Mike Bickle discusses the nature of our resurrected bodies, emphasizing that they will be transformed versions of our current bodies, retaining our unique identities and characteristics but perfected in glory. He explains that our resurrected bodies will be physical and capable of eating, drinking, and learning, while also possessing supernatural abilities. Bickle reassures believers that there will be no pain, sorrow, or death in the resurrection, and that we will live in a renewed earth where heaven and earth are united. He encourages the congregation to understand the hope and excitement that comes from these truths about the resurrection, urging them to remain steadfast in their faith and work.

Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Thank you, Michael. Father, we ask you for the grace of God to speak the word, to hear the word. I ask you for the anointing of the Holy Spirit to strengthen our spirit with might by the revelation, the heart, and the purposes of Jesus. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, today on Resurrection Sunday, Easter Sunday, I want to talk about what our resurrected bodies will be like. Now, there's actually quite a bit in the scripture on this, but it's in seed form, meaning there's a key verse here and a key verse there with an important idea. Then we put all those ideas together from different places in the word of God, and we get a more clear picture. Though it's clear that the fullness of what the resurrected body will be like and what the eternal city will be like, we can't know in this age, the fullness of it. But we can take these seed truths, and it really brings a sense of hope and excitement in our heart. Now, the main chapter in the Bible on the subject of the resurrection is 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 is the main chapter. Now, there's others. I have them written there, but we're going to look just a little bit at 1 Corinthians 15. Let's start in chapter 15, verse 1 to 4. Paul said, I declare to you the gospel by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word that I preached to you, unless you believe in vain. For I delivered to you first of all, or of most importance, these truths. Christ died for our sins, and He rose again on the third day. Now, the very foundation of the good news is that God became a human. I mean, that is a staggering concept. The eternal, uncreated God took on human form. Now, when Jesus took on human form, it wasn't a temporary acquisition of human nature, that forever He is human, fully God, fully man. But then as a man, He died. We know the testimony of the Lord, but then He overpowered death. Now, the amazing thing is this is the first man in human history that has power over death. He's the only man. But the good news is, He wants to share that power with other human beings who desire to live in relationship with Him. Now, Scripture gives us a little bit of insight into the nature of the resurrected body. And as we see what the Scripture says on these seed truths, we go on this treasure hunt, because as we search it out, what the Scripture says about our body, and we see what happened in Jesus's resurrected body. Because the Bible makes clear that the nature of His body gives us insight into what kind of body we're going to have. Paragraph B. First point is that the resurrection speaks of the transformation of the same body that died. The same body that died, when a believer dies, that's the body that's raised from the dead. Meaning it's not the creation of a whole new thing. It's not the creation of a whole new body, but it's the actual body that died. Now, that's an important point, because there's a continuity with the body in the grave and the body that's raised out of the grave. Because some folks would think that, well, the body dies, the Spirit goes to God, and then now that their Spirit's up there, God fashions and creates a new body and hands it over to them. That's not exactly how it goes. But what happens when a believer dies, their Spirit goes to be in the presence of God, their body goes into the ground, it decomposes, or in many cases it's cremated, it's burned, and by the way, biblically it doesn't make any difference. Because what God does is He takes those invisible fragments of our decayed, decomposed, or burned, or whatever, disintegrated body, and out of the very seed of that, He raises up a body that's actually from that very seed. That everyone's unique personality retains. You have, you will have the same genetics a billion years from now that you have right now. You will have the same personality, the same genetics, the same appearance, the same aptitudes, but just in the fullness of glory, in the fullness of perfection. When someone sees you a thousand years or a million years from now, they will recognize you, because you will look like you do now, but in full perfection. How many of you can say praise the Lord on the full perfection part? Paragraph D. We will live in a material body, a physical body. Our resurrected body is not only the same body we have brought to perfection, again raised up out of its decomposed state, the same genetics, it will be a physical, material body. We will live on a material earth, but we will be enhanced with the supernatural abilities of the resurrection. We will eat, and we will drink real food, and we will drink real drink. We will learn. We won't have all knowledge. It's not like in the resurrection, we cross this kind of magical barrier and suddenly we have all knowledge. You won't have any more knowledge the day you're resurrected than the day before. You'll have a greater capacity to learn. You'll have a greater capacity to remember, to interpret, to discern, but you will learn line by line, event by event, just like you do now. You'll learn faster. You'll have a greater depth of impact on the knowledge that you receive, and this ability to learn will allow us to experience new information and just new experiences in God in a way that we will be eternally fascinated. We will never be bored, ever. We will marvel. We will be awestruck. We will be filled with wonder at new insights about Jesus, new insights about people, new insights about experiences and events that we participate in. It will excite our spirit forever. It's not like we're just in a perfect environment, but we're bored on the inside. We will have an ability to learn, gain new information, new insights, new relationships. We will have new friends, other believers in the age to come, because when we step across that line, there will be, when the Lord returns, let's say it that way, there could be possibly two to three billion saints from all of history, counting the great end-time revival. Of these several billion saints, you will only know as many as you know the day that you're resurrected. Again, you don't receive some supernatural computer chip of omniscience to where you know everything. You will look around and still the vast majority, you won't know them, and you will meet them. You will learn their story. You will tell them your story. You will feel connected. You will tell your friends about them, and they will tell their friends about you, and your relational circle will deepen and get bigger and bigger. You will forever be learning new things about God, new things about yourself, new things about people, new things about the created order that will fascinate and exhilarate you. We'll work. We'll work without turmoil, without frustration. The curse of work in this age is working by the sweat of our brow and with frustration and turmoil and death and and opposition against our work. Work by itself is a blessing of God. God gave Adam work in the garden of Eden before there was ever sin, because God wants us to have a sense of purpose and a sense of relevance in our partnership with him, and we will be involved in a dynamic purpose. Our heart will be fascinated. We'll enjoy eating and drinking and knowing people and laboring and learning in a physical body with a physical body on a physical earth. Beloved, that's a snapshot of what the resurrection is. Paragraph E. Now to understand the larger context of the resurrection, when heaven is on earth, you have to understand that heaven is coming down to the earth. It's not that we're going to heaven. Now we do that between the resurrection and the second coming for 2,000 years or plus or minus. We go, a believer dies and goes away to heaven, but from the second coming forward, heaven is coming down to the earth and heaven and earth will come together and they will join each other and the heavenly realm of the supernatural dimension and the earthly realm, they will be joined together. They will come together on the earth. Beloved, you will live on this earth forever. And after the millennial kingdom, the earth will be rinsed with fire and renewed and the, it'll be a new heaven and a new earth, but I believe it will actually be right here on this earth. Now people, they have wrong ideas about heaven. Again, first of all, they think of heaven as far away and it's true for the last 2,000 years, but when we think of our eternal future, heaven's on the earth. We live on the earth in the atmosphere of heaven. The new Jerusalem comes down to the earth, even during the millennial kingdom and as well at the end of the millennium. That's another subject for another day. Some folks say they feel guilty because they're not excited about the age to come because what they imagine is that they're going to be playing a harp on a cloud somewhere all by their self and every now and then one of their good friends will float by the, hey bro, what's going on over there? Hey, I love it. Worthy is the lamb. Yeah, me too. You know, see you in a thousand, 2,000 years. And they're excited to worship, but there's something in their spirit that wants to work, eat, relate, have purpose, not only worship. Worship is the center of everything, but worship is not the only thing we do and we certainly don't do it and kind of a ghost-like spirit body on a cloud floating far away. But we'll be on the earth. I mean, imagine a physical body, material body. It's the same thing. Resurrected abilities, supernatural abilities on the earth, working, eating, learning, relating, enjoying the fullness of the supernatural abilities that God has given in His purpose to His people. Now, if you don't think accurately about heaven, then you won't think about heaven at all. And most people think of that distant, far away, kind of floating in the sky thing. That's why they're not, that's why they're not drawn to the subject of heaven. Heaven's on earth. That's where it's going. Paragraph F, 2 Corinthians 5, 8. Kind of give you a little overview of what happens. It says, Paul said, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Now again, from the cross and resurrection to the second coming for 2,000 years, plus or minus some years. When a believer dies, their body stays down here, obviously, and their spirit goes before the Lord, and they enjoy the Lord's presence, but they don't have the fullness of God's purpose. Even though they're in His presence, it isn't the full experience of what He has ordained for them. It's, it's dynamic. It's wonderful, but it isn't the fullness. Even being in His presence, the fullness comes 2,000 years later when heaven comes down to earth and the spiritual dimensions, our spirit joins our physical body and the supernatural capacities and abilities of heaven and the properties of heaven, they come to the earth. That is when the fullness of God's purpose comes to pass. This is when it takes place. Now, our spirit leaving our body and going to heaven, again between the cross and the second coming, that 2,000 year interim period, so to speak, a believer is fully conscious. And they're fully, their, their spirits are alive and happy in the presence of God. There is no sting in death for a believer. Now, I've been fascinated by near-death stories. I mean, testimonies of people that had near-death experiences is what I'm trying to say. Over the last 30 years, I've read many of them. I have many of them in my personal library. And I don't believe all of them, but many believers in many different parts of the earth at many different times of history testified to the same things. And one of the things that I've read a number of times is that when a believer dies, I'm talking about these experiences where they die. They don't quite die because they have a miracle, you know, healing and they come back and like, wow, that was a close call. But they come back and give testimony as to what happened in their experience. They give a little bit of testimony. Like one guy, for instance, he kind of sums up the point I'm wanting to make here. He's in a car wreck and he hits the other car. That's a terrible accident. And suddenly, you know, he's kind of like fully conscious and he's going, wow, that was a close call. So he gets out of the car and he stands up and he looks down. And lo and behold, he sees somebody laying on the ground that looks just like him. He doesn't even know that his spirit has left his body because he's so fully awake and so fully conscious. He looks down. It takes a few moments for them to even interpret what's happened. Like that guy looks like me. And then they could see the angels, the angelic realm and different things and like, wait a second, I get it. I just died. But my point is, this is real, that in the life of a believer, there is no sting in death at all. And then, you know, these testimonies, they end up being miraculously healed, they're back in their body and they tell the story like it was quite amazing. Their presence, I mean, their spirit goes to be in God's presence. And then at the second coming, here, 1 Thessalonians 4, 16, when the Lord descends from heaven, that's when all the saints, all the believers through history, they rise first. They are raised from the dead on the day of the second coming. That's when they're joined with their physical resurrected body. That again, has the same genetics, they have the same personality, they have the same appearance, but in aptitudes, many of the same interest in terms of righteousness, but brought to the full glory of God. Now, there's other dimensions added as well. But they have those elementary dimensions, I mean, those foundational dimensions of their human personality are still intact. Paragraph G, Philippians 3, verse 21. Philippians 3, verse 21. Paul said, I mean, Paul's speaking that Jesus will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body. Our lowly body, the one that's in the grave, will be transformed. It's that very body and it will be conformed to the glorious resurrected body of Jesus. So whatever abilities Jesus has in His resurrected body that we see in the scripture, we will have the same abilities, not to the same measure, not to the same measure of glory, but the same category of abilities that the Bible makes known of Jesus's resurrected body. Because we know we will have a body like Him, we can study those abilities and understand that we will have them ourselves. Again, not to the same measure of glory that Jesus does, but they will be like kind. They will be abilities in that same category. Now it's remarkable that when the Father gave Jesus a body, it says in Psalm 40 that the Father prepared a body for Jesus. I mean, what a statement. He prepared His first body and His incarnation when He's on the earth for 33 years, but He also prepared His resurrected body as well. The Father prepared a body for Him. Now when the Father prepared a body for Jesus, now this is a made-up conversation, but I imagine the Father saying at the resurrection, hear Jesus, here's the new body that I have formed and determined and established for you. And Jesus going, Father, this is awesome. I mean, I could do everything in this body. It has all these different dimensions that the Father used His wisdom and His power to create a human body that could not be improved upon. And then the Father said, I'm going to give the same type of body to everyone that's in relationship to Jesus. So that body was custom designed for Jesus, for the human, for the fullness of human experience to be exhilarated and to enjoy God at the highest degree. And it was custom made for the environment of the natural realm of the earth and the supernatural realm of heaven coming down to earth. It was custom made for both dimensions to operate comfortably in both dimensions in a full way. It says in 1 John 3 verse 2, we shall be like Him. We know that when He's revealed, we'll be like Him. We'll be like Him, spirit, soul, and body, mind, emotion, and will. We will be like Him in so many of these ways. Again, not the same measure of glory, but the same abilities. Top of page 2. Now we're going to look at some more of the details of the abilities, the supernatural abilities that we will have in our resurrected body. Revelation 21 verse 4. First we're going to establish an overall truth that affects all the other activities. There are many arenas of activity. We'll look at a couple of them. And again, the Bible doesn't give them all, but the Bible gives us seed truths. It gives us hints. But these hints are substantial insights into our future. The first thing the Lord wants to establish is that in the resurrection, He is going to remove all sadness. All sadness is going to be removed. Revelation 21 verse 4. He will wipe away every tear. There will be no more death. There'll be no more separation from loved ones ever. Never will there be the separation from loved ones ever again. There'll be no sorrow or crying. The sorrow speaks of emotional pain over loss, or emotional pain over regret, or emotional pain over an injustice done against them. There will be no occasion for sorrow. No sense of regret in the age to come. We may have regret on the day we stand before the Lord when we look over our life and we say, oh we long that we would have been more committed. I think some will have regret for a season in that hour. But I'm talking about throughout the duration of eternity. There'll be no pain of loss. No sorrow over anything. But another thing, there'll be no pain. There'll be no physical pain. They'll never ever endure the pain of a surgery, or they'll never have an accident. They'll never cut their hand. They'll never ever feel physical pain ever again. Can you imagine billions of years, not an ounce of physical pain? Paragraph I. Now Paul's going to outline five qualities in the resurrection that affect all the specific abilities we're going to look at in a minute. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 42. 1 Corinthians is sown in corruption. It is raised in incorruption. 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's raised a spiritual or a supernatural body. The trumpet will sound. That's at the second coming. The dead will be raised incorruptible and we shall all be changed. The mortal must put on immortality. Now let's look at these five categories for just a moment. These are, these are qualities of our life. These are not the actual specific abilities we will have, but this is the overall quality that will affect all the specific abilities and actions that we are involved in and events. We'll be involved in many events and relationships and activities and work assignments, but these five qualities will characterize all the activities that we are involved in and all the abilities that we possess in our resurrected bodies. First Paul said our body is sown in corruption, but it's raised in incorruption. Now throughout this all of chapter 15 you can read it on your own. Paul uses an agricultural metaphor of the physical body being like a seed that's sown into the ground. He says it a number of times in the chapter. He goes it's the our natural earthly body is a seed sown in the ground and he goes if you understand the laws of of nature, the seed goes into the ground and over time there's this dynamic plant that emerges. It's far more glorious than the seed, but all of the properties in the seed, the essential elements of the life of that plant are in that seed. So the body's sown in the ground and then this great plant that's far superior than the seed shows up. So Paul's using this idea of our natural earthly bodies sown into the ground at the time of our death and again I want to say that whether we're buried in the ground and decomposed over years or whether somebody is burned or cremated or lost at sea, it doesn't matter because God has the ability to find those atoms and molecules that are you. No matter how little it is, he has real good eyesight. He can find it. You can't, you can't uh decompose it small enough where God can't find it as the seed and raise the body from it. So because some people get real kind of nervous about one or the other if they're because they have a strange idea about the natural body that if it decays or if it burns or it's at sea it's different. No, no, no. The power is in God finding that seed and bringing forth the body from it. Well it's sown into the ground with corruption but it's that's with sickness with decay but it's going to be so it's going to be raised within corruption. There will be no scars on your body, no scars on your face, no sore muscles, no dimensions of decay or brokenness in your body. It will be completely without corruption. It will be imperishable. Paragraph two, it is sown into the ground. It's planted in the ground in dishonor but it's going to be raised in glory. All of us have failures and reasons for shame and dishonor. It's sown. Our part of our testimony is part of part of our testimony as human beings is the failure we've experienced but when it's raised there'll be no element of dishonor. It'll be raised in honor or in glory and the word glory here is in the context of it's the opposite of dishonor. It means with glory, with exaltation. There'll be no moral failures in the in the age to come. There will be no way to stumble into dishonor ever again. It'll be sown in weakness. Our body will go down to the grave in weakness but it's raised in power. Now in 2nd Corinthians, 1st and 2nd Corinthians which we're reading 1st Corinthians right now, by Paul's letter to the city of Corinth, that's what the Corinthians, that's where he gets the title, he's writing to the Corinthian believers. He used the word weakness a number of times to relate to persecution where he was in peril. He went to prison or he was beat up or whipped or stoned or in hunger or thirst or in lack or in peril because of the gospel. He referred to that as weakness. When he was reproached, he was mistreated but he would talk about that in the place of weakness God's power would be sufficient. In 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 verse 7 to 9 he says where there's weakness the power will come forth. So the weakness that he's talking about here is the injustices of life or the pain of life or just the vulnerabilities of life. That's the weakness we're talking about. We will be raised with honor and with respect and exaltation and are the relationships we will be in will be filled with honor and with glory in the positive in the right sense of the word. Number four another quality that will affect all of our life. I mean regardless of what we're involved in the specific activities or the abilities we have they will all have these qualities undergirding them. We're sown into the into the earth as a natural body. Number four we have fleshly limitations. A natural body means a body with earthly limitations but it's raised up a spiritual body which means a supernatural body. The five senses our five senses right now though are glorious they are limited by our earthly fleshly inabilities and limitations but are in the resurrection our five senses will have supernatural enhancement and empowering. Our five senses will be brought to a whole nother level they will be spiritual they'll be supernatural. Then that which is mortal will put on that which is immortal. In other words unending life. There is nothing good in the age to come nothing good will ever permanently end. Right now everything that's good ends in a minute but in that age it's immortal. Everything good continues. That activity may not happen for the next moment but it will come back again and you'll experience more of it. Everything good lasts forever. It does not end in a permanent way again that might that activity may be set aside for a moment but you'll experience it many more times in the in the in the years that follow. Roman numeral two. Now let's just take a minute to look at Jesus's resurrected body. Now one of the things that there's many things about His body but there's one thing that is really a striking is that His body is full of light. The scripture says it's brighter than the sun. Matter of fact one of the passages there I have in the notes Isaiah 24 verse 23 that when the Messiah comes when Jesus returns it says the sun will be put to shame. The sun will draw back in in shame because of the glory of the man Christ Jesus in His radiance. Now that's brightness. The sun won't is not needed in the new Jerusalem because the Lamb of God is in the new Jerusalem. The son the Lord says son thank you but I don't need you here I have something far brighter myself. Now Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3 it says that Jesus has the radiance of the Father's glory. The exact representation of the Father's being. Jesus has the radiance the brilliance the brightness of the Father's splendid glory in His own personhood. Now in Matthew 17 when He stood before the disciples Peter James and John in the Mount of Transfiguration His face shone like the sun. Now that same brilliance not to the same measure but the same capacity every believer will have the glory of God shining in their body. Now we will all have it at different measures at different degrees. I mean there nobody knows the number but there could be potentially two to three billion believers by the time of the rapture of the church. Between all the believers in history those now and those coming in the great harvest there could be several billion and every single believer will have a different measure of glory unique to them. Some will have far greater degrees of glory in their bodies just like angels do. There's angels with a great measure of glory and angels with a far lesser measure of glory but they're all glorious and everybody will have the glory of God in their body but some related to their obedience in this age and related to their servanthood and their steadfastness in God they will have a greater measure of glory in their in their in their resurrected body. That's part of the reward they receive. Our rewards are not based on how big our ministry is. Our reward is based on how big our heart is and how faithful our obedience has been. Doesn't matter how many people see you now. It's what's happening in your heart with God. That is the issue determining our rewards in the age to come. Paragraph B, Luke 24. Let's look at a now Luke 24 is the chapter I would make I would put only second to 1 Corinthians 15. A few minutes ago I said 1 Corinthians 15 is the main chapter. If you're going to study the resurrection if I had to pick the second chapter it would be Luke 24 because in Luke 24 Jesus appears in his resurrected body to several different groups all in Luke 24 and we see different capacities and different modes that he operates in in his resurrected body and whatever he does in the resurrected body there's a parallel ability or capacity that we will have. So you want to read Luke 24 many times. Matter of fact as we're approaching this three-day fast coming I would encourage you to take Luke 24 1 Corinthians 15 maybe read it. I mean literally 10 or 20 times in the next three days. When I get a hold of a chapter like a Luke 24 I'll just read it for three straight days. I mean I'll stop and do other activities but in my prayer times I'll just read it over and over and over and I'll talk to Jesus while I'm reading it. I'll say mark my heart show me things about your heart and your glory show me things and I want to encourage you take Luke 24 read it 10 or 20 times in the next three days read it slowly and you won't regret it. Well let's look at one of the examples of Jesus appearing in his glory. Now I'll say this that when Jesus appears in his glory in his resurrected body he can veil his glory mean he can restrain it or he can show it full fully his glory. Now sometimes he would appear and restrain or veil his glory where the people next to him thought he was an ordinary man. Here he is the only resurrected man in history at that time at this at this same time no one else has been resurrected. Lazarus was raised from the dead but he died again a few years later. Jesus is the only human being in heaven with the resurrected body at this point in time. The only uh everybody else will get resurrection resurrected bodies at the time of the second coming but they'll be on the earth then and one of the reasons that none of the saints have resurrected bodies in heaven they don't need a resurrected body in heaven to relate to the environment of heaven. We need a physical body when it's time to relate to the environment of a physical earth in the millennial kingdom. They're doing fine without a physical body because they don't need it because there's not a natural material atmosphere in heaven but when the two realms come together the heavenly and the earthly they will need a heavenly and an earthly dimension in their body. That's why the body happens the resurrected body occurs at the time of the second coming because that's when heaven comes down to the earth. Well here Jesus is walking with two disciples who were earlier this is a a resurrection Sunday. Jesus was raised from the dead that morning. These two disciples were in Jerusalem. They were part of the apostolic company. Now they're walking to Emmaus which is about a village about seven miles away and as they're walking maybe it's mid-afternoon it's about a two-hour walk Jesus suddenly appears to them but he's restraining or veiling his glory so they don't know it's Jesus. I mean his face is as bright as the sun but he holds it back which I believe that in the age to come the saints will there will be occasions where according to what the will of God is and the need of the moment there will be times when the saints are interacting with people that will be on the millennial earth with natural bodies and the full glory of what God has entrusted to them will be manifest and other times it will be restrained just like when an angel visit. Sometimes an angel will visit and they will look like a human being. Sometimes the angel will look like an angel but the power will be restrained and other times the angel will come and the power of God will terrify everyone in the room. The angels come in different degrees of glory depending on the circumstance and that same sort of thing will happen with the saints even in the age to come because we'll be living in the new Jerusalem. The new Jerusalem will have descended to the earth. We will live in the new Jerusalem but we will work on the earth and we will be working among people who have natural bodies. They will be the survivors of the great tribulation that will continue to bear children and there will be several generations that will unfold throughout the millennium. We will be interacting with them. We will work with them regularly on the earth but our actual residence is in the new Jerusalem which has descended to the earth just above the city of Jerusalem in dynamic connection to the city of Jerusalem itself and then after the millennium the new Jerusalem lands fully on the earth. That's another story for another day. Verse 13 of Luke 24 these two guys it's about middle of the afternoon I'm guessing they're traveling that same day again it's resurrection Sunday they're going to the village of Emmaus seven miles a couple hour walk while they were conversing Jesus drew near and He went with them. He walked with them. Now here's Jesus in a resurrected body they don't know who he is they think he's a normal guy and he's walking he's not flying he's not on a cloud he's just kind of walking on the road with them and they Jesus asked them a leading question hey what's happening they go you don't know he says well you tell me they said there's this incredible prophet named Jesus mighty in word and indeed they killed him but the story is out that he's raised from the dead and we're all kind of in a you know trying to figure it out Jesus goes wow well let me tell you some bible verses about this messiah and Jesus opened the bible and spoke about himself throughout the old testament now there's nothing better than Jesus preaching Jesus it don't get any better than that and it says we don't have it in our notes here but it says in verse 32 their hearts burned within them well he's walking with them verse 16 their eyes were restrained they didn't know who he was because Jesus has the ability to restrain his glory and again the reason I'm saying that because in the age to come the saints will be able to have the same abilities when they're interacting with people who have just natural bodies again the the uh survivors of the great tribulation and their children and their children and their children then verse 31 we're skipping 15 verses down their eyes are open they go wow you're the messiah you're Jesus and he vanishes here's a man with a physical body with flesh and bones he vanishes how does a guy with a physical body vanish well he has the supernatural abilities well I believe the saints in the age to come will have the same abilities again not to the same measure of glory but parallel abilities he could suddenly appear or he could suddenly vanish from sight chapter 24 verse 33 luke 24 these guys were so excited verse 33 they rose up that very hour and they said let's get back to jerusalem so they found the eleven and they were all gathered together now it's late sunday night because it's a two-hour walk back though they're pretty energized so maybe a little they go a little faster verse 35 and they told the apostolic company in jerusalem they go you know we've been going all afternoon you're not gonna believe what happened jesus appeared to us and these guys are like really this he goes yeah he talked to us for a whole afternoon he gave us the most intense bible study his copyrights the right to copy we can use it we can put it in our handouts verse 36 while they were talking jesus comes right into their midst he comes walking right through the walls right into the room and these guys go there he is hey jesus hey man that was awesome today you know the apostles are going this is intense this is jesus first appearance to them and he said peace to you i think it's interesting this is the first time that he's he stood before the apostles and they had all denied him and the first thing on his mind was to bring them at peace he goes hey we're good don't worry they're going oh no you're terrifying in your glory but number two the last time we saw you we we uh fled and we denied you and he's saying peace i want you to have security with me beloved whatever we repent of i mean an hour ago we repent of it it's under the blood the lord says peace to you have security in your relationship with me that's the first thing he wanted you'll find that in the passage he speaks the word peace three different times he really cares that their spirit was secure in his presence verse 37 they were terrified they were frightened they thought he was a spirit they thought he was a like an angelic aberration or something it's like you're a spirit you're kind of you look like jesus sort of we're confused right now you're some kind of angelic being this is intense they were terrified chapter 24 verse 38 he said verse 38 he goes why are you troubled why do doubts rise why do you think i'm an angel why do you think i'm a spirit he goes i'm jesus i lived with you for three and a half years i told you this was going to happen and they're still kind of standing back going we were trying to process all this there's never been a resurrected human being again there's been those raised from the dead but that's not resurrected resurrected means the supernatural body that transforms their natural body that's different than being raised from the dead like lazarus again because lazarus died a few years later jesus said verse 39 behold my hands behold my feet it's me it's me handle me a spirit or an angel does not have flesh and bones this is interesting jesus has flesh and bones in your resurrected body you will have flesh and bones now you won't have natural flesh with blood in it because first corinthians 15 verse 50 i don't have it the notes says flesh and blood doesn't inherit the kingdom you won't have natural flesh but i don't it's just the term jesus used so let's use it but there will be a supernatural covering over our body that jesus called flesh it will be of a whole different order than natural flesh you won't be able to cut it it doesn't have any blood in it but it does have bones but those bones will never be broken you you could count on that he goes i have flesh and bones these guys are going flesh and bones this is intense then he said well let's take it up a notch because he wanted to prove his physicality he wanted them to understand this is really a physical human body on the earth that's the point of the resurrected body he goes verse 41 do you have food and they go well yell you know what are you going to do with it if we give it to you so they gave him some fish and some honeycomb verse 43 he ate it he ate it right in their presence now there's two occasions we'll look at one in a minute where he walks through the walls you know alan hood has this theological theological crisis and dilemma i heard him say it some years ago he says jesus ate the fish the natural fish then he walked through the wall he goes i have to know did the fish go through the wall with him the poor guy's never been able to figure it out i haven't even tried i have i don't have a clue he told me if you ever sort that one out let me know i have no insight but did the fish go through the wall who knows pray for alan okay look at luke 22 verse 15 to 30 well i'll just kind of put it up there real quick jesus told them when he's having the fat of the passover in verse 15 he says i desire to eat this passover with you before i suffer and die for i say to you i will no longer eat it until the millennial kingdom that's what he's talking about he goes i'm gonna eat the passover meal again with you when we all have resurrected bodies verse 18 i will not drink the fruit of the wine until i come back and establish my kingdom fully on the earth then i will drink the fruit of the vine and eat the meal with you forever in the kingdom when heaven comes to the earth and fills the earth with the glory of god he says in verse 30 talking about the millennia the millennial kingdom the thousand-year reign of jesus right that begins with the second coming he goes you are going to eat and drink at my table he says i will be the host i will be providing the food you will be eating and drinking with me revelation 320 said that i will dine with you beloved we will eat and drink we'll have flesh and bone body on a physical earth with real work assignments with real friends we will be learning and teaching and we'll have all the capacities of the supernatural realm of the anointing of the spirit beyond anything we imagine and this will happen forever we're not going to be playing a harp on a cloud out in nowheresville kind of wondering what happened to life we will be deeply engaged in real life on the earth forever all the abilities you have now that are good and righteous will be brought to a supernatural dimension while you're on the earth in the age to come beginning at the second coming amen okay john chapter 20 verse 19 now john takes the same story of that first resurrector resurrection sunday with the two men on the road to emmaus it's the same story john now is giving his input his details into it he goes in essence when those two guys got back and they told us the story we're all sitting around listening to it awestruck and suddenly the doors were shut because of fear of the jews because the jews were trying to kill all these disciples so they could put down any revolution before it got started so they got the doors double bolted they're afraid of the jews jesus comes walking through the wall how many of you know when the doors are bolted that doesn't stop jesus from getting in the room if he wants in the room he stood in their midst he said peace it's the same thing that luke's 24 says he said peace he goes hey we're good i love you i know you love me i understand let's move on i love you let's let's build our relationship on the mercy of god peace peace then he showed them his hands and his side verse 24 it's possibly some hours later it's still late sunday evening thomas wasn't with them when jesus came when jesus entered the room so now thomas comes in and he says unless i see his hands in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger into the print he goes let's take it up a notch i'm gonna put my hand into his side or i won't believe now beloved that's pretty intense to put your finger in the hole in the hand of a man that was murdered he goes let's take it up a notch i'm gonna put my hand in his side because when jesus was wounded in his side it wasn't a little pinprick it was a massive wound in his side thomas said i'm gonna put my hand i mean that's kind of an intense statement like whoa little does thomas know jesus is listening to him and he's gonna take him up on it now i'm gonna make a little point on thomas verse 24 thomas was not with them when jesus appeared to the room now here's the problem when you go back and look at matthew matthew 24 on your it's in the notes you'll find that when the two disciples from emmaus came to the upper room all 11 of the apostles were there 11 of them were there it says thomas hears their story he is troubled by it he goes you know mary said that earlier this morning now you guys are saying that you two guys he goes i i can't take the risk of believing this because the pain of that i would experience if this was not true i can't even go there so thomas actually hears the two disciples from emmaus somewhere in there he goes i'm getting out of here i can't take this i mean they're looking for the disciples all over the city with police groups you know they're searching for them thomas because i'm getting out of here anyway i can't take it well right when thomas leaves and you know a few moments later jesus appears thomas comes back a few hours later i'm the 20 now it's the 10 because thomas was the 11 when he was gone they said guess what thomas we saw him too thomas goes i can't take this and i don't think thomas was a wicked man that's not what it is there's unbelief that i believe is deeply tied to the fear of profound disappointment he goes i just can't go there well it says verse 26 after eight days jesus lets a week go by he lets thomas think on this thomas is thinking on this every minute of every day for that next week you can be sure of he goes mary magdalene i never really i didn't i didn't ever know about her anyway these two guys from emmaus they're new guys on the scene i don't really know about them either they could be faking it trying to make a big show out of things but the 10 of my best friends for three and a half years they're not liars they're honest men he goes i'm troubled and the lord gives him a full week to sit on this and then suddenly verse 26 the disciples are the inside jesus came the doors are shut again it's the same situation he walks right through the wall and he stands in the midst he says thomas remember a week ago you said you wouldn't believe until you put your hand in my side he pulls back his garment he goes do it thomas going i didn't actually mean it i i mean like now i mean what an intense thing like i just can't fathom the lord calling him to do this he doesn't it's an unusual man this thomas i look forward to meeting him then he believes acts chapter 1 jesus presented himself after his sufferings being seen by them for 40 days so from the resurrection to the day of pentecost there's 50 days so after the first week passes for the next 40 days right up to right before the day of pentecost jesus is appearing to them intermittently in his resurrected body they can see him for 40 days and you know the day or two after is the day of pentecost they're in the upper room they've been in the upper room for 10 days of prayer and the lord's visiting them in and out and jesus is teaching them things pertaining the kingdom i mean i can picture them all sitting around the 120 they got their bi their notepads out jesus comes walking in the door i mean through the wall he goes okay lesson number 38 you guys ready we're ready and he would teach about the kingdom the nature of the kingdom to them i mean what an intense bible study verse 9 that while they watched he was taken up in a cloud received them out of sight the point i want to make here is this is jesus in a resurrected body teaching 120 people we find out in acts chapter 1 there's 120 that's been in that upper room the 10 days leading up to the day pentecost and that overlaps into this 40-day period so jesus is teaching these 120 and this is like a short window into the dynamics in the millennial kingdom meaning here's a man with a resurrected body he can he's eating with them he's teaching them they can touch him they can handle him they can embrace him he has a natural body he's obviously restraining his glory or he would just overwhelm all of them but the 120 have natural bodies and they're learning from him it will be that same sort of dynamic in the millennial kingdom for a thousand years where people with resurrected bodies will be interfacing and interacting with people with only natural bodies and then jesus was taken up on a cloud now an interesting thing i won't have time to develop is the uh a number of times the clouds are designated i mean are uh highlighted in scripture as the mode of travel the saints travel on clouds it's mentioned a number of times jesus travels on clouds a number of times now that's not the only mode of travel because we know we know in luke 24 he was walking on the road with the uh disciples of emmaus so with the resurrected body will walk sometimes but clouds are mentioned i'm guessing 10 to 15 times and my assumption is because the saints will be on clouds this is real they're supernatural clouds it's part of the mode of travel in the age to come i don't know when we will use them or what the opportunities are how often but you know i could picture two guys you know here's my cloud let me check out your cloud and you know let's see who could i could just tell even fully redeemed some guys will always be guys it's true i mean when john tells his story there john 21 we don't have it on the on the handout john says and the disciple whom the lord loves ran to the tomb and he outran peter now john's talking about himself here he is 90 years old he's like i outran peter in the old days like john what what what's this deal about you outran peter it's 60 years later well i just i did i just just i beat him you know i reach those kind i go what on the earth and the idea that it's human they're just it's humans involved in this drama roman number three uh first corinthians 15 41 we're back to first corinthians 15 that's that main chapter on the resurrection for one star differs from another star in glory so also is the resurrection of the dead every one of the two to three billion that's an estimated number nobody knows the number but there's billions of saints that will be receiving resurrected bodies at the time of the hour of the rapture of the second coming every single believer will have a different sphere a different measure of glory just like the stars all differ in glory so will the saints first corinthians 12 in the body of christ right now there's diversity of gifts differences of ministry diversity of activities the body of christ will have the same diversity of holy spirit activity in the different members of the body that the diversity today is a principle of how jesus leads the body and that principle will be true a billion years from now none of us will ever be the same we will all be equally significant to god but we will have varying prominence and different measures of glory and different assignments we will have equal significance to god every believer but we'll have varying prominence in the city and different measures of glory and different assignments just like the believers do now but it will be based in age upon the heart response in this age daniel 12 verse 3 the wise will shine with brightness like stars those that are most faithful and making the truth known will be most shine most brightly now i didn't say those that were most effective it didn't say the wise the ones with the biggest ministries it's the ones that were diligent to search the word and that were courageous to make it known even when it was unpopular they will shine the brightest it may be just one-on-one it's about courage and diligence it's not about how big your public ministry is i said my heart i said i want to be diligent to know the truth and i want to stand for the unpopular truths i want to speak the truth because of daniel well i love jesus but daniel 12 3 i said lord i want you to to answer me in that day and every believer can have this same reality i want to shine brightly in my resurrected body because i stood courageously for unpopular truths and by the grace of god we all want to do that look at top of page four just take a minute we're out of time i realize that's why i just kind of give you the sense of this page our five senses paragraph d will be supernaturally enhanced we will have the same five senses there may be more abilities beyond that but each of the five will be brought to a supernatural dimension in the reser in our resurrected body they will be the same senses but enhanced with supernatural abilities paragraph e we'll be able to think supernatural abilities with health strength communication all kinds of things paragraph f i i really like this one second thesalonians chapter 2 verse 19 paul said what is our hope or our joy what's our crown of rejoicing is it not even you in the presence of jesus at the hour of his coming paul was telling the church and thessalonica those saints there he goes at the hour of the rapture at the time of jesus's second coming he goes we will be together when we are raised the lord will raise us in connection with each other and what i mean by that i mean the whole body of christ is going to be raised but people will there will be a a a way in which believers will even stand together be presented together those that are connected spiritually on that glorious day they will even share that with one another and even life on into the age to come there are people you are spiritually connected to they will be they will somehow be near and participating with you on that glorious day the lord really cares about our relationships with our people with people and those relationships will grow we'll have many new relationships we'll hear many people's story they'll tell us their story for millions of years we will continue to learn and to hear the stories of the people paragraph i the practical response paul says at the end of this chapter uh 1 corinthians 15 the main chapter on the resurrection he goes therefore because all these things are true be steady be steady because they're true be unmovable don't waver lock in because all these are true abound in the work don't be slothful don't figure out how you could cut corners be diligent in the work because the eyes of the lord are on you and the resurrected body is in view be steadfast be steady don't be committed one day in the next day not so committed be unmovable don't be moved by all the pressures of the opinions of men and who likes it who doesn't and abound in the work be about the work be involved in bringing truth to others again i'm not talking about a big ministry it could be one-on-one in any kind of way the lord leads us but be about the work knowing your labor is not in vain amen let's stand i want all the saints all believers praying for just a moment i just want to take 90 seconds here there might be someone in this room that being easter sunday a friend brought you and thought hey you know i'll check it out it's easter i'll go what the lord wants you to know i want all the saints praying if you would just said that the enemy would not distract this moment and the lord's offering you the free gift of salvation he's saying you can have a resurrected body he's saying i will give you forgiveness of your sins you could be a part of my family no matter what you did an hour ago or a day ago a year ago i will totally absolve you forgive you peace if you will accept that salvation and number two it's the word repent he says i want you to agree to live under my leadership and you may say i don't even know exactly what that means well that's okay because you won't know all the implications of that but you say in my heart lord i want to obey your leadership i want to live under your leadership and when i stumble and blow it i'll repent and i'll sign back up to live under your leadership and the lord says if you will accept this free gift and if you will commit to live under my leadership even though you'll stumble and fall many times i will give you the gift of salvation and i will guarantee you a resurrected body in my family forever the lord is saying i want to ask is there anyone in this room that you're saying yeah i want that i want to receive i don't know for sure if i died today that i'd go to heaven i want to walk out of this building with the assurance that if i died tonight i would be in the presence of god i want that assurance that and i don't have that right now yes i want that and yes i'm willing to commit myself to live under his leadership by the grace of god again i don't get what all that means but i i want you jesus i want to be close to you i want your salvation is there anyone in this room that you'd say mike pray for me i i want that i want it right now i want it tonight i want you to raise your hand up again i want the saints praying anyone in this room just give you a moment if you brought somebody you might ask them say do you want do you want prayer if you do just and just ask them because we want to pray with them for a few moments we won't embarrass them but we want to pray with them anybody in this room you say yeah i want to i want to give my life to jesus i want to receive his salvation okay i just wanted to give that opportunity well let's let's worship the lord for a few moments here mr just lead us