Abraham and the patriarchs are in Heaven. Yet, they have not attained their goal.

They are in Heaven but they have "received not the promise." What is the promise? Perhaps the promise made to the patriarchs was not eternal residence in Heaven but the bodily resurrection from the dead.

Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: (Hebrews 11:35)

"A better resurrection"!

But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days. (Daniel 12:13)

"Thou shalt rest." The spirit Paradise may prove to be a place of rest for us until we stand once again on the earth in the day of resurrection.

We seem to see a longing for the earth on the part of those who now are in the spirit realm:

And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. (Revelation 5:9,10)

"We shall reign on the earth." Do you glean from this statement what could be a desire to return to the earth?

As we prepare to study the fifteenth chapter of the Book of First Corinthians, it may be helpful to keep several concepts in mind:

The first and most important hope of the Christian Church is the resurrection (redemption) of the mortal body into eternal life in the Presence of God and the Lord Jesus.

It is the physical body that will be raised. The "body from heaven" of the fifth chapter of Second Corinthians is a body of eternal life that will clothe the resurrected flesh and bones of the saint, and it is just that—a body from Heaven. The "body from heaven" is not the body that will be raised from the dead. Our body that has died will be the body that is raised from the dead, however it may be changed at that time. Otherwise there would be no resurrection of the dead!

The flesh and bones of the Lord Jesus actually came forth from the grave. The tomb was empty, just as ours will be in that day.

The kind of change our physical body will experience when it is raised depends directly on the faithfulness with which we have served the Lord Jesus. It is not at all true that every believer on the basis of grace will receive a body like that of the Lord Jesus.

It was immortality in the body that was lost in the Garden of Eden. Immortality in the body will be restored through the Lord Jesus. John 3:16 is referring to immortality in the body. The Scriptures, both Old Testament and New Testament, point toward eternal life in the body. This is one of the foremost hopes of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

To be continued.