Was Jesus Really Dead?

…or did only His body die? Was Jesus… actually alive during the three days and three nights His body was in the tomb?

Why Does This Question Matter

• It is important to that the scriptures make sense, and provide an accurate description of real events
• That you fully appreciate mentally, emotionally, and spiritually what has been done for you

First, let’s take a look at a few scriptures regarding just who it was who died. We will see that it is not just man named Jesus made of flesh and blood man who died… but the anointed one, the Messiah, Christ, the one through whom all things were created who died.

• I Cor 15:3-6 – note the reference here is to Christ having died. Also note that phrase “He was raised” could also be literally translated “he was awoken”. We’ll see that He experienced death in the same manner as all humans. An experience which is likened to sleep throughout the scriptures. A state where there is no consciousness, no thoughts or plans… nothing.
• Romans 14:9 – He, Christ, was revived (KJV), Lit: returned to life (NIV). Further indication that He had been unconscious, not awake, not thinking, planning his next move, observing from heaven… nothing.

Jesus Was God Become Flesh

• Not God appearing as flesh (like a hyper-realistic spiritual hologram)
• Not God inside a body of flesh (like the alien guy in Men In Black)
• God made into flesh.

Over time people have promoted ideas more or less like these for various reasons… often they reject idea that a holy God could never have any part with sinful flesh, with all the nasty dirtiness of physical life. They want a God clean and untouched, remote and above it all… BUT that also means a God who cannot understand or sympathize with your condition. And it also means a God who cannot give His life to redeem yours -  I John 4:2

Jesus Could Not Have Really Died Unless He Became Fully Human

John 1:1-4  Jesus preexisted with the Father… in the God Family… a relationship with structure and authority (the Father is in charge), a relationship of complete unity and oneness in purpose and spirit. This Word was sent by the Father to become flesh and move forward the plan for bringing many children to glory.

He was the one through whom all things were created. He was the rock that was with Israel in the wilderness… the eternal… the self-existent one… the “I am that I am”. Read verse 4 He had life inherent in Him… He did not have life because it was given to Him… He was life.

Verse 14 this exalted and eternal member of the God Family was made flesh

Where Does Flesh & Blood Get Its Life From?

Lev 17:11 - if He was converted into human flesh then Jesus life was in His blood – refer to the human respiratory system lungs, oxygen, blood etc. and like you and me, that breath of life made of oxygen molecules is part of the created realm and therefore sustained and maintained by God. So Jesus was sustained in a fragile temporary flesh and blood life by God.

Jesus flesh and blood existence would also have a spiritual component… what we call the spirit in man.  BUT that spirit in Jesus, just like the spirit God has put in you, does not and did not have life inherent within itself.

Jesus was both God & Human, not an eternal spirit being inside of, yet separate from, the body of flesh… not a spirit being merely appearing as if it were flesh.

Hebrews 2:14-18

Verse 14 When considering His life in the flesh we tend to focus on His solidarity with us through shared experience, such as suffering, temptation etc. But there is another reason He became flesh. As the Word with life inherent in Him… He could not die. He became flesh so that He could die…. “so that through death”

Here is how the Living Translation puts it: Since we, God's children, are human beings--made of flesh and blood--he became flesh and blood too by being born in human form; for only as a human being could he die and in dying break the power of the devil who had the power of death.

Verse 16 Literal translation: “for indeed He does not take hold of angels but He takes hold of the seed of Abraham” modern translators interpret this as he came to help men, not angels… KJV translated it as “he did not come in the nature of angels but in the nature of man”… I think the KJV makes the most sense although the phrase “in the nature of” is not in the original text.

Jesus was not a spirit being simply appearing to be a human (like for example the angels who visited Abraham). Jesus was a human being like the descendants of Abraham... and he was put to death. A spear was thrust into His side and His lifeblood flowed out… and He lay in a tomb for 3 complete days and nights.

And if that were not true then the penalty for your sins has not been paid and you are still dead in your sins.

Life Comes Only From Life

The law of biogenesis is simple and logical: Life only comes from life—inert matter does not generate life. Refer to a science experiment in biology class etc.

What lay in the tomb for 3 days and nights was dead matter without life inherent in itself. The blood in which his life resided was shed for you and me. If the giver of life was dead then wasn’t all hope gone? But there was another person in the God family… and he had life inherent within himself as well.

When Jesus died that spirit in Him, the spirit in man, returned to God in the same way your spirit will return to God when you die… not conscious, not with any thoughts or activity, but somehow a spirit record of YOU. It is inert, non-living… but that spirit can be returned to life by the power of the one who has life to give… one who has life within Himself.

What Was Jesus Doing While He Was In The Tomb?

Short answer: nothing. Some say flesh and blood humans go to live in heaven (or hell) when they die. If so then they would also have to assume the man Jesus went to heaven when He died. But if that is so then He wasn’t really dead… was He? His spirit simply moved to a different location… from His body to heaven.

But scripture clearly says He was dead 3 days and 3 nights.

This is a big problem. Because if Jesus never really died… rather, as some seem to believe, it was merely a matter of His body dying and some other spirit essence remaining alive in another location… then how can you say He was dead… and how can you say He was resurrected, or “restored to life”?

• What state would He have been resurrected or restored to life from?
• Did God merely cause Him to get back into His physical body which had died?

Bad theology (the teaching that humans have an immortal soul) makes nonsense of the central truth of the new covenant… that Jesus died to pay the penalty for your sins. “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures”.

 If (the teaching that humans have an immortal soul) were true then Jesus would simply be a spirit being who moves from location to location. He moves from being the Word to being Jesus… then upon death, He would go heaven… then return to earth to get back into a new body, appear resurrected… and then later return to heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father.

When would He actually ever be dead?

If that oh so misleading teaching were true, then Christ didn’t really die for your sins and you have no savior and you are lost.

But it's not true! The Word became flesh & blood just like you. He no longer had life within himself and neither do you… there is no immortal soul in humans. Jesus life was in his blood just like you and He gave His life because He gave his blood. That spirit in man that He had (like the one you have) returned to the Father when He died… and that spirit did not have life within itself… it was not conscious, not thinking, dreaming, planning… it was inert.

After 3 days and 3 nights, God the Father (who still had life inherent within Himself) revived his son from death, returned Him to life, and raised Him up. –  John 5:26

In What Form Was He Resurrected?

Just as the Word/Logos was changed to flesh and blood… He was now changed (or resurrected to) an immortal spiritual body. He did not simply climb back into the human body He had before.

• His disciples couldn’t really tell it was Him just by looking at Him
• He could do things human bodies cannot like suddenly appear in a locked room or disappear on a lonely road
• But He could eat breakfast, He could still show them wounds on his hands and side
• And of course, we know that now He has been received in full glory His face shines with the brightness of the sun

So, it was still Him but it was a different body!

That same resurrection to life and immortality through the power of God’s Holy Spirit is what is in store for you. Are you willing to take hold of it in faith?

Appreciating What Has Been Done For You

Let’s take a moment to think about what a tremendous price was paid for your sins. A member of the God Family, the Word, was willing to die for you so that you might have an opportunity for eternal life. Have you ever considered just how much faith He would have needed to go through the whole ordeal?

Imagine how much faith it would have taken to give up His status as a member of the God Family with life inherent in Him… to become a frail human whose life was in the blood that flowed through His veins. A life that could be easily lost through a wide variety of mishaps, sickness, accidents, violence.

To go from one who had life in himself… to being one who only had life because it was given to Him. In the flesh, Jesus would stay alive only as long as he could keep breathing and eating. He was no longer independent… He was completely dependent. He relied entirely on the Father for life.

And He suffered, He was tested, persecuted, despised, rejected and then put to death. And when the time was right the life that was in His blood flowed out and Jesus the Messiah, the Christ… was dead. The only hope He had of returning to life was in the Father.

He had faith… how about YOU?

Because of His faith in the Father, He gave himself… for you. He bought and paid for you.

You belong to Him.

Will you let yourself be His? Will you let Him live His life in you?

Total surrender, no longer your own, believing and living by faith...

I John 5:10-12