What Will Eternal Life Be Like?
Life that is truly life, life that is full, abundant, joyful… is the gift that God wants to give to you.
Life with no further fear of death, no sorrow, no tears for all that is lost… is the future that awaits you.
Life that is firmly set in a warm fellowship of justice, righteousness, love is… is the promise for the children of God.
You who have been drawn to Christ through God the Father, who have entered into a newness of life, You who have received the Holy Spirit, the down payment, the seed, the guarantee of God’s gift… have been given a glimpse, a foretaste, a sneak peek at what lays ahead.
1 Corinthians 15:50 but you cannot experience, fully know, or possess what is promised except beyond the grave. Let’s read verses 51—58 Death is not meant to be the conclusion of human existence. Death is an enemy introduced through the deception of Satan and the disobedience of man.
But for those who are in Christ it is the final putting off of the old man, the corruptible, the temporary, the needy, the dependent, the vulnerable, the deceptive. We long to put all these weaknesses and pains away. We long to put on the new… to take on eternal life, to come into the fullness of son-ship in the family of God.
What We Are Given to Know
We hear about people who have died… then come back. They say stuff like, “I saw light”, “I felt great peace”. There is a certain fascination about reports like this. In my opinion these can largely be attributed to the final neural activity of the brain as it shuts down after the heart stops beating and sending blood to the brain. I am convinced by scripture that the dead know nothing and have no consciousness.
These stories are human imagination at work. They tell us nothing about the quality or nature of the life to come. But humans are curious and they want to have something to look forward to, even if they have to make stuff up.
Our only true source of information about the life to come is through what God has given us to know from scripture.
The Quality of Resurrected Life
1 Corinthians 13:12 our greatest source of knowledge about the quality and nature of the life to come is through our knowledge of God our Father, through Christ the Son.
We can know something of what we will be like because we know what God is like… and we know that we shall be like Him. For example, consider the context:
- we know God is love
- we know love is patient, love is kind… etc read verses 4-7
- so we know that our life to come we are kind, patient, humble, not rude or selfish, rejoicing in truth.
Knowledge of, understanding of, experiencing of these qualities of God are a form of knowing, understanding and experiencing the life to come. There is much more to be said on this.
The Resurrection Body
But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?
Paul’s answer to this question is basically… that’s a silly question. Then He goes on to give an analogy that says the relationship of our present physical body to our future body is like the relationship between a seed and a fully sprouted plant.
1 Corinthians 15:47,49 we will be raised to bodies like the resurrected Jesus
1 Corinthians 15:45 we will have a spiritual body that has the power of life built in!
We are resurrected to a body, we are not some form of energy or mind floating around. We put off the physical body, our spirit returns to God but it is not alive, at the time appointed by God we will be raised to life with a new body with different qualities and attributes.
Without some form of body there is no life, no reality of existence. The spirit that returns to God does not have a body, it does not live. Why does this matter? Why do I keep coming back to this point?
Eternal life retains your individuality, your person-hood, your unique identity and existence. You are not like a line of code in a vast computer program, you are not like a cell in a body that is greater than you.
This ongoing person-hood or identity is expressed through the reality of a body with a distinction between what is you… and what is not you.
2 Corinthians 5:1-5
In case you think I am getting overly abstract let me give you an example from popular culture: May the force be with you.
The movie Star Wars has used this idea of an active force in the universe... But the idea of an impersonal force that somehow governs the universe is an idea that has been with us for a long time. For some the force is logic or math, for some the force might be love, for some it is life or will.
Thinking people recognize there is a force at work in the universe, but they don’t want it to be personal… because they don’t want it to judge them. We have a built in sense of shame about the idea that we might be judged and found guilty or inadequate. Some people convince themselves that the force we perceive in the universe is somehow non-personal, non-judging, and in so doing they sear their conscience.
God the creator is personal. He is separate from the creation. He has thoughts, plans, He judges matters. AND He presents Himself to us as having bodily form… limitless in power, in knowledge, in presence, but also distinct, separate, and unique.
The Resurrection Status
1 John 2:28-3:3 we shall be like God in character… but also when the glorified Christ appears we shall be like Him, the context here is appearance
Romans 8:29-30 two concepts are used together here to describe this appearance:
- We shall be like Him in His glory
- We shall be like Him as a brother
Both these concepts tie together character, appearance, and status.
Member of the Family
We will never be able to say we existed eternally. But, we are elevated to a plane of existence where we are called children of God and brothers of Christ. We are raised to a place in a family setting with the Father and the Son. Therefore we have a particular status in the universe.
Our status within the family is further explained by describing us as the bride of Christ. Our status within the family will be that we are subject to the authority of Christ just as a wife is to be subject to her husband in marriage.
Sharing the Divine Glory & Dominion of Christ
Christ in all His glory means in the full splendor of His being, His righteous character, His full dignity & authority, the fullness of His power, position, and possessions. [a daffodil, a valiant warrior etc]
Romans 8:16-19 the glory of His dominion and possession
2 Corinthians 3:18 the glory of His character which is being formed in you right now
2 Thessalonians 2:14 we share Christ’s glory with Him
Hebrews 1:1-3, 2:5-9 Christ’s glory is also the glory of God, the family of God. It is above the glory and status of angels.
Revelation 1:14-16 power with the look of like a nuclear reactor standing next to you.
Scriptures tell us that we too will share in that… radiating power, life, dignity, righteousness, power position, possessions Daniel 12:2-3.
Working Together With Christ
Sharing in the glory of Christ means so much more than being shiny. It means we are raised to stand beside Him working together with Him in God’s ongoing project of creation.
Romans 8:17 Revelation 21:7 Colossians 1:15-20
Resurrected spirit life will be active and engaged… not a life of contemplation, gazing endlessly into the face of God. Yes, we will enjoy Him and His presence… like a bride enjoys her husband… but by doing things together!
We already know about the first project lined up for us: to help with the 1,000 year roll-out demonstration of the rule of God established on earth. A demonstration of how God’s way looks when actually applied in the physical world.
- Rebuilding the infrastructure
- Participating in the spiritual development of the people alive during that time. God has plans for them as well.
Revelation 20:4 Revelation 5:10
Isaiah 40:28-31 as spirit born children of God we will never tire. We will not need to refuel our bodies. Energy, power, and life will be in us. In a sense we will be a source of energy with no need to be upheld or sustained by any exterior force 1 Corinthians 15:41-44.
As a priest you will teach → As a king you will judge and enforce.
Revelation 2:26; 3:21
God’s Invitation To You
All this can be yours… if you respond to God’s invitation.
The invitation is not extended to everyone in this present evil age Matthew 13:11
The bible speaks of and elect or chosen… people who are drawn to Christ by the Father and called to understand these things now.
1 Peter 2:9 the church is this chosen people… called to be Christ’s bride, His help mate… to become kings and priests in the coming age which directly follows the return of Christ as king of kings and lord of lords.
The 1,000 year rule of Christ is only the beginning
2 Peter 3:9 the offer will be extended to everyone in time, according to God’s purpose and timeline.
Revelation 21:4,7 after the 1,000 year rule of Christ… the plan continues. There will be a new heaven and a new earth… a new reality.
- The future beyond is not limited to earth
- The future beyond is not limited to the 1,000 years
God will share this very real future world with those who are willing to believe, to repent, and to take hold of the promise through baptism, laying on of hands, and the receipt of the holy spirit.
For those who have not yet decided: the time to decide is now
God wants you to live with Him in the abundance and fullness of life… forever. He will make it happen if you let Him.
And for those of you in whom God has already begun this good work… He will see it through to the end… if you will.
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