The “Return” of Christ: What Does it Mean?

[Matthias]

It sounds like a simple enough question. Right?

“Return.” What does it mean? Is it literal or is it only symbolic?

For the Christian:

Following his bodily resurrection from the grave, Jesus of Nazareth himself ascended into heaven. Jesus of Nazareth himself will return from heaven to the earth, his second coming, at some point yet in the future. Return. Literal.

We’ve learned recently that Baha’i don’t believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus.

Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah / Christ. Bodily resurrected. - Christianity

Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah / Christ. Not bodily resurrected. - Baha’i

Red flag.

This raises an important question: Do Baha’i believe Jesus himself is returning? Which is to ask, do the Baha’i understand the return of the Messiah / Christ to be literal (as Christianity does) or only symbolic?

”The Baha’i teachings offer a different perspective.”

The “Return” of Christ: What Does it Mean?

Now let’s talk about the return of Christ—and see if we can figure out what the word “return” really means. Is it literal or symbolic?

bahaiteachings.org

Dr. Christopher Buck, a faculty instructor at the Willamette Institute, Department of Baha’i History, was raised Christian. He became a Baha’i when he was 22 years old. He tells us his personal story in the article. I’m going to go a little past that transition from Christian to Baha’i and pick up what he says about himself after becoming Baha’i.

“… I had some lingering doubts as to whether Baha’u’llah was indeed the return of Christ, as Baha’i claim.”

He was overjoyed, he says, when he was finally able to put those lingering doubts to rest. He was now all in on the Baha’i religion.

Baha'u'llah was the return of Christ?

Christ has already returned?

Baha’u’llah, not Jesus of Nazareth himself, is the return of Christ?

Red flag.

”So, to sum up, the Baha’i teachings offer a new understanding of the ‘return’ of Christ. It is not a literal return of Jesus Christ. Why? Because that would be reincarnation - a doctrine foreign to Christianity, historically and doctrinally.

Just as John the Baptist, according to the Bible itself, would come ‘in the spirit and power of Elias’ (Luke 1:17), so Baha’u’llah has come in ‘in the spirit and power’ of Jesus Christ, Baha’i believe.

This understanding of ‘return’ has profound implications for appreciating what Baha’i mean when they refer to Baha’u’llah as the ‘return’ of Christ. …”

Baha’i don’t believe in a literal return of Jesus Christ himself. Christians do.

If one believes in the literal return of Jesus Christ, Baha’i points out that this isn’t possible -> that’s reincarnation!, says Baha’i.

Everyone knows, or should know, that the concept of reincarnation isn’t a Christian concept. Christians know it. So too does Baha’i.

Baha’i to the Christian: You believe the Bible is teaching the literal return of Christ. You don’t really understand what the Bible teaches, but we Baha’i do, and we will teach you. The Bible does not teach the literal return of Christ. That’s reincarnation. You’re looking for Jesus himself. The Bible is really teaching us not to look for Jesus himself, but to look for Baha’u’llah.

Does it matter?

”Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!‘ do not believe him. For false messiah’s and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”

(Matthew 24: 22-24, NET)

“Look, there he is! Baha’u’llah, the returned Christ!” - Baha’i

Do not believe him.

Do not give up on the Christian hope and expectation of the future, literal, bodily return of Jesus of Nazareth himself, the Christ. If you do, you will have been deceived.

P.S.

I neglected to notify @Pancho Frijoles about the creation of this thread. That was an oversight, a mistake, on my part.

 

[Aunty Jane]

It sounds like a simple enough question. Right?

“Return.” What does it mean? Is it literal or is it only symbolic?

For the Christian:

Following his bodily resurrection from the grave, Jesus of Nazareth himself ascended into heaven. Jesus of Nazareth himself will return from heaven to the earth, his second coming, at some point yet in the future. Return. Literal.

JW’s do not believe in a bodily resurrection of Christ either, for a number of reasons.
”Flesh and blood cannot inherit God’s Kingdom”.(1 Cor 15:50) IOW, no human of flesh can enter the spirit realm where the invisible God resides. Humans cannot exist outside of Earth’s atmosphere.

The flesh and blood human that Jesus was, could not return to heaven in a body of flesh….but what if he was not resurrected in a body of flesh, but could materialize one? Does the Bible support this notion? If so, why was that necessary?

1 Cor 15:42-45….
”So it is with the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised up in incorruption. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised up in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised up in power. 44 It is sown a physical body; it is raised up a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual one. 45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living person.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.”

Peter said that Christ was “put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit” (1 Peter 3:18) …..if, with the resurrection of Jesus, he was given a spirit body (such as all those who dwell in heaven have) then as this Scripture confirms, Jesus became a “life giving spirit”.

Scripture tells us that spirit beings can materialize bodies of flesh, who can eat and drink and interact with other humans, like the angels who visited Abraham at Mamre….they ate and drank what was provided for them…they went on to Sodom to rescue Lot and his family and ate a meal provided for them there too.

Gabriel visited both Daniel and Mary….in both instances some 500 years apart, this angel materialized as a man, to deliver his message to those two important people.

So if Jesus is to come again…..it will not be in the flesh, because no reincarnation is necessary.
He will manifest as a warrior King with his angelic forces to bring wicked humans to an accounting.
However he is manifested, humans will know that he has come to bring them to justice for what they have done to this earth, and each other.

We’ve learned recently that Baha’i don’t believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus.

Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah / Christ. Bodily resurrected. - Christianity

Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah / Christ. Not bodily resurrected. - Baha’i

Red flag.

I believe the Bible gives us another explanation….neither “Christianity” nor Baha’i have it right.

Baha’i to the Christian: You believe the Bible is teaching the literal return of Christ. You don’t really
understand what the Bible teaches, but we Baha’i do, and we will teach you. The Bible does not teach the literal return of Christ. That’s reincarnation. You’re looking for Jesus himself. The Bible is really teaching us not to look for Jesus himself, but to look for Baha’u’llah.

Jesus is not going to return as a human…..his body was sacrificed for mankind…he did not take it back.

His life paid a debt that was owed to God on behalf of the human race, brought to an imperfect sinful condition of the flesh by the actions of three rebels who individually made choices that brought pain, suffering and death to the human race. Each made their own choices for their own selfish reasons…..Christ made a choice to but a completely unselfish one…the rescue mission.

 

[Matthias]

JW’s do not believe in a bodily resurrection of Christ either, for a number of reasons.
”Flesh and blood cannot inherit God’s Kingdom”.(1 Cor 15:50) IOW, no human of flesh can enter the spirit realm where the invisible God resides. Humans cannot exist outside of Earth’s atmosphere.

The flesh and blood human that Jesus was, could not return to heaven in a body of flesh….but what if he was not resurrected in a body of flesh, but could materialize one? Does the Bible support this notion? If so, why was that necessary?

1 Cor 15:42-45….
”So it is with the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised up in incorruption. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised up in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised up in power. 44 It is sown a physical body; it is raised up a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual one. 45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living person.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.”

Peter said that Christ was “put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit” (1 Peter 3:18) …..if, with the resurrection of Jesus, he was given a spirit body (such as all those who dwell in heaven have) then as this Scripture confirms, Jesus became a “life giving spirit”.

Scripture tells us that spirit beings can materialize bodies of flesh, who can eat and drink and interact with other humans, like the angels who visited Abraham at Mamre….they ate and drank what was provided for them…they went on to Sodom to rescue Lot and his family and ate a meal provided for them there too.

Gabriel visited both Daniel and Mary….in both instances some 500 years apart, this angel materialized as a man, to deliver his message to those two important people.

So if Jesus is to come again…..it will not be in the flesh, because no reincarnation is necessary.
He will manifest as a warrior King with his angelic forces to bring wicked humans to an accounting.
However he is manifested, humans will know that he has come to bring them to justice for what they have done to this earth, and each other.

I believe the Bible gives us another explanation….neither “Christianity” nor Baha’i have it right.

Jesus is not going to return as a human…..his body was sacrificed for mankind…he did not take it back.

His life paid a debt that was owed to God on behalf of the human race, brought to an imperfect sinful condition of the flesh by the actions of three rebels who individually made choices that brought pain, suffering and death to the human race. Each made their own choices for their own selfish reasons…..Christ made a choice to but a completely unselfish one…the rescue mission.

My apologetic was aimed squarely at the Baha’i religion but I anticipated that @Pancho Frijoles would very likely appeal to the JW rejection of the bodily resurrection of the human Messiah as part of his defense. I welcome your contribution to the thread.

My apology is anti-Baha’i and anti-JW. (Bold for emphasis.)

It’s surprising to me how often people mistake me for a JW. (I’ve never had anyone mistake me for a Baha’i.) JW‘s know after only a few minutes of conversation - almost instantly, in fact - that I’m not a JW. Our respective Christologies are not even remotely the same. The major thing that we have in common is restorationism, the kingdom of God will be established on the earth. Even on that issue there is only partial agreement.

The issue of the bodily resurrection of Jesus alone should put to rest once and for all in the minds of our readers any thought that I’m a JW. I thank you for that.

I’ll allow some time for others to weigh in with any other reasons they might have against bodily resurrection before commenting further.

 

[Pancho Frijoles]

Hi @Matthias, @Aunty Jane and friends

To understand the particular Bahai perspetive, I think these are some of the topics I would include in a discussion

• What is the promise God has made about the future of humanity (ie, the Messianic kingdom, or new heavens and new earth, or Celestial Jerusalem)
• Whether the components of Jesus Second Coming [resurrection, trumpets, angels, visibility, clouds, etc) could be interpreted metaphorically or not
• The radical, never-seen changes in civilization since the middle of XIX century and how they correlate with God promise
• The mission of Bahá’u’lláh

 

[Matthias]

”Flesh and blood cannot inherit God’s Kingdom”.(1 Cor 15:50) IOW, no human of flesh can enter the spirit realm where the invisible God resides. Humans cannot exist outside of Earth’s atmosphere.

As presently constituted - that’s the key. Our bodies wear out. The kingdom will last forever. The solution is bodies that won’t wear out.

The flesh and blood human that Jesus was, could not return to heaven in a body of flesh….but what if he was not resurrected in a body of flesh, but could materialize one? Does the Bible support this notion? If so, why was that necessary?

1 Cor 15:42-45….
”So it is with the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised up in incorruption. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised up in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised up in power. 44 It is sown a physical body; it is raised up a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual one. 45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living person.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.”

The body that wears out (the corruptible) and is placed in the ground when we die is raised the body that does not wear out (the incorruptible) in the resurrection. Body in, body out. The body is changed in the resurrection, but it is still a body. The body that wears out is destructible; it is a natural body. The body that does not wear out is indestructible; it is a spiritual body.

What comes first? The natural or the spiritual? The natural comes first.

Jesus had a natural body. It was corruptible, but it wasn’t left in the ground long enough to decay. I have a natural body. It is corruptible. When I die it will decay in the grave.

Jesus was resurrected from the dead with a spiritual body. It is incorruptible. When I am resurrected from the dead I will have a spiritual body. My body in the resurrection will be like Jesus’ body in the resurrection.

When the disciples saw Jesus after the resurrection he had a body. It wasn’t the natural body, it was the spiritual body. The appearance of his spiritual body was the appearance of his natural body. He looked the same. He had eyes, and ears, and mouth, and teeth, hair, arms, hands, torso, legs, and feet. They spoke with him, they ate with him, they touched him. He wasn’t a phantom. He was a human person with a body - a spiritual body that has remarkable abilities that a natural body does not.

Jesus was a mortal human person. He died, was buried, and resurrected to life an immortal human person. I am a mortal person. I will die, be buried, and resurrected to life an immortal human person. The quality of my body will be changed (mortal vs. immortal) but I will still be a human person.

Abraham was a mortal human person. God promised him the land. Abraham didn’t receive the land he was promised. He lived in it as a resident alien. He died. He is buried. He hasn’t been resurrected yet. When he is resurrected to life he will receive the land that God promised him. He will have a spiritual body, an indestructible body, an incorruptible body because that’s what it’s going to take for him to live forever in the land that he is promised. His body then will be like Jesus’ body is now. The same will be true for the seed of Abraham - not the natural descendants, the spiritual descendants. They will inherit the earth.

Peter said that Christ was “put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit” (1 Peter 3:18) …..if, with the resurrection of Jesus, he was given a spirit body (such as all those who dwell in heaven have) then as this Scripture confirms, Jesus became a “life giving spirit”.

See above.

Scripture tells us that spirit beings can materialize bodies of flesh, who can eat and drink and interact with other humans, like the angels who visited Abraham at Mamre….they ate and drank what was provided for them…they went on to Sodom to rescue Lot and his family and ate a meal provided for them there too.

Gabriel visited both Daniel and Mary….in both instances some 500 years apart, this angel materialized as a man, to deliver his message to those two important people.

So if Jesus is to come again…..it will not be in the flesh, because no reincarnation is necessary.

Jesus will come again. He will sit on the throne of his father (ancestor) David in Jerusalem. There is no reincarnation. It is the changed body from natural to spiritual.

He will manifest as a warrior King with his angelic forces to bring wicked humans to an accounting.
However he is manifested, humans will know that he has come to bring them to justice for what they have done to this earth, and each other.

Yes. They will see him! He isn’t an invisible human person. He is a visible human person.

Jesus is not going to return as a human…..his body was sacrificed for mankind…he did not take it back.

Jesus is a human person. He was born a human person, he died a human person, he was raised a human person. He was a mortal human person. He is now an immortal human person. What changed wasn’t his species. What changed was the nature of his body.

All who will inherit the kingdom of God when Jesus returns are co-heirs with him. They will be immortal human persons. Just as there is no change in his species, there will be no change in our species. The human person that was clothed with mortality will be the human person who is clothed with immortality.

If you are going to live in the coming kingdom of God you will be living in it as a human person, not as some other species of being.

The immortal human persons will reign over the mortal human persons for a thousand years. The mortal human persons won’t have spiritual bodies. Their natural, mortal human bodies will wear out and they will die. They will live longer then than we live now but they will still die. Their place will be in the second resurrection. If fheir names are found recorded in the book of life they will be granted immortality. If their names are not found recorded in the book of life they will not be granted immortality.

Human persons will always be human persons.

The issue isn’t human person vs. non-human person. The issue is immortal human person vs. mortal human person.

 

[Matthias]

No bodily resurrection of Christ. Where then is the body? What happened to it? The New Testament tells us what the unbelieving Jews said happened to it (Matthew 28:12-15).

Jesus of Nazareth was dead. The unbelieving Jews (and the Romans) were convinced of that. So, too, were the believing Jews.

Jesus of Nazareth has been resurrected to life. He was dead. He is alive now. The believing Jews were convinced of that. What is their proof? They had the living body. The man, the human person, was literally in their midst. They are the true witnesses.

The New Testament stands or falls on their witness of the bodily resurrected Christ.

 

[Pancho Frijoles]

As presently constituted - that’s the key. Our bodies wear out. The kingdom will last forever. The solution is bodies that won’t wear out.

I see your point, and I fully recognize you have many reasons to believe in that.
What I would put into your consideration, and the consideration of @Aunty Jane, is the idea that God created our bodies with the purpose of living forever in bodies.

What the objective truth written in nature tell us, is that all bodies (plants, animals, men) are born to die. To get incorporated into a cycle of carbon, nitrogen and other components.

I believe God saves our souls. The kind of life he promise is the life of the spirit.

 

[Matthias]

I see your point, and I fully recognize you have many reasons to believe in that.
What I would put into your consideration, and the consideration of @Aunty Jane, is the idea that God created our bodies with the purpose of living forever in bodies.

Yes. There is no living without a body.

What the objective truth written in nature tell us, is that all bodies (plants, animals, men) are born to die. To get incorporated into a cycle of carbon, nitrogen and other components.

Hence the need for spiritual bodies. The life of the age to come is everlasting. Natural bodies aren’t everlasting; they aren’t the bodies of the age to come.

I believe God saves our souls. The kind of life he promise is the life of the spirit.

You are a soul.

Is it your belief that you will one day be changed from a human person to a non-human person?

 

[Pancho Frijoles]

Yes. There is no living without a body.



Hence the need for spiritual bodies. The life of the age to come is everlasting. Natural bodies aren’t everlasting; they aren’t the bodies of the age to come.



You are a soul.

Is it your belief that you will one day be changed from a human person to a non-human person?

Hi Matthias

I agree with you in that spiritual bodies are different from biological bodies.
Biological bodies are designed to die, decompose and serve other bodies. This is good. Not the result of wrongdoing, but the natural purpose of God in creating our bodies.

Regarding your question on a change from a human to a non-human person, my answer is yes, inasmuch as we consider "human" to be part of the Homo sapiens species, which has a biological body with the characteristics of H. sapiens.

In other words, I think we will not need oxygen, sugar, etc. and consequently, will not have a circulatory or gastrointestinal system. Locomotion will not need arms or legs. Sight will not need eyes. Thinking will not need brains.

If the "spiritual body" you are imagining a body without the need of these things, I share a similar belief.

 

[Matthias]

Hi Matthias

I agree with you in that spiritual bodies are different from biological bodies.

Spiritual bodies are different from natural bodies. A natural human body goes into the grave. A spiritual human body comes out of the grave.

When do Baha’i think they will receive spiritual bodies? How is that brought about in your religion?

Biological bodies are designed to die, decompose and serve other bodies.

Natural bodies have an expiration date. They eventually decline and fail. They decompose and cease to exist in the grave. Living human persons are animated dust. Dead human persons return to the dust of the earth.

This is good. Not the result of wrongdoing …

The creation suffers because of man’s wrongdoing.

… but the natural purpose of God in creating our bodies.

God foreknew what man was going to do before he created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them. Sin is destructive. Mortal is destructible; immortal is indestructible.

Regarding your question on a change from a human to a non-human person, my answer is yes, inasmuch as we consider "human" to be part of the Homo sapiens species, which has a biological body with the characteristics of H. sapiens.

So when you are no longer a human person, you think you will be a non-human person. A human being now, a non-human being later. Human beings will cease to exist. They will be replaced with some other kind of being. God’s creation, which he called “very good,” is no more. It isn’t restored, it’s annihilated / eliminated. That’s not the biblical story. That’s the Baha’i interpretation of the biblical story.

In other words, I think we will not need oxygen, sugar, etc. and consequently, will not have a circulatory or gastrointestinal system. Locomotion will not need arms or legs. Sight will not need eyes. Thinking will not need brains.

See the resurrected Jesus. He himself is the biblical prototype of the spiritual human body. He was breathing oxygen, eating food, thinking, walking, talking, seeing, hearing, etc. following his resurrection. The disciples were able to touch his spiritual body. It / he is corporeal.

If the "spiritual body" you are imagining a body without the need of these things, I share a similar belief.

The only example I have of a human spiritual body is the risen body of Jesus himself. What he is like now, his resurrected followers will be like when he himself returns and resurrects them from the grave, or, for those who are still alive when he himself returns, he himself changes in an instant. Dead or living, when Jesus himself returns, all of his followers themselves, mortal human persons, will be made immortal.

That brings me back to the article I linked and quoted in the OP. Have you had a chance to read it? I’ve compared it with some other Baha’i writings and found it to be consistent with them. I‘m left with the impression from making that comparison of Baha’i writings on the subject that the author of the article presented the Baha’i understanding fairly and accurately. If there is something in the article that you think isn’t fair and accurate I want you to have the opportunity to correct.

 

[Matthias]

@Pancho Frijoles where do you think Baha’u’llah himself is now? What do you think he is doing?

 

[Matthias]

So when you are no longer a human person, you think you will be a non-human person. A human being now, a non-human being later. Human beings will cease to exist. They will be replaced with some other kind of being. God’s creation, which he called “very good,” is no more. It isn’t restored, it’s annihilated / eliminated. That’s not the biblical story. That’s the Baha’i interpretation of the biblical story.

“Then I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, dressed like a bride ready for her husband. I heard a loud voice from the throne say, ‘God lives with humans! God will make his home with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There won’t be anymore death. There won’t be any grief, crying or pain, because the first things have disappeared.’”

(Revelation 21:2-4, GW)

This is at the end of the millennium. In the biblical story, human persons won’t ever cease to exist. They will be changed, from mortal to immortal. Their bodies will no longer be natural; they will be spiritual.

God’s creation was in the beginning, as God himself said, “very good,” and now it is fallen. His intention for human beings will not be frustrated. The creation is being renewed and restored in the new creation.

The biblical narrative ends well. Human persons will always exist. And it will be “very good”.

 

[Matthias]

MHPVGA -> Make Human Persons Very Good Again

 

[Pancho Frijoles]

Spiritual bodies are different from natural bodies. A natural human body goes into the grave. A spiritual human body comes out of the grave.

When do Baha’i think they will receive spiritual bodies? How is that brought about in your religion?

Good morning, Matthias

I haven't read the term "spiritual bodies" in the Baha'i Sacred Writings.
It is my understanding that such "bodies" cannot go corrupted, so they cannot be "bodies" in the literal, biological sense we are familiar with. One thing we tend to forget is that anatomy follows function and viceversa. That means that, for example, that if we don't need oxygen, we don't need breathing, so we don't need a nose or lungs, and we don't need vocal chords to talk or sing. The same for the rest of the functions.

Patients going through Near Death Experiences sometimes refer to their doctors/families a perception of "self" that implies some kind of body, but a body devoid of the details that we experience with a physical body. For example, they are unable to tell if they are naked or dressed. When they move to a certain location, they do not "walk" moving feet. They can "hear" thoughts. Things like that.

 

[Matthias]

Good morning, Matthias

I haven't read the term "spiritual bodies" in the Baha'i Sacred Writings.
It is my understanding that such "bodies" cannot go corrupted, so they cannot be "bodies" in the literal, biological sense we are familiar with. One thing we tend to forget is that anatomy follows function and viceversa. That means that, for example, that if we don't need oxygen, we don't need breathing, so we don't need a nose or lungs, and we don't need vocal chords to talk or sing. The same for the rest of the functions.

Patients going through Near Death Experiences sometimes refer to their doctors/families a perception of "self" that implies some kind of body, but a body devoid of the details that we experience with a physical body. For example, they are unable to tell if they are naked or dressed. When they move to a certain location, they do not "walk" moving feet. They can "hear" thoughts. Things like that.

Jesus didn’t have a near death experience. He had a death experience. He has the spiritual body that his disciples will have in the future when Jesus himself returns.

 

[Pancho Frijoles]

@Pancho Frijoles where do you think Baha’u’llah himself is now? What do you think he is doing?

I guess He is exalted along with Jesus and all Messengers of God, in his Presence.
Whether they are performing missions at other worlds (whether worlds in this universe or in parallel universes) is something I don't know but I would suppose compatible.

All Messengers of God share a shared identity, and a differentiated identity.
Their common identity makes them all the same Light, the same Word, the same Christ.
Their differentiated identity, derived from how God manifested himself through them on earth, makes them guide specific individuals or people across specific missions and needs.

For example, I know that Jesus guides you and is present whenever two Christians meet in His name.

I don't believe that Jesus needs arms, bones, or a liver to do that.
I respect deeply the belief in a Jesus who has right now a body (say, a human-like body, like the one shown to Thomas). I accept there are robust biblical and historical grounds to conceive Jesus in such way. I just consider easier and more logical the explanation of the Sacred Baha'i Writings, in that resurrection is not a literal phenomenon.

 

[Pancho Frijoles]

Jesus didn’t have a near death experience. He had a death experience.

I agree.

He has the spiritual body that his disciples will have in the future when Jesus himself returns.

If that's what we will have I will accept it gladly from God.
I just don't think this is what will happen... but does not affect how I feel about God, Jesus, or my gratitude to God for the body he gave me on this earth.

 

[Matthias]

I guess He is exalted along with Jesus and all Messengers of God, in his Presence.
Whether they are performing missions at other worlds (whether worlds in this universe or in parallel universes) is something I don't know but I would suppose compatible.

All Messengers of God share a shared identity, and a differentiated identity.
Their common identity makes them all the same Light, the same Word, the same Christ.
Their differentiated identity, derived from how God manifested himself through them on earth, makes them guide specific individuals or people across specific missions and needs.

For example, I know that Jesus guides you and is present whenever two Christians meet in His name.

I don't believe that Jesus needs arms, bones, or a liver to do that.
I respect deeply the belief in a Jesus who has right now a body (say, a human-like body, like the one shown to Thomas). I accept there are robust biblical and historical grounds to conceive Jesus in such way. I just consider easier and more logical the explanation of the Sacred Baha'i Writings, in that resurrection is not a literal phenomenon.

Thanks.

Where do you think Mohammad is right now? What do you think he is doing?

 

[Matthias]

I agree.
I was thinking in the "spiritual bodies" of persons like you and me.

I don’t have a spiritual body yet. I have a natural body at present. The spiritual body is tied in scripture with the return of Jesus.

 

[Pancho Frijoles]

See the resurrected Jesus. He himself is the biblical prototype of the spiritual human body. He was breathing oxygen, eating food, thinking, walking, talking, seeing, hearing, etc. following his resurrection. The disciples were able to touch his spiritual body. It / he is corporeal.

Then the term "spiritual body" would not be necessary.
We would just think in terms of in immortal or indestructible physical body.

In the Jewish, Greek, Muslim and Zoroastrian traditions (among others) spirits are by definition not physical.
I would say that if we talk about "spiritual bodies" is because we are giving such "bodies" an "spiritual" nature or essence.

If we don't do it, we come into conflict with truths revealed through science.
For example: if the spiritual body of Jesus breathed oxygen... how he could ascend through the atmosphere in the presence of this disciples during his ascension to heaven?
If Jesus had a literal human face, why the disciples walking to Emaus (and the woman at the tomb) didn't recognize him?
If Jesus had a solid body, how he could get into a room with closed doors?

From the Baha'i perspective, the resurrection of Christ means that He lives and was not defeated.
Seeing and touching the resurrected Christs means becoming fully persuaded of this, so that you find the Cause of Christ something worthy to live and to die for. It means that your personal victory, and the victory of the Kingdom of God, is also guaranteed.
That's why Paul says that we have already been resurrected with Christ, and ascended with Him to celestial places.