The qualities of our new heavenly bodies
Let’s look at the qualities that Jesus had when He was resurrected.

A new kind of body
When Jesus was resurrected, He was not purely spirit.

Luke 24:36-40–Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to you.” (37) But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. (38) And He said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? (39) Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.” (40) When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet.

Jesus was still human and still had a body of flesh and bone–He says so! Flesh and bone!

We are going to have a new kind of a spiritual, resurrected, marvelous, eternal, glorified body; and yet it’s going to be material enough and natural enough and recognizable enough and seeable, feelable, enjoyable enough to actually be constructed as we now are of flesh and bones–but eternal flesh and bones, incorruptible, immortal flesh and bones.–Flesh and bones! Think of it! And that kind of marvelous glorified Heavenly body is going to be able to enjoy all the pleasures that our body enjoys here and now.

Recognizable
1 Corinthians 15:49–And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly man.

Even as we have looked on Earth, we will resemble that same image in Heaven. We will bear the same looks and general appearance-here called “image”–as we have here on Earth, but much more glorious.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 that it’s going to be like the difference between sowing a seed, and then what comes up out of the seed. He says it’s going to be new and different, and yet we’ll recognize each other; we’ll “know even as also we are known” (1 Corinthians 13:12).

Powers of movement
When Jesus was resurrected, He was not only able to do all the normal natural things we humans do, but when His disciples were in a locked room with the doors all barred, all of a sudden He came walking right through the door without unlocking it! Jesus could appear or disappear; He could walk right through walls or locked doors. (John 20:19, John 20:26.)

In your new body, you’ll be able to walk through walls, doors, and appear and disappear just like Jesus did. Perhaps we’ll even fly!

The pleasures of life continued
All of the pleasures of this present physical life can be continued into the next life as well, since we will have a body which is similar to our physical body, but so much more glorious and wonderful and supernatural that it’s even called spiritual. Yet it can actually materialize and eat and drink and be merry, have fun, love and all of the present pleasures of this life extended into the next. We will have an immortal, incorruptible, all-powerful body that can enjoy these pleasures even more there than we do here, and forever without ever suffering pain or sickness or weariness or death. It will be absolutely marvelously heavenly forever!

Still able to eat, although it won’t be necessary
Luke 24:42-43–So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. And He took it and ate in their presence.

Jesus ate with His disciples several times after He was resurrected. In Luke 24 we read how He sat down and ate with them. Another time He broke bread with the disciples after the walk down the road to Emmaus.

For more on this subject, be sure to read 1 Corinthians 15, if you haven’t already.

Near Death Experience: June’s Story
(As told by her doctor:) June had had a cardiac arrest at the age of five during surgery to repair her heart valves and to install a pacemaker. She often talked about her near-death experience, mainly because it was such a beautiful event that it always seemed to be with her. Although she was deeply anesthetized during the surgery, she suddenly found herself floating above the doctors, watching them as they worked. She could recount details: the appearance of certain instruments, for instance, and the fact that one of the doctors was right-handed and the other left-handed. When the doctors began their procedure to restart her heart, she found herself leaving the operating room and traveling down a long tunnel. At the other end, she was bathed in light, a bright warm light that she always described as “the Light of God.” As she later told her husband, Don, “I was never afraid again after I experienced the light. I know that I can die at any time, and yet I have no fear.”

It was the experience of this light that gave her such a positive outlook on life. Without it, much of her life would have been dark. Her parents died when she was young. Her sister died of a drug overdose at the age of eighteen. June knew that pacemakers sometimes stop working, causing heart failure, but she didn’t dwell on it. “I was more afraid than she was,” said Don. “She had no fear because she had seen the light.”

The day before she died June was having a cup of coffee at her kitchen table, when her dead sister appeared. She stood before her and announced, “June, it’s time to go.” Then the apparition sat down across the table and drank a cup of coffee. When the apparition finished, she simply got up and left the house. June felt that she couldn’t tell her husband what had happened. Instead, she called the aunt and uncle who had raised her and told them about the peculiar occurrence. “I am going to die, and I just wanted to say good-bye,” she said. Then she called her two brothers. She told them not to mention their conversation to her husband until she died because it would be too upsetting for him.

She simply told Don how happy he had made her. She was glad to have such a beautiful home and a wonderful child. Nothing could have made her happier. That night she died in her sleep (at age 28) because her pacemaker failed. Her heart simply stopped.