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NOTES
God’s promise to give a new body requires a new earth fit for that new body, and his promise of a new body stretches back centuries before the arrival of Jesus.
New-creation Christianity emphasizes that God will give us a new body. The idea of humanity receiving a new body is actually implied way back at the very beginning. Where? Genesis chapter two verse twenty-five. Adam and Eve were naked and not ashamed. Just because they were naked at the beginning doesn’t mean that God intended for them to be naked forever. The idea of being naked and not ashamed implies a sense of immaturity. Not that Adam and Eve were toddlers but they weren’t mature. They were flawless, but they weren’t complete or perfect. They had growing to do. They weren’t at the final level. So, how does this truth relate to the idea of Adam and Eve, indeed all humanity, receiving a new body?
Well, God created the earth as a new domain for his kingdom, as his special dwelling place, and he made Adam and Eve it’s king and queen, his viceregents. As his image bearers, they represented him and ruled in his place. God told them to rule over the earth and its creatures and to multiply. Then in chapter two, God instructed Adam and Eve to work in the Garden of Eden and keep it. What does that mean? Working the Garden of Eden means improving it and expanding it. Keeping the Garden of Even means keeping it pure, keeping evil out, keeping out what doesn’t belong there—like a talking snake that hates God. Had Adam and Eve listened to God and fulfilled their mandate, by obeying his directives, then God eventually would have given them royal clothes and installed them as the eternal king and queen over his new dominion, the earth. Then they would enjoy God, the garden, the whole human society, and the creatures. Their royal clothes would not have merely been purple robes. What were these new clothes? New bodies incapable of corruption and death. The robes of immortality. That would have been their reward. Eternal bliss.
The dream of immortality has always been in the human heart because God designed us to attain it—from the very beginning. Even the bodies that Adam and Eve had were not automatically immortal. There was the tree of life. Now, that doesn’t mean their bodies were corrupt or flawed. It just means they weren’t perfect. They were perfectible which also means they were corruptible. Reflecting on the bodies of Adam and Eve, the apostle Paul wrote in First Corinthians chapter fifteen verse fifty that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. He’s not referring to our human bodies that have been tainted by sin. He’s talking about their nature even if they had not been corrupted by the fall. That little statement, the size of speck of dust, offers a whole world of meaning. God always planned for his heavenly kingdom to flow out of heaven and fill the earth. He designated humans to be the agents to make that happen so he can share his kingdom with them. But they rejected his kingdom so they could establish their own. Doing so, they forsook immortality. This truth helps us understand the significance of Jesus preaching the arrival of God’s kingdom in himself. Jesus brought life and immortality to light. Eternal life has always been part of God’s plan and is attainable through Jesus’ work on our behalf. Thanks for listening. I’m Aaron Massey.