The Resurrection
Why do we need our bodies resurrected?
John Hoole - July 3, 2011
WHY IS IT NECESSARY FOR OUR BODIES TO BE RESURRECTED?
WHY CAN’T WE REMAIN SPIRIT BEINGS FOR ETERNITY?
Why does God bother with our resurrection? Wouldn't it be far simpler to take our spirits to heaven and live forever with the Lord without any bother with a resurrection?
I do not claim to have a complete answer. I do know that God created physical matter, and it is therefore good. God did not make it just to destroy it later. He will keep the physical world in a renewed form in a new heavens and new earth. The physical body is not some evil thing that we need to escape from. Jesus had a physical body, and there was nothing wrong with that. In fact, Jesus was made flesh for the very purpose of redeeming all things. God is not abandoning the physical world - he is rescuing it.
Let me begin to address this issue by asking you yet another question.
BACK IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN, WHAT WERE SOME OF THE EFFECTS OF SIN?
In Genesis 2:17, God said:
“…in the day you eat of it, you will surely die.”
So here is what happened when man sinned in the garden.
1. Man immediately died, spiritually (separated from God}.
2. He also immediately began to die physically.
3. The physical creation was affected by sin as well. Gen. 3:17 says…..cursed is the ground for your sake. Verse 18 goes on to tell how the ground would produce thistles and thorns.
4. Man’s body would return to the dust from which it had been created.
Among many other things, these are some of the works of Satan and of sin which resulted from the fall of mankind. These are some of the effects of sin.
WHY DID CHRIST COME TO EARTH?
1 John 3:8 gives us the answer.
….for this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
One of the works of Satan which Christ came to destroy is found in Hebrews 2:14-15.
Hebrews 2:14-15 NIV
14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death-that is, the devil-
15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
Because of sin, Satan has had the power of death. Christ took upon himself a physical body (flesh) so that He might destroy this work of Satan. You see, the redemptive process of God involves the physical as well as the spiritual -- our physical earth and our physical bodies. This was necessary, because sin had its affect not only upon man’s spiritual nature, but also upon all of the physical creation.
Romans 8:21-23 NIV
21 The creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
If sin has affected a curse upon our physical body, and upon the physical earth, and if Christ has come to destroy all such works of the devil, then it follows, of necessity, that He must give us a new body and a new earth - and that is exactly what is going to happen. Yes, our bodies will be redeemed, not discarded. Our bodies will be raised immortal and imperishable. Our bodies will be freed from the decay that affects the physical world today. As we learned in our last lesson, Christ has made it possible as shown in His own resurrected body. Because He lives, we also shall live.
If Christ does not show that each effect of sin has been silenced once and for all, would in not indicate that Christ was defeated in at least that issue. His eternal plan for man and for the rest of his creation would have been thwarted. And giving us a new body shows the victory of Christ.
According to 1 Corinthians 15:54, the change of our bodies into that which is incorruptible, proves that “death is swallowed up in victory.” And because Jesus has destroyed, as He promised, this work of Satan, the verses that follow can now be stated emphatically.
1 Corinthians 15:55-57 NKJV
55 O Death, where is your sting? O Hell, where is your victory?
56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Like He promised, Christ has defeated the enemy of our Soul.
With regard to the physical world, during the 1,000 year reign of Christ, the earth will be restored back to its Garden of Eden condition. At that moment, another work of Satan will have been destroyed.
Isaiah 11:6-9 (NKJV) is only a small indicator of what will happen during the millennium.
6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, The calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze; Their young ones shall lie down together; And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den.
9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea.
We will have more to say about this era in our lesson on the Millennium.
Let me summarize what we have addressed today. We are told that Christ has wrestled the keys of death (and hell) from the enemy – Satan. At present, the devil has the power of death over the bodies of all men and women – even godly men and women. We will all die, if the Lord tarries.
But Satan will not always have this power. The Lord will consummate the victory. According to 1 Corinthians 15:26-27, the last enemy to be destroyed is death. And our resurrection is final proof that Christ has destroyed all the works of the devil.
According to 1 Corinthians 15:54, as we read a moment ago, the moment our bodies put on immortality, then will the saying be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
I hope this has shown you the necessity of the resurrection and the changing of our bodies. We preach the redemption of the whole person --- spirit, soul and body. And the redemptive process is not consummated until the final enemy has been defeated.
One of these days, the trumpet will sound and the dead in Christ will rise and those alive will be changed. Even if our Lord tarries his coming, Hebrews 9:27 says that each of us have an appointment with death, after which we will be judged. That is one appointment we will not miss.
Are you ready for that day? If you are, then what joy will be yours and mine when we rise to meet him and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
I’m excited – I hope you are!