OUR BODIES Devotion 12 of 15 In Scripture, the resurrection is generally approached from the believer's standpoint. This is because it brings hope to them, while it speaks of condemnation to the unbeliever. Those with whom God has been identified are the ones to whom Scripture is addressed. Thus, in addressing the subject of "all Scripture," the Spirit affirms, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that THE MAN OF GOD may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Tim 3:17). In view of this, and in keeping with our present theme, the resurrection of the dead is never approached academically or impersonally. – Tomorrow:
" . . . Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body . . . Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? . . . Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." (1 Corinthians 6:13-20, KJV)
Salvation readies the individual for the resurrection by culturing the human spirit to dwell in a regenerated body, which will be given to us at the resurrection of the dead. Now, the believer experiences incompatibility with his body. While the saved person is alive to God, his present body is "dead because of sin." This produces a fierce conflict from which release is anticipated. This is the truth that provoked the expression of 2 Corinthians the fifth chapter. "For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven; inasmuch as we, having put it on, shall not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, in order that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life" (verses 1-4, NASB).
Our present bodies are but an "earthly tent," frail and subject to deterioration. Our resurrection bodies, however, are a "BUILDING of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." Our renewed spirits have been made for our new bodies, not for these in which we presently dwell. Those who live by faith are not merely eager to get out of their present bodies. They yearn to get into their new ones. The human spirit does not want to be "unclothed," but covered with a frame that is suitable to the expression of a redeemed spirit! Until the redemption of the purchased possession (our bodies), we "groan," longing for our house from heaven! Then we will no longer face resistance within, or inadequacy in any form. No part of us will be in a state of decline. Blessed contemplation!
Early believers were attacked by Satan regarding this glorious hope. The Thessalonians, for example, were confused concerning this aspect of Christ's coming. They thought the dead would miss out on the "blessed hope." What a fearful thought! Yet, we are faced with a contemporary church that gives little, if any, consideration to the coming of the Lord. How refreshing it would be to comfort anxious spirits who were misinformed about the glory of the Lord's coming!
The centrality of the resurrection is seen in the Spirit's response to the sorrowful and confused Thessalonians. "Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words" (1 Thess 4:13-18).
You sense the gravity of the situation in the words of the Spirit. Believers were not to despair because fellow believers had died. In death, they did not pass beyond the hope to which they were called! While they were absent from the body, they were present with the Lord (2 Cor 5:8). When Jesus returns, He will bring these departed spirits with Him. They would then occupy their resurrected bodies, and together with the transformed living, they would rise in redemptive completeness to be forever with the Lord. Never again would there be parting, deficiency, or decline! The great salvation of God includes the reclamation of the body, for "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor 15:50).
Believers are to encourage one another with these words. Their speech is to be laced with the anticipation of the exodus of their bodies from the grave! Their songs are to contain expectation of their "change," when they will put corruption forever behind them! No soul that has fought a good fight of faith does not leap with joy at the joyful expectation of the resurrection of the just! With Paul they confess, "we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord" (2 Cor 5:8 NASB)!
The "body is for the Lord, and the Lord for the body." Never is this more evident than in the resurrection of the dead. It is then that we shall receive a body "fashioned like unto his glorious body" (Phil 3:21). Then "we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2).
The unredeemed will be incapable of experiencing satisfaction, but that will not be the situation for the justified ones! They will be incapable of experiencing dissatisfaction! Their houses from heaven [resurrection bodies] will be perfectly adapted to their environment and their wills. They laid up for themselves treasures in heaven by developing an appetite for heavenly things. Then they will have a frame – a house from heaven – that will be an asset to them! Gone forever will be the frustration of inner conflict! Hallelujah!
PRAYER POINT: Father, I thank You in Jesus' name for the hope of being liberated from this mortal body, and clothed with immortality.