Friday, 4/17/20 – Friday Tough Question

Where is Jesus’ human body?

The questioner here knows that Jesus rose from the tomb and ascended to the Father, but also knows that Jesus’ resurrected body is very different indeed than the body that expired on the cross. When Mary Magdalene, the first person to see the resurrected Christ, encountered Him He said to her “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.” (John 20:17). There was clearly something different about His post-resurrection form.

Further evidence of the uniqueness of this body is found in verses which follow. Drop down to verse 19 and we read,

“On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” (John 20:19).

The doors were locked, yet Jesus entered. Did He walk through solid? Materialize? Truly this was a special sort of body, yet it still bore the nail scars and bodily wounds of His crucifixion (see John 20:20, 26-28.)

Luke recounts how just before this, two disciples walking en-route to Emmaus encountered Jesus. They chatted and ate with Him then witnessed Him simply disappear:

“As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them… When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.” (Luke 24:15, 30-31).

There is no record of Jesus needing or taking rest during the forty days He appeared to people following His resurrection, even though during this time He was quite active: “To these he also presented himself alive, after his suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days, and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.” (Acts 1:3).

And it was this body which the disciples watched ascend into Heaven (Acts 1:9-11) – where no flesh can enter (1 Cor. 15:50)!

So where did the battered human body of Jesus go?

The glorious answer to this is that these bodies are one and the same! Jesus resurrection is a demonstration of the believers own resurrection. The believer’s mortal body will be transformed into a heaven-ready eternal body. Paul describes this in detail,

I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. (1 Cor. 15:50-53). (See also 2 Cor. 5:1-4).

According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. (1 Thess. 4:15-17).

In this world we are but worms…. worms in cocoon. One glorious day we will emerge, no longer the worm, but transformed by the miracle-working grace and love of God!

Crawl on…

Note: now Jesus’ form is even more glorious… John caught a glimpse and fell prostrate! (see Rev. 1:12-17a; 19:11-16).

Got a question? Use the Contact page and send It to me. We’ll search the Word for God’s answer.