Heaven: Our Spiritual Bodies
I Corinthians 15: 35-55
January 12, 2025
This month, I’m preaching four sermons on heaven. I’m looking at the Bible and seeing what it says about heaven. I’m also sharing information from the current research being done on Near Death Experiences. That’s as close as we can get to a scientific study of the afterlife.
Last Sunday, some of you shared your thoughts about what heaven might be like. Would others like to share this morning? Before I share my thoughts, let me hear what you think. What do you think heaven is like?
Last week I started sharing from two resources that are filled with the latest research on near death experiences. The two books are: Life after Life by Raymond Moody and After by Bruce Greyson. They are based on interviews of people who clinically died but came back and told stories about their experiences.
Everyone’s near death experience is different, but there are things that happen that are common to many of the people. Often it starts with hearing oneself being pronounced dead. Then there can be loud ringing or buzzing followed by moving through a dark tunnel. The person finds themselves outside of their physical body but still in the immediate physical environment.
The person can see their own physical body as if they are a spectator. They watch the work of the medical personnel as they work on their physical body. They notice that they now have some type of body themselves, but of a very different nature.
That’s what we’re going to explore today: our spiritual or heavenly body.
Paul talks about this in his letter to the Corinthians. There were some in Corinth who taught that this world was the only world. They believed that there was not a world to come or any heavenly existence. This was it. When you died, nothing about you continued.
But Paul didn’t believe this. He taught that Jesus’ resurrection pointed us to the new life we would experience after death. He said in the 15th chapter of his letter to the Corinthians, “Christ has been raised to life. And he makes us certain that others will also be raised to life.”
Paul goes on to say in our Scripture today: “Some of you have asked, “How will the dead be raised to life?” “What kind of bodies will they have?” Don’t be foolish. A seed must die before it can sprout from the ground. Wheat seeds and all other seeds look different from the sprouts that come up.”
Paul uses the analogy of the seed to describe what we’ll be like in heaven. Our bodies will be different than what they were on earth just like a seed is different than its flower or plant or tree.
This sunflower seed doesn’t look at all like the sunflower it will grow up to be. But it’s still the same sunflower.
We’ll be placed in the ground when we die. When we enter heaven, we’ll look different than what got put in the ground. But we’ll still have some recognizable features.
Paul goes on to say: “As surely as there are physical bodies, there are spiritual bodies. And our physical bodies will be changed into spiritual bodies.”
In the study of people who told about their near death experiences, most people say that their new body is not physical like their old body. But it is something, impossible as it may be to describe. The spiritual body has a form or shape and even parts like arms and legs. But it’s also described using words like mist or cloud or transparent.
Near death people are likely first to become aware of their spiritual bodies because of its limitations. For example, when they try desperately to tell others of their situation, no one seems to hear them or see them. They are invisible and inaudible. But they can see and hear what’s going on.
Often, it’s reported that this spiritual body is weightless. Many first notice this when they find themselves floating right up to the ceiling of the room their physical body is in. Or just floating up into the air.
One person described it this way: “This one morning a solid gray mist gathered around me and I left my body. I had a floating sensation as I felt myself get out of my body. I looked back and I could see myself on the bed below and there was no fear.”
Some have described in their near death experience that travel can be easy once one gets the hang of it. Physical objects present no barrier. Movement from one place to another can be extremely rapid, almost instantaneous.
This reminds me of the story that we find in the gospel of John about the resurrected Jesus who came to visit the disciples after his death.
This is what John wrote in the 20th chapter: “The disciples were afraid of the Jewish leaders, and on the evening of that same Sunday they locked themselves in a room. Suddenly, Jesus appeared in the middle of the group. He greeted them.”
Of course, that story in John includes details that are not mentioned in the research on near death experiences. For example: having the dead person (Jesus) be able to talk to the people who are alive. And the dead person being able to be seen by the disciples.
Finally, almost everyone who talks about their near death experience remark on the timelessness of this out of body state. Time passes in a totally different way.
Returning to Paul’s description in I Corinthians we read: “Everything in the heavens has a body, and so does everything on earth. But each one is very different.”
Some might think that we’ll all look exactly alike in heaven, with white robes and angel wings. But Paul says we’ll all be different.
Just as on earth, we’re all different. So in heaven we’ll all be different.
This will make it possible for us to recognize people. We’ll look different, but we’ll still be recognizable. We’ll have unique characteristics that’ll make us different than everyone else.
As we think about what the Bible says about our spiritual body, we continue to look back at what the writers said about Jesus’ body after he was crucified and resurrected. One of the stories we find at the end of Luke’s Gospel is this:
“While Jesus’ disciples were talking about what had happened, Jesus appeared and greeted them. They were frightened and terrified because they thought they were seeing a ghost. But Jesus said, ‘Why are you so frightened? Why do you doubt? Look at my hands and my feet and see who I am! Touch me and find out for yourselves. Ghosts don’t have flesh and bones as you see I have.’
After Jesus said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. The disciples were so glad and amazed that they could not believe it. Jesus then asked them, ‘Do you have something to eat?’ They gave him a piece of baked fish. He took it and ate it as they watched.”
We might ask the question: Do we eat in heaven?
If our heavenly bodies will be like Jesus’ resurrected body, then, “Yes, we’ll eat in heaven.” Luke says that the resurrected Jesus ate. So it could be that we’ll eat in heaven.
It reminds me of a story:
Tony and Yvonne were 85 years old. They’d been married for over 60 years. Though they were far from rich, they managed to get by because they carefully watched their pennies. Though not young, they were both in good health, largely due to Yvonne’s insistence on healthy foods and exercise for many years.
One day, they were on a plane which crashed, sending them off to heaven.
Inside the pearly gates, St. Peter escorted them to a beautiful mansion with a fully stocked kitchen and a waterfall in the master bath. St. Peter said, “Welcome to heaven. This will be your home now.”
Tony asked, “How much will all this cost me?”
Peter replied, “Nothing. This is heaven.”
Tony looked out the window and saw a championship golf course, more beautiful than he’d ever seen before.
“What are the green fees?” grumbled Tony.
Peter said, “Nothing. This is heaven.”
They went to the clubhouse and saw a lavish buffet lunch.
“Don’t even ask Tony. This is heaven. It’s all free for you to enjoy.”
Tony looked around and nervously asked Yvonne, ‘Well, where are the low-fat and low-cholesterol foods?”
St. Peter interrupted and said, “You can eat and drink as much as you like and whatever you like. You’ll never get fat or sick. This is heaven.”
“What about needing to test my sugar and blood pressure and..”
“Never again.”
Tony glared at Yvonne, “You and your Bran Flakes. We could have been here ten years ago.”
Back to our Scripture today in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians: Paul says in verse 42: “That’s how it will be when our bodies are raised to life. These bodies will die, but the bodies that are raised will live forever. These ugly and weak bodies will become beautiful and strong.”
About fifty years ago Lori and I heard Joni Earekson Tada speak. She spoke at our college chapel service. Joni told her story of the diving accident she had as a teenager which left her quadriplegic. She’d been confined to a wheelchair ever since. She required help from others to do most everything for her.
Joni talked about how God was with her through her struggle to accept her disability. She also talked about how much she looked forward to heaven.
Joni travelled around the country talking to people about her disability and encouraging people to think about heaven.
In one of her books, she told the story of visiting a Sunday School class made up of youth with mental handicaps, some from Downs syndrome, others with autism or various brain injuries.
“I caught their interest when I flailed my useless arms and told them that the guys who run Six Flags amusement park wouldn’t let me ride the giant water slide. They felt bad. Some booed. Then I told them that one day, when I got my new body, I’d not only master the water slide, but also run the New York City marathon if I wanted to.
‘It’s going to be great having a new body.’
I challenged them to come up with neat things I’d do with a new body.
They thought it’d be great for me to walk into McDonalds and stand in line. I’d be able to unwrap a Snicker’s bar. I could flush a toilet (that got some giggles). One girl wanted to know if I’d still have my plastic arms in heaven. I looked at her a little funny because there’s nothing plastic about my arms; but I grinned and said, ‘No. No more plastic in heaven. I’ll have a real body and I’ll be able to do all kinds of things, even go swimming if I want.’
One girl came up to me and patted my arm saying, ‘Be careful next time, o’kay?’
‘O’kay.’ I promised. They kept coming up with all sorts of wild and wonderful heavenly activities.
I concluded by saying, “Hey guys, I may have a new body, but one day, you’ll have new minds.’
The entire class jumped to their feet and wildly applauded. ‘You’ll be able to think better than your teacher here. You’ll show your sister how to do her homework, even the hard stuff like math. You’ll think high powered, supercharged thoughts and know just about everything there is to know.’
They left that class excited about heaven….”
Paul says in I Corinthians: “These ugly and weak bodies will become beautiful and strong.”
For all of us who struggle with physical problems, we can look forward to a perfect healing of our bodies in heaven.
For all of us who struggle with emotional problems, we can look forward to a perfect healing of our hearts in heaven.
For all of us who struggle with mental problems, we can look forward to a perfect healing of our minds in heaven.
There’s so much to look forward to…
