Session 11: The Final Resurrection

In this session, I explore the nature of our future raptured bodies. Paul taught that the Adamic body of flesh and blood will not inherit the eternal kingdom of heaven. The natural human body that is male or female will need to be transformed into a presently unknown kind of immortal body so that God’s people can inherit the kingdom of heaven. Paul compared this process of transformation to seeds or nuts that are planted into the ground. A planted pecan does not come up out of the ground as another pecan. Rather, it is transformed into a magnificent tree. We cannot examine the exterior of a pecan, or crack it open and examine the interior, and determine what kind of plant will emerge when it germinates. Likewise, we cannot determine what our future bodies will be like by examining the natural body. The current Adamic body is adapted for the Genesis earth, but the transformed eternal body of the sons of God will be adapted for the eternal new heavens and new earth—which have yet to be created. Paul taught that we need not worry about heaven being a boring existence, for God has already demonstrated his remarkable creativity when he created many kinds of bodies in this Genesis creation. We can trust him to use this same creativity when he gives us a new kind of body adapted for the new earth.