What Would be the Point of Jesus Being Resurrected in the Mortal Flesh?

February 19, 2021


Christ gave the sign of Jonah as a proof of his being the Messiah. As Jonah would be three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, Jesus would be three days and three nights in the tomb.  When the fish vomited up Jonah it was symbolic of a resurrection of the dead.  When Jesus was risen it was an actual resurrection of his mortal physical body because Jonah was not glorified at his symbolic resurrection and Jesus wasn’t either at his actual resurrection.  Jesus carried the destines of different groups of people in his death, resurrection and ascension .  There are two resurrections of the dead; the first is to immortality as a glorified spirit being and the second is a return to the mortal flesh.  The resurrection of Christ must cover both but address each separately.  In the article about how the dead are raised I have proven that Jesus was resurrected in the mortal flesh but later at his ascension was changed to an immortal spirit composed being.  The resurrection of Jesus thus completed the requirements for both resurrections.    

The Apostles never saw Jesus in his glorified body.  The term “glorified flesh” is an oxymoron used by those who do not understand.  Jesus was indeed raised from the dead however as a mortal man to insure a second resurrection to mortality after the millennium.  Jesus in the exact same manner as we will ascend up into the air to be changed in a moment in a twinkling of an eye.  In this way the sacrifice, resurrection and ascension of Jesus covers both groups of people separated by a thousand years.  It was not only the church that Jesus died, rose and ascended for but also for all the unbelievers who would follow.  Remember that God so loved the world, not just the church, that He gave His only begotten son. 

The current belief that Jesus was raised in a glorified fleshly body is an error that denies the hope of the church and the future for those of the second resurrection.  It has a spiritually glorified Jesus reduced to some kind of part flesh part spirit abomination that makes Jesus after our likeness of flesh rather than his Fathers likeness of spirit. We are to rise to conform to the image of Christ who is the image of the invisible God; we are in his image not ours.

This knowledge shows us why Jesus was baptized by John.  There were dead saints that were resurrected from the dead when Jesus was and they appeared to many people. (Matthew 27:52-53) This was not a resurrection to immortality anymore than that of Lazarus.  It was to show that there were saints that existed before Jesus was even born.  This proves to us that the day of Pentecost was not the beginning of the church but an extension of it to include the Gentiles along with all the saints in the wilderness church, many of whom are listed in Hebrews 11. 

Romans 15:8-9 “Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises made to the fathers and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy.”

 These people were never baptized and their righteousness was never confirmed.  In order to fulfill this righteousness Jesus along with John, now in agreement, was baptized.  Most of these ancient saints were under the covenant of circumcision which symbolized that through the fleshly decent of Abraham a Messiah would be born.  Baptism is the fulfillment of circumcision.  Jesus confirmed the promise made to the fathers.  The life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ fulfilled many promises made to the fathers by the Almighty God.  To give all of humanity a hope, each in their own order, Jesus had to do all the things that he did.   Not everyone who comes to Christ will come at the same time under the same set circumstances. This is what Ephesians 1:9-10 tells us plainly; “having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ both of which are in heaven and which are on Earth in Him”

There is an order to the process of salvation; 1 Corinthians 15:20-24 “But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.  For since by man came death by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But each one in his own order;  Christ the first fruits, afterwards those who are Christ's at his coming. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when he puts an end to all rule and all authority and all power.”

There is the church both before and after Christ, the people of the millennium and those of the great white throne judgment who all had to have a hope in Christ and all had to conform to the message of the gospel.