What form shall we be when our souls depart these physical bodies is not clear from God’s Word. Certainly, God knows what our form will be like, it’s just not made clear to us yet. Perhaps we cannot fully understand it in human terms. The apostle John subscribes to this: “Dear friends, we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). One form of resemblance is that both God and our souls are all spirits. They do not have a physical form, but a transcendent form that we cannot fully understand. Medicine has identified the physical components of our bodies in minute detail, but there is no manual that can describe how our souls inhabit our bodies or what their appearance is. What’s more, we cannot describe how the soul is transported from our bodies when our bodies can no longer inhabit them. We know the transport brings us to Christ, but the form of our spirit (and His) cannot be described right now in human terms.
The other type of resemblance our spirits have with God is our family relationship. Note from the previous paragraph that John described us as children of God. Since we are part of God’s family, it stands to reason that we shall be like Him in the form of our spirits. When we first confessed our sins, received Christ’s forgiveness, and put our faith in Him, we became children of God. This means that are spirits were transformed into a spirit that is like His in its form. Children have a resemblance to their parents, therefore, our spirits resemble God’s spirit in its form.[1] This does not mean that we become gods or are put on the same level as God. It just means that our spirits have the same form as His. He is still sovereign over everything. Jesus put it this way, “So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty’” (Luke 17:10).
When Jesus prayed for all believers, He used these words, “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world” (John 17:24; italics mine). We could ask nothing more than for our souls to be with Jesus when we exit this physical world. What could be better than to be with the One who loved us so much that He gave Himself to be crucified for our sins? Just being in His presence in eternity is blissful enough. But M.J. Griffith went further in describing what it means to see my [Christ’s] glory from the previous verse. Seeing Christ’s glory is to share in His happiness “. . . and be admitted to take part with Him in that supreme dignity. . . .”[2] We will not be just bystanders in Heaven, but we will also partake in His happiness. Again, what could be better than this?
M.J. Griffith continued with these words, “We shall be made immortal. . . .”[3] Immortality sounds like a nice term, but can we really comprehend it? Our awareness of time is something God created for us to help us navigate our lives: we know what time to set the alarm for, we know what time to show up at work, we know what time to go to bed, etc. But the element of time only pertains to humanity, not to God. He has no need for time. Immortality is just a continuum where He exists. What’s more, He has invited us to join in with Him in His continuum.
Griffith summed up the heavenly existence for our souls in these three areas: (1) total happiness, (2) total existence, and (3) total protection from sin:
Now, the word eternal may be conceived to comprehend in it these three things. First. There is nothing but life in the state of blessedness, which shall not be interrupted by any doleful accident. The eternity of life must include in its notion a state of pure happiness, without anything that deserves the name of death to give it the least annoyance. . . . Second. Eternal life will be without any intermission, as well as without any intermixture; as there is not contrary sense of grief in that happy state, so there is not insensibleness of joy. The blessed soul will never cease to feel its own pleasures, because, as there is no night in that heavenly country, so there is no sleep, in which we can scarcely be said to live. The life we shall lead there will be one continued act of knowing, loving, and rejoicing, praising, and obeying God. As for all good works, there will be none of those wherein we are now employed, to exercise our obedience, nor shall we be in need of those things which now call for our charity to them or justice to ourselves . . . Third. No serpent can creep into that Paradise to tempt and allure us from that great felicity, nor shall we be in any danger from our own flesh, nor find ourselves in a world where there will be anything to excite our desires, but what we may freely take the fullest satisfaction in. Our Savior tells us that His faithful disciples, after He hath given them everlasting life, shall not die at all.[4]
If we could attain total happiness, total existence, and total protection in this life, I’m sure we would be quite satisfied. Ironically, these are the conditions that everyone strives for in this physical life. The desire of most people is to have enjoyment and we seek multiple avenues to do so. In fact, we would like to continue that enjoyment as long as we can. And to make that enjoyment complete, we would like protection so that nothing negative interferes with that enjoyment. If this is the case for most people, then why aren’t we all focused on how we can obtain eternal life with God, where there is total happiness, total existence, and total protection?
[1] M.J. Griffith, The Cross of Christ (New York, NY: D.A.J. Sadlier & Company, 1886), 223.
[2] Ibid., 224.
[3] Ibid., 225.
[4] Ibid., 233-234.