The goal of common grace is not to perfect nature, but to restrain sin and animate civic virtues and arts, so that culture may fulfill its own important but limited, temporal, and secular ends, while God simultaneously pursues the redemptive aims of His everlasting city.
Michael Horton

What Will Our Bodies Be Like In

What Will Our Bodies Be Like In

WHAT WILL OUR BODIES BE LIKE IN HEAVEN?

All right, get 1Corinthians chapter 15 in one hand, and get Philippians chapter 3 in the other, and then get 1John chapter 3 in the other.

All right, first of all, 1John 3:1: “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now”–right now–“are we the SONS….” That’s really important.

It says, “SONS.” It didn’t say daughters. Now, it says, “Ye should be sons and daughters to me, saith the Lord Almighty,” back in 2Corinthians. But, the Bible says, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become” what? SONS! Now, you ladies here who have received Christ, do you know what your title is? Your title is sons here in the Bible. You’ll want to remember that.

“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be.” You see, I’m standing on the platform and I’m preaching, and some guy is standing back there saying, “Yeah, you got power to get off earth and get to heaven. Phooey!” You know. That’s what they’re thinking, you know.

But they look at me and see me in my natural skin, but it hasn’t yet appeared to them what I’m going to be. You wait till you see what I’m gonna be! I have Christ in me! Some day I’m going to be just like Jesus Christ! You wouldn’t guess that to look at me, but that Bible says, “Whom he did foreknow, he did predestinate to be conformed to the IMAGE of his Son.”

All right, 1John 3: “But we know that when he shall appear”–male– “we shall be like him”–male–“for we shall see him”–male–“as he is.” Now, you ladies are going to get your liberation without going to Congress or having a bill or anything like that! Some day you ladies are going to have all the privileges of manhood, because you’re going to be men.

Turn to Philippians 3:19. It’s there! No women in heaven. Maybe that’s why they call it heaven! “Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)” Now, watch it: “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: WHO SHALL CHANGE OUR VILE BODY, THAT IT MAY BE FASHIONED LIKE UNTO HIS GLORIOUS BODY, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.”

All right, 1Corinthians 15, verse 50. Now, you ladies probably never thought about this thing, but when the Lord made man, He took a rib out of him and made a woman. And you say, “Do you believe that?” “Yeah, just like that. Fifth rib.” And He makes this woman out of this rib, and this woman is called Woman, because she’s taken out of man’s flesh, and therefore man shall leave his father and his mother and cleave unto his wife, and the two shall be one flesh. Well, what kind of flesh is it, ladies? Female or male?

It’s male! Male flesh. One flesh.

Now, look at this thing here. See that word right there? WOMB-MAN. That’s a contraction. Now, in an English contraction, you take out that “B” and you put the two “M”s together. That’s a MAN with a WOMB. And, they’re so close, that in English, they only differ by two letters. And, when the Lord made that man, and then made that woman from that man, He did not call her Eve. Adam calls her Eve after they fall. That woman’s name was Adam. Turn to Genesis 5; her name was Adam. Adam called her Eve after they fell, Genesis 5.

Oh, there’s plenty in this Book, man! There’s plenty! Folks get this stuff and they say, “Why, I never heard anything like that in all my life!” Well, it’s in the Bible! See, it isn’t in one of these other books that you buy; it’s in the Bible.

Genesis 5: “This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him”–watch it!– “Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and CALLED THEIR NAME ADAM.” There’s no “Eve” to it. He called their name “ADAM.”

That’s why the woman takes the man’s name. She’s Mrs. Adam. So, you ladies here tonight don’t have any names. Your name is your father’s name until you’re married, and then it’s your husband’s name. The reason why is, you came from male and you go back to male. In the resurrection, you’re going to be a 33-year-old male.

Won’t that be a shocker?

Can you imagine some Catholic getting to heaven, looking around for Mary?

I don’t know whether you’ve thought about these things or not, but you’ll get convinced before it’s through.

Did you ever wonder why Christ on the cross lays down His life when He’s thirty-three-and-a-half years old, and says, “It is finished”? He said, “No man hath power to take my life; I lay it down and take it up again.” Right? How come He laid it down at thirty-three-and-ahalf ?

I mean, in Luke chapter 3, when He comes to be baptized, the Bible said He was “about thirty years old.” About 30. Then you read of one Passover in John, two Passovers in John, three Passovers in John, and Christ Himself is the fourth Passover Lamb. That thing is springtime–April. There’s a spring, there’s a spring, and there’s a spring. There’s one, two, three years, and here He is getting baptized, long about September–six months. Three-and-a-half years. Christ runs 42 months; the Antichrist runs 42 months. Three-and-ahalf years. He’s “about” thirty when He’s baptized, so He’s thirtythree -and-a-half when He dies on the cross.

And the Bible says you’re going to be conformed to His image.

Now, look at 1Corinthians 15:45: “And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.” That shows you something. That is showing that when ol’ Adam messed up and died, he was thirty-three-and-a-half whenever he went. When Christ comes along, Christ lays down His life at the same time, to fulfill the same pattern, to produce the same results.

Now, you ladies need to think for just a minute. If you had to live forever in heaven, would you really like to be 70 years old forever in heaven? I mean, I’m sure these sermons about dear old Grandma dying, and when I get to heaven, I’ll see dear ol’ Grandma up there, sitting by the fire, knitting, little babies around the fireplace, you know, and an old hound dog lying there–and all that stuff, you know. To some folks, the idea of heaven is just a glorified Kentucky, you know! Why, if you were a woman, you wouldn’t want to be a grandmother forever in heaven, would you?

Let me ask you this. Maybe your little baby died, after you had to bear it. You’d like to see your baby again. You sure will see your baby again. What would happen to your baby in heaven if it remained a baby forever? Would you have to take care of it forever?

See, folks just don’t think. They just go charging through there and say anything, you know.

Now, let me ask you this. If you got to heaven, and your baby grew up, your baby would grow up to what? Fifty? Sixty? Seventy? Eighty? Ninety? A hundred? You say, “Forever.” Looking like what? Two years old? Fifteen years old?

You know, the Lord who made that Bible and made you knows what He’s doing. And the Lord has fixed an age for you to live forever and ever and ever, which will be the best age that you could ever be!

Now, no woman would like to be 33 forever! Female. What’s a good age for a female? If any of you females wanted to choose an age at which you’d live forever, you would not choose 33. As a matter of fact, you’d not choose 30. It would be under 30.

Now, if a man chose an ideal age, if he had any sense, he wouldn’t choose under 30, because you don’t know enough at that age. And he wouldn’t choose over 40, because you begin to wear out. He’d choose 33 if he had any sense. I mean, the Lord’s got sense. The Lord said, “I’m going to lay my life down when I’m 33.”

They say old age is life without heat, and youth is heat without life. And 33 is just right. So, up in heaven there, you’re going to be just like Christ.

Now, you ladies are not convinced yet. Now, let me just show what shallow thinkers you are. How many of you ladies are married? Did you know that the Bible says you are to be in subjection to your own husband, as unto the Lord? Do you enjoy being in subjection to your own husband as unto the Lord? All the time? See, you almost slipped there for a minute! I mean, do you really enjoy that 24 hours a day? Do you realize that, if you stayed a woman in heaven, you’d be in subjection to your husband forever?

Now, let me ask you this. I’m not through with you yet. Suppose you got to heaven, and then my family and I settled one place, and you and your family settled over here, and his family and he settled over there. Don’t you know there’d be hell in heaven in about a year? I mean, I love my bunch, you love your bunch, right? And you’d take care of your bunch, and I’d take care of my bunch. I can hear it now: “Look what she’s wearing today. That’s a second-hand crown she’s got on her head! Did you ever see such linen as that? I don’t think it becomes her a bit!” That kind of business.

Why, if we stayed the way we were in heaven, there would be hell after a while!

So, God’s got it worked out. And God’s got it worked out so when you get there, you’re just exactly like Jesus Christ.

Now, I’ll show you in a minute how you’ll know each other without looking at the appearance. But first we must look at 1Corinthians 15:50: “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery”–here comes the rapture–“we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye….” All right, verse 50 says flesh and blood can’t get in.

You hear these folks talking about “spreading the kingdom” and “bringing in the kingdom.” They can’t bring in the kingdom because flesh and blood can’t inherit the kingdom.

Now, come to Luke 24, and notice that, although flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom, flesh and bones can! Luke 24:36. When Adam was made, he didn’t have any blood in him. He said about Eve, “This is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh.” Adam got his blood from the wrong place. Luke 24:36: “And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?” Now, watch it: “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.” No blood! No blood. He shed every drop of blood He had in Him before He arose from the dead. There’s no blood there! Flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

All right, back to 1Corinthians 15:50: “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.”

All right, if the Lord were to come right now, and we’d go home and be with Him, we could go up there in flesh and bones. We could not go with a combination of flesh and blood, because the blood’s no good. “The life of the flesh is in the blood.” You die, because you’re blood is no good.

Boy, if you ever hang around a hospital, you’ll see that thing. A guy is diagnosed with leukemia–something wrong with the blood. Hodgkins’ disease–something wrong with the blood. Bright’s disease–something wrong with the blood. Cancer–blood carrying it up and down through the body. It’s the blood! Something’s wrong with the blood! And so, if the Lord were to come right now, I couldn’t take my blood.

So, one thing about your question is this: If the Lord came right this minute, while I’m standing here, that thing would go–BAMMMM!– like that, and all these windows would cave, there would be a light out there like a cobalt bomb–and I’d be GONE–flying through there at about 150,000 miles a second. And then right where I was standing would be about five pints of blood on the floor.

And so, if the Lord were to come with a rapture during a church service, you’d have a lot of people going insane after the rapture. You take tonight–what did we have here? About five or six hundred people? If the Lord came, and 450 of those people left, there would be 50 people standing around there, looking at bloody clothes all over that building. And there would be blood sopped all over that floor, and blood running down underneath that thing. They’d go stark, raving mad, probably–a lot of them. Screaming, praying–going crazy!

Have you ever stopped to think how wild that thing would be? With all those cars parked outside the building? Highway patrolmen would be going by here, mass disappearances, the Strategic Air Command pressing buttons and retaliating, and all this mess–and driving by here, and here they’d find 100 cars parked right outside the church–with no drivers! Highway patrol would go by at 1:00 in the morning, and they would all be sitting right there. Four o’clock in the morning, and they’re still sitting right there. Highway patrol stop at 6:00 to open the church door, and find a bunch of people rolling around on the floor foaming at the mouth, and banging their heads against the wall– and no drivers. Wild! Wild scene!

First Corinthians 15:51: “Behold, I shew 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 trump.” Notice, this is not the seventh trumpet of Revelation–and not the “last trumpet.” Rather, the “last trump”– that’s a sound. “For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grove, where is thy victory?”

All right, when you get stuff together, when we come up, we’ll be like Christ.

Now, what about Christ’s body? In John 20, the doors were shut, and Christ came in the midst and said, “Peace be unto you.” So, in the resurrection and in the rapture, you’ll get a body that can pass right through solid, closed doors. That’s the kind Christ had. He came through a door. And that isn’t all. You’ll have a body that can become visible and invisible at will. In Luke 24, Christ was sitting there at the table and blessed the bread, and while He broke the bread, He vanished from their sight. So, you’ll have a body that can become visible or invisible at will, and move through solid objects.

All right, next: When Christ rose from the dead in John 20, He said to Mary, “Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended. But go tell the disciples, that I ascend unto my Father and your Father, my God and your God.” And then two hours later, in Matthew 28, the Bible says they came and held Him by the feet. All right, He wouldn’t let Mary touch Him, and two hours later He let them touch Him. Which means He went up and came back down in about two hours!

Now, you’ve gotta move to do that! The nearest star–I don’t know how many million light years away that thing is–but you’d die of old age traveling at the speed of light to get there! So, wherever He went, He went from here, beyond Alpha Draconis going north, and got back in about two-and-a-half hours. So He had to move about 150 million light years a second–or something like that. He had to move! And so, when you get saved, you have the power in you that can do that when the Lord turns it on.
So, in the resurrection or at the rapture, you’ll have a body just like Jesus Christ, pass through solid objects, become visible or invisible at will; it’s a body of supernatural flesh and bones, with no blood; it’s a 33-year-old male body. Christ said in the resurrection they are as the angels of God. Every angel in that Bible is a male! There isn’t a sexless thing anywhere in that Bible. Scofield was a good ol’ gentleman, but he didn’t bat 1.000. And, you get a body there that will become just like Christ. When that happens, if you’re alive–SNAP!!–like that, that thing changes, and off you go. If you’re dead, you come up through the ground. If you’re dead, the grave can’t keep you–“O grave, where is thy victory?”. If you’re alive, death can’t kill you–“O death, where is thy sting?”.

Christ said, “If a man lives and believes on me”–LIVING–“he’ll never die, and if he’s dead, he’ll live again”–up he goes!”

By the way, in the resurrection body you can eat. You don’t have to eat to grow, and you don’t have to eat to stay alive. When Christ rose from the dead, Luke 24, He ate a piece of broiled fish and honeycomb, and had no system of elimination or digestion to worry with. He just ate to eat! Isn’t that something?

How would you like to have a body such that you can just go up there and drink chocolate malted milks all day long, and never gain a pound?

You know, I got to thinking about it. The Lord’s such a joker–He’s got the wildest sense of humor. Did you ever stop to think about this? Everything they’re working for to get right down here now, God is going to give you–free! And they can’t get it to work for them! I mean, they’re trying to make men and women alike–right? Well, they’ll be alike in heaven. They’re trying to get all the races to get along together–right? They’ll get along all right in heaven. They’re trying to have a perfect, controlled temperature. They got it in heaven! See, everything they’re working for–you know, to bend rays, make stuff visible and invisible–you’ll get it in heaven. They’re trying to give you a body that never can die–you’ll get it in heaven!

I mean, the Lord’s got this thing all worked out. A dumb fool, who never even finished the third grade, comes down and falls down before a bench in some old church, weeping, “I don’t know nothin’, I ain’t got no education.”

You ask, “Do you know you’re a sinner?”

“Yes.”

“Do you want the Lord to save you?”

“Yeah, God please save my poor old sinful soul from hell.”

AND HE GETS THE WHOLE THING! See? And these professors down at Berkeley just bat their brains out and can’t make ANYTHING!

That’s the Lord! That’s how He does it. Boy, He can do it!