2Corinthians 5:17 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, if any person is (ingrafted) in Christ Jesus (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether) the old (previous moral and spiritual condition) is passed away, Behold! the fresh and new HAS come."
For most of our Christian walk, we've believed that we would become the new creation, after we go to heaven. We've been taught that and have come to believe that way. It's true that we won't have our glorified body until Jesus returns, but we became a new creation the moment we were born-again. We were created brand new in Jesus.
1John 3:2 (Amplified) says, "Beloved, we are (even here and) now God's children; it is not yet disclosed (made clear) what we shall be (here after), but we know that when He comes and is manifest, we shall (as God's children) resemble and be like Him, for we shall see Him just as He (really) is." 1Thessalonians 4:15-18 (Amplified) says, "For this we declare to you by the Lord's Own Word, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall in no way precede (into His Presence) or have any advantage at all over those who have previously fallen asleep (in Him at death) For the Lord Himself will decend from Heaven with a loud cry of summons, with the shout of an archangel, with the blast of the trumpet of God. And those who have departed this life in Christ will rise first." Verses 17-18 go on, "Then we, the living ones who remain (on the earth) shall simultaneously be caught up along with (the resurrected dead) in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so always (through the eternity of eternities) we shall be with the Lord! Therefore comfort and encourage one another with these Wrods."
Paul also writes about our new body being made "as He is now," in 1Corinthians 15:42-52 (Amplified) saying, "So it is with the resurrection of the dead (the body) that is sown is perishable and decays, but (the body) that is resurrected is imperishable (immune to decay, immortal). It is sown in dishonor and humiliation; but it is raised in honor and glory. It is sown in infirmity and weakness; it is resurrected in strength and endued with power. It is sown a natural (physical) body; it is raised a supernatural (a spiritual) body, (as surely as) there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, the first man Adam became a living being (an individual personality); The Last Adam (Christ) became a Life-giving Spirit (restoring the dead to life)." Verses 46-52 continue, But it is not the spiritual life which came first, but the physical and then the spiritual. The first man (was) from out of eart, made of dust (earthly-minded); the Second Man (is) the Lord from out of Heaven. Now those who are made of dust are like him who was first made of the dust (earthly-minded) And is (the Man) from Heaven, so also (are those) who are of Heaven (Heavenly-minded) And just as we have borne the image (of the man) of dust, so shall we and so let us also bear the Image (of the Man) of Heaven. But I tell you this, brethren, flesh and blood cannot (become partakers of eternal salvation and) inherit or share in the Kingdom of God; nor does the perishable (that which is decarying) inherit or share in the imperishable (the immortal) Take notice! I tell you a mystery (a secret truth, an event decreed by the hidden purpose or councel of God). We shall not all fall asleep (in death), but we shall all be changed (transformed) In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the (sound of) the last trumpet call. For a trumpet will sound, and the dead (in Christ) will be raised imperishable (free and immune from decay) and we shall be changed (transformed)."
When the coming of the Lord happens, the new creation (us) will also have a body like unto His body. We still mostly see Jesus as the Man from Bethlehem and as flesh and blood. The Body Jesus now has (the resurrected Lord) isn't something that we really have a clear picture of, but whatever Jesus looks like, we will also look like. The new creation spirit man we became at being born-again in Christ Jesus, will put on the new, spiritual, glorified Body that our Lord Jesus now has.
We were made "in His Image and in His Likeness," at the new birth. 2Corinthians 5:1-4 (Amplified) says, "For we know that if the tent which is now our earthly hom is destroyed (dissolved), we have from God a building, a house not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens. Here indeed, in this (present abode, body), we sigh and groan inwardl, because we yearn to be clothed over (we yearn to put on our celestial body like a garment to be filled out) with our Heavenly dwelling. So that by putting it on we may not be found naked (without a body) For while we are still in this tent, we groan under the burden and sigh deeply (weighed down, depressed, oppressed)-not that we want to put off the body (the clothing of the spirit), but rather that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal (our dying body) may be swallowed up by life (after the resurrection)."
The new creation spirit man will have a new creation body to dwell in after the resurrection. For now, though, as new creation people, we are confined to this flesh and blood house, in order to show forth the glory of our Lord through.
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