Resurrection Reassembles the Original Body

Yesterday we have seen that Christ’s death and resurrection is a pattern for all mankind. At this point there is a difficulty that often troubles the carnal mind concerning the resurrection of man’s physical body.

Suppose that a man has been dead two or three thousand years and that his body has been totally resolved into its original material elements. Or suppose that a man has been killed in war by the explosion of a bomb or a shell, and his body has been totally disintegrated by the force of the explosion so that no humanly recoverable traces of the body remain. Is it reasonable, in such circumstances, to expect that, at the moment of resurrection, the material elements of bodies such as these shall be regathered, reconstituted and resurrected complete once again?

The answer must be that, for those who acknowledge the unlimited wisdom, knowledge and power of God, there is nothing incredible or impossible in this doctrine. Furthermore, when we take time to consider what the Bible reveals concerning the wisdom and knowledge of God displayed in the original creation of man’s body, the doctrine of the resurrection of the body appears both natural and logical.

In Psalm 139 David speaks of the original process by which God formed man’s physical body. Nearly the whole of this psalm is devoted to extolling the fathomless wisdom, knowledge and power of God. In several verses David deals in particular with these attributes of God as displayed in the formation of his human, physical body.

“For You have formed my inward parts; You have covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvellous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame [that is, my physical body] was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, and skilfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance [my physical body], being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.” (Ps. 139:13-16)

Here David is speaking not about the immaterial part of his nature – his spirit and soul – but about the material part of his nature – his physical body – which he denotes by the phrases “my substance” and “my frame.”

Concerning the process by which God brought his physical body into being, David reveals two facts of great interest and importance:

1. The material, earthly elements out of which David’s body was to be formed were specially appointed and prepared a great while beforehand by God, while these material elements were still in the lowest part of the earth.
2. God had appointed the precise number, dimensions and material of all the constituent members of David’s body long before his body ever actually came into being.