Adapted For Eternity

We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown.   1 Corinthians 15:51-52

When the body of Jesus was raised, it was also changed. His flesh was adapted for everlasting life. This was something that had never happened before.

Lazarus was brought back to life in a wonderful miracle, but Lazarus came out of the tomb exactly as he’d gone into it. He might have been a few pounds lighter, but he was essentially the same. Then Lazarus carried on the process of aging at the point where he had left off, and eventually he had to go through the whole miserable process of dying all over again. Death was delayed; it was not defeated.

But when Christ was raised, his body was no longer subject to aging, sickness, or death. Nor was his resurrection body subject to pain or disability. It was Jesus’ flesh, but it was transformed and adapted for eternity. This is the glorious future that awaits every Christian believer.

God has not prepared some kind of compensation package, like a reduced pension plan, for those who are unable to continue life on earth. He has sent Jesus Christ to redeem the whole of you, body and soul, and in the Resurrection, he will adapt your body, even as he is preparing your soul for eternal life in his presence.

The gift of the resurrection body is so wonderful that God holds it in reserve until the day when he will gather all of his children. That’s what it was like on Christmas morning when I was a child—stockings were hung by the fire, and we were all eager to go in and open the gifts, but we weren’t allowed to until everyone was standing at the door. Then, when everyone was ready, we all went in together.

We will experience the same transformation that Jesus did, in which our bodies are adapted for everlasting life. This gift will be given to the whole family together. Then all the faces of God’s children will light up, as together we enter all that he has prepared for us.

For further reading, see 1 Corinthians 15