What Is a Resurrection Body? - by Christopher Mangan -http://www.raptureready.com/soap2/mangan9.html
Have you given any thought to the nature of the body that you will be given on the day when Jesus Christ returns for us at the Rapture for the church? I doubt that very many Christians have thought of this subject in detail. However, I have given considerable thought to this scriptural reality for a number of years. The reason for this is that there are a few concepts that I have always been attracted to, even as a child. One of those concepts was the thought of having super powers and a super body. This was an idea that I had obtained from reading comic books.
A Personal History of Comic Books and the Concept of Super-Beings with Powers
First, let me present a bit of my personal history with comic books. When I was five years old during the late 1950s, I was reading DC Comic Books among other books, and one of my favorite DC comic book heroes was Superman. I loved seeing the illustrations of him flying into action drawn mostly by artist Curt Swan. I was exhilarated when Superman teamed up with Batman and Robin in one of my favorite comic books titled World's Finest Comics. I loved the idea of his being two different people: Clark Kent and Superman.
I liked seeing him change from Kent to Superman; wear the costume (which itself was indestructible), fly into outer space to other planets and even go through the Time Barrier; all at incredible speeds. Then there would be the stories that had him use his x-ray vision and super hearing; be indestructible - all of his super powers fascinated me. DC also introduced other super heroes in the late 1950s and early 1960s such as the Martian Manhunter, The Flash, and Green Lantern, to name a few. All of these comic book characters had an impact upon my imagination and I would always look forward to their stories.
As a child, I would use either crayons or marking pens to make my own Superman or Batman costume out of my long underwear, as thermal garments were known then in the 1950s and 1960s. I developed the skill of making the unique Superman S on my long underwear sweater and was proud of that achievement.
Around the time when I was 12 years old, I became sick with the flu, so my father offered to buy me some comic books to cheer me up. I had asked him to get me either Superman and/or Batman comics, which were published by DC Comics. He did something unexpected and came back with two Marvel Comics. I had never heard of nor had I read any Marvel Comic before. One comic was titled The Amazing Spider-Man -2.
While all of the DC characters seemed to have good lives with very few problems; the main problem among the DC characters was keeping their secret identity safe.
However, the two Marvel comic books were different and more interesting than the DC comic book characters. The Marvel characters were written with real-life problems. Spider-Man, as Peter Parker, was a teenager; a character that I could identify with. Parker was a shy loner who would be called a bookworm by his teenage peers. Parker later attends a science exhibition alone, dealing with his rejection, when a spider happens to drop on its web between two experimental devices. The spider becomes radioactive and, in its death throes, bites Parker, thereby transferring to him its powers.
He later becomes a costumed TV entertainer. In his smell-of-success state, he gives in to arrogance and becomes irresponsible. He allows a thief to get away from a police officer, but he doesn't realize that the thief would later murder his Uncle Ben. It is through this tragedy that created Spider-Man, the crime-fighter and super hero.
The Mantra for the character is now classic: With Great Power Must Come Great Responsibility. I'll leave the rest of this comic book history topic to you, the readers, to research further if you wish. Let us now leave my history with comic books and return to the main focus of this article.
Super-Abilities in the Bible
Where is the reality in Scripture of super-powerful beings? If we examine Genesis first, then we are given the first appearance of the angels, right after Adam and Eve's sin. These are not ordinary angels, but Cherubim. The Cherubim also have strange weapons as recorded in Genesis 3:22-24 (NASB):
"Then the Lord God said, 'Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever'- therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So He drove the man out; and at the east of the Garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword, which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life."
If you don't believe in a literal translation of the Bible, then you would merely brush away the above narrative as some kind of fairy tale told by the Ancients. However, a number of truths are evident in the above Scripture. For one, God is referring to Himself as Us, so we learn that there is more than one person!
We learn that Adam was created from the ground outside of Eden before his sin, and that he is returned again to the ground outside of Eden. A flaming sword, which turns in every direction, is placed to guard the entrance of the Garden of Eden from Adam, Eve, and their descendants.
This Scripture seems to imply that the Flaming Sword seems to have an independent behavior, hinting that maybe the sword is some kind of a supernatural automated weapon, controlled by the Cherubim. We are not given a description of the Cherubim in the book of Genesis, so we have to search elsewhere in the Bible for a description of these beings. That description is contained in Ezekiel 10, specifically verses 14 and 20-22 (NASB):
14: "And each one had four faces. The first face was the face of a cherub, the second face was the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle."
20-22: "These are the living beings that I saw beneath the God of Israel by the river Chebar; so I knew that they were cherubim. Each one had four faces and each one four wings, and beneath their wings was the form of human hands. As for the likeness of their faces, they were the same faces whose appearance I had seen by the river Chebar. Each one went straight ahead."
Notice! These beings have four faces. Each face is different: cherub, man, lion and eagle. They also have four wings, with hands under their wings. What a description. How would you behave if such a being were to suddenly appear before you? We even learn from Ezekiel 28:12-19 that Satan himself is a Cherub. You can forget the popular image of Satan being red, having horns and a tail, and carrying a pitchfork. You can also forget that he rules in hell because this Scripture is how the Bible refers to him and his domain:
Ephesians 2:1-3 (NASB):
"And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest."
What an impressive title: The Prince of the Power of the Air. That implies great ability, and also means that Satan is ruling down here; not in hell-as popular culture would have us believe. Further, to use comic-book terms, we are dealing with super-beings in these Scriptures. Indeed, these beings are so powerful that Jesus had to pray this prayer for Peter:
Luke 22:31-32 (NASB):
"Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers."
So far, we have read of heavenly spiritual beings, which one or more secular writers such as Erich von Däniken years ago claimed falsely were aliens. The very description of the Cherubim should convince anyone who has believed in the theory of evolution that these beings did not evolve, nor did they come from another planet.
Let us now consider the Nephilim, mentioned Genesis 6:4 and Numbers 13:33. It could also be mentioned that, as they are Giants, they also have super-strength like Samson. You can read the story of Samson and his super-strength in Judges 14:5-6 and Judges 16:28-31.
We have now read that there are supernatural beings, as well as one human being, with abilities beyond those of ordinary human beings. However, is there any reference to a supernatural being that looked like us, unlike the Nephilim, but had extraordinary abilities beyond even Samson and the Nephilim?
A Supernatural Being mentioned in the Old Testament Who Is Able to Withstand Fire
The book of Daniel records some incredible prophetic events, but one supernatural event that captures my mind is the fourth person in the fiery furnace where the three Jewish exiles, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego are thrown into after refusing to worship the image of the king:
Daniel 3:24-25 (NASB)
"Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astounded and stood up in haste; he said to his high officials, "Was it not three men we cast bound into the midst of the fire?" They replied to the king, "Certainly, O king." He said, "Look! I see four men loosed and walking about in the midst of the fire without harm, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods!"
We see the following scriptural facts:
1) Three men were thrown into the furnace but were not affected by the fire or heat in any way. 2) There is a fourth individual in the furnace, who was a supernatural being, totally impervious to the flames. 3) The fourth individual was able to protect the other three men from any type of harm. Unlike the NASB, the King James translation uses the term, Son of God," which to me is more revealing! At least one writer has said that this being was Christ, in his pre-incarnate form!
This line of thought of powers and abilities that are beyond our human abilities continues through the New Testament.
Christ's Resurrection Body
After Jesus Christ is executed and later buried 3 days and 3 nights in the grave, we learn of His resurrection in a very unusual manner. You can read the entirety of Luke 24 using this Endnotes link. We learn of a number of interesting facts from Luke, chapter 24:
1) The huge Stone covering the Tomb is rolled away but there is no body within, so physical death and the huge heavy stone were no problem to the being who moved it.
2) There are Men, apparently Angels, in "dazzling clothing", so we learn that there is a kind of clothing that is not of this earth. 3) the women who came to the tomb experienced terror in the presence of these beings. This appears to be a rule whenever anyone encounters the Supernatural, implying that the Supernatural is more 'real' than we are. 4) Peter, Jesus Disciple, then checks out the tomb and sees the linen wrappings, but there is no body inside of those wrappings (could Christ's Resurrection body have passed through the wrappings?) 5)Two of the Apostles are walking to Jerusalem and are discussing what had happened when Jesus approaches them and engages them in conversation; however they are prevented from recognizing him until he dines with them and repeats what he did at the Last Supper where he broke the bread, then he vanishes or teleports away! 6) Christ later suddenly stands in their midst and, at first, they are fearful and believe him to be a spirit of a deceased person; however he assures them that he has a physical body and invites them to touch him, and even eats a broiled fish. Later He ascends into Heaven.
Interestingly, Christ says that He has flesh and bone; but He deliberately eliminates any mention of "blood." This is probably due to the Scripture of 1 Corinthians 15-50-55 written by Paul where he discusses that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.
Atmospheric Pressure on a Human Body versus a Resurrection Body
So we learn that a Resurrection body still possesses the five senses. It can be touched; it can eat and do everything that we can do in our mortal bodies. However, there is no mention of "blood" because of the above Scripture. Why? Because blood circulating within a person's body implies pressure that a human body needs outside it and within it, as well as a heart and a circulatory system that transports heat, oxygen and nutrients within that body. You cannot ascend to heaven in your mortal body, as Christ did when He ascended in his resurrection body!
I used to be a scuba diver. I had to learn about the effects of pressure upon the human body and how that pressure increases when a person's body goes underwater. If you're interested, please go to this link. In brief, we cannot just ascend into outer space without a space suit designed to keep our bodies at approximately 15 p.s.i. (pounds per square inch) pressure, to provide us with life-breathing air and also provide us with heat for warmth. Our bodies would simply explode. Remember: There is no air or pressure in outer space; and it is also very cold! The opposite happens when you try to go underwater: pressure increases, but the water becomes ice-cold after 15 or so feet. In both cases, you need equipment to survive.
Returning to the resurrection body discussion, we can assume from the Scriptures just mentioned that a resurrection body does not need a beating heart! A person with a Resurrection Body probably doesn't need to breath and doesn't need air either, but can somehow still make vocal sounds as we do! A resurrection body probably doesn't need to either eat; it may lack a stomach so food is simply turned into energy directly; a resurrection body also doesn't need rest, as it is tireless. Christ was also able to just ascend into heaven, so this implies that a person with a resurrection body is not subject to the laws of Gravity, nor time and space.
Now, since Christ ascended into heaven, that means that we, at the Rapture, will be able to do the same thing also when we receive our resurrection bodies, which will be the same kind of body as His, right? Let's cement this fact in our minds and faith with Philippians 3:20-21, which discusses our "citizenship in heaven." In order to be "citizens of heaven" we have to have a heavenly body, a resurrection body! Otherwise, we can't go to heaven as Jesus had promised. The trip would simply kill us, if we remained in this mortal, perishable body.
Let's examine the resurrection body further with Romans 6:4-6:
Romans 6:4-6 (NASB)
"Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin."
And with this Scripture:
1 John 3:1-3 (NASB)
"See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure."
Sin is eliminated when a born-again believer finally receives his or her resurrection body, as the above Scripture affirms. Otherwise, we can't stand before the Father, who is holiness personified. Interestingly, it isn't by works or deeds that we are purified, but by believing and hoping that Jesus returns for us in the Rapture. (However, salvation is only through Christ's shed blood on the cross.)
As I had said previously, when someone encounters a Supernatural Being, there is usually an experience of Fear! That is because we can sense that these beings are more real and more powerful than we are! This experience of fear was true for the apostle John, as recorded in Revelation 1:12-18 when he saw the resurrected and Glorified Christ.
The sight of Christ overwhelms John! It was beyond his understanding to comprehend what he was seeing, so Jesus had to reassure him first to not be afraid, then, to confirm who and what He is. John is later taken up into Heaven and sees God's throne, with more Supernatural Beings present. We see a brief description of God Himself. I'm certain that someone reading this is asking the same question that Nicodemus asked Jesus, which is "How can these things be?" So let's proceed onto the next topic of discussion.
Extra-Biblical Evidence - Theories of Other Dimensions
There are theories of other dimensions that are posted online at Wikipedia and other websites; however, Iwant to use a movie-example before discussing dimensions.
I remember some years ago seeing the movie Superman Returns.There was one scene in the movie that caught my attention and has stayed in my mind.The scene takes place where Superman goes after a machine gun-wielding criminal shooting at the police from a rooftop. The criminal trains his machine gun upon Superman, predictably with no effect; then he pulls out another gun and shoots Superman in his eye.The bullet simply bounces off of Superman's eye and the criminal is stunned.Now I know that this was special effects magic used in the film, but the more I thought about it, the more I considered it as possible!"How is it possible," you say? The reason is that a Resurrection body has to be composed of more than 3 dimensions!
Let me provide links to some serious scientific discussions of other dimensions such as String Theory and M-Theory. Let's look at String Theory first and here is a brief quote from the Wikipedia article, with the full text at this link.
Number of Dimensions
An intriguing feature of string theory is that it predicts extra dimensions. In classical string theory the number of dimensions is not fixed by any consistency criterion. However, to make a consistent quantum theory, string theory is required to live in a spacetime of the so-called "critical dimension": we must have spacetime dimensions for the bosonic string and for the superstring. This is necessary to ensure the vanishing of the conformal anomaly of the worldsheet conformal field theory. Modern understanding indicates that there exist less trivial ways of satisfying this criterion. Cosmological solutions exist in a wider variety of dimensionalities, and these different dimensions are related by dynamical transitions. The dimensions are more precisely different values of the "effective central charge," a count of degrees of freedom that reduces to dimensionality in weakly curved regimes.
I don't claim to understand everything that is being said in those two paragraphs; but the page is discussing the possibility of other dimensions, maybe even eleven dimensions in total. This being the case, then if we are using the movie scene as an example described above in Superman Returns, then it is impossible for a 3-dimensional bullet to destroy a multi-dimensional body!
This would explain why the supernatural is so frightening; it is because we are 3-dimensional beings. However, God, the angels and the demons are more than 3-dimensions.This would also explain abilities such as super-strength, because a supernatural being with an 11-dimensional body can easily lift a 3-dimensional object; it would explain why a supernatural being is impervious to fire, as the fourth person in the fiery furnace was totally impervious to the flames. The reason is that the flames are of this dimension, not the spiritual dimension! It would also explain the heavenly weapon, the flaming sword that the cherubim used in the Garden of Eden.
Now let us look at the Introduction to M-Theory and I will quote part of the article:
Further, string theory suggested that the universe is made up of multiple dimensions. Height, width, and length constitute three-dimensional space, and time gives a total of four observable dimensions; however, string theories supported the possibility of ten dimensions - the remaining six of which we cannot detect directly. This was later increased to 11 dimensions based on various interpretations of the 10-dimensional theory that led to five partial theories as described below. Supergravity theory also played a significant part in establishing the necessity of the 11th dimension.
Again, I don't claim to be a scientist, but simply reading the above text informs me that there are serious discussions about other dimensions!
If my conclusions concerning a resurrection body are true, then those who have accepted Jesus Christ can expect a resurrection body, which will be an eternal joy to live in (Revelation 21:3-6 says it all.)
I don't know how much more time we have until God intervenes into human history in a major way, but if you are a regular reader of Rapture Ready and have studied prophecy, then you must know we are near the time. In order to enjoy God, love Him and live life to the fullest, then we need a Resurrection Body! Here are more web-linked footnotes to discussions of a Resurrection Body. As I am growing older, Ican't wait for my Resurrection Body! What about you? No pain; No sorrow; Pure joy; "All things new."
Have you given any thought to the nature of the body that you will be given on the day when Jesus Christ returns for us at the Rapture for the church? I doubt that very many Christians have thought of this subject in detail. However, I have given considerable thought to this scriptural reality for a number of years. The reason for this is that there are a few concepts that I have always been attracted to, even as a child. One of those concepts was the thought of having super powers and a super body. This was an idea that I had obtained from reading comic books.
A Personal History of Comic Books and the Concept of Super-Beings with Powers
First, let me present a bit of my personal history with comic books. When I was five years old during the late 1950s, I was reading DC Comic Books among other books, and one of my favorite DC comic book heroes was Superman. I loved seeing the illustrations of him flying into action drawn mostly by artist Curt Swan. I was exhilarated when Superman teamed up with Batman and Robin in one of my favorite comic books titled World's Finest Comics. I loved the idea of his being two different people: Clark Kent and Superman.
I liked seeing him change from Kent to Superman; wear the costume (which itself was indestructible), fly into outer space to other planets and even go through the Time Barrier; all at incredible speeds. Then there would be the stories that had him use his x-ray vision and super hearing; be indestructible - all of his super powers fascinated me. DC also introduced other super heroes in the late 1950s and early 1960s such as the Martian Manhunter, The Flash, and Green Lantern, to name a few. All of these comic book characters had an impact upon my imagination and I would always look forward to their stories.
As a child, I would use either crayons or marking pens to make my own Superman or Batman costume out of my long underwear, as thermal garments were known then in the 1950s and 1960s. I developed the skill of making the unique Superman S on my long underwear sweater and was proud of that achievement.
Around the time when I was 12 years old, I became sick with the flu, so my father offered to buy me some comic books to cheer me up. I had asked him to get me either Superman and/or Batman comics, which were published by DC Comics. He did something unexpected and came back with two Marvel Comics. I had never heard of nor had I read any Marvel Comic before. One comic was titled The Amazing Spider-Man -2.
While all of the DC characters seemed to have good lives with very few problems; the main problem among the DC characters was keeping their secret identity safe.
However, the two Marvel comic books were different and more interesting than the DC comic book characters. The Marvel characters were written with real-life problems. Spider-Man, as Peter Parker, was a teenager; a character that I could identify with. Parker was a shy loner who would be called a bookworm by his teenage peers. Parker later attends a science exhibition alone, dealing with his rejection, when a spider happens to drop on its web between two experimental devices. The spider becomes radioactive and, in its death throes, bites Parker, thereby transferring to him its powers.
He later becomes a costumed TV entertainer. In his smell-of-success state, he gives in to arrogance and becomes irresponsible. He allows a thief to get away from a police officer, but he doesn't realize that the thief would later murder his Uncle Ben. It is through this tragedy that created Spider-Man, the crime-fighter and super hero.
The Mantra for the character is now classic: With Great Power Must Come Great Responsibility. I'll leave the rest of this comic book history topic to you, the readers, to research further if you wish. Let us now leave my history with comic books and return to the main focus of this article.
Super-Abilities in the Bible
Where is the reality in Scripture of super-powerful beings? If we examine Genesis first, then we are given the first appearance of the angels, right after Adam and Eve's sin. These are not ordinary angels, but Cherubim. The Cherubim also have strange weapons as recorded in Genesis 3:22-24 (NASB):
"Then the Lord God said, 'Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever'- therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So He drove the man out; and at the east of the Garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword, which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life."
If you don't believe in a literal translation of the Bible, then you would merely brush away the above narrative as some kind of fairy tale told by the Ancients. However, a number of truths are evident in the above Scripture. For one, God is referring to Himself as Us, so we learn that there is more than one person!
We learn that Adam was created from the ground outside of Eden before his sin, and that he is returned again to the ground outside of Eden. A flaming sword, which turns in every direction, is placed to guard the entrance of the Garden of Eden from Adam, Eve, and their descendants.
This Scripture seems to imply that the Flaming Sword seems to have an independent behavior, hinting that maybe the sword is some kind of a supernatural automated weapon, controlled by the Cherubim. We are not given a description of the Cherubim in the book of Genesis, so we have to search elsewhere in the Bible for a description of these beings. That description is contained in Ezekiel 10, specifically verses 14 and 20-22 (NASB):
14: "And each one had four faces. The first face was the face of a cherub, the second face was the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle."
20-22: "These are the living beings that I saw beneath the God of Israel by the river Chebar; so I knew that they were cherubim. Each one had four faces and each one four wings, and beneath their wings was the form of human hands. As for the likeness of their faces, they were the same faces whose appearance I had seen by the river Chebar. Each one went straight ahead."
Notice! These beings have four faces. Each face is different: cherub, man, lion and eagle. They also have four wings, with hands under their wings. What a description. How would you behave if such a being were to suddenly appear before you? We even learn from Ezekiel 28:12-19 that Satan himself is a Cherub. You can forget the popular image of Satan being red, having horns and a tail, and carrying a pitchfork. You can also forget that he rules in hell because this Scripture is how the Bible refers to him and his domain:
Ephesians 2:1-3 (NASB):
"And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest."
What an impressive title: The Prince of the Power of the Air. That implies great ability, and also means that Satan is ruling down here; not in hell-as popular culture would have us believe. Further, to use comic-book terms, we are dealing with super-beings in these Scriptures. Indeed, these beings are so powerful that Jesus had to pray this prayer for Peter:
Luke 22:31-32 (NASB):
"Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers."
So far, we have read of heavenly spiritual beings, which one or more secular writers such as Erich von Däniken years ago claimed falsely were aliens. The very description of the Cherubim should convince anyone who has believed in the theory of evolution that these beings did not evolve, nor did they come from another planet.
Let us now consider the Nephilim, mentioned Genesis 6:4 and Numbers 13:33. It could also be mentioned that, as they are Giants, they also have super-strength like Samson. You can read the story of Samson and his super-strength in Judges 14:5-6 and Judges 16:28-31.
We have now read that there are supernatural beings, as well as one human being, with abilities beyond those of ordinary human beings. However, is there any reference to a supernatural being that looked like us, unlike the Nephilim, but had extraordinary abilities beyond even Samson and the Nephilim?
A Supernatural Being mentioned in the Old Testament Who Is Able to Withstand Fire
The book of Daniel records some incredible prophetic events, but one supernatural event that captures my mind is the fourth person in the fiery furnace where the three Jewish exiles, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego are thrown into after refusing to worship the image of the king:
Daniel 3:24-25 (NASB)
"Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astounded and stood up in haste; he said to his high officials, "Was it not three men we cast bound into the midst of the fire?" They replied to the king, "Certainly, O king." He said, "Look! I see four men loosed and walking about in the midst of the fire without harm, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods!"
We see the following scriptural facts:
1) Three men were thrown into the furnace but were not affected by the fire or heat in any way. 2) There is a fourth individual in the furnace, who was a supernatural being, totally impervious to the flames. 3) The fourth individual was able to protect the other three men from any type of harm. Unlike the NASB, the King James translation uses the term, Son of God," which to me is more revealing! At least one writer has said that this being was Christ, in his pre-incarnate form!
This line of thought of powers and abilities that are beyond our human abilities continues through the New Testament.
Christ's Resurrection Body
After Jesus Christ is executed and later buried 3 days and 3 nights in the grave, we learn of His resurrection in a very unusual manner. You can read the entirety of Luke 24 using this Endnotes link. We learn of a number of interesting facts from Luke, chapter 24:
1) The huge Stone covering the Tomb is rolled away but there is no body within, so physical death and the huge heavy stone were no problem to the being who moved it.
2) There are Men, apparently Angels, in "dazzling clothing", so we learn that there is a kind of clothing that is not of this earth. 3) the women who came to the tomb experienced terror in the presence of these beings. This appears to be a rule whenever anyone encounters the Supernatural, implying that the Supernatural is more 'real' than we are. 4) Peter, Jesus Disciple, then checks out the tomb and sees the linen wrappings, but there is no body inside of those wrappings (could Christ's Resurrection body have passed through the wrappings?) 5)Two of the Apostles are walking to Jerusalem and are discussing what had happened when Jesus approaches them and engages them in conversation; however they are prevented from recognizing him until he dines with them and repeats what he did at the Last Supper where he broke the bread, then he vanishes or teleports away! 6) Christ later suddenly stands in their midst and, at first, they are fearful and believe him to be a spirit of a deceased person; however he assures them that he has a physical body and invites them to touch him, and even eats a broiled fish. Later He ascends into Heaven.
Interestingly, Christ says that He has flesh and bone; but He deliberately eliminates any mention of "blood." This is probably due to the Scripture of 1 Corinthians 15-50-55 written by Paul where he discusses that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.
Atmospheric Pressure on a Human Body versus a Resurrection Body
So we learn that a Resurrection body still possesses the five senses. It can be touched; it can eat and do everything that we can do in our mortal bodies. However, there is no mention of "blood" because of the above Scripture. Why? Because blood circulating within a person's body implies pressure that a human body needs outside it and within it, as well as a heart and a circulatory system that transports heat, oxygen and nutrients within that body. You cannot ascend to heaven in your mortal body, as Christ did when He ascended in his resurrection body!
I used to be a scuba diver. I had to learn about the effects of pressure upon the human body and how that pressure increases when a person's body goes underwater. If you're interested, please go to this link. In brief, we cannot just ascend into outer space without a space suit designed to keep our bodies at approximately 15 p.s.i. (pounds per square inch) pressure, to provide us with life-breathing air and also provide us with heat for warmth. Our bodies would simply explode. Remember: There is no air or pressure in outer space; and it is also very cold! The opposite happens when you try to go underwater: pressure increases, but the water becomes ice-cold after 15 or so feet. In both cases, you need equipment to survive.
Returning to the resurrection body discussion, we can assume from the Scriptures just mentioned that a resurrection body does not need a beating heart! A person with a Resurrection Body probably doesn't need to breath and doesn't need air either, but can somehow still make vocal sounds as we do! A resurrection body probably doesn't need to either eat; it may lack a stomach so food is simply turned into energy directly; a resurrection body also doesn't need rest, as it is tireless. Christ was also able to just ascend into heaven, so this implies that a person with a resurrection body is not subject to the laws of Gravity, nor time and space.
Now, since Christ ascended into heaven, that means that we, at the Rapture, will be able to do the same thing also when we receive our resurrection bodies, which will be the same kind of body as His, right? Let's cement this fact in our minds and faith with Philippians 3:20-21, which discusses our "citizenship in heaven." In order to be "citizens of heaven" we have to have a heavenly body, a resurrection body! Otherwise, we can't go to heaven as Jesus had promised. The trip would simply kill us, if we remained in this mortal, perishable body.
Let's examine the resurrection body further with Romans 6:4-6:
Romans 6:4-6 (NASB)
"Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin."
And with this Scripture:
1 John 3:1-3 (NASB)
"See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure."
Sin is eliminated when a born-again believer finally receives his or her resurrection body, as the above Scripture affirms. Otherwise, we can't stand before the Father, who is holiness personified. Interestingly, it isn't by works or deeds that we are purified, but by believing and hoping that Jesus returns for us in the Rapture. (However, salvation is only through Christ's shed blood on the cross.)
As I had said previously, when someone encounters a Supernatural Being, there is usually an experience of Fear! That is because we can sense that these beings are more real and more powerful than we are! This experience of fear was true for the apostle John, as recorded in Revelation 1:12-18 when he saw the resurrected and Glorified Christ.
The sight of Christ overwhelms John! It was beyond his understanding to comprehend what he was seeing, so Jesus had to reassure him first to not be afraid, then, to confirm who and what He is. John is later taken up into Heaven and sees God's throne, with more Supernatural Beings present. We see a brief description of God Himself. I'm certain that someone reading this is asking the same question that Nicodemus asked Jesus, which is "How can these things be?" So let's proceed onto the next topic of discussion.
Extra-Biblical Evidence - Theories of Other Dimensions
There are theories of other dimensions that are posted online at Wikipedia and other websites; however, Iwant to use a movie-example before discussing dimensions.
I remember some years ago seeing the movie Superman Returns.There was one scene in the movie that caught my attention and has stayed in my mind.The scene takes place where Superman goes after a machine gun-wielding criminal shooting at the police from a rooftop. The criminal trains his machine gun upon Superman, predictably with no effect; then he pulls out another gun and shoots Superman in his eye.The bullet simply bounces off of Superman's eye and the criminal is stunned.Now I know that this was special effects magic used in the film, but the more I thought about it, the more I considered it as possible!"How is it possible," you say? The reason is that a Resurrection body has to be composed of more than 3 dimensions!
Let me provide links to some serious scientific discussions of other dimensions such as String Theory and M-Theory. Let's look at String Theory first and here is a brief quote from the Wikipedia article, with the full text at this link.
Number of Dimensions
An intriguing feature of string theory is that it predicts extra dimensions. In classical string theory the number of dimensions is not fixed by any consistency criterion. However, to make a consistent quantum theory, string theory is required to live in a spacetime of the so-called "critical dimension": we must have spacetime dimensions for the bosonic string and for the superstring. This is necessary to ensure the vanishing of the conformal anomaly of the worldsheet conformal field theory. Modern understanding indicates that there exist less trivial ways of satisfying this criterion. Cosmological solutions exist in a wider variety of dimensionalities, and these different dimensions are related by dynamical transitions. The dimensions are more precisely different values of the "effective central charge," a count of degrees of freedom that reduces to dimensionality in weakly curved regimes.
I don't claim to understand everything that is being said in those two paragraphs; but the page is discussing the possibility of other dimensions, maybe even eleven dimensions in total. This being the case, then if we are using the movie scene as an example described above in Superman Returns, then it is impossible for a 3-dimensional bullet to destroy a multi-dimensional body!
This would explain why the supernatural is so frightening; it is because we are 3-dimensional beings. However, God, the angels and the demons are more than 3-dimensions.This would also explain abilities such as super-strength, because a supernatural being with an 11-dimensional body can easily lift a 3-dimensional object; it would explain why a supernatural being is impervious to fire, as the fourth person in the fiery furnace was totally impervious to the flames. The reason is that the flames are of this dimension, not the spiritual dimension! It would also explain the heavenly weapon, the flaming sword that the cherubim used in the Garden of Eden.
Now let us look at the Introduction to M-Theory and I will quote part of the article:
Further, string theory suggested that the universe is made up of multiple dimensions. Height, width, and length constitute three-dimensional space, and time gives a total of four observable dimensions; however, string theories supported the possibility of ten dimensions - the remaining six of which we cannot detect directly. This was later increased to 11 dimensions based on various interpretations of the 10-dimensional theory that led to five partial theories as described below. Supergravity theory also played a significant part in establishing the necessity of the 11th dimension.
Again, I don't claim to be a scientist, but simply reading the above text informs me that there are serious discussions about other dimensions!
If my conclusions concerning a resurrection body are true, then those who have accepted Jesus Christ can expect a resurrection body, which will be an eternal joy to live in (Revelation 21:3-6 says it all.)
I don't know how much more time we have until God intervenes into human history in a major way, but if you are a regular reader of Rapture Ready and have studied prophecy, then you must know we are near the time. In order to enjoy God, love Him and live life to the fullest, then we need a Resurrection Body! Here are more web-linked footnotes to discussions of a Resurrection Body. As I am growing older, Ican't wait for my Resurrection Body! What about you? No pain; No sorrow; Pure joy; "All things new."
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