The Watchtower acknowledges that Jesus’ body was no longer in the tomb after the stone was rolled away.

Neither the Roman authorities nor the Jewish leadership ever produced it.

The Watchtower doesn’t believe that the disciples stole the body.

So what happened to it?

The Watchtower insists that it was not raised from the dead:

1 Cor. 15:42-50, RS: “So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. . . . It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. . . . Thus it is written, ‘The first man Adam became a living being’; the last Adam [Jesus Christ, who was a perfect human as Adam had been at the start] became a life-giving spirit. . . . I tell you this, brethren: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” (Italics added.)

1 Pet. 3:18 , RS: “Christ also died for sins once for all, . . . being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit…”

Illustration: 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)

I have discussed each of those arguments in other posts, as well as in “The Bodily Resurrection Approach” chapter in my book, Getting Through to Jehovah’s Witnesses, so I won’t repeat my responses here.

Instead, I want to address this issue from another angle.

If Jesus’ body wasn’t raised from the dead, what did happen to it?

Within the space of less than a year, the Watchtower gave conflicting answers:

“Our Lord’s human body was, however, supernaturally removed from the tomb… Whether it was dissolved into gases or whether it is still preserved somewhere as a grand memorial of God’s love… no one knows.” (Make Sure of All Things, p. 315, 1953 edition)

Thus, the Watchtower gave two options—Jehovah either (1) dissolved it into gases or (2) preserved it somewhere as a loving memorial, and no one knows which.

But then the Watchtower decided it did know which:

What happened to the perfect fleshly body of Jesus after his death? Was it preserved so that in time men will look upon it in worship? or does Jesus still have this fleshly body in the heavens, “spiritualized” so that it can be seen and worshiped? Neither. The Scriptures answer: It was disposed of by Jehovah God, dissolved into its constituent elements or atoms.” (The Watchtower, “The Fleshly Body of Jesus,” 9/1/53, p. 518)

Notice that now this is presented as “the Scriptures answer.”

Didn’t they leave something out?

What Scriptures teach this?

None are quoted.

None are referenced.

For that matter, what Scriptures teach either of the two options?

Jehovah’s Witnesses will be unable to find any because there are none.

In contrast, the Christian answer as to what happened to Jesus’ body can be shown by citing two passages:

John 2:19-21: “Jesus replied to them: ‘Tear down this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’  The Jews then said: ‘This temple was built in 46 years, and will you raise it up in three days?’ But he was talking about the temple of his body.” (Watchtower translation, emphasis added)

The explanation of the angel to two women near the garden tomb: “He is not here, for he was raised up, just as he said. Come, see the place where he was lying.” (Matthew 28:6, Watchtower translation)