On The Immortality Of The Flesh

For most of my life, both as a false convert, then later, as a believer in Jesus Christ, I had a vague stereotypical idea of what heaven in like. Basically in my ignorance, I believed that once a believer died, their soul left their body and went to heaven, where there was golden streets and mansions, one assigned to each person. What's more, our entire occupation would be singing, in worship to God, the whole time, without ceasing.

While not everything in the previous two sentences are inaccurate, there is quite a lot of detail missing, and one or two parts completely wrong. In this post, I will try to outline what the bible says this topic and how things play out.

1. God designed man to live on earth. God made man from the dust of the earth (Gen 2:7) to work and tend the earth (Gen 2:15). It was God’s plan that human beings would live forever, on earth, as it tenderers. Although through sin, man wrecked all that, I will try to show that it is still, ultimately, God’s plan for us to live on earth as physical beings, tending and working it.
2. When Adam sinned, he and his wife had died, spiritually. Physically they had also begun to die, and (in Adam’s case)  after 930 years, he breathed his last. For those who have not been born again, a person is thrown, ultimately, in the lake of fire (Rev 20:14) which is described as the second death. This is God’s ultimate judgement on sin, the complete fulfilment of what He said in Genesis 2:17. Its interesting to note that this lake is physical, and that the suffering there is physical. It has fire and worms, (Mark 9:47-48) smoke, Darkness, and physical actions like gnashing of teeth (Mat 22:13)
3. In the same way that hell is real, so is heaven. But more to the point, in the same way that the lake of fire is real, so is the New Earth
   

   Revelation 21:1-3  ₁Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. ₂And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ₃And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

   These verses describe how God create a new spiritual heaven, and a new physical earth. This is done because the old earth had been destroyed as part of God’s judgement on the place, and the old heaven seems to go with it. Notice the detail about there being no sea there (sorry my surfer buddies). This is fascinating when you think about it. The sea is a sign of God’s judgement, it came when God flooded the whole world and made a significant change, it transformed a world, designed to be inhabited into a wretch, such that today, only about 3% of the surface of the earth can be inhabited by man. But on the new earth, without the sea, there will be much more space for man to live. All these features are physical.
   
   It is clear from these verses that for those redeemed by Jesus, their ultimate destination is on a new physical earth.

4. With all the above in mind, by way of preamble, lets now look at the humans themselves:
   First lets take a few logical steps. If humans are designed to physical, live on a physical world and work as part of our existence, then it makes no sense to say that, after death and all of the events of Revelation are complete, we should spend our time as spiritual beings without bodies or physical activities. Also, why would God recreate a completely new physical earth unless He intends real physical humans to live there.
   
   Let us now look to the bible to see if it has anything else to say on the subject. The key word here is resurrection. There are several verses that I could cite, but the key one in this case is Revelation 20:5-6:
   

   ₅The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. ₆Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.

   It is clear that part of God’s fulfilling of all things, is to resurrect His people unto life forever with Him. Resurrection is always physical, if its not, then its not a true resurrection. Christ rose physically from the dead.

5. The final point is that from this point, we will carry on into eternity (Rev 22:5) living and reigning with Christ without end.

So what then, the bible teaches that the ultimate destination of man is earth? Yes it is true, but certainly a new earth, one without curse or sin (Rev 22:3). An those who are there are, if you will immortal, they will not die, for death was thrown into the lake of fire. (Rev 20:14)

A few other points have to be made: firstly that we must be careful with the word flesh. 1 John 2:16 uses the word flesh to describe one of our 3 things we as believers have to look out for, which come as temptations to us. The “Lust of the flesh” is not a good thing. For that reason, we would do better to refer to ourselves as having ‘glorified bodies’ or ‘resurrected bodies’ rather than ‘immortal flesh’. Praise God that our sinful flesh will pass away.

Also you may have questions as to the in-between times. What happens to us if we die before Christ’s return? That whole topic requires another post, but in brief this is my answer: 2 Corinthians 5:8  Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. The verse implies that when a believer is away from their bodies (in this context, meaning dead) they would be in the presence of the Lord.

Recommended Resources

If you want to get a good, comprehensive and biblical book on this topic, I highly recommend Heaven by Randy Alcorn. This really is the best book on the topic, and it is recommended by many brilliant theologians. For example Rick Holland said Rez2011 that it was one of his top 5 most important books after the bible. You can buy it from amazon or in audiobook format here

 

I also put forward a sermon series tentatively. Tentatively because it has only just been released and I haven’t yet listened to it yet. But I have gained very much from the preacher in question and trust him implicitly to be both accurate and biblical. Still listen with discernment.

Heaven & Hell: The Truth About The Afterlife by RW Glenn

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 – Part 5

If Only They Had Read The Verse

In light of the recently come-and-gone apocalypse and rapture that failed to happen on May 21st (yesterday) it is relevant for me to address the issue with a post and with a clear verse in scripture.

Matthew 24:36 But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.

Let me put this into . Jesus was asked by his disciples when will His (Jesus’) prophecies be fulfilled and when will be the sign of His return and the closing of the age (vs 3). Jesus then begins telling them about events that will happen during the build up to His return, the ‘signs of the end of the age.’ It is interesting that He begins by warning His disciples (and us):

“See that no one leads you astray” (vs 4)

He then goes on to describe a number of events that will happen during this time, leading up to Jesus’ return. This includes the statement:

Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There he is!' do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, 'Look, he is in the wilderness,' do not go out. If they say, 'Look, he is in the inner rooms,' do not believe it. (23-26).

Jesus specifically warns us that in the last days, people will present false christs, and false apocalypses. This goes even further than Mr Camping does, saying Christ HAS ACTUALLY RETURNED. we are warned beforehand, these things will (and even already have happened)

However, Jesus then goes on to describe how He will actually return which brings us up to the verse in question (vs 36) where Jesus states that no one know when He will return. That no one includes us ordinary human beings, angels of heaven, demons & Satan, and even the Son, Jesus Himself, has laid aside in omniscience as a man such that He does not know the day or the hour. Only the Father knows, and that His return will be like a thief who comes in the night, and is obviously, totally unexpected (1Thes 5:2).

If only the followers of Harold Camping had read and understood this very clear verse in scripture, we wouldn’t had the anti-climax of so many deceived people being disappointed. I pray God grants them an understanding of this scripture and that they would repent.

There is a few applications and further observations I would like to point out:
Firstly, for the Christian: be ready for Christ’s return, it could happen at any moment, the least expected moment. And don’t follow after the next deceived individual who decides on the next date of Jesus return. Also be ready to defend the true faith. Harold Camping positions himself (and is seen be the whole world to be) and evangelical Christian. This event has caused unbelievers to mock genuine Christians to scorn, one more time. We need to be able to distance ourselves from false prophets.

To the unbeliever: Just because some false prophet, claiming to be evangelical, is proved to be false, and that Jesus did not return as he said, this does not mean that Jesus Christ will not be returning. He (Jesus) has promised that He will, but that it will be unexpected. I beg you to repent and believe the gospel, to be ready for the day when the time is fulfilled and Christ returns. Also understand, we, the Christians, distance ourselves from Mr Camping and other false prophets who claim to know the hour of His return, we are not deceived by his prophecy and are not the same as them.

Finally to the Camping follower, Let Matthew 24:4 ring in your ears: “Do not be deceived”. I have sympathy for you, you are very disappointed. Many of you were very genuine in your desire to see Jesus. Nevertheless, you were deceived. Now I beg you, repent and return to the true Gospel, the only one that offers hope for eternal life. Also be weary, many of todays most popular and mainstream cults are formed out of groups of people who, in the past, believed in some other false prophet who said the world would end at such-in-such a time, on such-in-such a day. You are now in the position of being sucked into a new cult. I pray that this does not happen, and I beg you to flee from this.

 

In hopeful anticipation of Christ’s return…