Tag: Spiritual Body

Our Bodies and Heaven

“50I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” – 1 Corinthians 15:50 (ESV)

“When Paul says that ‘flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God,’ he’s referring to our flesh and blood as they are now: cursed and under sin.” – Randy Alcorn And he is right. Our bodies as we know them are not the bodies that God created. Adam sinned and because of it, we are cursed with this perishable, dishonorable, weak natural body as noted by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:42-44.

We have to remember that Heaven is the glorious place that it is and as such is not the place for the perishable, dishonorable, and weak. It is a place for the imperishable, glorious, powerful and that is what we get with out transformed/upgraded spiritual body. When we are reunited with our bodies, they are made in the likeness of Christ and back to the form that God created as His pinnacle creation that was “very good”. “With them you’ll be better able to serve and glorify God and enjoy an eternity of wonders He has prepared for you.” – Randy Alcorn

So, what do we do in the meantime. I wrote this back in July of 2024 in a post titled “Our Natural and Spiritual Bodies”, “Before I can look for what I will become, I have to look at what I am and do with it all that I am to do with it. I have to use the body I was given by God in this world to make a difference”. Even with this perishable, dishonorable, and weak natural body, I still have work to do. I have to, as I have written in the margin of my bible, wear out the earthly body for God and be rewarded with a heavenly body I cannot wear out in eternity.

Our earthly natural bodies are temporary, and that is indicated in the word perishable that Paul uses. It is breaking down at this moment as it is not for eternity. And it is not for us to have when we are with Christ in Heaven. We will be reunited with the upgraded version of our bodies for our heavenly existence. We will have the body that will be physical and spiritual in that it will be ours and we will be recognized, but it will also last forever, imperishable, glorious, and powerful. Built to “serve and glorify God”.

How are you looking at your body now? Are you wondering how it will make it? What if you see it as Paul does, perishable, dishonorable, weak and that your spiritual body will be the opposite, imperishable, glorious, and powerful?

Our Natural and Spiritual Bodies

As I was reading this morning, I could not help but think about what exactly my body would be when I am called to heaven. Yes, I know I will be free of maladies that plague this earthly body of mine, but what will that body be. Paul called out this question in his first letter to the Church at Corinth.

“35But someone will ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?’” – 1 Corinthians 15:35 (ESV)

His answer to the question is one that bares really thinking about.

“37And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.” – 1 Corinthians 15:37-38 (ESV)

So, what we become is based on what we are. Although, before I can become the new, I have to first be done with the old. The grain is done being grain and then it becomes wheat. It is this ending of one that results in the beginning of the other.

I have to remember that his body I have here in this world is meant for this world. My new body is meant for the new world. I have to leave the one behind to transform in to the next.

“44It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.” – 1 Corinthians 15:44 (ESV)

Before I can look for what I will become, I have to look at what I am and do with it all that I am to do with it. I have to use the body I was given by God in this world to make a difference and then, once I am finished with it (I die) I will then be raised with the new body that God has stored up for me that I might use that body as He intends it to be used.

I have the natural body today and will have the spiritual body tomorrow. Regardless of where I am, I have to remember that God has a plan for me and I should be working that plan in the moment and not concerning myself with what is to come. For what is to come will be here in its time.

“34Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” – Matthew 6:34 (ESV)

What are your concerns with your body to come? Are you worried as to what you will look like when that time arrives? What if you just lived in the moment with the body given you today knowing that the body He has for you tomorrow will be made for the work He has for you tomorrow?