Love God Greatly: RisenSample

In 1 Corinthians 15:42-44, Paul describes the differences between our earthly bodies and our heavenly bodies. He uses agricultural language because his audience was an agricultural community. Our earthly bodies were sown, the same way a seed is sown and becomes part of the earth. Our bodies came from the dust of the earth (Genesis 2:7) and again will become part of the earth when we die. Our earthly bodies are perishable, dishonored (because of sin), weak, and natural.

There are testimonies in the New Testament of Christ resurrecting people who had died (Luke 7: 11-17; 8:52-56; John 11; Acts 9:36-43; 20:7-12). However, these resurrections were of their earthly bodies; all of these people eventually died. 

The resurrection of Christ allows us to have a resurrected, spiritual body. Christ’s resurrected body was spiritual, but it still bore the marks of His natural body (John 20:20). Our new bodies will be imperishable, glorified, powerful, and spiritual. Our spiritual bodies will be eternal and will never die. Christ is the first to be resurrected from the dead with a spiritual, heavenly body, and because of His resurrection, we too will experience a resurrected spiritual body. 

Father God, I praise You for the way You have designed us for eternity. You have sent Christ as our forerunner and have prepared a way for us to be with You for eternity. Thank You for giving me a spiritual, heavenly body. Help me to live in light of this truth today. Amen.