A Spiritual Body

In the so-called Patio Tomb, there were several etchings on ossuaries that indicated that the occupants of the tomb believed in resurrection. I am not going to go into those issues because they have been fully dealt with in The Jesus Discovery by Professors James Tabor and Simcha Jacobovici. I want rather to deal with the question of what kind of body will be resurrected.

The Nicene Creed says in part: "And I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life of the world to come." This doctrine, the resurrection of the body, is the issue that is brought into question by the finds in Talpiot, Israel.

Mark's original gospel ends with the statement: "But go and tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you.' Then they went out and fled from the tomb, seized with trembling and bewilderment. They said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. Mark 16:7-8. Most scholars agree that neither the Longer Ending nor the Freer Logion were part of the original gospel of Mark. So Mark does not tell us about the resurrection, only that the body is gone.

On the other hand, John tells us about that morning in greater but different detail. As John was the last gospel to be written, but was not written by a Pauline source, we find something else recorded there. John says that Mary of Magdala come to the tomb in the morning, while it was still dark, and found the stone removed. She told Peter and the Beloved Disciple. They saw the burial shroud. They left but Mary Magdalene stayed outside of the tomb. She saw angels in the tomb and when she turned around, she saw someone whom she did not know. John 20:14. Then, Yeshua revealed Himself to her by saying her name. She recognized him and started to touch him. He told her not to touch Him because he had not yet ascended. John 20:17. From this rendition of the story we learn that Mary saw Yeshua, but did not recognize Him. She tried to touch Him, but he indicated that a process was still ongoing and that she should not touch Him at that moment.

According to Luke, a similar problem happened to Yeshua's uncle, Cleophas, and friend. They were walking to Emmaus which is seven miles from the Old City. Yeshua meets them, but they do not recognize Him. He walks with them some distance, but it is only in the act of breaking the bread that Cleophas and his friend recognize Yeshua. Clearly, Yeshua has "ascended", whatever that means, at the time he walks with Cleophas and again like in the case of Mary, it  is an act they were all familiar with which reveals to their eyes and hearts who he is.

Again, in John 21, Yeshua meets with a number of the Apostles and they do not recognize Him until he shows them a sign. Matthew records the same event and in it, even after the sign, some doubted that it was Him.

The issue of what is resurrected must have been an important question in the earliest days and it remains so today. Paul speaks at length about this subject in 1 Corinthians 15. He says:

But someone may say, 'How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come back?' 15:35.

Paul then argues that the current body can not return any more than a plant when it sprouts continues to have the seed casing as a body. He says that there are heavenly or spiritual bodies and earthly bodies. 15:40. He says that the dead body is a natural body, but is raised a spiritual body. 15:44.

The Paul says: 'Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of G-d ..." 15:50. We shall all be changed. 15:51.
So Paul emphatically denies a bodily resurrection.

Those who oppose the Resurrection and the Ascension doubt the possibility of ghosts, demons, angels, and elementals as well. They have insufficient knowledge of a world that they have never touched or seen a part of. They doubt the possibility of resurrection, not on any rational basis, but on the claim that they have never seen such an event. None of them has ever seen wind, nor seen electrons, nor seen atoms. Yet they believe in each of these things.

On the other hand, those who blindly believe in the resurrection of the body, not only deny the Talpiot Tomb, but in addition claim that a Great G-d can surely find the atoms to put together a physical body for each person.

I have for the past 40 years had a different experience. I have dealt with demons, elementals, angels, and ghosts. I have seen angels when they were in their full form or visible form. I have talked to them and drank with them. I have witnessed their sudden disappearance. I do not doubt their existence. I have talked to them and interacted with them and they are as real to me as you are.

Their bodies are adjusted to what we need to see when they reveal themselves. However, the spiritual body is like their bodies. It is handsome. It is beautiful. It is young looking even if mature. It is worn with dignity and honor. When Yeshua was raised, it was not a physical body which was raised. His bones have been found and unfortunately discarded by the Israeli Antiquities Authority, much to the delight of the Jews, the Catholics, the Protestants, the Muslims and all others. The scientists did them a favor. However, He lives on.

The record of reports indicates that he is muscular, male, able to walk, able to eat, able to walk through walls, able to travel long distances, able to talk and communicate, and charismatic. In the reports, this spiritual body of Yeshua ate, drank, walked, talked, and held the attention of the various groups of disciples. He traveled several hundred miles north from Jerusalem to Galilee. However, he did not look like Yeshua. Those who knew Yeshua recognized this person as Yeshua by acts that he did, not by his visage. As Paul says, we shall all be changed and Yeshua was changed before he ascended.

The Nasorean Orthodox Qahal is inviting the Arian Catholic Church and any other Arian, Adoptionist, or Nazarene groups to participate in a conference on the subject of the plank in the Nicene Creed on bodily resurrection. The Arian Catholic Church has accepted. More information will be forthcoming.