Thoughts on the Resurrection

by Bart⁽¹⁷⁾

With the Easter season upon us I have been meditating on things pertaining to the resurrection and would like to share a few thoughts with you. I love details, and the Word of God is full of them; little words or expressions that we sometimes pass over without much thought, which are often times the words or expressions that unlock a world of truth to us. There are such truths associated with the resurrection, and not just the resurrection of our Lord Jesus, but our future resurrection as well.

Jn 20:11-18 " But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, (12) 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. (13) 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. (14) And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. (15) 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. (16) Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. (17) Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. (18) Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her. " The events are these: Mary goes to the sepulchre early in the morning on the third day. The stone is rolled away and Jesus is not in the sepulchre. She runs and gets Peter and John, who return to the sepulchre with her. They look in and see the burial clothes, along with the napkin that covered the head (this was folded neatly and set aside on its own). Peter and John realizing that Jesus was not in the sepulchre, ran back to town leaving Mary behind. As you read in our passage, after Peter and John left, Mary had a conversation with Jesus, but does not realize it is him. Have you ever wondered why? Mary was one of Jesus' closet friends and she does not recognize Him. Something else that strikes me as being odd, especially if you read on in our passage, is that the disciples locked themselves into a room, because they were afraid. Jesus taught them about His death and raising again on the third day, yet it was Mary at the sepulchre, not the disciples who were in ministry with Him; they were hiding in fear. Do you ever wonder why Jesus was hanging around the sepulchre after His resurrection? I tend to think He was waiting there to see if his disciples would come to the sepulchre to greet Him, with excitement and expectation. I would like to think, that Jesus was off in the distance a bit, so His disciples would initially be disappointed when they did not see Him at the sepulchre. Then Jesus would suddenly appear from the distance exclaiming, " Here I am! " What a surprise and wonderful greeting that would be. I imagine that it should have been a bit like a family reunion. How disappointed Jesus must have been when only one faithful, believing friend, showed up that Sunday morning; but, how happy He was to see Mary. Alright guys I want you to take in what happens next: Jesus commissions Mary to take the Gospel message of His resurrection to the disciples. She was the first 'preacher' of the Good News, while the men were hiding in fear. To be brutally honest here, there are women in the ministry, preaching and teaching, with a call of God on their lives, because men who are being called of the Lord, are too afraid to answer that call.

It was not only Mary, but most people that encountered Jesus in His resurrected body, did not recognize Him. Why do you think this was? I can only speculate for there could be several reasons why people did not recognize Jesus. It could be that His glorified body was so magnificent, that it did not look anything like His body before His death and resurrection. It could be too, with His image being so marred by the punishment He took upon Himself, including His facial hair being plucked out (Isa 50:6, 52:14), that perhaps it was difficult to recognize Him in His glorified body. I believe there is a reason for this that we will look at shortly, but first, I would like to examine a very real possibility regarding our resurrected bodies:

1 Corinthians 15:42-53 " So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: (43) It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: (44) It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. (45) And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. (46) Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. (47) The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. (48) As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. (49) And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. (50) Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. (51) Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, (52) In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (53) For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. " If you can, I would like for you to get some flower seeds. Examine them closely. They come in different sizes; thin, fat, tall, short; and they come in varying colours. Some may look good to the eye while others may look a bit ugly or deformed. No matter what the seeds look like, plant them, and see what happens. You will get from those seeds beautiful flowers, with radiant colours, all pleasant to the eye, and so much better than the seed, that there is no comparison. This is the language in our passage about our resurrection. No matter what our bodies look like now: we could be crippled, marred, deformed, or anywhere from plain to pretty; when we arrive in our resurrected bodies, the beauty will be so great, there could never be any comparison to our former bodies. Paul tells us that when we die, our bodies are " sown " in corruption, dishonour, and weakness, being a natural body; but, we will be raised in incorruption, in glory, and in power, being a spiritual body. The closest earthly picture I can think of to illustrate our resurrection is that of a beautiful, blooming, flower.

As we go through this Easter weekend, think about these things. When we reach heaven the beauty will far surpass anything we could ever imagine or think of. When our bodies are raised we will be totally amazed at what our new, everlasting, bodies will look like. Nothing could be compared to them; however, what about the glorified body of Jesus? Read the Gospels about those that did not recognize Jesus after His resurrection. Read when and how they recognized Him. In most cases, it was when He broke bread with them. What was it about the breaking of bread? I would suspect that when Jesus broke bread, those with Him were able to see the nail prints in His hands. I suspect from Scripture, that Jesus, throughout eternity, will bear in His glorified body the marks of His suffering and death. John, in Rev 5:6, says that he saw the Lamb, " as it had been slain " . He is implying that Jesus, in heaven, appears as He did when slain. In other words, with the scars of the cross. Why? So throughout eternity we will forever be amazed at the great love Jesus has for us. The Creator of heaven and earth, loves us so much, that He left His glory to die for us, so that we could be with Him eternally. If you do not realize His great love for you, please read this verse: Jn 3:16 " For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. " The greatest love story ever told is only nine words long: " For God so loved the world, that he gave " . What did He give? Himself, for you and me. Why? So that we can have eternal life with Him. His resurrection guarantees it for all those who believe. What about the folded napkin in the sepulchre? I read somewhere that in the feasts of Israel, when an individual leaves the table, they will fold the napkin, signifying that they are going to return. I do not know if Jesus was signifying His promise to return for us with the folding of the burial napkin; however, we can take comfort in knowing that He will indeed come back for us; His resurrection guarantees it. The bottom line is that, because He lives, we too will live.

Article submitted Thursday, April 09, 2009 & read 3231 times.

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» left by Teresa^(1,344) (4 years 46 days ago.)

Hi Bart, Excellent thoughts to ponder. I suspect it was his brutally abuised body is why he wasn't recognized, and also, because they just weren't looking hard enough. We know from Scripture that he was resurrected in the flesh, but was able to appear at anytime. He specifically told the diciples that he was not a ghost, but flesh. So wow! It could be his glory was shinning? I agree with you on Jesus having his scars to this day as Rev. tells us. You sure pack a lot of good stuff in a short amount of space. Thank you! I am looking forward to that glorified body and seeing my Lord face to face. Blessings to you! Teresa
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» left by Bart⁽¹⁷⁾ (4 years 43 days ago.)

Thank you Teresa for your comments and encouragement. I just thought today that pehaps people didn't recognize Jesus simply because they wern't expecting to see Him... alive. What a shock that would have been, to see someone alive that you saw die three days earlier. I too can't wait to see Jesus face to face, and to be in my glorified body :-)

Have a blessed Resurrection Sunday! Bart

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» left by Brian Farrell⁽¹⁷⁶⁾ (4 years 45 days ago.)

Thanks for sharing what the Lord has shared with you, Bart. It is beyond words to contemplate all that the Lord has done for us and our inheritance in Him; co-heirs with Christ, seated in the heavenlies!
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» left by Bart⁽¹⁷⁾ (4 years 43 days ago.)

Thank you Brian! You are so right...it is beyond words. I sit and try to comprehend it all and I just can't take it all in; my mind hits overload. I can't wait to enter eternity; how wonderful, how beautiful.

Blessings my friend,

Bart

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» left by Lorrie Davids⁽¹⁾ (4 years 39 days ago.)

Bart, excellent article. You bring up things I had never thought of before. Wow! I am reading some of those Scriptures in a whole new light.
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» left by Bart⁽¹⁷⁾ (4 years 39 days ago.)

Hello Lorrie,

You are too kind. Thank you for your comments. The more I look into the Word, the more little things (details) jump out at me. It's amazing isn't it?

May every blessing be yours,

Bart

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» left by Anonymous (4 years 27 days ago.)

Awesome! Thank you for sharing.
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» left by Anonymous (3 years 69 days ago.)

this is a very encouraging and insightful study. I can't wait to read more of what you have to say. God bless you and thank you.
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» left by Anonymous (1 year 62 days ago.)

although she was in a wheel chair for most of her life she knew him, here is her wonderful siganys. More About Jesus would I know,More of His grace to others show,More of His saving fullness see,More of His love Who died for me. The Apostle Paul tells us that the great passion of his life was to know more about Jesus. His prayer was, That I may know Him. The knowledge of Christ that he sought was more than a theological, intellectual, or theoretical. He sought an experiential knowledge of Christ. He wanted to know him in a very personal way.. All believers have met Christ but not all believers know Christ. All believers know about Christ but yet may not know him in an close, intimate, and personal way. It was this experiential knowledge that Paul sought.Paul says that to know Christ is to also know, the power of His resurrection. When a person knows Christ in a very personal way, His resurrection becomes very meaningful. It becomes more than a fact. It becomes a force in the believers life. When a believer knows Christ in a very personal way they also experience the power of His resurrection in their life.Paul said in Ephesians 1:19-20, And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, Which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places. Paul tells us that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is the same power that can be experienced in the life of the believer. Do you realize that the same power that enabled Jesus to overcome death is the same power that enables us to overcome in life. The same power of a victorious Saviour is the same power available to be a victorious saint. The power of the resurrection makes us winners! We do not have to live enslaved to a life of sin, lust, failure, and defeat. Just as Jesus was a conqueror over death, hell, and the grave; by His resurrection power we can be conquerors over the world, the flesh, and the devil. We can know the sufficiency of His resurrection power.Paul said that to know Christ also involved the fellowship of His sufferings. The life of the Lord Jesus was one of suffering from the cradle to the cross. His life was marked by suffering. The longer He lived and the further He went, greater was His suffering. The word fellowship speaks of a joint participation. Paul was saying that to be close to Christ was to become a joint-participant in His sufferings. Thanks for this interesting question. ..
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» left by Bart⁽¹⁷⁾ (1 year 62 days ago.)

Thank you for your comments. As I read through your words I am reminded of another aspect of knowing our Lord and the power of His resurrection, and that is of His great grace. We never 'go it' alone. No matter what this life brings, the trials, tribulations, sufferings, by God's grace we have His presence and His power. Over the years I've heard on not a few occasions grace defined as, God's Riches At Christ Expense. I don't know where this originated from, but how true. Christ paid it all upon the cross; but through His resurrection we experience the full assurance of hope and grace in times of need; and it is at these times we are drawn in a closer more intimate relationship with Him. Thank you again for your words of encouragement. God's every blessing!

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