While visiting their son’s grave, Sue Bohlin meditated on the glory of the ‘2.0 resurrection body’ that we look forward to.
On the one-year anniversary of our son’s death, my husband and I drove out to the DFW National Cemetery to find Curt’s grave.
I have never been one to visit loved ones’ gravesites. I always thought, “Why? They’re not there. They’re not in the ground, they’re in heaven.”
But lately I’ve been thinking differently about our bodies. They are more than just physical cases for who we are inside. We ARE our bodies, as well as our souls. Human beings are a unified creation of the material and the immaterial.
So I stood on the ground, thinking about this, above Curt’s body. A precious body, the body I carried inside mine for nine months, and then carried in my arms until he learned to walk. The body of the boy I loved, and still do. The body of the man who looked so handsome in his Air Force uniform. The body that was placed in a casket to be buried a year ago while we honored him at his memorial service.
As I reminded myself that Curt’s “body 1.0” is precious and dear, I thought back to the great privilege of teaching 1 Corinthians 15 and the “2.0 resurrection bodies” that await us.
When I taught that day, I held up an acorn from our front yard.
“An acorn is an oak seed,” I said. “It has the same DNA as an oak tree. Is the acorn the same as the oak tree? Yes . . . and no.
“They are stages of the same plant, they’re the same genetically, but of course they are different.
“What happens to an acorn? It gets planted in the ground, it falls apart and dies, then it sprouts new life . . . and eventually it is transformed into an oak tree.”
The buried acorn absorbs moisture from the soil and rain, and the outer husk softens. The bare seed inside is exposed, and things change. Little tendrils shoot out and start to grow down into the soil. The acorn falls apart, and that first stage basically dies, but the oak tree can’t come to life unless the seed dies. But a little acorn can become a HUGE tree!
The acorn can’t even begin to imagine the size and power and majesty and beauty of the oak tree. It can’t fathom becoming something big enough and strong enough for someone to build a treehouse in its branches, where kids can play. Mind blowing!
Our bodies are like the acorn planted in the ground. They get sick, weak, and they die. But that’s not the end, like the acorn falling apart in the ground isn’t the end.
We have the hope of experiencing a new form of physical bodily existence that is as different from our earthly bodies as the oak tree is different from an acorn.
1 Corinthians 15:42-44 says,
What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
Our natural body, our “Earth suit,” is subject to aging, disease and death. Like an acorn.
What a contrast with our spiritual body—our “New Earth suit”?—which will be strong, vibrant, and glorious. Like a big, beautiful, glorious oak tree.
I love to meditate on the resurrection body, our spiritual body. We can see from the gospel records what Jesus’ resurrection body was like:
• Jesus’ body still had His wounds.
• It was physical. The disciples could touch Him; in fact He commanded that Thomas reach out and touch His wrist, and put his hand in Jesus’ side where the spear had pierced His chest.
• He could travel effortlessly and instantly, appearing and disappearing at will.
• He was able to pass through walls and doors.
• He could-and did-eat, drink, and talk.
• He handled material things (He wasn’t a ghost or an illusion).
• His resurrected body was more real, of more substance, than ours is.
His resurrected body was the oak tree compared to the acorn.
According to Randy Alcorn’s wonderful book Heaven, Curt is experiencing the intermediate heaven today. It’s unimaginably beautiful and glorious, but it’s not the still-future unification of heaven and earth where we will receive our resurrection bodies—and things will get even better.
Our “oak tree bodies” still lie ahead. And that sure makes me smile.
This blog post originally appeared at Acorns, Oak Trees, and Our Son’s Grave on July 10, 2025.
Sue Bohlin
Sue Bohlin is an associate speaker/writer and webmistress for Probe Ministries. She attended the University of Illinois, and has been a Bible teacher and conference speaker for over 40 years. She is a speaker for MOPS (Mothers of Pre-Schoolers) and Stonecroft Ministries (Christian Women's Connections), and serves on the board of Living Hope Ministries, a Christ-centered outreach to those dealing with unwanted homosexuality. Sue is on the Bible.org Women's Leadership Team and is a regular contributor to Bible.org's Engage Blog. In addition to being a professional calligrapher, she is the wife of Probe's Dr. Ray Bohlin and the mother of a son in San Francisco and another son who joined his baby sister in heaven in 2024.. Her personal website is suebohlin.com.
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