Why would there be an empty tomb?

Question

This has always confused me. We're told that Jesus died and then rose from the dead, and the empty tomb is supposed to prove that he did in fact resurrect. But I was under the impression that heaven and hell are supposed to be "spiritual places", not physical places; and that our soul (or spirit, whatever you want to call it) goes to heaven or hell, not our physical body. If this is the case, then why would Jesus' physical body be absent? Why does he have a physical body in a spiritual realm such as heaven? What am I not understanding here?

Answer 1

One person here on Y!A may have inadvertently answered this. That being Jetpack Jesus.

Answer 2

Jesus' salvation is not something "only" unseen. He came to redeem (buy back) the physical world, not just the spiritual one. Since Adam sold out physically (by bringing death into the physical creation with his body), the redemption that Christ offered had to be physical as well as spiritual. The suffering and death were physical as well as mental and spiritual, so the ressurection, as an entire package, was physical as well as spiritual.

The body that came out of the tomb on ressurection day was not the exact same thing that went into it, either. It had changed! Jesus was able to do different things with the Ressurection body than He had done before: like apparate and walk through walls.

We also look foreward to a physical ressurection. Our bodies will change, just as a seed becomes a plant. The beginning of this, however, is seen in that empty tomb on the first Easter morning.

Answer 3

Jesus was resurrected physically. He walked the earth for 40 days after his body was resurrected then He ascended into heaven. That's why the tomb was empty.

Answer 4

Matthew 28:1-7

1 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. 5 The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."

Jesus Christ also descended into hell to preach to the old testament prophets,patriarchs and saints. They could not go directly to heaven because Jesus had not come yet to take away their sins,therefore sin cannot enter the presence of God and heaven. Jesus led the righteous who were there out hell and taken to heaven.

Ephesians 4:7-16

7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore He says: “ When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.” 9 (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first[c] descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) 11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

Answer 5

Jesus died, and his body was left in the tomb for the three days. (or at least i am assuming... i was not there) and he rose. but! when he then ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of God, his body was taken too. its like the ressurection, or second coming, when Jesus comes back. The dead bodies will be taken from their graves. You are correct, heaven and hell deal with the spirit, not the body, but the bodies get taken.

Answer 6

Luke 24:51 - His actual body was carried to heaven.

It does seem strange, since the mortal bit is considered to be of so little importance, and it means that Christ's 2011 year old flesh and blood body is up there in heaven, presumably with all the infirmities, smells and necessary functions we all have on earth. It would have made more sense for Christ's soul, pure as it is, to have made the journey alone, but making sense never featured high on the list of requirements for most faiths. Christianity never disappoints.

Answer 7

The Urantia book on this particular topic says that a number of spiritual beings vastly accelerated the decomposition process of His body. Jesus was resurrected as a spiritual being, but His body was absorbed to the mineral kingdom like everyone else's.

Answer 8

I was told we all get a new body after Jesus's return and it will be as Jesus body was at his resurrection. Pure and physically perfect, etc. - I have reference, sorry, just a memory of a teaching.

Answer 9

For example, Jesus ascended into the clouds and it was his physical body. He ascended like a gentle balloon, and ascended slowly until he was out of sight; then he zoomed to Heaven like a rocket. There in Heaven his earthly body, along with the clothing, he kept as a souvenir.

No one else in Heaven had one. God let him keep it, and he showed it off to his friends.

Answer 10

he remained in a physical body till his accention so when he resurected it was still a physical body

Ac.1:9-12.
9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.
11 "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking 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."


mark 16: 19. After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God.
20. Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.

Lk.24:50-53
50 When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them.
51 While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven.
52 Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.

Answer 11

It IS a spirit place... Jesus physical form after the resurrection was confirmation of the resurrection. His body was removed from the earth possibly to keep it from becoming an idol (icon) that people would worship.