Will we have physical bodies in Heaven?

Question: "Will we have physical bodies in Heaven?"

Answer: Although the Bible tells us little about what it will be like in heaven, it seems that we will most likely have a physical body. 1 Corinthians 15:52 says that "the dead will be raised incorruptible" and that those who are alive at the time of Christ's return for His saints "shall be changed." The connection you made with the believer's eternal future and the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a very good one because He is "the firstfruits" of those who have died (1 Corinthians 15:20, 23). This means that He set the example and leads the way. 1 Corinthians 15:42 says that our "body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption." In a precursor to believer's resurrection, some were raised at the time of Christ's resurrection in Matthew 27:52 where it says that their "bodies...were raised." Thomas, in John 20:27 physically touched the body of Christ following His resurrection.

We can expect that all believer's resurrection will be like that of Christ's. What a wonderful truth! The Bible is not specific, but it seems that will be able to eat. John, in Revelation 22:2, writes of his vision of the eternal state where he saw "in the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month." This seems to be a reversal of the Genesis 3 punishment where Adam and Eve, and hence all of mankind, were banned from eating from this tree. As for hunger, it appears that there won't be any. Isaiah 49:10 says that there will be no hunger or thirst in the millennial kingdom. This is speaking of mortal men during that period, not of translated saints, but by extension it can be said that if mortals on earth during Christ's Kingdom do not hunger, then surely there will be no hunger in heaven (see also Revelation 7:14-16).

Finally, Job, in Job 19:25, wrote that he knew for sure that even after he dies and his skin is long gone, that "in my FLESH I shall SEE God" (all caps added for emphasis).

Recommended Resource: What the Bible Says about Heaven & Eternity by Ice & Demy.

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