Two bodies.

“It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body (1 Cor. 15:44).

Imagine a book with a loose sheet of paper placed inside. In this illustration the book will represent the body of the believer and the loose sheet of paper his spirit. In this earthly life, for the most part, it is the body that controls (or limits) the spirit as the book would enclose the sheet.

Jesus Himself once observed that when He spoke to three sleepy disciples in Gethsemane: “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mt. 26:41). This is simply to say that all too often the physical infirmities of our bodies limit or even prevent our desired service for Christ. Think of the missionaries forced to leave their field of service due to serious health problems. In other words, down here it is the body, master/spirit servant relationship.

However, remove the loose sheet and wrap it around the book. Now you have the same elements but a totally different arrangement, whereby the spirit is the master and the body its servant!

So…

The heavenly body, after being transformed into glorified flesh and bone at the Rapture will be in happy and everlasting subjection to the spirit, never again to be plagued by sickness, aging, etc., or limited by the laws of time and gravity! This then is the difference between the earthly, physical, and the heavenly, spiritual body.