Preterism and the Resurrection–Is the Resurrection Body an Eternal Earthly or an Eternal Heavenly Body? Proponents of the Idea that the Resurrection Body is a Perfected Earthly Body often erroneously cite Romans 8:11 and Ezekiel 37.
Many Christians believe that the resurrection is an earthly phenomenon in which the dead are raised as eternal, perfected earthly bodies. One verse used to support this idea is Romans 8:11: “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” Another v. is Job 19:25-26: ““As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth. ‘Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God.’”1
Romans 8:11 and Job 19:25-26 are often interpreted in light of Ezekiel 37:1-14 to suggest that the resurrected saints are to receive glorified, eternal earthly bodies at the resurrection. In Ezekiel 37, Ezekiel is given a vision of a valley of dry bones. God then issues the following command to the prophet in vs. 4-6:
Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life.’
Ezekiel does as he is told and the bones receive flesh and come to life. After reading these verses, one might be easily tempted to believe that at the resurrection the departed saints are to receive glorified, eternal earthly bodies. The way in which Romans 8:11 and Job 19:25-26 are worded suggests two possible interpretations:
1) This verse may suggest that the Spirit of God will raise the dead such that the departed will come out of their graves by taking on their old flesh again.
2) This verse may suggest that the dead will be raised to receive entirely new resurrection bodies to replace the old mortal ones.
The first interpretation that the dead are revived to take on their old flesh again is unlikely. When people die, their bodies disintegrate and molecules from their corpse later go on to comprise the bodies of other living people. Similarly later generations then die and those exact same molecules subsequently assimilate into the bodies of still other people. Thus the resurrection cannot be just a simple resuscitation or revival of the old mortal body since the tiny components of that body have later become part of other people who have also died with those same molecules. Furthermore, if people receive bodies composed of the same corruptible materials that they had in their previous mortal existence one would imagine that they would also soon die yet again.
This leaves the second interpretation: Perhaps the departed are raised with entirely new resurrection bodies? The question must now be asked are these new bodies incorruptible, physical earthly bodies or are they incorruptible heavenly bodies? Notice that Romans 8:11, Job 19:25-26 and Ezekiel 37 do not state or suggest in any way whether the resurrection body is an earthly or heavenly body. Isaiah 65:20, 1 Corinthians 15:35-50, 2 Corinthians 5:1 and Ephesians 2:5-6 answer this question.2
According to the Preterist Individual Body View, The Resurrection is a Heavenly Event: The Resurrection cannot be a Resurrection of Perfected, Eternal Earthly Bodies in Light of Isaiah 65:20.
Though Isaiah 65 is a prophecy fulfilled in the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the return of the Jews from exile in Babylon in the sixth century B.C., this chapter like much of Isaiah is typological of New Testament realities. In Isaiah 65:17, Isaiah looks ahead to the new Jerusalem with the words: “Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth.” Though denoting the return of the Jews from exile in the sixth century B.C., this new Jerusalem hints and typologically points to the new Jerusalem of Revelation 21 and 22 which opens with a nearly identical expression in Revelation 21:1: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth.” Interestingly, in Isaiah’s description of the new Jerusalem, he explicitly indicates that there will still be physical death. Isaiah 65:20 reads, “Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; he who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth; he who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed.” Here Isaiah implies that in the new Jerusalem there will still be physical death, a notion that stands at odds with a resurrection of eternal earthly bodies at the end of the age.
TThe Preterist Individual Body View of the Resurrection is a Resurrection of Heavenly Bodies and is Thus a Heavenly Event: The Resurrection is a Heavenly Phenomenon according to 1 Corinthians 15:35-50, 2 Corinthians 5:1 and Ephesians 2:5-6.
If the resurrection is not a resurrection of incorruptible earthly bodies, then perhaps it is a resurrection of glorified, incorruptible and eternal heavenly bodies? This idea is suggested in 2 Corinthians 5:1: “Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in [our earthly body] is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven [our heavenly body], not built by human hands, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked.” Tents are temporary housing. Thus the “earthly tent” of 2 Corinthians 5:1 is contrasted with the “eternal house in heaven.” This contrast appears to symbolize the temporary or mortal nature of the human body (earthly tent) versus the lasting or eternal nature of the heavenly body (eternal house in heaven).
The notion that the resurrection was expected to be a heavenly event with heavenly bodies is made even more explicit in 1 Corinthians 15:35-50:
But someone will say, “How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?” You fool! That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies; and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own. All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish. There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly. Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
In 1 Corinthians 15:35, Paul asks, “How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?” Paul then answers by mentioning the different kinds of flesh that exist before mentioning the existence of “heavenly bodies.” These “heavenly bodies” are the answer to Paul’s original question: “How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?” Paul then makes it even clearer that the saints receive these heavenly bodies at the resurrection in v. 49: “Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.” Paul clarifies the fact that during the resurrection, the saints were to ascend into heaven to receive glorified heavenly bodies, not remain on earth with incorruptible corporal bodies as is often mistakenly supposed.
The notion of the soul being clothed with a heavenly body in 2 Corinthians 5:1 cited above is also implied in 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15:47 most literally reads, “The first man [Adam] [was]of [the] earth, made of dust; the second man [Christ] of heaven.” When read in the Greek 1 Corinthians 15:47 is saying that just as the first man, Adam, was made of the dust of the earth in Genesis 2:7, the second man, Christ and by extension the resurrected worthies, is made of the stuff or material components of heaven. Thus like 2 Corinthians 5:1, 1 Corinthians 15:47 also implies that the soul is clothed with a new body in heaven made-up of the stuff of heaven just as the soul is clothed with an earthly body made of the dust or stuff of the earth.
The fact that the saints are resurrected to heaven is echoed in Ephesians 2:5-6: “[E]ven when we were dead in our transgressions, [Jesus] made us alive together with Christ . . . and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus[.]” Notice that Ephesians 2:6 uses the phrase “raised us up with Him[.]” This phrase denotes the resurrection. Ephesians 2:6 then goes on to say that after the resurrection the saints are to be seated with Christ in heaven. (For an explanation of 1 Corinthians 15:50 see Why 1 Corinthians 15 Implies that the Collective Body View Cannot Exist Without a Real-Life Resurrection.)
The fact that the saints were to be raised to reside in heaven at the resurrection is, I believe, illustrated with Christ’s resurrection and subsequent ascension into heaven (Acts 1) as well as the resurrection and subsequent ascension of the two witnesses (Revelation 11:11-12). The saints’ continued existence in heaven at the resurrection is, I believe, also implied in 1 Thessalonians 4:17: “After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” In English like many languages “sky” and “heaven” are often the same word. The “air” mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 appears to refer to heaven as the devil is called the “prince of the power of the air” presumably because his throne was in heaven (Ephesians 6:12, Revelation 12:7-9). Thus when the saints are said to meet the Lord in the air, this seems to denote their presence with the Lord in heaven. Some Christians believe this prophecy is about the rapture which would precede the earthly, corporal resurrection of the saints. However, I believe the last sentence of this v. argues against this idea when it says, “And so we will be [in the air/heaven] with the Lord forever.”
Preterism and the Problems with the Futurist Eternal Earthly Body View of the Resurrection of the Dead: If the Resurrection was to be a Purely Earthly, Corporal event then Christ would Not have been the First to Resurrect from the Dead contradicting Colossians 1:18.
Having addressed some Biblical evidence for a resurrection to heaven, let us now turn our attention to an interesting argument against a resurrection of eternal earthly bodies raised by preterist author Marion Morris. Morris argues that if the resurrection was just an earthly corporal event, then Lazarus, not Christ, would have been the first to resurrect from the dead contradicting Colossians 1:18: “He [Christ] is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.”3 Though in truth others resurrected from the dead even before Lazarus (2 Kings 4:8-37; 13:21). For an explanation of how Jesus conquered death by way of the resurrection of righteous to heaven and the implications of this teaching on the age of the earth see Why Isaiah 65:20 and Related Verses Imply that Physical Death Preceded the Fall of Man.
Preterism and the Resurrection Explained: The Flesh that Clothes the Resurrected Saints of Heaven in Ezekiel 37:4-6 is the Heavenly Flesh mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:39-40.
Let us now turn our attention again to Ezekiel 37:1-14. Ezekiel 37:1-14 must be understood in context. Ezekiel’s vision in Ezekiel 37:1-14 is a metaphor for the return of the Jews from exile in Babylon, a prophecy that soon came to pass in the sixth century B.C. In Ezekiel 37:11-14 God divulges the meaning of the vision of the valley of dry bones:
Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.’
This vision of an apparent resurrection in Ezekiel 37:4-6 is a metaphor for the return of the Jews from exile in Babylon. Though this vision is an obvious metaphor, it does appear to be a simultaneous description of the resurrection. However, Ezekiel’s vision of the resurrection must be understood in light the rest of Scripture. As shown above, 1 Corinthians 15:35-50 explicitly indicates that at the resurrection, the saints are to receive glorified heavenly bodies, not eternal earthly ones. Therefore, the flesh that clothes the resurrected saints in Ezekiel 37:4-6 appears to be the heavenly flesh mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:39-40: “Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another.”
Answering the Futurist View of the Resurrection with Preterist Answers: Still Not Convinced that Romans 8:11 Does Not Teach a Resurrection of Eternal, Earthly Bodies?
Having shown how the resurrection appears to be a resurrection of eternal, heavenly bodies to heaven, let us now take another look at Romans 8:11: “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”4 When isolated from its context this verse seems to suggest that the mortal bodies of the departed will be raised to live on earth eternally. However, that is certainly not what this verse is suggesting. Let’s look at this verse in its immediate context: “If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you (Romans 8:10-11).” The life given to mortal bodies in this v. is enacted through the reception of the Holy Spirit: “He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” This “spirit” is, of course, the Holy Spirit. 2 Corinthians 1:22 reads, “[God] who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge [down payment].” Ephesians 1:13 says, “[H]aving also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit . . .” Romans 8:11 is not Biblical evidence of eternal earthly bodies being raised at the resurrection. Rather, Romans 8:11 is saying that the saints are given eternal life through the reception of the Holy Spirit since the Holy Spirit is a deposit guaranteeing eternal life with God at the resurrection. In other words when the Bible says that someone has eternal life while still mortal, this is another way of saying that this person has received the Holy Spirit.
The Resurrection is a Heavenly Event According to Early Christian and Jewish Tradition: The Resurrection is said to take place in Heaven even in the Pseudepigrapha.
Many modern Christians assume that the ancient Jewish people and early Christians shared their current belief in a resurrection of eternal earthly bodies and that this “fact” validates their conviction. So what was or were the ancient Jewish and Christian belief or beliefs concerning the resurrection? By looking at the Old Testament pseudepigrapha we are given a glimpse of what many ancient Jews and early Christians believed concerning the resurrection. What is interesting about these ancient documents is that when the resurrection is mentioned or implied it very often appears in the context of an ascension into heaven and subsequent resurrection of a heavenly body—just as Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 15.
1 Enoch 104:2-3 confirms 1 Corinthians 15:35-50 and Ephesians 2:6: “[A]nd your [the saints’] names are written before the glory of the Great One. Be hopeful; for aforetime ye were put to shame through ill and affliction; but now ye shall shine as the lights of heaven, ye shall shine and ye shall be seen, and the portals of heaven shall be opened to you.” Notice that 1 Enoch 104:2-3 says that the saints are said to “shine as the lights of heaven” as they enter “the portals of heaven.” This glorious transformation of the likeness of the saints as they enter heaven in 1 Enoch 104:3 is implied to occur at the time of the resurrection at the end of the age. Notice how well 1 Enoch 104:2-3 compliments 1 Corinthians 15. In 1 Enoch 104:2-3 the saints are said to shine “as the lights of heaven.” In other words, the saints at the resurrection are said to shine like the heavenly bodies (i.e. the sun, moon and stars) echoing 1 Corinthians 15 and its mention of the “heavenly bodies” the saints are expected to receive at the resurrection.
The same message is conveyed in 4 Maccabees, a first century A.D. pseudepigraphal text. According to 4 Maccabees the seven sons who were tortured and martyred during the Maccabean Wars were raised to heaven (Maccabees 17:5-6) “where they now stand beside the divine throne and live the life of the age of blessing (4 Maccabees 17:17-20).” The Assumption of Moses echoes these texts: “And God will exalt you, and He will cause you to approach to the heaven of the stars, in the place of their habitation. And you will look from on high and see your enemies in Ge[henna] (Assumption of Moses 10).” In the Assumption of Moses this resurrection to heaven is said to occur at the revelation of God’s kingdom “throughout all His creation (Assumption of Moses 10).” Perhaps one of the clearest verses indicating that the resurrection is expected to take place in heaven is found in 3 Enoch 44:7: “I saw the souls of the fathers of the world, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the rest of the righteous, who had been raised from their graves and had ascended into heaven [emphasis mine].” The fact that the resurrection consists of the release of the saints in Hades to reside in heaven is also indicated in the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs. Here it says that the Lord shall go to war with Satan, Beliar, and free the souls of the saints held in Satan’s captivity and that they shall be raised to life in heaven:
And the captivity shall He [the Lord] take from Beliar, even the souls of the saints, . . . and the saints shall rest in Eden, and the righteous shall rejoice in the new Jerusalem, which shall be unto the glory of God for ever and ever. And no longer shall Jerusalem endure desolation, nor Israel be led captive; for the Lord shall be in the midst of her, dwelling among men, even the Holy One of Israel reigning over them in humility and in poverty; and he who believeth on Him shall reign in truth in the heavens [emphasis mine].5
The Resurrection is a Heavenly Event According to Extracanonical Christian Literature: The Resurrection is implied to take place in Heaven even Extracanonical Christian Literature.
The Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus (130-200 A.D.) is an early Christian epistle which indicates that the saints look forward to an imperishable existence in heaven: “[S]o Christians sojourn amidst perishable things, while they look for the imperishability which is in the heavens (Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus 6:8).” If the saints are expected to exist immortally in heaven, what room is there for an immortal existence on earth at the resurrection?
Perhaps even more compelling evidence of the early Christian belief that the resurrection was to take place in heaven is found in the writings of Justin Martyr (100-165 A.D.). Tertullian, in Adversus Valentinianos, calls Justin Martyr the earliest antagonist of heretics. In On the Resurrection, Justin Martyr defends the orthodox belief in a bodily resurrection against early Gnostic arguments against a purely spiritual resurrection. The most interesting statement made in this apology is the fact that Justin Martyr implies that the resurrection though bodily was to take place in heaven: “And when He [Christ] had thus shown them that there is truly a resurrection of the flesh, wishing to show them this also, that it is not impossible for flesh to ascend into heaven (as He had said that our dwelling-place is in heaven), ‘He was taken up into heaven while they beheld,’ as He was in the flesh (On the Resurrection 9).” [Emphasis mine.] Notice that Justin Martyr does not say that the resurrection was to occur on earth with eternal earthly bodies. Instead, Justin Martyr implies that the saints were to live eternally in heaven: “as He had said that our dwelling-place is in heaven.”
Though likely written by Hippolytus, one of the most important second to third century Christian theologians (A.D. 170-235), Josephus’s Discourse to the Greeks Concerning Hades discusses the doctrine of the resurrection as it was understood at that time in great detail. In Josephus’s Discourse to the Greeks Concerning Hades, Hades is said to be where “the souls of all men are confined until a proper season, which God hath determined, when he will make a resurrection of all men from the dead[.]”6 Where is this resurrection supposed to take place? This question is answered at least in part in v. 3. Here the saints are said to be confined in Hades until the resurrection where they achieve “that rest and eternal life in heaven, which is to succeed that region [Hades].” Verse 7 is similar. Here the saints are said to “see the ascent into the immense heaven plainly, and that kingdom which is there.” Verse 6 then expounds on these statements by offering the surprising idea that the resurrection was to take place in both heaven and earth: “Heaven will not then be uninhabitable by men; and it will not be impossible to discover the way of ascending thither.” This text then goes on to say, “The earth will not then be uncultivated, nor require too much labor of men.” A resurrection in both heaven and earth? Interestingly. Hippolytus is not the only Christian theologian to explicitly teach this doctrine.
Preterist View of the Resurrection Confirmed by Testimony Coming from the Disciples of the Apostles Who Say that the Apostles Taught that the Resurrection of the Dead was to Take Place in Heaven: The Resurrection is Implied to take Place in Heaven, Paradise or Earth Depending on the Fruit Born in the Lives of Each Saint According to The Testimony of Those Who Learned Directly From the Apostles.
Papias wrote five books which survive in fragmentary form entitled the Exposition of the Oracles of the Lord (A.D. 98-140). In the introduction to these books Papias says that though he was not himself an eye-witness of the holy apostles, he received his instruction from those who were hearers and eye witnesses of these men:
If, then, any one who had attended on the elders came, I asked minutely after their sayings,–what Andrew or Peter said, or what was said by Philip, or by Thomas, or by James, or by John, or by Matthew, or by any other of the Lord’s disciples: which things Aristion and the presbyter John, the disciples of the Lord, say. For I imagined that what was to be got from books was not so profitable to me as what came from the living and abiding voice.7
Papias states that eyewitnesses and hearers of the Apostle John relayed to him startling information concerning what Jesus taught His disciples about what appears to be the resurrection at the end of the age. Papias writes the following in the Exposition of the Oracles of the Lord:
[As the elders who saw John the disciple of the Lord remembered that they had heard from him how the Lord taught in regard to those times, and said]: . . . . As the presbyters say, then those who are deemed worthy of an abode in heaven shall go there, others shall enjoy the delights of Paradise, and others shall possess the splendour of the city [possibly the New Jerusalem]; for everywhere the Saviour will be seen, according as they shall be worthy who see Him. But that there is this distinction between the habitation of those who produce an hundredfold [of good fruit], and that of those who produce sixty-fold, and that of those who produce thirty-fold; for the first will be taken up into the heavens, the second class will dwell in Paradise, and the last will inhabit the city; and that on this account the Lord said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions:” for all things belong to God, who supplies all with a suitable dwelling-place, even as His word says, that a share is given to all by the Father, according as each one is or shall be worthy. And this is the couch in which they shall recline who feast, being invited to the wedding. The presbyters, the disciples of the apostles, say that this is the gradation and arrangement of those who are saved, and that they advance through steps of this nature; and that, moreover, they ascend through the Spirit to the Son, and through the Son to the Father; and that in due time the Son will yield up His work to the Father, even as it is said by the apostle, “For He must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” For in the times of the kingdom the just man who is on the earth shall forget to die [emphasis mine].8
According to Papias the Disciple John told his hearers, the presbyters and disciples of the apostles, whom Papias interviewed the fact that during what appears to be the resurrection those who are saved experience a three-tiered resurrection. Those Christian saints who produce the most fruit in life were to ascend to heaven at the resurrection; those who produce less, to paradise; and those saints who produce the least, would appear to dwell yet again on earth in the city of the New Jerusalem. It appears to me that though Papias says that those saints who are not worthy to ascend to heaven or paradise “shall forget to die” does not mean that they are expected to be physically immortal. The expression “forget to die” is ambiguous and could just denote a preoccupation with serving God in life such that one’s own mortality rarely comes to mind. Regardless of what Papias meant by the expression “forget to die,” similar seemingly immortal phraseology is found in John 11:25-26 and Revelation 21:4 though physical death is understood to continue on earth in the New Jerusalem as is explicitly stated in Isaiah 65:17-20 (See How Can Papias’ View of the Resurrection be Reconciled with Preterism?).
Answering the Objections: How Jesus’ Resurrection Body is a Perfect Model of the Resurrection Bodies of the Saints
Those who are convinced of a resurrection of eternal earthly bodies might then argue that Jesus’ resurrection was a model of the resurrection of the saints at the end of the age. And because immediately after Jesus’ resurrection His resurrection body closely resembled His earthly body, this must, therefore, mean that the saints are to also receive glorified eternal earthly bodies. This is false.
I believe that Jesus’ resurrection is a sign of the coming resurrection similar to the resurrection of Lazarus and others who were raised from the dead prior to Jesus but none of these events were an exact model of the resurrection. It is my belief that Jesus’ ascension in Acts 1 completes His resurrection miracle. If the resurrection occurs in the unseen realm of heaven, then Jesus’ visible ascension into heaven would seem to be an important aspect of His resurrection. Furthermore, if the resurrection is an event that occurs in heaven, then, of course, it would be invisible to those on earth and thus could not be displayed in any publicly observable way. The only way to exhibit a resurrection of this sort in a way so that the saints could be assured of their own resurrection would perhaps be to perform a miraculous sign in which Jesus rose physically from the dead and then ascended visibly into heaven—which is exactly what Jesus did.
According to Acts 9:3-6 and Revelation 1:13-16 Jesus’ resurrection body was further glorified after His ascension into heaven such that it took on a form like that of the other beings of heaven—beaming with intense radiance. The fact that Jesus transformed into a being of light after His ascension is a significant challenge to the traditional understanding of the resurrection of the dead. If Jesus’ resurrection is an exact model of the resurrection of the saints, then Jesus, of course, would be expected to retain that same earthly body forever. And yet He did not. After Jesus ascended into heaven He no longer appeared as a flesh and blood human being (Acts 9:3-6 and Revelation 1:13-16). Instead, once Jesus entered heaven He is thereafter described as a being of light like that of the other beings of heaven–God and the angels (Ezekiel 1:26-28, 2 Kings 6:17, Daniel 10:6, Matthew 28:2-3, 2 Corinthians 11:14, Hebrews 1:7). The fact that Jesus did not retain the same body He had immediately after His resurrection strongly implies that Jesus’ resurrection was not an exact model of the resurrection at the last trumpet but rather just a sign of the coming resurrection no different from the resurrection of Lazarus (John 11:1–44) or the resurrection of others in the Bible before Jesus (2 Kings 4:8-37; 13:21).
Conversely, the fact that Jesus transformed into a being of light after His ascension into heaven vindicates the notion of a resurrection of heavenly bodies consistent with fulfilled eschatology. The resurrection bodies of the saints are expected to experience a similar transformation into a similarly luminescent form according to Daniel 12:2-3 and Matthew 13:43. Thus Jesus’ resurrection which culminated in His receiving a luminous, glorified heavenly body after His ascension into heaven in Acts 1:9-11 was itself truly the perfect model of the resurrection bodies of the saints after they also enter heaven at the end of the age.9 See How the Resurrection Bodies of the Saints Perfectly Mirror Jesus’ Resurrection Body after His Ascension Into Heaven Fulfilling Philippians 3:20-21 and ALL Other Bible Verses on the Resurrection!!!.
What about Revelation 21:2-3? For a compelling though controversial interpretation of these vs. with evidence from the Bible and complimentary testimony from near-death experiences see Daren Wisman’s article The Biblical Solution to Christianity’s Predestination Paradox. See How the Resurrection Bodies of the Saints Perfectly Mirror Jesus’ Resurrection Body after His Ascension Into Heaven Fulfilling Philippians 3:20-21 and ALL Other Bible Verses on the Resurrection!!! and Why 1 Corinthians 15 Implies that the Collective Body View Cannot Exist Without a Real-Life Resurrection. Also for a detailed explanation of how the fall of man was a mirror opposite of the resurrection at the end of the age see Understanding the Garden of Eden and the Fall from an Old Earth Perspective.
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Also see Historical Evidence that Jesus was LITERALLY SEEN in the Clouds in the First Century. For an explanation of how the end of the age and its fulfillment during the Jewish War mirrors Genesis 1-3; how the Bible teaches that the resurrection of the dead is a resurrection of heavenly bodies to heaven, not a resurrection of perfected earthly bodies; and how the resurrection is a mirror opposite of the fall see How Preterism fixes the Age of the Earth Problem and unravels the Mysteries in Genesis.
Also see Historical Evidence that Jesus was LITERALLY SEEN in the Clouds in the First Century. For an explanation of how the end of the age and its fulfillment during the Jewish War mirror Genesis 1-3; how the Bible teaches that the resurrection of the dead is a resurrection of heavenly bodies to heaven, not a resurrection of perfected earthly bodies; and how the resurrection is a mirror opposite of the fall see How the Jewish War and Resurrection to Heaven Mirror Genesis and the Fall; and How Preterism fixes the Age of the Earth Problem and unravels the Mysteries in Genesis.
- NASB.
- According to Don Preston, 1 John 3:2 suggests that the resurrection is not an eternal earthly body: “[I]t has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He [Christ] appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.” The disciples saw, ate with and touched Jesus after His resurrection. It seems that the Apostles knew exactly what kind of body or form Jesus had—it appears to be exactly the same body Jesus had before His resurrection. If John does not know what kind of body the saints would have after the resurrection then this implies that the resurrection bodies of the saints was not expected to be the same body Jesus had after His resurrection and before His ascension.
Though I believe Preston is correct in the notion that the resurrection body in heaven is distinct from Jesus’ resurrection body prior to His ascension, I do not think 1 John 3:2 is proof of this fact. I John 3:1 reads, “The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” 1 John 3:6 is similar, “No one who continues to sin has either seen him [Jesus] or known him.” In 1 John 3:1 and 6 we learn that it is the non-Christian world that does not know Jesus or His people. Thus in context when 1 John 3:2 says, “It has not appeared as yet what we will be,” this lack of knowledge appears to apply to the non-Christian world since it seems that in the next sentence “we” as Christians do, in fact, know what “we” will become. Therefore, 1 John 3:2 would perhaps more clearly read, “[I]t has not appeared as yet [to the world of unbelievers] what we will be. [But w]e [as Christians] know that when He [Christ] appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.”
- Marion Morris, Christ’s Second Coming Fulfilled, (Greenfield, IN: Press of Wm. Mitchell Printing Co., 1917), 96.
- NASB.
- The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs 7:5.
- Josephus’s Discourse to the Greeks Concerning Hades 5. Hippolytus, however, believes that the saints receive the same body at the resurrection that they had in life.
- Fragments of Papias from The Exposition of the Oracles of the Lord 1.
- Ibid., 4-5.
- What about Romans 6:9: “For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him”? The fact that Jesus took on a luminescent form in heaven does not necessarily mean that He died at that time to acquire this new body. After all when Moses came down from Mt. Sinai he was transformed into a body of light and yet he did not die at that time (Exodus 34:29).
I found your article to be very interesting and something to be considered. I am currently looking into this view of eschatology and find it to be very different from my own present view. I have a few questions that come to mind when you say that the resurrection is not a natural resurrection of physical bodies I think of Jobs declaration of the resurrection and of Daniel’s message from the angel that he would be raised in the end. I may just be disclosing to you my strong inclination toward the view that I currently hold. Sometimes it is difficult to get out of a box that we already have shut around us and think differently while our current beliefs are so predominant in our mind. I am a truth seeker and want to understand. I must admit that I see that there are holes in the view that I currently hold.
Thank you. Well done.
I’m still sorting stuff out, but it seems that the resurrected/spiritual bodies are the closing of the circle, returning us to the original state and location of Eden’s first caretakers. The gardeners will have returned.
Again, thanks!