Seeing Jesus

I am intrigued when I hear people saying that they have seen Jesus here on earth. I understand what they mean, but in a purely technical sense that is not possible.

When Jesus was born as a baby, he took on a human body. That significantly limited his abilities. He could only be in one place at a time. When he was in Galilee, the people in Jerusalem could not see him.

When Jesus was raised from the dead, he was given a new spiritual body. This givens him greater freedom to move in the spiritual realms, but he can still only be in one place at a time. Forty days after the resurrection, Jesus ascended into the spiritual realms to be at the right hand of God. That is where he is now. He cannot be here on earth at the same time.

In light of this reality, when Christians say that they have seen Jesus, there are three possibilities.

1. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to represent him in the physical world. The Holy Spirit is a person, but he did not become a man, so he is not constrained in the same way as Jesus was, and still is. He can be at any place in the world at the same time. He is the Spirit of Jesus, who gives glory to Jesus, not to himself. So many people who believe they are having an encounter with Jesus are really having an encounter with the Holy Spirit.

2. Christians can see by faith into the spiritual realms. I have described how this works in the Spiritual Realms. When Christians see into the spiritual realms, they see Jesus. This is not surprising, because spiritually we are seated beside him at the right hand of God in the spiritual realms. When we see him in the spiritual realms, it can seem like he is beside us here on earth, because that is the way we see, but Jesus has not returned to earth. The truth is the other way round. In the spirit, we have moved into the realms and see him there.