Resurrection of the Body

"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." - Jesus after his resurrection (Luke 24:39)

Jesus' resurrection was not "spiritual" as we, today, define the term. He didn't become a ghost and he doesn't live in our hearts and minds like our departed loved ones; he was bodily raised from the dead.

That has always been a part of the faith. When the Bible says in Psalms 16:10, "neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption", it's declaring Christ's body would not decay like the rest of humanity; impostors can't make it past the grave¹.

Certainly the resurrected body is different from the body that died; it could materialize anywhere², was not always recognized³, is no longer subject to illness or death⁴, and is "spiritual" in the sense that it is not limited to this earth's physics⁵. But it is a new dimension of physical that can still eat⁶, be touched⁷, and interacted with like any other physical object⁸.

The resurrection of Christ defeated our last enemy, Death⁹, and when Jesus returns our mortal bodies shall change to be like his.¹⁰

That is the classic "hope" of the resurrection, not to be some disembodied ghost somewhere but to be wholy redeemed individuals in the place Jesus went to prepare for us.

- fritz

^{1 - Romans 1:3-4
2 - John 20:19
3 - John 21:4
4 - Romans 6:9
5 - 1 Corin. 15:44 Not "a spirit" but "spiritual body"
6 - Luke 24:41-42
7 - Luke 24:39
8 - Acts 1:3
9 - 1st Corinthians 15:26
10 - Philippians 3:21}

Everyone is someone's sheep

"The Lord is my Shepherd," - Psalm 23:1a

In the short time Bob Dylan passed through Christianity he wrote a profound song, Gotta Serve Somebody, with the chorus:

...You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

The Bible put it this way:

"his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness¹

Like a teen thinks dressing like every other teen somehow expresses individuality, one may feel under no rule but one's own. That is an illusion, ask any advertiser; they have known for years we all follow someone or something like sheep!

Thank God, because of Jesus, we can become his sheep; He's a better shepherd than the other ones!

- fritz

¹ Romans 6:16