Feb. 12, 2025

“GLORIFIED BODIES”

“WHAT WILL OUR RESURRECTION BODIES LOOK LIKE AND HOW WILL THEY FUNCTION?” 

1 CORINTHIANS 15

*What will our resurrected bodies look like and how will they function?

We can find answers to that question in the Bible:

*Job said: Job 19:25-26 “For I know that my Redeemer lives,
And He shall stand at last on the earth; 26And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God.”

*Isaiah said: Isaiah 26:19 “Your dead shall live; Together with my dead body they shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust; For your dew is like the dew of herbs, And the earth shall cast out the dead.”

*Daniel said: Daniel 12:2 “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt.'

*David said: Psalm 16:10 “For You will not leave my soul in Sheol,
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.”

*Jesus said: John 11:25-26 “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

*The Apostle Paul said: 1 Thessalonians 4:16 “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.”

The most extensive passage on this subject is 1 Corinthians 15, which we commonly call the Resurrection chapter of the Bible. There are two questions posed to him by some of the Christians in Corinth. “How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come? 1 Corinthians 15:35 “But someone will say, “How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?”

How good of the Lord to answer those questions!

1 Corinthians 15:36 “Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies.”

1.  The Resurrection Certainties of the Bible:

“The body of Benjamin Franklin, Printer; Like the cover of an old book, it’s contents torn out, and the script of its lettering and gilding, lies here, food for worms. But the work shall not be lost, for it will, as he believed, appear once more, in a new and more elegant edition, revised and corrected by The Author.”

The apostle Paul used a metaphor, too. He used the image of seeds:

1 Corinthians 15:35-38 “But someone will say, “How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?” 36Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. 37And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain, perhaps wheat or some other grain. 38But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body.”

We see this unfold over the next several verses in 1 Corinthians 15 as the apostle Paul gives us some resurrection certainties:

1 Corinthians 15:42-44 “So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. 43It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 44It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.”

*Our new bodies will be raised in incorruption, so they will be indestructible.

*They will be raised in glory, so they will be identifiable.

*They will be raised in power, so they will be incredible.

*They will be raised as spiritual bodies, so they will be infinite.

2.   Our New Bodies Will Be Indestructible.

1 Corinthians 15:42 “So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.”

Psalms 16:10 “For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.”

Romans 6:8-9

Our bodies are sown in corruption; they are raised in incorruption. vs.42

3.   Our New Bodies Will Be Identifiable.

1 Corinthians 15:43 “It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory…” We could accurately translate the word “glory” as brilliance.

Daniel 12:3 “Those who are wise shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness
Like the stars forever and ever.”

Matthew 13:43 “Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

Philippians 3:20-21 “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.”

1 John 3:2 “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”

1 Corinthians 15:49 “And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.”

Luke 24:39 “Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.”

Luke 24:40-43 “When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. 41But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, “Have you any food here?” 42So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. 43And He took it and ate in their presence.”

John 21:12-13 “Jesus said to them, “Come and eat breakfast.” Yet none of the disciples dared ask Him, “Who are You?”—knowing that it was the Lord. 13Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to them, and likewise the fish.”

Perhaps we’ll be able to sample manna in heaven:

Psalm 78:25 “Men ate angels’ food; He sent them food to the full.”

The body of Christ was also touchable. It could be held:

John 20:27 “Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”

John 20:17 “Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.”

When you get to heaven, you’re going to know all the people you met down here and they will know you.

1 Corinthians 13:12 “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.”

Abraham, Lazarus, and the rich man all recognized each other in the afterlife, (Luke 16:19-31).

4.   Our New Bodies Will Be Incredible.

1 Corinthians 15:43 “It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.”

We will be buried in weakness. That’s absolutely true, isn't it?

John 20:19 “Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 

5.   Our New Bodies Will Be Infinite.

1 Corinthians 15:44-45 “It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 45And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.”

Jesus rose from the dead with the same physical body that was crucified.

1 John 1:1-2

1 Corinthians 15:51-57 “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— 52in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55“O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?” 56The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Acts 26:8 “Why should it be thought incredible by you that God raises the dead?”

To God all things are possible! And to that we can say, Hallelujah!