In my opinion many Christians who affirm the Rapture fail to take into account the simple reality that Jesus was already transformed before he was ever taken up into the sky. The leaving the disciples and ascending into the sky seemed to be a requirement for; the interim period we are now in (between the resurrection and the consummation of history) and our reliance on the Holy Spirit (“I must go so the counselor can come”).
That Jesus was already raised from the dead is the key part of this part of the gospels for me. His body was already new and transformed so that he was not immediately recognizable to some of his disciples, he could walk through walls and even appear out of no-where (traversing dimensions?)! This new body also seems to have come out of the old body, that his previous physical body was transformed into his new body (creating the empty tomb the women found, he was not simply given a different body).
Since Jesus’ resurrection is described as the foretaste for the church (this is where immersion baptism comes from – to die and rise in Christ) I believe we can understand the transformation of his body to be one and the same that all matter in the cosmos will one day go through. A new, transformed, and perfected creation will emerge from (come out of) the current creation in a way we cannot understand or ourselves create/induce.
What are your thoughts on the idea that every atom of the cosmos will be transformed?
I’ve shared this notion with a few peers recently to a very warm response and would enjoy further feedback.
Photo Credit: Me – Snow Covered Mountain Cemetery