New Year’s resolutions often focus on getting in better shape or better health. But, as well-intentioned as such resolutions are, they can’t undo the opening line of the poem by Solomon: “There is a time for everything… a time to be born and a time to die.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2). For all of us, our bodies are frail and mortal.
When a loved one passes away, we grieve their loss. We often console ourselves with words about the departed going to heaven and seeing Jesus. While those words are good, they are only half of the story. What happens to the person’s physical body?
Sometimes we see cartoons of people in heaven floating in the clouds like body-less angels, but that is not how the Bible describes the afterlife. When we die our physical body ceases to function, but the spiritual part of us, our soul, lives on—perhaps in heaven. We may think of our body and soul as two distinct parts of us. The body is sort of a container that houses our soul until we die. But if we have a physical disease or mental illness or dementia we realize how closely linked our body and soul are. Physical sickness affects our mind, and vice versa. God made us to be whole persons with an integrated body and soul. Just as the soul needs to be redeemed, so our body needs redemption as well (Romans 8:23).
How can our body be redeemed? This takes more than making a resolution. The biblical answer to that question is the resurrection. Our bodies will be raised and restored to us at the end of this age. In a vision the prophet Daniel was told that “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2). But the timing of this future event was confusing to Daniel, so he said, “I heard, but I did not understand” (Daniel 12:8). If Daniel admitted that he couldn’t understand when or how these things would happen, I admit that I don’t either.
The Apostle Paul wrote about the bodily resurrection of Christians: “For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling …so what is mortal may be swallowed up with life. (2 Corinthians 5:1-3, 4). When Paul wrote about our earthly tent being destroyed, he meant our frail mortal bodies. Paul said he did not want to be unclothed (without a physical body); he anticipated being clothed with an eternal house (a new improved body), which God had already prepared for him (and also for us).
So, whether alive or deceased, we are waiting for a future resurrection. It is then that we will receive new bodies. In some ways they will resemble our current bodies, but without the frailties. Paul called these redeemed bodies immortal. They will be a “heavenly dwelling.”
But when a loved one dies, the hope of heaven or a future resurrection may seem a small consolation. We miss our loved one and would rather they were still alive! Remember the story of Martha, the sister of Lazarus, as she met Jesus at her brother’s gravesite (John 11:21-27). She was overcome with grief and blamed Jesus for arriving too late to prevent Lazarus’ death: “If you had been here, my brother would not have died…” Jesus responded, “Your brother will rise again.” She said, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” But if we listen “between the lines” to her statement, she wanted more than a future “end of the age” resurrection—in her sorrow she wanted her brother to be alive now!
Jesus reassured her by making one of the most profound statements in the Bible: Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life.” Jesus linked resurrection with the deeper reality of life. Resurrection is a manifestation of life. It is not just an event that will happen someday, it is a present reality in the person of Jesus. He was/is heaven and earth united in a person. He was/is resurrection and eternal life—starting now (1 John 5:13)!
Therefore Jesus said to Martha, “Anyone who believes in me will never die.” In other words, even when believers die, they are still alive! He asked her, “Do you believe this?” She said, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who has come into the world.”
So, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, proving that he is indeed the resurrection and the life. For Lazarus this resurrection was temporary. He was back in his mortal body. But the miracle was a picture of life conquering death. It was a preview of Jesus’ own resurrection on Easter. It was also a guarantee of every believer’s future resurrection, whenever God chooses to make that happen.
When will it happen? As we noted earlier, the prophet Daniel admitted he was confused about the timing of future things, but he was given a wonderful reassurance: “As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance” (Dan 12:13). I find that verse to be very comforting. Like Daniel, we don’t have to understand the timing of future events: the when or the how they will happen. It is enough to know that God knows and that we, like Daniel, may rest (die) until we all share in the coming resurrection. That is our great hope!
Greg Giles is a published author, who, along with his wife Jean, has embraced the call to serve and teach around the globe. Their life together has included missionary work in Liberia, Bangladesh, teaching in China, and raising a family in Bemidji, Minnesota. Between global travels and local commitments, including serving as superintendent of Corn Bible Academy and their current part-time roles at Corn Heritage Village, the Gileses have found “home” in many places; yet, they now happily reside in retirement in Cordell. Please visit his website at reflections-on-wisdom.com.