Alive - by Dave Smith

of what that this will look like. The resurrected Jesus was clearly the
same person, yet somehow different. His friends often struggled to
recognise him, yet he bore the crucifixion wounds. He walked through
locked doors and yet was present physically. He could be touched,
made a fire, cooked and ate fish on a beach – before finally
ascending (bodily) into heaven (see Acts 1:9–11). This gives us
something of a foretaste of the ‘reality’ of our future state, too – that
includes ‘real’ resurrection bodies, friendship and food! 15 The good
news is that whether we’re struggling physically or wonderfully
healthy, our best days truly lie ahead of us! As theologian and writer
Tom Wright has argued, we are not now shadows of our former
selves but shadows of our future selves, as we await our new bodies
that God has ready to give us at Christ’s return. 16
So, where will we live in these transformed physical bodies? The
answer according to the Bible is that, thirdly, we’ll dwell in a restored
Creation, something that is only possible ‘by the power that enables
him to bring everything under his control’ (Philippians 3:21).
Elsewhere this is described as ‘a new heaven and a new earth,
where righteousness dwells’ (2 Peter 3:13).
We know even less about what this restored Creation will be like
than we do about our resurrected bodies but, again, the implication is
that it will be somehow far more glorious or ‘weighty’ than our current
experience. In The Great Divorce, CS Lewis brilliantly depicts the
solid realities of the new creation, highlighting how we’re not going to
live in a ‘spiritualised’ heaven, but in a transformed, glorious, new
physical world. 17 Andrew Ollerton summarises: ‘The Bible helps us
imagine a flourishing future world far more solid and beautiful than
anything we can touch or taste here and now…divine beauty will
radiate from every plant and shrub and be manifest on every