JCanon Christ had to die in order to sacrifice his HUMAN LIFE. Christ's spiritual life could not save us. So Christ was born as a human and acquired a human identity, that of Jesus. That PERSON who died, that body, and its right to bear children was given up and thus died once for all time. That's why at the second coming, Christ, who appears in the flesh again for the second coming has to sort of "borrow" the body and identity of one of his followers. Now all Christ's followers must also die on behalf of the Christ, that's a given. They are baptized which represents them dying to their personal life and adopting a life dedicated to god. So the person whom Jesus inhabits at the second coming has to die willinging, giving up his own life so that Jehovah can use him in the capacity of the messiah.
So instead of thinking of this being only a death of 3 days and 3 nights, think in terms of the HUMAN who upon being presented in heaven to god in exchange for YOU (one of Adam's children), has died for eternity since that human can never come alive again.
Jesus gave up his HUMAN life with all its prospects, but the Bible says that he was RAISED from the dead. How could he do this if his spirit is all that was alive and that was "commended to his Father" on the day of his death. Luke 23:46 NSRV:"Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit."
1 Peter 3: 18,19 NRSV:"For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison,, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah".........
Jesus' spirit was alive, but he was not resurrected until the third day.
Matthre 17:23: NIV: "They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life." And the disciples were filled with grief."
1 Cor 15: 35-50 NIV says in the resurrection, we will be raised in a "spiritual BODY". Since he took the value of his sacrificed body to heaven. It seems to me that he was raised in that body which is resurrected not as HUMAN but as A GLORIFIED BODY. Which is his resurrection BODY
.vs. 35B ut someone may ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?" 36How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. 39All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. 40There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. 41The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.
42So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44it is sown anatural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"[e]; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. 48As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we[f] bear the likeness of the man from heaven. 50I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
The Bible indicates that we, his followers, will be resurrected to be LIKE HIM
Philippians 3:10
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
Philippians 3:9-11
who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
1 John 3:2
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
The Bible says we were created in God's image. Genesis 1:26,27
God is a spirit, so we are spirits in "earth suits", a body created out of the earth. Since our spirits are in HUMAN bodies here on earth, when we are resurrected, like him, we will have SPIRITUAL BODIES in heaven.
Jesus apparently is different than the others in heaven. Revelation says that he appears to be like a "son of man" in heaven.
Revelation 1:9
[ One like a Son of Man ] I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
Revelation 1:8-10 NIV
"and among the lampstands was someone "like a son of man," dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest."
Revelation 1:12-14 I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one "like a son of man" with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand."
Who is this? From this scripture, it appears to be Jesus.
Revelation 1:17, 18:" When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades."
In my reading and studying of the Bible, there is no place that I have seen that even intimates that Jesus will "take" someone else's body when he returns to earth. Can you show me this?
In Rev. 21 when it talks about Jesus, in his return. he is unique. He is not in a "sort of borrowed" body. It says that there is no need of a "light or a temple" because his glory gives it light".
Rev 21:22: " I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp."
If he had a "borrowed" body, it does not seem to me that it would have this glory. It is HIS GLORIOUS SPIRITUAL BODY.
These are just some of the questions that your post brings to my mind. Could you please give me some scriptures on this? Thanks.
Love and hugs,
Velta