On the way to have an ultrasound, I listened to Jentezen Franklin’s sermon “Life After Life”. With every mile I drove, I became more and more pumped about my resurrection body. Later, I sent it to my mother and after listening she replied, “Kind of gets me excited about dying.”
Once I checked in and had a seat in the large waiting room, my excitement began to wilt into sorrow. Everywhere I turned, patients struggled to walk. Broken bones, diseases that twisted spines, and trauma that gnarled joints were almost unbearable to look upon after I had just spent the car ride there imagining eternal bodies raised in power and victory.
I didn’t want my day to fall into a slump and so I played a little game while I waited. Each time a person came by that was bent over and could only walk three steps to my thirty, I imagined them being changed into their new bodies. I could almost hear the sound of crutches falling to the floor and the sight of new legs sprinting painlessly with speed and agility that can far outrun an Olympic track star. I imagined spines lengthening on command arching towards the heavens with shouts of Hallelujah.
“…but we will all be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 1 Corinthians 15: 52-54.
Death swallowed up in victory! It has a nice ring to it doesn’t it? In a moment, your body will either burst forth from its grave or if you are living it will be caught up in the air. And in the time it takes us to swallow, death turns to victory. You will be in your physical body in the new heaven and earth, only no body you have every experienced. Your resurrection body will be supercharged with supernatural intelligence, strength and agility; capable of accomplishing feats that are not possible in our earthly bodies.
I recently had a dream in which the roof of my car peeled off and I flew through the air and towards the heavens with a speed like a rocket. It was the greatest dream and I can only imagine that is how our everlasting bodies will be. Some of the patients I witnessed in the waiting room put every put every ounce of energy into getting one foot to go in front of the other. I can just imagine their joy when they are soaring, running and jumping.
Whether your body experiences mild aches and pains or severe chronic pain, I invite you to play my game. Imagine a day when your body is instantly upgraded to a heavenly standard. It will take less time than updating your iPhone. If there is anything we can learn to be thankful for in our sickness and pain it is that it is only temporary, but our perfect body will be forever!
