Forever Home in the Eternal Family of God

Daily Encouragement for the Family of God by Kenton Cheek

30 April 2025

Reading From 21:1-19

“Then he said to them: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.

“But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you. They will hand you over to synagogues and put you in prison, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. And so you will bear testimony to me. But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. Everyone will hate you because of me. But not a hair of your head will perish. Stand firm, and you will win life.”

—Luke 21:10-19

     Even as Jesus was predicting devastating natural disasters and horrible persecution that will take place during the end times, He gives hope to those who love Him and are called according to His good purpose.  The Lord teaches us to “make up your mind not to worry beforehand.”  What valuable and healthy guidance this is.  Tomorrow has enough worry of its own, we should not allow anxiety to steal our joy today.  We do this by making the decision to trust the Lord and let Him handle our affairs.

     When we read this passage, it is puzzling how Jesus tells us that some of us will be put to death and yet He promises that not a hair of our heads will perish.  Eternal life is guaranteed for those who are born again and endure to the end.  There may be times in our lives when we wander and none of us will follow Him perfectly in this life, but when the trumpet of God sounds, the dead in Christ shall rise and those who are still living will be caught up to meet Him in the air and all of us will be given perfect, resurrected bodies.

     For all of the many born again followers of Jesus who have already died, their bodies will be reunited with their spirits.  Every decayed particle will be reconstituted, perfected and glorified.  In the New Heaven and the New Earth there will be no sin and therefore no effects of sin.  The imperfections of our current physical bodies will be gone and we will be like Jesus.  No more sickness, no more disease, no more disabilities, no more limitations, no more aging.

     Great insight is given regarding our spiritual bodies in I Corinthians 15:35-54.  Verse 50 reveals, “I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.”  Our resurrected bodies will not need sustenance to survive, but in the afterlife we will be able to enjoy food and drink just as Jesus did after His resurrection when He dined with the disciples. 

     Philippians 3:21 tells us that He will, “will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.”  Jesus was able to appear and disappear, walk through walls, sit, talk, eat and drink.  If by God’s power Philip was able to teleport while in this old, sinful world, imagine what wondrous adventures we will have in the New Heaven and the New Earth with our resurrected, glorified bodies!

“Heavenly Father, thank You for providing us with such wonderful hope in the resurrection of Your Son Jesus.  In You we have assurance of our own resurrections and to enjoy our exciting future with You in Your Presence for all eternity.  I know that rejecting worry in favor of trust is easier said than done, and so I ask for strength for me and my brothers and sisters to surrender our anxieties to You.  Fill us to overflowing with Your love, peace, and hope.  In the Name of Jesus Christ I pray these things.  Amen.”

So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 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.

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall webear the image of the heavenly man.

—I Corinthians 15:42-49