The Resurrection Body Described (1 Corinthians Sermon 64)

Turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 15. We come in our study of this magnificent epistle, we come this morning to a detailed description of the glorious terminal stop of our personal salvation, the resurrection of our bodies from the dead. Christ will raise all of his followers from the dead, and by the same power that enable him to create the universe to begin with, [cough] will transform our lowly bodies and make them like his glorious body, and he can do this. He has the power to do this.

His miracles done in his time of ministry on earth that we read about in the gospels, the river of miracles that he did, display effortless power over sickness and suffering and death, effortless power, a paralyzed man healed in an instant; a demon-possessed man healed in an instant; a leprous man healed in an instant; a blind man healed in an instant; a bleeding woman healed in an instant; a dead little girl healed in an instant.

But what then? What happened to each of those people? What happened to all of them? Some other malady or maybe even the same malady later on took them out of this world. But all of these signs and wonders, these miraculous healings point ahead to a comprehensive, a perfect and a permanent healing of the body by resurrection. That’s what we get to talk about today, as we look at 1 Corinthians 15. We get to talk about the description of the resurrection body according to the apostle Paul.

I. Key Question: What Will the Resurrection Body Be Like

What will the resurrection body be like? Look at verse 35, “But someone may ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?’” The context is Corinthian doubts or questioning about the resurrection of the body. Look at verse 12, “How can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead?” There were some people in the Corinthian church that actually didn’t believe in bodily resurrection. Paul has to address them, and he has to go to the root cause of their questions, or we could even say their questioning, and their questioning came from unbelief. They didn’t believe that God could do this.

We addressed this last time, and Paul rebukes their skepticism, their foolish unbelief. Look at verse 36. He says, “How foolish!” Or literally in the Greek, “You fool.” And I felt that all of us, even if we’re mature Christians should stand under that rebuke and let it have its work on us. We shouldn’t say, “Oh, those foolish Corinthians.” We should realize we share a tendency toward the same foolish unbelief of God. We share that same nature with the Sadducees who Jesus said are in error because they don’t know the scriptures of the power of God.

Is any of us, even the most mature among us, going to be say, “I know the scriptures as perfectly as I should and I know the power of God as well as I should”? None of us will say that. We’re still under that foolishness, that we don’t really know the Scriptures, or the power of God like we should, and when it comes to the resurrection, it goes that far. So those Corinthians just couldn’t believe God could actually do this. They raised logistical questions about how it could even happen. We addressed that last time, the foolish root of unbelief.

II. The Resurrection Body Contrasted with the Mortal Body

But now we’re going to get to the actual answer to the question, “With what kind of body will they be raised?” He’s going to give some amazing insights into the nature of the resurrection body, the kind of bodies we Christians are going to have as we walk through the streets of the New Jerusalem, the kind of bodies that we’re going to have as we explore the dimensions and beauties of the new heaven and the new earth. As the kind of bodies that we’re going to have as we sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven and feast with him, what kind of bodies will we have?

He gives details, and he does it by contrasting the resurrection body with the mortal body. The resurrection body is contrasted with the mortal body. Look at verses 42-44, “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 in natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.” So it’s a set of four couplets. It’s a compare and contrast. Remember English class we had to do the compare and contrast thing? So we’re going to be comparing and contrasting the mortal body with the resurrection body in these four pairings or couplets of words, perishable versus imperishable; dishonor versus glory; weakness versus power; and natural versus spiritual.

Let’s take them one at a time. First, perishable versus imperishable. “The body that is sown,” he says, “ is perishable, it is raised imperishable…” Now perishable means able to die, able to die, a synonym for mortal we would say, but it also implies a certain process of decay, of degeneration. We think about perishable goods. All living things decay in some degree. The decay comes from a bacterial growth that produces nasty odors. Perhaps you’ve noticed them from time to time in your refrigerator, and you have to root through and find what in the world is causing that. Finally, you find that Tupperware that you put in the back of the bottom shelf about six months ago, it’s perishable, it’s decaying, it’s corrupting.

Now while we live there, even in our bodies, no matter how healthy, there’s still a process of cellular decay going on. Romans chapter 8 makes it very plain that, all of creation is groaning in bondage to decay, waiting for the children of God to be revealed in their resurrection bodies. So that’s going on all the time, but this process obviously just really takes off after death when you talk about the corpse. The body that is sown in the ground is a corpse and it is perishable. It is sown, it is perishable. The decay just takes off.

Psalm 49:14, it says, “Like sheep they are destined for the grave, and death will feed on them. [Death will feed on them.] The upright will rule over them in the morning; their forms will decay in the grave, far from their princely mansions.” Or again, as Martha, the sister of the dead Lazarus reminded Jesus when he said, “Remove the stone.,” “By this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” 

That’s the process of decay that happens normally after death. So the body that is sown is perishable. It will become a rotting corpse in the grave and death will feed on it. But the body that is raised, is raised imperishable, imperishable. It cannot die and it cannot decay. It will neither decay nor die, this resurrection body. It will be pulsating with life for all eternity. Revelation 21:4 says there’ll be, “No more death, mourning, crying or pain…for the old order of things has passed away and [all things] everything will be made new!”

Our resurrection bodies will live forever. They are immortal and there’ll be no aging process in heaven, no diminishment of our capabilities over time. The time is infinite, and when we’ve been there 10,000 years bright shining as the sun, your eyes will still see the brightness and glory of the New Jerusalem like the day that you first began. You will have no diminishment of eyesight. Your eyes won’t become dim as Isaac’s did, or your hearing will not lose its sharpness over time. You’ll be in eternal health, forever healthy in the resurrection body.

Revelation 22:2 says, it speaks of the river of the water of life flowing from clearest crystal from the throne of God and, “On each side of that river stood the tree of life bearing 12 crops of fruit, yielding its fruit for every month, and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” It’s a mysterious verse because he already told us there’ll be no more death, mourning, crying or pain. But it seems to me that feeding from the tree of life and living forever is an ongoing dynamic process by which God sustains our resurrection bodies. It’s not an independent, all by itself immortal body, but it is nestled in the ongoing purpose of God in sustaining the resurrection body in perfect health forever. It is sown perishable; it is raised imperishable.

Second couplet, second pairing, dishonor versus glory. It is sown, the body is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory. There is an essential dishonor to dying and to death itself. First of all, the wages of sin is death. The wages of sin is death. We die because of sin, and we are dying just as humans because we are part of Adam’s progeny, his descendants.

We are dying because of our connection to Adam. Even if we never committed any sin like Adam did, you think about infants that die in infancy, didn’t sin as Adam did, but they still die because they’re human. But then once we understand the law of God, the moral law written on our hearts, we violate it every time. So we die because we have sinned, we have violated the laws of God and that is dishonorable, so the aging and death process is dishonorable. It strips us of honor, and death itself is the ultimate dishonor.

Now funeral directors and pastors and families can gather at that time and seek to do the best they can to put trappings of honor on the deceased. I understand that and I think it’s reasonable. A military death, for example, we drape a flag on the casket and then fold it up with great ceremony. There might be a 21-gun salute. These are given to give a certain honor to the deceased. Others may just at the time of the funeral come up and give testimonials of the significance of the person’s life, how they lived, so there’s an effort to put honor at that time.

But when it comes to the corpse itself, there’s a dishonor to death. We feel it when we walk into nursing homes as people are elderly and they’re dying, and you look at what’s happening to their bodies and there’s just a dishonor and to dying and death. But the resurrection body is raised in glory. It is a glorious body. It’s characterized by glory. “The righteous will shine like the son in the kingdom of our father,” Matthew 13:43, we’re going to be radiant with glory.

We’re going to be shining like the angel that bore the news of Jesus’ birth to those shepherds outside of Bethlehem. Remember, he was the glory of the Lord shown around and we’re going to shine like that. We’re going to be radiant in glory. Christ will bestow a radiant beauty, a shining glory on his bride. He’s going to make her beautiful. He’s going to deck her out with glory. She’s going to be staggeringly beautiful.

The angel, Revelation 21:19-11, wanted John to see the future glory of the New Jerusalem, the assembled people of God. He said, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb. And he carried me away in the spirit to a mountain, great and high and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper clear as crystal.” Now that’s the New Jerusalem, the city, but the city are the people in some mysterious way. We are living stones assembled together and radiant and beautiful. Every individual Christian will be in a glorious resurrection body and every one of them will be perfect physical specimens.

Our bodies will be perfect, beautiful to look at, stunning in appearance. There will be an essential honor to being a redeemed person at that point, to being a Christian. It will be an honor bestowed on us. Paul talks about this in Romans 2:7. He said, “To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give them eternal life,” so you should be all after this. I am looking forward to glory, honor and immortality for myself and for my brothers and sisters in Christ. I’m preaching for that right now that all of you would be glorious, honorable and immortal in your resurrection bodies, but you should seek it too, and that’s how you live. By persistence in doing good, you seek glory, honor and immortality. To those people, God will give eternal life.

Aaron, the high priest was clothed with special garments, priestly garments. Exodus 28:2 describes the reason why, “Make sacred garments for your brother Aaron to give him dignity and honor.” So the jeweled garments, they’re really special garments. I think of the resurrection body that way. We are going to be clothed in honor. The resurrection body is essentially honorable.

The third couplet, weakness versus power. Weakness versus power. Verse 43, “The corpse, the body is sown in weakness. It is raised in power.” The corpse is the very picture of weakness. Now weakness has to do with inability. Power is the ability to make a change in the physical world. That’s what power is, the ability to … So to be weak means you don’t have the ability to make any changes. You don’t have the ability to do anything. You can barely pick up a feather or a piece of paper if you’re just weak.

So elderly people generally, there are exceptions, but generally, become more and more frail, more and more weak as they go on, and they have trouble doing even basic physical things. They have trouble feeding themselves and dressing themselves and even chewing their own food. This is just normal aging and it’s part of that dishonorable process that we’re talking about. We lose power. We don’t have the ability to do things we earlier could do. But friends, this text ultimately is not talking about elderly people, it’s talking about the corpse. The corpse, we’re not talking about that it can’t do much, we’re saying it can’t do anything. It can’t move. It’s dead. It has no power at all. 

This is the human body at its absolute weakness, at its lowest point, overcome by death. It sinks down into the grave and it cannot stop a single thing from coming to feed on it, completely powerless. It is sown in weakness, but it is raised in power. It is raised in power. Now, please don’t misunderstand, I’m not minimizing the power of God or of Christ to do it that, but that’s not what this verse is talking about. It’s talking about the power in the body itself. It is a powerful body. Just as the body was characterized by weakness, it is then characterized by power, all of which comes from God.

Now at this point, your imagination may be running wild. You’ve watched too many superhero movies and you’re trying to think, “All right, what special ability do I get? What am I going to do? Am I going to be like Superman, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound? Will I be able to fly? Will I be able, like the angel that came down in Matthew 28 to move the stone?”

Remember, and let the women in and let Peter and John in to see the empty tomb? The angel comes down, Matthew 28:2, and rolls back the stone effortlessly and sits on it. It’s one of my all-time favorite angel positions. I picture his angelic legs dangling on the stone. Utterly fearless of the Romans, they’re terrified of him. They’re like dead men, but he’s radiant and glorious and moves the stone effortlessly and sits on it, or like Sampson, for example, who, when the spirit of God came upon him in Hebron ripped up the city gates pillar and post, carried them up and threw them all a hill. Now that’s impressive.

“Pastor, am I going to be able to do those kinds of things? Will I be able to fly like the seraphim? They have those wings by which they’re flying. Will I be able to go in swift flight?” All I can say to you is, I don’t know. Maybe, maybe, maybe and more maybe. But I’m not here to speculate. I’m here to tell you the word says, “It is raised in power,” and so your body will be limitless really in power. For all eternity, you’ll have limit.

Now, I don’t believe you’ll be omnipotent like God, but I think of it this way, Isaiah 40:29-31, this is probably the safest meditation we can do on the power of the resurrection body. It says there, “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even used, grow tired and weary and young men stumble and fall. But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not be faint.”

So think of it that way, especially that last phrase, “Run and not grow weary,” never, you will never get tired in the new heaven, new earth. You won’t need to sleep. You don’t need to renew your strength. There’ll be a constant flow of the power of God into your resurrection body giving you that kind of strength. Now for me, for exercise, I like to ride a road bike, a racing bike.

I have let my imagination run wild on this. I say, “Oh Lord, if you would just give me and no one else a resurrection body, I would enter the Tour de France. I’m telling you, I would go up the Pyrenees, and I would go up the Alps. I’d go back down to encourage those laboring up the mountain and say, ‘Come on guys, you can do it. Come on.’ I’d go up and down and up and down and I’d set records and I would be tested for performance-enhancing drugs. People would not know what to do with me, but I would have that kind of energy, that kind of strength in my resurrection body.'”All right, enough of that, ’cause I’m going to get into dangerous speculation here. “It is raised in power.”

The fourth couplet, the most mysterious of them all, natural versus spiritual. “It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.” This is mysterious because those two seem to be very different body, spirit material, immaterial. How do they combine?

It’s interesting, the Greek philosophy that I think is at the root of their philosophical problems with resurrection is that they really made a distinction and said, “Physical body is evil, spirit good.” Paul with these words, combines the two perfectly, absolutely combines. I think that this is very significant for a combination of heaven and earth, like heaven and earth become one. All right?

The throne of God descends and is in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth. So new heaven and new earth all becomes like one thing for me. God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven because there’s a oneness there and it comes right down to the body. It’s a spiritual body. Now I don’t really know what that means, the stuff out of which our bodies will be made will be essentially spiritual. We’re going to meditate on Jesus’s resurrection body in just a minute, but seems like it follows different physical rules. The physics seem different. So beyond that, I really can’t say, but summation: Our mortal bodies are perishable, dishonorable, they are weak and they are natural.

Our resurrection bodies will be the opposite of all four of those. They will be imperishable, glorious, powerful, and spiritual. Now let me just stop and say if that isn’t enough to encourage you, meditate more. If you’re a child of God, Paul says openly that, “Your present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in you in this resurrection body.” So be filled with good cheer, be filled with hope at your future, no matter how much suffering and pain you’re going through.

III. The Eternal Pattern: Christ’s Resurrection Body

All right, now the eternal pattern of our resurrection body is Christ’s resurrection body. Paul calls Christ’s resurrection body first fruits. Look at verse 20. He says, “Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” So that implies a harvest of like fruit coming in the pattern of the first fruits. There will be a multitude greater than anyone could count from every tribe, language, people, and nation raised in the pattern of Christ’s resurrection body.

Jesus himself promises in John 6:39-40, “This is the will of him who sent me that I should lose none of all that he has given me but raise them up at the last day, for my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him will have eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day.” He says, “I will raise him up at the last day,” multiple times in John 6. He’s going to do this.

Now Paul openly connects our resurrection bodies to Christ. Look at verse 45-49, “So it is written, the first man Adam became a living being, the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first but the natural and after that, the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven as was the earthly man. So are those who are of the earth and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have born the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.”

Now the reference to Adam is the reconnection from the earlier theme we already opened in this chapter of federal headship, of the unity that we have in Adam and what we get from Adam. Look at verses 21-23, “For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man, for as in Adam all die so in Christ will all be made alive. But each in his own turn, Christ the first fruits, then, when he comes, those who belong to him.” So Paul teaches first Adam and last Adam, first Adam, last Adam.

So in verse 45, “It is written the first man Adam became a living being the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.” This is the doctrine of federal headship. What does that mean? It means a single individual represents the whole group before God. He represents us. So Adam represented us at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden, he represented us. He stood for all of his unborn children and made a decision on their behalf that affected them greatly grievously.

So the Bible teaches that we all sinned in Adam and therefore, we die in Adam. This is the doctrine that’s called original sin, the doctrine of original sin. Paul said it in verse 22, “In Adam, we all die.” We die in Adam, he develops this theology more in depth in Romans 5:12-21. There he says, not just that we all die, we all actually sinned in Adam. So that’s what original sin means. We sinned in Adam positionally. God sees it that way.

In the same way, we all were righteous and obeyed in Christ. Christ represents us as the last Adam. So he stood before God, stands before God on our behalf and represents us to Almighty God. It says in Romans 5:19, “Just as through the disobedience of the one man, the many were made sinners. So also through the obedience of the one man, the many will be made righteous.” Isn’t that incredible? God sees you as obedient as Jesus if you’re a Christian. Isn’t that incredible?

Positionally, you are as obedient to the law, to the purposes of God as Jesus. He obeyed on your behalf. So Paul then takes that theology and applies it to the body. Genesis 2:7, he speaks of God forming Adam from the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and he became a living being, so he came up out of the dust. But then when he sinned, he came under the death penalty of Genesis 2:17. Remember, in Genesis 2:17, “You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it, you’ll surely die.”

That’s a death penalty. So he ate the forbidden fruit and he did not die right away, but he died, I believe, instantly. Spiritually, he was dead in his transgressions and sins spiritually at that moment, and then the dying process began. It took a long time, centuries. He lived past 900, but he eventually died. This is the judgment of God on Adam and indeed, on the whole human race in Adam, “Dust you are and to dust you shall return,” Genesis 3:19.

When Adam and Eve came together in marital union, the children they bore were born in the likeness, the image and likeness of their father, Adam; says it very plainly in Genesis 5:3, “When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image and he named him Seth.” So Seth represents, at this point, all of us. All of us descended from Adam, we were born into the likeness of our father, Adam.

That means we were born into his corruption. We’re born into his death, and that’s the truth for all of our bodies. We’re born with mortal bodies. So the moment we’re born, to some degree, we begin dying. But then he links the peril between Adam and us and then between Christ and us.

Look again, 45-49, “So it is written the first man Adam became a living being, the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. [verse 46,] The spiritual did not come first but the natural and after that, the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth and as is the man from heaven so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have born the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.” The sequence is plain. Adam came first, then Christ. Adam’s children were born to die like him. Their bodies were born to sink back into the dust from which they came.

We bore the likeness of the earthy man. So the second Adam, Christ, makes an infinitely greater impact on us. One of the rhythms of Romans 5 is not just that the first Adam is like the second Adam. One of the key themes is the second Adam is greater than the first Adam. The impact of the second Adam is greater than the impact of the first Adam. What’s so glorious about all this is that the impact of Adam, the original Adam on us, is temporary. The impact of the last Adam is eternal. Isn’t that glorious?

Let me think about that. We have a temporary journey to travel in sorrow and sickness and affliction and death and then it’s over, and the impact of Adam, the first Adam will be done. But the impact of the last Adam is eternal. Christ is, he says, a living or a life-giving spirit and his resurrection body is eternally alive. We will bear the likeness of the man from heaven and we will derive our eternal life in our resurrection bodies from Jesus, forever connected. He forever will be the vine and we forever the branches and our resurrection bodies receive life from Jesus. He is a life-giving spirit to our resurrection bodies.

Now let’s talk about the mysteries of Christ’s resurrection body. You’ve read the gospel accounts. It was interesting. I don’t want to use the word odd, but it’s just interesting how his body was and how it was received.

First of all, Christ’s resurrection body was a physical body. They kept thinking he was a ghost. They actually thought that when he was walking on the water. I don’t know if there was a ghost theology back then, but they were thinking Jesus was a ghost. He has to push that aside. He says in Luke 24:39, “Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself touch me and see. A ghost does not have,” listen to this, “flesh and bones as you see I have.” So we’re going to bear the likeness of the last Adam. We’re going to have flesh and bones; resurrection flesh, resurrection bones. We’ll be able to touch each other. We’ll be able to pat each other on the back. It’s physical.

Secondly, Christ’s resurrection body looked like a normal body to observers. The disciples on the road to Emmaus thought he was just a stranger in Jerusalem who needed to be better educated on current events. “Haven’t you heard what’s going on?” He just looked like a normal guy. Mary thought he was the gardener. So he just looked like an ordinary human.

Thirdly, Christ’s resurrection body could eat food. In Luke 24:41-43, “He asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish and he took it and ate in their presence,” so he’s able to chew and swallow food. All told in the Gospels and in Acts five different times, Jesus’ resurrection, post-resurrection times with his disciples centered around food, centered on food. So we have that sense of being able to sit at banquet table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven and eat heavenly food. It’s a mystery, but we’ll be able to sit at the great wedding feast of the lamb and celebrate.

Fourthly, Christ’s resurrection body had some kind of mysterious continuity with his earlier body, so that body was raised. It’s not some entirely new creation in that sense. There is a continuity, thus, we use the language of sown raised. There’s a connection. We see this especially in the wounds on his body. Remember how Thomas said, “Unless I put my finger in the nail marks and my hand in the side, I will not believe?”

He [Jesus] said to Thomas, “Put your finger in the nail marks. Put your hand in this side. Stop doubting and believe.” Now I think that Jesus’ are an anomaly when it comes to the resurrection body. Many terrible injuries happen to the human body that takes people out of this world; car accidents, burning, battle wounds, you can imagine, just total dismemberment, et cetera. I don’t believe that we will carry over any of those scars into our resurrection bodies. I think there’s just something unique about Jesus’ wounds. He is the lamb looking as if it had been slain so that forever there … but he could easily have had no wounds in his hands and side.

But the point I’m making here is continuity. His body, that’s the body that was nailed to the cross and is raised from the dead, so there is a continuity, but there’s also difference as well. People who knew Jesus very well in life didn’t seem to be able to recognize Him. Like I said, Mary thought he was the gardener. She knew Jesus very well. I’m sure she studied his face. She knew his facial expression. She understood his love for her by that.

The two disciples in the road to Emmaus knew Jesus, but they didn’t know he was Jesus. It wasn’t until he took bread and broke it that their eyes were open. Actually, the text says, “They were kept from recognizing him,” so there was something God was doing in the minds of the observers, but maybe also there’s some kind of difference in how he appeared.

Matthew 28:16, I think that probably is when the 500 eyewitnesses were gathered. There was a huge gathering there of the 500 that saw him after his resurrection that Paul mentioned, I Corinthians. I don’t know for sure that that’s Matthew 28:16, but it says, “When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted.” So a group of those people that were seeing him weren’t really sure what they were seeing and so he looked different. In other times, he looked just like they recognized him right away.

Sixthly, sixthly, Christ’s resurrection body could do some amazing things. That’s where you get into the different physics. I don’t know how it works, but sudden appearances, just there, [snap] just there. So like in the upper room in Luke 20:24- 6, “While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”” He’s just there. Also, on the flip side, sudden disappearances. So with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. He eats, breaks bread. Their eyes are open, they realize who he is and he’s gone. He just disappears. He’s able to travel through physical walls. 

Some theologians, Wayne Grudem questioned this, but he zeroes in especially on the doors are locked for fear of the Jews. So the doors were locked for fear of the Jews. Then a week later, the doors are locked for fear of the Jews and he comes and he comes. But the real question for Wayne Grudem and for anyone else, and I don’t think he denies it, but how did he get out of the tomb, friends? How did he get out of the tomb? 

Please don’t say the angel came down and let him out. That’s so dishonoring, that didn’t happen. He’s like, “Please, I’m waiting for the angel.” Knock, knock, and then the angel comes and he can get. No, he’s gone. He’s already gone. The stone was moved so he could get in and see that he was gone. He just passed through the stone walls. How does that work physically? I don’t know. I don’t understand. That’s where spiritual body maybe comes in, that it’s the mystery of what a spiritual body is. 

Christ’s resurrection body free forever from death and from all pain as we’ve already said, but Romans 6:9 says, we know that since Christ died, or, “Since Christ was raised from the dead,” sorry, “He cannot die again. Death no longer has mastery over Him.” He’s done with death. He’s done with all things. So all of these aspects of Christ’s resurrection body, in some, sense will be ours as well, and they give us some insights into that pattern. Christ’s resurrection body is a pattern for us as Paul makes plain, verse 49, “Just as we have born the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.” 

All right, what applications can we take from all this, a lot of theological truth here today? A feast of truth for us as Christians.

Well, first I just want to speak to any that are listening to me today to make certain that you actually are born again. The promise of this resurrection into Christ’s glorious resurrection body is made for his people. It’s made for those that hear and believe the gospel. He will give to them eternal life. He will give to them this glorious resurrection. So are you a Christian? Have you trusted in Christ? 

Just ’cause you come to church or even because you watch a church service on livestream doesn’t mean that your sins are forgiven. Be certain that you have trusted in Him. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” Then he said to Martha, “Do you believe this?” You have to believe that Christ, the Son of God died on the cross for you and rose again for you, trust in him and that you’ll receive the gift of a resurrection body. 

Now if you’re already Christian, rejoice and trust in Christ because Christ lives, you also will live in the same pattern.

So just swim in the sea of Paul’s statement, Romans 8. “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” I don’t know what your circumstance is. Some of you are battling chronic pain, chronic illness, medical community maybe can’t do anything more for you or you know someone like that, and you’re having to give be a caregiver and there could be other afflictions. We live in the land of the shadow of death. We’re under the shadow of death all the time. We’re surrounded by people under the same shadow of death. 

We Christians need to be of good hope. Don’t we? We need to be filled with hope? And this resurrection message has the power to make me filled with hope, for me to not be afraid, to not grieve like those who have no hope. When Jesus went to Jairus’ home and saw a huge crowd in this massive commotion and all these people crying and wailing loudly, you know what he said? “Why all this commotion? Why all this wailing, the child is not dead but asleep. Let’s rejoice that we are seen even in death as asleep.” That’s the same language used here in one Corinthians 15. 

He’s going to raise us as though waking us up from asleep. So let’s not grieve like those that are hopeless and let’s like act like people that are hopeless. Let’s be filled with good hope, and “Set your hope fully on the grace to be given you in Jesus Christ is revealed,” that’s I Peter 1:13. There is a grace coming at the second coming of Christ. There is a grace to be revealed. Set your hope fully on that. Don’t trust in idols. Don’t trust in current event idols. Don’t trust in the idols of this world that other people trust in. We don’t set our hope on those things. Those things are evanescent. They will not bring satisfaction, they’re idols. Set your hope fully on the grace that’s given you when Christ returns. 

Don’t lament the destruction of your own body. Don’t spend a lot of time trying to look a lot younger than you are. All right? There are all kinds of ways that we can look younger. Don’t worry about it. Be what you are and realize your best days physically are yet to come. I’m not saying don’t take care of your body. Do take care of your body so that you can be energetic right to the end of your life here on earth, serving him and not sidelined because of maladies that you didn’t have to have because you didn’t take care of your body, not saying that. But what I am saying is, your best days are yet to come physically. Don’t lament the aging and dying process. Don’t fear it. 

Fifthly, look forward to an amazingly active time in the new heaven and new earth in New Jerusalem. All right? I am totally against boring heaven. It’s a lie from Satan. Heaven will not be boring. God is not going to raise you up out of the grave and give you this kind of a resurrection body, glorious surging with energy and power and give you nothing to do or give you a harp and tell you to sit on a cloud and strum it. You are going to be so busy and so energetic in the new heaven and new earth, and you’ll have enough energy to do all the good things God has for you to do, so be excited about that. 

Sixthly. Don’t speculate too much, okay? Don’t speculate too much about what it’s going to be like. 

I was reading one author, Robert Wilkin. He wrote this, he said, “The other day I found myself walking behind two small children following their grandparents. The little girl, perhaps five-years-old, was rhythmically hopping across the lawn, delighting in the quickness and flexibility of her body, oblivious to what was around. The grandparents were healthy, able folk, not elderly yet they moved more deliberately, prudently looking down lest they slip. Later in the day, I watched a very elderly man with a walker shuffle into a hardware store, tiny step by tiny step, each made with a great act of the will. Thinking medieval thoughts, I wondered which body will we have? That of the child? Those of the middle-aged couple or that of the man with the walker, what will be raised in the resurrection? The medievals ask these kinds of questions. Will there be differentiation by gender in heaven? Will there, will we all be the same age? If so, what age? Will limbs that were crippled or amputated be restored? What of those born with deformities? Will we have internal as well as external organs? Will a child that dies in infancy be raised an adult? Into what will aborted fetuses rise?” 

Now Saint Augustine in the city of God sought to answer some of these for us, but he’s not inspired scripture. This is just what he thought. Here’s his opinion. This is Augustine, “It remains therefore, that we conclude that every man shall receive his own size, which he had in youth, though he died an old man, or which he would’ve had supposing he died before his prime.” So if you’re short and you wish you could be tall, that’s kind of discouraging. But anyway, I’ll just keep reading. “All shall rise neither beyond nor under youth, for even the world’s wisest men have fixed the bloom of youth at about the age of 30. When this period has been passed, the man begins to decline toward the defective and duller periods of old age.” So he’s setting the age at 30. 

Look, friends, all of that, all of it is speculation. Don’t go beyond what is written. Zero in on these words. “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.” 

Close with me in prayer. Father, thank you for the time we’ve had to study. It’s just a lot of truth, a lot of theology to take in. But God give us grace to understand it and give us grace to have the proper emotional response to it. That we would rejoice with a joy unspeakable and full of glory. That we would not let our trials and temptations and afflictions get us down. All of them are temporary. That we would not get the fact that we have so much of a proclivity toward decay and corruption to get us depressed. That we would be filled with good hope, and that people who are as yet unsaved, who are without hope and without God in this world, will look on us and see a different kind of radiant hope and ask us to give a reason for the hope that we have. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen. 

I.   Key Question: What Will the Resurrection Body Be Like

1 Corinthians 15:35 But someone may ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?”

A.   The Context: Corinthian Doubts About the Resurrection of the Body

1 Corinthians 15:12 how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

B.   Paul Rebukes their Skepticism

1 Corinthians 15:36 How foolish!

1.   They just can’t believe that God could even do this… as though the logistical problems prove it cannot happen at all

C.   So, Paul gives some amazing insights here into what kinds of bodies we will have in the New Jerusalem… what kinds of bodies will carry us to explore the New Heavens and New Earth… what kind of bodies will sit at tables in the feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

II.   The Resurrection Body Contrasted with the Mortal Body

1 Corinthians 15:42-44 The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised 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.

A.   A Set of Four Couplets… Contrasting the Mortal Body with the Resurrection Body

1.   Perishable vs. imperishable

2.   Dishonor vs. glory

3.   Weakness vs. power

4.   Natural vs. spiritual

B.   Perishable vs. Imperishable

“The body that is sown is PERISHABLE… it is raised IMPERISHABLE

1.   Perishable means able to die… a synonym for mortal

2.   It also implies a certain process of decay

a.   All living things decay… that decay comes from nasty bacterial growth, resulting in bad odors

b.   Even while we live, there is a process of death going on all the time at the cellular level

c.   Romans 8: All of creation is groaning in bondage to decay

d.   But this decay really takes off after death

Psalm 49:14 Like sheep they are destined for the grave, and death will feed on them. The upright will rule over them in the morning; their forms will decay in the grave, far from their princely mansions.

John 11:39 Martha, the sister of the dead {Lazarus}, said “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”

e.   So… the body that is sown is PERISHABLE… it will become a rotting corpse in the grave, and death will feed on it

3.   The body that is raised is IMPERISHABLE… it cannot die, it does not decay… it is pulsating with life and will for all eternity

Revelation 21:4 “No more death, mourning, crying, or pain… for the old order of things has passed away and everything will be made new!”

a.   Our resurrection bodies will LIVE FOREVER… immortal

b.   There will be no aging process in heaven… no diminishment of capability over the infinite time we will be in heaven; our eyesight will not dim over the endless millennia in heaven; our arms will not grow weak, our hearing will not grow faint

4.   Eternal HEALTH

Revelation 22:2 On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

Ongoing health coursing through our veins… our resurrection bodies will never get sick, be injured, or experience pain

C.   Dishonor vs. glory

“[the body] is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory.”

1.   There is an essential dishonor to perishing and death

a.   First of all, the wages of SIN is DEATH

b.   We are dying because we are part of Adam’s sinful race

c.   And we are personally dying also because of actual sins we have committed in violation of God’s holy laws

d.   Therefore, the aging and death process are inherently dishonorable; death is the ultimate dishonor

e.   Funeral directors, pastors, and families try to bring honor to the funeral: military personnel cover the casket with the flag; there may be a twenty-one gun salute; or loved ones give testimony and speak of the honorable way the person lived their lives … and that is wonderful

f.   But when it comes to the actual corpse, it is as this scripture says “SOWN IN DISHONOR”

g.   BUT… it is RAISED IN GLORY!!!

2.   Raised in GLORY

a.   The resurrection body is inherently GLORIOUS

Matthew 13:43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

b.   Christ will bestow a radiant glory on his bride, the church… he will dress her up in white robes and deck her with radiant glory

Revelation 21:9-11 “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.

c.   Every individual Christian will be in resurrection bodies, and will be perfect physical specimens… beautiful to look at, stunning in their appearance

d.   There will be an essential HONOR to being one of the resurrected saints

Romans 2:7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.

Aaron the high priest was clothed with special garments covered with jewels… why?

Exodus 28:2 Make sacred garments for your brother Aaron, to give him dignity and honor.

So God will clothe his redeemed with honor by the glory of their resurrected bodies

D.   Weakness vs. Strength

1 Corinthians 15:43 it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power

1.   The corpse that is sown is the very picture of WEAKNESS

a.   Weakness is the inability to do much… barely able to pick up a piece of paper

b.   Elderly people are frail, weak; they have trouble standing up, trouble chewing their food, trouble doing most ordinary things in life; this is normal aging…

c.   But friends, this text is not talking about aging, or the elderly… it is talking about the CORPSE that is sown in the earth… that CORPSE is sown IN WEAKNESS

d.   A corpse is the very picture of weakness… it is not true that it cannot do much… actually IT CANNOT DO ANYTHING

e.   It is the human body at its weakest—overcome by death, it sinks down into the grave and cannot stop a single thing from bringing about the decay that is inevitable

f.   It is SOWN IN WEAKNESS

2.   But… RAISED IN POWER!!

a.   The resurrection body will be staggeringly powerful… this is not referring to the power God shows in raising it, but the power of the body itself!!

b.   What does this mean? Will we be super-heroes, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, like Superman? Will we be able to fly? To move at the speed of light?

c.   Like this angel, powerful??:

Matthew 28:2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.

Or, like Samson, who tore loose the two doors of a city gate, together with the gateposts and crossbar and carried them to the top of a hill in Hebron

Maybe! Who knows for sure? But the resurrection body is raised in POWER… that means CHARACTERIZED BY POWER

3.   I think of this verse more than any, when I think of the POWER of the resurrection body

Isaiah 40:29-31 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint

Endless power! Measureless strength!

No need to sleep to renew our strength… we will get continual strength directly from God Almighty

Illus. Tour de France… riding up the Alps with limitless energy!

E.   Natural vs. Spiritual

1 Corinthians 15:44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

1.   This is the most mysterious of all

2.   The corpse that is sown Paul calls “a natural body”… it is the physical body we know so well here below

3.   But the resurrection body is made of different STUFF, if we can use the word “stuff”; as though the very elements of the body are made in a new way

4.   The very words “spiritual body” seems almost to be a contradiction in terms… like they are opposites: there is the body and there is the spirit… the body is the house for the spirit

5.   But the resurrection body will involve a perfect harmony between body and spirit

6.   And it seems it will follow different physical laws

F.   Summation

1.   Our corpse is PERISHABLE, DISHONORABLE, WEAK, and NATURAL

2.   Our resurrection body is IMPERISHABLE, GLORIOUS, POWERFUL, and SPIRITUAL

III.   The Eternal Pattern: Christ’s Resurrection Body

A.   Paul Calls Christ’s Resurrection Body: Firstfruits

1 Corinthians 15:20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

1.   The word “firstfruits” implies the first harvested, with a vast harvest to follow

2.   There will be a multitude greater than anyone can count from every nation on earth, raised from the dead

3.   As Jesus himself promised:

John 6:39-40 This is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

B.   Paul Openly Connects Our Resurrection Bodies to Christ’s

1 Corinthians 15:45-49 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.

1.   The reference to “Adam” is a re-connection to the theme of federal headship that he opened earlier in this chapter

1 Corinthians 15:21-23 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.

2.   So Paul teaches a FIRST ADAM and a LAST ADAM

1 Corinthians 15:45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.

3.   This is the doctrine of federal headship… a single individual represents the whole group in the sight of God

4.   Adam represented us at the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden… he stood for all his unborn children and represented them; when he ate the forbidden fruit, he ate on behalf of the whole human race… all of us SINNED in ADAM

5.   This is also the doctrine of original sin

a.   Paul said in verse 22, “in Adam ALL DIE…”

b.   He develops this theology—the doctrine of ORIGINAL SIN—in Romans 5:12-21 “ALL SINNED” in Adam

c.   In the same way, when Christ was RIGHTEOUS and OBEYED, we all were righteous and obeyed IN HIM

Romans 5:19 just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

6.   Paul applies that theology here directly to the BODY

a.   Genesis 2:7: God formed Adam’s body from the dust of the earth and breathed into it the breath of life

b.   When Adam sinned, he immediately came under the death penalty God had threatened

Genesis 2:17 you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.

Adam did not die right away, but he went into spiritual death in his relationship with God and his body began the death process

This is the judgment of God on Adam and indeed on the WHOLE HUMAN RACE in Adam

Genesis 3:19 dust you are and to dust you will return.

c.   When Adam and Eve came together in sexual union, the children they produced were born in the likeness of Adam

Genesis 5:3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.

d.   So, Seth’s body was made in the likeness and pattern of his father, Adam… and in that way, his body was born into death… born into corruption… and so were ALL OF OUR BODIES

e.   The moment we’re born, we begin dying… to some degree

C.   The Parallel Between Adam and Us… and Between Christ and Us

1 Corinthians 15:45-49 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.

1.   The sequence is plain… Adam came first, then Christ

2.   Adam’s children were born to die… their bodies were born to sink back into the dust from which we ultimately came in Adam

3.   So, we have borne the image of the man from the dust

4.   Christ, the Second Adam, makes an infinitely greater impact on us

a.   Adam’s effect is temporary, Christ’s effect is ETERNAL

b.   Adam’s sin affected our whole lives here on earth… all of the aches, pains, diseases, injuries, suffering, birth defects, tumors, amputations, paralysis, and in the end, death… all of that comes from Adam and assaults our mortal bodies

c.   We have born the likeness of the man from the earth

d.   But Christ is a LIFE-GIVING SPIRIT… and his resurrection body is eternally alive, vibrant with life

e.   Thus we will bear the likeness of the man from heaven (vs. 49)

D.   The Mysteries of Christ’s Resurrection Body

1.  Christ’s Resurrection Body was a physical body

Luke 24:39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”

So also will our resurrection bodies be real, live, physical bodies

2.  Christ’s Resurrection Body looked like a normal body to observers

·       Disciples on the Road to Emmaus walked and talked with Him as if He were an ordinary man… at one point they asked if He was a stranger to Jerusalem

3.  Christ’s Resurrection Body could eat food

Luke 24:41-43 He asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.

·       All told in the Gospels and Acts, Jesus centers time with His disciples around food five times

So also we will be able to consume food at the banquet table of the Lord at the Great Wedding Feast

4.  Christ’s Resurrection Body had continuity with his life before death

John 20:27-28 He said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

Jesus’ nail marks seem to be a special case, however, because of the special role his death plays in the salvation of all who would

come after him; it is reasonable to assume that the resurrection body will have no scars or wounds or deficiencies of any sort

BUT there is continuity with the past body, or there could be no resurrection… but also DIFFERENCE!!

5.  Christ’s Resurrection Body looked different to people who knew Him well

·       Mary Magdalene thought he was the gardener, though she knew him well

·       The two disciples on the Road to Emmaus spent most of the day with Him, and “were kept from recognizing Him.” It seems God did something in their minds to prevent their recognizing of His face and voice

·       In Matthew 28:16, it says “When they saw Him, they worshiped Him… but some doubted.”

·       BUT in other appearances they recognized Him right away, no hesitation

6.  Christ’s Resurrection Body could do some amazing things

·       Sudden Appearance

Luke 24:36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

·       Sudden Disappearance

Luke 24:30-31 He took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.

·       Travel through walls

Jesus got out of the tomb by passing through the rock walls.

John 20:19 When the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them

·       Ascent to heaven

Acts 1:9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

7.  And Christ’s Resurrection Body was free forever from death, corruption, and pain

Romans 6:9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.

So all of these unusual behavior patterns may give us a clue as to what “spiritual body” means…

In any case, Christ’s resurrection body is the PATTERN for ours… as Paul makes plain

1 Corinthians 15:49 And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.

IV.   Application

A.    Repent and Trust Christ

John 11:25-26 “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”

B.   Rejoice and Trust Christ: Because Christ Lives, You Also Will Live

C.    Set Your Hope Fully on the Future Grace

Peter 1:13 set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.

D.   Do Not Lament the Destruction of this Body, or Spend Too Much on Combating Aging

E.  Look forward to an amazingly ACTIVE time in the New Heaven and New Earth… some people think heaven will be boring, just sitting around forever on a cloud, strumming a harp, and singing songs… but the resurrection body is physical, and so will be the resurrected world… a world to explore and in which to do work… why would God give us staggeringly capable resurrection bodies with amazing power and energy, and then give us nothing to do?

E. Do Not Speculate Too Much… Just Know It Will Be Wonderful!!!

Robert L. Wilkin: The other day I found myself walking behind two small children being followed by their grandparents. The little girl, perhaps five years old, was rhythmically hopping across the mall, delighting in the quickness and flexibility of her body, oblivious to what was around; the grandparents were healthy able folk, not elderly, yet they moved deliberately, prudently looking down lest they slip. Later in the day I watched a very elderly man with a walker shuffle in to a hardware store, tiny step by tiny step, each made with a great act of will. Thinking medieval thoughts I wondered: Which body-that of the child, those of the middle-aged couple, or that of the man with the walker-will be raised in the resurrection? The medievals asked, Will there be differentiation by sex in heaven? Will we all be the same age? If so, what age? Will limbs that were crippled or amputated be restored? What of those born with deformities?

Will we have internal as well as external organs? Will a child that dies in infancy be raised as an adult? Into what will aborted fetuses rise?

Augustine:

“It remains, therefore, that we conclude that every man shall receive his own size which he had in youth, though he died an old man, or which he would have had, supposing he died before his prime…; all shall rise neither beyond nor under youth; For even the world’s wisest men have fixed the bloom of youth at about the age of thirty; and when this period has been passed, the man begins to decline towards the defective and duller periods of old age.” [Augustine, City of God, Book XXII, Chap. 15]

Best NOT TO GET THIS SPECIFIC!

Stick with these four couplets, and be satisfied with that:

1 Corinthians 15:42-44 The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised 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