Sugar Land Bible Church

Dr. Andy Woods: Well, this time we're going to dismiss our children to their junior church program. Hopefully that will free up some seats, Lord willing. There's always seats in front, but then you're kind of in what we call spit-and-distance. Well, let's take our Bibles this morning on this very special Resurrection Sunday and let's open them to the book of Romans, chapter 8 and verse 18. Let's see, I'm going to need my confidence monitor on in the back, hopefully.

The title of our message this morning is something that I'm not sure gets enough attention on Resurrection Sunday, and that's the believer's future resurrected body. Typically, when you hear messages on Resurrection Sunday from preachers and teachers, they're generally done in a way to prove that Jesus is the Messiah because of the empty tomb. They come from kind of an apologetics, defense of the faith background, which is all well and good.

But I sometimes wonder in our presentations of the resurrection if we have not missed one of the big ideas in it, which is hope. Because the tomb is empty, we have hope. Paul, in the resurrection chapter in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 20, made this very clear. He says, "But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep." And then in verse 23, he says, "But each in his own order: Christ, the first fruits; after that, those who are Christ's at His coming."

He uses this analogy that the Jewish mind reading this would pick up on immediately. The nation of Israel did not have one harvest; they had three. They had the first fruits, the general harvest, and then the gleanings. The general harvest was the main harvest. The gleanings are the edges of the territory that the nation of Israel, in the book of Leviticus and the book of Exodus, were told not to harvest when that harvest came in, but leave that for the poor.

God always looked out for the poor. He gave the poor dignity to work along with everyone else. You might remember from the Bible that Ruth met Boaz at that third harvest called the gleanings. But the harvest that launched it all is something called first fruits. First fruits was always a happy time within the nation of Israel because the initial crop came in. As the initial crop came in, it guaranteed that the rest of the phases of the harvest cycle would happen.

No first fruits, no general harvest, no gleanings. First fruits comes in, look at that, we're going to have a general harvest and then we're going to have a gleanings. And here Paul, in the resurrection chapter, 1 Corinthians 15, analogizes the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ to phase one of this harvest cycle called first fruits. Meaning, His resurrection guarantees our resurrection. His resurrected body guarantees our future resurrected body as God's people.

God has a program in mind in which He's going to—it's a little bit more than a makeover—He's going to take your existing body and put it in a resurrected state. And folks, you're going to love it, believe me. So what we're dealing with here is the believer's coming resurrected body. We have seven points that we're going to work through as time permits. I hope you like the letter P, because here we go.

The first is the problem. What's the problem? Why do we need a resurrected body? The reason there's a problem is this world is in a state of groaning. It's in a state of travail. It's been that way ever since our forebears sinned in Eden back in Genesis chapter 3. Paul, in the book of Romans, talks about this state of groaning. He says, for example, in Romans 8, verse 22, "For we know that the whole creation," that's the whole cosmos, "groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now."

And this has even affected our physical bodies. Romans chapter 8 and verse 23 says, "And not only this, but we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, awaiting eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies." The truth of the matter is our bodies are in a groaning state, aren't they? We were told this all the way back in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 19.

By the sweat of your face you will eat your bread till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Sin and its effects are so comprehensive it has even had a negative impact on our physical bodies. Dr. Thomas Constable, in his online notes, says we groan because we feel the pains associated with mortality, namely our physical limitations, sickness, the increasing of disability that accompanies advancing age.

We groan because we long to enter into whatever God has for us in the future: an intermediate body, a resurrection body, or a heavenly home. We want to be clothed. God's promises of something better make us dissatisfied with what we have now. We long for the time when immortal life will, in a sense, consume what is mortal and dies. Paul talked about this as his age was advancing.

He says in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 16, "Therefore we do not lose heart." Most people do because their whole self-image many times is wrapped up in this world, which is fading away. Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man—he doesn't say might decay—it is decaying, our inner man is being renewed day by day. There is something going on inside of us which is good, the work of the Holy Spirit, but there's something happening on the outside of us which is negative; it's a deterioration that we are all under.

Jesus came into the world to fix humanity's problems, not just our spiritual issue, our alienation from God, but our physical issue as well. Jesus, in John's Gospel, performs seven signs. The third one down there is the healing of the invalid at the pool of Bethesda. A man that had been in a paralyzed state for many, many years. And this is what John chapter 5 and verse 5 says: a man was there who had been ill for 38 years.

Jesus asked him this question in the next verse, "Do you wish to get well?" The man said yes. Jesus said to him, "Get up, pick up your pallet and walk." And immediately the man became well and picked up his pallet and he began to walk. And when Jesus performed this miracle, He was putting humanity on notice that He came into our world not just to fix spiritual issues as important as they are, which is our ultimate issue, our separation from God, but He came into the world to minister to the deepest needs of a human being, including his bodily condition.

And perhaps you're not in the situation where you've been in a paralyzed state, a lame state for 38 years, but give it enough time, and your body will show more and more signs of deterioration. It's just like a car. You put a certain number of miles on it, and you have to keep getting fixes and mechanics and things of that nature. That's the way our human bodies are in original sin. The older they get, the more repairs they need, the more doctor visits are necessary because we're fighting a losing battle.

I mean, water flows downhill. We're on this downhill slide. And when you're young and dumb, as I like to say—the problem with youth is it's wasted on the young, right? When you're feeling great, you have a tendency to make a lot of crazy decisions that you wish you hadn't, when you should have been honoring your creator in the days of your youth, as the Bible says. The problem with being young is you don't really have a sensitivity to this, but as you get older, it's inevitable. It's something that happens to all of us. We all have a big problem, which is the deterioration of our physical bodies.

If you don't believe me, just take out your high school yearbook and put it next to your modern-day driver's license picture, and you'll see exactly what I'm talking about. Or go to your high school reunion: 30-year reunion, 40-year reunion, 50-year reunion. Beyond that, I call it the night of the living dead, some of those reunions where people are unrecognizable, and they don't recognize you either, because obviously something has gone wrong with our physical bodies.

So we have this problem. And the Lord came into our world to fix these problems, and specifically this one that I'm addressing this morning. Which takes us to the second P, and that's the power. God has a program in mind where He's going to take you and put you into a body of power. Paul talks about this very openly in 1 Corinthians 15, verses 42 through 44. He says, "So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, but it is raised an imperishable body."

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. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Paul here is contrasting our present state with our future bodily state. Currently, my body is perishable, but I'll be in a body one day that's imperishable. Currently, it's lowly, but I'll be in a body one day as a Christian that's honorable.

The current body is weak; I'll be in a body one day that's powerful. The earthly body is natural; the coming body is spiritual. After all, this is just an earthly body, but the body that's on the horizon for the Christian is a heavenly body. What's interesting about this whole thing is it's still you. I recognize you, you recognize me, but you might say to me, "Andy, you look a lot better," because it's the body as God intended, before the effects of original sin began to do their work of deterioration. It's the body as God intended for humanity to enjoy before the tragic fall of man in Genesis chapter 3.

Imagine being in a body with no broken bones, no cancer scares, no doctor's visits, no fatigue issues. And you might say to yourself, "Wait a minute, Pastor, I'm very healthy, and I drink all of that green stuff every morning, and my wife feeds me all these vitamins." My wife does. Sometimes the vitamins are more than the meal, you know. Well, congratulations, you've got a bunch of vitamins and green stuff going through a body that's deteriorating.

What you're doing is you're postponing the inevitable. I mean, diet and exercise, it all has its place, but it's not going to solve the problem. It can't stop the snowball from growing as it goes downhill and it accelerates. But God has a program in mind where we're going to be placed in a brand new body. And guess what? If I'm understanding my Bible right, it's a body that won't even need sleep.

When you go to the last two chapters of the Bible, Revelation 21 and 22, it describes the eternal state. And there's a lot of things missing from the eternal state: no Satan, no sea, no death, crying or pain, no temple, no evil, no curse. But did you notice these here? No sun, no moon, which reflects the sun. Why is that? Because Jesus will be there. We know from 1 Timothy chapter 6 and verse 16 that Jesus, the Lord of Lords, possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light.

Why would you need the sun, S-U-N, when you have the presence of the Son, S-O-N? No sun, no moon, no night, it says there in Revelation 21 and verse 25, I think it is. Revelation 21:23 says of this eternal city, "The city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is its Lamb." Revelation 22, verse 5 says, "And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have the need of the light of a lamp nor of the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever."

Well, how do you have light without the sun and moon and stars? It's just like it was in early Genesis. Light shows up immediately in the Bible. Genesis chapter 1, verse 3: "Then the Lord said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light." And that was before the luminaries—the sun, moon, and stars—were brought into existence on the fourth day of creation. What's my point? My point is we are headed for a destination where night will be a thing of the past.

And what do you do at night? You sleep. Well, if we're in bodies that don't need rejuvenation, which is what sleep provides, then there's no need any longer for the night. So it's a body of power that won't have to be rejuvenated even through what we commonly participate in today called sleep. Not needed, because we're headed for a new body and a destination where the Son, S-O-N, illuminates everything and therefore there's no need for the sun, S-U-N, or the moon, which reflects the sun, etc.

Not only is there a problem, not only are we headed for a body with power, but the body that we are headed for is permanent, unlike this body. Peter writes in 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 13 about his current body, "Yes, I think it's right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by way of reminder." Peter looked at his current body as a tent. Now, what does a tent communicate? I mean, if you go camping and you set up a tent for the weekend, you're communicating that you're not going to be there for long. You're there for a few days, and then you're going to be moving out of the tent, you're going to take the tent down, and you're going to go back to your home, wherever that may be. That's how to look at this body. It's a tent; it's temporary; it's not designed to live forever.

Paul develops this contrast in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verses 1 through 4. He says, "For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan," amen to that, "longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we have put it on, we will not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life." What is this tent, this body? It's a tent; it's a tabernacle.

Now, the Jewish mind, Peter, the apostle to the Jews, would recognize this imagery very clearly. The tabernacle was something that God took the nation of Israel to when He took them to Mount Sinai. He gave them instructions for the tabernacle. Very specific dimensions were laid out for the tabernacle. And it was, the best I can tell, a mobile temple. They were not yet in the promised land, yet they needed a place of worship, and so God gave them instructions about 1446 BC, the date of the Exodus, for this tabernacle, which was something that moved as they moved.

When they moved, they had specific instructions about taking it down. When they set up camp, they had specific instructions about putting it back up. And this is the condition that the nation of Israel was in from 1446 BC until 966 BC, a span of about 480 years, when Solomon finally built the first temple. And of course we read about that in 1 Kings chapter 6, verse 1. It says, "Now it came about in the four hundred and eightieth year after the sons of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord."

So if they just got the temple then in 966 BC, what were they in for 500 years? They were in something called the tabernacle. The tabernacle was temporary; the temple was permanent. So when the Apostle Paul describes our body in comparison to the next body, or the body that's coming, I should say, he uses this imagery of the difference between the tabernacle, which was temporary, to the temple in the land of Israel, which was a fixture; it was permanent.

Dr. Ron Rhodes, in his excellent book, "40 Days Through Bible Prophecy," sums it up as follows: "Paul says that while our present earthly bodies are like tents, our future resurrection bodies will be like stone buildings. Paul was speaking in terms his Jewish listeners would have understood. The temporary tabernacle of Israel's wanderings in the wilderness was like a giant tent-like structure. The tent was eventually replaced with a permanent building, a stone temple, after Israel entered the promised land. The temporary tent, or mortal body, in which believers now dwell will be replaced one day at the point of the rapture with an eternal, immortal, imperishable body much like a stone temple."

Solomon built temple number one. And when he built temple number one, the days of the wilderness wanderings and a temporary tabernacle were over. That's the comparison between our body now and in the future. It's the difference between a tabernacle, which is temporary, and a temple, which is permanent. William MacDonald, in the Believer's Bible Commentary, says, "A tent is not a permanent dwelling, but a portable one for pilgrims and travelers. The temporary tent is taken down, but a new permanent house awaits the believer in the land beyond the skies." I love it. This is a building from God in the sense that God is the one who gives it to us. The believer's future body is also described as eternal in the heavens. It is a body that will no longer be subject to disease, decay, death, but one that will endure forever in our heavenly home.

Now, I hope we're the rapture generation, but I can't guarantee that. If we're not the rapture generation, all of us are going to die at some point. And when I die, don't get too emotional. I mean, I would appreciate if you had a funeral for me or whatever, but don't get too bent out of shape about it, because the truth of the matter is I didn't die. I just moved. See that? That's how to look at the death of a Christian. They didn't stop existing; they moved. They moved from a temporary structure, a tent, into something more permanent. So that body that is in our future, you'll notice the permanency of it.

There's a fourth P here that I'll bring to your attention, and that's the physicality of this body. It's a physical, real experience with sight, sound, touch, that's just as real as what you're experiencing in this room with the people next to you as you're looking up here, as I'm looking at you. How do I know that? Because the Bible teaches that our future bodies are going to be just like Jesus's body when He came out of the grave. His resurrected body is a prototype of our future bodies. Did you know that?

1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 49 says, "Just as we have borne the image of the earthly, we will also bear the image of the heavenly." Philippians 3, verses 20 and 21 says, "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory by the exertion of power, and He is even to subject all things to Himself." 1 John 3:2 and 3 says, "Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself even as He is pure."

So you have three scriptures there—1 Corinthians 15, verse 49; Philippians 3, verses 20 and 21; 1 John 3, verses 2 and 3—which tell us very clearly that if you want a glimpse of what your body is going to be like, study the resurrected body of Jesus. What was His body like? And this is important for the final points I'll try to make in this sermon as well, numbers five, six, and seven. But right now we're dealing with the physicality of the body. What kind of body was Jesus in? Well, it was a body that the disciples could touch.

Luke 24 and verse 39, this is what Jesus said after coming out of the tomb, "See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; touch me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." Jesus didn't come out of the tomb as Casper the Ghost or something. This was an absolute physical experience. And He told His disciples over and over again, "Touch me, test this out and see." In Matthew chapter 28 and verse 9, this is what Jesus said to the women at the tomb: "Behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him." Now, how do you take hold of someone's feet if they're not in a body?

John 20, verses 16 and 17, this is what He said to Mary: "Jesus said to her, 'Mary!' And she turned and said to Him in Hebrew, 'Rabboni!' which means teacher. Jesus said to her, 'Stop clinging to me!'" I mean, she gave him a bear hug, and finally He said, "That's enough. Stop clinging to me, for I have not ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, 'I ascend to my Father and your Father, and my God and your God.'" This is a physical experience. You know the story of doubting Thomas well.

John 20, verses 24 through 29: "But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples were saying to him, 'We have seen the Lord!' But he said to them, 'Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.' After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut—hold on to that one for a moment—and stood in their midst and said, 'Peace be with you.' Then He said to Thomas, 'Reach here with your finger, and see my hands; and reach here with your hand and put it into my side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.' Thomas answered and said, 'My Lord and my God!' Jesus said to him, 'Because you have seen me, have you believed? Blessed are they who do not see, and yet believe.'"

It's interesting how Thomas wanted empirical proof, and Jesus accommodated it. Don't be bashful about asking God to show you something, because He's in the business of showing you stuff, particularly when you're actually honest and want an answer. Thomas was empirical; he wanted evidence. Jesus said, "Here's the evidence." And Thomas actually touched His side and His wounds. Is it not interesting that in all of our descriptions of the resurrection body, everyone's body is perfect. But in Jesus's body, the wounds are still in there.

You ever wonder why that is? I think it's because as we're in glory, in this physical existence, we look at His body, just like communion this morning—that's just what it's to represent—and we never forget the price He paid to make this eternal life, this afterlife, this very physical, real existence that we know, possible. And you're conversing with Jesus, and you look down at His side and wounds, and you just say, "Praise the Lord. Salvation is free to me, but it wasn't free to Him."

In fact, John describes Jesus this way in the book of Revelation, Revelation 5 and verse 6. He says, "I saw between the throne with the four living creatures and the elders a Lamb standing, as if it had been slain." Indicating that the wounds of Christ continue on in His resurrected body. The scars, the reminders of it. Not that He's in any pain at that point, but our bodies are perfect, but His has a blemish in it. Because there was a price that God never allows to go out of memory that He paid for to make this possible.

So they could touch His body. They could see His body. Matthew 28, verse 17, it says, "When they saw Him," see that? "They worshiped, but some were doubtful." We know from 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verses 3 through 8 that He appeared physically to a lot of people, including 500. And Paul writes this in the resurrection chapter: "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scripture, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the scripture, and that He appeared"—that's sight.

He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. He appeared to more than 500 brethren at one time, most of whom—this is an amazing statement here—most of whom remain alive until now, but some have fallen asleep. Then He appeared—see the physical nature of this—He appeared to James and to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, Paul says He appeared to me also. This is a physical reality.

I like when Paul says here, "After that He appeared to more than 500 brethren, most of whom remain alive until now, but some have fallen asleep." Hey, don't take my word for it; go talk to the 500. I think most of them are still alive. That's what Paul's saying. You realize that when Paul said that, he's putting his whole reputation at stake here. If Paul is peddling a fraud, that these 500 never saw Jesus, Paul would have been discredited right out of the gate. Just like someone today who writes a book saying JFK died of natural causes.

Well, wait a minute, there were people there that saw something completely different. And so somebody that writes a book like that would be immediately discredited. Paul is putting his whole reputation on the line: "Don't take my word for it; go talk to the 500." And these poor liberals, they're so eager to try to dismiss the resurrection of Jesus. They have all of these theories that they use to try to dismiss the resurrection of Jesus, and you ask them, "Well, how do you explain these 500 people that Paul's talking about?" And they say, "Well, they all had a hallucination." Honestly, that's what they say.

But when you get into the medical science of this and talk about hallucinations, people wanting to see something so greatly that they fantasize about it and they can't separate truth from error, you don't have hallucinations that are identical across the board. I mean, seldom do two people have the exact same hallucination, let alone 500. And all of these other theories trying to explain the empty tomb—He never died or somebody stole the body or they all went to the wrong tomb. I mean, come on. You've got to have more faith to believe these theories than you do simply believing what the Bible says.

So there was a sight dimension. There was a conversation dimension to the whole thing. This is Jesus in His resurrected body. John 21, verses 3 through 6: Simon Peter said to him, "I'm going fishing." Then he said to them, "We will also come with you." They went out and got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing. But when the day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach, yet the disciples did not know it was Jesus. So Jesus said to them—He's yelling at them as they're out on the boat—"Children, you do not have any fish, do you?" They answered Him—they're yelling back—"No." He said to them—He's yelling back at them—you know the story, "Cast your net on the right side and you will find a catch." So they cast, and when they did, they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish. It's a conversation.

And then the book of Acts tells us between His resurrection and ascension, there's 40 days. What are they doing during this 40-day interval? Acts chapter 1 and verse 3 tells you. "To these also He presented Himself alive after His suffering by many convincing proofs," listen to this, "appearing to them"—between the resurrection and ascension—"appearing to them"—that's sight—"over a period of 40 days and speaking"—that's audible—"things concerning the kingdom of God." I mean, they were talking theology for 40 days, just like you would with a rabbi, a teacher, a professor.

I mean, these are physical realities. Acts 1, verses 6 and 7 says, "So when they had come together, they were asking Him, 'Lord, is it at this time you're going to restore the kingdom to Israel?' He said to them"—this is a conversation—"It is not for you to know the times or the epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority." The truth of the matter, folks, is we've been completely ripped off in terms of our understanding of the afterlife. Your average person, even a Christian, when they think about the afterlife, they think you're kind of this disembodied spirit. You're on a cloud. You've got a white sheet on, of course. Maybe a halo. And you're singing the Hallelujah Chorus, bored out of your mind after the fifth hour of doing that. That's not heaven at all.

Heaven is physical; it's real. It's a spiritual experience, and it's a physical experience as well. And you have to have a body for that. You know, the guy that messed everything up is a guy named Augustine in the 4th century. Coming out of that school down below there in the south, if you can see that, Alexandria, Egypt, a hotbed of Gnostic teaching that said that the spiritual world is good and the physical world is bad. You believe—do you think the physical world is bad? I don't. I think it's in a state of corruption. But God is the one who created it.

What does God say after the six days of creation? After talking about sunlight, food, sex—whoa—procreation, what does He say? He doesn't just say it's good; He says it's very good. God is the author of the physical world. And Augustine came along and said, "You know, that's carnal to think that way." So he started to spiritualize away these truths about the afterlife. This is where the doctrine of Amillennialism—there is no future earthly kingdom, that's carnal—came from. Away with this fable of a thousand years! Away with the feasting and the banqueting passages of the Bible, which I'll show you in just a second.

And the Protestant reformers, after a thousand years of this Dark Ages nonsense, started to claw their way out and say, "You know what? I think the Bible's meant to be literal, literally understood. Even the future is literal; the body that we will be in is literal." So you're in a church that is an Augustine-free zone. Did you know that? We teach the whole Bible, nothing but the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. We take it literally whenever we possibly can.

Which leads to the fifth point, which is the fifth P, the picnic. Are we going to like eat in these bodies? Well, look at Christ's body. What did He say to His disciples in John 10 and verse 12? Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." Did you realize that? Jesus, in His resurrected body, invited His disciples to come have breakfast with Him. Luke 24, verses 42 and 43 says, "Then He gave him a piece of broiled fish and He," that's Jesus, "took it and ate it before them."

Acts chapter 1, verse 4, in that 40-day period between His resurrection and ascension, it says this in the NIV translation, it says, "On one occasion, while He was eating with them, He gave them this command: 'Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift that my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.'" I mean, that command was given over lunch, as Jesus was eating with them. How about eschatology? That's a big word. Eschat, end. Ology, the study of. The study of the end. What does the Bible reveal about the future in an Augustine-free zone?

It reveals the future and the afterlife as very, very physical. In fact, did you know there's going to be a giant supper that you're invited to? Revelation 19, verse 9 says, "Write: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." And He said to me, "These words are the true words of God." What do you do at a supper? You eat. Matthew chapter 8, verse 11 talks about a feast in the Millennial Kingdom. Says there, using the NIV here, it says, "I say to you that many will come from the east and the west and will take their place at the feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven." I thought the kingdom of heaven was just where ghosts and sitting on clouds. Doesn't look that way to me. It looks earthly, looks terrestrial, looks physical. It looks bodily. And apparently we're going to chow down.

How about the last two chapters of the Bible? Does that reveal a physical eating experience? Revelation 22, verse 2, in the eternal state, it says, "In the middle of the street, on either side of the river, was the tree of life, bringing twelve kinds of fruit yielding its fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." You mean there's going to be time in the eternal state, like a calendar? It says every month. Well, what do you do with a tree bringing forth its fruit? You eat it.

By the way, that shouldn't surprise us. That was God's design from the beginning, right? Isn't that what God told Adam and Eve? Genesis 2, verses 16 and 17: "The Lord commanded the man, saying, 'From any tree of the garden you may freely eat, but from the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it is the day you shall surely die.'" Easiest job description in the history of the world: do whatever you want, eat freely, not the tree of knowledge though. Because God created man and woman with volition and choice, and if they're going to choose to rebel against Him, they have to have an avenue for that.

Isn't it interesting that when you get to the last two chapters of the Bible, it kind of reads like the early Genesis, except we've moved from a garden to a city, with a cross in between. That's a great summation of the Bible, from a garden to a city with a cross in between, and there's no tree of knowledge anymore. But there are trees of life bearing fruit. Where'd the tree of knowledge go? No need, you've already made your decision. Whatever decision you've made is in cement. There's no more rebellion, there's no more sin, there's no more Satan.

A physical reality. This takes us to our sixth P, the postponement. And what I mean by postponement is the suspension of the ordinary laws that govern our present bodies. Those laws don't exist anymore. In your future body, you can do things that you can't do in your current physical body. How do I know that? Because it's being patterned after Jesus's body. Remember John 20, verse 26? I said keep this one in mind because we're going to be coming back to it. This is the disciples in the upper room.

It says, "After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them, and Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, 'Peace be with you.'" Did I read that right? Did Jesus's body just pass through a door that was locked? Am I reading this right, that our body is patterned after His body? You mean I'm going to be able to walk through doors that are locked? Yes. The ordinary laws that govern our bodies and limit them, apparently won't apply any longer.

How about this one? Acts chapter 1, verses 9 and 10, the ascension. It says, "After He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And they were gazing intently into the sky where He was going." They watched Him defy the law of gravity. Behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. If our body is fashioned after His body, you're in a body that can defy the law of gravity. I mean, that's when you challenge Michael Jordan to one-on-one then. He's got nothing on you. You're in a body that defies the law of gravity and can pass through a physical wall.

And by the way, you're going to need a body that defies the law of gravity because there's a city up there called the New Jerusalem. Did you know that? And according to Revelation 21 and verse 10, it says, "The holy city, the New Jerusalem, came down out of heaven." That's what we just saw. You guys want to see that again, right? It's what the book of Revelation describes. Now, I'm of the viewpoint that that city exists now, but it's not fit to descend upon this planet because this planet is corrupt. This is a holy city.

And the reason I think that is because Paul, when he describes this city, uses the present tense verb 'is'. He says, "The Jerusalem above is free." Not will be, it is free. She is our mother. And so it's a perfect city that can't come down to the earth right now until we move into the last two chapters of the Bible, which is the eternal state. Which means in the Millennial Kingdom, which is a renovated earth—did you know that? Not a perfect earth yet. It's renovated. It's this earth with a coat of fresh paint slapped over it. That's the Millennial Kingdom, which will be great, but it's nothing compared to the eternal state, which is a new earth entirely.

If that city exists now, then it's still hovering over our earth during the thousand-year kingdom. And you're in a resurrected body at the point of the rapture, and you're ruling and reigning under Christ's delegated authority. Which means you take trips up to your heavenly city, but you have an earthly responsibility and you take trips down. Well, how do you go up and go down so quick? The same way Jesus did in His ascension. His resurrected body, He defied the laws of gravity. Earth-dwellers can't do that, but you can. How far up is that city? I don't know, way up there. But you're taking a trip up, getting the orders for the day, taking the trip down to govern the mortals during the Millennial Kingdom. I mean, this stuff is unbelievable.

The last one I'll draw your attention to is the pedigree. And what I mean by that is ethnicity: Hispanic, Asian, Caucasian, whatever. Do people retain those ethnicities in the resurrected body? If I'm Hispanic now, am I still Hispanic in my resurrected body? If I'm Asian now, am I still Asian in my resurrected body? I am of the view that you still are, because God made a decision at the Tower of Babel. Says in Genesis 11, verse 1: "Now the earth used the same language and the same words." You know the story. They came together, this is man's first attempt at world government.

They wanted to build a stairway to heaven. And God disrupted the language, and the different ethnicities came into existence because of that decision. There's only one race, the human race; we're all image-bearers of God, but there are clearly different nationalities, ethnicities. God said, "Man in his sinfulness will abuse global power, so let's divide it up." And this is where the different ethnicities came from. It's a God thing. "Let us go down there and confuse the language so that they will not understand one another." So the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth, and they stopped building the city. Therefore the name was called Babel because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the earth. Genesis 11, verses 1 through 9. God created the different ethnicities.

If I'm understanding my Bible right, people retain those ethnicities because this is what I read in Revelation 21, verse 24. As the gates of the city that has descended now, the last two chapters of the Bible from heaven to the earth, the gates are always open. Very different than Eden where God put the cherubim at the entrance of Eden and man couldn't get back into it. Remember Genesis 3, verse 24? Now sin has run its course; it's a thing of the past. God is the victor, and the gates of the city are open constantly.

And by the way, when you study the book of Revelation, every time you go through one of these gates, you look up, you see one of the 12 tribes of Israel. And you look at the foundation of the gate and you see one of the apostles of the Lamb. The tribes are the foundation of Israel; the apostles are the foundations of the church. So as you're going in and out of this city with the gates always open, you're always reminded of God's two great programs: His program with the church and His program with Israel.

And as people are traveling in and out of these gates that are always open, this is what the Bible says about them. Revelation 21:24, "The nations," that's plural, "will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring glory into it." Revelation 21:26, "And they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it." Revelation 22, verse 2, "In the middle of its street, on either side of the river, was the tree of life bearing twelve kinds of fruit yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." You know what the Greek translation of nations is? English, it reads nations; you read that in Greek, you know what the word is? It's 'ethnos', where we get the word ethnicity. I think people retain their ethnicity in the resurrected body. Your ethnicity is nothing to be ashamed of; God gave that to you. And that's what I call the pedigree.

Well, I did say there were seven Ps, didn't I? I guess I didn't tell the truth there because there's an eighth P: the provision. The provision deals with the provision God has made for you to participate in these glorious promises. Jesus, in John's Gospel, made seven 'I am' statements, and if you look at the fifth one, He said, "I'm the resurrection and the life." John 11, verses 25 through 27: "Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, even if he believes in me, will live, even if he dies. And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.'" And then He doesn't end His sermon there.

This is not theology class; this is personal. He says, "Do you believe this?" That's the same question He's asking us today, isn't it? Not "Tell me about Jesus," but "What do you believe? Do you believe this?" I hope your answer is like her's, verse 27: she said to Him, "Yes, Lord, I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world." The Bible's very clear that to participate in these promises that we've been speaking of requires a single step, which is trusting in what He did for you 2,000 years ago. It's more than intellectual understanding; it moves into the realm of confidence, which is what believe means: trust, reliance, or dependence. Anybody within the sound of my voice can have all of these wonderful promises now.

You can have this future that we've been describing guaranteed to you by placing your personal faith or trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. I hope many people within the sound of my voice will be doing just that. Is Jesus really reliable? I mean, can He pull this all off? John 6, verses 39 through 40 says, "This is the will of Him who sent me, that all of that He has given me I lose nothing, but raise it up at the last day." That's your resurrection body. "For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life. I myself will raise him up at the last day." I'll raise you up. I'll give you your resurrection body. I've got this whole thing under control. I just want your trust; that's the only condition I'm requiring. I want you to receive what I have done for you, we sang about it this morning, saw it in the video: "It is finished." I want you to receive my completed work for you by way of faith as a free gift. That's the gospel.

And that's something that you can have now. What a great time to be born spiritually on this special Sunday where we commemorate the resurrection of Jesus. The resurrection of Jesus is more than an apologetic argument; it's your hope for the future. Jesus is not a hope, He's the hope, because there's a body that's coming your direction. We've seen the problem, the power, the permanency, the physicality, the picnic, the postponement, and the pedigree. Shall we pray? Father, we're grateful for the finished work of Your Son and what becoming Your children means in terms of a future. I pray many, many people within the sound of my voice will be now placing their personal trust in the completed work of Jesus Christ on the cross and be dialed into this wonderful future. We'll be careful to give You all the praise and the glory. We ask these things in Jesus' name. And God's people said?

Guest (Many): Amen.