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Philippians 3:20-21, For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; 21 who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.
Philippians 3 is a condensed version of the Christian life. Paul starts this chapter with “rejoice”! In verse 2 he warns about dogs and false teachers. Then Paul, after giving an impressive human resume, he counts everything worthless or skubala compared to knowing Christ Jesus (verses 7-8). He declares that his righteousness comes from God through faith in Christ alone (verse 9). Paul forgets the past and stretches out like a runner, pressing on to the prize of God’s upward call in Christ Jesus (verses 13-14). These words from Paul give a pattern to follow – for us and all who are running this Christian race. Then he warns again about dangerous people even in the church. They are enemies of the cross whose end is destruction and eternal judgment. They serve their own bellies (desires) and are proud of their sinful ways. Their minds are filled with earthly things.
Now in verse 20 Paul makes an abrupt U-turn. In contrast to those enemies of the cross whose minds are filled with earthly things, our citizenship is in heaven, not in this world. We love the cross and heavenly things. We worship Christ, not our bellies. Our destiny is heaven. We glory in God’s words and we set our minds on eternal, heavenly things. In fact, we’re eagerly waiting for Christ to come back and totally transform our bodies, whether living or dead, to be like His glorious body! What a contrast!
WAITING FOR OUR SAVIOR.
Paul introduces Christ’s return in verse 20. Eschatology is the study of the end times. Some people say it doesn’t matter how it’s going to end, just live for Jesus here and now and it’ll all pan out. Actually, the epistles repeatedly urge us to look forward to Christ’s imminent return. Imminent means He could come at any moment. That’s why we believe Christ is coming for His people in the air before the seven-year tribulation period. First Thessalonians describes this amazing event.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, 13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up (raptured) together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
Christ will return to earth the second time as the conquering King (the first being His birth). He will come with His people after the seven-year tribulation period in Revelation 19 to make war against the Antichrist and the armies of the earth. He’ll throw the Antichrist and the False Prophet into the lake of fire, a special angel will throw Satan into the bottomless pit, and Christ will set up His kingdom over this entire planet for a thousand years, known as the millennium. He will rule as King of kings and Lord of lords over this entire world. What a future God has in store for His people!
Here are a couple of thoughts regarding this time. This doesn’t mean the church won’t have to go through tribulations and persecution. No, the church has sailed through “bloody seas” of persecutions for 20 centuries. But we are looking for Jesus to come in the air to meet the church at any moment. Second, you can’t tie this in with what’s known as post-millennialism, which says through the mission of the church the world will get better and better before Jesus returns. I like J. C. Ryle’s comment on those who hold to the post-millennial view: “I cannot see with their eyes…. I expect nothing of the kind. I see nothing in the Bible, or in the world around me, to make me expect it.” Neither do we.
So, it is now time for us to look at these last two verses in Philippians 3. Verses 20 and 21 are so thrilling and filled with great hope for those of us here in the church age.
YOUR HEAVENLY CITIZENSHIP.
Philippians 3:20a, For our citizenship is in heaven….
Paul is emphatic in drawing a contrast with the bad guys in vss.18-19. They are enemies of the cross and have their minds and their hearts set on the earthly things in this world. In contrast, we who are in Christ love the cross and have our affections set on heaven.
Our citizenship is in heaven. Regardless of what’s happening in our nation politically, socially, culturally, and economically, this world is not our home, we’re just passing through. We’re living in an outpost of heaven in this earthly colony. This is the only place where the word “citizenship” is used in the New Testament. You’ll remember Philippi was a Roman colony. Philippi was an outpost of Rome. Paul uses that idea to teach us that we’re living in this earthly colony as an outpost of heaven. We’re not waiting for our citizenship status. Paul emphasizes that we are right now in Christ and citizens of heaven. We’ve already received the legal documentation, the seal of the Spirit.
Ephesians 1:13-14 In ,Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation–having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.
If you’re a believer in Christ, you’re a sealed citizen of heaven. This isn’t, “Well, I believe in Jesus and all that. I’m a member of my church and I’m doing the best I can. I mess up but I hope God will forgive me, so I sure hope I make it. I don’t see why God won’t accept me; I’ve done the best I can.” Neither is this true: “Isn’t everyone a citizen of heaven?” How many people think that way? No, no, no! There is nothing you can do to gain citizenship in heaven.
You weren’t born a heavenly citizen when your mother gave birth to you. Your first birth brought you into the kingdom of darkness. Jesus said, “You must be born again to enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). You become a citizen of heaven through the second birth. In order to be a citizen of Heaven, there must be a time in your life when you crossed over from being dead in your sins to being made alive in Christ (Ephesians 2:4). You realized you were a guilty sinner, and like that Philippian jailor you turned from going your own way and you trusted in Christ to save you from the punishment and damnation of sin. At that time God imputed Christ’s righteousness to your account and declared you righteous or justified through faith in Christ. At that time God also sealed you by His Spirit into Christ and you became a genuine, sure enough citizen of heaven. You are no longer an illegal alien trying to sneak across the border of heaven without going by way of the cross. If you try, you’ll be deported, cast away.
So, are you a citizen of heaven? I’m proud to be an American, but I’m far more humbly proud to be a citizen of heaven! Our hopes aren’t in our government, although I’m thankful for our president and his efforts to bring common sense to our nation. Whether the stock market goes up or down, if you’re a citizen of heaven you’re laying up for yourself treasures in heaven, where there’s no loss of any kind, forever. Is your heart in heaven or in this world? Are you living like a citizen of heaven? Are you thinking, talking, and acting like a citizen of heaven? This now takes us to the second half of verse 20.
YOUR GREAT HOPE.
Philippians 3:20b, For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;
Jesus died on that Roman cross, was buried, rose again, and then in plain sight of His disciples He lifted off from the Mount of Olives with the angelic promise, “As you have seen Him go into heaven, He will come again from heaven.” He went up and disappeared in a cloud from their sight. Jesus is out there at God’s right hand praying for His people – interceding for us. And as sure as He came the first time, He’s coming again. He promised in John 14:3, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”
How are you waiting for Him? If your citizenship is in heaven, you, like Paul, should be “eagerly waiting” for Him to return! Eagerly! That’s one of those special, descriptive words, two prepositions prefixed to the verb. Greek scholar A. T. Robertson says this word “vividly pictures Paul’s eagerness for the second coming of Christ as the normal attitude of the Christian colonist whose home (citizenship) is heaven.” The same word is in 1 Corinthians 1:7, “waiting eagerly for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” And look also in Hebrews 9:2.
Hebrews 9:28, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.
Eagerly means to anticipate by going out and looking into the distance to welcome Him. When our parents drove from Philadelphia to North Vernon, our kids would eagerly wait. They didn’t just look out the front window for that familiar car or be satisfied to go out on the front yard. No, they were far more eager than that. They got on their bicycles and rode as fast as they could up our country road to the corner to try to get the first glimpse of that white Chevy station wagon or that silver blue Olds coming in the distance. They eagerly waited, and for a good reason. They had expectations that Grammy probably had goodies in her bags for them. That’s what “eagerly wait” means.
This is the great hope – the blessed hope which Paul talks about in Titus 2.
Titus 2:13, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus,
And this is a great blessed hope that purifies.
1 John 3:3, Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, even as He is pure.
Our hearts and minds are purified each time we consider the truth that, “He might come today!” Here we are in this outpost of heaven, heavenly citizens living in a foreign land, working hard, doing our best, going to school, working at our job, watching our favorite team, but all the while being mindful that Christ could come at any moment. His coming is imminent for His church. The truth is He could come in a moment from now.
YOUR COMING TRANSFORMATION.
Philippians 3:21, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.
Jay Adams wrote a book entitled Wrinkled But Not Ruined. It’s for people who are getting older. The reality is our bodies are aging. Second Corinthians 4:6 says they are even decaying. We can’t run like we used to run and our knees are stiff when we stand up. Our hair is turning gray, although that’s a mark of honor in the Bible. Proverbs 16:31, “The gray head is a crown of glory!” We’ve got some glory sitting around here. But it is evident that as years go by, our bodies are decaying.
Americans spend billions on cosmetic surgery of all kinds. Even men are going under the knife to try to delay the inevitable. Men’s most popular is rhinoplasty, or nose jobs. If it’s too late and nothing will change the process, you can always have your body cryopreserved, or just have your head frozen to preserve your brain. One mathematician from Sunnyvale, California, filed a lawsuit back in the 90s in California to allow his head to be cryonically suspended before he had actually died, which would mean voluntary suicide. He had a brain disease and thought science would produce a cure eventually. He didn’t win the lawsuit. Then you have this from one of the great philosophers of our day. You’ve heard of Howard Stern, right? He assures us, “Here’s what happens when you die – you sit in a box and get eaten by worms. I guarantee that when you die, nothing cool happens.” Well, Mr. Stern, you’ll change your tune in a few years, unless God changes your heart. He’s 71 now.
Which brings us back to verse 21 and an infinitely better body remodeling program. Christ is going to do the ultimate cosmetic surgery. He’s going to take these vile or humble bodies that were made originally from the dust of the ground and change them. These decaying, corrupting, aging bodies will be transformed. He is not only going to resurrect those who sleep in Jesus but instantly transform and refashion them to be just like His glorious body! Do you believe that? If it didn’t say it, I wouldn’t believe it. Will men still be men and women still be women? Of course. You just won’t be married in heaven. We will all be Christ’s bride. Your body will be transformed, but it will maintain your personal eternal identity.
Jesus isn’t just coming back to take our invisible spirits to heaven. He’s going to make our physical bodies glorious just like His glorious body. They’re far from glorious now, but He’s going to transform the body of our humiliation. We aren’t completely human without our bodies.
Let’s hear what God says about these vile bodies.
1 Corinthians 15:50-54, Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory.
Not only will Christ resurrect our dead bodies, but He’s going to transform us to be just like His glorious body. He’s going to make us capable of living in heaven in our glorified physical bodies. What about people who are cremated or burned in a fire or nuclear blast or eaten by sharks in the deep sea. Adoniram Judson died on a ship and was buried in the Bay of Bengal. Regardless of what happens to your body, God will find every bit of you. He is omniscient – He knows everything and He knows where you are. Don’t forget, He even has the hairs of your head numbered (Matt. 10:30)!
How’s Christ going to do all this? Verse 21 says He’s going to do it by the exertion or energizing of His power that is omnipotent. His power can subject everything to Himself. Never doubt Christ’s power. He has infinite, incredible power. He spoke in Genesis 1:1 and the universe popped into existence. Plus, His power is the same power that raised Him from the dead. He’s able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or think (Eph. 3:20), and He’s able to resurrect and transform your humble body to become just like His glorious body.
He’s powerful. Hebrews 1:3 says He upholds all things by His powerful word! Look at the sun. Look at the moon and the stars and planets and galaxies. What holds them all in place? Gravity. Who invented and controls gravity? He’s powerful and will come into the atmosphere. The dead in Christ, all the parts of the dead bodies, will be raised first and thoroughly transformed and refashioned. From around the world, from land and sea, bodies will form, and souls will be united with their bodies! They say we go through a body every seven years. I don’t believe it but if so, I’m now on my 10th version. I’ve read by age 70 you’ll have lost about 40 pounds of dead skin. That’s what you keep dumping into the garbage can from your vacuum cleaner. “There goes another six ounces.”
But just think of the awesome display of power here. This is surely one of the greatest miracles God will ever perform. Not only does He have the power to do this, but He also has the power to distinguish between lost people’s decayed corpses and His people. We know this because when He comes in the clouds, in the earth’s atmosphere, only His people will be resurrected and transformed. Of course He will resurrect all the lost people at the Great White Throne Judgment, but at the rapture He distinguishes those who are in the church for all these centuries and raise only those. Consider this – if He can subject the entire universe under His sovereign control, then He can certainly raise your body!
SO WHAT?
What an amazing, great hope we have. Regardless of what’s going on in us or around us, regardless of the political and social confusion and uncertainty, this moment when we shall see Him face to face is coming. This is our great hope.
The Puritan Richard Baxter wrote an amazing treatise called The Saints Everlasting Rest. Here’s how he describes this great transformation Christ will bring about.
Your pains and sickness are all cured; your body shall no more burden you with weakness and weariness; your aching head and heart, your hunger and thirst, your sleep and labor are all gone. O what a mighty change is this! From a vile body to this which shines as the brightness of the firmament. From all my doubts and fears to this possession which puts me out of doubt. From all my fearful thoughts of death to this joyful life. Blessed change. Farewell sin and sorrow forever; farewell my rocky, proud, unbelieving heart; my worldly sensual carnal heart; and welcome now my most holy heavenly nature. Here shall I be encircled with eternity and ever live, and ever, ever praise the Lord. My face will not wrinkle, nor my hair be gray; for this corruptible shall put on incorruption and this mortal immortality, and death shall be swallowed up in victory. When millions of ages are passed, my glory is but beginning; and when millions more are passed it is no nearer ending.
Are you ready for the coming great transformation? Are you eager to see your Savior face to face?
Face to face I shall behold Him,
Far beyond the starry sky;
Face to face in all His glory,
We shall see Him by and by!
(Carrie Ellis Breck)