...He did not ascend in the flesh. ...
Christ Jesus, before He was crucified [Matthew 20:19, 23:34, 26:2, 27:22,23,26,31,35,38,44, 28:5; Mark 15:13,14,15,20,24,25,27,32, 16:6; Luke 23:21,23,33, 24:7, 24:20; John 19:6,10,15,16,18,20,23,32,41; Acts 2:23,36, 4:10; Romans 6:6; 1 Corinthians 1:13,23, 2:2,8; 2 Corinthians 13:4; Galatians 2:20, 3:1, 5:24, 6:14; Hebrews 6:6; Revelation 11:8 KJB],
had a crown of thorns [Genesis 22:13; Matthew 27:29; Mark 15:17; John 19:2,5 KJB]
placed onto His head, scarring Him, then afterward they later took Him to be nailed to the Cross of Calvary [Matthew 10:38, 16:24, 27:32,40,42; Mark 8:34, 10:21, 15:21,30,32; Luke 9:23, 14:27, 23:26; John 19:17,19,25,31; 1 Corinthians 1:17,18; Galatians 5:11, 6:12,14; Ephesians 2:16; Philippians 2:8, 3:18; Colossians 1:20, 2:14; Hebrews 12:2 KJB],
being hung upon the tree [Acts 5:30, 10:39, 13:29; Galatians 3:13; 1 Peter 2:24 KJB],
having therefore wounds placed in his hands, and his feet [Psalms 22:16 KJB].
Then in His death, a soldier pierced [Zechariah 12:10; Revelation 1:7 KJB]
His side with a spear [John 19:34,37 KJB],
opening up another.
Notice what John experienced:
Rev_1:17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he
laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:
Jesus ascended with a real glorified body, to a real place (3rd Heaven), to a real Person (that of the Father), and actually sat down with the glorified body upon the right hand of His Father upon the real physical throne of Heaven:
Rev 3:21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as
I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
Jesus will return in the glorified flesh, even with the eternal reminder of his wounds, which will be the only reminder of all this:
Hab_3:4 And his brightness was as the light;
he had horns coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power.
Habakkuk 3:3 reveals that it is speaking of His second coming, for in it “His glory covered the heavens” [see Matthew 16:27; Mark 8:38, etc KJB]. In the further context [v 5-6], it is justice, the wrath of god, even the “pestilence” goes before Him [even as the plagues are poured out before and at his coming], being laid unto the earth, and so on. It is borrowing language from previous events from Egypt and using them in an eschatological prophecy. Therefore, in vs 4, we see Jesus still having the light shine forth from His wounds, in his immortal humanity. For in His sacrifice, is His love shown and demonstrated to all the universe, therein is the power of God - of which we will always and ever have undeniable evidence of. Sin shall not arise a second time.
Rev 5:6 And I beheld, and, lo,
in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood
a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
Act 7:55 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God,
and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,
Act 7:56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and
the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
To spiritualize God, to make him without body, is to vaporize the entire reward, heaven itself, the throne of God and His eternal Law in the fires of spiritualism. Yet in eternity, there are those who will still see those wounds and ask Him:
Zec 13:6 And
one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.
Jesus, who asked Thomas to place his hand in His side, and finger in his hands, said:
Joh_20:17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them,
I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.
This was before he met with the Apostles. He ascends to his Father and comes back to His disciples, then stays around for 40 days and ascends from the Mt. Olivet 10 days before Pentecost, and even then in Revelation 5:6; Psalms 133:1-3; Acts 2:1-3,33, etc we still see Jesus as being represented as the one 'slain':
Luk 24:39 Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
Luk 24:40 And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet.
Joh 20:20 And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.
Joh 20:25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.
Joh 20:26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
Joh 20:27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.
Joh 20:28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.
Joh 20:29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
Psalms 68:17-18, cited by Paul in the NT (Ephesians 4), show that Christ Jesus ascended as the "Son of Man", just as Daniel shows and not as an aetheral essence or perfume that pervades the universe.