8 March 2023

What changes in the human body of the Son of God took place in His resurrection?

There was continuity – the risen Lord looked and sounded as before (John 20:27); but change was evident: He could vanish and appear, as it were, from nowhere, even passing through locked doors (John 20:19,26).

But what happened to Jesus in, and subsequent to, the Ascension? Our clearer understanding of this would help us tremendously in our walk and pilgrimage here on earth as believers.

The risen Lamb returned to glory to be enthroned at the Father’s right hand. The Father has committed all authority in heaven and on earth into His hand and He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet (Matt. 28:18; 1 Cor. 15:25).

Although Jesus’ personal presence is now available through the Holy Spirit to all who call on Him everywhere, His bodily presence is gone. He has returned physically to heaven, there to serve as His Father’s right hand man until He reappears for judgement.

To appreciate Jesus’ present life in heaven and with it His previous life on earth, we need to grasp that He is there, as once He was here, for us (i.e. past, present, and future believers, all whom God has chosen to save),

He intercedes for us in heaven – ‘intercede’ meaning intervening in our interest in a way that guarantees our welfare by ensuring that what He died to secure for us actually become ours – He speaks to the Father with the full awareness that His will for our good is also the Father’s will. His ongoing intercession for His people is sovereignly efficacious (and effective). No spiritual benefit comes to any child of God apart from the mediatorial intercession of Jesus the Lord.

We must also know that spiritually, there is a war on – and the Lamb on the throne is a war commander, directing a global campaign against the enemy. The fallen world lies under Satan’s power – although the devil is a defeated foe, he will not let go without a struggle, and he seeks to thwart God’s purposes and to cause as much damage as possible to God’s people and work.

Christ overcame the enemy decisively while on earth, and now from heaven, He pours out His Spirit to enable His servants to secure victory by freeing lost souls from the devil’s sway and bringing them new life.

This warfare, intellectual, moral, and ideological, if not physical, between the Lord’s people and the forces of spiritual lawlessness is constant, ongoing, and bitter; in the short term, it is not always clear who is on top, but one day, Jesus Christ will reappear and return to close the book of this world’s history, and then all spiritual rebellion will end, for power to oppose Him will then be completely abolished everywhere for ever.

But until that day, this war goes on, and the battle for truth, wisdom, and righteousness in the church, the world, and each Christian’s personal life are not to be evaded; they are to be fought and won, in the strength from fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (Heb. 12:2), who is sitting at the right hand of the throne of God, reigning, directing, and commanding the war campaign.

This is the authentic Christian life, under the reigning Lord, a life of war and peace, war without and peace within. Does this describe our life? Are we living on a different plane, seeking permanent blessing, prosperity in this world that is ‘fading away’?

“They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” (Revelation 12:11).
The book of Revelation is the last book in the Bible. In it, we see the call of Jesus to His churches to persevere and fight the good fight – repent as in some cases; be courageous for some; be spiritually alive for certain ones; turn away from indifference and complacency for specific congregations; be victorious, and the Lord would reward and vindicate.

Notice that in verse 11 of Revelation 12, the ‘blood of the Lamb’ is mentioned as one major aspect and contribution in the victory of the saints – the blood points to the cross and the Atonement – the saints are those who belong to Christ and are no longer under the bondage of sin and the devil – they have died and risen with Christ.
The word of their testimony refers to the quality of their lives – the outworking as well as the testimony in word and deed – the messengers of the gospel must look like the message they proclaim.

Note that they do not love their lives; they do not shrink from death. This speaks of their deep commitment to God and Christ – they love God and place God, even over their own lives, and they will not deny Him, even in the face of death. This also indicates lives of self-denial, no longer living for themselves, but willing to sacrifice lovingly for others and for the gospel, even to the point of “the seed falling on the ground and dying” so that fruitfulness and harvest may follow.

This is in line with what the Lord Jesus said in Luke 9:23-24:
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.”