What Will Our Resurrected Bodies Be Like?

This is Les Feldick, and I�m going to go right back to where we left off after our last program. but again for those of you watching on television, in case we are new to you, or you are new to us, whatever the case may be, we are just an informal Bible study. I'm not a theologian, I'm not a reverend, I'm not anything, I'm just a layman, and I love to teach the Book, and I guess that's as far as we can take it. So for goodness sakes don't address me with anything official, our opening used to put it down there, I'm just an Oklahoma rancher, I worked cattle this morning before I came up here to do this, and that's my life, that's my living, so don't address me as pastor or reverend or anything like that, because that would not be true. Now all of our past programs are available on video, audio, and little printed page, the Book, I just about forgot, those three, the audio, the video, and the little books, and if you're interested in any of those, you call us or write to us, and we'll get the information out to you. We're getting such a response from all of these, people are using them I think almost all over the country in home Bible study, Sunday schools, and just whatever, and we just praise the Lord for that. So again all we want to do is get folks into the Word. Okay, let's go back to Philippians for just a little bit, and we're going to be jumping around again, but we'll start with Philippians chapter 3, now verse 21. Did I spend the whole half hour on verse 20? I didn't intend to do that, I thought sure I'd finish the whole book of Philippians, but I guess I'm not going to. Okay Philippians chapter 3, now verse 21, well it's another one, I can't help it, there are just so much that you have to use to enhance what the Apostle is talking about. Philippians chapter 3, verse 21, that when the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ comes, He shall change our vile, this old body of corruption, He 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. In other words, He's going to be able to take this body, and make something of it. Now that's a hope isn't it? Now that's a real hope, that this is what the Lord is going to do. Alright, now let's just look at a few verses that enhance that concept. Come back to 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians chapter 15, which of course I usually when I'm teaching the rapture, I'll use 1 Corinthians 15, 51, with 1 Thessalonians 4, where we were in our last program. But here we just want to see what Paul is talking about in Philippians, when he says that when the Lord comes, He will change this vile body, this body that's made to be corrupted, this body of sin, this body of disease, and broken bones and what have you, and it's going to be a new body. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, starting at verse 51, where Paul writes, 1 Corinthians 15, verse 51. All got it? I know I had a letter again the other day, don't go so fast, I can't find them. Well okay, we'll wait a minute. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 51. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 51. Behold, I show you a mystery. Now I'm always emphasizing, what does that word mean? A secret. And a secret is something that nobody has ever heard of before. Otherwise it wouldn't be a secret. That's the whole concept, that Paul is now starting to unroll something here that has never been understood before. The Old Testament believers had no concept of such a thing happening. All they believed is that they would die, and they would return to the dust, and at resurrection they would come back on that earthly kingdom, but they had no concepts like this. This is a secret that has been kept in the mind of God, and was revealed now to this apostle. So that�s why he can rightly say, I�m revealing to you a secret, a mystery, and here it is. We�re not all going to die, there�s going to be a group of believers living who will not go through death, and I think Enoch is probably a pretty good illustration of that. You know Enoch walked with God, he didn�t die, he was not, he was translated. And then shortly after the flood came, and so again I tie that in with the rapture of the church. We�ll be here one moment, and gone in a split second, and shortly after the horrors of the judgment of tribulation will fall. So he�s showing us a secret, something that�s never been revealed before. The Lord Jesus never mentioned this in His earthly ministry, Peter knew nothing of it. But this is a revelation given to this apostle, and it is that we will not all die, or sleep is the King James word, which means physical death, but whether we die, or whether we live, we�re all going to be changed. We�re going to have a body fashioned after Christ�s resurrected body, and we�ll look at a few of those things in a moment. So we�re all going to be changed. Now verse 52, for those of us who are alive and remain of course, it�s going to be in a moment, and that word in the Greek is the smallest divisible particle of time, and then the next illustration is in the blink of an eye, at the last trump. Now that�s singular. Now I�ve started to emphasize that, because I�ve had several that try to drum the trumpets of revelation down my throat, as being the call of the church. Well there�s no correlation, there�s nothing that even comes close to fitting this trumpet of God that Paul speaks of, and the trumpets in Revelation. Number one, this is the trumpet of God, it�s singular. Revelation is seven trumpets given to seven angels, not to announce His coming and resurrection, but the seven trumpets in Revelation all announce plagues, wrath of God, one by one. So I can�t see any correlation whatsoever. Remember this is the trumpet of God, it�s a singular one, and it shall sound, reading on in verse 52, "...and the dead in Christ shall be raised incorruptible with a body like his resurrected body, and we, those of us who haven�t gone through the process of death and resurrection, we shall all, not just a few select believers, but every believer. Whether we�re weak, whether we�re carnal, or whether we�re spiritual, whether we�ve accomplished a lot, or whether we�ve accomplished nothing, we�re all going to be changed." And then verse 53, here�s the reason. For this corruptible, this body of flesh must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. And then verse 54, so when this corruptible, this body that is prone to go back to the dust of the earth, when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, that body is going to last for eternity. Now I was reading again the other night what the astronomers are finding more and more every day, of course with the explosion of technology, and even though I don�t agree with their timing, yet it certainly sets my mind spinning. If as they say, this universe is billions and billions and billions of years old, that�s nothing compared to eternity. We can�t put eternity in billions and billions and billions of years, because that would put an end on it. But it�s going to be never ending, almost enough to scare you, isn�t it? How are we going to stay interested in being alive that long? But whatever, it�s just mind boggling that this new body that we�re going to receive is going to be our abode for eternity, forever. Not limited to a few billion years, not even limited to a trillion years, but forever, and ever, and ever. When you think of these things, you wonder how lost people can be so careless, because they too are going to an eternity. But it�s going to be an eternity of misery, and sorrow, and hopelessness. But let�s come back, we want to look at the positive. Verse 54, so when this corruptible, this body of flesh that�s only been programmed to go now 70 years, and if we�re lucky we might go 80 or 90. But this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, so that it will never, never die. And when this mortal, which means will die, shall have put on immortality, which means will never die, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, �Death is swallowed up in victory.� And then jumping down to verse 57, Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now let�s go back to Luke, and get a picture of this glorious resurrected body. Back to Luke chapter 24, and this is just one instance, there were several others. One you remember of the Belts is when he fell in step with the people on the road to Emmaus, and he walked with them, he visited with them, and they invited him in for an evening meal. He went in with them, and all of a sudden he�s gone. And in a split second he�s in the upper room in Jerusalem with the disciples. And so he would transport from place to place. But now here in Luke 24 we get a graphic description of that new resurrected body, and it�s going to be a literal, visible, physical, yes spiritual body. All right, Luke 24 verse 36, and this is what we have to do. We can�t just gloss over a verse and say, �Well, I don�t really understand.� No, you search the Scriptures. And if we�re going to have a body fashioned as He said in Philippians, fashioned after His glorious body, then it behooves us to go into the Book and see, well what was that body like? Well here it is. This is His resurrected body. Now remember they knew nothing of resurrection before it happened. You know Peter and John never believed it until they saw the evidence in John chapter 19. And so they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread. Now that�s where I think that on the road to Emmaus, when they asked him into the home, he must have had supper with them, before he left, because they�re now sharing it. Hey, he sat down, he ate with us, he walked with us. And as they thus spoke, Jesus himself, and he stood in the midst of them. He didn�t knock on the door, he didn�t lift the window sash, he came right through the wall. Beautiful isn�t it? Boy I�ll tell you what, that�s going to be fabulous. to be fabulous. And so he said, �Peace be unto you.� They were terrified. Now this is the eleven, they�ve been with him for three years, and they were terrified, and they were affrighted. And suppose that they had seen a spirit, or in our vernacular we�d say a ghost. And he said to them, �Why are you troubled? Why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold, or look, my hands, my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me, touch me, and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bone, as you see me have.� So that�s the make up of our eternal body, it�s going to be a body fashioned after His. It�s not going to be a body of flesh and blood, it�s going to be a body of flesh and bone. Now of course the first thing we have to ask is, if the blood is the life flow of the human body, what is going to maintain life then in the resurrected body? Well the Spirit will. The Spirit of God becomes what the blood is to us today. And so we will be comprised of flesh and bone, but it was visible, physical, touchable, tangible. See that? This isn�t some ethereal invisible myth, this is reality. Now I pointed out in our last taping, how Mary didn�t recognize Jesus when He appeared in that pre-dawn light. Because the last vision she had of Jesus was the horror of His crucifixion, and how He�d been so totally disfigured, more than any other man Isaiah said. And then all of a sudden to see a man standing there perfectly whole with all of His fleshly attributes, and so here again the only thing that demarks His crucifixion, now are the nail prints and His feet. But there�s no evidence from His being disfigured and so forth, or from the beard being torn from His face, and the thorns on His brow, all that is gone. But He shows them His hands and His feet. Verse 41, and while they yet believe not, isn�t that amazing? Now we think the world is in dire straits today because they can�t believe the Word of God. You know I brought that out again Friday night in our Tulsa class, what�s the basic trouble with America? We�ve become a nation destitute of faith. We can�t believe the Word of God anymore as a nation of people. But listen, that�s not all that unusual. Here are these eleven men who were with Him for three years, and saw the evidence. Peter and John had seen it earlier. They had heard how He had walked with the men on the road to Emmaus. They had heard how He had evidently sat down at supper with them. And yet their hearts are so stirred, that they can�t really believe that it�s Him. Verse 40, and while they yet believe not for joy, in other words they were so ecstatic, and yet they wondered, and of course the Lord was so compassionate wasn�t He? You and I would have gotten a little bit impatient about this, but what�s the matter with you guys? Why can�t you believe when you see the evidence? But see He�s so compassionate, and He says, �Well, let�s prove something. Do you have any food?� Now it wasn�t that He was hungry and had to eat, but what�s He going to do? He�s going to prove something, and I love this, because I like to eat, and I think we all do. And we�re going to have the opportunity to enjoy food in eternity, I know we are. And here�s one of the evidences of it. Have you any food? Now verse 42, and they gave Him a piece of broiled fish, and a honeycomb. Now look at verse 43, and don�t you close your eyes and say, �I don�t believe it.� He took it, and He did eat before them, and He didn�t pretend, He ate it in that resurrected body. Now verse 44, and He said unto them, These are the words which I spoke unto you, while I was yet with you back in that three years of ministry, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me. You know I�ve always said, the Old Testament was full of everything concerning His First Coming. So why didn�t they know? Well it was hidden from them, God didn�t intend them to know. And remember that�s God�s prerogative, He keeps things hidden until it�s time to reveal it. In fact my favorite verse to point that out is right here in Luke, keep your hand in Luke 24, and just back up a few pages to chapter 18, a verse we�ve looked at more than once even on the program, Luke 18. Now this Course is back in His earthly ministry, toward the end of it, but they�re up in northern Israel, they�re up there at the headwaters of the Jordan River, and they�ll soon be heading up to Jerusalem. Luke 18 starting at verse 31, and this is so plain, there�s no gobbledy goop, there�s no deep theology here, it�s just plain English. And He took unto them the twelve, and He said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished. What�s He telling them? All the things written in the Old Testament are coming to a head, they�re about to be fulfilled. And He tells them what it�s going to be. For He shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, to Rome, the Romans, and He shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, He was scourged, He was beaten, He was everything. And spit it on, and they shall scourge Him, and put Him to death, and the third day He shall rise again. He�s got it all right there in one package. But look at the next verse, and they, the twelve, been with Him for three years. How much did they understand? None of it! And He told them straight out, and this isn�t the only time, He tells them two or three other times the same thing, at different times, at different events. And here is the reason, they understood none of these things, and this saying, or these prophecies was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken. Well who hid it? God did! God didn�t want them to know, and they were not to know until the right time. This is why Paul can so honestly say that revealed to him were mysteries that had never been revealed to mankind before, and they may be back there in some sort of latent language, but boy you�d have to be a better scholar than I am to dig it out, because He kept it secret. And the same way here, these twelve men had no idea of what He was talking about. And all in that same light, keep your hand in Luke 24, I�m not through there yet. Come on over to John�s Gospel. John�s Gospel chapter 20, and honey I�m going to give you the verse this time. Verse 8 and 9, and one dear old Sunday School teacher told me years ago, when he was teaching these verses out of his Sunday School quarterly on Easter Sunday morning, he said they went right over these verses. They didn�t want us to see that, isn�t that amazing? We don�t. We just walk right into them. Look at what it says. Verse 8. This is when Peter and John came running to the sepulcher, and then went in also that other disciple, which was John, who came first to the sepulcher, and he saw, and he believed. They saw the evidence remember. Now verse 9. Verse 9. For as yet, up until the moment that they walked into that empty sepulcher, for as yet they, Peter and John now, not a couple poor old shepherds out there in the Judean hills, this is Peter and John themselves. For as yet they knew not the Scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. Isn�t that amazing? And the Old Testament was full of it. So why didn�t they know? God hid it. Now you know I�m always using Deuteronomy 29 .29. The secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us. But they don�t belong to us until it�s revealed. And of course that always brings me right back to the Apostle Paul�s use then of the word, �mystery.� Nobody was supposed to understand it until the Lord revealed it to that Apostle. Now back to Luke 24. So here we have these men who�ve been with him for three years, whose minds had been providentially clothed so that they did not understand, but now they�ve got the proof standing right there in front of them, in his resurrected body. Back to verse 42. So they gave him a piece of broiled fish, a piece of honeycomb, he took it, and he did eat it before them, to show them that he was plain physical makeup, but remember now he is not with blood, but he still has the hands, he has the feet, he has the upright stature, and well you had the same thing in Acts chapter 1. When he ascended and the eleven stood there and they watched him go, did they see some kind of enigma? No, they saw the risen, resurrected Lord, as He is now showing them that He can eat. Verse 44. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spoke unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me. What did it take for those eleven men to finally put it all together? The Lord Himself had to open their understanding, then He opened their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures. It is mind boggling, but see it�s no different today. I can teach until I�m blue in the face. I go 5 nights a week now, but I could go 10, and it wouldn�t make a better difference unless the Lord opens the hearts. It has to be, but on the other hand we have to fulfill our requirement of getting it out there, so that when the Lord does open their hearts, it�s ready to take root. So always understand that, that these things were kept hidden from these men, until God was ready to reveal it. Now then going on in verse 46. And he said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoove Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead through the third day. That�s what the whole scope of Scripture was leaning on, was His coming to die, to suffer, to be raised from the dead, and then to show Himself openly that He was alive, and showing us the kind of a body that we will one day enjoy. Now let�s go back quickly to Matthew chapter 17, and we�ll do this quickly in 60 seconds. Here we have another glimpse of that glorious body that we�re going to have ourselves one day. Matthew 17, and after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and brought them into a high mountain, and he was transfigured before them, and his face did shine as the sun. That�s the way we�re going to be one day. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick. Through the Bible is a partner-supported ministry. If this program has been a help to your study of the Scriptures, and you�d like to see others enjoy the teaching, your support would be greatly appreciated. Write to us at Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Tinta, OK 74552, or call 1-800-369-7856. Remember, all programs are available in printed form, audio cassette, and videotape. Be sure to tune in next time to Through the Bible with Les Feldick.