Nature's Illustrations of Spiritual Truths — Nicole O'Meara

This frog isn’t dead, but you could’ve fooled me.

In Alaska, where temperatures regularly dip below freezing, the Alaskan Wood Frog freezes but doesn’t die.

What?!

Just under 3 inches long and rusty brown, this one-of-a-kind amphibian produces extra glucose as winter gets close, effectively creating an antifreeze chemical to keep ice crystals from destroying its tender cells. The frog’s heart eventually stops beating. Come spring, when things begin to thaw, so does the frog. Its heart begins to beat again, and off it hops to the nearest pond.

To be clear, this is not resurrection. The frog didn’t die. This is hibernation, at the X Games.

But, oh, what a picture it gives us of resurrection. Like Lazarus in the grave, there is no breath, no sign of life. Then, at God’s command, spring arrives. The frog warms to life. Or, in the case of Lazarus, Jesus commanded, “Lazarus, come out” (John 11:43 ESV). Lazarus breathed, stood up, and walked out of the grave.

Our Resurrection Bodies

I used to think that my resurrection body would be completely different, better, than my current body. I would be taller, funnier, more athletic, and less gray-haired. Let’s be honest, that girl isn’t me. That’s some version of the me I wanted to be when I was thirteen years old.

The Alaskan Wood Frog helps me understand the resurrection better. When we are resurrected, the Bible tells us we will be glorified but recognizable. We will be the same, but different (1 Cor 15:42, 50-53). After Jesus was resurrected, the disciples recognized him. Jesus spoke, walked, ate, and touched others. He was in a real, physical body. But he was also, somehow, in a spiritual body that could appear suddenly, defying physics. This is beyond our understanding, but not beyond our trust. We can trust that what was true for Christ in resurrection will be true for us at our resurrection. The Alaskan Wood Frog doesn’t come back to life in spring because it never died in the winter. Still, it gives us a picture of our resurrection life: a life in a recognizable, physical body, full of activity.

Older and wiser now, I can picture my resurrection body and know that I’ll still be short and clumsy, but I won’t have to struggle against the brokenness in this body. There’s a long list of things my resurrection body won’t need to contend with, but I’ll focus on the two big ones here. I will no longer have 1) lungs that bleed; and 2) legs that won’t hold me up. Those weaknesses have caused buckets of tears to be shed. I have mourned the loss of stable legs. (Oh, how I miss walking!) I have wrestled with grief over an unstable future. I have sat in loneliness as the only person whose lungs bleed this way, and no one can tell me why.

But it won’t always be this way. Revelation 21 describes what Heaven will be like. Verse 4 tells us, "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." My resurrection body will be just like this body, but without the pain and tears, hence, without the brokenness.

Nature’s Illustrations Help

We are finite creatures, limited by a finite mind. We cannot grasp certain spiritual truths. Try explaining the Trinity to a fifth grader and you’ll see what I mean. Illustrations fall short, whether you use an egg, or water/ice, or a shamrock.

Still, we find help in nature. The metamorphosis of a caterpillar to a butterfly is a beautiful illustration of salvation. The DNA of the butterfly was always in the caterpillar. In the chrysalis, the caterpillar undergoes a miraculous and permanent change to a magnificent flying creature. There is no going back. In the same way, salvation changes the believer permanently. She becomes a beautiful version of herself. Her DNA is the same; she is still herself, but changed. And there is no going back to her previous life of slavery to sin (Romans 6:17-23).

Here are a few more, in brief.

Sheep illustrate our need for a Good Shepherd. (John 10)
“The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers….I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
Wildflowers illustrate God’s provision. (Matt 6:26)
“Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”
Vineyards, grape vines specifically, illustrate our dependence on Christ. (John 15:5)
“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
Water illustrates God’s sustaining power through the Holy Spirit. (John 4:14)
“Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”