There remains but one question to be considered and we can deal with
that very briefly. That question is, when will the resurrection of
the body take place? This question is plainly answered time and
again in the Bible. For example, it is answered in Phil. 3:20, 21:
+"For our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we wait for a
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall fashion anew the body of
our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of his glory,
according to the working whereby he is able even to subject all things
unto himself."+ Here it is plainly declared that _the transformation
of our bodies into the likeness of the glorious body of Christ will
take place when the Lord Jesus whom we are awaiting shall appear from
heaven_. The same thought is given in I Thess. 4:16, 17: +"For the
Lord Himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of
the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall
rise first; then we which are alive, that are left, shall together with
them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so
shall we ever be with the Lord."+ The question will arise in some of
our minds, what about us in the meantime if we chance to die before the
coming of the Lord? This question also is plainly answered in II Cor.
5:1-8: +"For we know that if the earthly house of our tabernacle+
(our present bodies) +be dissolved+ (die and decay) +we have a
building from God, a house not made with hands+ (our resurrection
body that we are to get at the coming of the Lord), +eternal, in the
heavens. For verily in this+ (i.e., while living in this present
body) +we groan, longing to be clothed upon with our habitation which
is from heaven+ (our resurrection body) +if so be that being
clothed we shall not be found naked. For indeed we that are in this
tabernacle+ (this present earthy body) +do groan, being burdened;
not for that we would be unclothed+ (i.e., not that we would merely
get rid of our present bodies), +but that we would be clothed
upon+ (i.e., that we would receive our resurrection bodies) +that
what is mortal may be swallowed up of life. Now he that wrought us for
this very thing is God, who gave unto us the earnest of the Spirit+
(i.e., the Holy Ghost, whom we have received as the earnest of the
full redemption in our resurrection bodies which are to be obtained
at the coming of the Lord). +Being therefore always of good courage
and knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body+ (i.e., while
we are still in our earthly life in this present earthly body) +we
are absent from the Lord (for we walk by faith not by sight); we are
of good courage, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the
body+ (i.e., to have our present earthly body die even before we
get our resurrection bodies, which we shall not get until the return
of the Lord), +and to be at home with the Lord."+ The teaching
of this plainly is that if we die before the return of the Lord and
therefore before we obtain our resurrection body, our spirits are
unclothed, i.e., they are unclothed from this present body and not yet
clothed upon with the resurrection body, but that we are "at home with
the Lord" in conscious blessedness, in a condition that is far better
than that that we are in in this present life (see Phil. 1:23, R. V.),
but not so perfect as that condition which shall be when our redeemed
spirits are clothed upon with our resurrection bodies. _It will be at
the return of the Lord Jesus that we get our full redemption._ That is
one reason why "we wait" (literally, assiduously wait) for Him (Phil.
3:20, 21, see Greek). That is one reason why we long for the return
of the Lord. There are many reasons why we long for the return of our
Lord. All the great problems that are confronting us at this present
time in national and international life, in social, commercial and
political life, will be solved when He comes, and will never be solved
until He comes; and for these reasons we long for Him. But we long for
Him also because while this present body serves many a useful purpose
for the redeemed spirit that inhabits it, it is often a hindrance. It
is often subject to aches and pains, to frailties, and it is a constant
temptation to folly. But when our Lord Jesus comes again He will
transform this present body of our humiliation into the likeness of His
own glorious body and at that time we shall know what "full salvation"
means, when we shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of our
Father.