The Bodily Change-" We Shall Be Like Him."

by Miller, J. | Category: The Coming Again Of The Lord Jesus Christ: | Apr 1954

In the" Prayer of the afflicted "(Psalm 102.) the LORD is described as looking down from heaven and listening to the almost inaudible sound-" the sighing of the prisoner."

"He hath looked down from the height of His sanctuary;

From heaven did the LORD behold the earth

To hear the sighing of the prisoner:

To loose those that are appointed to death" (verse 19, 20).

In the pleading of Asaph in a somewhat analogous passage we read,

"Let the sighing of the prisoner come before Thee;

According to the greatness of Thy power preserve Thou those that are appointed to death" (Psalm 79. 11).

The human family is under the sentence of death. Sin by the parents of our race corrupted the flow of life through countless generations of all who are naturally born, every thought and action of men are tainted with sin, and, in consequence of this, death is passed on all men. As a result many, many have been the sighs that have escaped human hearts and lips. Our case is like to that of the children of Israel when they were under the bondage of Pharaoh.

"The children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God saw the children of Israel, and God took knowledge of them" (Exodus 2.28.25).

Here is the picture of mankind in miniature, but the bondage of mankind to sin is greater by far than the bondage of Egypt's brickfields, and the sufferings caused by sin far, far exceed the bitter lash of Egypt's taskmasters.

What was God's answer to Israel's plight? It was in accordance with the terms of the covenant which He made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. That covenant spoke of deliverance and this involved a deliverer. In due time Moses came into view, Moses, that meek and mighty man by whom God effected deliverance for His enslaved people. The story of Israel as we move on through Exodus becomes more and more entrancing as we see the blood bespattered doorways of the homes of the Israelites and their burdens in Egypt pass away for ever.

"But we have known redemption, Lord From bondage worse than theirs by far."

What is the hope of mankind? The answer is, the terms of the eternal covenant.

"The God of peace ... brought again from the dead the Great Shepherd of the sheep with (EN, in R.V.M.) the blood of the eternal covenant, even our Lord Jesus Christ" (Hebrews 13.20).

God raised Him from the dead in the power and virtue of His blood which has rendered effective the terms, provisions and promises of a covenant which is eternal. The earliest announcement of the chief promise of that covenant is contained in the sentence passed upon the serpent (the old serpent, the Devil) which was to be carried out by the Seed of the woman, even the incarnate Christ. Here in few words we have the greatest facts which affect mankind in the announcement, that the Seed of the woman would bruise the serpent's head.

"Her seed; it shall bruise thy head" (Genesis 3. 15).

Here we have the Lord's birth and death foretold, the Babe of Bethlehem and the Man of Calvary, His miraculous birth and His death that paralysed the Devil and also put away sin. Sweet promise that shone upon the dark gathering clouds of human woe!

As with Israel, so with God's redeemed of the present day, our sighing has been changed for a song, and our spirits, freed from their prison and the shackles of sin, soar on high with lighter wing than the lark and recount in holy lays the triumph of our Redeemer, the Great Shepherd of the sheep.

What a change has come about in the case of the sinner saved by grace! His soul is freed from sin; his past is all forgiven; a new and eternal life stretches out before him, the end of which the rolling ages of eternity shall never see; he has been made meet to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light, having been delivered out of the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of the Son of God's love (Colossians 1.12-14). What a Redeemer and what a redemption!

But this prisoner, freed from sin and its consequences, does not always sing. He, like the lark which sings aloft, returns to earth and the song gives place to a groan common to humanity. Though already a citizen of heaven and sure of being there, he dwells in a mortal body which is subject to the same conditions of hunger and thirst, danger and disease, and even death, as the bodies of men who are not redeemed. In this body he groans, being burdened. His groaning rises to God with the common and universal groan of all animated creation, and, strange as it may seem, the blessed Holy Spirit joins in that groaning in His intercession for saints.

"For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only so, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for our adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body ... We know not how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered" (Romans 8.22, 23, 26).

The human body is a weak structure compared to a tabernacle, a house easily taken down and removed. It is viewed as clothing worn by all mortals, which is subject to tear and wear and decay, and as the outward man of saints decays, the inward man, fed by the heavenly manna of God's word, is renewed day by day. There is no renewal of the decaying outward man now, but that will come, thank God, for the redemption of the body of believers will take place as surely as our souls (or selves) have been redeemed. It is for this glorious change that we hope and look and long. We may shed this body in death, it may be buried in land or sea, and we ourselves go to be with Christ which is very far better, but the body, despite what happens to it when dust returns to dust, will be redeemed in the day of our adoption at the coming of the Lord.

How will this happen? we may ask. Paul explained to the Corinthians, some of whom were saying, as in 1 Corinthians 15., that there was no resurrection of the dead, that if the dissolution of the body takes place there is in the heavens a house not made with hands, which, being eternal, answers to the need of this weak earthly body. Should the Lord come when we are alive this house which is from heaven will come upon the mortal body in which we live, and this mortal shall be swallowed up of life. The same will happen in the case of the body that is dissolved in death, it also will be clothed with this house. What Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5.1-4 is further explained in 1 Corinthians 15.52-54.

"For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality."

The corrupting bodies of saints that have died put on incorruption; they must do so, though corruption is the enemy of incorruption, and the mortal bodies of living saints must put on immortality. Death is then swallowed up in victory. In a moment a fight will be fought and a victory won in the bodies of saints. This same fact is stated in other words in 2 Corinthians 5.4.

"For indeed we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened; not for that we would be unclothed, but that we would be clothed upon, that what is mortal may be swallowed up of life."

It should be carefully noted that this house which is from heaven is not a body which clothes the soul, but is one which clothes the body. Note the force of the words above of being unclothed and being clothed upon, that is clothed upon while the person is still in mortal body and this clothing of the mortal body with the house which is from heaven swallows up all that is mortal in the mortal body, so that no mortality exists any longer therein. The groaning of Paul was not to be interpreted that he wished to be unclothed, that is, to die, but that he would be clothed upon with the habitation that is from heaven. If the house which is from heaven were the resurrection body, then saints might enter that body in heaven and there would then be no need of any resurrection of the body that is buried in the earth. But such a thought would be far from the truth. The body that has returned to the dust will be raised, but in resurrection a change beyond all human imagination will have taken place by the corruptible putting on incorruption.

This same change is indicated in Philippians 3.20, 21.

"For our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of His glory, according to the working whereby He is able even to subject all things unto Himself."

There will be a complete change in the outward appearance of the bodies of saints as is involved in the word fashion; the body will be fashioned anew. In such a work it will be conformed to the body of His glory, that is, to the image of the Lord's glorified body, not His body as it was when He lived prior to His death and resurrection when He was found in fashion as a man, but that same body raised and glorified. From humiliation to glory, the human body which is like the Lord's in the days of His flesh (apart from sin of course) will be conformed to that body of His glory in which He is as seated on God's right hand. The same power will be brought into action as will subject every opposing will and force to the Lord's supreme will, for the same opposing force is in the mortal bodies of saints as will be in antichrist and his minions who will oppose Him in the day of His coming to earth. Here the march of the Lord in majesty begins by bringing the bodies of saints into conformity to Himself. Victory! victory! will be the shout of saints, for His victory will be ours.

John the apostle adds his quota to the literature on this glorious subject, for after telling us that now are we the children of God, he says, "It is not yet made manifest what we shall be. We know that, if He shall be manifested, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him even as lie

is" (1 John 3.2).

What a thought this is that we shall see Him even as He now is, seated on God's right hand! There will be no change in His appearance as there was when He emptied Himself and took the form of a servant, when men looked into the manger and saw the Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes. Then there was the hiding of His power and glory, but we shall see Him even as He is now. We shall take on His glorious image by sight as the dewdrop takes on the likeness of the glory of the rising sun and the dewdrops sparkle in the sunshine as diamonds. They were dark and without beauty before the sunrise, but the glorious beauty of the sun dispelled their darkness and they shine brightly in its light.

Such is the similitude drawn by the psalmist in Psalm 110.3.

"Thy people offer themselves willingly in the day of Thy power:

In the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning (dawn), Thou host the dew of Thy youth."

Gesenius says of youth here that it signifies " young men." Youth according to this authority is to be understood as we use the word youth in that modern phrase-" youth movement," which does not mean a young or new movement, but means a movement of or among young people. The Lord's people of a future day, whether we view them rising from a dark night of grievous departure from God or view the many who shall arise from the dust of the earth to sit with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the prophets, co-sharers in that resurrection, the verse views them numerous as the dew on the grass flashing in the sunlight of the dawn of that day when the Sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings (Malachi 4.2).

Beautiful beyond description will the saints of the Church which is His Body be in His coming again. We sometimes sing with much holy fervour,

The heavens shall glow with splendour,

But brighter far than they,

The saints shall shine in glory

As Christ shall them array:

The beauty of the Saviour

Shall dazzle every eye,

In the crowning day that's coming

By and by."

Our very heart throbs with joyous anticipation of that glad morn of resurrection joy when the sorrows of the present night shall pass away as a dream and be forgotten in the delights of the then present events. Then in eternal youth we shall be able to enjoy pleasure to the full. Our weak earthy frame here cannot bear even a surfeit of pleasure. We become weary of earthly joy, being unable to bear too much of it, but then all will be different; we shall then be able to sustain a weight of eternal glory, if we have borne our light affliction here well.

Not only will there be complete elimination of all that is mortal or corruptible from the bodies of saints at the Lord's coming, there will also be complete deliverance from sin in the flesh. The flesh with all its evil works will be for ever cast out. That horror which is described by Paul in the words-" Sin which dwelleth in me. For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing"-will disappear and never again assault the peace and sanctity of our minds. The moral corruption which is still in our flesh which, like a cancer, is rooted there, will be cut clean away from us with all its deadly roots. Like some monster of the night it will pass away into the dark before the rising dawn of that eternal day. In this life-long struggle of all saints we hear even Paul bemoaning himself,

"0 wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 7.24, 25).

Great as will be the deliverance from mortality in the bodies of saints, from disease and sorrow and death, equally great will be that deliverance from the weary struggle of the mind that is renewed by grace with the mind of the flesh. We cannot, we who are accustomed to the assaults of the flesh even in our most holy exercises, realize what it will be when no sinful thought shall arise to dim our view of divine and eternal things. It will be glorious to have a body like the Lord's, and glorious too to have a mind like His with thoughts for ever pure and holy. All the works of the flesh, a veritable brood of vipers, will have disappeared-fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousies, wraths, factions, divisions, heresies, envyings, drunkenness, revellings, "and such like," for the list of designations of the works of the flesh is not complete, this leprosy breaks out in many forms. But the leper will be healed and cleansed and this moral leprosy shall no more exist, neither shall it leave any trace of its existence behind.

"The first man Adam became a living soul. The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.

The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second Man is of heaven.

And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly" (1 Corinthians 15. 45-49).

The last Adam describes the Lord in resurrection and coming again, as does that statement-" the second Man is of heaven." This does not mean that the Lord was a man before His incarnation as some have very erroneously held and in some cases taught. He was not man until He became a partaker of blood and flesh. When the Lord raised the dead when He was here He did not impart to those He raised a body such as saints will have when He comes as the second Man from Heaven. That blessed Man is coming again, for resurrection will be by Man, as death came by man.

"For since by man came death, by Man came also the resurrection of the dead" (1 Corinthians 15. 21).

As Adam who became a living soul imparted his likeness to all his posterity, so the Lord who is a life-giving Spirit will impart His likeness to us, and we who until now bear the image of Adam shall in the day that the Lord will come from heaven bear His image.

Though we each bear the image of Adam each is different from one another. What a world it would be if all persons were identical, face and form exactly alike, finger prints and body odour exactly the same! The confusion of exact similarity would bring the world as we know it to an end. In God making a difference between men, even between twins, comes identification. What a joy it is to see the well-known face of a loved one! Souls are different and faces are different. The face is not a mask but the reflex of the soul. Here the soul reveals itself in its joy and sorrow, its intelligence or ignorance. As there are differences in all human beings on earth so will it be in the case of saints in glory.

"There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead" (1 Corinthians 15.41, 42).

Here is a fact that many of us would never have known, but for the writing of Paul, that one star differeth from another in glory. Ml look much alike as we gaze into the heavens on a starry night, but they are all different. So we are told will the dead be in the resurrection, and with this difference will go identification. Shall we know each other in the glory? Certainly, beyond the shadow of doubt. If there is difference there must and will be recognition. Abraham and Isaac will for ever be Abraham and Isaac, and these men will be seen and recognized by others. Heaven without difference between saints, without recognition of each other would be a strange place indeed. But whilst all will be different from one another all will be like the Lord. Then the foreordained purpose of God will be fulfilled:

"For whom He foreknew, He also foreordained to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brethren:

And whom He foreordained, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified.

WHAT THEN SHALL WE SAY TO THESE THINGS?"

(Romans 8.29-31).

Miller, J. | Apr 1954
The Coming Again Of The Lord Jesus Christ: