The purpose of Christ's rising back into His physical body was very much unique. It was a demonstration of what had already taken place. The reason He did not die again is not because His physical body was reanimated but because His spiritual relationship with the Father, severed by the sins HE took upon Himself, had been restored. THAT is resurrection. All who were raised from physical death died again because they had not been RESURRECTED inwardly. They were still not fitted for heaven. Jesus was restored to His body because He still had work to do on earth in His physical body. He did not take that body with Him to heaven. It remained behind--like ALL flesh does.
When Christ returns, we shall all be changed, including heaven and earth, actually all things are changed out for something better.
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If Christ was not bodily raised from earth to heaven how could His first disciples be witnesses of Christ physically ascending to heaven in the clouds, in the same manner in which He shall be seen returning to earth?
Acts 1:9-11 (KJV) And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
Revelation 1:7 (KJV) Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
The one day in which they sinned, within the day (age/time) they were physically alive upon this earth.
Notice the presence of "a cloud." They beheld as "a cloud received Him out of their sight." The cloud hid Him. Furthermore, what is the "lie manner"? Clearly, every eye did not see Him go. Where were the "ten thousand of His saints (Jude 14) He came back with? Where were the lightning flashes "fromthe east and flashes from the west" (Mat. 24:27)? Where was the "loud command" and "the trumpet call of God" (1 Thes. 4:16)? Where was the "blazing fire" and His "mighty angels" (2 Thes. 1:7)? Where was the "white horse" (Rev. 19:11)? The angels there with the disciples said nothing about His body. The point in Acts 1:9 is that Jesus became hidden to them by a cloud. If one considers the Transfiguration, he can see that the glorified Christ cannot be looked upon--His splendor must be hidden. As His ascension, Christ was given back the glory He had with the Father before the worlds began. Jesus had prayed for the restoration of that glory in His high priestly prayer in John 17). THIS was that restoration.
The KEY to the "like manner" is the CLOUDS. He departed in clouds of glory, majesty, and authority and He was to return in THAT same way. In Luke's account, we find that Jesus "parted from them" and was "taken into heaven" (Luke 24:50, 51). He would come from heaven in clouds of judgment. The disciples would have clearly known what Jesus was talking about. They understood thoroughly the OT, prophetic, apocalyptic meaning of God's "coming on clouds." It was a reference to His presence, His authority, His power, and His glory.
We should be careful to not choose one aspect of what some consider the "like manner" (His "body") but reject all of the other obvious aspects associated with His return.
From the Strong's Concordance here is how "day" has been translated from the Hebrew:
yôwm, from an unused root meaning to be hot; a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb):—age, always, chronicals, continually(-ance), daily, ((birth-), each, to) day, (now a, two) days (agone), elder, × end, evening, (for) ever(-lasting, -more), × full, life, as (so) long as (... live), (even) now, old, outlived, perpetually, presently, remaineth, × required, season, × since, space, then, (process of) time, as at other times, in trouble, weather, (as) when, (a, the, within a) while (that), × whole ( age), (full) year(-ly), younger.
Why are you fighting against A&E sinning against God on ONE particular DAY in the day/time/age in which the lived?
Who are the "every eye," rwb? Here we see the "clouds" mentioned in Acts 1:11. THAT was the "like manner" in which He was to return and did return. Among these "every eye" are Caiaphas and the Jewish leadership to whom Jesus said: "YOU will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and COMING ON THE CLOUDS of heaven" (Mat. 26:64). He came on the clouds of heaven and Caiaphas and the entire Sanhedrin SAW it!
Furthermore, the "every eye" occurs in connection with "they also which pierced him." Who pierced Him, rwb? Was it not the soldiers at the crucifixion? Was it not the Jews who were ultimately responsible for the piercing? His blood was on THEIR hands. The "kindreds" is from the Greek word
Jesus left with "clouds" and He returned with "clouds." THAT is the "like manner" of Acts 1:11. Again, where were the "every eye" at His ascension? The "every eye" very much included Caiaphas and the Jewish leadership, to whom Jesus said: "YOU will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the CLOUDS OF HEAVEN" (Mat. 26:64). Like manner=CLOUDS.
Who also would see Him? "They also which pierced Him." Who pierced Him? The Roman soldiers did the actual piercing but the power and authority behind it was the JEWS. THEY demanded His death so They ultimately pierced Him. That is why the rest of the verse is accurately rendered "tribes of the land." The word rendered "kindreds" by the KJV is fule. It occurs 31 times in the NT. With the exception of two occurrences, it always means TRIBES. The same is true of the Greek word incorrectly translated as "earth." While it can be rendered "earth," the context with TRIBES and those "which pierced Him" is very Jewish and requires the understanding of "land." The apostate Jews whom Jesus pronounced guilty of "all the righteous blood shed on the earth" would live through the desolation of their "house" (The Temple)--Matthew 23. Revelation 1:7 was that time. A. D. 70!
I am not the one fighting, rwb. They sinned on that ONE day and they died on that ONE day. You are refusing to accept that the day they died and they day their eyes were opened were the very same day! Their eyes were not opened years and years and years later. They were opened "in the day." Adam and Eve died in that very same day--immediately.
BTW "clouds" in the Bible verse means ''invisible''.
in ''like manner'' means his return is also "invisible . but by the signs we know he is here .
I agree 1 Cor 10 is not alluding specifically to the events of 70AD. But it is speaking of a principle that can be applied to 70AD as well as to other events that happened to Israel in the bible. We the church of Messiah are the Israel of God (which is a commonwealth which includes believing Gentiles), of which Israel after the flesh is an allegory in the bible.
It is the Holy Spirit who leads us into all truth, not the carnal mind. The carnal mind is even said to be enmity with God, so that is not what we are to rely on. The bible also says to lean not to our own understanding but in all our ways acknowledge (look to, lean on, rely on, give glory to) God and He will make our paths straight (of which the word is God is a light unto to our path). The Holy Spirit is the oil for our lamps.
amigo de christo
Well-Known Member
How could they have observed the cloud receiving Him out of their sight if they had not seen Him bodily ascending into heaven?
The text of His bodily ascending into heaven doesn't say every eye would seem Him going to heaven. We learn from Scripture that every eye shall see Him descending from heaven when Christ comes again.
Before the first advent of Christ, the dead Old Covenant faithful saints waited in the graves for Christ to come and rescue them. Which He did after His resurrection. After the first advent Christ rescued from the place of the dead, the grave taking them with Him to heaven, His spiritual body of living souls. When the body of man dies, only the spirit returns to God who gave it, while the body returns to dust from which it came.
Ecclesiastes 12:7 (KJV) Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
It is man's spirit that returned to God after bodily death that returns with Christ. Because it is the spirit not the flesh that gives man life, flesh is destined to die.
John 6:63 (KJV) It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
1 Thessalonians 4:14 (KJV) For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
Indeed, every eye shall most assuredly see Christ when He returns. Not only shall Christ be seen coming in the clouds to all who are still physically alive upon this earth when He comes again, also all who have died shall be resurrected to life to see the Son of God standing before the judgment throne of God. Those, called wheat standing on His right, and those called goats standing on His left. None shall escape the judgment day of God that shall come when the last/seventh trumpet sounds. The dead, or those who have never been born again (goats) of the Spirit of Christ, at the judgment throne must give account to God according to what is found written in the books and the book of life.
Matthew 25:31-34 (KJV) When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
Matthew 25:41 (KJV) Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
Matthew 25:46 (KJV) And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
John 5:28-29 (KJV) Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
every eye will see him simply means all will understand he is here . do you see what I mean?
How do you prove it was their spirit that died, since Scripture says it is the spirit that gives life? If the spirit in them died, how did their body continue to be physically alive since they were not born again? It was through the fallen, not dead, spirit within them, giving them physical life, that they knew they had sinned against God. Because they chose evil rather than good, the serpent spoke truth when he said "Ye shall not surely die." But that was only truth in part, the serpent knew that man having knowledge of evil would not physically die on the same one day they disobeyed God, but on that day (one) during the age in which they lived they became dead in trespasses and sins. After the fall, apart from the Spirit of Christ in them, man would remain dead to righteousness, goodness. That means man could never muster up faith to save themselves, being destined to die in their sins. Because apart from Christ none are good, none are righteous. The spirit in them did not die, rather the spirit giving man physical life became altogether without the ability to attain eternal life. It is in this manner that man died during the day/age/time in which A&E lived. Dead to God's Spirit, but very much alive to the spirit that works in the hearts of fallen man.
3 Resurrections
Active Member
Even though some 30-plus years had passed since the resurrection of Christ and the Matthew 27:52-53 saints back in AD 33, those Matt. 27 resurrected saints were still circulating and serving among the early church. Hymenaeus and Philetus were calling attention to the former AD 33 resurrection of those Matt. 27 saints who were still remaining on the earth, and were telling everybody that this past single resurrection event was the only bodily resurrection event that would ever take place. These two men were not in error as to the nature of the resurrection involving the bodies of the saints rising out of the ground. They were in error as to the number of bodily resurrection events that God had planned. There would three bodily resurrection events in total, as Paul taught in 1 Cor. 15:23-24.
Christ spoke about two of those bodily resurrection events in John 5:25 and 28. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and NOW IS when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live." In this verse, Christ was referring to the imminent bodily resurrection of the Matthew 27:52-53 saints who would rise from their graves on the same day as Christ in AD 33. There were no unrighteous who shared in any way in this resurrection event. None but that group of many saints coming out of those graves around Jerusalem. These along with Christ were called the "First-fruits".
But Christ went on to say in verse 28, "Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming, in the which ALL that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth, they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." This was a second resurrection event. ALL the rest who had died up until AD 70, both good and evil, took part in that second resurrection event
You have the launching point of the New Covenant incorrect. The change in the law was simultaneous with the change in the priesthood (Hebrews 7:12). And Christ was consecrated our Great High Priest in heaven at His resurrection-day ascension to the Father. NOT in AD 70. The ascended Christ exited the heavenly temple that morning after His resurrection and returned to earth that same morning. Christ had already become the High Priest, as Hebrews 9:11 announced. The Hebrews readers were not waiting for AD 70 for the New Covenant to be "fully expressed". They were just waiting for God to "take out the trash" of those "weak and beggarly elements" which were already dead and decaying at that point.
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With physical sight every eye shall see Christ returning in the clouds.
Revelation 1:7 (KJV) Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
Matthew 24:30 (KJV) And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Luke 21:25-27 (KJV) And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
1 John 3:2 (KJV) Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
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