In last night’s blog, we considered the “who” of our hope, which, of course, is Jesus Christ.  Tonight, let’s think a little about the “what” of our hope.  The “what” of our hope is our glorified bodies.  Eternal life is one of the great promises of God.

John 3:16 (ESV)
¹⁶ “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Eternal life appeals to almost everyone.  Who does not want to live forever?  There are actually some people who do not.   They are those who are suffering in the flesh.  Their mortal bodies have become so painful to live in that they not only do not want to live forever, they, at least on some days, do not want to go on living in the here and now.

We all feel the burden of living in the flesh at times. While we are thankful for the life that God has blessed us with, sickness and disease have affected all of our lives at one time or another. Even Christians grow weary of the struggles associated with the earthly vessels we inhabit in this world. If our hope was based on spending all eternity in these present bodies, it would not be very appealing, would it?

Fortunately, we know as Christians that our eternity in heaven will not be spent in a body plagued by physical infirmities.  The “what” of our hope is a glorified body like Christ.

Philippians 3:20–21 (ESV)
²⁰ But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 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.

It is hard to imagine just what it will be like to be clothed with a glorified body like our Lord’s, but we sure look forward to it, don’t we?

We are like the man who spent his whole life in the country and had never been to the city. One day, he and his son had to visit a big city and stay overnight in a hotel. As they checked in, he saw an older lady with a cane and a bent posture struggling to enter the elevator, and he watched as the door closed. He asked the man behind the desk what that was she stepped into, and he told him it was an elevator. Then, a few seconds later, the elevator door reopened, and this time, one of the most beautiful women the man had ever seen walked out. He looked at his son and said, “We have to get one of those for your mother.”

While elevators cannot transform bodies, God can, and that is exactly what He will do with our bodies.  Like the man in the hotel, we may not know how it works, but we believe God can do all things.  As Paul said, our bodies might be sown perishable, but they will be raised imperishable. If we die before Christ returns, we will be sown with dishonorable bodies that age and decay, but raised in glory and power, clothed with a body like Christ.  If Christ returns before we die, our present bodies will be instantly changed (1 Corinthians 15:51).

1 John 3:2–3 (ESV)
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. ³ And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

This is the “what” of our hope.  One day we will be clothed with a body that is free from all aches and pain and earthly problems, and in it we will spend all eternity with our God in heaven.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.