The Resurrection Body

[If you find this issue interesting, you will encounter many more fascinating things about heaven, the angels, and our future bodies in my book, Spiritual Things]

Over the years, I have come to understand that certain teachings in Scripture receive little to no attention within most worshipping communities.

We could look at the doctrine of hell—which I have discussed at length here—for example. We might also mention the harsh biblical reality that many who profess to be Christians will not be saved; as Jesus said, “For many are called but few are chosen” (Mt. 22:14). Similar statements are made throughout the Bible.[1]

Choosing to largely ignore teachings like these, while unacceptable, is at least logically understandable. Most people don’t want to hear that living the Christian life will be a major challenge, or that eternal suffering awaits those who don’t truly know Christ. But, in the case of the topic of this article, it’s difficult to say why it is often disregarded. My best guess is that it’s simply a difficult concept to grasp.

Whatever the case, I believe the resurrection body is easily one of the most interesting and inspiring topics in all of Scripture. It’s utterly astonishing to get a glimpse into the life of the heavenly beings, and to understand what we will someday be like after Christ’s return.

Hopefully, you will find this to be as important and thought-provoking as I do.

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Jesus: The Firstruit

In the Old Testament, two privileged individuals were able to forego death and ascend directly to heaven: Enoch and Elijah. Curiously, this never occurred even once in the New Testament.

However, many people in both the Old and New Testaments were raised back to life (i.e., were resurrected). Both Elijah and Elisha accomplished (through God) the feat of resurrecting others in the OT.[2] In the NT, we see this occur with Jairus’ daughter (Mk. 5:22-43), a widow’s son (Lk. 7:11-17), a woman named Dorcas (Acts 9:40), a man named Eutychus (Acts 20:9-10), and of course Jesus’ beloved Lazarus (Jn. 11:38-44). This even occurred with a host of unnamed individuals who were resurrected after Christ’s death, and then proceeded to walk around Jerusalem (Mt. 27:51-53)!

Clearly, many people were resurrected, and a couple have been assumed into heaven. But one—only one—has ever been brought back from the grave with what Paul calls the “spiritual body,” or the resurrection body.

Can you guess who that was?

If you said Jesus, then you wagered correctly! Paul stated this plainly in 1 Corinthians 15:20-21:

“But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.”

Jesus is certainly the “firstfruit” because he conquered death on our behalf, ensuring that we will also be raised from the dead. But there is more to it. As stated earlier, Jesus is not the firstfruit from the dead merely because he was raised to life; others had been throughout the biblical narrative. Instead, he was the firstfruit because he was the first to be resurrected with the spiritual body that all his followers will one day receive.

It’s about him conquering death and doing so with the resurrection body!

This is further explained later in 1 Corinthians. Concerning the resurrection body, Paul says:

“It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, ‘The first man Adam became a living being’; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven” (15:44-49).

Though death and the fallen bodies we currently possess came through Adam, life and the glorious “spiritual bodies” we will one day possess come through Christ. Not only did Christ redeem us from sin and death, but he will bestow upon us bodies like that of his glorious body.

This, friends, is where it starts to get very interesting.

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Jesus’ Resurrection Body

When we look at the appearances of Jesus after the Resurrection, we get a glimpse into the heavenly realm. We discover that, not only was Jesus almost unrecognizable, but that he was able to move in and out of our world at will. Truly, the spiritual body is a different thing altogether.

The first example of this came when Mary Magdalene tarried near the empty tomb, mourning for Jesus (Jn. 20:11-18). There, she sees a “man” and assumes he is the gardener who tends the area. Then, simply by hearing the man address her in a familiar tone—“Mary”—she becomes fully aware that she was talking to Jesus, himself. It was not his appearance that gave it away, but his manner of speaking.

Further, we see that Jesus appeared two different times to his apostles when they were hiding from the Jewish authorities.[3] These two visitations—occurring a week apart—both involved Jesus passing through a locked door to see his apostles. The second time, “doubting Thomas” famously touched Jesus’ body to ensure it was really the same man who had been crucified (20:27-28). Somehow, Jesus’ body did not have the limitations that ours do; he passed right through solid objects but could still be touched!

One of the strongest indications we receive that Jesus had returned with a transformed body can be found in Luke 24:13-35. Here, we read about two of Jesus’ disciples who are traveling from Jerusalem to a town called Emaus. Along the way, they encounter an unexpected guest. While much discussion occurs between them, the astonishing part of the story is what the two disciples failed to understand.

The trip from Jerusalem to Emmaus is about seven miles, as indicated in Scripture (24:13). Jesus joined them—at least some point early into the journey—and spoke with them the entire way. They didn’t recognize him. More amazingly, they implored Jesus to stay and eat with them after the long journey and he agreed to. The text reveals that, when Jesus broke the bread and blessed the food, “their eyes were opened, and they recognized him” (24:31). To further complicate matters, the same verse then records that Jesus “vanished from their sight.” Poof: Jesus was gone again!

Take note of what this text is really telling us. Two of Jesus’ disciples—who clearly walked, spoke, and even ate with him during his life—walked close to seven miles and sat down to dinner with him, without knowing who he was. Indisputable! Clearly, Jesus had been transformed after the Resurrection. Then, we have yet another example of Jesus being able to come and go between heaven and earth at will. This is the nature of the spiritual body.

While being more subtle in its point, perhaps the greatest evidence of Jesus’ transformed body is found toward the end of John’s Gospel. There, we read that Peter, John, James, Nathanael, Thomas, and two other disciples were out fishing in the Sea of Galilee (21:1-14). Having caught nothing, a stranger appeared on the shore and called out to them, asking them to try one more toss off the right side of the boat. This yielded a miraculous catch and John immediately proclaimed that the strange man was indeed the Lord (21:7)!

Afterwards, they came back and prepared some of the many fish they had caught and ate dinner together. Note that Jesus was able to eat, even with his new body. However, we cannot miss the most astonishing part. Even after the miraculous catch and making their way onto the shore—by now, no doubt close enough to really see Jesus—John includes this tasty little detail for us:

“Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have breakfast.’ None of the disciples dared ask him, ‘Who are you?’ They knew it was the Lord” (21:12, my emphasis).

Now, I ask you: why would this be included? Why on earth would the disciples, by that point, still clearly be wondering who this miracle man was? Yes, no one asked him . . . but they apparently thought about it. It was on their radar!

All these accounts reveal critical details about Jesus’ resurrection body. Jesus was able to eat, drink, and fluidly move in between the earthly and heavenly realms. Perhaps more powerfully, however, we learn the undeniable truth that Jesus did not look the same anymore. He may have resembled the Jesus of old but was different; something had changed, so much that his closest followers didn’t recognize him by his appearance alone.

Jesus’ body had been transformed, and he was now known mainly through his presence and actions.

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Our Future Glory

I will make the conclusion to this article short and sweet. Just as Jesus’s body had been transformed into a “spiritual body,” all who follow him will experience the same incredible reality.

As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:49:

“Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.”

And then later, in 15:51-52:

“Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.”

Jesus’ death and resurrection not only secured everlasting life for those who abide in him, but also will award us with an incomprehensible bonus gift—incorruptible, heavenly bodies!

Truly, such things come to us who are most undeserved.

“We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty” (Lk. 17:10b).

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Footnotes:

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[1] See Matthew 7:13-14, 21-23 and 25:1-13 for several examples of this.

[2] See 1 Kings 17:21-22 and 2 Kings 4:34-35.

[3] See John 20:19-22, 26-29.