Scripture Reference: Luke 24

“Risen” Means We Will All Be Changed

When the body of Jesus was raised, it was also changed. Christ’s flesh was raised, but it was also adapted to be appropriate for everlasting life. This was something that had never happened before.

There had been other examples of life returning to a dead person. Jairus’s daughter, the son of the widow at Nain, and Lazarus had all been brought back to life by the power of Jesus.

These were wonderful miracles. But Lazarus came out of the tomb exactly as he had gone into it. I guess he might have been a few pounds lighter, but he was essentially the same! He carried on the process of aging at the point where he had left off, and then at some point, the poor fellow had to go through the whole miserable business of dying all over again. Jairus’s daughter and the widow’s son also would age and eventually die. Death was delayed but not defeated.

But when Christ was raised, His body was no longer subject to aging, sickness, or death. The resurrection body is not subject to pain or disability. It was His flesh, but it was transformed and adapted for eternity.

This is the glorious future that awaits every Christian believer. God has not prepared some kind of compensation package like a reduced pension plan for those who are unable to continue life on earth. He has sent Jesus Christ to redeem the whole of you, body and soul, and in the resurrection He will adapt your body even as He is preparing your soul for eternal life in His presence.

Wait Until Everybody’s Ready

The gift of the resurrection body is so wonderful that God holds it in reserve until the day when He will gather all His children together.

That’s what it was like on Christmas morning when I was a child. We always had presents when we woke up early on Christmas morning. Stockings were hung beside the fire, and in the morning we were all eager to go into the living room and open the gifts. But we weren’t allowed to go into the room until everybody was standing together at the door. Then, when everybody was ready, we all went in.

I think of Christian loved ones who have died. They are in the presence of Jesus, consciously enjoying the glory of His presence. That is far better than anything they could know here. But God has another gift for them and for us that He is keeping for the day when Jesus Christ returns to gather His whole family together.

When Christ comes, our Christian loved ones who are already in His presence will come with Him (see 1 Thessalonians 4:14). Then “the dead in Christ will rise” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). In other words, the souls of those who are with Jesus will be reunited with risen bodies adapted for everlasting life.

At the same time, believers who are still alive will be “caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). We will experience the same transformation in which our bodies are adapted for everlasting life. The gift will be given to the whole family together. Then all the faces of God’s children will light up as together we enter all that He has prepared for us.

The resurrection of Jesus changes the face of death for all His people. Death is no longer a prison, but a passage into the immediate presence of God. Jesus said . . . , “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live” (John 11:25). The life that Jesus was talking about is more than a spiritual experience. God will redeem every part of you, including your body.

When Christ returns, all of His people will have new bodies, like the resurrection body of Jesus.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
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