The hope of Christians is what sustains us. Paul said, “For we are saved by hope” (Romans 8:24). The word hope in this passage means to protect, deliver, or preserve (Strong). This is why the Hebrews writer called hope “an anchor of the soul.” Hope is so strong and real that those who truly have it will live pure lives so that they might turn it into sight and reality someday (1 John 3:3).

What is the Christian’s hope? The easy answer is heaven. However, as great as heaven will be, it is only one aspect of our hope. It is the “where” of our hope; however, there is a “what” involved in our hope as well. The “what” of our hope is the glorified bodies that the Lord has promised us. Can you imagine spending all of eternity in the present body that you have? If we were going to do that, heaven would not be a place that was free of sorrow because, as wonderful and magnificent as our earthly bodies are, they have their problems. There are aches and pains associated with our flesh and blood bodies. Would you want to live forever in a body that is subject to decay? Of course not. Fortunately, we will not have to, for flesh and blood, Paul said, cannot inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 15:50).

A real part of the Christian’s hope is having a body like that of our Savior. John said, “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” (1 John 3:2). That is a wonderful truth. One of these days, we are going to have a glorious body like the one our Savior has. Paul taught the same thing in Philippians 3:21. “Who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body…”  This is the hope we all share as Christians.

There is probably more we do not know about our future bodies than we do know. Unfortunately, the Bible just does not tell us a lot about them. However, we do know that they will be fit for heaven. In the great passage on the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15), Paul compares the nature of our future bodies to the various bodies that God has created. The sun, moon, and stars all have different bodies so far as glory is concerned. Such is the case with fleshly bodies. For example, humans and animals have different kinds of bodies. The flesh is different. Furthermore, the flesh of dogs is different from the flesh of fish. Why the different kinds of flesh? Each being is given a body that is fit for its environment. Such is the case with all earthly bodies and heavenly bodies, and such will be the case with our future bodies. Whatever their exact nature will be, they will be fit for heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:35-49).

A few things are clear from the teaching of Paul regarding our future bodies. First, while they will be very different from our present bodies in nature, they will be the same bodies. God is not going to create for us a completely different body; He is going to change the ones we have from corruptible to incorruptible (1 Corinthians 15:52-53). This truth is in harmony with the passage I referred to above. In Philippians 3:21, Paul did not teach that God was going to discard our lowly bodies, he said He is going to transform them. Second, since our present bodies are the ones that are going to be changed, they are important in God’s scheme of things. This is the argument that Paul made for not committing fornication or using our bodies in any way as an instrument of unrighteousness (Romans 6:12-13; 1 Corinthians 6:12-20).

I am glad that in heaven we will have new, glorified bodies—bodies that will never breakdown or wear out and that will be free from all the aches and pains that we experience now. We are going to be in heaven for a very long time. We are going to need bodies that will last.

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