When Job was experiencing his darkest moments, he confessed his faith in the resurrection of the body. God permitted Satan to take away every creature comfort in Job's life. His wealth evaporated in a day. His ten children died in one accident. Painful sores covered his body. His wife ridiculed his faith. His friends accused him of sin.

Our bodies will rise on the Last Day

Yet Job confessed: "Oh, that my words were recorded, that they were written on a scroll, that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead, or engraved in rock forever! I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another" (Job 19:23-27). Job got his wish. Christians have engraved his words on their tombstones as a witness to their faith in the physical resurrection of the body.

How did Job see so clearly what the disciples missed when Jesus told them plainly that he would die at the hands of his enemies and rise again (Mark 9:30-32)? Such faith in the face of misery is a gift of the Holy Spirit.

Disease and old age can rob a person's body of its beauty, its strength, and its dignity. It is difficult for others to watch loved ones experience such trouble. What hope is left when our strength is gone? We have the hope in the resurrection. Jesus connected our resurrection with his resurrection when he promised, "Because I live, you also will live" (John 14:19).

Our bodies will always be new

"And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another." Job confessed a resurrection of a real body, the same body that God has given him to wear in his days on earth—the same skin, the same flesh, the same eyes. "Will people recognize me in the resurrection?" That question is often asked. Of course people will recognize you!

The Bible gives us more information about the bodies we will have when Jesus raises us on the Last Day. Paul calls it a "heavenly body," an "imperishable" body, a "spiritual" body, a body clothed with "immortality" (1 Corinthians 15). We will have the same bodies. Only our bodies will be changed so that they will be fit for heaven and for eternity. They will always be new. They will never wear out or age or get sick or die (Revelation 21:4,5).

Paul tells us that Jesus "will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body" (Philippians 3:21). Think of Jesus in the 40 days that he spent with the disciples after his resurrection. They recognized him. They touched him. He ate with them. He took a walk with them. He joined them by the lake. We can expect the same for ourselves that Jesus experienced in his body.