One of the most glorious truths is the real hope that God offers his people. It's a real, substantial hope of a future on a renewed earth, with renewed bodies, free of suffering, with God himself living among us.
Where might we look in the Bible to see this renewed-earth future promised?
Two weeks ago, I kicked us off with a look at 1 Corinthians 15, and then last week at 1 Thessalonians 4.
Today, I'm going to add a third, much shorter, post looking at Philippians 3.
Better by Far
That this is in the letter of Philippians is significant. It is Philippians 1:27 that gives us just how good it will be to be in heaven, with Christ, before the end of all things when we are given our resurrection bodies
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labour for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 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 1:21-24)
Paul writes from prison, and any day now he will hear the outcome of his trial. He is, as we would say, on remand. There are two possible outcomes — release or execution — and he genuinely doesn't know which way it will go.
As he mulls these two options, he articulates how good it would be if he were to die. It would mean departing this life, and going to be with Christ. This he says is "better by far". That's "better" for him. However, he would be more useful for the Philippians if he got to stay behind to serve them, so he hopes for the outcome that is not so good for him, but better for his service to them.
We await
Against that backdrop, Paul articulates his hope in chapter 3.
But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. (Philippians 3:20-21)
Firstly, he starts with the category of citizenship. Philippi was a Roman colony; its occupants would have prided themselves in being citizens of Rome. Paul's opponents their have "their mind set on earthly things". Whether or not they were Roman citizens, this earth was the place they belonged.
By contrast, Paul and the Philippian Christians belonged in heaven. Just as the Roman citizens in Philippi did not live in Rome, so the Philippian Christians do not live in heaven. But their allegiance, their culture, their sense of privilege — all come from the fact that they are citizens of heaven.
He then moves to discuss what they are waiting for. "We eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ." The Lord Jesus Christ is currently "there", that is "heaven". The thought that we belong there, where he is, is the same thought we get in Colossians 3:1-4 and Ephesians 2:6.
But one day the Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour, will come "from there", to where we are here.
The final thought in Paul's sentence concerns what Jesus will do when he comes "from there": He "will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body." This is now a familiar thought to us, having read 1 Corinthians 15 - Jesus will come back, and transform our bodies, so that they are glorious like the body he now has.
Not in heaven, but on earth
Paul has already drawn comfort from the fact that, one day, he will go to heaven to be with Christ, which is "better by far". He has already seen his identity in terms of a citizenship in heaven. If our ultimate destiny was to be in heaven with Christ, all this would give Paul the opportunity to set out his hope in those terms. But Philippians 3:20 does not say: "And we eagerly await the day we all will go there", but "we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who … will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body."
What a future God has indeed promised!
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