First Sightings
"Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have." Luke 24:39
Thomas Jefferson lives! We can all understand what is meant by such a saying. Our second President is dead, of course, but as the principle author of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, his ideals live on among us. Unfortunately, many people have the same misguided understanding when they hear that “Jesus lives!” They suppose that Jesus was a good and wise man who died and stayed in the grave, but that His wise words and fine example somehow live on among us.
Jesus’ appearance to His disciples on Easter evening tells the true story. Yes, He had truly died, but He actually appeared to them alive, in the flesh. “A spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have,” He said then ate in their presence to prove it.
This is of vital importance to each of us who place our trust in the risen Savior, for the same thing that happened to Him is what will take place for us. As the “firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” (1 Corinthians 15:20) Jesus has gone before us, bodily, into heaven and promised to return to raise us up in the same way. We will not be angels or disembodied spirits, but rather real, living people made glorious and immortal. That’s why we have the same certainty that Job expressed: “I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another.” (Job 19:25-27)
Yes, Jesus lives! Not just His words that remain with us, not just the ideals that He inspires, but the living, breathing Son of God and Son of Man. And this risen Savior, who always keeps His promises, will call us forth, with glorified bodies, to take us home.
Glorified, I shall anew
With this flesh then be enshrouded;
In this body I shall view
God, my Lord, with eyes unclouded;
In this flesh I then shall see
Jesus Christ eternally. (The Lutheran Hymnal 206:5)