What Will Our Bodies Be Like in Heaven?
Since there is not a lot of teaching on what our bodies are like when we die, we ask questions like: "Will I have a new body, or just new and improved?" "Will it only be a spiritual body, or a spiritual being in heaven?" "Will I eat and drink in heaven?"
In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul gives us the best possible answer into these questions. While they might not be as definitive as we would like, they definitely give a picture what our resurrected bodies will look like. As an aside since we just celebrated Easter, the greatest proof for the resurrection of Jesus was that the disciples saw him after he was raised from the dead. He appeared to them in bodily form, and ate with him. It would seem like he had a very similar body to the one he had on earth, though he had not yet ascended to be with His Father. Nonetheless it is evidence for the first resurrected body. And Jesus says to them, "because I live you will live as well".
Paul uses the analogy of planting a seed in the ground, and how it is planted as one body and then comes to new life a new body. God has given us a body in Genesis 1 that bears His image. In that sense it is not the same as an animal, bird, or fish. But then he says the splendor of the earthly body is different than the splendor of the heavenly body. If you read the Genesis 1 account, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Read Genesis 1 below. We learn a lot about what the earth looks like and how it went from being formless to having a form. Ultimately we came from the earth but we are destined for heaven, which don't know a lot about.
So when we look at the process of dying it can come with a whole different vision. Though our earthly body is perishable, our spiritual body will be raised imperishable. And though our first body had its residence on this earth, our new body will have its citizenship in heaven and will never end. And just as the Father and Son are glorified in heaven, so we will be glorified in heaven Though it is not clear it is exactly what that will be.
So in answer to our questions. Yes we will have a body in heaven. It will be different in the sense that it will never die it will be eternal. However our glorified bodies look like in heaven, we know they will never wear out or rust. While we are made in the image of God in this life, we will be like God, a have a heavenly body in heaven. Apart from this we don't have a lot more specific details. We do in Revelation 21, in a vision from John, have a beautiful picture of what heaven looks like. And it seems as what we will be doing is worshipping God and the Lamb night and day.
So while we don't have every specific detail of heaven, we know that it will be wonderfully beautiful beyond all compare. While all we really know comes from our earthly perspective, which isn't all that bad (the beauty of the ocean, sunset and skiing down a mountain with a foot of fresh powder in Mammoth). We know what is prepared for us will be more than what we could ask or imagine. And that is why Easter is the greatest event in history, because as Jesus was raised from the dead, he too will give life to our mortal bodies as we believe in him. As John 3:16 says, "that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life!"
1 Corinthians 15:35-49
The Resurrection Body
35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” 36 How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. 39 Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. 40 There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. 41 The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.
42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”[a]; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we[b] bear the image of the heavenly man.
The Beginning
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.
14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul gives us the best possible answer into these questions. While they might not be as definitive as we would like, they definitely give a picture what our resurrected bodies will look like. As an aside since we just celebrated Easter, the greatest proof for the resurrection of Jesus was that the disciples saw him after he was raised from the dead. He appeared to them in bodily form, and ate with him. It would seem like he had a very similar body to the one he had on earth, though he had not yet ascended to be with His Father. Nonetheless it is evidence for the first resurrected body. And Jesus says to them, "because I live you will live as well".
Paul uses the analogy of planting a seed in the ground, and how it is planted as one body and then comes to new life a new body. God has given us a body in Genesis 1 that bears His image. In that sense it is not the same as an animal, bird, or fish. But then he says the splendor of the earthly body is different than the splendor of the heavenly body. If you read the Genesis 1 account, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Read Genesis 1 below. We learn a lot about what the earth looks like and how it went from being formless to having a form. Ultimately we came from the earth but we are destined for heaven, which don't know a lot about.
So when we look at the process of dying it can come with a whole different vision. Though our earthly body is perishable, our spiritual body will be raised imperishable. And though our first body had its residence on this earth, our new body will have its citizenship in heaven and will never end. And just as the Father and Son are glorified in heaven, so we will be glorified in heaven Though it is not clear it is exactly what that will be.
So in answer to our questions. Yes we will have a body in heaven. It will be different in the sense that it will never die it will be eternal. However our glorified bodies look like in heaven, we know they will never wear out or rust. While we are made in the image of God in this life, we will be like God, a have a heavenly body in heaven. Apart from this we don't have a lot more specific details. We do in Revelation 21, in a vision from John, have a beautiful picture of what heaven looks like. And it seems as what we will be doing is worshipping God and the Lamb night and day.
So while we don't have every specific detail of heaven, we know that it will be wonderfully beautiful beyond all compare. While all we really know comes from our earthly perspective, which isn't all that bad (the beauty of the ocean, sunset and skiing down a mountain with a foot of fresh powder in Mammoth). We know what is prepared for us will be more than what we could ask or imagine. And that is why Easter is the greatest event in history, because as Jesus was raised from the dead, he too will give life to our mortal bodies as we believe in him. As John 3:16 says, "that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life!"
1 Corinthians 15:35-49
The Resurrection Body
35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” 36 How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. 39 Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. 40 There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. 41 The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.
42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”[a]; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we[b] bear the image of the heavenly man.
The Beginning
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.
14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
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