Christ's Resurrection Body: What Yours Will Look Like

Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Les Feldick Lecture 24 Through the Bible with Les Feldick Now in this half hour we're going to look at those 40 days of Christ in His post resurrection. From the time He was raised from the dead until in Acts chapter 1, He ascends back to glory. Now the only verse in Scripture that I know of where we have the time element would be in Acts chapter 1, and you drop down to verse 3. Now in just a little while we'll be going into the Book of Acts in a verse by verse, but just for now let's look at Acts chapter 1, verse 3. Acts 1. To whom also He showed Himself alive after His passion, by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days. Now that's the only place we have in Scripture that would cover that period of time from the Resurrection until the Ascension, and then of course it was ten more days until the Day of Pentecost. But the infallible proofs, now you know if there's any one doctrine in Scripture that throws a curve in a lot of people, including preachers, it's the Resurrection. Some may have problems with the virgin birth, but maybe they can swallow that a little easier yet than the doctrine of His Resurrection, that He arose from the dead bodily. I think this same Muslim that wrote, that was one thing he couldn't comprehend. How can you teach that God walked around in the flesh? How can you teach that He arose from the dead, and then walked around bodily? How can I? Because the Book says it. So here we have the infallible proofs. Now there have been men who have gone out and almost given a lifetime to prove the fallacy of the Resurrection of Christ. But after they dig into it, the more they see, and the more they understand, they come away from it as believers, invariably. The thing that I always have to look at, if I need proof and I don't, I would just look at Peter and these other 10 men. How did they react when they first arrested Christ? What did they do? Why were they scattered like a bunch of quail? They were scared to death. What did Peter do? He denied Him three times. Why? He was fearful for his own life. That was typical, but after the Resurrection you don't see that kind of an attitude in Peter and the rest of the disciples. They're ready now to go to the very ends of persecution, knowing that no matter what happens to them physically, the power of the Resurrection is still in our future. So always remember that Peter, especially as we'll be going into the Book of Acts, is a totally different person than he was leading up to the crucifixion. And why? Because he had witnessed the power of Christ's resurrection. It was not a figment of somebody's imagination, it was real. Now just to show you how real, and that he arose from the dead bodily, I'm going to have you come back with me now to Luke chapter 24. These are all verses I'm sure you're familiar with, and we aren't going to be bringing out anything brand new. But hopefully we can bring it out in a way that will stick with you, and that will reinforce your faith in some of the other things that are going to be coming down the pipe. Now in Luke chapter 24, I guess we can just as well start at verse 13. Luke 24, and behold two of them who went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about three score furlongs, and they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass, that while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. But their eyes were holden, that they should not know him. Now you want to remember way back in Christ's earthly ministry as they were up there in northern Israel at Caesarea Philippi at the headwaters of the Jordan River, and Jesus said, we go up to Jerusalem, and everything that has been written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished, and they'll scourge him, and they'll beat him, and they'll put him to death. And on the third day he'll rise again, and they understood none of these things, because it was hid from them. Well who hid it? God did. He didn't let them understand that He was about to be crucified. And that's why it's so logical then to understand that those eleven men had no idea He was going to die, and after He died they had no idea He was going to be raised from the dead. In fact what do they do? They go back to Galilee. It's all over. It's all done. And even as late as John's Gospel chapter 20, when Peter and John ran to the sepulchre, they saw the evidence. They had to believe, and then the next verse says, "...for as yet they understood not the scripture, that he must arise from the dead." So always remember that God can do this, and you and I are living in a day where He has removed that blindness. We can believe it, if we'll just want to. So these two men from Emmaus didn't even comprehend who Jesus was as He took up stepping along with them. Verse 17. "...and then he said unto them, What manner of communications are these, that you have one to another as you walk, and you are sad? And one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass in these days? And he said unto them, What things?" Now he knew, but you see Jesus always draws it out of people with a question. They said, "...concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, mighty in deed, and word before God, and all the people, how the chief priests and the rulers delivered him, and he condemned the death, and they have crucified him. We trusted her, and we believed that it had been he who should have been the one to redeem Israel. And beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done. And certain women also of our company made us astonished, who were early at the sepulcher." Then verse 25, "...and he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe, all that the prophets have spoken, ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory? And beginning in Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them all the Scriptures of the things concerning himself." The Old Testament was full of it. What did I say in the last half hour? Israel should have known. Israel could have known. The Old Testament was full of who He was, and what would take place. But they didn't take the time to study, they didn't take the heart to really comprehend, and on top of that of all things, I think God kept it from them. But anyway, verse 29, "...they thought that he would continue on his way, and they constrained him, saying, Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them, and it came to pass, as he sat at food, he took bread, and blessed it, and gave it to them, and their eyes were opened, and they knew him. And then he vanished out of their sight." Now you want to remember that we are so programmed to physics and chemistry as we understand it, and that is of course in our natural area. But you see when we get into eternity, God's physics and chemistry is going to be so totally beyond anything that we know today. We can't comprehend that everything material, wood, steel, everything is comprised of atoms, and these little atoms have as much space between their particles that it's just like a solar system. We can't comprehend that. There's all the space in the world within the atom, and when God puts that into the eternal state, we're not going to have any trouble slipping through a wall. I'll never forget my old chemistry professor, he put it this way, and he said if I could let this dot represent the nucleus of an atom, then the very first little particle in that inner orbit would be out here, and then he named a city that was 150 miles in the distance. Now that's the construction of an atom. And then you have the same thing in another orbit out here, and all of these things is open space. Now of course it's so minute that we can't comprehend all that, but comparatively you've got all this empty space even in an atom. And so all of our material has that make up. And so what I have to look at is now we get to the eternal, and we're going to have something, I don't know how it's going to be, but you see He vanished. He went right in, and I'll read on. Verse 33. Genesis 3. And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them. And they said, That the Lord is risen, and as they thus spake, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them. Did He come in the door? No. Here He was, bodily, not in a spirit, but in a flesh and bone body. Now read on down, verse 38. And He said unto them, Why are ye troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands, and my feet, that it is I Myself. Handle me, and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bone. Now what's left out? Blood. So in our eternal state, we can probably rest assured that we're going to be bodily put together in flesh and bone, but without a blood circulatory system. And so He has flesh and bones. And when He had thus spoken, He showed them His hands and His feet. And while they yet believed not, for joy, they were tickled to death to see Him, and yet that stripe of unbelief is still sitting between them, and yet they just couldn't comprehend. So He said in verse 41, Have ye any food? And they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish, and a honeycomb. Now look in verse 43, and He took it, and did eat before them in that resurrected body. What was He proving? Oh, for all eternity we're going to have a body that can still enjoy food. Now those of you who love to eat, take heart. You're not going to have to worry about those pounds, you're going to be able to enjoy all these things without health problems, cholesterol, and what have you. But we're going to be able to enjoy food. Now why do I say that? Hold this in your memory bank a moment, and let's go back first to the Old Testament, Zechariah because a lot of people think that just as soon as you get out of the Old Testament and the New, that there's a great big wall between them. No there isn't, they all fit together. Come back to Zechariah next to the last book in your Old Testament, find Matthew and just go back through Malachi to the left, and you'll find Zechariah and come into chapter 12, and verse 10. Going backwards, Matthew, Malachi, and Zechariah. Chapter 12, verse 10. This of course will be at His Second Coming, when He returns to this earth, He returns specifically to the nation of Israel. Zechariah 12, verse 10. Zechariah 12, verse 10. Now I turn the page to chapter 13, verse 6. It's the same book, Zechariah chapter 13, verse 6. And remember now this is Old Testament, not New Testament, this is Old Testament. And the prophet writes, and one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thy hands? Does the Spirit have hands? Does the Spirit have feet? No. No, granted He is a spirit being, but He is bodily. And then He shall answer those with which I was wounded in the house of my friend. So here you have a physical, visible manifestation of His resurrection, even in the Old Testament. Now let's come back into the New, and let's go back and see what the Apostle Paul has to say. II Corinthians chapter 4, but if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them who believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who speaking of Christ, is the image of God. What's an image? It's the likeness, it's that which you can see and touch. Have you ever wondered why so much of the world is in idolatry, and always has been? Because they want a God that they can see. They want a God that sits up there on the shelf and says, "...there is my God." Maybe they can touch Him, they can fall down and worship Him, they even get so foolish you know as to lay food in front of Him. But the whole thing is, they've got to have a God that they can see. And see this is the whole idea of Christ being manifested in the flesh. God knew that, and so He permitted Himself to become visible, manifested in the flesh, so that man could no longer say, "...I can't worship an invisible God, I have to have a God I can see." We do have a God that men have seen, but there was a whole generation that did, thousands of them did. Paul says that even over 400 at one time saw Him in His resurrection body, and so we have ample proof that He arose from the dead bodily, and that He is the very same God that created you and I in the first place, that went to the cross and purchased our redemption. But He didn't stay there, He's not dead tonight, He arose, He ascended, He's coming again. And so Paul makes it so plain here that Christ is the image of God. Now let me take you back a little further to Colossians, well let's just stop at Philippians on the way through, because I like to do it so that you don't have to come back and forth any more than necessary. But now in Philippians chapter 3, I had no concept of our spending eternity in a body. I just thought we died and went to heaven, and after that I didn't know whether we strung a harp, and somehow in soul and spirit heard good music, and so forth. I don't know what I knew. But I know now, that when we get into the eternal state, we're going to be there bodily, because look what this verse says. Verse 20-21 of Philippians 3, for our conversation, that's citizenship, is in heaven. Already if you're a believer tonight, you're already a citizen of heaven. From whence, that is from heaven, we also look for the Savior, not the King. You always have to point that out to people. We're not looking for a King. He's not the King to the Church, He's the Savior, He's the Head of the Body, and that makes a big difference. Paul never refers to Christ as the King of the Church. Only as the Savior, the Redeemer, the Head of the Body. He's going to be the King of kings and Lord of lords absolutely, but not for us, because we're never going to be His subjects, we're going to be His co-heirs. It makes a big difference. So anyway, verse 21, this Lord Jesus Christ shall change our vile, our corrupt, prone to death, prone to disease, prone to suffering, shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, Christ. See that? We're going to be made in the same likeness as His resurrected body. That's why I pointed out that He sat down with the disciples and ate fish, and ate honeycomb. And yet He was in that eternal state where He went right through the wall, right through the ceiling. He can travel at the speed of light, and so will we. Oh, it's going to take no time to go from here to glory. That's not going to take long, it's going to be a split second almost, but whatever. He's going to give us a body fashioned like unto His glorious body according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself. Now I just happened to think of another verse, I wasn't intending to use it, but I hope I got time. Romans chapter 8. Let's come back to Romans, and then we'll go to my next one that I planned on, and that would be in Colossians. Colossians 8, and I wish I had time to read all of these from verse 18 on down, but maybe I do. Let's read them quickly, otherwise it won't really make as much sense. Colossians 8, and we're all a creation really, because of the curse, not willingly, but by reason of Him who has subjected the same in hope. In other words, when God dropped the curse on the planet and on the human race, what did He immediately do? Made a plan of redemption to bring back to Himself everything that He had lost. Verse 21. "...because the creature also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now, and not only they, but ourselves also, who have the first roots in the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit, that is to say the redemption of our soul, our body, and according to II Thessalonians 5, soul, body, and spirit. We're going to have all three in the eternal state. Now let's go back to Colossians chapter 1, and if you want to look ahead faster than what the rest of us do, go to Hebrews chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1, drop down to verse 12, and we have to start where we can pick up the flow. Colossians 1.12 Ephesians 1.12 "...giving thanks unto the Father, who hath made us meet, or has prepared us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son, in whom we have redemption through His blood." Now I don't think I have many of my classes that have newer translations, but if you do you'll notice this isn't in your Bible, because you see those new translations have gutted the Scriptures, whether you know it or not. And so you don't have through His blood in your Bible, and I picked this up 20 some years ago I'd be reading and someone would say, well my Bible doesn't say that. It doesn't? No. Well of course now it's becoming evident that they have deleted thousands of words and verses from your new translations, and they have cut the meaning of so many others. It's just preposterous. So I told Iris the other day, I don't know now why the Lord kept me in the King James all these years. I've never deviated from it. I don't have another version in my house, never have had, and as I've said on this program before, I don't have a library. This is the only library I've got. But anyway, here it is now, I've only got 30 seconds. Verse 15, speaking of the Son in verse 13, is the image, the likeness, physical appearance of the invisible God. That's what Christ is. He is the visible manifestation in the flesh, bodily, of the invisible God. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kenta, OK 74552.