On the Second Coming of Christ: New Bodies?

(Okay, I know that I promised "2a and 2b—or not 2b!".  But when I sat down to write it, "New Bodies?" came out first.  Don't worry, "2a and 2b—or not 2b!" is still going to be written.)

I Thessalonians describes the moment that we are taken to be with Jesus:

¹³ But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. ¹⁴ For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. ¹⁵ For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. ¹⁸ Therefore comfort one another with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

There is great number of things that I want to say here, but in order to keep these blogs short and concise, I will limit myself to one note—an oddity.

Here’s the oddity.  Those that are caught up in the air with Christ are changed.  There four are possible combinations here: 1) they get their new bodies and are whisked away with Jesus to await the real second coming, 2) they don’t get new bodies and their spirits are whisked away with Jesus to await the real second coming, 3) they get their new bodies and descend back to the earth with Jesus at the end of the Tribulation as He begins to set the world aright, or 4) they don’t get new bodies and descend back to the earth with Jesus at the end of the Tribulation as he begins to set the world aright.

If Christ doesn’t issue new bodies at this time, what does the phrase “the dead in Christ will rise” mean?  We already know that for a saint “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.”  Why would Christ descend with a shout to “call up” those who are dead if the end result is what is already true, namely that they dwell with Him in spirit?  The only way that I can make sense of this passage is to assume that the dead in Christ and those who remain get their resurrection bodies at this point in time thus eliminating options 2) and 4) above.

We know (ok, I’m surprised by how many Christians don’t know) that God is spirit and does not have a body.  Yes, Jesus has a body when within creation, but Jesus has both the divine and the human nature.  So if 1) is true, we would be whisked away after receiving our bodies to dwell with the Father—which we can only do in spirit.  What changed? Nothing changes for those who are dead, except they get to try out their brand spanking new bodies for about 150 nanoseconds.  For those who are alive, we shoot up into the air while getting our bodies (also for about 150 nanoseconds) and then just disappear as we join the Father in spirit.  This again seems very odd for Christ to come with a shout and a trumpet only to make us disappear in the end.  It also continues to render the phrase "the dead in Christ shall rise" meaningless.

The only possibility here that makes sense is 4).  The dead and those who remain get new bodies with Christ in the air (which should not surprise us as Christ’s resurrection body could also go up into the air).  Then they descend with Christ as he touches down on the Mount of Olives.

Oh Glory Day!

P.S.  While reading up for my next post, I reread the description of Christ’s return in 1 Corinthians:

⁵⁰ Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. ⁵¹ Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, ⁵² in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. ⁵³ For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. ⁵⁴ But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. ⁵⁵ O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 1 Corinthian 15:50-55

This passage gives even stronger evidence that both the dead and the living get new bodies.  The dead are “raised imperishable” (sounds like a resurrection body to me) and the living “will be changed” (not quite as strong, but still follows that the body has been changed).

With this in mind I ask again, does it make sense from scripture that Christ would issue His elect (the dead and the living) new bodies only to whisk them away for 7 or 3½ more years?