John 20:24-29
Jesus Appears to Thomas
24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Acts 1:1-11
Jesus Ascends to Heaven
1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
1 Corinthians 15:35-58
The Resurrected Body
35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” 36 How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. 39 Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. 40 There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. 41 The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.
42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual.47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven.48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.
50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
55
“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
John 3:3-21
We Must Be Born Again and from Above to See the Kingdom of God
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
Jesus came to us in the flesh in a body and dwelt with us...He lived, He taught, He did miracles, and He died on the cross in bodily form...He did these things quite humanly, yet He also did many, many things quite miraculously...And then He did, what I think was His greatest miracle of all...He offered His body for ours on the cross...And He returned after His death, alive...He resurrected from His death...And stayed and taught His Disciples for forty more days...And gave them convincing evidence that He did come back from His own death...And after His forty days back on earth and after His death, Jesus went back to heaven in bodily form...And this bodily form and His ascension into heaven in bodily form raises a lot of questions about Jesus for us...I think it is good Thomas got to physically touch Jesus and His cross wounds, after His death...Jesus was sometimes hard to recognized after His death...Maybe it was because He was part Spirit and part Human...
St. Luke writes about Jesus ascending to heaven in his book the Acts of the Apostles...St. Luke writes as the Disciples were watching Jesus' body flow up into the skies and toward the heavens and was taken up before their very eyes, a cloud hid Him from their sight...Jesus had ascended into the clouds...And then St. Luke writes of something quite interesting about Jesus' body...As the Disciples were looking intently up into the sky as Jesus was going up into the clouds above them, they suddenly saw two men dressed in white stood beside them...“Men of Galilee,” the two men said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky?...This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.”...So we must believe that Jesus will return one day in bodily form, just as the Disciples seen Him go into the clouds, the sky and eventually heaven...So St. Luke is telling us that Jesus will return to earth one day in bodily form, just as the Disciples saw Him leave earth...Jesus will return both Divine and Spiritual, but also in His earthly bodily form, just as He left and in the same way...
St. Paul writes the Corinthians and brings up a very practical question about the resurrected body...Some will wonder and as, "How are the dead raised up?...And with what body do they come?"...Will men and women come back like Jesus in this bodily form too?...The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection, so they had this question and concerns...St. Paul gives us the example of a seed, like a seed of wheat...When a seed of wheat is originally planted it looks nothing like the end product of grown wheat or harvested wheat...The seed appears dead, or almost dead when we plant it, but it comes to life, and is changed...As the seed grows and changes, a field of growing wheat looks thriving and alive...
St. Paul teaches us that what you sow does not come to life unless it dies...When you sow, you do not plant the body that will remain static, but just as a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else, a change takes place...God gives many things a body as He has determined, and to each kind of seed He gives its own body...Not all flesh are the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another...Not all bodies are the same...There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another...The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor...So will it be with the resurrection of the dead body...The body that is sown is perishable and must die, but it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, but it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, but it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, but it is raised a spiritual body...If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body...St. Paul says it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving Spirit...The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual...The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second Man is of heaven...As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the Heavenly Man, so also are those who are of heaven...And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the Heavenly Man...I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable...Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet...For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed...For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality...When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”...And if we believe this, then death loses its great sting...Death gives only has its victory to the unbeliever...St. Paul mysterious says that we all have a natural earthly body, like Jesus had...But we are also given a spiritual body, like Jesus had that ascended into heaven as the Disciples watched...We have an earthly body like Adam, but will be given a heavenly body like Jesus...The natural earthly body comes first and then comes our Spiritual body...We all will die and all be buried (like the seed of wheat), but after that, like the seed of wheat we all will be changed, in a flash...In a twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet, we will change again, and have a Spiritual body...Like we have changed from our conception in our mother's womb to the time we left her womb...And this Spiritual body change will happen in a twinkling of an eye...It will happen at Godspeed, at the last trumpet...This is a Great Mystery...
When we are buried, we are done so in weakness and in death, but we will be raised in glory and power by the victory over death through our Lord Jesus Christ...And by God's grace we have the good news...We need a Spirit, a Person, a Man from above to help us be born from again and from above and in a new and different way...In God's Grace we are saved and the door to heaven is open to us by believing in God and His Son...And we shall have eternal life in this new and different body that He will give us...This change is not brought on by us by any wisdom or ways of what we have done...It is LOVINGLY given by God, by the power of the Holy Spirit...Heaven is the dwelling place of God and His Son, and we must change to the Spirit, if we are to live there...
How can this be?...By the Grace of God and by His LOVE...By God sending His Son to save us from our own sins...By the way of a Son suffering on a cross...By His suffering on the cross, we are saved...By rising again and showing us that death can be overcome through God's LOVE for this world...That is the how this can be...