I will Wait, till My Change Comes

               

In the May 2, 1990 Ridder Newspapers Chicago , there was an article about a 46 years old man called Thomas Donaldson. He had a doctorate in mathematics from the University of Chicago and a senior mathematician for a software company in Belmont. He was a long time proponent of cryonics, the controversial practice of deep-freezing people after they have died in hopes that someday they can be thawed and revived.

Donaldson was suffering from a brain tumor and had gone to court in search of permission to have himself frozen to death before he was legally dead. He wanted to have his head separated from his body after freezing in hopes that future scientists will discover a way to cure the tumor and attach his head to a healthy body. “I don`t want to die''  he said, “all the other choices I know lead to certain death, whereas this one leads to some uncertain end. It seems to me this one is clearly superior.”

In Philippians 3:20-21 Paul says “but our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body”.

When the disciples stood looking at Jesus going up, an angel came and told them “this same Jesus who is taken up from you shall so come in like manner as you've seen Him go into heaven"(Acts 1:9-11). In John 14:2-3 Jesus told his disciples, " I go to prepare a place for you...I will come again and receive you to myself; that where I am, there you may be also”.

Jesus is preparing the future home of his children, that is what he said.  When he is done he “will come again and receive you to myself” .That is a very precious promise to the Church. Paul may have been echoing it when he spoke to the Thessalonians. He told them ‘According to the Lord’s word, we…who are left until the coming of the Lord will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.

 For, the Lord will come down from heaven… with the trumpet call of God and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thess. 4:15-17). In these verses Paul describes how Jesus will come back for his children. There is a group of people who will not taste physical death.

 In I Corinthians 15:51-52, Paul says “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 incorruptible, and we shall be changed”. Jesus said "and this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day” (John  6: 39). Those who are in the grave will hear his voice and rise up (John 5:28-28).

In Romans 8:23-25 we read “we …groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for...the redemption of our bodies.  For in this hope we were saved… we wait for it patiently”. The present body groans; sin and its corruption, both our own and that of this world, causes every believer to groan. David groaned over his own sin (Ps.38:4, 10). Lot was vexed by what he say day by day where he lived (2 Peter 2:8).

Our earthly bodies get sick and hurt. We get hunger, fatigue, anxieties, discouragement and so much more.  As Jesus prepares a place for us, he also prepares us for that place. In this life we are being transformed into the image of Christ (2 Cor. 3:18). Some of the tools that God uses are trials and they cause us to groan. He is also pruning us to help us bear much fruit (John 5:2); pruning hurts and we groan.

We are waiting for the redemption of our bodies. We shall not dwell in these groaning bodies forever. The transformation and pruning process will come to an end one day. This corrupted earth and heaven will pass away as well (Rev. 21:1). Every believer has this hope within him and this is what keeps us going. We willingly bear up under suffering because we have a sure hope; we know without any doubt that what God promised, He will do!

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:1-4, "For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling...For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, we ...want to be ...clothed, in order that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life."

Paul was a tentmaker, so he speaks of our present body as an earthly tent and it’s a very apt illustration. Tents are by their very nature temporary housing. After a while the stakes begin to loosen, the poles begin to bend and the canvas sags. Similarly the earthly body was not built to stand for ever; it is a tent set up for a temporary purpose. When that purpose ends the occupant will vacate and the tent will be pulled down.

Sometimes the tent is pulled down by accidents and diseases; if this does not happen the tent will age and crumble one day. Solomon describes the aging process of the body in the last chapter of Ecclesiastes (12:3-13). He says that with time the body begins to tremble, it stoops, the grinders (teeth) cease , the windows (eyes) grow dim, the sound of the birds grow faint (hearing fails); The almond tree blossoms (hair turns grey) and finally the people go to their eternal home.

Whereas our present bodies are suited to life on this earth, our future bodies will not be of this creation. They will be especially designed for life in heaven.  They will be perfect bodies like the one the Savior now has (1 John 3:2). Paul is not making a speculation about our future bodies! He says we know that if our earthly tent is torn down we have a building from God! The dissolution of the body, the dismantling of this tent does not bring annihilation, it brings translation to glory.

That's why the Paul can bravely and joyfully go through those things that he is experiencing because that phase of life will soon pass.  He is going through it with his eyes fixed on things “above”  and not on the earthly;  on the things that are invisible and eternal rather than the things that are visible and temporary (2 Cor. 4:17-18). Paul passes through all of these experiences with confidence and assurance.

He knows that even if he loses his life in the midst of them, he has a glorified body waiting. That truth was of great comfort to the apostle, whose physical body had been so mercilessly battered by hardships, illness and the rigors of life, that he longed for his incorruptible, immortal resurrection body. Paul knew that his present body is temporary and wasting away. He called it “this body that is subject to death”. He longed to be liberated from it (Rom.7:24).  

Job asked, “If a man dies, shall he live again?” Then he answered himself, “All the days of my hard service I will wait, till my change comes” (Job 14:14). Later on he said “I know my redeemer lives and that in the end he will stand on earth. After my skin has been destroyed yet in my flesh I will see God...with my own eyes  - I and not another. how my heart yearns within me” (Job 19:25-27).

Knowing these truths that speak of our future should motivate and energize our present passing life. We can live with a Paul and job- like anticipation even in times of affliction and trial because “we know”. One day, God will “strike the tent” and we will receive a new building from God, a place to live in through all eternity.

John wrote “What we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears we shall be like him (1 John 3:2).  The Bible does not tell us in details what the glorified body will look like. It may be wise to be content to leave much to be made known to us hereafter. Yet, at least three times, human eyes have seen something of the body of glory.

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai the skin of his face shone; people were afraid of him (Exod. 34:29-30). When Jesus was transfigured His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light (Matt 17:2).   The Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel (Acts 6:15). Those three transient gleams may serve as tokens to us to help us to form some faint idea of what the body of the glory will be like.

Thomas Donaldson had no assurance that the expensive “freezing head” procedure will work. And even if it did, its benefits would only be temporary. His new body and old head would die eventually. There was a way, however, to secure all the benefits that he had desired. It was to receive Jesus as his Savior. Then, when Christ returns, he would get a new body that will never be subjected to disease or death. With such a body guaranteed who would want a "frozen head"