I know that in Acts, Jesus ascended from the Mount of Olives. Is it not possible he returned to the Father after the resurrection, then returned to earth as he chose — until the time of that ascent?
hmike,
First, this is an assumption and you have no proof. Second, that would make it His second coming which did not happen then. This is also why a human body was not used when Paul was selected by Christ to be His apostle. There is a hypostasis nature to Christ that I am not including here as it was not offered to us. But you can still pick this out in some texts about him
You said: Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, `I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' "
(John 20:17, NIV)
Perhaps he went to the Father immediately after saying that, as I suggested earlier. It would be after this, when he returned to the disciples, that Thomas called him "My Lord and my God!" (20:28).
He said this because everyone was expecting the kingdom and this let them know right from the start that this was not his purpose at this time. Forty days later they still expected it but they were already told that this was not the case and should have known better. Jesus did not start becoming our god at this time. John makes it clear that he was our god when he was still the Word. So Thomas did well to acknowledge this as John did.
You said: Flesh and bone, yes, but blood?
Yes, this is where the blood originates. It is a simply way to say I am really human. But we know that he was something more than that which is what? An immortal human being. Jesus was not the only immortal being in existence in the universe but he was the only human being to gain immortality. This is why Paul said: 1Ti 6:16 Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen. And 2Ti 1:10 But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel: This is our hope as well at some future time. But now we run into a false doctrine that totally distorts this reality by teaching we go somewhere else to be immortal and non-human to boot. This is an extension of the serpents lie that indicated we would be like God.
You said: I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
(1 Cor. 15:50, NIV)
This was Paul
’ s way to describe the mortality we now have. It clearly shows that teachings like the WT one that we can simply live into this kingdom without being changed is false. Only those changed to become imperishable can enter. This is also called spiritual since it is a God given attribute we did not have before. But they are still flesh and bone as Jesus was.
You said: Isn't it possible that the imperishable body, while physical, no longer operates on the same principles as life now? Maybe there would be a different kind of fluid to carry out oxygen exchange, or perhaps this new body wouldn't even need that process. Perhaps these new cells don't die or reproduce. Flesh to give the body form and a skeletal system to give it support makes sense, but it would have life sustained differently than we have now, perhaps made of a material we don't know anything about. Paul calls it a "spiritual body." It definitely has to be different
.
Of course it will be different
. How exactly we can only speculate as you have done. But there are others things that come into play such as the laying on of hands and such details have not been made known to us. Jesus ate to sustain himself like the mortals around him. An immortal person can die, we should be aware of this just as Jesus did but not by natural causes. So I can only let it go at that.
Joseph
