Post Twelve:
From the First to the Last — The Spiritual Body and the Resurrection Yet to Be Completed
Every year, the familiar proclamation is heard: He is risen.
The Christian world celebrates Easter as the resurrection of Jesus Christ. His death is remembered, the empty tomb is proclaimed, and his rising on the third day is celebrated as a completed event.
But what exactly are we celebrating? And what does Scripture mean when it speaks of Christ, his body, and the resurrection?
These are not small questions. They concern the very identity of Christ and the mystery YHWH (יהוה) has revealed through him.
Throughout our studies, we have followed Christ as the First and the Last, the head of one spiritual body, and the one through whom the restoration of life unfolds. We have examined the members joined to him, the household growing into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit, and the mystery that reaches its appointed completion.
If we separate the head from his members when speaking of resurrection, what happens to the whole body?
John 2 — The Third Day Begins with a Wedding
John opens his second chapter with a marriage on the third day.
Jesus and his disciples are invited. Six stone waterpots stand ready for purification. At his instruction, the servants fill them with water, and the water becomes good wine.
This is the beginning of his signs, through which he manifests his Glory. Read John 2:1–11.
The six vessels bring us back to the sixth-day provision of manna in Exodus 16, when the people receive a double portion before entering the Sabbath rest.
Provision precedes rest.
At Cana, water becomes good wine at a wedding. Later, Jesus gives bread and the cup to his disciples, speaking of his body and blood. He also speaks of drinking the fruit of the vine anew in his Father's kingdom. Read Matthew 26:26–29.
The provision, the marriage, and what remains appointed for the future deserve to be examined together.
But John 2 does not end with the wedding.
Jesus enters the temple, removes those buying and selling, and challenges what has been made of his Father's house.
Then he speaks these words:
"Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." — John 2:19, ASV
John explains that Jesus spoke of the temple of his body.
The chapter has brought us from a third-day wedding and the manifestation of Glory to the promise of raising the temple of his body.
What is the larger significance of that body?
One Body — So Also Is Christ
Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 12:12 that the body is one, although it has many members, and concludes:
"so also is Christ."
That statement changes how we must examine the body.
Christ is the head, yet those joined to him are his members. Paul identifies the believers as Christ's body in 1 Corinthians 12:27. Ephesians 1:22–23 also identifies the assembly as his body, while Ephesians 4 describes that body growing toward fullness.
The head and members have different positions, but they are not unrelated.
We cannot remove the members from the identity of the one spiritual body simply because the head comes first.
And Paul gives us another important distinction:
In 1 Corinthians 15:44, the natural body is sown, and a spiritual body is raised.
He then identifies the Last Adam as a life-giving Spirit.
This is why we must examine resurrection through the Spirit, rather than confining our understanding to the former fleshly condition.
No Longer Knowing Christ According to Flesh
Then 2 Corinthians 5:16–17 brings the relationship into even clearer focus.
Paul says that we no longer know Christ according to flesh. He immediately connects this with anyone being in Christ as a new creation.
Those two statements belong together.
We cannot speak about knowing Christ apart from the new creation that exists in him.
Jesus himself explains this relationship throughout John 14–17.
He promises not to leave his disciples desolate. He speaks of his disciples being in him and he in them. He describes himself as the vine and his disciples as the branches.
Then, in John 17:20–23, he prays for those who will believe through the disciples' word, that they may be one, just as he and the Father are one.
Christ in them. The Father in Christ. The members brought toward perfected unity.
Read John 14:18–23, John 15:1–7, and John 17:20–23.
This is not merely an institution organized around the memory of a man who once walked the earth.
It is a spiritual body, receiving life through Christ, growing toward its appointed fullness.
Paul himself speaks of Christ living in him. Read Galatians 2:20.
Through the Spirit, Christ continues working among his members.
The First Is Not the Last
Paul identifies Christ as the first fruits of those who sleep.
But he also preserves an order: Christ the first fruits, afterward those who belong to him, and then the end, when the opposing powers are abolished and the kingdom is delivered to the Father. Read 1 Corinthians 15:20–28.
Now compare Psalm 110.
Christ is seated at the right hand of YHWH (יהוה), awaiting the subjection of his enemies.
Hebrews 10:12–13 preserves that waiting.
The head has arisen and is enthroned, yet the work described throughout Scripture continues toward its appointed completion.
The members must be brought toward fullness. Death remains the final enemy to be abolished.
And Christ identifies himself as the First and the Last.
We have followed this relationship throughout our studies: the First, the final joined one, and the wider household that follows.
The Head's resurrection begins the work. It does not mean that every member of his body has already reached the promised resurrection.
The Third Day — Jonah, Hosea, and Darkness
Jesus compares his coming experience with Jonah's three days and nights in the belly of the great fish. Read Matthew 12:38–40.
Hosea 6:2 speaks of being revived after two days and raised on the third, so that the people may live before YHWH (יהוה).
Matthew 27:45 records darkness over the land for three hours surrounding Jesus' death.
We have been examining whether these measurements may reveal corresponding spiritual periods involving darkness, confinement, awakening, and restoration.
Peter describes Christ as put to death in flesh but made alive in spirit, followed by his proclamation to the spirits in prison. Read 1 Peter 3:18–22.
This brings us back to the distinction between the death of flesh and the life given through the Spirit.
We have also examined the opening of tombs at Jesus' death and the coming out of those raised afterward, the separate head cloth in John's tomb account, and the blood and water that came from his pierced side.
These events invite us to examine the beginning of deliverance, the opening of what was closed, and the raising that follows.
The Mystery — Finished at the Seventh Trumpet
Paul speaks of hidden wisdom ordained before the ages for Glory. He also speaks of vessels of mercy prepared beforehand for Glory.
Jesus tells his disciples that knowledge of the mysteries of God's kingdom has been granted to them. Read 1 Corinthians 2:7–10 and Luke 8:10.
In Ephesians 5:31–32, Paul speaks of the two becoming one and identifies a great mystery concerning Christ and his assembly.
The mystery is not merely a teaching that men have failed to explain. It belongs to the wisdom and purpose of YHWH (יהוה), made known through Christ and the Spirit.
And Revelation gives us a crucial prophetic marker.
Revelation 10:7 places the finishing of the mystery of God in the days of the seventh angel's sounding.
Revelation 11 describes the two witnesses testifying, dying, receiving the Spirit of life, standing, and ascending. The earthquake follows, the second woe passes, and the seventh angel sounds.
Then the kingdom is proclaimed. Read Revelation 10:7 and Revelation 11:3–19.
Paul also connects a mystery, transformation, and the last trumpet in 1 Corinthians 15:51–52.
These connections bring us beyond an annual observance of the empty tomb.
The mystery has an appointed completion. Its beginning must not be confused with its fullness.
Easter — What Are We Really Proclaiming?
This is where I must question the traditional celebration of Easter.
It is not enough to proclaim that Jesus rose from the dead while leaving the meaning of his spiritual body unexplored.
Scripture does not command an annual Easter celebration. The familiar Friday-to-Sunday observance is a Christian tradition, while the Scriptural accounts direct us toward the appointed times, Christ's resurrection, the Spirit, and the promised completion.
Traditional Christianity generally distinguishes Jesus' resurrection from the future resurrection of believers. Yet that distinction alone does not answer the deeper question of what it means to be in Christ.
If Scripture identifies the members as Christ's body, why should the celebration of His resurrection be understood apart from the body's ongoing formation and promised raising?
To me, this is not a small difference in interpretation.
A celebration that presents the risen Jesus primarily as an individual separated from the spiritual body risks obscuring the very mystery Scripture reveals.
The head has arisen. But his members are not forgotten, and the appointed work is not yet complete.
Many still suffer. Many await the promised life. The body continues toward fullness.
I cannot accept an annual celebration as the measure of that completed work when Scripture directs our attention toward the resurrection's order, the transformation at the trumpet, and the completion of God's mystery.
And this brings us back to Paul's warning in 2 Timothy 2:17–18.
He condemns the claim that the resurrection is already past, because it undermines the faith of others.
Paul does not deny the resurrection of Christ. Rather, the warning reminds us why we must distinguish what has already occurred from what remains promised.
If we mistake the beginning for the completion, we risk losing sight of those who are still to be raised.
This is why the identity of Christ matters.
The genuine Christ cannot be understood by separating the head from the members whom Scripture identifies as his own body.
Our hope is not merely in remembering a past event.
It is in the living Christ, through whom YHWH (יהוה) is bringing His people toward the promised fullness.
Where the Word Leads
John 2 begins with a third-day wedding, six waterpots, good wine, and the manifestation of Glory. It then records Christ's promise to raise the temple of his body.
Paul describes the many members as one body, saying, “so also is Christ.” He tells us that we no longer know Christ according to flesh and that those in him are a new creation.
Jesus speaks of his followers abiding in him and of his own presence within them. He prays that they may be brought toward perfected unity.
The first fruits have arisen. Yet the resurrection has an order, the body continues toward fullness, and the mystery of God reaches its appointed completion in connection with the seventh trumpet.
These passages should not be separated.
For now, I leave one question:
Are we celebrating a familiar account of a resurrection already accomplished, or are we recognizing the living Christ whose one spiritual body is still being brought toward its promised completion?
If the head and his members are one body, then we must understand both the beginning and the end of the work.
The resurrection of Christ is not a story to be confined to one annual celebration.
It is inseparable from the life, transformation, and restoration YHWH (יהוה) is accomplishing through him.
Threads to Follow
- The third-day wedding and temple: John 2:1–22.
- Provision before rest: Exodus 16:22–30; John 6:35–40; Matthew 26:26–29.
- The spiritual body: 1 Corinthians 12:12–27; 15:20–52.
- Christ in his members: John 14–17; Galatians 2:20; 2 Corinthians 5:16–17.
- The growing temple: Ephesians 1:22–23; 2:14–22; 4:11–16; 5:25–32.
- The three days: Jonah 1:17–2:10; Hosea 6:1–3; Matthew 12:38–40; Matthew 27:45–53.
- The Spirit and the witnesses: 1 Peter 3:18–22; John 19:34–35; 1 John 5:6–8.
- The head and feet: Psalm 110:1; Hebrews 10:12–13.
- The resurrection and the mystery: 2 Timothy 2:16–19; 1 Corinthians 2:7–10; 15:51–52; Revelation 10:7; 11:3–19.
The books were opened…
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