In the final reference to the Person of Christ in Philippians 3, Paul specifically exhorts us to “look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ” (v20)1 as our coming Deliverer. He is the subject of our gaze upward, as we expectantly await His coming forth from heaven as the Saviour and Redeemer of our mortal bodies. He has the divine ability to fit us physically for the eternal glory of heaven, transforming our bodies to be made like His own glorious body, and any that might seek to obstruct that mighty work will be made subservient unto Himself.
Our Heavenly Citizenship
The example that Paul wanted to set before the saints as worthy to be followed, and would bring maturity and unity to the saints of God (vv15-17), was of one who was heavenly minded, whose “conversation [citizenship, Newberry] is in heaven” (v20). This would be in stark contrast to those earthly minded false teachers of Judaism who were dishonouring the work of Christ on the cross (vv18-19). Nothing of any lasting value is here on earth; heaven is the place where divine Persons are, where all our spiritual blessings belong, and from where our life is to be governed and controlled.
We are to “seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth” (Col 3:1-2). This will mean that we become something of an enigma to the unsaved, because what motivates the believer means nothing to them, and their earthly interests should not be the primary focus of our attention. We belong to different worlds; the unsaved can only mind earthly things, but as citizens of heaven our “life is hid with Christ in God” (v3). We are here in this world “as strangers and pilgrims” (1Pe 2:11); heaven is our home.
Philippi was a colony of Rome (Act 16:12). The Philippians knew what it meant to be closely associated with that distant city; they enjoyed great privileges as citizens of Rome, and they were responsible to represent Rome, and be subject to the rule and authority of Rome. As citizens of heaven, believers in the Lord Jesus enjoy the blessings of heaven, but we are here in this world to represent heaven, and to be subject to the mind, rule and authority of heaven in our lives.
Our Bodily Redemption
The redemptive work of Christ has not yet touched our bodies physically, and so we are eagerly looking up to heaven for the Lord Jesus to come forth as the Saviour of our bodies. We know Him as Saviour of our souls now, and we are judicially fitted for heaven now, knowing “there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1). But our physical bodies still need to be redeemed; “we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (v23). At His coming to rapture the Church out of this world, our Saviour “shall change our vile body” (Php 3:21), i.e., these present bodies of humiliation that still belong to a groaning creation. Needing fed, watered, clothed, they get tired and need rest and sleep; they are weak, fragile, subject to decay, suffering, disease and death.
But our Saviour “shall transform our body of humiliation into conformity to his body of glory” (v21 JND). The miraculous character of Christ’s glorified resurrection body was displayed when He came clean out of the tomb, leaving the grave clothes lying as they had been wrapped around His body in death (Joh 20:5-7). He would later appear in the midst of the gathered disciples, when the door was kept shut (v19). Yet it was a real tangible body of flesh and bones (Luk 24:39), in which He shared meals with His disciples (Luk 24:30; Joh 21:12-13). The wonderfully transformed character of the resurrection body is detailed in 1 Corinthians 15:42-44: “It is sown in corruption / dishonour / weakness / a natural body … it is raised in incorruption / glory / power / a spiritual body.” These will be glorified bodies which will be comprehensively suited for that eternal sphere of heavenly glory.
This change for our bodies will be the completion of God’s work in us, and will be performed “according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself” (Php 3:21). Our Saviour will be able to overcome any that would dare to oppose the future glorification of His own; He will be in complete control, and all will be subservient to Him. In keeping with His ability, and the certainty of this, “we shall all be changed, in a moment [Greek atomos], in the twinkling of an eye” (1Co 15:51-52). The bodily change will happen in the smallest indivisible fragment of time, and we will be fitted physically for the glory of heaven.
Our Ultimate Glorification
What a moment it will be when the Lord comes again, and we will be brought to complete conformity to the glorified Christ. This is why God set His purpose on us. Romans 8:29 says, “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son.” J.N. Darby’s hymn captures the thought:
And is it so! We shall be like Thy Son,
Is this the grace which He for us has won?
Father of glory! (thought beyond all thought)
In glory, to His own blest likeness brought.
God’s gracious purpose in our salvation will be satisfied when heaven is populated by many redeemed believers who are all like God’s own Son, conformed to His image. Only then will Christ be fully satisfied; “He shall see his seed …. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied” (Isa 53:10-11). Only then will we be eternally satisfied; in the words of the Psalmist, “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness” (Psa 17:15), with that conformity to Christ. Let us not therefore be satisfied now with anything less than making spiritual progress in view of this final glorified state. Let us not find our satisfaction with that which this world would seek to distract us, inhibiting our spiritual progress. Let us keep looking to Christ in faith, until that moment “when he shall appear” and “we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1Jn 3:2).
1 Bible quotations in this article are from the KJV unless otherwise noted.
