A S TO THE fashion of the resurrec tion body, the Bible teaches that it will be made conformable to the body of glory of Christ Himself. “For our conversation (citizenship) is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile body (body of humiliation), that it may be fashioned like unto his glo rious body (body of glory), accord ing to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself” (Phil. 3:20, 21). What is known of Christ’s body of glory? What is its fashion? What was it like when His disciples saw Him go up in His body into the clouds out of their sight? Are any of its char acteristics known? Yes, a number of them have been made quite evident. First, it could be seen. It was some thing they could see and touch and handle. In other words, it had sub stance. He was visible to His disci ples at intervals for forty days in His resurrection body before His as cension. They had ample time and opportunity to observe His body. It was in the body that He made Him self visible to them. He appeared to individuals, to groups of individuals, and on one occasion to a company of more than five hundred. And He was visible after His ascension. Stephen, as he was being stoned to death, saw Him. Looking steadfastly jnto Heav en, he exclaimed: “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God” (Acts 7 :56). Paul saw Him on more than one occasion. John saw Him, and so glorious was His appearance that he fell at His feet as dead. Since the bodies of believers are to be fashioned like unto His body of glo
ry, certainly visibility will be one of their qualities. Second, it was a vital body, and not some apparition, as the disciples at first thought. He appeared not as a disembodied spirit. The one thing He sought to dislodge from the minds of His disciples was that He was now only a spirit. He said to them: “A spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have.” He even allowed them to handle Him to con vince them that He was with them in a real, true body. And years later when John writes an epistle, the ob ject of which was to lead the believer into the full assurance of faith (I John 5:13), he began it by declar ing: “That which was from the be ginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the word of life” (I John 1:1), which evidently re fers to the time when the disciples were allowed to touch His risen body. He ate food before them. Does that imply that the resurrection body must be nourished with food and drink? Not at all, for Jesus did not eat to nourish His body, but simply to prove that it was a real body. And when He appeared to His disciples that morning at the Sea of Tiberius, they recognized Him while they were some distance at sea. He is said to have eaten again, which indicates that He wanted His disciples to know that His body was a true one. Since the body of the believer is to be like Christ’s present body, it, too, will be just as real as is His body. Third, it was a glorified body. John, the beloved disciple, was per mitted to see in vision something of the glory of Christ’s present body. 31
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