Resurrected Bodies (Part 1)

Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Avendrop. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the Scriptures, verse by verse, with No Compromise.

Resurrection Humor and the Hope of a New Body

There are some funny things said about the resurrection of the body. Tertullian, a church father, said this, we will not chew in heaven, but we will have teeth because we would look funny without teeth.

Cyprian, the bishop of Carthage, said this about the resurrection body. Cyprian said this, I didn't say this. Women should not wear face powder in this life, lest God fail to recognize them in the life that is to come.

I didn't say that. Yesterday I was in the hospital visiting Bruce, walking down the long corridor. His room was at the end of the aisle, and room after room after room we would walk by and the hospital was filled with, obviously, sick people.

ICU was on this side of the hospital and the patient rooms were here. And story after story after story, beds filled with sick people. Some that were going to get better, some that weren't going to get better.

And think about how many thousands of hospitals there are in this world. How would you like a new body that doesn't get old, that doesn't have aches and pains? You don't have to wake up and stretch for like 35 minutes just to stand upright.

No weakness, no disease. I mean, if I go to the store and buy a nice new suit and a tie and look at myself in the mirror, I think, you know what, there's just something about buying a new pair of clothes and you think, I just feel good.

I just look good. What is it about a new outfit that just, just kind of feeling nice about the whole thing? How about getting not a new outfit, but a new body? Did you know that Jesus Christ's resurrection has guaranteed that all those believing in him get a new body?

Now if you're 18, you're not really too excited about the new body probably, but when you're old like me, you are loving that thought. We have people in our church, their bodies are breaking down and they're getting one day closer to eternity because their bodies weren't meant to last.

But the Bible teaches not just the resurrection of the soul, but the resurrection of the body. What will it be like? Jesus was raised from the dead as the first fruits for our resurrection from the dead.

Paul said to Timothy, the last book he ever wrote, he said, Timothy, remember Jesus Christ risen from the dead, confirming that great substitutionary atonement. But we've got a lot of questions, don't we?

Because if you look at people in the ground, if you look at bodies decaying, if you look at us now above the ground, but still decaying, how can these bodies, how can those bodies go to that holy heaven?

It's a fair question, especially when the society says, this is it, evolution's true. You go around once, so grab the gusto while you can, he with the most toys wins. It's also true back in the Bible days where they had people wandering around saying like Sadducees, there's no resurrection of the body, there's no final accountability, there's nothing in the end.

If you turn to Bibles, the first Corinthians chapter 15, Paul is going to help us answer these questions. What about the body we get on resurrection day? Now when we die as Christians, our spirit goes to be with the Lord, bodies come later.

What will those bodies be like? Will they be recognizable? And this morning we're going to learn that your body is going to be like the glorified body of Jesus. So today here's the program. We are going to go to first Corinthians chapter 15, and we're going to catch up on some verses and review since we haven't been in this text for a month.

Then we're going to look at John 5 and John 20 and Luke 24, some passages that teach us about Jesus Christ's resurrected body. Because there has to be a body in heaven, habeas corpus, Latin for what? There must be a body.

That's used of court language when you don't leave somebody in the jail cell when you're going to judge them because they need to be present so if they're deemed not guilty you can let them go. So the judge isn't crooked and says they're not guilty, but the guy stays in prison.

So there has to be a body in court, habeas corpus, and there has to be a body in heaven. For Paul, there must be a body. The body will be raised. And I think this is going to be very encouraging because I thought to myself the other day, what if I had a bad back at age 20?

I think I hurt my back at age 27. And I had to live 969 years total. Whatever 969 is minus 29, how would you like to live 900 more years in this body? When I was sick two years ago and I thought, you know what, I'd just soon die, I thought to myself, honestly, I know where I'm going, I know the Spirit of God will take care of my family, I know the elders better take care of my family, I think that's when they upped the insurance for the life insurance, but everything will be fine with me, and I don't have to have this bad back forever.

I don't have to have these aches and pains forever. I'm going to die soon, and I thought, this is going to be a good day. Very good day. For you, I hope you shed a tear, but then you hire the next guy, promote the next guy.

I don't know what you do. What will your body look like? Will it be helpful? You say, well, this isn't very practical. I'll tell you this before we start. This is an intense passage. It's a hard passage.

You need to use your mind to get through this. We're going to compare Adam and Jesus, the first Adam and the last Adam. You've got to engage your mind, but it's going to be a good payoff if you can hang in there.

Why? Because things like this. When I'm in the hospital seven years ago and my mom dies, everybody leaves the room and I just thought, you know what, I might as well just sit here for a while and just think.

I thought about things like, she's now a better theologian than I am. She'd always call me and say, am I interpreting the Bible right before I teach the ladies? I thought, I need to ask her now because she's a perfect theologian right now.

I'd look at her face and I'd look at her hands, something about her hands, and she had on her rings. Those are my mom's rings and I thought, these are the hands that have patted my face, wiped my tears.

These are the hands that have spanked my bottom. These are the hands that were there for me and because of what the Bible teaches, one day those hands are going to touch my face again. She's going to get a new body and new hands and I'll have a new body and new hands and if I prefer, maybe I don't prefer, maybe I don't want her doing this in heaven, I don't know, maybe I'm too consumed with who Christ Jesus is, but those very hands that Jesus had before he died were the very hands that he had afterward and if you can get the glorified body of Jesus down, you can get your glorified body down as well.

It is very practical. I think what we should do is we should start up in verse 35. Remember there are people questioning resurrection. He says back in 3 and 4, Jesus' body is raised from the dead, so you should obviously think there's a resurrection of the body, somebody, Jesus' body.

Not that big of a stretch then to think we will be resurrected. They're asking questions in verse 12, they're asking questions in verse 35, but someone verse 35 will ask, how are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?

Fair question if you're a Christian theologian, but not a fair question if you're really trying to disqualify what the author is saying, if you're trying to go after Jesus with some trick question and when you try to do that, you get this retort back from Paul, you foolish person.

Forgetting the creative power of God, forgetting God creates the universe with a word, it's not that hard for God to take ashes, for God to take bones, for God to take parts of your body that was ingested by a shark and put them together on that last day, is that past the power of God?

Lot of questions and so Paul gives some answers and we saw last time three of those answers that he gives designed to answer your questions about the God who is to be praised because he raises bodies from the dead.

The Resurrection Body and the Seed Analogy

In review, fact number one found in verses 36 through 38, your resurrection body will have some relation to your current body. Verse 36 goes on to say, what you sow does not come to life unless it dies and what you sow is not the body that is to be but a bare kernel perhaps of wheat or of some other grain.

So see what Paul is doing, plant a seed, a piece of corn that's dried and out comes a stalk of corn with an ear of corn. There's a relationship but they're not exactly the same. You don't plant stalks of corn, you plant a kernel of corn.

It's dead in and of itself but the way God has ordained nature is to take that thing and to grow it up into a stalk with leaves and with a whole ear of corn with a tassel on it as well. There's a relationship between the two.

Put something dead in the ground, life comes out. Shouldn't be a big deal for anybody to think that way because it happens with seeds. Verse 38, God gives it a body as he has chosen. Look at the language again of the sovereignty of God, you can't run from it.

And to each kind of seed its own body. Divine agency's got to be factored in. How can a body that's in the ground rotting and smelling go to heaven? Factor in divine agency, that's the answer. Don't forget God, not identical of what goes into the ground but related.

A piece of corn seed is related to an ear of corn. Your body's going to be related to your new body, old and new, we'll see more about that in a little bit. You will recognize loved ones in heaven. Fact two, as Paul is answering these questions, your resurrection body follows creation differences found in verses 39 to 42 in review again.

The sun has a certain glory, the moon has a lesser glory, the bodies in the ground have lesser glory even though they're glorious but the resurrected body has a lot of glory. There's just differences of glory, we know that.

There are heavenly bodies, verse 40, and earthly bodies but the glory of the heavenly is one kind and the glory of the earthly is another. There's one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars for star differs from star and glory.

There's one level of glory of an image-bearing body that's dead and there's another level of glory of an image-bearing body that's been given a new body, alive. Fact three, last one for review, your resurrection body is going to be better than your current body.

I have in my notes, yay, yay, thankful. Verses 42 to 44, so it is, see the tie-in now? So it is, with the resurrection of the dead. And then he's going to give ways your body's going to be better in heaven, he gives several.

What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. Your body's going to be better because it's going to be imperishable, no disease, no sickness, no breaking down. I used to be 6 '2", I'm 6' now, slowly getting shorter, Luke is slowly getting, not slowly but he's at a rapid pace, getting taller.

But my resurrected body, imperishable, well it's going to be even better, maybe this might be the best. Verse 43, it's sown in dishonor, it's raised in glory. You know our bodies still have vestiges of the curse, Adam's sin imputed to us, our own sin, and this has a moral or ethical tone to it, dishonor because we've sinned.

We've used these bodies to sin and now we get new bodies, I think that's pretty good. Ever use your body to sin, get a new body, glory. He goes on to say another reason why it's better, sown in weakness, verse 43, it's raised in power.

You look at a body in a casket and I'll tell you a word that describes that body, powerless. Oh I could say corrupt or lifeless but there's no power to do anything, that's why the Arminian version of salvation is so kooky because that says here's the antidote and I'm laying here dead and the only thing I have to do is reach out and take the antidote and I'm saved.

But I'm telling you, you are what if you're in the grave, you're powerless, you can't reach out to the antidote. And the last reason why your body's better is found in verse 44, it's just fit for heaven.

Whatever's needed for heaven, your body will have. Ever say to yourself like I do, I just hope I know what to do in heaven, I'm gonna die one day and go to heaven, I hope I know what to do, I am the pastor after all, what do I do in heaven?

Just follow the crowd, that's one place in your entire life where you go, do what the crowd does, you'll be fine, worthy is the lamb that was slain, I think I'm gonna go to heaven. What if I'm wrong about the charismatic stuff and everybody just charismatically worshiping God?

I better just kind of go along, will I be alright, will I know what to do? Well this verse talks about your body's gonna be perfectly fit for heaven, whatever heaven requires your body can do. Sometimes Mark Schafer said please stand if you're able while we sing this hymn.

Some people aren't able to stand. Whatever heaven requires, your body will be perfect for that. Verse 44, is it sown a natural body, excuse me, it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

If there is a natural body, there also is a spiritual body. Whatever's needed in heaven, your spiritual body will work just fine. And now Paul goes to the last fact found in verses 45 to 49, this is new, your resurrection body will be like Christ's glorified body.

That's really the message today. If you wanna know what your glorified body's like, you study Christ's glorified body and you'll get it. So first let's look at 1 Corinthians 15, then we'll go to two passages at the end to talk about Christ's glorified body after his resurrection so we can get a little taste of what our body is going to be like.

You say, well this is all over my head, is it relevant for anything? Yes, it's very relevant because it's in the Bible, it's very relevant because you're going to die, it's very relevant because if you want to take a carnal church and help them, you will talk about end times.

Because if you realize I've got two days on my calendar like Luther said, today and that day, judgment day, then you live in light of the soon return of Christ. So this is helpful, this is eschatology, not just pre-trib, post-trib kind of talk, but eschatology of the body, it's important.

Adam and Christ in 1 Corinthians 15

Notice the comparison between Adam and Christ, the first Adam, the last Adam, thus it is written. And when Paul says it that way, he's not quoting things exactly, in the Greek the nuance is there where it's just a general quote, but this is characteristic of Paul to prove a point by referring to scripture, Old Testament, the first man Adam became a living being, the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

So, the first man Adam becomes a living being, remember God took the dust of the ground and breathed in life, he didn't wait until the monkey stood upright for long enough, and then at that perfect time, put a spirit inside of that monkey.

No wonder Genesis is so attacked, because if you can get rid of the first Adam, what happens to the last Adam? There's no need for the last Adam, Jesus, if you can get rid of the first Adam, you On a side note, beware of people who say they're scholars and Christians, who deny Genesis chapter 1 as literal, and they say, oh it's just poetical, friends, we have a little saying for that back in seminary, here's the saying, it's a weasel word, for weaseling around, oh it's just poetry, no, I think if you read that, nobody on earth would say that's poetry unless you had an agenda to try to make your friends believe you weren't so stupid that you believed in dinosaurs and the ark and an Adam.

Here the comparison is between the first man Adam and the last Adam, you have two men in your life, Adam and Christ. When you were born, you were on Adam's girdle, Thomas Goodwin said, you're hanging on Adam, you're in Adam, you're responsible for what Adam did with that first sin, and when you've been granted saving faith and you repent and trust in a risen savior, you're now in Christ, the last Adam, and he's going to compare these two, matter of fact, he's compared them earlier in the chapter, look at verse 21, 1 Corinthians 15, he contrasts Adam and Christ here, for verse 21 of 1 Corinthians 15, by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead, for us, excuse me, for as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

Well back to 1 Corinthians 15 verse 45, Paul quotes Genesis 2 .7, he adds a couple words but he says the first man Adam became a living being, actually in Genesis it said the man became a living creature, he's comparing Adam to Christ, Adam yields natural body when he procreates and we have a father, Adam, and so Jesus gives life to those who are in Christ, Adam initially disobeys in the probation, Jesus obeys, where Adam failed, Jesus did not, no angel ever had to drive Jesus from the garden for failure, whatever lacked in Adam is fulfilled in Christ, Adam fails, Jesus succeeds, what's true of Adam is true of all his descendants, it's true of you before you were saved, passing on his nature to one, then the next to the next, his physical nature as a human and his sinful nature as a tainted human from Adam, but thankfully look at the passage goes on to say the last Adam, not the second Adam because there might be a third, fourth, fifth, sixth, but the last Adam, Jesus, there's no other ones after this, became a life-giving spirit, the fulfillment of the first Adam is Jesus, the last Adam, and Jesus what does it say, was a life-giving spirit, the last Adam was a life-giving spirit, what does it mean life-giving spirit, what's the context of first Corinthians chapter 15, resurrection, if you think like a Jew, if you slow down in your Bible study just long enough to give life, to be a life-giving spirit, what does to give life mean, it means in the Bible most of the time resurrection, Adam gives a body that's worthy of death, frailty, it ends up in the ground and Jesus gives a life-giving body called a resurrection body, listen to these two verses and see if you can catch giving life, our life-giving with raising the dead, Romans 8, if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies, there it is, to give life to your mortal bodies, Jesus is a giving life spirit, a life-giving spirit because he takes your dead body and he gives it life, who gives you life, Adam?

No, the last Adam, that's the whole point of Paul's argument. Now let's turn to John chapter 5 for a moment and let me show you where some of this comes from, the life-giving Adam, Christ Jesus is the one who raises our body from the dead and that's been given to him by the father, John chapter 5, Steve's in John chapter 3 right now, it will probably take him a couple of years to get to John chapter 5 so he can remind you of these things once he gets there in two years, but for now I need to go here, giving life, life-giving tied to the resurrection, Adam gives a body that is frail and dies, Jesus gives a body that's raised from the dead, say okay pastor I got it, alright well this will reinforce it, John chapter 5 verse 19, anytime I go to a gospel to talk about the Lord the better, Jesus said to them John 5 verse 19, remember earlier in the chapter, he's equating himself to God, they don't like it, truly, truly I say to you the son can do nothing of his own accord but only what he sees the father doing, for whatever the father does that the son does likewise, for the father loves the son and shows him all that he himself is doing and greater works than these will he show him so that you may marvel, for as the father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the son gives life to whom he will, both as believers and both as resurrected bodies and that's going to happen quick in John, John 11, who's raised from the dead?

Lazarus, Jesus raised from the dead, he raises himself from the dead and he raises on judgment day other people from the dead, Jesus is the life giving spirit, he gives life, verse 22, the father judges no one but has given all judgment to the son, what's the point of maybe all of the gospel of John?

That all may honor the son, just as they honor the father, whoever does not honor the son does not honor the father who, what? Sent him, you guys kind of look glazed over so let's talk about this for a second, now when I talk about my birth in 1960 in Omaha Nebraska Clarkson Hospital, I say I was born that day, that's probably how you talk, right?

I was born on such and such a day, did you know that Jesus except for one time that I can think of, never says the word I was born, he didn't say I was born, now he was born of the virgin, holy spirit of course hovered over Mary to guarantee that he was perfect, but Jesus doesn't talk about his birth very much, what does Jesus say?

I was sent, I came, I came forth, can you imagine if you asked me a little bit Mike tell us your testimony first about your background in Nebraska and then how God saved you, well 1960 Omaha Nebraska Clarkson Hospital, I was sent, we don't talk that way, why?

Because we had no beginning, Jesus is the eternal son and he's sent on this mission, I came for this reason, I was sent for this reason, you listen to John and there's that father sending the son, gladly sending, the son gladly going.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 830 and 11am and Sunday evenings at 6pm. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston, Massachusetts. You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

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