My dear friend, the quick answer is that the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ was indeed physical, and upon this critical point, Scripture is very clear. When the Lord Jesus was placed in the tomb, His body was dead. The Romans would have seen to that, and the disciples who buried Him knew well about death, so of this there can be no doubt. Jesus’ Spirit was not dead but was separated from His body and was with the Father, while the body without the Spirit rested in a grave to which there was only one door, and that sealed by the order of Pilate. On that first day of the week, Christ Jesus had risen from the dead, leaving the tomb empty. Given the guards and the seal on the tomb, there was absolutely no possibility that His body had been “stolen” away by anyone, and yet the body itself was gone. The women who arrived early in the morning found that the tomb was indeed empty, and seeing that the stone had been rolled away, they naturally assumed that His body had been removed by someone and taken away. But the angel was there to assure them that He had not been “stolen away,” but that He had risen. Then, later on that same day, the Lord Jesus appeared in the upper room in the body that the disciples knew so well, with the marks of His crucifixion yet evident. In the account of Luke 24, we see clearly that His disciples were at first afraid, fearing that He was a ghost; however, He specifically comforted them by allowing them to handle His body and satisfy themselves that He was real. In Luke 24:37-39 we read: “But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And He said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? 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.” As an additional proof that He was not just a spirit, we read in Luke 24:41-43, “And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, He said unto them, Have ye here any meat? And they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And He took it, and did eat before them.” Again, in the account of John 20, we have another proof of the fact of a physical resurrection. We read there that the disciple Thomas had not been with the other disciples in the upper room on that first day of the week when the Lord first appeared to His disciples in the upper room. And, when they told Thomas what they had seen, he refused to believe until he had witnessed for himself. In verse 25 we read: “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.” Thomas insisted upon seeing the Lord Jesus’ living body before he would believe. Then a week later, the Lord appeared again among His disciples, and this time, Thomas was present. In verses 27-28 we have a most compelling proof that the Lord’s body was now alive from the dead: “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. And Thomas answered and said unto Him, My LORD and my God.”

Now, you might be asking that if His body was indeed physical, the very body which had previously been nailed to that dreadful cross, then how is it that He was able to appear in that upper room, with the doors locked and no other way in? The answer is that when our Lord Jesus rose from the dead on the third day, His body, though it was indeed His actual body, had been transformed into a glorified body. As such, it was no longer subject to the physical limitations of this world, no longer limited in movement by physical barriers, and though He was able to eat and drink, He was no longer dependent upon breathing, eating or drinking for life. What’s more, because our Lord Jesus did rise from the dead, we know that our bodies, those of all true believers on the Lord Jesus Christ who have died, will one day come forth from the grave, and those bodies will be transformed into glorified bodies, “like unto His glorious body” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). The bodies that we now have are made of material suitable to life only on this earth, and thus when we go to heaven, our earthly bodies must be changed to have bodies like that of our risen Lord Jesus, bodies suitable to life in heaven (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18; 1 Corinthians 15:53, “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” See also 1 Corinthians 15:51-52).

In summary, the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ was indeed physical, and so it must be according to the Scriptures. But this also means that our mortal bodies will one day be transformed into glorified bodies like His, “Because whom He has foreknown, He has also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He should be the firstborn among many brethren,” (JND Version). And do you believe the Scriptures? Jesus said to Thomas in John 20:29: “…Thomas, because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”  (SF)  (663.3)