down through verse 44 he talks about the perfection of the new body. And in verses 42 and 44 what you have here is a contrast, and you will notice that he uses these words several times: it is sown, it is raised; it is sown, it is raised. He’s talking about the death of the body, he is talking about the resurrection of the body. He is talking about the natural body that will be buried and he is talking about the spiritual body that will be raised. Same body and yet different. It is sown, it is raised; same body and yet it is different. A resurrection body, yet having identity, continuity, and individuality, as I have suggested. But now notice what he’s doing here; he is showing a contrast between the natural body, these bodies that you and I are in tonight (you all did bring a body didn’t you?). I used to kind of spook me out when the dear old saints of God (I don’t hear folks saying this like they used to but used to dear old saints) would say, Now, Pastor, we’re going to be out of town Sunday, we’re not going to be there Sunday but, Preacher, we want you to know though we’re not there in body we’ll be there in spirit. That always was a little spooky to me. I wasn’t sure exactly what they meant. I hope all of you brought your body tonight, I hope you’re not hear floating around in spirit. But now notice he contrasts this old natural body and the new body that God is going to give us one of these days.

     All right, look at the contrast. He says, first of all, it is sown in corruption. And of course that word “corruption” just identifies the human experience right there. Did you know that the moment you are born you begin to die? Did you know that? The moment you are born you begin to die and these old bodies of ours are in a process of corruption, a process of declination. Now we try to resist it, we try to hinder that process, people are constantly looking for the fountain of youth, they’re trying to find something that will keep these old bodies from disintegrating and decaying and corrupting. So we do all kinds of things to maintain personal fitness, and well we should. I’m not sure that fitness training will increase the length of your life but it will certainly increase the quality of your life. I heard Kenneth Cooper, the father of aerobic exercises in America, speak at the Florida Theater a few years ago and he said at that time that they had no evidence that aerobic training would lengthen a person’s life but he said it will increase the quality of your life. In other words it’s not how long you make it, it’s how you make it long. See? In other words, increase the quality of your life. So we have fitness training and proper diet and all of these things to maintain strength as long as we possibly can.

     But, folks, I want to tell you what, it is a losing battle, it is a battle that we are all going to lose. So our skin begins to wrinkle and it gets age spots on it, and out bones get brittle and you have to be very careful that you not break a bone because the older these old bodies get the more brittle they become. Our muscles begin to reduce in their strength, and so there comes a point that these old bodies of ours have more and more corruption upon them. It’s a losing battle. Several years ago one of our young deacons, after the service one Sunday night, asked me if I would go with him to the house of his brother; his brother, a young man, was at the very last stages of cancer, he was just about ready to die. So I went with him that Sunday night and I remember when we got to the home and the front door of the home was opened up and when it was opened up the odor in the house just hit me, struck me, when I walked in the front door. And the closer we got to the room where that dear brother was the more difficult it was to even breathe because of the corrupting odor that was in the air. Then I went in there and I saw that precious, precious brother and I saw that man, once a healthy man, now some 90 pounds or less. You could take you finger and your thumb and you could wrap them around the upper part of his arm. He was yellow all over. You see, ladies and gentlemen, he was moving toward what this statement says, it is sown in corruption. And, ladies and gentlemen, when it is all over your body and mine is going to be a mass of corruption, that’s all it’s going to be. It’s going to have its disease, it’s going to have its infirmity, it is sown in corruption.

     But, ah, listen. Paul says it is raised in

incorruption. That simply means that you’re going to have a brand new body and that there will be no disease in that body. You’re going to have a brand new body and there will be no corruption in that body. I like to speculate on what that new body is going to be like, raised in incorruption. Every fiber of that body, every cell of that body is going to declare, INCORRUPTION! INCORRUPTION! INCORRUPTION! and I’ll tell you what, friends, you’ll never grow old when you get to heaven. I used to hear the old timers sing that old song, In a land where we’ll never grow old. I’ll tell you it will be a wonderful thing to know that when we get our new body it will be raised in incorruption.

     But then look at the second contrast: it is sown in dishonor. And the word “dishonor” really refers to one who has lost his civil rights; that’s the way the word was used in those particular days, one who has lost his civil rights. When a person dies they lose all their rights. Sometimes a prosperous man dies and you hear people discussing his death and someone says, I wonder how much he left? And somebody says, Oh, maybe a million dollars, maybe two million. I’ve got news for you, friend, he left it all. Listen, friend, five seconds after you have died you’re penniless, you’ve lost your right to money. You’ve got houses and lands and you’ve got stocks and bonds, the moment you die it’s all gone, it’s lost, you are sown in dishonor. I mean there you are, you don’t have a thing. There are no pockets in shrouds, ladies and gentlemen. It is sown in dishonor.

     But, ah, look at the other side: it is raised in glory. Now what that means is is you’re going to have a glorified body. You see, this is what changes death altogether for the believer. You see, when a believer understands this truth that we’re studying tonight it changes the whole perspective of death because, you see, death for the believer is just a shuttle bus that escorts him to glory, death for the believer is just the powder room where we get ready for glory. We are going to have a glorified body. Now the Bible says we’re going to have a body like the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul, talking about that glorified body, says in Philippians 3, For our citizenship is in heaven from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body (that is, our body of humiliation and weakness) that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body. Now you think about the body of the Lord Jesus. In His virgin-born body the Lord Jesus Christ was subject to hunger, He was subject to weariness, He got tired, He required sleep, and yet when the Lord Jesus Christ was raised again from the dead in a glorified body, in that glorified body Jesus Christ was able to go through closed doors. Just go right through closed doors. Friend, I’ll tell you it’s going to be something when we get our glorified body. You may just be able to travel with the speed of thought, I don’t know. I mean just think about Mars, there you are over on Mars. And, you see, God just may give you assignments in that glorified body, God may send you all over His universe, God may send you to different galaxies to work for Him. It won’t matter where you go, you’re going to have a glorified body, you’re going to have a body like the body of the Lord Jesus Christ.

     The third contrast: it is sown in weakness, it is sown in weakness. Friend, there is nothing any more weak than a dead body. Did you know a dead body can’t lift a feather? Did you know a dead body can’t fight back? You got into a funeral home somewhere and you can slap the face of a dead body, it won’t hit you back. I mean it’s just totally weak. It is totally helpless. That’s as weak as you can get. I mean when you are dead, friend, you’re dead, you’re weak. It is sown in weakness. But, ah, look at the contrast: it is raised in power. Now, friend, you think about that. You see, our bodies today are dominated, our natural bodies are dominated by the soul, the spiritual body is going to be dominated by the Spirit. We learn that in verse 4: there is a natural body dominated, you see, a soul body, dominated by the soul, there is a spiritual body dominated by the Spirit. Now when we’re saved the Lord Jesus Christ comes to dwell in our hearts and the Bible says that we’re to be filled with the Spirit and to the capacity that these old natural bodies of ours are capable every day we ought to pray for the filling of the Holy Spirit, to be controlled by the Holy Spirit, but there are always human, natural limitations. But I want to tell you what, friends, when we get our glorified body, when we get that spiritual body made like the body of Jesus Christ, the power of God can flow without measure through our hearts. I’ll tell you it would be glorious to serve God in a glorified, powerful body like that. So there is the perfection of our new body.

     But then he talks about the purpose of the new body. Now I want you to follow the logic very carefully, follow the line of thinking very carefully. Here’s the purpose, here’s why God is going to give us a resurrection body. He says in verse 45, The first man, that was Adam, was made a living soul; the last Adam, that was Jesus… By the way, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, he announced to the world that he was the third Adam back yonder. But look at this verse of scripture right here. Adam was the first Adam, Jesus was the last Adam, there ain’t no more Adams. There ain’t no third Adam if Jesus is the last one. So, you see, there’s that first man, Adam, a living soul, but then the last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, a life-giving spirit. You see, Jesus Christ, the last Adam, undid what the first Adam brought about. And, you see, Jesus Christ is able to give life. Now through Adam, through our physical birth, we get our physical life, but through the Lord Jesus Christ we get our second birth, we get our spiritual life.

     Now these old bodies of ours are stamped with the image of the earthly. That’s what he says, all the way down, right on down through 46, 47, and 48, that which is of the earth is earthy, we are marked with the old dust of Adam, we inherit his nature of body, we inherit death from old Adam, we inherit sin from old Adam, these are earthly bodies, we bear the image of the earthly. But, you see, God has declared in this resurrection body we are going to bear the image of the heavenly. Now what that means, dear friend, is this, God is going to give you a new body and that when you are in heaven with the Lord you are going to be like the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, friend, I’m going to tell you something, that is an astounding concept. In fact did you know that is exactly what God saved you to be? In Romans chapter 8, verse 29, turn over there. This is too good. I can’t pass this up. Look at Romans chapter 8. And by the way, this solves the whole puzzle of predestination to my mind. These college kids here, especially if any of you are majoring in religion or anything, watch these religion courses by the way, they’ll mess you up if you don’t stay true to the Word. But anyhow you’re in college, they get to discussing the sovereignty of God, God’s predestination and the free will of man. I had all that worked out one night when I was in college, I had the sovereignty of God and the free moral agency of man, I had it all reconciled one night at college. I’ve forgotten exactly how I had it reconciled but I had it worked out that night. No, what I’m trying to say is you can’t really reconcile that, that’s beyond the mind of man to reconcile. But what does predestination mean? What doe it mean when it says God predetermines? That’s what the word “predestines” means, it means God predetermines.

     Well if you’ll look at verse 29 of Romans chapter 8 he’ll tell you exactly what predestination is all about. In verse 29 it says, For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son. Now, friend, you know what that simply means? That means that God has predetermined that every soul that is saved, that every person who is born again is one day going to bear the image of the heavenly, one day he’s going to be conformed to the image of God’s dear Son. First John chapter 3, verse 2, says when He shall appear we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is. You see, God is so pleased with His Son the Lord Jesus Christ He has determined to populate eternity with a whole generation of folks who’re just like His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. So I’m going to be walking down the streets of gold one of these days and you’re going to look at me and you’re going to say, Vines? is that you? And I’m going to say, Yes. And you’re going to say, Well you know what? you look like the Lord Jesus Christ to me. And I’m going to look at you and I’m going to say, Is that you? And you’re going to say, Yes. And I’m going to say, Well you know what? you look like the Lord Jesus Christ to me. And we’re going to be like Jesus, we’re going to be like Him, we will bear the image of the heavenly.

     I’ll tell you what, it’s going to be wonderful isn’t it? to have a resurrection body. These old bodies get tired and worn out and disease gets hold of them and they start falling apart and decaying and corrupting, and we know death is on our trail just like a runner. He starts off the race and he’s way ahead but he notices there’s another runner that’s gaining on him. So he runs a little harder and he looks back and he notices that runner is still gaining on him. And he runs a little harder and that runner is still gaining on him and gaining on him. And, you see, that is exactly the way life is, death is gaining on us all the time, and if Jesus doesn’t come it’ll overtake us one of these days. But, ah, let me tell you what, friend, when they take you and me out there to that graveyard, and when they take those old bodies of ours, these old bodies of ours filled with corruption, sown in corruption, sown in dishonor, sown in weakness, and they put it in that grave that, ladies and gentlemen, is not the final chapter, for the omnipotent, omniscient God one of these days is going to come and when He comes the Bible says the dead in Christ shall be raised first, and we which are alive and remain will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and we’ll go up to the Lord in our brand new resurrection body.

     A lady brought a gold cup to the great chemist Michael Farraday to test it for its gold content. He accidently dropped it into a container of acid and it dissolved, so he poured a re-agent into the container and the acid went to the top and the gold powder settled to the bottom. Then he drained off the acid, he washing the powder, and he sent it to a goldsmith. The goldsmith melted the gold powder, put it in a mold and reproduced the gold cup. It was the same and yet it was altogether different; it had continuity, it had identity, it was the same cup and yet it was altogether brand new. And, ladies and gentlemen, that’s what God is going to do for every one of you who know the Lord.

     But now wait a minute, I’m not through, I’m not through, it’s not over. Are you listening now? Are you sure you’re listening? The Lord Jesus, in John chapter 5 and verse 29, says there is a resurrection of life ((I’ve been talking about that) but Jesus said there is also a resurrection of damnation. There is going to be a resurrection of the damned and, dear friend, if you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, if you die in your sins, you’re going to have resurrection too but it will be a resurrection unto damnation. And, you see, that night you’ve been out drinking all night and the next morning you get up and you look at your bloated, reddened face in the mirror; or that night you’ve been out in impurity and debauchery and sin and the next morning you look in the mirror and you see your dissipated, corrupted countenance, take a good look because that’s just a little foretaste of the resurrection of damnation to which you’re headed. And, ladies and gentlemen, there’s going to be a resurrection of the lost and there’s going to be a resurrection of the saved, and what makes the difference between where you have a resurrection of the lost or a resurrection of the saved is what you do with the resurrection of Jesus Christ, because the Bible says in Romans 10:9, If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead thou shalt be saved. So the bottom line tonight is, What will you do with Jesus? Your whole eternity is wrapped up tonight in what will you do with Jesus.