When the Disciples Couldn’t Understand the Lord Jesus

 

When the Disciples Couldn’t Understand the Lord Jesus

 

Sometimes in our Bible study we find passages or verses that cause us to pause, because the content seems somewhat difficult to understand. Even so, if we remember the words given by the Apostle Paul to his young protégé~ Timothy we will push ahead to find meaning. Paul’s words to Timothy were recorded in 2 Timothy 3: 16-17, as follows: “¹⁶ All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: ¹⁷ That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”

With that introduction I’d like to challenge your understanding of a collection of Scriptural verses that come from different sources but are uniquely connected.

In the course of His numerous conversations with His Disciples, our Lord Jesus informed them on at least three occasions that He would go to Jerusalem, suffer at the hands of Israel’s leaders, be killed, and be raised again on the third day. The first time recorded was during their travel to the coasts of  Caesarea Philippi (Matthew 16: 21-26; Mark 8: 31-37; Luke 9: 22-25). The second time was while they were residing in Galilee (Matthew 17: 22-23; Mark 9: 30-32; Luke 9: 21-26,43-45). The third time was as they were near Jordan on the way to Jerusalem, (unbeknownst to the Disciples) for His Crucifixion. (Matthew 20: 17-19; Mark 10: 32-34; Luke 18: 31-34).

As you review these passages you will note varying reactions from the Disciples to the Lord’s words. For example, Matthew and Mark recorded that Peter rebuked the Lord for His revelation, saying: “Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.”(Matthew 16: 27; Mark 8: 31-33). Then the Lord had to rebuke Peter (regardless of Peter’s likely good intentions) saying: “Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.”  (Peter was not aware that God’s Plan for man’s salvation required the Lord to pay that terrible price to be able to redeem mankind from the death penalty for our sins. The Lord Jesus would serve the death penalty in our place.)

Later in Galilee when the Lord Jesus repeated His revelation to the Disciples about His coming death, Matthew simply recorded: “And they were exceeding sorry.” (Matthew 17: 23) Also there in Galilee, Mark recorded: “But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.”  (Mark 9: 32) Luke recorded the following: “But they understood not this saying, and it was hid from them, that they perceived it not: and they feared to ask him of that saying.” (Luke 9: 45)

Further, in three of the instances following those various revelations in the several scriptures above about His coming death and resurrection. the Lord added a special set of comments. Specifically He repeated the following  thoughts as taken from Matthew Chapter 16, (later essentially repeated in Mark Chapter 8, and Luke Chapter 9) :

“²⁴ Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

²⁵ For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

²⁶ For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

²⁷ For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.”

In the final journey to Jerusalem, the Scripture had added a few more reactions from the Disciples following the Lord’s startling revelation about His coming suffering and death. In Matthew’s record, no comments or reactions were noted. (Matthew 20: 17-19). Similarly, Mark’s record showed no comments or reactions from the Disciples. (Mark 10: 32-34) However, Luke’s record stated: “³⁴ And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken.” (Luke 18: 34)

Based on what we know today, some two thousand years after those events took place, we can more clearly see and understand some (or even much) what was confusing to the Disciples. We understand that through the Holy Spirit and Bible Scripture, God would explain to future generations of mankind (including us today) what happened and why, so many years ago that affected our salvation. (Remember Paul’s words of advice to Timothy in the first paragraph above.)   

But what remains are questions such as why only Peter could understand and object to the idea that the Lord Jesus, who was Israel’s Messiah, could be put to death. In another verse, it was recorded that the Disciples were “exceeding sorry”, which indicates that they did understand the consequences of the Lord’s revelation. Perhaps their “sorrow” was based on their being focused on the first part of the Lord’s revelation about His coming death, but failing to consider and understand the other very important part of the message about His resurrection on the third day. As one of my teachers has suggested, that would explain why the Disciples were not waiting outside the tomb following His Crucifixion, to greet Him on Resurrection Morning.

Other verses said that the Disciples did not understand what the Lord had said in that regard, but “were afraid to ask Him.” Why fear?  Did the Bible translators make an incorrect or inexact interpretation of the word “afraid” in the original language?  [As an aside, our Strong’s Concordance notes that the original Greek word “phobeo” (#5399) could also have translated to say that the Disciples were “in awe”, or “so startled by His words” that they couldn’t respond.]

Finally, let’s take a brief look at the additional set of special comments noted above, that the Lord made to His Disciples following the revelation about His coming death, burial and being raised again on the third day. He was preparing them (and us) for the difficult times that could / would lie ahead for those who would follow Him. Today we know that facing a martyr’s death was the real possibility (or even probability) for most of them, but what actually happened in each case is not stated in the Scripture. (See: https://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=AwrFciX_mctm7ugMmupXNyoA;_ylu=Y29sbwNiZjEEcG9zAzEEdnRpZAMEc2VjA3JlbC1ib3Q-?type=E210US105G0&p=fate+of+jesus+twelve+disciples+list&fr2=p%3As%2Cv%3Aw%2Cm%3Ars-bottom%2Cct%3Agossip&fr=mcafee.

What we do know is that the Lord  Jesus was reinforcing His earlier teaching in Matthew 10: 28: ” ²⁸ And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Revelation 20: 11-15)

While the Disciples had some difficulty understanding our Lord Jesus, we also likely have encountered some difficulty understanding portions of the Scripture, and / or why some of the events in our Christian lives have taken place. The reasons in God’s Plan are usually not clearly available.  However, we accept by faith that He always has our best interests at heart through His Love.  As another of my teachers has told us: “The Bible may not answer all the questions we may have, but it does answer all the questions that we need to know to achieve eternal life.” The other questions can await the Lord’s answers when we see Him.

Dr. W. A. (Bill) Robinson

https://christianityandbiblestudy.blogspot.com  

Christ Has Redeemed Us from the Curse of the Law

 

Christ Has Redeemed Us from the Curse of the Law

 

During a recent Bible study, one of my teachers noted the following Bible verses from Galatians Chapter Three:

^“13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

¹⁴ That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

These verses prompt many Christians to want to better understand the “curse” and the “law” that have played a role in bringing us the “blessing of Abraham”. The earlier verses of the chapter and Verse 14 explain the phrase “blessing of Abraham” in that he was declared to be “righteous” in God’s eyes because he had the faith to believe what the LORD had told him. (See also Hebrews 11: 8-10) When we Christians believe the Gospel of Grace today (1 Corinthians 15: 1-4; Romans 10: 9-13), we also are declared to be “righteous” and receive the Holy Spirit as a sign of our Salvation.

Even so, the definitions of the “curse” and the “law” require further explanations if we are to more fully appreciate what our Lord Jesus accomplished when He suffered and went to the Cross on our behalf. So we ask, “how should the ‘law’ be defined?...and why is there a ‘curse’ associated with ‘hanging on a tree’?”

The Law:

The broadest and most widely accepted definition of the Law is that used by the Nation of Israel in referring to the first five books of their Scripture, called the Torah or the Pentateuch. (See: https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1426382/jewish/Torah.htm#:~:text=The%20definition%20of%20the%20word%20Torah%20is%20literally,the%20foundation%20of%20all%20Jewish%20instruction%20and%20guidance.) The Torah / Pentateuch / Law is one of the three parts of Israel’s complete Scripture, called the Tanakh, which also contains sections termed “The Prophets”, and “The Writings”. (See also: https://www.gotquestions.org/Pentateuch.html ; and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_Bible )

In referring to the specific section of the law noted above, the Apostle Paul cites a seldom discussed section of the Torah found in Deuteronomy 21: 18-23:

18	If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them:
19	Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place;
20	And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.
21	And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.
22	And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree:
23	His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; ( for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

The Curse:

Our Lord Jesus in no way committed the sins of the wayward son described in the scripture above. However, I ask that you make special note of the clause in Verse 23, saying: “for he that is hanged is accursed of God;”  By allowing Himself to be sacrificed on Calvary’s Cross (hanged on that “tree”) for our sins, He met the Nation of Israel’s standard of punishment for someone deemed to have been worthy of death. Further, the public hanging of His body would set an example for others who would commit sins that the Nation’s elders determined had warranted being under “God’s curse”. They had determined that they could and were speaking for God. [As an aside, according to our Strong’s Expanded Concordance, this is the only occurrence of the scriptural use of the phrase “accursed of God”,]

Now I’d like to add a different perspective to the setting of this Bible study.

Remember one of the important principles of study is to heed the words of Myles Coverdale. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myles_Coverdale ) He advised students to consider several factors, among which were: “who is writing to whom”; and “what went before and what followeth after.” Although this discussion began by focusing on the specific Verses 13 and 14 of Galatians Chapter Three, the context began to take form at the beginning of the Chapter, reaching the verse most critical to this discussion in Verse Ten:

“For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” Here the Scripture clearly points out the definition of the “curse” under discussion, and to whom it applies. Again, it is critical to remember “context” when we study and examine various parts of the Bible, even as we consider Scripture in its entirety. Whether the words came from the LORD through Moses to the Nation of Israel (Deuteronomy 27: 26; 28: 15), or from the Holy Spirit through the Apostle James to those Israelites who had been scattered from Jerusalem many centuries later (James 1: 1, 2: 10),  they carried the same authority and weight of God. The Law had to be obeyed completely. Remember, in the Torah in Exodus Chapter 19, the LORD had chosen the Nation of Israel to be His “kingdom of priests and an holy (set-aside) nation.” The stipulation was that they would have to obey His voice and keep His covenant. All the people responded: “All that the LORD hath spoken we will do.” Without even hearing the specific details to which they were committing, all the people of the Nation seemed assured they could do whatever the LORD would ask of them. As we would later learn, Israel’s “self-righteousness” would prove to be an obstacle to their serving as a role model towards evangelizing the rest of mankind (the Gentile world). The only one who could fully keep the law was our Lord Jesus. Israel’s failures to keep the Law as described above would serve to demonstrate that man alone was not capable of achieving “righteousness in the eyes of God”. The Law was given to Israel to provide man with the knowledge of “sin”. (Romans 3: 19-20)  Man needed a Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. However, it was through Israel’s failures that God would turn more directly to the Gentiles through the Apostle Paul with His pathway to man’s salvation through our Lord Jesus. (Romans Chapter Eleven; Acts 9: 1-15) That is why we so value and have faith in the Gospel of Grace. (1 Corinthians 15: 1-4;  Romans 10: 9-13; Hebrews 11: 1) The key message for Christian believers today is that we are no longer under the curse for failing to do all the things that were written in the Law / Torah.  Through His shed blood and death on Calvary’s Cross, our Lord and Savior has paid the penalty for our sins. Through His Resurrection and victory over death, He has secured our eternal salvation and the many other blessings we currently enjoy. Dr. W. A. (Bill) Robinson https://christianityandbiblestudy.blogspot.com

Water, Washing, and Baptism

 

Water, Washing, and Baptism

 

While in the process of reviewing a lesson from one of my teachers (Les Feldick’s “Through the Bible” Series: Book 54, Lesson Three, Part IV - https://www.lesfeldick.org/lesbk54.html ), I was drawn to look further into his discussion about “baptism”.  As I turned to my Strong’s Expanded Concordance, I hoped to trace that concept to see when it first appeared in Scripture.  To my surprise, the word “baptism” did not appear at all in the Old Testament, but first came in the New Testament’s Book of Matthew, Chapter Three.

Most Christians will recognize the verses related to John the Baptist, who was the herald announcing the presence of Israel’s long-awaited Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ. Further, it was then that we learned that the Lord Jesus had come from Galilee to the Jordan River specifically to be baptized by John. When John was reluctant to baptize Him, the Lord Jesus responded, saying:  “Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.” (Matthew 3: 13-15)

Many Christians believe that the Lord’s response was an indication that all His followers should receive a water baptism to receive righteousness. However, in considering the discussion presented by Les Feldick in the lesson noted above, there might be another reason for His reply to John the Baptist. As a result, I wanted to look further into some of the key factors involved in baptism, specifically the use of water, and the process of washing. Although the word “baptism” itself was not cited in the Old Testament, related concepts were.

Baptism is defined in the Strong’s Concordance as related to the English translation of three Greek words: “baptizo” (# 907); “baptisma” (# 908); and “baptismos” (# 909). Because of the length and varied content of the full definitions, I will not repeat that information here. However, it you do not already possess your personal copy of that valuable reference, I refer you to these two internet-based resources: https://strongsconcordance.org/ ; and https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/strongs-concordance/?g=1

The key points I’d like to make are that the concept of baptism has been used in several instances, in both the Old and New Testaments. Common to many of those usages are the processes of immersion, submersion, and emergence from water or another agent / medium. Consistent with the usages of other descriptive terms in the Bible, the writers used baptism to describe events either literally or figuratively. For example, the literal water “baptism” of immersion, submersion and emergence from the Jordan River conducted by John the Baptist in Matthew Chapter Three, can be contrasted to the figurative baptism of the people of the Nation of Israel as they left slavery in Egypt, crossed the Red Sea, “And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea.” (1 Corinthians 10: 1-2)

When our Lord Jesus wanted to teach His Disciples an important lesson about service in His Name, He demonstrated by washing their feet. (John 13: 1-17) But as with many of the Lord’s teachings, there were likely other lessons hidden in the literal messages.  I would like to review that one lesson and offer some potentially useful additional insight into how that example might help us better understand other parts of the Scripture.

First I’d like to focus on some specific verses describing what the Lord did in washing their feet. Note the Book of John, Chapter Thirteen, Verses 3-5: ^“3 Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; ⁴ He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. ⁵ After that he poureth water into a bason (basin), and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.”

[Since Scripture reports that supper had just ended, it is likely / probable that they had all previously washed their feet or had someone else do it for them before they dined. Remember the environmental factors and conditions in Israel at the time… geography and climate (dirt roads); use of sandals and other open footwear; agrarian lifestyle; presence of animal and human waste on the roads…all contributed daily to poor sanitation of people’s feet. The Lord’s washing of their feet was literal, but hopefully not as necessary as it would have been had they just come in from the dirty roads.]

At this point I’d like to suggest more details which I believe the Lord might have followed in accomplishing his washing of the Disciples’ feet:

1.      The Lord poured some clean water into the basin.

2.      He asked the Disciple to place / immerse his soiled feet into the basin of water.

3.      Once the layer(s) of dust / dirt had been softened / dissolved, the Lord discarded the dirty water.  Full submersion of the feet would remove all the offensive dirt / material.

4.      The basin would then be refilled with clean water to rinse the feet.

5.      As the Disciple’s feet emerged from the basin, they were restored to their prior / pre-soiled condition by the Lord’s drying them with His towel.

I’ve raised these points to note their relationship to a few other significant events in Bible history, chosen from the Old Testament. One seldom used example appears quite early in the Bible, as follows:

Genesis Chapter One: “1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.  ² And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”

Note that in Verse # 1, God had created the heaven and the earth. Undoubtedly they were perfect, and for our example can be imagined to be a basin containing clean water.  However, in Verse # 2, there is every indication that the “perfection” had been fully disrupted in a most negative way. The descriptive words “without form and void” tell us that the “basin” (heaven and Earth) was totally wrecked, while the words “the deep” and “the waters” inform us that the “clean water” had been soiled / fouled by some unidentified agent. The remnants of the “basin” were submerged.

The Second Verse continues by noting that the Spirit of God moved on those “contaminated” waters, leading the reader to the expectation that something good and glorious was to follow in the ensuing verses. That expectation would quickly be realized as God reconstructed the “basin” (heaven and Earth) and began the process of filling it with “perfectly clean water”, such that “it emerged” as a new setting to benefit man’s walk in life. I would ask that you re-read all of Genesis Chapter One in that context of the Lord Jesus’ lesson as noted above.

In a likely better recognized example, consider the role of water and the “deep seas” in the story of Jonah and the whale. (Jonah 1: 17 – 2: 10)  The fact that the LORD chose to send Jonah as His personal messenger to Nineveh gives the reader no background except to assume that Jonah had “clean feet”. (Jonah 1: 1-2). However, quickly Jonah’s “feet” became “soiled” as he chose to violate the LORD’s instructions to avoid helping those “sinful Gentiles” in Nineveh. Jonah chose the waters of the seas to be his avenue of escape, but the LORD made that environment to be his ”basin of cleansing”. Jonah had been “immersed” / tossed into the seas by his fearful shipmates, and then submerged in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights. As his prayers of contrition were heard and accepted by the LORD, they served to wash / rinse away the “soil” from his feet, as with clean water. The LORD reinstated Jonah’s standing as with “clean feet”. Then Jonah emerged from the belly of the whale restored, to do as the LORD had originally instructed.

With these examples, I’d like to challenge you to look for other possible examples that follow the sequence of “Water, Washing, and Baptism” as shown in the title of this post. Literal and figurative examples are both encouraged. (As a hint, you might consider starting with the Scripture reference to the “baptism of the Holy Spirit”.)

Dr. W. A. (Bill) Robinson

https://christianityandbiblestudy.blogspot.com

Flesh and Blood vs Flesh and Bone

 

Flesh and Blood vs Flesh and Bone

 

As human beings we have become accustomed to living in these physical bodies made of flesh and blood.  We take for granted the relative freedom we experience as we move through our various environments, as we use our senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. We learned to walk and talk . In our “play time” we learned to run, jump, swim, and otherwise “defy gravity”. All these things were viewed as relatively “natural”, because we had seen or were taught by others to do them.

Our knowledge from science tells us that our physical bodies can accomplish these acts because they have energy supplied from the glucose, oxygen and other nutrients in our blood. Without the blood none of the experiences of our daily living would be possible. As a liquid, blood has physical properties that affect how it reacts to gravity and the other elements and forces of our environment. This is perfectly appropriate for our existence on the Earth.

However, there are definite limitations that become more apparent when we review the Scripture to see how the body of our Resurrected Lord Jesus has overcome those limitations because it is composed of flesh and bones…without blood.

With that introduction, I’d like to share the following edited excerpt from one of my earlier posts. After this opening focus on “flesh and blood”, I then want to look at what the Scripture says about our coming physical experience in our eternal bodies of “flesh and bone”, not unlike that of our Lord Jesus.

Excerpt (edited) from Blog Post on July 13, 2023:

The Power of the Blood – Part Two 

In Part One of this discussion on “The Power of the Blood”, I simply quoted the two chapters of our Bible that I felt provided special insight into the topic. From the Old Testament I chose Leviticus Chapter 17.  From the New Testament I chose Hebrews Chapter Nine. In this follow-up piece, I’d like to expand on the concepts found in those chapters.

Of the verses in Leviticus Chapter 17, I feel that the most significant ones for us today are Verses 11 and 14, which read respectively:

“For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.”

“For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof:…”

The fact that “the life of the flesh is in the blood” is cited twice in the Scripture is for emphasis as inspired by the Holy Spirit.  I’ve underlined it for additional emphasis, and I’d like to offer two reasons why blood is so critical.

Regarding humans, remember the creation of man. The essence of man is our eternal soul / spirit. That essence was infused first into this temporary, inert body when the LORD God breathed into the nostrils of man the breath of life and man became a living soul. (Genesis 2: 7)  Just as oxygen is inhaled through the nostrils into the lungs and then absorbed into the blood, I contend that is the same mechanism through which the soul / spirit enters the blood. Without oxygen and other vital nutrients the body will die.  Without the soul / spirit, man’s body was already without life. When the human body “dies”, the soul / spirit departs and returns to the God who gave it life.

Man’s soul / spirit has been tainted from having been affected by the blood, and the sin-nature in it as inherited from Adam. The blood been made impure / contaminated from God’s perspective from Adam’s original sin. (Romans 5: 12) ( https://www.gotquestions.org/inherit-sin.html )This Scripture is telling us that God requires that sinful flesh be cleansed by the elimination of the offending blood.  When we were saved by believing the Gospel (1 Corinthians 15: 1-4; Romans 10: 9-13), we became “new creations / creatures”. (Romans 3: 23-26; 2 Corinthians 5: 17) Our soul / spirit became “housed” in Christ Jesus.  Now, as He is, so are we in this world. (1 John 4: 14-17) He has already shed His blood to atone for our sins. Further, the Lord Jesus’ new, glorious body is made of flesh and bone…with no blood!  After we leave these earthen bodies, in our resurrected form we also will have a new body fashioned after His glorious body made of flesh and bone…with no blood!  (Philippians 3: 20-21)

Now, what does the Scripture say about the Lord’s Resurrected body of “flesh and bone”?

·       The Book of Matthew Chapter 28 shows that the Lord met with His remaining eleven Disciples in Galilee and gave them His last instructions while on the Earth. They not only recognized Him in the person, but also affirmed that He was the same Lord they followed before His body was mutilated through His suffering before His death.

·       The Book of Mark Chapter 16 reports that the Disciples saw Him “received up into heaven.” His physical body overcame gravity and ascended out of their sight.

·       The Book of Luke Chapter 24 reports that on the same day of His Resurrection, the Lord joined two of His followers who had left Jerusalem after His Crucifixion, returning to their home village of Emmaus. He hid His identity from them even as He taught them to see Himself in the Scriptures. (Only the Old Testament existed at that time.)  As He ate the evening meal with them, He took bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to them. As their eyes were then opened to His identity, He vanished from their sight. Later that same evening He suddenly appeared to the assembled Disciples and others of His followers. To allay their fears that He was actually a “spirit”, He demonstrated the reality of His physical presence by eating broiled fish and honeycomb in front of them. He then led them to Bethany, blessed them, and as noted above He was carried up into heaven.

·       The Book of John Chapter 20 gives reports similar to those noted above. Perhaps most amazing is John’s report of the Resurrected Lord’s having seen Mary Magdalene shortly after He appeared in His new body of flesh and bone. He couldn’t allow her to touch Him because He had not yet ascended to His Father. We know that the Lord’s journey from the Earth to the abode of God in the Third Heaven, and His return that same day were beyond miraculous. Later in Chapter 21, John reported that as the Disciples were returning from an unsuccessful fishing trip, the Lord invited them to join Him on the shore. He had made a fire, cooked fish, and made bread. Then He ate with them. Imagine!

These are individual and collective glimpses into the Resurrected Lord’s activities in His new body of flesh and bone. They do not tell us all that we might want to know about our future lives in similar bodies after we leave these current bodies of flesh and blood.  But just the idea of being able to transcend time and space is an amazing prospect. To retain the recognition of those who had been close to us, and our appetites for food are only bonuses.

In the Book of Philippians Chapter Three, the Apostle Paul has shared with us the following:

^“20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:

²¹ Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.”

We have a lot to look forward to!

Dr. W. A. (Bill) Robinson

https://christianityandbiblestudy.blogspot.com