Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Meditations on Heaven IV

"Resurrection of the Flesh" by Luca Signorelli c. 1500

"For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame - who set their mind on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself." Php 3:18-21

When Jesus returns to earth, He will physically raise all the dead, giving them back the bodies they lost at death. These will be the same bodies people had in earthly life—but our resurrected bodies shall never die and, for the elect, shall be place in a glorified state - no more suffering, pain, thirst or hunger. They will be able to do the many amazing things Jesus could do with His glorified body such as walk through walls and disappear.

We must pray, pray and never cease to pray that we may, by God's great mercy, be counted among His elect. May we not be resurrected to eternal suffering and damnation. All souls will be reunited with the body they had on earth - to be taken into Heaven or Hell. Pray for the conversion of sinners and the salvation of souls. The thought of even one person lost forever is an unspeakable tragedy which can never be undone!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

My... the quote from Php 3:18-21 seems to do justice to my nature perfectly, except in the fact that my God is not my belly, but a God of which I became unworthy some time ago. I say this not in pride, but in a grim self-reflection. Lately my mind has been invaded with thoughts toward the magnifiscence of violence, and ones' personal, earthly strength. I take pleasure in the crushing of others to feed an ego, be it in a football game, or speaking in terms of literal violence, and I look upon the weak and timid as inferior and humorous - things which I wish I could turn my mind from, yet I lately find as irresistable second natures.