The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed by Anjela Paje of Spokane, WA, from the tape, GC 1301-X, titled "Bible Questions and Answers Part 26."  A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE.  ©1983. All Rights Reserved.

Questioner

When a person dies anywhere from a child to an adult, assuming that they are Christian, and they enter into the presence of the Lord, are they the same age as far as their earthly age goes when they enter into heaven?

John MacArthur's Answer

Well, there’s no age in eternity. There’s no age.

Questioner

Same size?

John MacArthur's Answer

Well, you see, their body wouldn’t even go to be with the Lord, yet, until the rapture of the church. You say, well, they’ll rapture the body at that time and will it be the same as it was when it’s dead? I don’t know. It says we’ll be like Christ. I don’t think that means we’re all going to look exactly like Christ, be the same height, the same width, the same features, and the same physical traits. I just know we’ll know as we’re known, therefore we’ll enter into full maturity of mind and consciousness. We will be fully developed as human beings in the body because we’ll have the eternally glorified body. There won’t be any limitations, and a child would be limited by strength, and a child would be limited by stamina, but when it enters into an eternal body, everything changes. I mean, you have a celestial body. It’s not like an earthly body. It’s completely different from an earthly body. It’s a moot point how old we’ll be because we will be in eternal perfection. And, yet, that perfection will be distinct for each one of us. We’re not going to all all of a sudden come out like cookie-cutter units. We’ll be unique. But, we’ll be mature in every sense.

Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur's Questions and Answers" by:

Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
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