8. _It will be a heavenly body._ This appears from the 47th to the 49th
verses of this same chapter. +"The first man is of+ (literally,
_out of_) +the earth, earthy: the second man is of+ (literally,
_out of_) +heaven: as is the earth, such are they also that are
earthy: and as is the heavenly such are they also that are heavenly.
And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the
image of the heavenly."+ The thought plainly is that our present
bodies are of an earthly origin and an earthly character, but that the
transformed body will be of a heavenly character. Paul explains it
at length in 2 Cor. 5:1-4 where he says, +"For we know that if the
earthly house of our tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building from
God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens. For verily
in this+ (i.e., in this present earthly house, earthy body) +we
groan, longing to be clothed upon with our habitation which is from
heaven+ (i.e., our heavenly body): +if so be that being clothed we
shall not be found naked. For indeed we that are in this tabernacle+
(i.e., in the present earthy body) +groan, being burdened; not for
that we would be unclothed, but that we would be clothed upon+
(i.e., with our heavenly body), +that what is mortal may be swallowed
up of life."+
9. _Our transformed bodies will be luminous, shining, dazzling, bright
like the sun._ This is seen in many passages. For example, Matt. 13:43,
+"Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom
of their Father."+ This is to be taken literally for it is in the
_interpretation_ of the parable and not in the parable. This suggests
what we have already seen about the transfigured body of Jesus in Matt.
17:2, where we are told that +"His face did shine as the sun, and his
garments became white as the light."+ We have the same thought also
in the Old Testament in Dan. 12:3, where we are told, +"And they that
are wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that
turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever."+ They
shall shine literally as well as figuratively. Some suggestion of what
the luminous glory of our faces and forms in our resurrection bodies
will be is seen in the light that Paul tells us that he saw beaming
from the person of Jesus when the glorified Jesus met him on the
Damascus road. In Paul's description of what he saw on that occasion,
as given in Acts 26:12, 13, we read, +"Whereupon as I journeyed
to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests,
at midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, above the
brightness of the sun, shining around about me and them that journeyed
with me."+ The light that Saul saw, as is evident from the whole
account, was the light that shone from the person of our glorified
Lord, and in our resurrection bodies we shall be like Him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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