Christ’s Resurrection
John 21:12-14
12. "Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." None of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord. 13. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead."
The only complete new resurrected body we can use to help us understand is the resurrected body of Jesus Christ. He was real. He had all five senses. Yet, He could appear and disappear at will. Sometimes people recognized Him on the earth and other times they did not know who He was. John recorded Christ's appearance on the seashore and interaction he had with His friends.
Our resurrected bodies may eat, but not have to for existence. There are all kinds of pictures in the Bible speaking of the banqueting table, parties, and feasting. We can’t have a party without food.
Life will be different. Christ made it clear, we will not marry or be married in heaven. Race, gender, age, looks will not be important, and yet we will know one another. I’m guessing family members will recognize each other, but all will equal before the throne of God. Our attentions will be more on the magnificent wonder of God whose love is the purest.
I’ve used the caterpillar and butterfly as an illustration. They provide insight as to what happens to us when we physically die. The caterpillar is a fuzzy worm crawling on the ground, but inside that caterpillar is a butterfly. At just the right time the caterpillar turns gray and hangs upside down on a tree and weaves a cocoon. It looks like it is dying, creating its own tomb. But the cocoon is no casket. It is an in-between house, a place where a process takes place. Inside the cocoon the caterpillar is transforming into a butterfly. It uses the same atoms as it had as a caterpillar, only rearranges them, recycles them, in order to emerge, rise, from the cocoon as a beautiful butterfly, no longer crawling but flying! Its environment is no longer limited to the earth. It can now travel in the “outer space” of the air, the sky, and the heavens.
I wonder if it isn’t similar when we die. Our bodies will be transformed, equipped to live on a different level. Jesus came and told us that now is the right time for us to wake up to our potential. We die to our old selves and rise to a new level of life. That can happen long before we physically die. The process begins by our being incorporated into, grafted into Christ..
Death is the process we know that prepares us for this new body. Just like the seed cannot produce fruit without first dying and being buried, so it is with you and me. That is the way that He has chosen to translate us from this earthly life into the heavenly.
Christ is the only One who is qualified to tell what we can expect on the other side. He was dead and laid in a tomb for three days. He arose with a glorified body. Here is someone whose opinion can be trusted. He comes to us in love. To John the risen Christ said, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, the living One, and I was dead, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades.”
There are some things we know, and much we don’t, but all of the passages we have quoted are for two main purposes: To know Christ, to grow in Him.
