The Resurrection Of The Dead...Continued from page 6

Once again, he builds on the parallel with Adam. Adam is natural man. He represents the physical side of life that we know in this earthly dimension. Jesus is the Second Adam. He is spiritual man. He represents the heavenly dimension. Just as our present bodies come from the dust, as did Adam's, and we bear that earthly image, even so our future bodies will bear the image of the "Man of Heaven," Jesus Christ the Second Adam. "What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable" (1 Corinthians 15:50).

So what do we specifically know about our future bodies?

Fact #1: We know that those of us who have received Jesus Christ as Savior will be resurrected from the dead.

Fact #2: We know that we will have a resurrected body.

It will be free from blemishes of the present. Does your body have limitations? Perhaps you are gnarled with rheumatoid arthritis. Your joints don't have that former agility. The day is coming when you as a believer will be given a brand-new body. When you look in the mirror, do you see less than you'd like to see? Or perhaps more than you'd like to see? Some day you will have the most magnificent physique imaginable. The Bible relates how our present bodies are imperishable. We are born in weakness but raised in power. How emphatic are those words in 1 Corinthians 15:51-54. "Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: "'Death has been swallowed up in victory.'"

Fact #3: We will be reunited with our loved ones.

We catch a glimpse of what heaven will be like as we stand with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. There were Peter, John and James. Suddenly the countenance of Jesus was altered. His raiment became dazzling white. Two more persons joined them. One was Moses. The other was Elijah. There is a recognizable dimension to our life in heaven with our Lord and our loved ones.

Fact #4: We will experience the immediate presence of Jesus Christ.

I must grant at this point that there is a philosophical conflict among theologians as to what happens the moment you die. Some have developed a theory of soul-sleep. The thought is that when you die you make a transition into perpetual slumber from which you arise only when Jesus Christ returns in the glory of the Second Coming. There is some basis for this viewpoint. It gives greater understanding of what the day of the resurrection of the body will be. However, I am personally convinced that both the Scriptures and the practical experience of believers at the time of death point to an immediacy of entrance into the presence of Jesus. How else can you explain the words of Paul who says that "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord." He puts a high emphasis on this.