With Easter approaching, I am compelled to share some intriguing insights into Jesus’ resurrection which are found in my book, Heaven Is Not the Last Stop.
In Christianity, resurrection has been interpreted to mean the act of rising from the dead in the same body of flesh and blood, as Jesus was believed to have risen. Teachings of the resurrection of the dead are found in biblical passages, such as John 5:28-29; 6:39-40; 11:25 and Luke 14:14.
The Christian belief in the resurrection of the physical body has been based on the fact of the “empty tomb.” Epochal revelation clarifies: “It was indeed a fact that the tomb was empty, but this is not the truth of the resurrection. The tomb was truly empty when the first believers arrived, and this fact, associated with that of the undoubted resurrection of the Master, led to the formulation of a belief which was not true: the teaching that the material and mortal body of Jesus was raised from the grave. Truth having to do with spiritual realities and eternal values cannot always be built up by a combination of apparent facts. Although individual facts may be materially true, it does not follow that the association of a group of facts must necessarily lead to truthful spiritual conclusions.”
To discover new meaning in our understanding of resurrection we must first be willing to redefine the word to mean “awakening from death” and not “return to life in the physical body.” The mechanics of resurrection as they apply to the ascending soul/personality are described in Chapter 17 of my book.
Back to Jesus. If Jesus did not return after his death in his physical body, what were the witnesses seing? Epochal revelation introduces the term morontia, used to designate a vast realm between the material and spiritual dimensions. After death of the physical body, the surviving soul continues to experience spiritual growth in a morontia form. Jesus emerged from the tomb in his morontia form and his physical body remained undisturbed in the tomb. The many appearances of Jesus after his resurrection and before his ascension were in this form.
A couple of questions are left unanswered: If Jesus did not resurrect in his physical body and his physical body remained in the cave after his resurrection, why was the tomb empty and how was the stone moved? To find out the answers you will have to read Chapter 11 of my book Heaven Is Not the Last Stop or ask in the comment box for more information!!!
Happy Easter!
The fact that Mary Magdalene and other women didn’t recognize the master at first, thinking he was the gardener, could be explained by your interpretation of the resurrection. We must remember as well the two disciples of Emmaus who didn’t recognize the master right away but only when he broke the bread - a gesture he probably did many times as a living person. I think that people recognized the resurrected Jesus because of his manners, the way he expressed himself, his way of doing things - in other words, his personality.
Marc