What was the resurrected Jesus like? Jesus’ resurrection body had “flesh and bones.” He was not a ghost. The disciples were able to recognize Him and to touch Him. He spoke with them.
But could they all have been having a group hallucination? No, because the disciples were not the only ones who saw and touched Jesus. Paul makes a long list of people who claimed to have seen the risen Christ personally, and notes that “most of them are still living” (1 Corinthians 15:6).
Moreover, there has to be some explanation for how the cowardly group of disciples was transformed into a group of leaders. Many of them went on to live sacrificial lives, and were killed for teaching that Jesus had been resurrected.
Jesus had risen, just as He told them He would. After a criminal does his time in jail and fully satisfies the sentence, the law no longer has a claim on the criminal, he walks out of jail free.
Jesus Christ came to pay the penalty for our sins. The sentence upon him was an infinite sentence because of the infinite nature of man’s sin. He must have satisfied the sentence fully because on Easter Sunday He walked out of prison free. The resurrection was God’s way of stamping PAID IN FULL right across history so that nobody could miss it. The sentence was fulfilled. The penalty was paid. ------- Adapted from: King's Cross by Timothy Keller © 2011.
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