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What Will My Spiritual Body Be Like?

by Roger Barrier September 4, 2023

written by Roger Barrier

Dear Roger,

What did Paul mean when he said that as Christians, our bodies will be raised from the grave? What will our spiritual bodies be like in heaven?

Sincerely,

Juliana

Dear Juliana,

Like you, I have so many questions about what happens when we die. My most read Ask Roger article of all time—with millions of views—is about cremation! I think it’s natural to wonder what the future will be like, especially when one of our loved ones dies.

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul dealt with this issue. Some of the Christians at Corinth were beginning to deny the basic Christian doctrine of the resurrection of the dead—a doctrine Jesus taught many times during His ministry and enacted with His own resurrection.

Paul clearly addressed the reason the resurrection of the dead is so important to the very heart of the Gospel, writing, “By this gospel you are saved … Christ dies for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve …” (1 Corinthians 15:2-5).

Our resurrection is also foundational. Paul continued,

If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. … But Christ indeed has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” … then, when He comes, those who belong to Him (1 Corinthians 15:20, 23).

I am always extremely grateful when God chooses to spell out a truth with a parable or illustration that helps to simplify a mystery. Paul compared the physical body to a seed, one that God has created “as he has determined.” But then when a seed is planted, it dies, coming to life again in another form. He finished his explanation this way:

So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body (1 Corinthians 15:42-43)

Here, we know that there is a physical body and a spiritual body. They’re completely different in nature. For me, two questions remain unanswered.

First, what does the process of resurrection look like? Second, what kind of body will we have when we are raised up?

THE PROCESS AND TIMING OF RESURRECTION

We know that Jesus was raised in a physical body, with “flesh and bones” (Luke 24:39). We will be raised like He was (Romans 6:5). And the Lord, in His power, “will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:21).

Numerous biblical passages declare that we will be like Jesus, having a spiritual body fit for heaven.

Paul described in 1 Corinthians 15 and in 1 Thessalonians 1-4 an event known as the “Rapture” that will occur at the beginning or at the middle of the seven-year Great Tribulation. For some background, when the Tribulation begins, all hell will break forth on the earth. God begins to pour out His wrath out upon mankind. The antichrist and his forces mercilessly murder thousands of Christians and Jews.

At the Rapture, the graves of those Christians who have already died are opened, and they receive a spiritual body as they rise to meet Jesus in the sky. Christians who are alive at that time will have their bodies immediately changed into spiritual ones. Both groups proceed to heaven.

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-16)

Jesus also described the Rapture:

This is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill, one will be taken and the other left. Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. (Matthew 24:39-42)

It is possible that Jesus was describing the Rapture as occurring not at the beginning or middle of the of the Tribulation, but at the end. A resurrection at this time would occur simultaneously with the Second Coming of Jesus, which is at the very end of the Great Tribulation. However, I hold to a Pre-Tribulation or Mid-Tribulation view of the Rapture (Please search my other “Ask Roger” articles for “Rapture” for much more information on this subject.)

COULD THERE BE TWO RESURRECTIONS?

Frankly, I see no reason why there couldn’t be two resurrections. The first would be at the Rapture at the beginning or middle of the Great Tribulation (1 Thessalonians 4). The second resurrection would be post-resurrection and occur at the Second Coming, as described in Matthew 24.

By the way, I’ve long wondered about the bodies of the holy people which were raised during and after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus as recorded in Matthew 27:50-53;

The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs were open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

Who were these people?

God tells us that their job was to proclaim the message of the Gospel and the resurrection of Jesus. Other than that, we don’t know how long they ministered or how God resurrected them. I doubt that He reburied them. Perhaps they were forerunners of the Rapture.

OUR SPIRITUAL BODIES

1 Corinthians 15:42 proclaims, “Just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.”

We get a glimpse of what our resurrection bodies will be like when we recall Jesus’s post-resurrection appearances. In Acts 1-2, you can see that He still had visible wounds, and His disciples could physically touch Him. However, He was able to travel effortlessly and appear and disappear at will. He could go through walls and doors, and he could also eat and drink and sit and talk. Scripture informs us that our “earthly bodies” will be just “like His glorious body.”

What would it have been like to walk with Him on the road Emmaus, as Mr. and Mrs. Cleopas were discussing the day’s crucifixion events. Suddenly, Jesus was walking and talking beside them. He came to their house and revealed himself to them. They ate boiled fish together. They begged him to stay, but He had other duties to perform.

Mary was sitting by the open tomb talking to a man she didn’t know. As the man gradually revealed more about Himself, she suddenly recognized that this is Jesus. Jesus instructed her to tell the disciples what had just happened. Moments later, He was suddenly with them.

Two weeks later in the Upper Room, Thomas touched His body which had flesh and blood. It was a real body. He became a believer. He even ate broiled fish. (See Mark 16:40; Luke 24:1-2; Luke 24:37-40).

What would it have been like to see Him appearing and disappearing at will? “Beam me up” is one of the most famous catchphrases from the “Star Trek” series. It’s the command issued when a character wishes to teleport from a remote location back to the Starship Enterprise. Could it be something like that? His body seems to transcend time and space.

Take a look at Philippians 3:20-21;

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

Most Christians imagine that we will be spirits of one kind or another. But our spiritual bodies are much more than just spirits!

The fact that our bodies will be like Jesus is important to remember because we tend to look at a spirit as being some kind of nebulous body floating around somewhere. But this is not the case. All the things that Jesus could do in his spiritual body; we will be able to do in ours. We know that because our bodies will be just like His body.

The bodies we have now become sick and die; but they will be full of glory when they become spiritual bodies. They are weak now, but when we experience resurrection, they will be full of strength. They are just human bodies at death, but when they are resurrected, they will be super- spiritual human-like bodies.

We will spend eternity in an actual body that is custom designed by God to make us fit to live and maneuver in the heavenly spiritual realms.

HOW MUCH OF THE BODY IS NEEDED FOR RESURRECTION?

What about a piece of a body that was smashed to pieces in an airplane crash? Will that piece be enough?

What about those who were drowned in the depths of the ocean whose bodies disintegrated and floated away a long-time ago?

What about those who have been blown into a million bits by explosions in war?

Is one molecule enough to rebuild a body? How about one strand of DNA?

Our infinite Creator God will not have to use our physical bodies. Cells are dying and being replaced all the time. Did you know that there is not one cell in your body that you had three years ago?

Of course, God can certainly make for us any kind of spiritual body that He chooses. After all, if He can create the universe out of nothing (Hebrews 11:3), He can certainly fashion a body out of nothing.

Be encouraged! Paul closes his teaching on the resurrection body with great hope:

When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Corinthian 15:49-50, 52-53)

Well Julianna,

I hope this is helpful to you and gives you hope for our future in heaven!

Love, Roger

September 4, 2023 0 comments

Devotionals

God, Our Protector

by Julie Barrier June 17, 2023

written by Julie Barrier

Psalm 121:

“I lift up mine eyes to the hills—

Where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord,

The Maker of Heaven and earth..

He will not let your foot slip.

He who watches over you will not slumber;

Indeed, he who watches over Israel

Will neither slumber nor sleep.”

Verses 1-2 describe the beginning prayer life of a baby Christian. When he senses a need, he is learning to bring it to God in prayer. He learns God is Creator of both the physical and spiritual world and interacts with every part of life. He discovers the hand of God in creation. He discovers God as creator of heaven…that there is a whole world in another dimension-a spiritual world that he cannot see, but must appropriate by faith.”He will not let your foot slip,” Ps.121:3. The keeping power of the Heavenly Father also has historical significance. When the traveling Israelites trekked to Jerusalem three times a year, they faced many perils along the way. Robbers, wild animals, and brutal heat were three of their enemies. Perhaps they sang this comforting psalm around their evening campfires.

The vocabulary of this poem also implies that the pilgrim must climb (ascend) toward his Heavenly Father. From every other part of Israel, the Jews said they must travel or “go up” to the Holy City. “Moving feet”, “lifting eyes”, “going out”, “coming in” all imply movement toward a goal. The love of God draws His child to His heart. Nevertheless there is a godless yet seductive gravitational force relentlessly pulling him downward. The world system is always a hurdle the traveler must overcome. The Christian must not look back. On his old life, or he will experience the paralysis that Lot’s wife did when she vacillated and was transformed into a pillar of salt in Genesis. The spiritual child must run to the loving, sheltering arms of his Daddy. God promises this as our guide and protector:

“To Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you without blemish before the presence of His glory with rejoicing, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, be the glory.” Jude 25.

June 17, 2023 0 comments

Articles

The Thrill of Worshipping in Heaven!

by Randy Alcorn June 21, 2019

written by Randy Alcorn

Most people know that we’ll worship God in Heaven. But they don’t grasp how thrilling that will be. Multitudes of God’s people—of every nation, tribe, people, and language—will gather to sing praise to God for His greatness, wisdom, power, grace, and mighty work of redemption (Revelation 5:13-14). Overwhelmed by His magnificence, we will fall on our faces in unrestrained happiness and say, “Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!” (Revelation 7:9-12).

Will we always be on our faces at Christ’s feet, worshiping Him? No, because Scripture says we’ll be doing many other things—living in dwelling places, eating and drinking, reigning with Christ, and working for Him. Scripture depicts people standing, walking, traveling in and out of the city, and gathering at feasts. When doing these things, we won’t be on our faces before Christ. Nevertheless, all that we do will be an act of worship. We’ll enjoy full and unbroken fellowship with Christ. At times this will crescendo into greater heights of praise as we assemble with the multitudes who are also worshiping Him.

So the next time you’re singing in church, expand your mind to anticipate worshiping with the entire assembled body of Christ. Imagine it now, with the following scene from my novel Edge of Eternity spurring on your thoughts. The scene occurs on the day Nick observes— and joins—Heaven’s army in its final cosmic campaign against the forces of darkness:

We rejoined our comrades in the great camp of Charis, embracing and shedding tears and slapping each other on the back. Then warriors around me turned toward the masses of untold millions gathered in Charis. The army began to sing, perhaps hundreds of thousands, perhaps a million.

I added my voice to theirs and sang the unchained praises of the King. Only for a moment did I hear my own voice, amazed to detect the increased intensity of the whole. One voice, even mine, made a measurable difference. But from then on I was lost in the choir, hardly hearing my voice and not needing to.

As we sang to the gathered throngs of Charis, the sheer power of their voices, our voices, nearly bowled me over.

Then suddenly the multitudes before us sang back to us, and our voices were drowned by theirs. We who a moment earlier seemed the largest choir ever assembled now proved to be only the small worship ensemble that led the full choir of untold millions, now lost to themselves. We sang together in full voice, “To him who made the galaxies, who became the Lamb, who stretched out on the tree, who crossed the chasm, who returned the Lion! Forever!”

The song’s harmonies reached out and grabbed my body and my soul. I became the music’s willing captive.

The galaxies and nebulae sang with us the royal song. It echoed off a trillion planets and reverberated in a quadrillion places in every nook and cranny of the universe. The song generated the light of a billion burning supernovae. It blotted out all lesser lights and brought a startling clarity to the way things really were. It didn’t blind, it illuminated, and I saw as never before.

Our voices broke into thirty-two distinct parts, and instinctively I knew which of them I was made to sing. “We sing for joy at the work of your hands…we stand in awe of you.” It felt indescribably wonderful to be lost in something so much greater than myself.

There was no audience, I thought for a moment, for audience and orchestra and choir all blended into one great symphony, one grand cantata of rhapsodic melodies and powerful sustaining harmonies.

No, wait, there was an audience. An audience so vast and all-encompassing that for a moment I’d been no more aware of it than a fish is aware of water.

I looked at the great throne, and upon it sat the King…the Audience of One.

The smile of His approval swept through the choir like fire across dry wheat fields.

When we completed our song, the one on the throne stood and raised His great arms and clapped His scarred hands together in thunderous applause, shaking ground and sky, jarring every corner of the cosmos. His applause went on and on, unstopping and unstoppable.

And in that moment I knew, with unwavering clarity, that the King’s approval was all that mattered—and ever would.

www.epm.org. Used by permission.

June 21, 2019 0 comments

Articles

Are People in Heaven Aware of Events on Earth?

by Randy Alcorn May 16, 2016

written by Randy Alcorn

Given the substantial evidence of Scripture to the contrary, the burden of proof is on those who argue people in heaven are unconcerned with and unaware of what is happening on earth. Does Scripture really teach this? Where?

Or is the belief that those in heaven are unaware of what happens on earth merely an assumption, one that over decades or centuries has been elevated by some into a doctrine, one not based on Scripture? I believe it is no more than a deduction based on a faulty premise, namely that for heaven to be happy, people in heaven can’t know what’s happening on earth. That argument is therefore worth taking a closer look at.

Argument: “It wouldn’t be heaven if we knew of bad things happening on earth. We’re promised there will be no more crying or pain in heaven.”

Answers:

1. It’s heaven for God and he knows exactly what’s happening on earth.

2. It’s heaven for the angels and they know what’s happening on earth.

3. Angels in heaven see the torment of hell, but it does not minimize heaven (Rev. 14:10).

4. Abraham and Lazarus saw the rich man’s agonies in hell, but it did not cause heaven to cease to be heaven (Luke 16:23-26). If one can see people in hell without ruining heaven, surely nothing he could see on earth could ruin it.

(Note: Luke 16 is in the intermediate state, before the end of the world and the resurrection. It does not therefore necessarily indicate those in the new heavens and earth can see into the eternal lake of fire. However, it suggests those currently in heaven may be able to see into hell, or at the very least be fully aware of its existence.)

5. There is a chasm that those in heaven and hell can’t cross, but they can see what was happening in the other place (Luke 16:23-26). If this is true of heaven and hell, is the same true of heaven and earth? A chasm separating them and preventing direct intervention, yet an ability to see what’s happening in the other world?

6. The promise of no more tears or crying is after the end of the world, after the Great White Throne judgment, after “the old order of things has passed away” and there is no more suffering on earth (Rev. 21:1-4). This passage is not a valid argument for tearlessness in the present heaven, but only in the new heaven and earth. This doesn’t mean those presently in heaven must be unaware of what’s happening on earth.

Certainly those in heaven are not frail beings whose joy can be maintained only by sheer ignorance of what is going on in the universe. In fact, even if our knowledge did produce some sadness in heaven (we don’t know for sure it would), the old order hasn’t yet passed away. Heaven is not in its final state. We should not begin by defining heaven as “no sorrow, no concern, no knowledge of suffering” and then dismiss any scriptural indications that undermine that assumption.

Christ grieved for people on earth (Mt. 23:37-39; John 11:33-36). Is he no longer capable of doing so because he is in heaven? Or does he still hurt for his people when they suffer? If he can hurt for them, could not we? It is one thing to no longer cry because there is nothing left to cry about. It is something else to no longer cry when there is ongoing suffering on earth.

Going into the presence of Christ surely does not make us less compassionate, but more. Hence, it is possible that even with the predominant joy presently in heaven, in light of the fact there is still so much evil and pain in the universe, there could be periodic expressions of sadness in heaven until the evil and pain is permanently gone.

7. Since God is continuously at work on earth, observing saints would have a great deal to praise him for, including people’s spiritual transformations (Luke 15:7,10). If there is rejoicing in heaven about what happens on earth, aren’t the redeemed allowed to participate in the rejoicing? How could they participate unless aware of the cause for celebration?

Conclusion: Happiness in heaven is based on being with Christ, gaining accurate perspective, and living in a sinless environment. It is not based on a fundamental ignorance of what is happening on earth or even in hell.

Problem: Isaiah 65:17 says in heaven “the former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.”

First, Isaiah 65:17 must be weighed against the dozens of other passages of Scripture previously cited in this article and the earlier one. If they clearly teach some things from earth will be remembered in the eternal state, then properly understood this verse does not contradict them.

Furthermore, whatever this verse means, it specifically comes after the new heavens and new earth, not before. Hence, it has no bearing at all on the question of whether saints presently in heaven can witness events happening on earth.

Isaiah 65:17 is linked to the previous verse: “For the past troubles will be forgotten and hidden from My eyes.” This does not suggest literal lack of memory, as if the omniscient God couldn’t recall the past. God knows everything. Rather, it is like God saying I will remember their sins no more” (Jer. 31:34). It means he will not choose to call to mind or to hold against us our past sins.

In eternity, past sins will not plague us or God, nor interfere with God’s acceptance of us. Likewise, both God and we will be capable of choosing not to recall our past troubles and sorrows and sins in a way that would diminish the wonders of heaven. However, it seems likely that recalling the reality of such troubles and sorrows and sins would set a sharp contrast to the glories of heaven, as darkness does to light, as hell does to heaven. This contrast would be lost if the sense of what sorrow is was entirely forgotten. (If we ever forget we were desperate sinners, how could we appreciate the depth and meaning of Christ’s glorious work for us?) It is even possible that an awareness of the perfect justice of hell will enhance the depth of gratitude to God of those in heaven.

Even in the new heavens and earth there are memorials to the twelve tribes and the apostles (Rev. 21:12-14). Christ’s nail scared hands and feet in his eternal resurrection body (John 20:24-29) prove his suffering and redemption-and the fact it was necessitated by our sins-will not be forgotten! Hence, these passages clearly preclude the “we’ll remember nothing on earth” understanding of Isaiah 65:17.

Every believer’s crowns and rewards will continuously remind us of acts of faithfulness to God done in that window of opportunity on earth.

While God will wipe away the tears and sorrow attached to this world, the drama of God’s work in human history will not be erased from our minds. Heaven’s happiness will not be dependent on our ignorance of what really happened on earth. Rather, it will be greatly enhanced by our informed appreciation of God’s glorious grace and justice in what really happened on earth.

www.epm.org. Used by permission.

May 16, 2016 0 comments