Every year around Easter
articles are published in
which doubts are expressed about the trustworthiness of the Biblical
stories
about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Some call the stories on the
Gospel
‘pure nonsense.’ Some who want to be polite say that the stories about
the
resurrection of Jesus were an invention of His disciples to keep
courage and to
continue with their ministry, otherwise the three-and-a-halve years
with Jesus
had been in vain. Some – even some scholars - think that in the
coolness of the
tomb the body revived – Jesus had not really been dead, but had been
near death
and the disciples made some deal with the Romans to get Him out off the
tomb
and cared for Him.
I want to react to that last
suggestion: I cannot
understand how critics dare to make this suggestion for the wounds and
terrible
injuries of Jesus were that serious that if He had still lived in the
tomb He
should according to our present understanding immediately have been
taken to
the intensive care unit of the best hospital in the neighbourhood to
have a
possibility to come back to a normal life!
Many cannot believe in- and
accept a personal
resurrection from death whereby the identity of the person is
preserved. Those who
believe in the possibility of reincarnation, say that living creatures
as men
and animals return several times to this planet, but each time as
another
individual or even as some Eastern religions say, as another living
creature, an animal or insect. Believing
in
reincarnation as another individual leads to absurd decisions as
opening a
saving account for the next life so that they will be not be then
without a some
financial security. But you have to prove in your next life that you
are that
person that opened that savings-account in your former life.
Some like to
think about the risen Lord Jesus as a
kind of reincarnation of the former person. However, the risen Lord was
not a
reincarnation, tLet this be clear from the Gospel records. The risen
Lord was
the same individual as before with the same identity and the complete
characteristics of His body and personality. The physical wounds and
injuries
were still in His body and His disciples could after they recovered
from their
shock recognize Him again as their Lord, (John 20:24-29). But there was
a great
difference as we look at sensational qualities He had now. He could
suddenly
appear, come into room while the doors were shut and suddenly
disappear. When
He went to heaven He rose from the surface and floated higher and
higher until
He disappeared in a cloud.
It is clear
that the risen human being will enter a
different dimension of existence, which I would call as the Scriptures
do, a
glorified, heavenly body. You could call this: a super-physical life,
still
human, still having the same identity and qualities. This kind of
existence is
above our intelligence and cannot be understood in a scientific way.
All who
believe in Him will be raised in the same kind of existence as Christ
was,
having an eternal, glorified or heavenly body, (Philippians 3:20,21).
A new, heavenly life after death
shall always have to
face unbelief for it cannot be proved on a scientific way. But this is
also
true for those so called remembrances of a former life, that seem to
come to
the surface of consciousness in certain therapies.
The conclusion is
unavoidable. The resurrection life
that Jesus demonstrated before the eyes of His disciples cannot be
called a
reincarnation. He had the same body that was recognized by His
disciples, but
it had a new quality of existence. If I make a comparison between the
quality
before and after death, I say that in the present life the body of man
determines where his spirit is present and in the new, resurrected and
heavenly
life his spirit determines where his body and consciousness are
present. The
risen Lord Jesus is the first human being that demonstrated this new
way of
human existence before the eyes of His disciples. Those who believe in
Him now
will after death and at their resurrection receive the same new quality
of
life, (1 Corinthians 15:20, 44-49). We do not hesitate to declare and
confess with
great joy with all Christians, (Lucas 24:34): The LORD is
risen indeed!
Pastor T. J. de Ruiter, in The
Netherlands, March 2012
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T. J. de Ruiter