The Resurrected Body & the Heavenly Body
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March 31, 2013 |
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'Resurrection' is the quintessence of Christianity as it is called a religion with a central focus in resurrection. 'To resurrect' means to rise from the dead and to live forever without dying. Commemorating Easter Sunday, we hope you will feel the exquisite love of God by delving into 'Resurrected Body' and 'Heavenly Body'.
♦ Our Lord Jesus was crucified to redeem mankind from all sins but overcame death and resurrected on the third day. The resurrected Lord testified to His resurrection for 40 days and ascended into heaven while many people, including His disciples, were watching.
He will come again on the clouds of glory as two angels said in Acts 1:11, "This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven." Then, what will happen to saved souls when the Lord, who resurrected and ascended into heaven, comes in the air after preparing their dwelling places in Heaven?
The bodies of the saved souls in the grave will be resurrected and put on the imperishable and everlasting bodies. They will be caught up into the air and then they will unite there with their spirits. This body is called "the Resurrected Body." And those who are alive will put on the imperishable resurrected body in a moment and be lifted up into the air.
All these are recorded in 1 Corinthians 15:51-53, "Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality."
"The Lord in the resurrected body and the saved souls…"
Resurrected Body after the Lord's coming in the air
Our Lord Jesus resurrected on the third day of His burial and let His disciples know about the resurrected form, and thereby He planted the assurance of the faith in resurrection into their hearts. This resurrected body is spiritual and imperishable, so it transcends the limitations of the physical world and can go anywhere as it wants. It is tangible and also breathes, eats, and drinks. So, when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, the Lord could come and stand in their midst and said, "Peace be with you." He also showed prints of the nails in His hands to the 'doubting' Thomas, saying, "Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side." Refer to John 20:19-29 and Luke 24:42-43 for details.
The resurrected body has the form of a 33-year-old in age, and this is applied to everybody whether old or young, men or women. The hair is a little wavy and blond. Men's height will be 190cm and women's height will be a little over 170cm. The age of 33-year-old is that of Jesus when He finished His life on the earth, and it can be said that it is the peak of human life because it is the most mature and beautiful period of a human.
Heavenly Body after the Great White Throne Judgment
"Spiritual Body" refers to a unique form of the spirit. Every creature on earth including human beings, animals, and plants has its own 'form' as written in 1 Corinthians 15:39. In the same way, each spirit has its own body that makes them look different from each other. The spirit of saved people will look different according to when they have died and the measure of their sanctification. When one dies, the spirit of a child looks like that child, the spirit of a young man looks young, the spirit of an adult looks grownup, and the spirit of an old man looks old.
In the spiritual form, the people who stay at the Waiting Place of Heaven are waiting for the Lord's coming in the air and the final resurrection. When our Lord Jesus Christ appears in the air, they will be able to wear the "Resurrected Body" that is imperishable and everlasting and have the Seven-year Wedding Banquet in the air and the Millennium Kingdom. Then, each of them will enter their own dwelling place decided for them according to the Great White Throne Judgment.
Only then, will they wear the heavenly body that is the complete spiritual body and enjoy the everlasting happiness and joy in beautiful Heaven.
How is the heavenly body different from the resurrected body? Heavenly body is above and different from the resurrected body since the heavenly bodies that they will wear after the Great White Throne Judgment will reveal not only their level of sanctification but the glory and rewards God will give to them. So, just by seeing each one's heavenly body, we can know how much he has loved God and lived by His word, how faithful and devoted he has been to the kingdom of God. We will also be able to recognize to which kingdom of heaven his dwelling residence belongs and what kind of glory and rewards he has received from God.
Why then does God allow saved people to put on the resurrected body before entering Heaven?
The feeling and sensations that the resurrected body has in the spiritual space are totally different from that of spiritual body. We can compare it with the difference between dream and reality. If we compare the feeling that the spiritual body has in the spiritual space with that in dreams, even if it is not complete, the resurrected body can feel the spiritual space as a reality. So, the spiritual body is not complete and we have to wear the resurrected body during the Seven-year Wedding Banquet.
The kingdom of air where we celebrate the Seven-year Wedding Banquet is very different from the kingdom of heaven where we will live forever and ever in the passing of time and density of space, and accordingly God will let us wear different and proper bodies in each different space.
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