1. First of all, we know that _the body which is raised will not be
exactly the same body that it was when it was laid in the grave_. This
appears from I Cor. 15:35-38: +"But some will say, how are the dead
raised? And with what manner of body do they come? Thou foolish one,
that which thou thyself sowest is not quickened, except it die: and
that which thou sowest, thou sowest not in the body that shall be, but
a bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other kind; but God
giveth it a body even as it pleased him, and to each seed a body of its
own."+ Here we are told that our bodies when they are raised will
not be exactly the same as our bodies when they are buried, any more
than the wheat that springs from the kernel of wheat that is planted is
the same as the kernel that was planted. But just as what grows from
the seed comes from the seed and bears the most intimate relation to
the seed, so our resurrection bodies come from the body that is buried
and bear the most intimate relation to it. The resurrection body is the
outcome of the body that is buried. It is the old body quickened and
transformed; or, as Paul puts it in Phil. 3:20, 21: +"Jesus Christ
. . . 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."+
2. The next thing that the Bible teaches about _our resurrection
bodies_ is that _they are like the glorified body of Jesus Christ_.
This appears from the verses just quoted, Phil. 3:20, 21: +"The
Lord Jesus Christ . . . shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation,
that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the
work whereby he is able even to subject all things unto himself."+
Christ's resurrection body was not the same body that was laid in the
sepulchre. It was the old body _transformed_ and delivered from the
limitations of the body that He had while living here among men, and
new qualities imparted to it, and our bodies will also be transformed
into the likeness of this glorious body of Christ and thus delivered
from the limitations to which they are subjected now, and new qualities
imparted to them. It will be a transformed body; the character of its
transformation is indicated by the transformation that took place in
the body of Jesus Christ. Some suggestion as to what that transformed
body of Jesus Christ was like is found in that anticipation of His
resurrection which was seen by Peter, James and John on the mount of
transfiguration. Matthew in his description of the appearance of Jesus
at His transfiguration, tells us that +"His face did shine as the
sun, and his garments became white as the light"+ (Matt. 17:2).
Luke tells us that +"the fashion of his countenance was altered and
His raiment became white and dazzling"+ (Luke 9:29). Mark tells
us that +"He was transfigured before them: and his garments became
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