NEW BODIES

Getting a new body is huge business today -- from surgeries, pills, diets, exercise plans, flattering clothes, etc.

Standing by a hospital bed today listening to a friend indicating that the surgical procedure he will have tomorrow carries life-threatening risk, the conversation turned to the great hope of Christians for the resurrection of the body.

We talked about N.T. Wright's great book, Surprised by Hope, in which he reminds us that heaven is a wonderful but temporary future home for Christ-followers. Jesus' resurrection guarantees our resurrection -- not to an etherial, spirit-existence floating around the clouds or beyond, but to physical life on the new earth in a world as it was intended to be at the beginning.

From the time of the original fall into sin God promised to send a Rescuer to restore His ruined creation to its original perfection.

Age, illness, and accidents can make life in these fallen bodies less than pleasant at times. But for those who embrace new life through faith in Jesus' redemptive work, the RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS, including our physical bodies, is thrilling.