What Will I Be Like In Heaven
But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
1 Corinthians 2:9
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
John 14:1-3
Will we have physical bodies in Heaven?
Although the Bible tells us little about what it will be like in heaven, it seems that we will most likely have a physical body, although not in the same sense of “physical” that we have now. First Corinthians 15:52 says that “the dead will be raised incorruptible” and that those who are alive at the time of Christ’s return for His saints “shall be changed.” Jesus Christ is “the first fruits” of those who have died (1 Corinthians 15:20, 23). This means that He set the example and leads the way. First Corinthians 15:42 says that our “body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.” In a precursor to the believers’ resurrection, some were raised at the time of Christ’s resurrection in Matthew 27:52 where it says that their “bodies…were raised.” Thomas, in John 20:27, physically touched the body of Christ following His resurrection, so He obviously had a body that was solid.
We can expect that all believers’ resurrection will be like that of Christ’s. What a wonderful truth! The Bible is not specific, but it seems that we will be able to eat. John, in Revelation 22:2, writes of his vision of the eternal state where he saw that “in the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month.” This seems to be a reversal of the Genesis 3 punishment where Adam and Eve, and hence all of mankind, were banned from eating from this tree. As for hunger, it appears that there won’t be any. Isaiah 49:10 says that there will be no hunger or thirst in the millennial kingdom. This is speaking of mortal men during that period, not of translated saints, but by extension it can be said that if mortals on earth during Christ’s Kingdom do not hunger, then surely there will be no hunger in heaven (see also Revelation 7:14-16).
Finally, Job wrote that he knew for sure that even after he dies and his skin is long gone, that “in my FLESH I shall SEE God” (Job 19:26 – all caps added for emphasis). So that means our bodies will consist of some kind of glorified flesh. Whatever form we have, we know that it will be perfect, sinless and flawless.
What will we look like in heaven?
In the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, Paul talks about the resurrection and the resurrected body. In verses 35 and following, he states that our heavenly bodies will be different from our natural bodies, with some stark contrasts. Whereas our earthly bodies are characterized by mortality (being susceptible to death), our resurrected bodies will be characterized by immortality (not susceptible to death). Likewise, while our earthly bodies are susceptible to decay (corruption), they will become incorruptible (1 Corinthians 15:53). Also, where our natural bodies are prone to weakness (ask anyone who has reached 40 years of age or older), our resurrected bodies will be characterized by strength (verse 43).
Another comparison is that now we have a natural body, but then we will have a spiritual body. This probably doesn’t mean that we will be like ghosts possessing no body at all and floating around unable to interact with things around us. After all, 1 Corinthians 15:49 states that we will have a body like Jesus’ resurrected body (see also 1 John 3:2). And Jesus, after His resurrection, told them to touch Him and to watch Him eat, demonstrating that He was not merely a spirit (Luke 24:37-43). Rather, it’s more likely that just as a natural body is fitted for this present life in our physical universe, the spiritual body will be that which will best suit us for the eternal existence we are destined for in our eternal abode. Jesus’ resurrected body was capable of entering locked rooms at will (John 20:19). Our earthly body limits us in ways (and/or dimensions) that our spiritual body will not.
First Corinthians 15:43 also describes the transformation from “sown in dishonor” to “raised in glory.” Philippians 3:21 says that Jesus “will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body.” Our decaying bodies are described with the word dishonor because they bear the mark of the results of sin. Sometimes our bodies are marred due to our own, personal sin, such as a brain that is no longer able to form complete thoughts because of drug abuse. Other times our bodies are marked by the sins of others, such as scar from someone acting violently against us. But these are not the only physical markings of sin. In more general terms, the decaying physical body is the direct result of humanity’s fall into sin. Had there been no sin, there would be no decay and death (1 Corinthians 15:56). But God, through Christ’s transforming power, is able to raise up His children with new, glorious bodies, completely free from the ravages of sin and possessing the glory of Christ instead.
To summarize, we are not told exactly what we will look like in the next life, what age we will appear to be, or if we will look thin or fat. But, while many believe we will bear some resemblance to what we look like now, we do know that in whatever ways our appearance or health has been altered as a result of sin (whether because of overeating or not eating right, hereditary malformations, injuries, aging, etc.), these traits will not be carried over into our appearance in the next life. More importantly, the sin nature inherited from Adam (Romans 5:12) will no longer be with us, for we will be made after the holiness of Christ (1 John 3:2).