Introduction:
Resurrection Appearances
What
I would like you to do first is to turn to I Corinthians 15. We are going to be
bouncing all through the Scriptures this morning, so you will have to have your
Bible rolodex ready. In the first epistle to the Corinthians, the letter may be
divided into two halves. The division line is at I Corinthians 7:1a where Paul
writes, "Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me."
From then on, Paul answers a number of questions that the church at Corinth
had. For example, he discusses issues concerning marriage, idols, Christian
liberty, spiritual gifts, (particularly focusing on the gift of tongues). Then,
towards the end of the book, Paul writes in I Corinthians 15:1, "Moreover,
brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you".
Finally, he closes the epistle with "Now concerning the collection
for the saints.." in the first half of the first verse in the
last chapter. As you can readily see, the latter chapters of first Corinthians
are the inspired Apostles answers to questions that arose from within a local
church.
Now, I know many of you, and certainly I, have been wondering about the
resurrection. Since many of us have had our theology thrown up in the air as we
have contemplated the Preterist view of Scripture, we have wondered what does
the resurrection mean in light of a Preterist approach to the Scriptures. In
fact, about three months ago, we had someone preach to us about his view of the
resurrection, which certainly made us question as to what might be the truth
concerning the resurrection. So I thought it would be important for us to look
into the issue of the resurrection.
If
I were to look into the entire topic about the resurrection, that would be too
much to cover in one message. In fact, the sub-topic concerning the
resurrection body of our Lord Jesus Christ is probably beyond what can be
easily digested in an hour's message. However, we will try to get through it.
So
let us look at I Corinthians 15. As you are aware, this is the normative
passage concerning the resurrection. Therefore, if we want to find out
something about the resurrection, we should use this text as the basis for our
study. I am not going to exposit this passage, but use it as a guide for
beginning our study. Notice how Paul opens the chapter by stating to them that
he was going to declare the gospel known to them from the prior preaching of
Paul. But now, drop down to verse 3b-4, "For I delivered unto you
first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins
according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the
third day according to the scriptures." Therefore, when Paul is
going to discuss the resurrection, he begins first with a capsule summary of
the gospel. Then he goes on in the next 4 verses and lists the
post-resurrection appearances of the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice, in verse 5,
"And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve".
And then in verse 6, "He was seen of above five hundred brethren at
once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen
asleep." And then in verse 7, "After that, he was
seen of James;" and in verse 7b, "then of all the apostles."
And then in verse 8, "And last of all he was seen of me also, as of
one born out of due time." Let me point out a couple of things to
you from this passage we just read. Number one, when Paul is going to discuss
the issue of the resurrection. The first thing he is going to discuss with us
is about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Although, he is going to
eventually answer questions regarding the resurrection of believers, he first
needs to lay an informational foundation. That foundation is Christ's
resurrection. Therefore, understanding Christ's resurrection is a key to
understanding our resurrection. So that is why today we are going to focus on
Christ's resurrection. More specifically, we are going to focus on the
resurrection body of Christ.
I
believe the real root question from the Corinthian church is found in verse 35,
"But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what
body do they come?" However, before Paul is going to answer this
question he must first lay the groundwork. That groundwork is understanding the
resurrection body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, we must first learn as
much as possible about Christ's resurrection body before we can answer
questions concerning our resurrection body.
Well,
if you are going to start studying about the resurrection body of Jesus Christ,
you need to examine all the times when he appeared. I am sure many of you
probably think Christ appeared only a couple of times after He rose from the
dead. However, there are a number of appearances that Christ made after He rose
from the dead. If you look at our passage in verse 5, you will note that He was
seen of Cephas. However, if you look in the gospels, there are at least two and
probably three appearances that Christ made before He made his appearance to
Peter. He first appeared to Mary Magdalene according to Mark 16:9. Then He
appeared to other women along the way, probably Mary and Salome according to
Matthew 28:9. He also appeared to those two men along the road to Emmaus,
probably before He appeared to Peter, according to Mark 16:12 and in Luke
24:13-32. So, Christ had three appearances, then He appeared to Peter, and then
to the twelve as recorded in I Corinthians 15:5. However, He did not appear to
the twelve on only one occasion. He appeared to them the evening of His
resurrection day (John 20:19-24), but also the following Sunday with Thomas
(John 20:26-29), some time later at the sea of Tiberius (John 21:1-14) and
finally in one of the mountains in Galilee (Matt.... 28:16). Therefore included
in I Corinthians 15:5b (and then to the twelve) are actually four
post-resurrection appearances. Continuing in I Corinthians 15, we note that he
was seen by 500 of them at one time (verse 6), then James (verse 7), then all
the apostles, verse 7 (likely referring to His ascension). Therefore, we can
count at least 11 post-resurrection appearances of our Lord. Therefore, if we
can look at those eleven appearances, we might gain great insight as to what
the resurrection body of Jesus Christ was like. Then, in the future we might
use this knowledge to examine as to what our resurrection might be like.
Notice
also, there are three post-Ascension appearances recorded in Scripture. In Acts
7:55-56, we note that the risen Lord appeared to Steven: "But he,
being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the
glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I
see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God."
Notice how he recognized Jesus Christ for who he was and knew he was the Son of
Man. This emphasizes the fact that the being standing on the right hand of God
is a human being.... a human being with a post-resurrection body.
Secondly,
we note how Paul describes his seeing the risen Lord in 1 Corinthians 15:8
"And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due
time." Therefore, Paul does not make any distinction between
those who saw the risen Lord before His ascension and Paul, who saw our Lord
after His ascension. The same resurrected Jesus Christ appeared not only to His
Apostles, but also appeared to Paul. To emphasize this point again, there is no
distinction made by Paul between the pre-ascension risen Christ and the
post-ascension risen Christ.
The
final post ascension appearance is recorded in Rev 1:12-13, where John has his
vision of the risen Lord: "And I turned to see the voice that
spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; And in the
midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a
garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle."
This
morning we are going to look at three major characteristics of Christ's
resurrection body based upon the foundation we have already laid.
1.) We want to emphasize that that
being walking around claiming to be Jesus Christ was in fact the risen Jesus
Christ. The Scripture, as you will see, emphasizes the identity of this being
with Jesus Christ. We need to understand that the essence of Jesus Christ, His
identity as a person, was carried over into His resurrection being. Why is this
so important? Many of us have questions about our future in the Lord. What
happens to us, individually, after we die and go home to be with the Lord? Will
it be truly us when we drop this earthly body and put on a heavenly, eternal
body? These verses emphasize the identity (the very essence of his person) of
Jesus Christ with this resurrected being. We may safely infer that our identity
(the very essence of who we are) will carry over to our resurrected bodies
after death.
2.) The second point that I would
like to make is that Jesus Christ had a physical body. I use
the word physical in the sense that Christ's resurrection body
had physical properties. We will discuss more about what
"physical properties" means later in the message.
3.) The third point is that
Christ's resurrection body had spiritual properties. Now right
there you can readily see a contradiction. His resurrected body had physical
properties and it had spiritual properties. Some people would
use terms such as material and non-material properties.
How these two, apparently contrasting characteristics, blend together in one
resurrected being may be difficult for us to completely comprehend. However, this
is not unusual in Christianity. Take for example the Trinity. We all know that
there is one eternal being known as God. Yet this one eternal being exists in
three individual persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Logically, in our
current human minds we cannot entirely understand how one Being can exist in
three persons. Yet, we affirm both truths to be true. Another example would be
the tension between God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. God, through
eternity past, planned (decreed) and foreordained everything that has and will
happen. Yet, I as a moral agent am completely responsible for fulfilling His
moral demands on my life. How exactly the two blend, I do not understand. Yet,
I hold both to be absolutely true. I think the same thing applies to the
resurrection body of Jesus Christ. We can affirm completely that Christ's body
had both physical properties and spiritual properties.
Both of these are true. We need to affirm both truths without violence to the
other. Therefore, the best way for us to approach Christ's resurrection body is
to describe its properties and then make some conjectures as to how these
contrasting properties might blend together in one resurrected body. Any
conjectures that we make about Christ's body must not deny
either the physical or the spiritual characteristics of His resurrection body.
Those being said let us move on to the next level in our study.
The Identity of the Risen Christ
First
of all, lets turn to Luke 24:36 to start looking at the identity of this resurrected
being. To set the stage here, what has happened is that Christ has already made
three resurrection appearances. According to Mark 16:10, 11, 13, after He made
these three appearances, the individuals to whom He appeared had already
returned to the upper room where apostles and disciples were gathered. In fact
as noted in the verses in Mark, these disciples did not believe the verbal
testimony of the witnesses to Christ's resurrection. In verse 35, the two men,
who had seen Christ on the road to Emmaus, we actively explaining to the
disciples there experiences on the road and how Christ was made recognizable to
them in the breaking of the bread. Then in verse 36a, "as they
thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them." and
continuing in verse 37-43, "But they were terrified and
affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them,
Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands
and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not
flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he showed them
his hands and his feet. And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered,
he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? And they gave him a piece of a
broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them."
Notice
that the being in that room emphasizes His identity with the crucified Christ.
The Greek makes this emphasis in a couple of places. In verse 36, Luke writes
that "Christ, himself stood in the midst". It was
not another person. It was not another person combined with someone else. It
was Christ, Himself, who stood in the midst. This emphasizes His identity with
the crucified Lord. Also note the Lord Himself, testifies to this fact noting
in verse 39, Behold, my hands and my feet, that it is I myself".
In this small verse, Christ uses the first personal pronoun 4 times: my
hands, my feet, it is I, myself. The identity
of this being cannot be denied to be the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to realize
and affirm that this being appeared in the upper room was none other than the
Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Why is this so important? We need to realize that
the identity of the Lord carried over to His resurrected person. This was not
merely a Christophany or Theophany. Nor was it the Spirit of Jesus taking on a
human body. The very essence and identity of the Lord Jesus Christ was one and
the same as that being that appeared in the upper room.
There
are further evidences that support that this being was truly the Lord Jesus
Himself. In fact, since we are looking at Luke 24, back up to verse 4-7 which
states: "And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed
thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: And as they were
afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek
ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how he
spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, Saying, The Son of man must be
delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day
rise again." Therefore, not only did Jesus Christ testify that it
was He, Himself that arose from the dead, but heavenly angelic beings joined in
the testimony as to His identity. It was the risen Lord that left the empty
tomb that He was not there, but that He had gone ahead to Galilee as he had
told them earlier that he would do so.
In
addition to self-witness and angelic witness, a number of His disciples saw and
testified that this was truly Jesus Christ, who had now risen from the dead. I
ask you to now turn to John 20:11-18. This is the story of how Mary Magdalene
met the Lord Jesus Christ along the road. Notice that in verse 18, Mary
declares that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things unto her.
She identified that person, who she initially thought to be a gardener, as
Jesus Christ Himself. We have also the verbal testimony from two other ladies
who had seen Him (Mt. 28:8-10, Mk. 16:7-8, Luke 24:9-11). Finally, the two men
on the road to Emmaus (Mk 16:13, Luke 24:33-35) bore verbal witness that this
was Jesus Christ. Therefore, based upon the verbal testimony of Jesus Himself,
the angels, Mary Magdalene, other ladies, two men, we can safely identify this
being as the risen Lord.
However,
the identification of this being with the risen Lord does not depend only upon
the verbal testimony of a few individuals. In fact, you may ask now, how did
Mary Magdalene and other knows that it was truly Jesus Christ? If there verbal
testimony was merely based upon repeating the testimony of Jesus Christ or
angels, then basically there were only two independent witnesses to the
identity of Christ and the rest in only hearsay. Note that the confirming
testimony of two independent witnesses should still be considered accurate.
However, with multiple witnesses the proof of identification is even stronger.
Therefore, in this next section we will show that multiple different personal
characteristics of the pre-risen Christ were used to identify this being to be
Jesus Christ Himself.
First,
let us turn to Luke 24:30. Again, this is the story of the two men on the road
to Emmaus. Jesus Christ has just sat down to eat with them. "Then
he took bread, blessed it, and brake, and gave to them and their eyes were
opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. And they said
one to another, did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by
the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?" (Luke
24:30-32). My question then is, "How did they recognize him to be Jesus
Christ?" Well, I can see a number of possibilities. First, maybe they
recognized how He broke the bread. Maybe Christ's unique and personal way of
breaking bread was recognized to them. Note that sharing a meal together was
common among the disciples; therefore, the breaking of bread does not need to
have reference to the breaking of bread that established the ordinance of the
Lord's Supper. Another option is that when He broke the bread, they saw the
scars in His hands and recognized Him to be Jesus Christ. Maybe, it was the
entire course of events, His mannerisms along the road, His voice, His oral
communication, etc. Note that in verse 16 it says that these two men "eyes
were holden that they should not know him". This implies that
Christ would have been readily recognizable to them had not God sovereignty
blinded there recognition of Him. However, temporally associated with the
breaking of bread that blindness was lifted (...their eyes were open...Luke
24:31) and they immediately recognized Him to be the risen Christ. Therefore we
can surmise that Christ would have been readily recognizable to them had it not
been for God's temporary blinding of their perception.
Now
turn with me to John 20: 11-13. "But Mary stood without at the
sepulcher weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the
sepulcher, And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the
other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.
And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, because
they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him."
Let me stop here. Notice how she is looking for a specific person. They have
taken away her Lord and she
does not know where they laid Him. Continuing on in verse 14: "And
when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and
knew not that it was Jesus." I would like to focus on two Greek
words here. The word "saw" is the word, theoreo. In
general, it has the idea of to behold, look or consider. However, John tends to
use this word differently than the other New Testament writers. According to
John's usage of this word, theoreo emphasizes the physical function of
the eye without emphasis on the corresponding processing of the mind. In other
words, it simply refers to the physical activity of seeing, but not the mental
aspect of understanding or perceiving what has been seen. Therefore, Mary
sensed with her physical eyes that someone was present. The next Greek word to
examine is translated know in the KJV is the Greek word "eido."
The word, eido, is often also translated seeing. However, this word
emphasizes not the physical aspect of seeing, but rather the mental aspect of
seeing, that is, to understand, perceive, consider. Therefore, she physically
saw Jesus with her eyes, but did not see Jesus with her mind (comprehension,
understanding). What was Jesus's reply? Continuing in verse 15-16: "Jesus
saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him
to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me
where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary.
She turned herself, and saith unto him,
Rabboni; which is to say, Master." So somehow in the way Jesus
called her name, she recognized Him, or if we were using Greek, she now "eido"
him. Was it His vocal characteristics? Was it the tenderness in His voice? Was
it the compassion He showed her? We can only surmise. However, clearly she
recognized him after He called her name. Note that earlier He had spoken to her
without recognition (verse 15). So, what was the difference? Maybe it was His
continuing conversation that made Him recognizable. Therefore, it was may not
have been His voice alone, but rather His speech.
Now
I would like you to drop down to John 21. To set the background, several
disciples had gone fishing on the sea of Tiberius. So let us pick up the story
in verse 3-4: "Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They
say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship
immediately; and that night they caught nothing. But when the morning was now
come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus."
Why didn't they recognize Him yet? Well it could have been a long night
fishing. They might have been too far to see enough of His physical features to
recognize Him. But notice, they were at least within an earshot as it says in
verse 5-7: "Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any
meat? They answered him, No. And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right
side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not
able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus
loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord." Notice that they did not
recognize Jesus yet (too far? too tired? too different?), but when Jesus
performs a miracle that they had previously seen, John immediately recognizes
Him to be the Lord. Unlike in prior episodes, the disciples do not need verbal
confirmation that this is the Lord, but all of them recognized Him (v. 12).
Therefore, Christ did not have to give verbal testimony as to His identity. All
disciples clearly knew it was Him by what He did.
Before
I move on to the next section, let me discuss one more point at this time. A
detractor may scoff that it took a while for her to recognize that this was
Jesus. I think the explanation for the delay was three-fold. First of all, none
of the disciples was mentally prepared to meet the risen Lord. As they saw with
their physical eyes this being, their brains' might have been saying,
"Can't be Jesus; He's dead; must be someone else." Secondly, notice
that when He appeared to those two men on the road to Emmaus, He appeared to
them in a different form (Mk 16:12). Being in a different form, He might have
not been as readily recognized. Thirdly, along the same line of thought, the
risen Christ, although same in identity to the pre-risen Christ, was in His resurrection
body, nonetheless different enough so as to cause a delay in recognition by His
disciples. This concept of "same identity, but different form" forms
the basis for our remaining discussion. The resurrection body of Jesus,
although truly being Jesus Christ (same identity) was somehow different than
the body of Jesus that hung on Calvary (different form). In fact, this
uniqueness and difference was great enough that none of the disciples
recognized Him to be the Lord immediately. Therefore, it was essential that we
first prove and establish that this being was none other than Jesus Christ
Himself. Only after doing so, can we safely explore how His resurrected body
might be different from His pre-resurrection body?
To
sum up my points so far, the identity of Jesus Christ was established by verbal
testimony of: Christ, angelic beings, Mary Magdalene, other ladies, the two men
on road to Emmaus. He was also recognizable in his person by physical
characteristics, personality traits, and/or miracles by Mary Magdalene, the two
men on the road to Emmaus, and the seven disciples on the sea of Tiberius.
The Physical Properties of the Body of
the Risen Christ
Having,
therefore, laid this groundwork we are now going to more carefully examine the
risen body of Jesus Christ. The characteristics of this body may be divided
into physical properties and spiritual properties.
Since it will be easier for us to grasp the physical characteristics of our
risen Lord, let us look into these issues first. Therefore turning to Luke
24:39a:"Behold my hands and my feet." Note that this
word "Behold" is that Greek word "eido"
which we have discussed before. As a reminder, the Greek word emphasizes seeing
with the mind, that is, to consider, perceive, or understand. So Christ is
given them a command: "Look and understand". Therefore, Christ wants
them to use their eyesight to understand that it is His hands and His feet.
Continuing
in the same verse, notice that He says, "that it is I myself:
handle me," Now Christ is giving
them another command, this time to use the sense of touch. The Greek word for
"handle" is the word "pselaphao", which has the
idea of manipulating. Often times it is used in a more figurative sense of
verifying a fact by handling the object. The disciples were commanded to
"handle" Christ in order to verify or, as it says in this verse
"see" ("eido") the following truth: "a
spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have."
There
are a number of aspects of Christ's resurrection body that we should discuss at
this point. Notice first that He has hands and feet. I know that you might
think why emphasize that point. Remember, we have absolutely no knowledge of
what His resurrection body is to be like. Therefore, we are to assume nothing.
Rather, we are to build truth upon truth as we glean them from the Scriptures.
Therefore, the first truth we apprehend is that Christ's resurrection body had
hands and feet. (As a reminder, note that they were His hands
and feet). Notice that Christ not only had hands and feet, but had flesh and
bones which could be handled by our human hands. These are all direct
declarative statements that Christ made regarding His body. To deny these
statements is to deny the veracity of Christ: Jesus Christ's resurrection body
is a body of flesh and bones. Christ's resurrection body could be seen by human
eyes and touched by human hands. I think this had quite an impact on the
apostles.
As
an aside, look with me at 1 John 1:1 "That which was from the
beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have
looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life."
Note that John, as a representative of the apostles was noting that they saw
the Word of life and their hands had handled (same Greek word: "pselaphao")
the Word of life. This was no apparition, this was no spirit. It was the risen
being of Jesus Christ that the disciples handled that Easter evening. Now the
Scriptures does not go into detail about the extent of how the disciples
handled Christ at this point. However, put yourself in their position. You are
deeply in sorrow over the death of your Lord. Others are telling you He is
risen, but that is too wonderful to possibly be true (see verse 41)". Now,
suddenly a being appears in the middle of your room: It must be a spirit (after
all, humans just don't do this sort of thing). What relief you must have
experienced as you see ("eido") that this is truly Christ. I
bet all of us would have held on tight. The disciples could handle the
resurrection body of Jesus Christ, because it had physical properties.
But
not only these disciples, but also others had met and handled the risen Christ.
Please note Matt 28:9 "And as they went to tell his disciples,
behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the
feet, and worshiped him." This was in reference
to the ladies (without Mary Magdalene) who were returning from the empty tomb.
Along the way, they met the risen Lord. Note that the held His feet. This is a
different Greek word, krateo, which has the idea of seizing, grasping,
clinging, or retaining. How could they have grasped Him and held Him had Christ
not had a body with physical properties.
Backing
up to our passage in Luke 24:41-43 "And while they yet believed
not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? 42 And
they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of a honeycomb. 43 And he took it,
and did eat before them." Note that in verse 41, the disciples
were still struggling with disbelief, so Christ provided another piece of
evidence that there were physical properties of His resurrection body. He took
fish and honeycomb and ate it before them. To review this passage, note that
the disciples had immediate impression that this was a spirit. But in these
verses, Christ affirms His identity, but denies that He is a spirit. He denies
this by direct declarative statements: "a spirit hath not flesh
and bones, as ye see me have." He denies this by showing His
hands, His feet. He denies this by telling others to handle Himself. He denies
this by eating before Him (see also Acts 10:41). His disciples were wrong in
concluding that a spirit was in the room that Easter night. It was the
resurrected Lord, in a body (which spirits don't have) of flesh and bones, a
body with physical properties. You have to assert these things to be true;
otherwise, you are in danger of denying the veracity of Scriptures.
Notice
also, that there was a relationship between Christ's resurrection body and His
body that was laid in the tomb. This relationship is established upon several
lines of evidence. First, there were characteristic marks that were present in
the body laid in the tomb that were retained in the resurrection body of Jesus
Christ. Look with me at John 20:24-28: "But Thomas, one of the
twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples
therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I
shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print
of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after
eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came
Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto
you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and
reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but
believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God."
In this event, Christ uses characteristic, identifying marks to prove
to Thomas His identity. These characteristic marks were present on His
pre-resurrection body that carried over to His resurrection body. We can safely
conclude that there is some relationship between His pre-resurrection body and
His resurrection body. Somehow the marks on His pre-resurrection body appeared
on His resurrection body.
The
second line of evidence that establishes relationship between His
pre-resurrection body and His resurrection body is the empty tomb. There are numerous
verses that raise the principle of the empty tomb: Mt 28:6-8; Mk 16:5-6; Luke
24:3-12; John 20:1-12. In these passages the angelic beings tell the disciples
to come, look, see: Behold, He is not here." The body of Jesus Christ had
disappeared. The absence of the body does not mean that Christ rose, but since
we know that Christ rose, the absence of his pre-resurrection body suggest that
that body was used to fashion His resurrection body.
Let's
turn to the passage in John to examine his account of the empty tomb reading in
John 20:3-7 "Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple,
and came to the sepulcher. So they ran both together: and the other disciple
did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulcher. And he stooping down, and
looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon
Peter following him, and went into the sepulcher, and seeth the linen clothes
lie, And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes,
but wrapped together in a place by itself." These
two disciples are trying to process data as to what has happened. Just as a
detective would collect evidence at a crime scene, so Peter and John are
collecting evidence in hopes of trying to make sense as to what has happened.
Although not stated here, Peter and John clearly identify the absence of
Christ's body. John then enters first and notes that the linen clothes were
lying there. The Greek word for "lying" is "keimai"
means to lie outstretched. This word was used to describe, in Luke 23:52 how
the linen was wrapped/outstretched around the body of Christ after His death.
It is also used here (and Luke 24:12) to describe the position of the linens
after Christ rose from the dead. The wrapping of the linens and the lying of
the linens are the same Greek word. Could it be that the linens were positioned
in such a fashion to suggest that the body of Christ "vanished"
leaving just the shell of the wrappings? Now Peter enters the tomb. He notices
not only the linens, but also the napkin wrapped together in a place by itself.
Peter is still wondering, how could this have happened? How could the body of
Christ been able to pass through these wrappings leaving them undisturbed, but
also taking the napkin and laying it in another place? How did the napkin get
moved? Who moved the napkin? Recall that when Lazarus was revived, Christ
ordered him to be unwrapped (John 11:44). Both Peter and John had seen Lazarus'
return from the dead, but what was happening her? Could it be that the
resurrection body of Christ did not need to be loosed from the wrappings? Could
it possibly be that the body of Christ simply passed through them without
disturbing them? Then after passing through the wrappings, the napkin is then
moved (by Christ?) to another place. John enters into the tomb, considers all
the evidence and believes.
So
how do we explain the apparent "disappearance" of Christ's body? I
believe that the resurrection body of Jesus Christ was transformed
from his pre-resurrection body. In the Psalm 16:10, David prophesied that the "Holy
One would not see corruption." So therefore, based upon this
prophecy, we know that the body of Jesus Christ was not to deteriorate in a
grave (that is, see corruption). Rather, it was to be used to form resurrection
body. However, this was not merely a renewal of life to previously dead body.
This body had some unique properties never before seen in a Man. Therefore, a
transformation must have occurred. The old body no longer exists; it has been
completely and totally transformed into the resurrection body with many new
properties.
"Spiritual" properties of
Christ's Resurrection Body
This
is a natural transition to my third and final major concept of today. Christ's
resurrected body had "spiritual" properties that are not present in
our mortal human bodies. We would like to examine some of these properties by
first turning to Luke 24:36-37 "And as they thus spake, Jesus
himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. 37
But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a
spirit." I want to focus on the reaction of the disciples upon
the sudden appearance of Jesus Christ into the upper room. First, they were
terrified. This is a translation of the Greek word "ptoeo".
This word is only used one other time (Luke 21:9) and caries with it the idea
of being startled. (A good example of this would be if someone sneaks up behind
you in a quiet room and shouts your name: ptoeo). The disciples were
not only terrified/startled, but affrighted. This word is "emphobos"
which is a compound word, which literally means, "fear - in". This
word is also rarely used. However in the six times it appears, in every
instance it seems to be a paralyzing fear. The type of fear that stops you dead
in your tracks. Note that in a direct, declarative, inspired statement, the
Scriptures describe that the disciples supposed that they saw a spirit. Why do
you think that disciples were so afraid and thought that they saw a spirit?
Could it have been the general appearance of Christ? I do not think so. At this
point, Christ had been seen by Mary Magdalene, two other ladies, two men
(Emmaus) and Peter. Some of them had held Him. Mary tried to cling to Him. None
of them supposed Him to be a spirit, but rather a gardener, a man, the
God-man.". So if Christ looked like a man, why did the disciples think
that they saw a spirit and were deathly afraid? Look back at the passage:
"as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them."
It was the sudden unannounced appearance of Jesus in a locked room (see John
20:19) that led the disciples to suppose that they had seen a spirit. Wouldn't
you? If a being suddenly "materialized" in this room, wouldn't we
think we saw a spirit? Physical bodies just don't suddenly appear. So based
upon this passage, I conclude that the resurrection body of Jesus Christ had a
"spiritual" property: It could suddenly appear in a room. I want you
to remember all that we have discussed so far. Remember that Christ's body had
physical characteristics, yet it could suddenly "materialize" in a
room. How is this possible? We have to affirm both truths to be true. Any
conjecture that affirms both truths without violence to the other is a
plausible explanation. Possibilities include that this material body was made
of unique material that could be held, seen, grasped, but yet could suddenly
appear/disappear. Another option is that the body is organized in such a
fashion as to allow its molecules to pass through solid materials or to suddenly
appear visible and invisible. What is the exact answer, we can only guess, but
only within the boundaries of the stated Scripture?
So
lets continue to look at other verses that emphasize the "spiritual"
properties of Christ's resurrection body. In Acts 1:3 To whom also he
showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of
them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God."
The word "showed" is a translation of the word, "paristemi",
which is formed from two words: para (next to or beside), histemi
(to stand). This very common word means literally to stand next to. In its
broad usage, it might mean to present, show, stand, exhibit, assist, provide.
In the context it is translated showing, with the meaning that Christ is
"displaying" or "exhibiting" His resurrection body.
Continuing in that verse, we note that the words "being seen" are a
translation for "optanomai", which again emphasizes the
physical function of sight. But interestingly, in this verse, it is in the
middle voice, which means that both the active agent and object acted upon are
one and the same. Christ made Christ to be seen. So, Christ was making himself
visible to them. In one sense, this could mean that Christ was naturally
visible and came to situations in order to be seen by His disciples. The other
option is to conjecture that Christ was naturally invisible to His disciples,
but that Christ did something to make himself visible to them. Either option is
possibly correct. Let us use the analogy of faith to examine these
possibilities.
Other verses we might turn to include: Acts 10:40-41 Him God raised up
the third day, and showed him openly; Not to all the people, but unto witnesses
chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose
from the dead. Again, the idea is God "showed" him openly.
However, this time the word "showed" is translation of a different
Greek word, "didomi", which is another very general word,
but has the idea of a gift. Therefore, God "gave" Christ to be shown
openly. The word "openly" is a translation of a rare Greek
word "emphanes" which means to make manifest. Putting the
word didomiand emphanes together, we get the idea that God
gave Him to be manifested to His disciples. How could God give Him to be
manifested? Again, we are left with a number of possibilities suggesting either
making Christ visible selectively or having Christ to be present in places
where He only His disciples would be and, therefore, see Him. We need to look
for further clues.
If
we look to Mark 16. There is a listing of his "appearances" in verses
9, 12, 14. The word for "appeared" in these verses is the Greek word,
"phaino", which again has the idea of showing or appearing.
Now think with me for a second. If we were to meet someone along the road, what
type of words would we choose? We might say He came to us, passed by us, met
us, etc. However, we would not typically use the word appeared. The
implication, therefore, is that by "appearing" we imply a natural invisible
state that then changes to a visible one, that is appears. However, this is
still all inferential and we still don't have proof, so let's look on.
Now
let us go to Mark 16: 12: After that he appeared in another form unto
two of them, as they walked, and went into the country. In this verse,
I would like you to focus on the fact that Christ "appeared in another
form". Again, this is another word for appeared "phaneroo",
which has idea of showing/manifesting. But look at what is unique about this verse.
Christ showed Himself in "another form". Well, this is rather
curious. Although we can possibly use the word "appear" when we
surprisingly see someone, it would be highly unusual to for us to note that
someone we passed by, "appeared in another form". Furthermore, we
must recall that Christ's resurrection body has physical properties: hands,
feet, and scars. It can be seen. It can be held, handled and touched. But it
can also "appear in another form". Remember, it is Christ's one and
only resurrection body. It has identity with Christ. It is His body. It is He,
Himself. Yet, somehow, this body has the ability to change its appearance. This
may be part of the explanation as to why there was such a delay for these two
men to eventually recognize Him to be Christ.
Let
us further develop the idea of Christ's appearings. To do that, I want to go to
a post-Ascension appearance of Christ. Now some of you might suggest that I am
going to use verses that are not applicable. However, as you recall from I
Corinthians 15, that Paul lists some of the post Resurrection appearances of
Christ. In that list, Paul notes that he too was a witness to the resurrected
Christ. When did Paul see Christ? Before Christ's ascension...no. Clearly, it
was afterward. Paul's only distinction between his seeing the Lord contrasted
with was that he (Paul) was one born out of time. He makes no distinction
otherwise between pre- or post-Ascension appearances of Christ. This lack of
distinction is especially notable, since that chapter is the normative passage
concerning the resurrection.
With
that being established, let us review one of the post-ascension appearances of
Christ to see if we can glean additional information. In Acts 9:3-7 "And
as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about
him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying
unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord?
And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to
kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt
thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city,
and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the men which journeyed with
him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man." Think
about this for a second. We have a sudden appearance of the resurrected Lord.
Paul speaks to Him, but others hear some sounds/a voice, but cannot discern a
man. How is this possible? The Lord must have been manifested to Paul, but not
to the others. He was speaking to Paul in an intelligent manner, but others did
not. The parallel passages in Acts 22:6-9 and 26:12-15 further bring out the
distinction between Paul's experience and those others who were along the road
with him. Unlike our prior discussions, which merely suggested the possibility
of Christ making himself visible, these verses bring out an unusual
characteristic of Christ's resurrection body. It could be seen by some (those
to whom Christ was manifesting Himself), but not to others who are there at the
same place and the same time. Similarly, Paul could hear the voice, but others
could not. A possible explanation for this is that Christ came in a cloud of
glory. Upon His arrival, everyone was knocked to the ground. But with some
time, the cloud of glory enveloped the risen Christ and Paul standing there
with Him. Paul sees Christ, he hears and understands His voice. To others,
outside, there are voices, noise, bright lights, but no discernible speech or
man. No matter what your explanation of this passage happens to be, it is
apparent that Christ's resurrection body have properties that our current
physical bodies do not.
Well,
if your not yet convinced, let me take you to one other verse discussing this
issue of Christ manifesting himself. It is a familiar passage to us. In Luke
24:31 we read: "And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and
he vanished out of their sight." Breaking down the words again,
we find that the word vanished is made of two separate Greek words: "ginomai",
which means to become and "aphantos" which is the opposite
of phantos (to be manifested, see above). Therefore, putting this all
together we find that Christ "became non-manifested". There is no
other way to interpret this verse. Christ became non-manifested to their sense
of sight. We would say He became invisible. Clearly the ability to appear,
appear in another form, appear to some, but not others, and to dis-appear are
all properties of a resurrection body which has spiritual characteristics. (But
don't forget that it also has physical properties!!)
As
our last verses for today, I ask you to look at John 20: 19 and 20:26: "Then
the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were
shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and
stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. 26 And after eight
days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus,
the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you."
Note that in both of these verses, John describes that the doors were shut, but
yet Christ stood in the midst. How could this have happened? One possibility is
that Christ walked through shut doors (similar to how is body
"escaped" the linen wrappings), or He might of went in the room in an
invisible form and then made himself visible suddenly. In either case, Christ's
resurrection body had properties that go beyond any typical physical body, but
yet clearly is a body with physical characteristics.
How
can this be? We can only conjecture. As long as we hold to the truths that are
evident here, we can surmise what we wish, knowing the absolute answers are not
revealed in the Scriptures. However, here is my best guess. Our human bodies
are bodies made of "clay"/ "dust" that are of materials
that are common to this existence, this sphere of life, this earth. These
physical bodies obey the Natural laws, set forth by God that governs materials
in this universe. However, a resurrection body is not made for the earth, but
for the heavens. What are the properties of "matter" or
"material" in the heavens? I don't know. What laws do they obey? I
don't know. I can at least describe the properties of this resurrection body as
it is viewed from a material earth with the physical senses of
those who were witnesses to His resurrection. Yet, I must also note that this
resurrection body did not obey the laws that govern materials of this realm.
For lack of a better term, I state that Christ’s body had spiritual properties.
Joining the two, I believe that Christ's body was made of substances foreign to
our knowledge and to our universe that are designed by God to dwell in the
heavenly realm. Yet, in our earthly realm it can take on characteristics, which
I have described as physical and spiritual.
However, without too much contemplation, we can only surmise that on this side
of glory, we are unable to fully describe all the characteristics of Christ's
resurrection body (see II Corinthians 12:4).
As
such, I can safely affirm the following points:
1.) It was Jesus the Christ, who was
crucified, who rose from the grave.
2.) Jesus
Christ's dead body was transformed into an immortal resurrection body.
3.) Jesus
Christ's body had physical properties
4.) Jesus
Christ's body had unique spiritual properties.
5.) Any further conjecturing about
the Lord's resurrection body needs to hold to all these truths without denying
the veracity of any.
This
message was preached by Richard L. Nemec
on November 2, 1997.