Light for the Journey: 11.24.08 A Glimpse of Heaven (7)

Two little birds had a nest in some bushes in the garden of a house. One day, a little girl named Julia found the nest with four speckled eggs in it. After Julia had been gone on vacation, she came home and ran to the garden to look at the eggs. Instead of the beautiful speckled eggs there were only empty broken shells. As she picked up the pieces, she cried, "The eggs are spoiled and broken!"  Her brother said, "They are not spoiled. The best part of them has taken wings and flown away."

1 Corinthians 15:51-57 (NLT) But let me tell you a wonderful secret God has revealed to us. Not all of us will die, but we will all be transformed. It will happen in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, the Christians who have died will be raised with transformed bodies. And then we who are living will be transformed so that we will never die. For our perishable earthly bodies must be transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die. When this happens--when our perishable earthly bodies have been transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die--then at last the Scriptures will come true: "Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. How we thank God, who gives us victory over sin and death through Jesus Christ our Lord!

We will have a new body in heaven! I don't know about you, but to me, that is good news!  However, I am curious!

This week, we will examine God's Word for a sketch, a sneak preview of our heavenly body, our new body. First, our new body will be real. The Bible clearly tells us that in heaven, we will have a "real" body. The greatest evidence of this truth is found in the body that Jesus had after He rose from the grave.

Philippians 3:20-21 (NCV) But our homeland is in heaven, and we are waiting for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, to come from heaven. By his power to rule all things, he will change our simple bodies and make them like his own glorious body.

After He rose from the grave, Jesus appeared to His disciples and His followers many times before He ascended to heaven. Jesus appeared to:

Jesus knew! He knew that we would need proof. So He promised us that our body would be like His body and then He put His body on display for us to see.

Luke 24:36-43 (NCV)  While the two followers were telling this, Jesus himself stood right in the middle of them and said, "Peace be with you." They were fearful and terrified and thought they were seeing a ghost. But Jesus said, "Why are you troubled? Why do you doubt what you see? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have a living body as you see I have." After Jesus said this, he showed them his hands and feet. While they still could not believe it because they were amazed and happy, Jesus said to them, "Do you have any food here?" They gave him a piece of broiled fish. While the followers watched, Jesus took the fish and ate it.

The body of Jesus was real! It was tangible. You could actually touch it. He invited Thomas the "doubter" to touch the scars that the nails made on His hands and feet!  Jesus tells him to put his hand on the scar that the spear made in His side.  He wanted them to know and He wants us to know that His body was real!

Verse 39 (NIV) Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.

Jesus Christ walked in the midst of the disciples. He talked to them and ate their food in front of them to prove that His body was real and to illustrate the truth that we will have a real body just like His.

Second, our new body will be recognizable.

Philippians 3:21 He will change our simple bodies and make them like his own glorious body.

Even though our bodies will be transformed, we will still keep those human characteristics that will make us recognizable to those who have known us on earth.  We will also be recognizable to "the cloud of witnesses," those saints who never knew us on earth.  The disciples recognized Elijah and Moses on the Mount of Transfiguration even though they had never met them.  Jesus said that the rich man recognized Abraham and the beggar in hell. The Scripture seems to indicate that our physical uniqueness is eternal!  Scientists now know that even our fingerprints and eye retina patterns are so unique that they will stand in a court of law as absolute identification.  We are unique - down to the last cell of our fingernails.

The same God who created our natural body with such care, creativity and such diversity has created a heavenly body for us to live in forever. Jesus still had the physical appearance that he had on earth and yet his body was glorious, transformed and spiritual. We will have a body that is both real and spiritual, a body that occupies time and space. But space and matter will not hinder this new body. Jesus walked through closed doors and disappeared from one place, reappearing in another.

Luke 24:31 Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And at that moment he disappeared!

Luke 24:36-37 (NLT) Jesus himself was suddenly standing there among them. He said, "Peace be with you." But the whole group was terribly frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost!

The disciples were not afraid because of how Jesus looked, but because of how He came. The unknown is always filled with fear and uncertainty. Jesus rose from the grave and walked on earth to make the unknown known. He wanted to prove to His disciples that He had conquered the grave and that death was reduced to a servant, an usher boy for eternity - and Jesus wanted us to know that our new body in heaven will be real and recognizable.