Philippians 3.20-21
“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.”
The change that Jesus effects in your life has three parts:
- The Lord has changed you positionally.
- The Lord is changing you progressively.
- The Lord will change you perfectly.
Today let’s consider #3.
3) The Lord will change you perfectly. Scripture promises that at the end of your physical life you will be fully transformed and the Lord will give you a perfect physical body.
There is much that we don’t know about heaven. However, scripture does tell us that we will have new and perfect bodies — bodies that will never age or become weak or die, because they will be like Christ’s glorious body after his resurrection.
Our earthly bodies are weakened and compromised by sin, but in heaven that will change because through his death and resurrection, Jesus conquered sin, sickness, and death. As the Philippians passage above says, in heaven Christ “will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”
Luke 9.28-36 is the account of Jesus’ transfiguration, and it gives us a hint of what our bodies will be like in heaven. Scripture says that Jesus went with three of his disciples up a mountain to pray, and there his appearance was gloriously transformed, as his divine nature shone through his human nature. Moses and Elijah came from heaven to talk with him, and their appearance was also incredibly wondrous. Luke says they “appeared in glorious splendor.”
The book of 1 John echoes that our new, heavenly bodies will be like that of Jesus: “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3.2)
The scripture that tells us the most about our new, heavenly bodies is 1 Corinthians chapter 15. “There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies,” Paul writes, “but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.” (1 Corinthians 15.40-41)
The passage goes on to declare that we will receive new, transformed bodies:
“So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.” (1 Corinthians 15.42-43)
In this passage, the apostle Paul makes clear the necessity for our new, perfect bodies. He declares that we will be permanently, perfectly, and wonderfully changed:
“I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.” (1 Corinthians 15.50-53)
What an incredible truth! What a wonderful promise! What a powerful reality to look forward to at the end of our physical life. I close today with these final verses from 1 Corinthians 15:
“When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”
