Resurrection and Ascension
Jesus resurrection was not the same as Lazurus, in the sense that his resurrected body would never again taste decay or death. He was the first fruits of a new kind of life, in which the body was made able to live eternally.
His body was human in the sense that he could touch, be touched, eat, etc. Yet he could also appear and disappear quite suddenly.
Could it be, as Murray Harris suggests, that Jesus' resurrection body could go between physical and immaterial at will? One minute he is flesh and blood, another minute walking through walls?
Scripture does not require this, and does not expressly say so, so we are walking a tight line if we make this conclusion ourselves. The main point of scripture seems much more focused on how the resurrection body and Christ's later return are of a physical body.
Furthermore, the "new Jerusalem," is often focused on as a place for real physical bodies to be, not just spirits and angels. What God made in the beginning, physical bodies, was very good, and we should not think necessarily that heaven and the new Jerusalem will be "body-less."
What significance does this have to us? Paul says that the power by which God raised Christ from the dead is the same power at work within us. "you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus."
Christ's resurrection insures our justification, and also that we will receive a perfect resurrection body.
The resurrection of Christ gives us also a future hope, and encourages us to live with this heavenly reward as our goal, continuing steadfastly in the Lord's work.
As Jesus ascended to heaven in his physical resurrection body, we can affirm that he went to a "place." "...In my father's house there are many rooms," etc. We cannot say where heaven is, but we can see indications that heaven is a place in the space-time universe.
Christ sits at the right hand of God in heaven, showing his dramatic completion of redeptive work, and also an indication that he has authority over the universe.
What a glorious Christ we serve.
Jesus resurrection was not the same as Lazurus, in the sense that his resurrected body would never again taste decay or death. He was the first fruits of a new kind of life, in which the body was made able to live eternally.
His body was human in the sense that he could touch, be touched, eat, etc. Yet he could also appear and disappear quite suddenly.
Could it be, as Murray Harris suggests, that Jesus' resurrection body could go between physical and immaterial at will? One minute he is flesh and blood, another minute walking through walls?
Scripture does not require this, and does not expressly say so, so we are walking a tight line if we make this conclusion ourselves. The main point of scripture seems much more focused on how the resurrection body and Christ's later return are of a physical body.
Furthermore, the "new Jerusalem," is often focused on as a place for real physical bodies to be, not just spirits and angels. What God made in the beginning, physical bodies, was very good, and we should not think necessarily that heaven and the new Jerusalem will be "body-less."
What significance does this have to us? Paul says that the power by which God raised Christ from the dead is the same power at work within us. "you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus."
Christ's resurrection insures our justification, and also that we will receive a perfect resurrection body.
The resurrection of Christ gives us also a future hope, and encourages us to live with this heavenly reward as our goal, continuing steadfastly in the Lord's work.
As Jesus ascended to heaven in his physical resurrection body, we can affirm that he went to a "place." "...In my father's house there are many rooms," etc. We cannot say where heaven is, but we can see indications that heaven is a place in the space-time universe.
Christ sits at the right hand of God in heaven, showing his dramatic completion of redeptive work, and also an indication that he has authority over the universe.
What a glorious Christ we serve.
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