I Corinthians 15:42-49
The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; --
Our bodies now have imperfections; we get sick, we get hurt, we have scars, we get old, and fat, and wrinkled. We will be raised in bodies that will glow like the Sun.
It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; --
We have limitations: we can only do so much, jump so high, run so fast; we will be raised in a body that can lift effortlessly (think of Luke Skywalker's "force"), will understand limitlessly, will be able to appear (instead of go) anywhere we can imagine.
It is sown a natural body, -- What we live in now.
It is raised a spiritual body. -- Something we have never seen yet, except Jesus'.
If there is a natural body, -- We know there is, we have one.
There is also a spiritual body. -- Simple logic.
So it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being (Genesis 2:7); the last Adam, a life-giving spirit." --
We know that the "last Adam" is Jesus. He told us that, "the spirit gives life" (John 6:63), real life is spirit: when our spirit leaves our body we are dead.
The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. --
God's order, in order. First things first.
The first man was of the dust of the Earth, the second Man was from Heaven. --
God formed Adam out of clay, the elements of the Earth. Jesus was born of the Heavenly Seed prepared in ages past (Hebrews 10:5).
As was the earthy man, so are those who are of the Earth; --
Our physical bodies consist of the same elements, in the same proportions, as the Earth itself.
And as is the Man from Heaven, so also are those who are of Heaven. --
We who are "born again" are "born from above," born in a spiritual sense, comparable to how we were born in a natural, physical way.
And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthy man, so shall we bear the likeness of the Man from Heaven. --
Just as we now look like every other physical human being that has ever lived, so when we are raised, we will look like something we've never seen before on Earth--we'll shine like the Sun! (Revelation 1:16; 10:1.)
This part of this chapter describes what our new, Resurrected bodies will be like. When Jesus rose from the dead, His body was changed in ways that we cannot very much understand, but He wasn't bleeding any more from His wounds, He wasn't hampered by locks on the doors, he just appeared in the room with the disciples, the two on the road to Emmaus didn't even recognize Him until He broke the bread for them. Then He appeared to John on the Isle of Patmos, and His face shone like the Sun. And even Moses' face shone so much after he was just in the Lord's presence on Sinai, that he had to wear a veil until it faded (Exodus 34:29-35; II Corinthians 3:13).
This is all very encouraging to me, to anticipate the wonderful way God will bless me, all because Jesus paid for me out of the slave-market of sin and set me free!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
