Secrets from Beyond The Grave

The answer is that they are presently in heaven. However, at the resurrection, their spirit and soul will leave the heavenly paradise and follow Christ in the air at His appearing. Christ will then conduct a supernatural, mysterious resurrection, and they will be joined with a new resurrected body, as we who are living will be "changed--in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye" (1 Cor. 15:51-52), and together, with new immortal bodies, we will meet in the air! Why Do We Need a New Body? During one of my conferences in West Virginia, I was asked a question that I had never studied or read an answer to. The person asked, "Perry, if our souls and spirits are already eternal, then why would we need a body that is raised from the dust?" I thought for a moment and then replied, "All spirit beings, whether it be God, angels, demons, or even the spirits of departed loved ones, are normally invisible to the human eyes." (See 1 Timothy 1:17.) Many people have stood at the bed of a dying loved one and watched him or her breathe his final breath. At that moment, angels entered the room and took his soul and spirit from his body (Luke 16:22). Many people feel a peaceful presence or sense the atmosphere becomes charged, but no one actually sees the angels or the spirit of the person as it leaves the body. In the Bible, in order to see in the spirit realm, either the angel must take on human form and appear as a human (Gen. 19:1-5; Heb. 13:2), or the eyes of the human being must be opened and the veil removed to see the spirit world (2 Kings 6:17). If at Christ's coming both the dead saints and those living who were caught up only return to Earth in a spirit body , then all earthly men and women who survive the Tribulation would never be able to see us, as we would be, as all spirits are, invisible to their eyes. However, with this new, resurrected body, all men will see us, and we will be as Christ was after His resurrection: He could travel from one place to another at the speed of thought and could walk through a door (Luke 24:31; John 20:26). This is perhaps one of several reasons for a having a body that is not just a spirit but is a new body. Paul pens one of the most interesting discourses on the resurrection of the dead in his letter to the church at Corinth: All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fish, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. 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. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. --1 Corinthians 15:39-44 Some argue that since flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom , it is impossible for there to be any form of flesh on a resurrected body. Thus they believe the statements in this passage of Scripture are a metaphor or some mysterious allegory pointing to a different meaning. I would answer, "Did Jesus have the same body when He came out of the grave three days later, and was this the same body that He was clothed in when He ascended to heaven?" The answer, of course, is yes. Eight days after His resurrection, Christ appeared to "doubting" Thomas. When Thomas