When a friend or loved one dies, you are saddened because you know that you will not see them again; you will no longer be able to talk with them and enjoy their company. They will not be telling their funny stories to make you laugh or lending a sympathetic ear to your problems. You will miss them. Does that individual just cease to exist? Or is there life after death? 1 Corinthians 15:20-22 “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.” The proof of the resurrection is given by the fact that Jesus died and then rose again. If you believe in the resurrection of Jesus, then you can have assurance that all will be resurrected and that there is life after death. John 5:28-29 “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth – those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.”
It is natural to wonder what it will be like at the resurrection. When a person dies and then they are resurrected, what will they look like? Will they look old or will they look young? 1 Corinthians 15:35-38; 42-44 “But someone will say, ‘How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?’ Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain – perhaps wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body.” “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.” The answer to the question of what a resurrected person will look like is that he or she will be given a spiritual body that is different from the natural body; it is raised in incorruption; it is raised in glory; it is raised in power. With this spiritual body, you will not have the physical problems and pain you have with your physical body. You will not grow old and have the problems associated with old age. You will have a spiritual body for all eternity. When the last trumpet from God sounds, you will be changed. 1 Corinthians 15:50-53 “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. 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. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”
When you see all of the evilness in this world and experience all the problems of this life and all of the pain and physical suffering and all the trouble and sorry, it becomes natural after a while to desire to be with the Lord and be clothed with your new spiritual body and experience the joys of the next life. 2 Corinthians 5:1-8 “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”
But you have to be ready when your time comes. Hebrews 9:27-28 “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.” After death, there is no time for repentance, no time to change your ways. After death comes the judgement. You have to prepare for eternity now. Revelation 20:11-13 “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.”
My encouragement to you is to get ready for the resurrection. Live your life in such a way that you will be prepared either for your death or for Jesus to return. Look forward to having a new spiritual body and being present with the Lord.