What Changes Does Resurrection Cause in Human Beings?

According to God’s Word, Adam and Eve died when they ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Nevertheless, no significant external change took place in them. At most there were momentary changes in their countenances due to the anxiety and fear they felt over having fallen. Likewise, no significant external changes should be expected to take place in fallen people when they are resurrected to the state prior to the Fall.

One who has been reborn through the Holy Spirit surely has experienced resurrection. Compare such a faithful person to a robber: One has been resurrected to the level of being reborn into God’s realm, while the other is a spiritually dead person destined for hell. Yet the two people cannot be distinguished by their external appearance.

One who believes in God according to Jesus’ teaching is indeed resurrected from death to life. However, one cannot discern any obvious change in his physical body before and after he received Jesus and gained life through resurrection.

Jesus was truly a man who fulfilled the purpose of creation (cf. Christology 2.2). Nevertheless, judged by his outward appearance, Jesus was not noticeably different from ordinary people.

If he had unmistakably displayed divinity in his outward appearance, then everyone around him would surely have believed in and followed him.

The changes a person experiences when he is resurrected and enters the governance of God take place in his heart and spirit. These internal changes also purify his body, transforming it from a haunt of Satan into a temple of God. In this sense, we may say that our physical body is also resurrected.

We may compare it to a building that was previously used for evil purposes and is now used as a place of worship. Although there may be no change in its outward appearance, it is now sanctified as a sacred building.