15:35 But someone
will say, “How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they
come?” 36 Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it
dies. 37 And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be,
but mere grain—perhaps wheat or some other grain. 38 But God
gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body.
39 All
flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind
of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of
fish, and another of birds.
40 There
are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the
celestial is one, and the glory of the
terrestrial is another. 41 There is one glory of the
sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star
differs from another star in glory.
42 So
also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in
corruption, it is raised in incorruption. 43 It is sown in dishonor,
it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in
power. 44 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 45 And so it
is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last
Adam became a life-giving spirit.
46 However, the
spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. 47 The
first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second
Man is the Lord from
heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so
also are those who are made of dust; and
as is the heavenly Man, so
also are those who are heavenly. 49 And as we
have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the
image of the heavenly man.
As only Paul can write, some of that seems quite confusing
but when you boil it down it's really quite simple. Apparently there was
significant doubting/questioning about the resurrection. In fact just the other
day I found myself in a conversation with a couple of people about burial vs.
cremation and one concern about cremation was that there would be no body to
resurrect. Well first of all some have been buried for thousands of years and
there is no trace of a body left. Secondly God is not going to recycle our old
body. We are getting a new one. Furthermore there is significant evidence that
the new one won't even be the same. Consider the clues we have from Jesus' post
resurrection body. He was not physically recognizable. On a few occasions after
His resurrection those who knew Him well could not recognize Him based on His
physical appearance. Secondly he walked into a locked room without opening the
door. Third, He ascended to heaven without a space suit. At the same time He
was careful to point out that He had a body of flesh and bones. He ate food. He
walked and talked. He was the same yet different.
Heaven will be a new dimension for us and we will have
different bodies to meet the new dimension. However we will still be us. We
will be recognized by our character, not the packaging which underscores the
truth that really matters in all this.
In this world we put a lot of stock in, spend a lot of time
and money on appearance. Yet appearance means little to nothing. My cousin told
me about a guy who bought a beautiful classic Plymouth Barracuda in Plum Crazy
Purple. Unfortunately he got into an accident but that wasn't the worst part.
The worst part was the car was exposed for what it was - a rust bucket of
laminated beer cans and Bondo. Someone had literally cut the tops and bottoms
off beer cans and used the remaining "metal" to cover up rust holes
and buried it all with Bondo. A nice sanded surface and pretty paint job and no
one knew the difference until...
When I was in my early teens there was a popular song called
"She ain't Pretty". The last lines of the song are as follows:
I fell in love with a model from hell
It took some time for my hormones to tell
That chasing her has been a grave mistake
She ain't pretty, she just looks that way
Her ego wrote checks incredibly fast
But her personality didn't have the cash
I laughed out loud to my total dismay
She ain't pretty, she just looks that way
She ain't pretty, she just looks that way
The truth is he never fell in love with her. He fell in lust
with her appearance. I don't know what I will look like in the resurrection. It
doesn't matter. I will still be me. So work on the parts you are keeping: Your
mind, your thoughts and affections, your inner person. That's the part God is
preserving and bringing Home. The body is just packaging.
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