The Body of Christ

When we say the Body of Christ we are not talking about the cold dead and disfigured body of Jesus washed and wrapped in linen lying in a dark tomb the day after he was crucified and died. After all, the important thing is that Jesus rose from the dead, and left the tomb the very next day. I've been there. I took the the picture above and I peeked inside. The tomb is empty. He is risen, and he is so alive.

After he rose from the dead Jesus was with his disciples and followers for "forty days and spoke about the Kingdom of God" (Acts 1:3). Then "he was taken up [into heaven] before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight" (Acts 1:9). Then an angel came and told them as they stood there staring into the sky, "This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven" (Acts 1:11). Isn't that an amazing story?

So we could say that the (living) Body of Christ is now in heaven. But that's still not what we are talking about when we talk about the Body of Christ.

Just before Jesus ascended into heaven he spoke about believers being "baptized with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 1:5), and then he added, "you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you [isn't that cool and exciting and amazing and awesome?] and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). Now I am sitting here writing this two thousand years later half way around the world in what would have been at that time "the ends of the earth." It is estimated that there at least 250 millions believers (who believe that the Bible is the Word of God, that it is true, literally true, from cover to cover) in the world today. And I am one of them. Collectively we are the Body of Christ. Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:30, "we are members of his body."

I'm going to discuss this a little further the next time write because it's getting late. This writing business is time consuming.