⁴¹There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. ⁴²So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; ⁴³it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;⁴⁴it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

Our resurrected bodies will be glorious! This will be glory of a different nature than the brightness of the beautiful nighttime sky, but the comparison is all we can comprehend. So God invites us to enjoy the anticipation of our future life by the awe we feel when looking up into the vast reaches and magnificence of the constellations and the saturating points of light that pepper the celestial manifestation of glory. What an expectation, a great hope we have of what our lives will be like!

Circling back to the seed illustration, our life now in comparison to our future resurrected life is like a seed that loses itself when planted in the soil; it dies, in the sense that it ceases to be a seed. The essence of the seed lives on in the plant, but it is completely transformed. To compare the seed with the resulting plant or its fruit stretches our imagination, even though we see this phenomenon take place all around us. Children are amazed with awe and wonder when they see this demonstrated in their little Styrofoam cups filled with dirt and a little seed planted.

The seed is designed to “die” (perishable body), that is, its purpose is to give way to that which is greater, that which succeeds the seed. In answer to the questions, “How are the dead raised?” (1 Cor. 15:35), Paul effuses with comparisons using the seed-plant imagery. Our present body is perishable, sown in dishonor and weakness, a natural body. Our resurrected body, by contrast, is that which is imperishable, raised in glory and power, a spiritual body. It is a mere conclusion that while our present bodies are inglorious, our resurrected bodies will be glorious beyond all comparison.

Clearly, in context, Paul is speaking of the resurrection of Christians, true believers in Jesus Christ. Earlier he made the distinction, “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18). The unsaved will be resurrected, not to a glorious body, but to one that will be continuously perishing in the eternal lake of fire (Rev. 20:10, 14–15). Praise God, we who believe anticipate better than that—a glorious eternity with resurrected, glorious bodies that will never perish.

Lord, I look forward to what You have promised us who believe: a resurrected life with You forever and ever!