It is the same way with the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever. Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength. They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies. The Scriptures tell us, “The first man, Adam, became a living person.” But the last Adam—that is, Christ—is a life-giving Spirit. What comes first is the natural body, then the spiritual body comes later. Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven. Earthly people are like the earthly man, and heavenly people are like the heavenly man. Just as we are now like the earthly man, we will someday be like the heavenly man. What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever. But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies. Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory. I Corinthians 15:42-54 (New Living Translation, NLT)

This passage speaks of our earthly bodies being exchanged for glorified, or spiritual, bodies at the rapture, or the catching away of the church. If you read it carefully, you’ll see that the bodies we receive will be like the body Jesus received when He was resurrected. It is the glorified body that He received and will have for all eternity.

Therefore, when the rapture takes place, all believers living on earth and those believers no longer living will be given spiritual, supernatural bodies like Jesus’ glorified body. Our old, decaying bodies will be changed into bodies that will never die or wear out. They will not tire or become sick. They will not feel pain. If we will have bodies like that of Jesus, we can look at the characteristics of Jesus’ resurrected body to see what our glorified bodies will be like.

Jesus’ glorified body looked very similar to a normal, earthly body. When Mary saw Him at the tomb, she mistook Him for the gardener (John 20:14-16). The two men who were traveling to the town of Emmaus were joined by Jesus as they traveled and they did not realize it was Jesus until He blessed their meal (Luke 24:13-31).

Jesus glorified body was a spiritual body, yet is had physical form and could be touched and handled. He could eat food and do the things a person in an earthly body could do (Luke 24:38-43, John 20:20).

Jesus’ glorified body was not limited to the natural laws of earth. For example, His body could pass through walls and doors into a locked room (Luke 24:36-38, John 20:19) It could easily be translated from one location to another (Luke 24:31). In fact, He was able to move back and forth from heaven to earth (Luke 24:50-51, John 20:17).

Descriptions of Jesus after His ascension depict Him with a body and appearance that is glorious and powerful (Revelation 1:13-16). And I believe that although our glorified bodies will appear similar to our earthly bodies, at times we will also look different somehow- with a radiance and glory upon us that we do not demonstrate now.

This shows us just a few of the properties of our glorified bodies. We will receive them at the rapture and will live in them throughout the millennial reign of Christ and though all eternity. Just think, those living on earth during the millennial reign of Christ will probably be able to look at us in our glorified bodies and know that we are different. We will be the glorified ones.