Our Bodies in the New Earth

[jwithnell]

When we are reunited with our bodies in the new earth, what will our bodies be like? I've swung from a typical American viewpoint as a young believer (floating around playing harps) to a very physical existence (like Adam, but immutably good) and now find myself swinging back a bit from the latter view.

I understand that a Biblical view of the spiritual is very different from a Greek or gnostic perspective. Some of my shift is coming as a result of reading G. Vos, but it's entirely possible that I've misunderstood him.

Also, what were Isaiah and John seeing when given glimpses into heaven -- some kind of manifestation to allow for their physical limitation? Or were they given eyes to see the spiritual? Does this shed any light on what we are to become (as John and Isaiah momentarily experienced)?

Thanks for any insight.

 

[Peairtach]

They will be spiritual bodies (I Corinthians 15:44)

We will be comfortable in our bodies. Some of the things we read about in the Bible may seem strange, e.g. the end of marriage, but it won't be strange in a bad way. This world can be strange for a time in a good way to a newborn baby.

If God can think up this world and our bodies from nothing, He can think up a better world and bodies. The best of all possible worlds for Christ and His people.

 

[jwithnell]

If God can think up this world and our bodies from nothing, He can think up a better world and bodies.

It's just an area that I haven't thought out properly.

 

[au5t1n]

I didn't look for these, but they just happened to be on my reading list for this Lord's day:

WLC Q. 52. How was Christ exalted in his resurrection?
A. Christ was exalted in his resurrection, in that, not having seen corruption in death (of which it was not possible for him to be held), and having the very same body in which he suffered, with the essential properties thereof (but without mortality, and other common infirmities belonging to this life), really united to his soul, he rose again from the dead the third day by his own power; whereby he declared himself to be the Son of God, to have satisfied divine justice, to have vanquished death, and him that had power of it, and to be Lord of quick and dead: all which he did as a public person, the head of his church, for the justification, quickening in grace, support against enemies, and to assure them of their resurrection from the dead at the last day.

Q. 55. How doth Christ make intercession?
A. Christ maketh intercession, by his appearing in our nature continually before the Father in heaven, in the merit of his obedience and sacrifice on earth, declaring his will to have it applied to all believers; answering all accusations against them, and procuring for them quiet of conscience, notwithstanding daily failings, access with boldness to the throne of grace, and acceptance of their persons and services.

 

[jwithnell]

The WCF states that we will be reunited with our bodies but that they will be "different." I have wondered if the body Christ had after his resurrection sheds some light on what ours will become. The:

by his appearing in our nature continually before the Father in heaven,

speaks to His ongoing existence in the incarnation -- an excellent point to raise; but I'm clueless about how all this fits together.

 

[LawrenceU]

I Corinthians 15 pretty plainly points to the fact that the body Christ had after his resurrection was a heavenly body and that we will likewise have the same type of body. We know from the gospels that after the resurrection he had a very real body with form, substance, flesh and bone: thus, our heavenly body will be like that. The bible nowhere states that his body changed at/after ascension and there really is no reason to believe that such was the case. There have been and still are a host of heretical groups that move away from this simple reading of the text.

 

[PuritanCovenanter]

(Job 19:25) For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:

(Job 19:26) And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:

(Job 19:27) Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.

I believe we will be raised like unto our Lord.
He was raised in His own body.

 

[Phil D.]

He was raised in His own body.

Exactly. Hence the empty tomb. And Christ's resurrection is prototypical of our own (1 Cor. 15:20).

---------- Post added at 11:56 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:46 AM ----------

Also, Matt. 27:52, 53.

 

[Jerusalem Blade]

Hi Jean,

Even though I’m laying low as far as posting here (having other projects I’m on), this is a topic I love, and so I’d like to say a little about it.

When Isaiah wrote the words of the LORD in 65:17, “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth”, he was indeed conveying a vision of that which you now query concerning. This pertains to life on the New Earth after the resurrection of our bodies, in the eternal state. The LORD says, “. . . be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy” (18). This would be the New Jerusalem John speaks of in Rev 21, which is figurative of both a city and the Bride of Christ – the heavenly community.

This is to be a joyous community! In verse 19 He continues, “And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall no more be heard in her.” Almost certainly John had this part of Scripture in mind when he wrote Rev 21:1-5, as there is clear correspondence.

I’ll pass over verse 20 of Isa 65 for now as it’s difficult and would consume more time than I have at the moment (though I can deal with it if pressed), but suffice it to say it shows in figurative (and to our 21st century sensibilities somewhat inadequate) language aspects of life in the eternal state introduced in verse 17, Dispensationalists and postmils (D&P) notwithstanding.

Now in verse 21 we see that on the New Earth the blessed folks who live there will build and plant and eat; in verses 22 and 23 we see them enjoying “the work of their hands”, and it is said “they shall not labour in vain”. In verse 24 we see how intimately close and involved the LORD is in the lives and hearts of His people, answering them even before they call. In 25 we see the animals of the New Earth living in complete harmony, and there shall be no hurting or destruction in this place at all, unlike the D&P millennial schemas.

Let’s jump ahead to Revelation where we get a closer look. And on the way let’s consider the body of the Lord Jesus, as that will reflect on our own. It is His own body He had while in the world, though now it is glorified. We don’t know all the properties of His body, though we saw Him eat fish with it (Lk 24:42, 43), and He said He would drink the fruit of the vine “in the kingdom of God” (Mark 14:25), concerning which William Hendriksen said, it is “a symbol of the glorious reunion and never-ending festivities awaiting the children of God, in fellowship with their Savior.” We also see the physical body of Jesus brilliant with overwhelmingly majestic glory in Revelation 1. For “in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” Col 2:9).

In the previous Luke passage (24:39) the Lord Jesus says, “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.” So whatever the powers and glory attending His body’s glorification, it is a true human body, and John says with regard to ourselves,

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2)​

Now we see in the city of God on the New Earth and Heaven (for the heart of Heaven shall have come down to dwell with men on the earth [Rev 21:2, 3]) that the light of the city / human community is the glory of God (21:23).

We may note also that there shall be “nations of them which are saved” walking in the light of the city, and there shall be kings ruling them (24). In 26 we see the nations shall bring their “glory and honour” into the city of God, and I think this may perhaps be the fruits of their godly cultures, their paeans of praise and worship, the riches of His grace.

That there will be rulers and administrators in the new civilization of the blessed we can also see from Luke 12:44 and 19:16-19. But these will be great and godly souls, administrators of love and the bounty of the King.

We shall all have work there, but not the burdensome labor we know here in this sin-cursed world, rather the joyous activity of that which we love doing.

Without a doubt the most wonderful aspect of the life we shall have in our own glorified bodies on the new earth will be the intimate union and fellowship we have with our divine Husband, He who is the infinitely majestic Creator and Redeemer. There will be a river of love and energy flowing through the body of the Bride from the heart of her Lover, who abides in the heart of the great heavenly Father, and we shall be ravished with His glory and affection. Who is sufficient to speak of these things?

I know some Christian folk who were enamored of the Na’vi of Pandora in the movie Avatar, loving the fluidity and harmony of their bodies with their native planet; yet the reality of what our bodies on New Earth will know so far surpasses that cheap pantheistic fiction as the glory of the sun surpasses a mudball. For the excellency of the infinite beauty of the Lord Jesus will be a fountain of spiritual delight to enthrall us for endless ages.

And what powers we shall have in our bodies – I know not. But we will be stunned at what God has provided for those who love Him, and are counted worthy to be His.

Perhaps there shall be technology there, but I cannot fathom what it shall be, for our own new senses and capabilities will perhaps outstrip what we know by technology in this world-age; and there is also the matter of energy sources there. Here we have learned to tap the power of the sun, of the atom, and of the elements of the earth; but there – and remember, God’s glory shall replace the need for the sun (though the sun will likely still be in the heavens) – it may be that we shall learn to draw from the unspeakably immense energy source within God Himself and no longer pollute our environment with the primitive energies of a fallen world.

There shall be no marriage there as the Lord said (Matt 22:30), but the intimacy and joy of sexual union we know in this life with our spouses shall be replaced by that of which it was only a type, truly a shadow compared to the reality of ecstatic intimacy we shall know in our relationship with our Husband and God, and – in Him – with one another. We will suffer no loss from marriage being superseded by that holy wonder to which it dimly points.

We will live in villages or cities the globe ‘round, in dwellings made by the Lord (John 14:2) or of our own building (Isa 65:21), and no tale or dream of paradise shall even be compared to the wonder of our simple, bodily, joyous daily lives as children of the royal family of Heaven.

. . .the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea (Isa 11:9)

And blessed be his glorious name forever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen. (Ps 72:19)​

 

[Peairtach]

A very wonderful description of the Heavenly Eschatalogical Kingdom, Steve.

We'll be there before we know it.