The Resurrection Body: What the Bible Says About Our Future Transformation

In this meditation, we explore the biblical promise of the resurrection body and what it means for every believer to be transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ. John the Apostle wrote that we will be like Christ on that Day:

The Promise: We Shall Be Like Him

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:2; emphasis added).

Just as our physical life was inherited from Adam, making us like him, we will similarly be transformed to resemble the last Adam, Jesus Christ, at the resurrection. The Apostle Paul stated, “And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven” (1 Corinthians 15:49). He also discussed our transformation elsewhere:

But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord who is the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18).

The Nature of the Resurrection Body

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul explains that believers will experience varying levels of glory in this transformation (vs. 38-42). He likens it to the different brightness levels among stars and planets. God made our physical bodies for life in the physical world; however, these bodies need to be redeemed and transformed into the spiritual and physical bodies God has prepared for us. Those who are Christ's will shine with God’s glory, proportionate to how much of Christ’s character resides in us.

The life we have received from Adam is insufficient for entering this heavenly kingdom without the addition of the life we receive from Christ—the gift of God (Romans 6:23). I believe God's plan for redeeming humanity involves His people, the Church of the Living God, existing in both spiritual and physical realms, just as Christ did for 40 days after His resurrection (Acts 1:3). Christ Jesus has not abandoned His body on Earth; He resides in Heaven with a resurrected body that is both physical and spiritual. “Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God” (Romans 8:34). This is also what happened to Enoch, the man of God. God valued his companionship highly, so He took him to heaven in his physical form: "Enoch walked with God; then he was no more because God took him away" (Genesis 5:24).

Biblical Examples: Enoch, Elijah, and the Resurrected Christ

A similar event occurred with Elijah, who was also taken up to heaven while still in his physical body (2 Kings 2:11). Some believe that Enoch and Elijah are the two witnesses described in Revelation 11:3, who testify about the world's sin. Since these two have yet to die (Hebrews 9:27), they might come down from heaven to share God’s grace and then be killed. However, three and a half days later, God restores them to life, much to the shock of the Antichrist's followers (Revelation 11:11).

The Mystery of the Heavenly Seed

What we will become will be known only when we shed this physical seed we have planted during our life on Earth. All who have received Christ Jesus have been given the heavenly spiritual seed that Christ bestowed upon us through His death on the cross. Here’s how Jesus explained it:

²³Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. ²⁵Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life (John 12:23-25).

We’ll carry on this thought of the seed of the physical body tomorrow. Keith Thomas

Continue Your Journey…

This devotional is part of our series, Insights into Eternity. If you want to dive deeper into what God has planned for your future, you might like to explore the study, You Must Be Born Again as well as our study, What Will Your Resurrection Body Look Like?