Yesterday we read that Jesus invited Thomas to look at His hands and feel His side. The scars are clearly present there. In other respects His body had undergone important changes. It was no longer subject to the limitations of a mortal body in this present world order. Jesus could now appear or disappear at will; He could enter a closed room; He could pass between earth and heaven. However, with due allowance made for these changes, it was still in other respects the same body that had been crucified.
Furthermore, Jesus also promised His disciples that their bodies would be resurrected no less complete than His own. In Luke 21 Jesus first warned His disciples of great opposition and persecution awaiting them. In particular He warned them that some of them would actually be put to death. Nevertheless, He went on to give them a clear promise of the resurrection of their bodies.
“You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will send some of you to your death. And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But not a hair of your head shall be lost.” (Luke 21:16-18)
Notice carefully what Jesus says here. The disciples will be hated, persecuted, killed. Yet, at the end of it all, “not a hair of your head shall be lost.” This does not refer to the preservation of their physical bodies intact in this life. We know that many of the early Christians – as also those of later ages – suffered violent death, mutilation, burning and other processes that marred and destroyed their physical bodies. Therefore the promise of every hair being perfectly preserved does not refer to this present life but to the resurrection of their bodies from the dead.
At the resurrection every element and member of their original physical bodies, foreordained, numbered and recorded by God, will by God’s omnipotence once again be regathered and reconstituted – a perfect body, a glorified body, but still the same body that had previously suffered death and decomposition.
Such is the picture that the Bible gives of the resurrection of man’s body – wonderful in its revelation of God’s unlimited wisdom, knowledge and power, yet perfectly consistent with logic and with the principles of Scripture.
Thank You Lord Jesus that whatever I go through in my physical body in this life - through illness, trouble, or all kinds of emotional trials - I am completely preserved in You to live for You. Thank You Lord, for Your never-ending strength and support in this life. Amen.
