“Life in a Resurrection Body” Last Sunday we saw that while Jesus defeated death by rising bodily from the grave, many Christians today do not envision bodily resurrection as a vital part of life after death for them. Today we want to look at what the Bible has to say about life in a resurrected body. Before we do that, however, we need to first underscore the reliability of the New Testament’s witness that Jesus did, in fact, rise from the dead.
I There was a time when some ...
“Life in a Resurrection Body”
Last Sunday we saw that while Jesus defeated death by rising bodily from the grave, many Christians today do not envision bodily resurrection as a vital part of life after death for them. Today we want to look at what the Bible has to say about life in a resurrected body. Before we do that, however, we need to first underscore the reliability of the New Testament’s witness that Jesus did, in fact, rise from the dead.
I There was a time when some tried to disprove the resurrection by saying that Jesus d________ n____________ die on the cross.
A. This came to be known as the S___________________ theory.
B. Few make this claim today because all the evidence is against it:
1. First, the Roman soldiers who put Jesus to death were e___________________ at crucifixion.
2. Second, Roman soldiers were expected to carry out their duty and the penalty for not doing so was __________________.
3. Third, this theory expects us to believe that a victim of crucifixion could somehow c_________________ death.
C. Jesus did not just a____________________ to die; he was dead!
II Those who deny the resurrection of Jesus must have an alternative e___________________ for how belief in the resurrection arose.
A. The only real alternative to the Gospel account is the m_________________________ explanation.
B. The resurrection accounts cannot be explained as myth for three reasons:
1. First, the c_____________________ is against it.
2. Second, the d________________________ in the resurrection accounts are against the mythology theory.
3. Third, the crucial place given to ___________________________ is against the mythology theory.
III We have seen the evidence for the truth of the resurrection accounts, now we turn to what they m__________________ for us today.
A. The problem for us Christians is that this idea of an eternal spiritual existence sounds unbelievably ________________________________.
1. Some Christians try to get excited about eternity by thinking of the f________________ and f________________ we will get to see again.
2. Others see eternity as an unending c________________ s________________.
B. We Can escape the fear of boredom by realizing that eternal life will be spent in a body – ____________ body.
IV How can we know what life in our resurrected body will be like? We only need to look at ___________________.
A. What was the resurrected body of Jesus like?
1. The first thing, which is very clear, is that there was a sense in which the resurrected body of Jesus was ________________________________.
a. In the Gospel accounts, when the women encounter angels at the tomb they are t___________________ because they recognize the angels as s_______________ beings.
-But when Mary first sees Jesus, she is not terrified because she does not see him as someone who does not b____________ in this world.
b. There is some indefinable something about Jesus that sets him apart, but he looks like a _______________ ________________.
c. Our resurrection body will be different, but what will make us familiar to each other is not our appearance, but the bonds of ______________________________________.
d. When the resurrection comes, it will mark an end to our inability to see no farther than a person’s e__________________________.
e. Our resurrection body will show people the truth of our relationship with _________ and our relationship with our b______________ and s________________ in Christ.
