We conclude here with the reasoning’s behind our Lord having appeared as he did following his resurrection.

“To regard our Lord’s glorious body as a body of flesh would not in the least account for his peculiar and sudden appearances during those forty days prior to his ascension. How could he so suddenly appear and then vanish? How was it that he kept himself almost constantly invisible during those forty days? And why was it that his appearance each time was so changed as not to be recognized as the same one seen on any former occasion, or as the one so well known and loved by all, before his crucifixion, only a few days previous?

It will not do merely to say that these were miracles, for then some use or necessity for the miracles should be named. If his body after his resurrection were flesh and bones, and the same body that was crucified, with all the features and scars, why did he perform miracles which not only did not establish that fact, but which were likely, we see, to teach the opposite?–that he himself was no longer human–flesh and bones–but a spirit being who could go and come as the wind, so that none could tell whence he came or whither he went, but who, for the purpose of instructing them, appeared as a man in various bodies of flesh and bones which he created and dissolved as occasion required.

Before our Lord’s crucifixion, he had been on familiar terms with his disciples, but after his resurrection, though he loved them none the less, his manner toward them was more reserved. This was doubtless to impress them more forcibly with the dignity and honor of his high exaltation, and to inspire due reverence for his person and authority. Though as a man Jesus never lacked that dignity of deportment which commands respect, yet a greater reserve was necessary and expedient after his change to the divine nature. Such reserve has always been maintained by Jehovah toward his creatures, and is expedient under the circumstances. This reserve marked all our Lord’s interviews with the disciples after his resurrection. They were very brief, even as he had said, “Hereafter I will not talk much with you.” John 14:30

Those who believe that our Heavenly Father is a spirit and not a man should find no difficulty in realizing that our Lord Jesus, who is now exalted to the divine nature, and who is not only a moral likeness of God but in fact “the express image of the Father’s person,” is no longer a man but a spirit being, whom no man hath seen nor can see without a miracle.

It is just as impossible for men to see the unveiled glory of the Lord Jesus as it is for them to behold Jehovah. Think for a moment how even a reflection of the spiritual glory affected Moses and Israel at Sinai. (Heb. 12:21; Exod. 19; 20:19-21; 33:20-23; 34:29-35) “So terrible was the sight,” so overwhelming and fear-inspiring, “that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake.” And though Moses was supernaturally strengthened to behold the glory of the Lord, so that for forty days and forty nights, alone with God, overshadowed by his glory and without either food or drink, he received and wrote the divine law (Exod. 34:28), yet when he desired to see the Lord face to face, he was told, “Thou canst not see my face; for there shall no man see me and live.” (Exod. 33:20)

All that Moses ever saw, therefore, was an appearance representing God, and nothing more was possible. This accords, too, with the Apostle’s statements: “No man hath seen God at any time“; he is the King immortal, invisible, whom no man hath seen nor can [ever] see. (1 Tim. 6:15,16) But that spirit beings can and do see God, who himself is a spirit being, is clearly stated. Matt. 18:10

If our Lord is still “the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all” (1 Tim. 2:5,6) —if being put to death in the flesh he was raised again in the flesh, and not, as the Apostle declares, a life-giving spirit–then instead of being exalted higher than angels and every name that is named in heaven as well as in earth, he is still a man. And if he retains the form of a servant, which he took for the purpose of suffering death for every man, and is still a little lower than the angels, he never can see God.

But how unreasonable such a view when fully examined in the light of apostolic testimony. Consider, too, that if our Lord’s flesh, that was pierced and wounded with nail and spear and crown of thorns, and marked with sorrow, is his glorious spiritual body, and if the scars and marred human features are part and parcel of the exalted Lord, he would be far from beautiful, even if we should love the wounds endured for us. And if he thus bears an imperfect, scarred, marred body, and if we shall be like him, would it not imply that the Apostles and saints who were crucified, beheaded, stoned to death, burned, cut to pieces and torn by beasts, as well as those who met with accidents, would each likewise bear his blemishes and scars? And in that view would not heaven present a most awful spectacle–to all eternity? But this is not the case, and no one could long hold so unreasonable and un-scriptural a view.

Spirit beings are perfect in every particular, and so the Apostle reminds the Church, who are heirs of heavenly or spiritual glory and honor, that, though sown [in death] in weakness [with marks and wounds, etc.] it [the being, the soul] is raised in power; though sown in dishonor [with lines of care and sorrow, etc.] it is raised in glory; though sown a natural body [literally, “an animal body“] it will be raised a spiritual body; and that as we have borne the image of the earthly father, we shall bear the image of the heavenly Lord. (1 Cor. 15:42-51)

Our Lord Jesus for our sakes took and bore the image of the earthly also, for a while, that he might redeem us. But in his resurrection, he became the heavenly Lord (Rom. 14:9), and we, if faithful, shall soon bear the image of the heavenly Lord (spiritual bodies), as we now still bear the image of the earthly lord, Adam (human bodies).” B130-133

As was stated at the conclusion of our previous post we would like in our next post to consider a bit more the thought concerning the presentation of our Lord’s fleshly body as an everlasting memorial to the faithfulness of the man Christ Jesus, and where it might be presented.