One of Exodus Internet Church’s missions is to edify the people of God in the last days. As human beings, the lens thru which we gaze out into the world is colored by the various responsibilities we are beholden to here in our life on earth. Whether that be jobs and careers, family life, friendships and relationships, there is always something that requires our immediate attention and efforts.
Yet as children of God we are called to look beyond that. Because we are inheritors of eternal life and the new birth. Life rendered onto us by the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the Son of God. We are blessed to be in these times because the return of the Lord God is imminent; we will get to witness firsthand the second coming of Jesus Christ and live with Him as He rules the earth. We are living in the very times that saints throughout time and history have wondered about since the onset of the church of Christ.
The return of the Lord brings with it another glorious centerpiece promised to us by our God: the redemption of our bodies.
“And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope, we were saved.” – Romans 8:23-24
Many of you reading this have either received the new birth or are waiting for it. And for those who have it, you march on the narrow path of salvation strengthening your soul and exercising Godly knowledge to become more Christlike. And for those of you who wait, you chisel away at your soul thru counsel and edification so that you may better yourself in preparation for the second birth. We are grateful for this life that God has given us.
But there’s more to come. The redemption of our bodies is something we will only experience when Christ comes back and rewards us with them. However, we have some information available to us that allows us to glean some insight into what having those bodies will be like.
The Spiritual Forefathers: Adam and Eve
It has recently come to the attention of the ministry to peruse the ancient texts, meaning texts that were not added to the Word of God for various reasons. Two of these books are the first and second Books of Adam and Eve.
The first and second Books of Adam and Eve are texts detailing what the first two saints went thru after being banished from the Garden of Eden. In them we see a number of things that are as relevant to being in Christ as ever such as: the consequence of sin, contending with Satan, putting our faith in God to see us thru difficulties as well as the creation of marriage so that the line of David would be established, paving the way for the first coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
As I read thru the text my attention was caught by the suffering of Adam. Because you see, Adam and Eve are the only saints who had glorified and perfect bodies in the presence of God, only to lose them. All the other saints who received those bodies were resurrected when Christ was on earth, when He resurrected the saints of old on the same day He was resurrected (Matthew 27:51-53). And we now await the same bodies. Everyone else outside of Adam, Eve and the Lord Jesus Christ were born in deadness of sin.
There are a number of details in the text that are crucial to getting an understanding of what having those bodies will actually be like.
Characteristics of Glorified Bodies
Adam details the weaknesses he experienced after being cast out the garden in the text:
“While I was in the garden I knew neither heat, nor fatigue, neither transience, nor trembling, nor fear; but now since I came to this land, all this affliction has come over me.” Adam and Eve 22:3
And God tells Adam about other changes to his body: “Adam, when you were in My garden, you knew neither eating nor drinking, faintness nor suffering, leanness of flesh, nor change; neither did sleep depart from your eyes. But since you transgressed and came into this strange land all these trials have come over you.” - Adam and Eve 35:2
What this tells us is that all of these limitations of the human body will not even be a factor when the Lord Jesus Christ gives us our new bodies. No more tiredness, lack of sleep, fear, dependence on food and water for us. The biggest word in the text is probably transience, also known as the state of something being temporary, meaning we will be immortal!
Tell me, if we are immortal and have glorified bodies, do you think we will have sicknesses? I don’t think so. No more disease and sickness, sensitivity to heat and cold, so on and so forth. Just immortality and strength at all times! My friends in Christ, all of these tiny factors weakening our bodies and affecting our quality of life that we barely even think of will be a thing of the past.
This is part of the beauty and glory of what it means to be a Christian. That we have such knowledge. That we can adopt an eternal mindset and look forward to and have faith in the good things that the Lord God has promised all of us.
And yet, that is not even the whole of it. Adam goes on to detail how his emotions and spiritual life were affected by sin:
“Forgive us our offense and our sin, and look at us with Your eye of mercy. For when we were in the garden our praises and our hymns went up before you without ceasing. But when we came into this strange land, pure praise was no longer ours, nor righteous prayer, nor understanding hearts, nor sweet thoughts, nor wise judgement, nor long discernment, nor upright feelings, neither was our bright nature left within us. But our body is changed from the likeness in which it was at first when we were created.” – Adam and Eve 23:7
It has been determined that the body and the mind are interconnected. The bodies will not only affect our physical capabilities, but our emotional and spiritual ones as well!
These characteristics of pure praise, righteous prayer, understanding hearts, sweet thoughts, wise judgement, discernment, upright feelings and a bright nature are invaluable. Think of the implications of this for both our relationships with God and each other as children of God.
Pure praise and righteous prayer mean a stronger and perfect fellowship with God as we approach Him in a manner most pleasing to Him.
We will better understand each other as friends in Christ because our hearts will be full of understanding, as well as having sweet thoughts and wise judgements toward one another. The implications of such traits means that the petty squabbles, hurt feelings, miscommunications that hurt friendships, being turned off by another, conflict and strife with our fellow people will not even be a thing in God’s new world for us.
To have upright feelings and a bright nature means to be filled with love and everlasting life in Christ. It is my strong belief that saints will be united and have wonderful fellowship with each other without the pettiness or harshness that we sometimes exhibit on each other. Perfect harmony and peace in God will be part of the new life.
Finally, it is written in the text that Adam and Eve could see into the spirit before their bodies were altered, as they would witness angels praising the Lord God in the heavens regularly. This means that when Christ returns and gives us our bodies, we will be able to see beautiful, heavenly and Godly things with our very eyes.
Our Bodies Made like Christ’s
“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself” – Philippians 3:20-21
To have our bodies made like Christ’s brings on even more glory to God. I can tell you that when I got born again, I had a vision of Christ. I was in a golden field of flowers, where the flowers were sparkling so brilliantly it was like they were more perfect than the purest gold.
And I looked into the field and saw a robed Figure Whose glory filled existence with perfection as I witnessed it in the spirit. He was invincible. I could tell that nothing could hurt Christ. And in His essence was pure kindness, joy, glory, majesty, mercy, grace and love to a magnitude that no words can accurately capture it.
Nothing in this world is perfect. The most we can do is create a standard in some activity and call that standard perfect, but real perfection does not exist in this life.
Yet I witnessed perfection in God when I was born again. If our bodies are to be like Christ’s as the scriptures tell us, what unimaginable glory awaits us?
I did not want to come back from the land I was in. It is good to know that such things are a sign of our future, as the Lord God will give us our new bodies and establish His new kingdom on earth.
Come Lord Jesus, back to earth for the glory of God and render onto your saints the glorified bodies that have been promised. The completion of our hope in the things to come under the Lord God!