What are the benefits of the resurrection of Jesus Christ? When Jesus returns, fantastic things are going to happen. When he returns, he will come in the sky. Paul wrote that all who follow him will be caught up into the sky to meet him in the air. And when that happens, we won’t have human bodies anymore. We will be transformed to have immortal resurrected bodies.  So how will you look? What will that body be like? What will it be able to do?

What Are Benefits of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ?

Well, there are some fantastic clues in the Bible that answer that very question. Like king Zechariah 14:9 says, the Lord will be king over the whole earth. Now before Jesus comes down and touches the ground, he’s gonna have a little family reunion in the sky. When he shows up, we’re going to all meet him in the sky, and we are going to be transformed to have immortal bodies as it says in 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 15. and says again in 1st Corinthians chapter 15 verse 52.

So, in my opinion, the question “Is Jesus coming soon?” isn’t so important. The more important question is “How He will look like?” and “How we will look like?”

Immortal Bodies

So get the picture when Jesus comes back. He’s going to appear in the sky, and the believers who have died will be raised in new bodies to meet him in the sky. And then we who are alive and seeing all this going down well we’re not just gonna be left on the earth. We’re gonna be caught up to meet them in this great reunion in the sky as well. And we also will be given new immortal bodies. The immortal body is one of the most significant benefits of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and also the benefits of our resurrection. So again I ask. What will that new body look like and what will it be able to do?

Two Types of Bodies

Let’s get into it in first Corinthians chapters 15 and 16 the Apostle Paul. He explains in this chapter that there are two types of bodies. There are earthly bodies, and there are heavenly spiritual bodies. As it reads first Corinthians chapter 15 verse 40, there are heavenly bodies, and there are earthly bodies. But the blender of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. So what is the earthly body?  You know what the earthly body is like you’re living in it right now and you know how it is sometimes you get sick sometimes it has pain.  Your earthly body is limited by things like physical space and time. So it’s far from perfect.  The Apostle Paul explained that just like how when you have a seed and you plant that seed you’re going to expect for eventually that seed to turn into a fruit or maybe a plant. Well, this earthly body is like God’s seed. When God has sowed our body as a seed into this earth, there is this great expectation that one day this body will become what it was supposed to be. And when Jesus returns there will be a great harvest, and we will be transformed into what we were supposed to have heavenly spiritual bodies. As it says at first Corinthians chapter 15 verse 42.

Earthly Bodies and Heavenly Bodies

So what is this heavenly spiritual body like? Let’s just get into it. So remember there are two types of bodies. There are earthly bodies and heavenly bodies. When Jesus came to the earth, he came as a human in their earthly body. But when he was raised from the dead, the scripture teaches that he was resurrected in a new heavenly spiritual body. And all who follow him will walk the same life pattern as Jesus. When you believe in Jesus, and you confess to Him as your Lord and king, you will find yourself walking the same life pattern as he. What do I mean?
Well once you believe in Jesus and just like Jesus was a human you are a human. And just as Jesus called God his father you can now call God your father. Just like how Jesus was raised in his new heavenly body you too will be raised in a new heavenly spiritual body as it reads Philippians 3:21.
So if we wish to know what the new body is like we just have to study those in the Bible who had the new body.  The prime examples of that are Jesus. Because when Jesus was resurrected, he had this new heavenly body. Guess who else has this new heavenly body and guess who else has the spiritual body? Angels. According to the scripture angels also have the heavenly spiritual body. Also, remember Paul said that in the resurrection we will be like Christ. But Christ said that in the resurrection we will be like the Angels.
Why are we gonna be like Christ or like the Angels? The answer is because both Jesus and angels have that heavenly spiritual body. There are two types of body. Earthly bodies and then heavenly bodies. When Jesus was resurrected, he had the same type of body that angels had the heavenly spiritual body. That’s found in Luke 20 34.

You Will Be like the Angels

You see, Jesus was surrounded by people asking him a lot of questions and one of those questions was,  how is marriage going to be like in the resurrection and what are we going to be like. And Jesus told them in verse 34 he said:

So basically he’s saying if you are sure a child of the resurrection that means you know you are a child of God which means you are going to have the heavenly body like the Angels have for they will be like the angels. So in that passage, Jesus was saying that we will have that spiritual, heavenly body which is the same type of body he had.
So what were some of the things that Jesus was able to do in his new body? A lot of times when you hear people will talk about the heavenly spiritual body you know they think that we will look like spirits or ghosts without being able to operate in the physical world really. But the Bible says we were not going just to be spiritual ghosts when you get that new body. You see when you die you need the spirit. It’s just by itself. But when you get this new spiritual, heavenly body, you know, there’s a reason. It’s called a spiritual body. It’s called that because it will be a physical body that can interact with the spiritual realm. That’s right. It will be spiritual. It will be a physical body that can interact with the spiritual realm.

What Will You Be Able to Do?

Well, what am I talking about? When Jesus was resurrected, he did something amazing, and the Bible recorded this so that you would be able to get a glimpse at what you will be able to do. When Jesus was resurrected before his followers even knew that he had come back to life. They were all in a room, and the doors were locked, and they were in this room with the doors locked. Why? Just because they were all terrified. They were thinking they were going to be next to die. And so they were in this room locked, and they were sad because Jesus had died and Jesus appears out of nowhere right in front of him. He was able to do that, and we find this in John chapter 20 verse 19.

Not Just a Ghost

And you know when that happened they were startled and frightened, and they were thinking they saw a ghost. But Jesus went to prove that he was not just a ghost, but he was very physical. So he said to them.

And then they gave him a piece of fish.  He took that and ate it in their presence. So he went to show them that he was very physical. And this is amazing because from this we can see that with this new heavenly spiritual body Jesus was able to walk through a wall and then be touched on his physical body. And also eat food which is nice. Because it proves then the new body you’re gonna, have you will still like to eat.

The Physical World Can Not Limit the Body

Say amen to that but primarily, with this new body, the physical world could not limit him. He could walk through a physical wall and then be physical. Again, he was basically able to exist in two different at the same time. And that’s what you’re gonna be able to do when you receive that same body as well you will be able to operate in two different realms at once.
You see we live in a physical world. You can see physical things. You can touch physical things. But there is also a spiritual world with spiritual forces and spiritual wonders all around us that you can’t even see. In fact, the only way you can operate with the spiritual realm is through the holy spirit. That is within you which allows you to receive things like insight and revelation. But you can’t really interact with it. You can’t really see it. But in this new body, you will be able to not only operate with the physical world but also with the spiritual world at the same time. In the new body, you will indeed see and interact with everything. But you will be limited by nothing like Jesus was not even limited by a door.

The Matrix Reloaded

So this is a concept that’s really foreign to our existence and believes it or not there is a scene from a famous movie that kind of illustrates what this looks like. And it’s not really a Christian movie, but it’s a good film. The Matrix Reloaded. There’s a couple of characters in this movie that kind of demonstrates how it will kind of look if someone could operate in two different realms at once. Check out this scene. You’ll see what I’m talking about. These guys are able to go through physical objects. That’s similar to how the new body will be. So it’s just kinda exciting check this out.

Now, of course, you know what we’re going to have. It’s gonna be a lot more glorious and fantastic than that but it just kind of gives an illustration of life. You’re gonna be able to do things that are entirely new to what we can do now. So something else that Jesus did and his new body which shows that’s what we’re gonna be able to do are recorded in first Corinthians 15 verse 6. It says after that, and it’s referring to after he was resurrected. He appeared to more than 500 of the brothers and sisters at the same time. You probably read that before, but when you really study the text, and you really study the verse, you realize that this verse is loaded. It says that when he was resurrected, he appeared to more than 500 people, and then it says at the same time.

Then Was No Skype or Facetime

Now you could just say to yourself okay maybe after he was resurrected he went on a mountain and he gave a speech to like a big crowd of 500 people. Or maybe went to a room that was filled with 500 people. But actually many scholars and others note that that may not be the case. Because of this verse, it says at the same time, and it’s likely that the reason that the verse says at the same time is that it wants to emphasize a point that Jesus wasn’t just appearing to a large crowd of 500 people or an audience of 500 people. It wants to emphasize that he appeared to 500 people in different places at the same time. He didn’t just speak to a big crowd, but it is likely that this is saying that in this new heavenly spiritual body he appeared to multiple people in different locations at the same time.

Now, how could you do that if you didn’t have FaceTime or Skype? How could that even be possible? Well, it’s possible if you have that new heavenly spiritual body. You see, in the new heavenly spiritual body, you will not be by physical space or by time. This means that you would be able to be in multiple places at the same time. This is going to be an entirely new state of existence. Think about it. If in this new body you’re not going to be limited by the time that brings a lot of questions into your mind. Does that mean that when you have this new body that if you’re not limited by the time that you could possibly go ahead of time or even back in time? I don’t know. I’m not gonna touch that. I only want to stick to what the Scriptures are showing. But it brings to mind that some fantastic things are gonna be possible. All I know is when we receive this new body it will be an entirely new state of existence. So what would you look like? What will you look like? Will you look like yourself?

We Won’t Have Any Pain

First of all, we know that when we receive the new heavenly spiritual body at Jesus’s return, we know that we’re not going to be limited in any way. We won’t have any pain. We won’t have any death. We won’t have any backache. We won’t have any of that stuff. We won’t even have the same sinful cravings and addictions that our body has because our body would be perfect essentially. So what would we look like? Well Jesus when he was resurrected by his new body, Jesus was able to look however he wanted to look. That’s right. He was able to look however he wanted to look. That’s amazing in itself because you know that we were going on extreme diets and we will pluck her eyebrows. We will get plastic surgery. We will do all these things to try to look a certain way. But in that new body if you want to look a certain way you just got to have the thought and it’s done. We’ve seen an illustration of this because Jesus appeared to a couple of his followers on the road to Emmaus. When he appeared to them, he didn’t want them to recognize him. He wanted to see what they were saying about the death of the Messiah. And when they saw him Jesus changed his appearance just like that. He just changed his appearance, and they were talking with him for a long time. When he was ready to reveal to them who he really was in an instance, they were able to recognize him, and he morphed into the familiar face. So Jesus was able to look one way and then that at a whim he was able to look another way.

How Jesus Looked in His Glorified Heavenly Form

In your new body, you will be able to look at how you want to look. It gets more profound than that because you may wonder. So if Jesus could check to look basically in his new body, however, he wanted to look how did he really really look like how is the standard resurrection body gonna look.  Well, but when Jesus was resurrected on the earth most of the time, he looked like his earthly self. The Bible records that – most people just look the way he always had looked in his earthly body. That was probably by choice.  I mean apparently, it was by choice but we also in the Bible get a glimpse of how Jesus looked in his glorified heavenly form, and this also will show you how you’re gonna kind of appear.
So we see in the book of Revelation chapter 1 verse 10.  John had a vision of how Jesus will look when he returns, and we know that because in verse 10.

John Has Seen Jesus

So we know that man John has seen Jesus. He saw Jesus on the day he’s going to return because it says the Lord’s Day. And when you study the Lord’s Day or the day of the Lord and the Old Testament by the prophets that always refers to that point when Jesus is returning to the earth with his crowns. Not on that crowns of thorns but crowns of glory and majesty. And he is going to reclaim every domain on earth as the kingdom of God. And he’s going to come in his full glory. And this is the day that John is caught up to see. And when he sees Jesus at this moment, he is seeing him in full glory. And he says, “I heard a voice from me a voice behind me like a trumpet. I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me, and it was someone like the son of a man.

His Eyes Were like a Blazing Fire

The Son of Man is Jesus dressed in a robe. And here he describes his appearance. And this shows us how we will just be able to look however we want to look. But we will also have a glorified heavenly appearance as saying first John 3.