Resurrection Life—What Is It Like?: A Body Like Jesus

Introduction: Wonder in Mystery

There is wonder in mystery—to a point.

There is wonder in mystery if we have a reasonable expectation that there will one day be actual discovery or unveiling of the mystery. With no hope of eventual disclosure, wonder about mystery simply gives way to apathy or even annoyance.

There is wonder in mystery if we have a reasonable expectation that the mystery is worthy of anticipation. That expectation exists when we have some degree of confidence either in the nature of what it is that is going to be revealed, or in the one who does the revealing.

We’ll obviously relate that to our theology of the resurrection, but what better time to illustrate that point than at Christmas.

You wonder now in the mystery of what gifts await. But there is wonder in mystery to a point. In a few days, the calendar will hit December 25, and you will get to unwrap those presents. With no hope of ever unwrapping, there is no wonder.

Or wonder can be diminished in situations in which you have no confidence in the gift giver. Anyone ever get underwear as a child for Christmas? I’d take that as a gift now. A fresh pair of socks sound pretty good as an adult. But we’re always one bad gift away from crushing the Christmas spirit.

The greatest gifts both satisfy and increase our wonder. And that’s the gift of Christmas—Christ come to earth; the first glimpse of the One who satisfies and increases our wonder.

The greatest gifts both satisfy and increase our wonder. And that’s the gift of Christmas … the first glimpse of the One who satisfies and increases our wonder.

The prophets of grace in earlier times made careful searches into the revelation of this Messiah; the fullness of this revelation is a thing, the Scripture says, “into which angels long to look” (1 Peter 1:10–12). And the Gospel writer John describes the initial revelation of that gift in his opening chapter:

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

His grace and His truth satisfy our wonder, and His glory causes our wonder to increase, for as John says a few verses later, “of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the closest relationship with¹ the Father, He has explained Him” (John 1:16–18).

Since “no one has seen God at any time,” these verses leave us with this wonder: What would it be like to see God? And that wonder leaves us with another wonder (it’s not a selfish question but a legitimate wonder): If I saw God, what would it do to me?

To ask and answer those questions is to ask and answer the question, What is it like to live in the resurrection? We asked that question in the previous sermon and followed up that question with more questions. But in this sermon, lest we lose wonder, we’ll examine what we can know.

What Can We Know?

Much remains mysterious, but what answers do we have about the resurrection?

Our first answer comes from the apostle John again, this time his first epistle:

Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. (1 John 3:2)

From this and other verses, let’s set some grounding principles for what resurrection life is like.

2 Grounding Principles

Grounding Principle #1: Resurrection Life Is Both Continuous and Discontinuous with Our Current Lives

We looked at this first principle in the previous sermon. There’s continuity and discontinuity, similarity and dissimilarity, between our current and resurrection lives. Our resurrection life will in some way continue the life we have now, but that life will also be different.

We are children of God now, but not fully—it hasn’t been fully realized. There is continuity based on our current status (as His children), but there is discontinuity because there is a transformation that still awaits us. I am, as Jesus is, a child of God; yet there awaits a further promise that I will be more like Him in the future. That brings us to our second grounding principle.

There is continuity based on our current status (as His children), but there is discontinuity because there is a transformation that still awaits us.

Grounding Principle #2: We Will Be Like Jesus

Both of these grounding principles are seen in 1 John 3:2. Let’s look at two other passages that establish these principles.

We see grounding principle #1 (continuous + discontinuous) in 1 Corinthians 15, where Paul writes much about resurrection life. Before reading, keep in mind, when Paul uses the term “spiritual” to refer to our resurrection body (in verse 44), it’s a term that can have several meanings in Scripture. It can refer to the substance of a thing (something that is spirit as opposed to something that is physical); we’ve already established, however, that our resurrection bodies are both spiritual and physical, so don’t think of the word in that sense. “Spiritual” can also refer to the source of something (coming from above/heaven, as opposed to coming from below/earth) or to the quality of something (a spiritual vs. an earthly thing).²

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam³ became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly. (1 Corinthians 15:44b–49)

So, there’s continuity and discontinuity. We have taken part in this earthly body, but there’s waiting for us a transformation—a spiritual one—that transforms not only the spirit but also the physical. “Heavenly” in this passage is not just a generic description; it denotes our conformity to the body of Jesus.

In his letter to the Philippians, Paul reinforces our second grounding principle—that we will be like Jesus:

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. (Philippians 3:20–21)

Were it not recorded in the Scripture for us, this statement—that He will “transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory”—would be scandalous. Even now, it seems unfit to speak. Jesus, who, in becoming flesh, revealed the glory of the Father—the glory of God—will transform your body into conformity with His body, which means, you will share in the glory of God.

Say that out loud (this is a true statement if you believe in the power of Scripture): I will share in the glory of God.

John introduced Jesus in chapter 1 as the one “full of grace and truth,” revealing the glory of God (v. 14). These aren’t just nice adjectives that John is plucking out of the air. Later in his Gospel, he writes that this One who is full of grace and truth will, by His grace, sanctify us in truth, so that we will be united in His glory. Jesus is speaking to the Father in prayer in these verses:

They [My disciples] are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word;⁴ that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.

The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.

O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them. (John 17:16–26)

If we are to share in the glory of God by having bodies that are like Jesus, what can we say about the resurrection body based on what we know about Jesus’s resurrection body?

Recognizable, Yet Unrecognizable

Based on what we know of Christ’s resurrection body, we can say that our resurrection bodies are likely to be both recognizable and unrecognizable.

In John 20, Mary Magdalene is at the tomb where Christ had been resurrected. Then this happened:

When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means, Teacher). … Mary Magdalene came, announcing to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and that He had said these things to her. (John 20:14–16, 18)

How strange! Mary Magdalene had been a disciple of Jesus for a while; she was not just a casual observer. She had been healed by Christ. She came to the tomb specifically seeking Christ, the same Christ she’d seen crucified and laid in the tomb. She knew who He was, and she knew what He looked like. Yet, she was not able to recognize Him at first—but then able to recognize Him.

In the next chapter of John, the disciples have been out fishing, and Jesus, the resurrected Christ, says to them: “Come and have breakfast” (John 21:12). Curiously, the rest of the verse continues, “None of the disciples ventured to question Him, ‘Who are You?’ knowing that it was the Lord.”

So these disciples see Him, and there’s something about Him that causes John—who was there on the scene—to say, in essence, “We didn’t dare question if it was Jesus; we knew it was Him.” There’s a strangeness, a difference in appearance; there’s continuity—it’s Jesus—but there’s discontinuity that causes them at first to go, What?!

Finally, consider the scene of several of Jesus’s disciples on the road to Emmaus after the resurrection. Luke tells us:

While they were talking and discussing, Jesus Himself approached and began traveling with them. But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him. …

When He had reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight. (Luke 24:15–16, 30–31)

For consideration: In what way or mode was Jesus appearing? The disciples were seeing the risen Christ, but they themselves had not—as a result of seeing Him—been changed or glorified. So there’s a possibility that there’s yet another change coming from Christ. There’s a possibility that, at the resurrection, we will have abilities to change appearance somehow, or to be perceived in multiple ways—to be seen as this and that, to be recognizable and yet unrecognizable.

What Will We Look Like?

So now the question we all ask: What will you and I look like at the resurrection?

Well, there will be continuity and discontinuity with our current state. We will be both recognizable and something majestically different. How different? I don’t know. At least better than the Atkins diet.

We will be both recognizable and something majestically different.

You will be your best you. You’ll be the you that everyone knows and the you that few know. You’ll be a you that is so different that you will leave everyone in awe, yet somehow also unsurprised.

We will behold one another and say things like:

“I never knew …” (the discontinuity)
“I always knew …” (the continuity)

You will be physical just as Jesus had a physical body when resurrected. You’ll have a body with parts that are your parts, not just because you have now come to possess them at the resurrection, but because it is the body you always possessed. How can that be? That body decomposed! Yes, and do you think that the Lord who made the world from nothing will have trouble recreating it from something?

Do you think that the Lord who made the world from nothing will have trouble recreating it from something?

Notice the description of that which is personal and physical in Luke 24:39: “See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have” (italics mine).

How did they know these were Jesus’s hands and feet? Because they were scarred. Likewise, we will have a body—our body.

Will I have all my parts? you may be wondering. There are actually serious debates on this question. There was a midrash of ancient Hebrews commentary that said that, in the resurrection, the body will spew out milk and honey and give off an aromatic scent. They were basing that idea (which I don’t believe is correct) off a verse of Song of Solomon (“Your lips, my bride, drip honey; honey and milk are under your tongue, and the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon” [4:11]). This is not quite the method of Bible interpretation that I encourage people to adopt. But I understand—everyone’s curious about what the resurrection body will be like.

So, which parts will you have? I don’t know for sure—but, based on Jesus’s resurrected body, we can say it’ll be at least your hands and feet.

Interaction with the Physical World

Our resurrected body will be physical, and it will be capable of interacting with the physical world, because Jesus was interacting with the physical world in His post-resurrection appearances:

We know that when the women greeted the resurrected Christ, they “took hold of His feet” (Matthew 28:9). They were able to interact with Him, and He was able to interact with them.

There was shared interaction with physical objects—namely, bread and fish; He invited the disciples to have breakfast with Him (see Luke 24:30, 42–43; John 21:12–13).

In Acts 10:40–41, we likewise see people eating and drinking with Jesus:

God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible, not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. (italics mine)

I think it’s a reasonable expectation to think we’ll have an ability to engage in normal, physical pleasures in the next life, including eating and drinking. Of course, eating and drinking naturally raises the question of whether we will have to eliminate waste in our resurrected bodies. I am assuming there will be no waste in heaven. (However, if there is, the bathrooms will be very clean!)

It’s a reasonable expectation to think we’ll have an ability to engage in normal, physical pleasures in the next life, including eating and drinking.

There are some unknowns, to be sure. But what we can take from the passage in Acts 10 is that there will be both some normality (continuity) and some abnormality (discontinuity).

Travel in the Resurrected State

There is a supernatural mode of travel in the resurrected state. Recall Luke 24:31: “Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight.” This isn’t Jesus just getting up and running away really fast. He actually disappeared—vanished—before their eyes.

That’s the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus too.

Luke is fond of roads; he’s fond of telling stories involving roads. But he’s also fond of describing situations in which travelers don’t need roads.⁵ Take a look at Acts 1:

And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.⁶ And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:9–11)

Again, we see a supernatural mode of transportation—not only in Christ ascending into heaven, but in the two men, angels, who suddenly appeared.

Physical Abilities in the Resurrected State

In our resurrection life, I think it likely that we will have physical abilities that are largely uninhibited, or unhindered, by our current (physical) limitations.

Currently, there are waves of light that we can’t see and sounds that we can’t hear. We can flap our arms, but we can’t fly. I don’t know what limitations are lifted in the next life, what things become open to us in the physical realm, what else the heavenly body can do.

The Rest Is Mystery

We’re not told much more. The rest is mystery and wonder. It’s like the big Christmas present under the tree that you want to know more about, but it’s not time.

But here’s what keeps you holding on: That gift has your name on the tag. That’s not a tease. It is the substance of real hope, and it’s a key element to hold on to as you ponder the question, What is resurrection life like? Because as curious as you are about resurrection in the future, you should also ask the question, What is resurrection life like now?

What is resurrection life like now? How does resurrection affect life our lives in the present?

Resurrection Life: How It Affects the Present

I’ve always found it curious the way Jesus responded to Martha’s doctrinally correct but nevertheless incomplete characterization of resurrection. She says, “I know that he [my brother, Lazarus] will rise again in the resurrection on the last day” (John 11:24). She was right. There’s nothing wrong about her statement. But Jesus doesn’t respond, “Correct you are, Martha.” He doesn’t even say, “I can raise him right now.” In response to her focus on the future, He demands an awareness of the present:

“I am the resurrection.” (John 11:25, italics mine)

Not “I will be the first resurrection,” not “I will be the example of resurrection,” and not “I will cause all to experience resurrection.” What Jesus says to Martha is, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25).

Why does He say this? Well, if Jesus is the resurrection, and if Jesus indwells us, then resurrection life in some sense begins now. Because Jesus is the resurrection, there is a present hope.

If Jesus is the resurrection, and if Jesus indwells us, then resurrection life in some sense begins now.

We’ve heard much from Jesus’s apostle John and some from Luke. Let’s look at how their fellow disciple Peter characterizes this present reality. John beat Peter to the tomb, but Peter beat John to writing, so these words were actually written down earlier than the Gospel of John:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. (1 Peter 1:3)

Our hope is a living hope because it is hope in One who has conquered death. It is a living hope because it cannot die. It’s an imperishable, undefiled, never-fading, reserved hope:

… to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you. (1 Peter 1:4).

Our hope is a living hope because it is a currently present hope. For people of faith, it is not too much to call this hope a promise. Peter says that the reservation is made (“reserved in heaven for you”). He says in verse 5, “We are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” If it is reserved, protected by the power of God, then that’s a guarantee.

The reservation is made. … [And it is] protected by the power of God.

This present hope of future guarantee is also how the apostle Paul chooses to open one of his letters.

Conclusion: A Guarantee of Present Hope

Here’s how Paul explains this present hope in Ephesians:

… we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge⁷ of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1:12–14)

Believers in Jesus are sealed with the Holy Spirit. When you go to open your gifts on Christmas, you see that ribbon and the name tag—with your name on it and (usually) the name of the person it’s from. That tag tells that only you can open that gift.

Seals in biblical times weren’t unlike those gift tags. When a document was written, there would be a piece of clay, perhaps tied with a string around the document, and then it was stamped or sealed. That seal indicated ownership. It indicated from whom the document was and to whom the document was going—who had the authority to open it. So even when we talk about resurrection from the dead and the tomb being sealed, it’s the idea of sealed by the authority of Rome—no one may enter it.

For you to be sealed with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, is like God saying, “This is My possession.”

Three words that I want you to see in this passage are:

Promise
Guarantee (pledge)
Redemption

As you consider these words, hold in mind this thought: both your present and future life have been sealed. In some sense, the seal is on you, because the Spirit indwells you, and in some sense there is this gift that awaits, on which the Spirit has written your name.

These are our hope—a promise, a guarantee, a redemption:⁸

Promise: A declaration to do something with implication of obligation to carry out what is stated; promise, pledge, offer.
Guarantee: Payment of part of a purchase price in advance; first installment, deposit, down payment, pledge (of more to come).
Redemption: Release from a captive condition; release, deliverance.

Guarantees give reason to hope. How does the resurrection affect our life now? It gives us a guarantee, and guarantees give hope. The life of Christ is our guarantee—that is, the life that He lived, and the life that He now lives.

How does the resurrection affect our life now? It gives us a guarantee, and guarantees give hope.

In the Christmas classic It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), the thought is explored about the consequences of a life never lived. Consider for a moment the consequences of what would be if the most “wonderful life” had never lived. Consider for a moment what that would mean for you, if Jesus had never been born—no manger, no cross, no resurrection. How would this affect your life?

There was a time in which Christ had not yet come, and there was no manger, no cross, no resurrection. And here’s how that reality affected hope. Consider the words of the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes:

But whoever is among the living has hope; a live dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they will die, but the dead do not know anything; they have no further reward—and even the memory of them disappears. What they loved, as well as what they hated and envied, perished long ago, and they no longer have a part in anything that happens on earth. (9:4–6, NET)

But we have the New Testament promise—this promise of hope:

May we wonder in the present reality of our future calling. May we live in that calling through the power of the Spirit who indwells us. And may this gift of eternal life in the present and in the future both satisfy and increase our wonder this Christmas season and in our lives forevermore, until Christ calls us home.

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