When Jesus came back to life He was different than He was before. Now, at first thought, we may say that is obvious because He had now experienced death and come back to life who could be the same after that? Even in the ancient world they knew dead people didn’t come back to life. But Jesus was different in modality. He was no longer a human in the Fallen world where He could be subject to death and decay, but now He was alive in the Final World of New Creation. The resurrected Jesus is the first member, or as the Bible calls it, the Firstborn over Creation. Why do I say this?
Jesus, in His resurrected body, was not only an earthly man but also a heavenly man as well. He could eat fish like the rest of His disciples, but now He could transcend locked doors, disappear from sight, and was not always recognized as before. There was a mystery to Him. In Jesus the two dimensions, both Heaven and Earth, of God’s creation meet in Him. This is what He was referring to when He referred to Himself as the Temple. John 2:14 – “Destroy this sanctuary, and I will raise it up in three days.” Christ is now the Temple where humanity and God can meet together in peace, forgiveness and salvation.
In His resurrected body, Jesus was flesh and blood but His resurrected body was no longer under the curse, the Fallen World of decay and death as we still are. If the Roman soldiers wanted to kill Him they could not because He was no longer capable of dying the way He had three days before. And we must remember, the way Jesus is in His resurrection, we shall be at our resurrection. No longer under the curse, but rather a citizen of New Creation.
Romans 8:10-11
Now if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then He who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through His Spirit who lives in you.
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