Our full rights as adopted children will include a new body.
Romans 8:23 And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.
While Paul refers to our present condition as ‘Having all the legal rights’ of being a child in the family, the plain fact is that we have not yet experienced our full rights! Our bodies are still subject to pain and illness, and there are all the frustrations of age and physical deterioration. This old body of mine simply isn’t suitable for enjoying the full benefit of being a child of God.
So I’m going to get a new one !! WOW !!
My mind doesn’t run to trying to imagine that. Forget wings, harps and haloes for sure – and sitting around on damp clouds too! I think we can also forget standing around and singing songs all day – but then what do you imagine? There have been all kinds of speculations about serving God in some way, of enjoying worshipping God, of meeting those we knew in this present life ….. and so it goes on. The only reliable thing Paul tells us is that we will inhabit new bodies.
If you want to read a bit more about it try looking at 1 Corinthians 15, or Revelation 21 and 22. As for me, with painful hips and knees, needing a flu jab every year, and regular medication to keep my heart working properly, I’ll just be glad to inherit that new body promised to me as an adopted child of a loving heavenly father.