There are only two possible options: 1) The person who received the organ would KEEP THE ORGAN, or 2) The ORGAN WILL VANISH when the Lord raises the body of the donor. This really begs the question: Does the Lord need all the body parts of believers before He transforms their bodies into new, glorified bodies? There will be believers who had died without body parts due to perishing in a fire or explosion, or having body parts surgically removed due to diseases such as cancer. Are we to believe that the Lord will have to retrieve the “original molecules” of those body parts before He can rapture them to heaven? I believe the organ will remain with the recipient, but I can’t speak dogmatically. Though we CAN’T KNOW for sure what will happen in this case, let’s consider what we DO KNOW about the believer’s body when the Rapture occurs. I trust we will be blessed in this meditation.

Philippians 3:20-21 says, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will TRANSFORM OUR LOWLY BODY THAT IT MAY BE CONFORMED TO HIS GLORIOUS BODY, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.” No matter what the condition our “lowly body” is in, it will be transformed. Some will have scars, wrinkles, deformities, tumors, or MISSING BODY PARTS. Others will be lying in a grave (returning to dust…Genesis 2:7; 3:17-19; Ecclesiastes 12:7), buried at sea, or burned in a fire (reduced to ashes). Whatever the case may be, the Lord Jesus will TRANSFORM that body into a new body “like His glorious body.” 1 John 3:2 speaks to this: “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM, for we shall see Him as He is.” We shall be like Him physically and morally.

Does this mean we shall look EXACTLY like the Lord Jesus? No, it means we shall have “bodies fit for heaven just as His body is fit for heaven.” We see this truth in 1 Corinthians 15 where the question was asked, “How are the dead raised up? And WITH WHAT BODY do they come” (verse 35). Verses 36-49 go into detail answering that question. In verse 40 we learn that it will be a “CELESTIAL body” (one fit for HEAVEN). In verses 42-44 we see 4 marvelous changes: “It is sown in corruption; it is raised in INCORRUPTION. 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. The bodies believers had on earth were TERRESTRIAL bodies (fit for EARTH) which can hardly be compared to the glorified CELESTIAL bodies we will have in heaven.

As we muse on these passages, we realize that whatever our “lowly body” on earth was like, the transformation into our “body of glory” will be dramatic and thus we will not need any part of the body we had on earth. That being said, we will still be RECOGNIZED by others that knew us (see 1 Corinthians 13:12; 2 Samuel 12:23; Luke 24:31; John 16:20; and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). A very humbling thought to consider is when we see Christ there will be one big difference; He will still have the SCARS in His hands, His feet, and His side, that He received at Calvary (see Luke 24:36-39; John 20:24-29; Revelation 5:6a, 8-9). We will always be reminded of what it cost our Savior to redeem us so we could be with Him in heaven! (DO) (730.3)