This is Jesus' first appearance tothe eleven disciples in the upper room when they're all together. Jesus had told themmany times He would be crucified, and that He would rise again, but theirhearts still doubted even now.
Whatwe want to talk about today is in these next words of Jesus to the disciples, “HandleMe and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see Ihave. And when He said this, He showed them His hands and His feet”. NowJohn's gospel tells us in John 20:25-27 that when Jesus showed them His handsand His feet, it doesn't say that He showed them the scars on His body, but at leasttwice it says that He showed them the prints. He showed them “the prints ofthe nails”. The prints of the nails in His hands and in His feet.
Jesussaid, "Handle Me and see”, And again, it says, “He showedthem His hands and in His feet”, not the scars. The only thing in heaventhat will be made by man are the prints of the nails in His hands and His feet.We will be able to still see them. And then we find also that Jesus went on tosay, "And while they did not believe for joy and marveled, He said tothem, 'Do you have any food here?'" And they gave Him a piece of boiledfish and some honeycomb, and He took it and ate in their presence”.
Now,one of the most asked questions I get is, "Will we eat in heaven?" Whatwill we be like in heaven? Will we have bodies in heaven? And for a fact, I'mconvinced at the rapture of the church, the Bible speaks about the dead inChrist rising in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4:13-18 and in 1 Corinthians 15:50-58.Paul reveals to us a mystery and there He says, "We shall all bechanged in the moment, in the twinkling of an eye." In Thessalonians 4:16,he wrote, "And the dead in Christ shall rise first”. The bodies ofall the deceased believers will resurrect out of the graves and at that momentthey'll reunite with their soul and spirit in heaven and at the same time ourbodies with be changed to a body like Jesus’.
1John 3: 2-3, tells us, "And when we see Him, we will be like Him, forwe shall see Him as He is." We'll have a body like Jesus. He could eatsolid foods. He could move in and out of rooms through closed doors. Now how aphysical body could go through a closed solid wall, I cannot explain. But myfriend, we'll have a body like that. I believe we'll travel at the speed ofthought even during the millennium, just like Jesus did from Galilee and backand forth to Jerusalem during the 40 days after His resurrection.
Oh,heaven's going to be a wonderful place. We have new bodies. “Thiscorruptible must put on incorruption. This mortal must put on immortality, thenshall be brought to pass the saying that's written, Death is swallowed up invictory." We will have new bodies. A body that will not experience anymore pain, any more suffering, and has no more problems with health at all. Oh,we'll see perfectly because we'll still have all our faculties. People willrecognize each other in those bodies that we originally had on planet Earth,but they'll be glorified bodies just like Jesus.
Jesusstill says troubled hearts, "Handle Me and see." Interestingto me, the Gospel of John starts out with, "Come and see," toAndrew and John (John 1:39). But now Luke’s Gospel ends with, "HandleMe and see." Later John went on to write in 1John 1:1, “That whichwas from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes,which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word oflife”.
Ohmy friend, today Jesus invites us to come and handle Him. First you, “Come andsee”, but now You can handle Him and see. Come to Jesus today and handle Him inHis Word. You can reach out and touch Him today! Open your heart to Him.Believe in the reality of a physical, literal resurrection of Jesus Christ. Thereality of this truth will change and transform your life like it did thedisciples as the Holy Spirit fills you.
