2 Peter 2:9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment… 
	Last week, we began to consider the fact that we, as a society, have been greatly misled with regard to the devaluing of our physical bodies. There is very much to declare in this area of the complete resurrection of the Christian into heaven, by Jesus Christ. This is where we will continue this morning. 
This is important because we are seeing that God will resurrect us perfectly in Jesus Christ, including our physical bodies. Many of us have been misled by the influence of Platonism, unaware of the entirety of the salvation that is accomplished in Jesus Christ.
God has created us as more than spirit. The value that He places upon us as His creation is immense. As a result, we spent much time with the many passages dealing with the difference between the nature of the old man, the physical nature which is to be considered dead in deed to God, and the physical body that God has given us.
	We must never forget that in the creation, God repeatedly stated over and over again the proclamation as recorded in Gen 1:31a. And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. This includes the complete creation of mankind. He made us comprising three aspects of body, soul, and spirit. One is not greater than the other in the terms of the creative hand of God. Each element is necessary for the whole, living being. As we read in Gen 2:7, Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. Our life proceeds from God and He created us in the perfect manner in which to contain that life. 
	We must always be very careful not to devalue that which God values and has brought into being. This is one reason that we are to be excellent stewards of all this creation. While we will not go any farther in that direction at this point, suffice it to say that we need to learn to view everything and everyone from the valuation of God rather than of man. What He does and creates transcends anything that we can ever attempt. In that light, even the human body is set in God’s eyes as worthy of resurrection unto perfection.
	Consider what we are told in 1 Cor 6:19+20 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. God set a great price upon even our bodies. It was the price of the very death of His Only Begotten Son. That should cause us to stop and to reasonably ponder why God would then simply throw away, as useless, these bodies that He has created and for which He paid such an infinitely, immeasurable price. This cannot be the case! 
	As we read in Rom 6:4-7, Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. Knowing that we will be raised in the likeness of His resurrection, let us consider this truth for a brief time this morning.
	In 1 Tim 3:16, we have the following recorded for us. And by common confession great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh, Was vindicated in the Spirit, Beheld by angels, Proclaimed among the nations, Believed on in the world, Taken up in glory. This is the Apostle Paul admonishing Timothy as to the mystery of godliness set in Jesus Christ. Held within this confession is the fact that Jesus was revealed in the flesh. He was seen, not as a spirit, but as a man, both before and after His crucifixion and resurrection. This is important in terms of the fact that we will be raised in the likeness of His resurrection. He was not just given a body to be used during his earthly ministry and then released from it after His physical death. This would very much fit the ideals of Plato. Rather, Christ Jesus was a man, clothed in His body of flesh even after He endured the death on the cross. His physical body was released from the tomb and it was His physical presence that proclaimed the fact of His triumphant victory over death once and for all. 
	Consider that He presented Himself physically to His disciples in order for their doubts to be set aside. He invited them to touch and to handle Him in order to establish the fact that He was, indeed, alive from the dead in every sense. This was no spirit, this was the resurrected Son of Man with Whom they had so long fellowshipped and whose teachings they had come to love.
	Listen to Jesus in Luke 24:39-43. "See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." [And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet.] And while they still could not believe it for joy and were marveling, He said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" And they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish; and He took it and ate it before them. Notice that He still required physical nourishment. He took a piece of fish and ate it. He still bore the full essence of a man: body, soul, and spirit.
	We have this further evidenced by the Apostle John in 1 John 1:1. What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the Word of Life — …and our hands handled…  There was physical contact with Jesus Christ. He was able to touch and to heal. He hugged and gave comfort. He made mud with his spit and healed the eyes of the blind. He was a physical presence, especially in His crucifixion. He suffered the trauma of the Roman scourging, bearing the physical marks of the hammer and nail and spear. His body was bruised and beaten for you and for me and it was drained of its life for us. Yet, God, in His infinite wisdom and love raised His Son, in bodily form, from the grave and seated Him at His right hand in heaven, as the Son of Man. 
	Listen to the testimony of Our Dear Lord and Savior at His trial. Luke 22:69+70, "But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God." And they all said, "Are You the Son of God, then?" And He said to them, "Yes, I am." Notice the key aspect to this truth… from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God… He is seated at the right hand of God as a man, the perfect man. 
That is why we are encouraged, even at this time in this life, to consider Jesus Christ, and to set our minds on Him in all His glory. This is not too much for us to comprehend, at least vaguely on this earth. As the Apostle Paul writes, Col 3:1-4, If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. As He is our everything, as we have died in terms of our old nature, as we are now hidden fully and completely in Christ Jesus, as He sits on our behalf at the right hand of God, so are we to cherish and to dwell our thoughts on Him.
1 Cor 15:20-23 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming…
Quote, Just as Christ’s body was raised from the grave, so will our bodies be raised, ‘each one in his own order: Christ the first-fruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming’ (1 Cor. 15:23). This will fulfill God’s original purpose, when He said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image’ and the image was body as well as soul. In heaven that image will be fully restored. End quote. 
	This brings us to the next aspect of this consideration, what will our bodies be like in heaven. It is apparent from scripture that we will be the same, yet different. As we saw with Christ’s body after His resurrection, he still ate the same food. He still looked the same, He had the same features and flesh. He still bore the marks of His crucifixion. Yet there was the difference in the fact that the locked door could not keep his body out of the room where His disciples were gathered. There was a difference in the fact of His perfection.
We do not know the fullness of the change that we will undergo in the resurrection of our bodies. We know that we will be raised in the likeness of Christ, but we must not expect to be exactly like Him. He Alone is both God and man. We are still only man, the work of His creative hand. 
	The Apostle Paul has a long passage that deals with the change that we will encounter at the resurrection of our earthly bodies. 1 Cor 15:42-57, So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So also it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living soul." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. And just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 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. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory. "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 
	What will our bodies be like? Quote, They will be the same bodies as those inhabited by our souls on earth. Paul emphasizes that these present bodies of ours, ‘mortal’ and ‘lowly’ though they are, will be raised through the Spirit’s power. ‘He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies. We also eagerly wait for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body’ (Rom 8:11. Phil. 3:20, 21). God never gives up. As far as His people are concerned, He is unwilling to allow even the smallest triumph to Satan. The bodies with which we were created have been damaged by sin, corrupted by the devil’s influence. But God will not abandon them and begin again. He will never allow Satan to boast that he has succeeded in ruining irretrievably at least something for which Christ died, placing our bodies beyond redemptive reach and compelling God to provide replacements. No, God will defeat Satan in every respect and will transform the very body of our mortality and humiliation in to something glorious and eternal. Our own bodies – these present bodies – will be transformed. End quote. 
	While these will be the same bodies, they will be different. In the short term, as the Apostle Paul relates, know that these bodies will be raised in incorruption, raised in glory, raised in power, and raised a spiritual body. These are the elements of our bodies in heaven that we will take up when next we are gathered together in this study. So be it!
Until then, I ask you to read and re-read 1 Corinthians Chapter 15, for the Lord to guide us into His complete heart with regard to His absolute victory over the death that so plagues these mortal bodies. Amen. 

This morning’s benediction reading is Gal 1:3-5. Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us out of this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.