Last week, I examined proof texts which the Watchtower believes explicitly teach a non-physical, spirit resurrection of Jesus.

Today, we’ll look at several experiences Jesus had which the Watchtower believes prove that he could not have been raised in a physical body.

Experience #1: He gave his body as the “ransom sacrifice.”

 The Watchtower has stated:

If a man pays a debt for a friend but then promptly takes back the payment, obviously the debt continues. Likewise, if, when he was resurrected, Jesus had taken back his human body of flesh and blood, which had been given in sacrifice to pay the ransom price, what effect would that have had on the provision he was making to relieve faithful persons of the debt of sin?” (Reasoning From the Scriptures, p. 217)

Jesus himself said in John 10:17-18: “This is why the Father loves me, because I surrender my life, so that I may receive it again. No man takes it away from me, but I surrender it of my own initiative. I have authority to surrender it, and I have authority to receive it again. This commandment I received from my Father.” (Watchtower translation)

Did the fact that Jesus gave his life and received it back three days later mean that his Father didn’t accept his gift or that his sacrifice was nullified because he received his life back?

 Of course not.

 Moreover, the key aspect to Jesus’ sacrifice was the shedding of his blood (Matthew 26:28; Hebrews 9:22).

In Luke 24:39, he told his disciples he referred to his resurrection body as containing “flesh and bones,” making no mention of the blood he had poured out for the forgiveness of sins.

 Experience #2: He materialized new clothes.

The Watchtower comments:

Jesus certainly had to materialize clothing in which to appear, for the clothes he had on before he was impaled were divided among the soldiers and they cast lots over his seamless inner garment; and the bandages in which his corpse had been wrapped and the cloth that had been upon his head were left in the sepulchre. (John 19:23, 24; 20:5-7) If the resurrected Jesus could materialize new clothing, could he not also materialize new suitable bodies in order to appear and then dematerialize instead of spiritualize them? Yes! (The Watchtower, “Identifying the Resurrected,” 4/15/63, p. 236-237)

But surely the fact that he could have materialized and dematerialized bodies doesn’t prove that he did so.

If the Witnesses raise this argument with you, you can say, “I’m sorry. I don’t understand. Of course the risen Christ didn’t continue to wear the blood-stained shroud in which his body had been buried. But how does the fact that he was clothed tell us anything about whether he appeared to his disciples in a different body materialized for the purpose or in his own risen, glorified body of flesh and bones?”

Notice that in the Watchtower’s view, Jesus’ resurrection had nothing to do with his body.

Jesus could still have been resurrected in spirit form even if his lifeless body had remained in the grave!

Why, then, was his body missing from the tomb?

You can ask, “If Jesus’ resurrection had nothing to do with his physical body, why did God bother to have angels disable the tomb guards and roll away the stone so the disciples could go inside? Why not leave the body in the sealed tomb undisturbed and simply have Jesus materialize a duplicate body and appear to his disciples in the upper room?”

That brings up a related point.

If the disciples, like the Watchtower, went about preaching that Jesus’ resurrection was in spirit form rather than physical, why did the authorities claim that the disciples had stolen Jesus’ body?

Their presence or absence of Jesus’ body from its tomb wouldn’t in any way have proved or disproved a spirit resurrection claim.

Only if the disciples were proclaiming a bodily resurrection would the authorities have needed an alternative explanation as to why they were unable to produce Jesus’ body.

Experience #3: He appeared suddenly in a locked room.

Regarding Jesus’ post-resurrection appearance to his disciples in John 20, the Watchtower comments, “But how was it possible on that occasion for him suddenly to appear in their midst even though the doors were locked? (John 20:26, 27) Jesus evidently materialized bodies on these occasions, as angels had done in the past when appearing to humans.” (Reasoning From the Scriptures, p. 217)

“Evidently”?

The best way I have found to respond to this argument is to point out that even before his resurrection, Jesus walked on water, as did Peter when Jesus gave him permission (Matthew 14:25-32).

Ask, “Did Jesus and Peter have to dematerialize into spirit bodies in order to walk on water, or can Jesus overcome natural laws while still in physical form?”

Experience #4: He let the disciples feel the bones in his materialized body.

The Watchtower states:

Humans cannot see spirits, so the disciples evidently thought they were seeing an apparition or a vision. (Compare Mark 6:49, 50 .) Jesus assured them that he was no apparition; they could see his body of flesh and could touch him, feeling the bones; he also ate in their presence. Similarly, in the past, angels had materialized in order to be seen by men; they had eaten, and some had even married and fathered children. (Reasoning From the Scriptures, pp. 334-335)

But Jesus didn’t tell his disciples, “Behold a physical body I have materialized for your benefit.”

Why not rather believe what Jesus actually told them in Luke 24:39?

“See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; feel me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones just as you see that I have.” (Watchtower translation, emphasis added)

Experience #5: He was seen only by witnesses appointed by God.

The Watchtower notes that in Acts 10:41 Peter says that Jesus appeared “not to all the people, but to witnesses appointed beforehand by God, to us, who ate and drank with him after his rising from the dead.” (Watchtower translation)

Based on this, it asks, “Why did not others see him too? Because he was a spirit creature and when, as angels had done in the past, he materialized fleshly bodies to make himself visible, he did so only in the presence of his disciples.” (Reasoning from the Scriptures, p. 334)

Ask, “Does this passage say anywhere that Jesus went around invisibly throughout Israel and materialized physical bodies but only in front of his disciples? Doesn’t it just mean that after his resurrection, Jesus did not show up at the temple or another public place or walk into a meeting of the Sanhedrin in order to authenticate his resurrection to the Israelites at large or to skeptics and enemies?”

In fact, 1 Corinthians 15:6 tells us that Jesus appeared to a large number of people, not just a small number of disciples: “After that he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still with us, though some have fallen asleep in death.” (Watchtower translation)

Experience #6: He vanished from the sight of the Emmaus disciples.

Luke 24:30-31 says of Jesus’ encounter with the Emmaus disciples: “And as he was dining with them, he took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and began handing it to them. At that their eyes were fully opened and they recognized him; but he disappeared from them.’ (Watchtower translation)

The Watchtower says, “After conversing with those amazed disciples, the resurrected Jesus vanished. He dematerialized or dissolved that clothed human body.” (Holy Spirit—The Force Behind the Coming New Order!, p. 19)

Nowhere does this passage talk about Jesus dematerializing or dissolving a body.

Given that Jesus was capable of walking on water before his death, just as he was able to appear in a locked room (Experience #3), so he was able to miraculously leave without the disciples seeing him go.

In fact, this encounter shows that Jesus did not appear in different bodies.

It says that the eyes of those disciples were fully opened and enabled to recognize him.

It doesn’t say that he materialized a different body or that that’s why they didn’t recognize him at first.

Jesus’ ascension

Jesus’ ascension involved several noteworthy experiences in rapid succession:

Acts 1:9-11: “After he had said these things, while they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud caught him up from their sight. And as they were gazing into the sky while he was on his way, suddenly two men in white garments stood beside them and said: “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus who was taken up from you into the sky will come in the same manner as you have seen him going into the sky.” (Watchtower translation)

Experience #7: He ascended into a cloud.

I have had Jehovah’s Witnesses tell me that Jesus could not have had a physical body at this point, given that he ascended into the sky.

After all, people can’t fly.

Point out that Jesus did have a physical body because the Bible says that the people saw him until he entered the cloud.

Follow up by asking, “Given that Jesus was able to walk on water before his death without dematerializing, why would his ascension require dematerialization? God also miraculously carried up Elijah (2 Kings 2:11) and Philip (Acts 8:39), and no one suggests that they had to be turned into spirit creatures in order for him to accomplish this.”

Experience #8: He disappeared into the cloud.

Because Jesus disappeared into a cloud, the Watchtower concludes that he became invisible: “What is indicated by “clouds”? Invisibility. When an airplane is in a thick cloud or above the clouds, people on the ground usually cannot see it, although they may hear the roar of the engines.” (italics original)

But note that the passage doesn’t say that Jesus dematerialized or turned invisible.

Acts 1:9 merely says that “he was lifted up and a cloud caught him up from their sight.”

 Ask, “If you see an airplane take off and disappear into a cloud, do you conclude that it has become invisible or dematerialized? Don’t you just conclude that you can no longer see it because it has been obscured by the cloud?”

Experience #9: He departed into the heavens.

The Watchtower reasons, “Jesus could not take a human body through the Van Allen radiation belts and outer space to heaven…” (The Watchtower, “Identifying the Resurrected,” 4/15/63, p. 236)

But Jesus didn’t have to navigate through the Van Allen radiation belt or through the cold and vacuum of space.

The heavens where God and angels dwell is another spiritual dimension, not somewhere that can be reached by a spaceship.

Besides, nowhere does the Bible say that a sinless man with a glorified physical body cannot exist in heaven with God and angels.

That is just Watchtower speculation.