What we will be

I was talking with some students in their 60s last week, and we were talking about how some researchers were saying that 60 and 65 are becoming the new middle age because of increasing lifespans.

I asked them how long they hope to live, and all of them said between 75-80. I would probably agree, the main reason being that by that time, our bodies are really starting to fall apart, something I really don’t want to have to deal with.

I’d much rather live in my new body that God provides me, and that’s what Paul talks about here.

Some of the Corinthians were asking, “What will our resurrection bodies be like?”

And Paul compares our current bodies to a seed that is planted in the ground. The seed that is planted is quite different from what grows out from that seed.

In the same way, our current bodies when they are planted in the ground are quite different from what our new bodies will be like. How will they be different?

Paul says,

The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. (1 Corinthians 15:42-44)

Our bodies, as they are, grow old and will eventually die, but our new bodies will never die.

Our bodies will deteriorate and rot in the ground, but they will be raised in glory.

Our bodies are growing weaker as we age, but our new bodies will be strong and healthy, never to grow sick or old again.

I think about my dad in his final days. He was completely blind due to an accident. He could barely move around towards the end, his body weakened by multiple bypasses and a variety of other health problems.

At the end, he couldn’t even speak. He could only lie there.

It was hard to see him that way. But I know that now he has been freed from all that, and when that day comes when Christ returns, and the final trumpet sounds, he will receive a new body and meet Christ in the air.

Assuming I’m still around when it happens, I’ll be joining him not long after. And all things will be made new. On that day, we will all sing,

Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? (1 Corinthians 15:55)

I can’t wait for that day.