Resurrection Bodies
HEIDELBERG CATECHISM, LORD’S DAY 22
How does “the resurrection of the body” comfort you?
Not only my soul will be taken immediately after this life to Christ its head, but even my very flesh, raised by the power of Christ, will be reunited with my soul and made like Christ’s glorious body.
How does the article concerning “life everlasting” comfort you?
Even as I already now experience in my heart the beginning of eternal joy, so after this life I will have perfect blessedness such as no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no human heart has ever imagined: a blessedness in which to praise God eternally.
Resurrection Bodies
Wednesday, May 24: Philippians 3:17-4:1
To be a Christian means that our identity is in Christ, our citizenship is with Him in heaven, and our hope is that He “will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:20-21; cf. 1 John 3:2). We profess that when Christians die their bodies go into the ground and their souls are taken up to be with Christ. We also profess that on the day of resurrection their bodies and souls will be reunited. We profess this based on our Christ-centered identity, citizenship and hope. The Catechism, therefore, invites each of us to profess that “my very flesh, raised by the power of Christ, will be reunited with my soul and made like Christ’s glorious body.” Some people believe the body is the prison house of the soul, an evil from which the soul will be delivered. That teaching is not found in the Bible. Indeed, our bodies bear the scars of the power of sin and evil in the form of terminal cancer, cardiac arrest, physical disabilities, depression, and mental disorders. Still, our bodies are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:13-16). They may die as perishable, but will be raised in glory (1 Corinthians 15:35-54). They, too, long for the day when there will be “no more death or mourning or crying or pain” when they will be “made like Christ’s glorious body” (Revelation 21:4; cf. Romans 8:18-25). I believe that day will be spectacular. Can you imagine the deaf hearing, the lame dancing, and the speechless voicing praise to the Lord? Even that small morsel of glory should stir our hearts to pray that our “beginning of eternal joy” will soon be fully experienced.
Pastor Calvin Hoogendoorn