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On Acorns and the Resurrection
On Acorns and the Resurrection
No doubt the greatest promise we hang on to as God’s children is the resurrection. As Paul said in Philippians 3:7-11, we would gladly give up all things in order to be in Christ and attain the resurrection. It is our top priority, our governing value. Yet, we have plenty of questions about the resurrection. The fact is, we don’t know that much about it. The struggle with things we don’t know that much about is they begin to lose reality for us. They become harder and harder to believe in. That is, of course, why we have to work on our faith, to keep it growing.
In I Corinthians 15:35-49, Paul addressed one such question. Some in Corinth were declaring there was no resurrection. A question they asked to debilitate their faith was, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” It’s a simple question really. Look at our bodies. Can we fathom our bodies being raised up and living eternally? Let’s face it, even when we picture eternity, we probably picture something that looks a lot like our material bodies do right now just existing forever…somehow. That’s pretty hard to imagine as we watch our material bodies decay and die.
But then Paul provides a profound illustration to help us get past our finite limits. He speaks of kernels and wheat.
I look out my back window at a cornfield all the time. Later this year, a farmer is going to sow that field. But what will he sow? Kernels. He doesn’t bury the stalk and ear of corn. He buries a kernel. The kernel dies, that is it decomposes and ceases to be a seed, and then sprouts forth from the ground. But what comes forth from the ground is far greater than what was buried. So it is with us.
I like to think of acorns and oak trees. If we personify the little acorn, imagine the limitations it has in its thinking. It can’t think in terms of being a gigantic oak tree. It can only think in terms of being a tiny, seemingly insignificant acorn. If it were to envision itself coming forth from the ground, it would only see an acorn. However, after it is buried and dies, it will burst forth from its “tomb” to grow into one of the largest of trees. As the oak compares in grandeur to the acorn, so will our resurrected bodies compare to our buried bodies.
We are limited. Even now, we cannot envision past being little acorns. But once we have died and been buried, on the day of resurrection, we will burst forth from the tombs with the grandeur of the oak. We may not know what we will be like, but John says we will be like Jesus (I John 3:2). I don’t fully know what that will be like, but it sounds pretty good to me.
Certainly Paul gets a little more specific and demonstrates that our acorn/oak illustration breaks down. After all, an acorn and an oak are both natural bodies. We, however, will change. We are sown in the ground as natural bodies, but on the day of resurrection, we will burst forth with a new spiritual body. We are perishable now; then we will be imperishable. We are weak now; then we will be powerful. We are mortal now; then we will be immortal. We are dishonorable now; then we will be glorious.
I don’t know what that spiritual body will look like. I don’t know how it will maintain itself imperishably. I simply know that is the promise of God. It is a promise I want to hold on to. It is a promise I want to receive. And Paul concludes the section by demonstrating the only way to receive the promise. We have to be in Christ. We have already been born into Adam. We bear his natural body, born after his likeness. If we wish to attain the resurrection and be like Jesus then, we must enter Jesus now, born again after His likeness (cf. John 3:3-5). Only then can we look forward to the resurrection in which we will bear the image of the man of heaven.
I am looking forward to that day. Aren’t you?
-Edwin L. Crozier
