The wasting away of our mortal frame is a massive shock to the system. We have known -- in theory -- that, since our twenties, physical corruption has been creeping on apace. Yet it hits us severely when we feel its mastery. The Saviour is going to reverse this trend. Death is not to be the final dissolution of this body of ours. It is going to undergo a further great change.
Consider first how sin has abased the human race, and ourselves as members of that race. So the ancient command to Adam must be fulfilled in us, 'Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return'.
Our own bodies are crumbling now in accordance with that edict, and the vileness of corruption is all too apparent to us. How far away seem those headstrong days when the glamour of our bodily attraction was a source of vanity!
Nevertheless, the bodies of believers are to become spiritual bodies like our Saviour's glorious resurrection body. As our risen Saviour's body was recognisably Him, so our bodies will be recognisably us. But as our Saviour's resurrection body was manifestly free from physical constraints, being able to appear and disappear, to pass through doors and to rise into heaven, so shall our new spiritual bodies be free from the limitations of earth. Our bodies will be like His, though not equal to His.
The change which will cause this to happen will be a change worked personally on our behalf. It will resemble the power of the raising of the Lord Jesus; it will be as effective as the power put forth to roll up the heavens like a scroll; it will not be inferior to the power of the fire by which earth and heaven shall be destroyed; it will be as discriminating as the power which separates believer from unbeliever and reserves the latter unto the day of judgment to be punished. Yet it is a power exercised on our behalf and upon our bodies.
At death, the souls of believers go instantaneously to be with the Saviour. Our new bodies await that final day; all the Lord's people, from the first to the last, will receive them on the same day. It is good to reflect at this time not only on the prosperity of our souls but on the glory which shall engulf and transform these mortal frames.