Eternal Change

1 Corinthians 15:37-41 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. 39 All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. 40 There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. 41 The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor. 42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 
 
ONE could summarize this passage with Jeremiah 23:24 “Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?” declares the Lord. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the Lord. Both the prophet and the apostle are teaching and reminding us that God is sovereign to form life at his will. Paul wants us to know this includes our resurrected lives.
   To help us understand this, Paul begins with the illustration of a seed. One plants a seed, not the entire plant. In the seed is the information to grow a particular plant. The seed, then, is the basis for the plant’s creation into a new creation to look as God determined. That is our physical body transformed into a spiritual body.
   Paul then expanded his example to the varied animal kingdom. Man, birds, mammals and fish are very different to God’s glory. Then he contrasted the heavenly bodies with the earth life forms. And finally he contrasted the various planets and stars.
          The seed and the variety of God’s creation illustrates how it will be when the dead are raised. The body that has died gives form to the resurrected body. The perishable becomes imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, meaning a dead body has nothing honorable about it. Yet, it will be raised into glory. Out of weakness it will raise to power. The body is truly resurrected into an eternal spiritual body. This is not a ghost-like existence. It is a real body clothed in Jesus’ righteousness prepared to live in Heaven. Our old bodies born into Adams’ sin will be dead. Our new bodies born into Jesus’ resurrection will be alive forever. 1 Corinthians 15:45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being.” the last Adam (Jesus), a life-giving spirit.