Derek Prince - What Will Our Resurrected Bodies Be Like?
People say Well, what will that body be like? Paul deals with that question in 1 Corinthians 15:35-38. But someone will say, How are the dead raised up and with what body... do they come? I’m sure most of us have felt like asking that. Foolish one, Paul says. Paul is saying it, not me. What you sow is not made alive unless it dies. And then he goes on with this example of the seed. And what you sow, you do not sow the body that shall be but mere grain (or mere seed, perhaps wheat or some other grain), but God gives it a body as He pleases and to each seed its own body.
Now, there are two things combined there: There’s continuity and there’s change. If you sow an apple pit into the ground... you don’t get an orange. The nature of the seed determines the nature... of the life that will come out of the seed. So there’s continuity... but there’s also change. The apple tree that comes out of the apple pit... is not really very like the pit. So there will be continuity. You’ll be the same but there’ll be a tremendous supernatural change. What you sow determines what comes up but nevertheless what comes up... is totally different from what was sown. So our body is sown in burial... into the ground as a seed - the same body will come forth... but a totally different kind of body.
I think that’s so vivid. I always marvel when I think about a seed. I think about that little thing, whatever color it is. I always think of a watermelon. That black seed. You put it in the ground and who could ever believe that that gorgeous... round melon would come out of it. It’s a continuing miracle. Every time we sow a seed we plant a miracle. And the miracle is designed... to remind us of our resurrection. Jesus was very careful to emphasize that when He rose... it was the same body that had been crucified. We’ll look in Luke 24. The disciples were all scared, very much so, when He first appeared. They couldn’t really believe what had happened. But Jesus said to them... in Luke 24:38-39... after His resurrection appearance: Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your heart? Behold my hands and my side... that it is I myself. In His hands and His side He showed them the evidence... of crucifixion. He wanted to make very plain that it was the same body... but transformed.
And then in John 20... there’s a further record of the resurrection of Jesus. It says: He stood in the midst and said to them: Peace be with you. That’s the traditional Middle East greeting. Now when He had said this He showed them His hands and His side. Why did He do that? To show them it was the same body... that they’d seen crucified. Well, you remember Thomas wasn’t there... and Thomas said, Well, I will not believe unless I can see His hands and side... and put my hand into His side. So a week later Jesus appeared again... and in verse 27 He said to Thomas: Reach your finger here... and look at my hands, and reach your hand here and put it into my side. In other words, the wound was still such that Thomas could put his hand in.
So this is very important because when you get resurrected you’re not going to have a new body, you’re going to have a different body, but it will be the same body changed. Now, Paul tells us... of five specific changes that will take place in our resurrection body. And he speaks of this in 1 Corinthians 15... verses 42-44 and verses 52 and 53. So we’ll read those verses. 42-44... and 52 and 53. Paul says: So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown... in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. You know what corruption is? It’s decay. Anything that decays... is corrupt. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, there is a spiritual body.
Now, that’s hard to understand. Unfortunately, the translation doesn’t help very much. This is one of the problems of the English translation and every translation seems to have the same problem. The Greek word is psuchekos which is directly derived from the Greek word... for a soul which is psuche. There’s only one reasonable translation which is soulish. It is sown a soulish body, it is raised a spiritual body. You see there the distinction between spirit and soul. Now some languages, for instance, Swedish, has a word for soulish. So does Danish. And really, English has got to have that word rightly to represent... what the Bible teaches. For instance, in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 Paul says: The soulish man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God. But the translations all say the natural man, the carnal man, et cetera. It all obscures this tremendously important distinction between... the soulish and the spiritual.
So it’s sown, it’s buried a soulish body. It’s raised a spiritual body. Ask me to explain that and I’m not sure I can. I know what it says. But I suggest to you that in our present body the soul... makes the decisions. If I want to go through the door my soul says: We’ll go through the door and my feet obey. And so, in a sense... our spirit is dependent upon our soul. You remember what David said... to his soul: Soul, praise the Lord. Come on, get moving. The spirit wanted to praise the Lord but the soul was sluggish in response. That’s apparently the way it was. We have to stir up our souls... from our spirits to do the right thing. We know we should be praising the Lord... but our souls are sluggish and so we have to stir them up. This may not satisfy you but it’s the best I can do. When it’s raised it will be a spiritual body. In other words: The spirit will control the body direct. How? I don’t know.
There was a man years ago, a barber in Denmark where my first wife was living. He was a rather simpleminded man but he said one day, I had a dream. And he said, I was in a sort of body and I just pointed to where I wanted to go. If I wanted to go up I pointed up. If I wanted to go to the right... I pointed to the right, to the left, I pointed to the left. Wherever I pointed my body went. I think that’s a spiritual body, you see. It’s a little preview of what it will be like. You won’t have to work through... the soul to get the body to do what you want it to do. Your spirit will make the decisions. Now, you can accept that or not... it’s the best I can offer you.
Now let’s look on also in 1 Corinthians 15... verses 52 and 53. It says: In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye... at the last trumpet, the trumpet will sound. The dead will be raised... incorruptible and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. Corruptible is that which is subject to decay, mortal is that which is subject... to death.
So if you take those two passages together, there are five specific changes that take place in our bodies. From corruptible to incorruptible, subject to decay no longer subject to decay. From mortal to immortal, subject to death no longer subject to death. From dishonor to glory where anybody that’s been buried, in a sense... is a rather pitiable thing, that’s how we go down. When we come up, we come up with glory. It’s in weakness that it’s sown... but it’s in power that it’s raised. And it’s sown, as we’ve already said... a soulish body but comes forth a spiritual body. Let me just give you... those five changes again. From corruptible to incorruptible. From mortal to immortal. From dishonor to glory. From weakness to power. And from soulish to spiritual.