1. Lesson 4 – The Present Nature of Jesus
Study on the Godhead
Lesson 4 – The Present Nature of Jesus

2. Review of lesson 4
John 20:19-20, John 20:27, and Luke 24:36-43 definitively tell us that Jesus resurrected body was physical in nature
In John, the apostles saw the wounds in Jesus’ body and Jesus even told Thomas to touch His wounds
Jesus also tells the apostles to give Him some food, which He eats to demonstrate He still has a functioning digestive tract (and why would a spirit need food?)
Luke is even more definitive, with Jesus Himself saying that He is not spirit and does have flesh and bones

3. Review of lesson 4
A debate is underway as to whether Jesus’ resurrected body was simply His pre-death body that was again given life, or whether it was a glorified version of that pre-death body
It must be noted that this is an academic exercise that does NOT impact one’s salvation – the belief that He WAS glorified DOES impact one’s salvation
I think Jesus was resurrected in His before the cross body (that is, a non-glorified state)
To me, John 7:39 is a very compelling argument that Jesus was not glorified until after He ascended
Paul’s discussion on resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15 is one of how we will be resurrected, not necessarily how Jesus was
As to Jesus “transporting”, was not Philip taken away from the Ethiopian eunuch after his baptism?

4. The Present Nature of Jesus
At the end of Luke and the beginning of Acts, Luke records that Jesus ascended to Heaven
It is my contention that sometime during this ascension, Jesus’ body was translated (and thereby glorified) into the body He now possesses
Again, the when of Jesus’ glorification doesn’t impact salvation
The questions addressed in this lesson is: What happened after His ascension? What is Jesus’ current nature?

5. The Present Nature of Jesus
Psalm 2:7-9 7 "I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, 'You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. 8 'Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. 9 'You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.'"

6. The Present Nature of Jesus
Matthew 28: And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Philippians 2: For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

7. The Present Nature of Jesus
Ephesians 1: which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church,

8. The Present Nature of Jesus
Just to take a brief step back to before the ascension, Psalm 2 is a prophesy that Jesus would ask God to be given rule over all creation
In Matthew 28, Jesus acknowledges that this prophesy has now come true – He has indeed been given all authority in Heaven and on Earth
Seeing as Jesus was still on Earth when He said this in Matthew, when might He have asked?

9. The Present Nature of Jesus
Now then, He’s ascended – What is His current nature?
Let’s let the Bible tell us:
Romans 8:34
34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.

10. The Present Nature of Jesus
Hebrews 4: Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

11. The Present Nature of Jesus
1 John 2:1 2:1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 1 Timothy 2:5 5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

12. The Present Nature of Jesus
Ephesians 5: For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. 24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.

13. The Present Nature of Jesus
Note that these last 5 passages all indicate different aspects of Jesus’ rule:
Intercessor – Romans 8
High Priest – Hebrews 4
Advocate – 1 John 2
Mediator – 1 Timothy 2
Head and savior of the church – Ephesians 5
Central to each of these verses is the idea of salvation from sin – Jesus died and rules to bring about the salvation of the people of God

14. The Present Nature of Jesus
So part of Jesus’ current nature is that of ruler for the benefit of His Church
But what happened when He was glorified? What is His current make-up? What does a “glorified body” entail?
First note that the term “glorified body” is not Biblical – it’s a term thrown around a lot to describe Jesus’ current form, but that specific phrase isn’t used

15. The Present Nature of Jesus
Why is that important?
I make that distinction because when we think of a “body” it tends to be something physical, and so saying Jesus has a “glorified body” just means it’s a physical body that has somehow had glory added to it
1 John 3:2
2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.

16. The Present Nature of Jesus
Biblically speaking, John states in 1 John 3:2 that we don’t yet know what having a “glorified body” means
We know that we’ll be given one when Jesus returns, but John just kind of shrugs and says “We haven’t seen it yet”
What we do know as seen earlier in Ephesians 1:20 is that He is in Heaven, seated at the right hand of God, and God gave Him charge to rule all things (for now)