When we die we will (obviously) give up our mortal bodies, but what will we receive in return? The Bible tells us that we will be changed, but what exactly will we be changed into? In this article I want to briefly cover what we know (from God’s Word) about this subject. I will be using the ESV for this article, as it provides somewhat easier reading.

  1. We will be changed.
  2. We will receive another (better) body.
  3. We will become like Jesus (spiritual and eternal instead of earthly and mortal).
  4. We can’t know everything about what we will become (but it will be far superior to what we have here).

First, let’s look at number one, we will be changed:

1Co 15:52  in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.

Second, that we will receive another (better) spiritual body:

1Co 15:40  There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another.

1Co 15:42  So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable.

Third, we will become as Jesus is now – not as he was when he died (perishable) on the cross:

Php 3:21  who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

Finally, we are incapable of knowing exactly what glory awaits us, but we are assured that it is far superior to what we have here on earth. In fact, I would venture to say that what we have here in this material world is a mere echo of what awaits us in the heavenly realm:

1Jn 3:2  Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.