Resurrection Body But Not Glorified Body?

Q

You’ve written that Christ didn’t appear in His glorified body after the resurrection. If that’s true how did He appear in the upper room whilst the doors were bolted shut? Didn’t He ascend to heaven and sprinkle His blood on the Mercy Seat before coming back to earth for forty days? I always figured that once He was raised He was in His glorified body. I never even entertained the notion that He was in His regular “human” body after he arose. Is there scripture I can use to reference this idea?

A

Here’s Matthew’s description of what Jesus looked like in His glorified body on the Mt. of Transfiguration. “His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light” (Matt. 17:2). Mark 9:2 says they were a dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. Luke 9:29 says the appearance of His face changed and His clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning.

In Rev. 1:14-16 John described Him this way . “His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.”

In the 40 days between His resurrection and ascension, the New Testament records 12 post resurrection appearances by Jesus to individuals and groups of various sizes, the largest being about 500 in number. There’s no indication that He looked like this in any of them.

He could appear and disappear at will, whether in a room with locked doors (John 20:19) or walking along a road (Luke 24:15). But He didn’t look like he did in the descriptions of His transfiguration, which the dictionary defines as “the supernatural and glorified change in the appearance of Jesus on the mountain.” He looked like other people on Earth.

This tells us that resurrection bodies have the ability to appear in different ways, and can do other things natural bodies can’t do. 1 John 3:2 says after the rapture we’ll be like Him. To me that means we’ll have similar capabilities.