DON’T SETTLE FOR LESS
Mike Cunningham
August 18, 2013

As soon as Mac and big and little Jen were seated around the large oval table, the pastor opened the Bible study with a word of prayer. Then the group sang a hymn which was followed by a time during which they each offered their thanks and prayer concerns to their heavenly Father.

The pastor got the ball rolling by telling the group about Joni Eareckson Tada, an amazing 63 year-old Christian woman about whom he has spoken in his some of his sermons. She is a paraplegic and has been paralyzed from the shoulders down for the past 46 years as a result of a diving accident she sustained when she was 17 years old. Joni has suffered greatly, sometimes to the point of considering committing suicide. Needless to say, the thought of dying and going to heaven is on her mind. The following are excerpts of a conversation she had with a woman named Karla. It’s recorded in Joni’s outstanding book, “When God Weeps.”

Joni Eareckson Tada

“Karla is a woman in her late thirties who is desperate to understand a few reasons why. Severe diabetes is the root of it all. Both legs amputated. A heart attack! A kidney transplant! Constant battles with collapsed veins, severe edema and legally blind. When we first met at one of our Joni and Friends Family Retreats, I remarked, Karla, I’m amazed you were able to make it,” to which she replied with a grin, “I thought I’d better come before I lost any more body parts.” “Look at me, she said, dropping her gaze to her lap. Through her shorts, I could see the contour of the large plastic cups around her stumps. Karla wasn’t wearing cosmetic legs, but the bare steel bar kind, with a hinge at the knee. She held up her hand to show something new: a flat white gauze wrapped around the end of a knuckle. Her finger had been

amputated. “I’m falling apart.” “I’m a Christian. I’ve suffered. Don’t you think I’ve paid my dues?” she asked with pleading eyes. “I’m not depressed or anything, I just don’t see the point. I want to go home now. Heaven, I mean.”

Diabetes is one of the many diseases mankind has been plagued with because of Adam’s fall in “The Garden of Eden,” said the pastor. “Regardless of receiving excellent medical care or how well the person takes care of him or herself, things sometimes go from bad to worse. For reasons unknown to us, God sometimes allows awful things happen to His children. So much so that they want to die and go to heaven.

Then he posed this question, “Can any of you folks fault Karla for wanting to leave this world and go to heaven? Little Jen immediately responded with an emphatic, “No way!” “Same with

me. If I were in her shoes I’d sure want to be in heaven,” said Mac. “Anything would be better than continuing to live like that. I couldn’t handle it.” “ “Hold on a minute,” said big Jen. “Don’t be so quick.” “Let’s think this through.” “What’s to think about? It’s a no-brainer!” said little Jen. “I think she’s got a good point,” added Mac.

The pastor had gotten the group thinking about heaven, just as he had wanted them to. Here’s a sampling of their questions. “I wonder what I’ll look like in heaven? How old will I be when I live there? Will I keep getting older and older or be the same age as I was when I died? Will Karla get new body parts in heaven? How about the woman that recently received a face transplant? Will she get her old face back or keep the new one? And what about the donor? Is she going to get her face back? If some of the folks we love don’t wind up in heaven, how can we be happy knowing that they are suffering excruciating agony in hell? Will we remember all the sins we committed while we were living on earth? Are we going to know about everyone else’s sins? Will we be able to see everything that’s happening on earth? How could I possibly be happy in heaven watching all the physical and/or emotional pain and suffering my loved ones will experience before they die?

It was questions such as these that the pastor wanted to generate from the group. He knew that they were curious about heaven. That’s why he was reading a recently published award-winning book named “After Life” which was written by Hank Hanegraaff, (AKA) “The Bible Answer Man.” Hank is a 63 year-old married man and the father of 12 children.

Before he began with the quotes, the pastor reminded them that the more that he plumbs the depths of the Sacred Scriptures, the more he realizes how shallow his understanding of them actually is. He acknowledged the fact that he doesn’t have a corner on all truth, and neither does anyone else, including Hank Hanegraaff. He told them to search the Scriptures for themselves and see if what he is about to teach them is indeed scriptural.

Then he quoted Hanegraaff who says that “While Scripture does not directly tell us exactly how old we will be in the new heavens and the new earth, Scripture does provide us with glorious insights respecting the state of glorified humanity. First, when God formed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, he created them in the prime of life and with apparent age, (apparent age, not appearance of age-there is no warrant for supposing that the parents of humanity were created replete with calluses on their feet, belly buttons, or childhood memories). Additionally, Jesus died and was resurrected at the prime of physical development. Thus we are justified in believing that whether we die in infancy, in the prime of life, or in old age, we will be resurrected physically mature and perfect, as God originally intended.”

“Awesome,” said little Jen. “You got that right,” added Mac, while big Jen nodded her head in agreement.

“Furthermore, our DNA is programed in such a way that at a particular point we reach the optimal development from a functional perspective. For the most part, it appears that we reach that stage somewhere in our twenties or thirties. Prior to this stage, the development of our bodies (anabolism) exceeds the devolution of our bodies (catabolism). From this point on, the rate of breakdown exceeds the rate of buildup, which eventually leads to physical death. All of this is to say that if the blueprint for our glorified bodies is in the DNA, then it would stand to reason that our bodies will be resurrected at the optimal stage of development determined by our DNA. Whether infant or infirm, we will be resurrected physically mature as God intended humanity to be.”

“Pastor does that mean that if a one-year old baby died that it will be about twenty or thirty years-old in heaven? Why even it’s own mother wouldn’t recognize her child.” “According to Hanegraaff that’s correct, Jen. Here’s what he says.”

“Finally, of one thing we can be certain, in heaven, there will be no deformities. The body, tarnished by the fall will be gloriously transformed. You will be the perfect you, and I will be the perfect me. The ancient apologist Justin Martyr said it well, “If on earth he healed the sicknesses of the flesh, and made the body whole, much more will he do this in the resurrection, so that the flesh shall rise perfect and entire.” What all the kings’ horses and all the kings’ men could not do, the Almighty will do-put us together again. For in paradise restored “there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:4). Partakers of eternity will forever “drink without cost from the spring of the water of life” (21:6). If you are searching for the fountain of youth-there it is!” Pgs. 46-47

“Does the Bible answer guy say how God does all this?” asked little Jen. “I bet he does,” added Mac. “Of course he does,” big Jen thought to herself. “Everything I’ve heard so far is scriptural.” “I would like to know how Hanegraaff explained it, pastor.” I’m glad you asked. I hope you folks are as blessed by his explanation as I was. Now please don’t anyone interrupt me while I quote him and listen carefully to his explanation. He says that,”

“Of all that can be said concerning our glorified bodies, the foremost is this: our lowly bodies will be transformed. How? Our Savior will “transform our lowly bodies, so that they will be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:21). Like our Savior’s body, our resurrection body will be a real, physical, flesh-and-bone body, perfectly engineered for “a new heaven and a new earth” (Revelation 21:1). As we have seen, just as there is a one-to-one correspondence between the body of Christ that died and the body that rose, so too our resurrection bodies will be numerically identical to the bodies we now possess. In other words, our resurrection bodies are not second bodies; rather, they are our present bodies transformed.”

“Furthermore, we should note that the SEED for our glorified body is in the body we now possess. The Apostle Paul provides us with a seed analogy (1 Corinthians 15:35-38). As a seed is transformed into the body it will be, so too our mortal body will be transformed into the immortal body it will be. Hence, the blueprint for the glorified body is in the body we now possess. As a common caterpillar could not imagine becoming a beautiful butterfly, so too it is impossible for us to imagine what will emerge from the blueprint. One thing is certain: the blueprint will pale in comparison to the building.”

“Finally, the apostle to the gentiles wants us to know that the natural body will be raised a spiritual body-that is, a body that is SPIRIT DOMINATED. When Paul employs the term “spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:44), he is not communicating that we will be resurrected as spirit beings but that our resurrected bodies will be SUPERNATURAL, SIN-FREE, AND SPIRIT DOMINATED-dominated by the Holy Spirit rather than dominated by hedonistic sensations or natural proclivities. In place of “sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like” (Galatians 5:19-21), we will faithfully manifest the fruit of the Spirit, which is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (vv. 22-23).” “In the meantime, we eagerly await the metamorphosis that will transform our natural bodies into bodies that are supernatural, sin-free, and Spirit-dominated. Pg.25

“I love it. It’s beautiful!” “I knew you would, Jen.” “I like it, too,” added Mac. “I’m having a hard time understanding all this stuff,” said little Jen. “That’s the reason I’m always asking you folks to print my sermons and study them during the week. I’m constantly reminding everyone that they will be blessed if they do.” “I’ve been doing that pastor and I know that I’m growing in my faith,” said Big Jen. “Me too,” added Mac while little Jen just sat there not saying a word, knowing that she didn’t intend to take the pastors suggestion. She always had more important things to do.

Of course, everyone wanted to know what their new home in heaven would look like. They were all ears as the pastor continued quoting Hanegraaff, who explained that,

“When the Apostle Peter wrote, “We are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness,” (2 Peter 3:13) he was not describing an earth altogether different from the one we now inhabit but rather the cosmos resurrected without decay, disease, destruction or death.”

“First, we might rightly conclude that the cosmos will be resurrected, not annihilated, on the basis of Christ’s conquest over Satan. As the cross ultimately liberates us from death and disease, so too it will liberate the cosmos from destruction and decay (Romans 8:20-21).”

“Furthermore, the Greek word used to designate the newness of the cosmos is kainos, meaning new in quality,” not in kind-a cosmos existing in continuity with the present creation. Put another way, the earth will be thoroughly transformed, not totally terminated. When a flood destroys an island, it does not cease to exist, nor will the earth when it is renewed by fire.”

“Finally, the metaphor of childbirth will emerge from paradise lost to paradise restored. As Scripture puts it, “The whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of CHILDBIRTH right up to the present time” (Romans 8:22). But, like a mother, earth will birth a new Eden, in which God will wipe every tear from our eyes.” (Revelation 21:1-4) Pgs. 26-28

“While many suppose that eternal life begins the moment we die, the reality is that our eternal life begins the moment we embrace the Savior who died in our place and stretches out throughout eternity. Therefore, eternal life exists in all three phases of life.” “Just as physical birth can never be undone, so too spiritual birth can never be undone. Thus, those who are in Christ experience eternal life as a present possession. Our Master provides ultimate assurance for this reality: “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word HAS eternal life and will not be condemned; he HAS crossed over from death to life’ (John 5:24)”

“As those who “PARTAKE in the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4), we taste in time “the powers of the coming age” (Hebrews 6:5)-what Watchman Nee aptly referred to as “the normal Christian life.” We experience eternal life as through a glass darkly-yet even now we experience it in this life!”

“Furthermore, we may rightly say that our experience of eternal life will be significantly enhanced in the intermediate state-life after life. As the apostle Paul sums up: “To depart” the body is to “be with Christ” (Philippians 1:23). Put another way, with the death of the body we experience a new realm of soul satisfaction. This satisfaction is of such surpassing significance that “to live is Christ” but “to die is gain.” Thus, says Paul, “I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far, but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body” (Philippians 1:21, 23-24). While the full experience of eternal life in the intermediate state requires speculation for those yet in the body, of one thing we can be certain: it will be as Paul says, “better by far.”

“Finally, our eternal life will be communicated in the eternal state (life-after-life.) When Christ appears with a loud command with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God, we will be gloriously transformed in resurrection. In the intermediate state our soul is “absent from the body” and “present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). But in the eternal state our souls will return to resurrected bodies, we will experience a restored universe; and we will forever commune with a resurrected Christ as we learn and grow and develop without error.”

“In the present we experience eternal life as through a veil; in the life after life that veil will be removed and eternal life will continue in the presence of the King; and in the life-after-life we will experience eternal life as the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. On that day the prayer, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10 KJV) will find final resolution in resurrection glory.” Pgs. 186-187

“I’m sorry folks but we’ve run out of time. I hope the four of you will return next week.” Then the pastor ended the study with a word of prayer.

It’s been my prayerful hope and desire that by listening in on today’s fictitious bible study, that it has been helpful to each of you, and that it also will be to those folks who may read about it later. I doubt if anyone can possibly remember everything I’ve covered in today’s message. Don’t be foolish like little Jen. Get a printed copy of this bible study and then MAKE THE TIME to think about it carefully. You can count on being blessed by it in more ways than one. Don’t short-change yourselves. Please, DON’T SETTLE FOR LESS!

Lord willing, next week,….