When Jesus appeared to the 11 disciples behind locked doors on the Sunday evening of the day he rose from the dead, they were terrified and thought they were seeing a ghost. Jesus demonstrated to them beyond a doubt that he was a physical being: he had flesh and bones, he could be seen, heard and touched, his resurrected body was the same body that had hung on the cross (because of the nail prints in his hands and feet), and he ate a broiled fish in their presences. All these things proved that he was not a ghost, but it was truly himself, raised from death in a real, physical body. And Jesus is the first fruits of those who will rise from the dead. At his coming we, too, shall be raised from the dust, and be clothed in our resurrection bodies, "like unto his glorious body." This is the great anticipatory hope of Christian believers. |