God’s Word for You
Philippians 3:20-21 what joys await us there
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Thursday, April 16, 2026
20 But our citizenship is in heaven. We eagerly wait for our Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. 21 By the power that enables him to subject all things to himself, he will transform our lowly bodies to be like his glorious body.
Paul just can’t help himself. Having just spoken about the destruction that awaits all who reject the cross of Christ (verse 19), he turns his own thoughts and those of the Philippians heavenward, for that is where our citizenship lies.
A “citizenship” or “commonwealth” here (Greek πολίτευμα) is the kind of community that exists entirely for the benefit of the members of that community, rather than the support of a king or noble, or of a larger government. They receive new people all the time and rejoice in it, as baptism after baptism, conversion after conversion, the kingdom of God grows. Christians do not actually have this as a physical citizenship on earth, but in the heavenly kingdom of our Father (Matthew 26:29), “the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). Our joy is that through faith, “we are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household” (Ephesians 2:19).
When Paul says that we “eagerly await our Savior from there,” he refers to Christ’s present dwelling in heaven at the right hand of the Father (Luke 22:69; Acts 2:33). Of course, this is not a physical location, like a glass case where the Father keeps his Son like a trophy until the end of time. It is a description of the place of honor, the infinite power and majesty of God; for Christ fills all and is in all and rules all things (Exodus 15:6; Isaiah 48:13). He will come from there to judge the living and the dead on the last day (Acts 10:42; 2 Timothy 4:1).
After he comes, he will raise up all mankind from the dead; believers will have a special glory, for Paul says, “He will transform our lowly bodies to be like his glorious body.” There is no reason at all to suspect that the damned will be given any sort of glory in the least, not even (as someone might speculate) only to have it stripped from them after their sentence has been decreed.
But our bodies! They will be the same bodies we have now, except that they will be renewed and perfected. Why do we say this with confidence?
First, Christ was raised with his same body, and he is called the firstfruits (1 Corinthians 15:20).
Second, the Apostle declares that our mortal bodies will be made alive by God (Romans 8:11).
Third, Paul says in our passage here that Christ will “transform (give another form to) our lowly bodies,” yet he still calls them “our lowly bodies.”
Fourth, Paul also says that “The perishable must put on the imperishable, and the mortal must put on immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:53). The mortal body can’t possibly do this if it isn’t even present at the time of the putting on. “The very expression ‘put on’ shows that the body that wore mortality on earth is present at the resurrection and only changes its quality and appearance” (Hoenecke).
Fifth, this is also pictured by Paul when he described a wheat seed in 1 Corinthians 15:37-38. The plant is the same body that the seed was (without the first there would be no second), and it remains the same in number (one seed, one plant) and in substance (wheat seed, wheat stalk), but in a different quality.
When the Scripture says that our bodies will be “spiritual bodies” (1 Corinthians 15:44) it does not say that we will cease to be physical and only be spirits, such as the angels are. But the passage shows that we will have the quality of a spirit (pure, sinless, deathless, ageless, and so on) but not the substance of a spirit. For we will have bodies and flesh. Christ had flesh when he rose and “he will come back in the same way” (Acts 1:11). And if we will no longer have flesh, how can the prophet’s words be true about the damned who will be “loathsome to all flesh” (Isaiah 66:24), where the Hebrew has basar “flesh” and even the Greek translation has sarki, “flesh.”
But will we sit in heaven and enjoy a delightful cup of tea with those we love as if on a perfect spring day? Those who rage against the possibility of mankind eating and drinking in Paradise will have something to say about that, I suppose. It is not my desire to debate them any more than I already have. It is just possible that not every aspiration about heaven will line up perfectly with what we find there. But do not be angry with me for such simple dreams as I have.
Jerusalem the golden, with milk and honey blest—
The sight of it refreshes the weary and oppressed.
I know not, oh! I know not, what joys await us there,
What radiancy of glory, what bliss beyond compare.
O sweet and blessed country, the home of God’s elect
O sweet and blessed country, that eager hearts expect.
In mercy Jesus, bring us to that dear land of rest,
you are with God the Father and Spirit ever blest.
Jerusalem the Golden
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.