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we shall
all be changed
.
by Pastor John
Fredericksen
It reminds us of our
heavenly home, and helps prepare us for the time when we step into
eternity.
In the fall of 2013, a
dear saint in our assembly was having increasingly severe health problems.
One
day he stood and said to us all: “Enjoy your aches and pains now
because one day soon we will be with the Savior in heaven. There we will
be given new heavenly bodies. We will have no pain, no sorrow and no
death. A glorious future awaits us. Rejoice in this.”
The above expectation is
right on target.
When
John the Apostle explained the physical eternal state, he wrote, “Beloved,
now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be:
but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall
see him as he is” (I John
3:2).
We would surely
expect that as God Himself, the Savior no longer experienced any pain.
Revelation 21:4 confirms
this when it refers to the eternal state of the kingdom saints.
John
wrote, “And God shall wipe away all tears… there shall be no more
death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain;
for the former things are passed away.”
The Apostle
Paul explains there will be vast differences in our new eternal body. It
will be a “celestial” body (I Corinthians 15:38-40), meaning it will fitted by God to thrive in the atmosphere
of the heavens.
In
contrast to our physical bodies that are weak, degenerating and eventually
corrupt, our new bodies will be “raised in incorruption… glory… power… [and
as] a spiritual body” (I Corinthians 15:42-44).
To
summarize our change he says, “… as we have born the image of the
earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly” (I Corinthians 15:49).
Whenever you get weighed
down with physical pain, remember, one day our Lord is going to give us
new bodies without weakness or pain.
Believe it, rejoice in it
and look forward to it with thanksgiving.
Keep looking up for
His return in expectation and faithfulness until He comes.
The Berean Bible
Society was founded over
seventy-five years ago for the sole purpose of helping believers understand and
enjoy the Word of God. Our Organization holds without apology to all the
fundamentals of the Christian faith and is evangelical, that is, we
believe that salvation is by grace through faith alone on the basis of the
shed blood of Christ.
We also emphasize the
importance of proclaiming the whole counsel of God in light of the Pauline
revelation. Insofar as Paul is the apostle of the Gentiles, it is our firm
conviction that in his epistles alone we have the doctrine, position, walk, and
destiny for the Church, the Body of Christ, during the dispensation of Grace.
