Jehovah's Witnesses and Christ's Resurrection

I suppose it's the wrong time of year to be posting about the resurrection but understanding this is crucial for our salvation. After all, Christ's birth wouldn't benefit anybody if he hadn't also lived a sinless life, been the spotless sacrificial lamb on the cross, and rose bodily as he promised.

The Pharisees asked Jesus for a sign of his authority so he spoke of the temple as being a metaphor for his body. In John 2:19 (KJV), it's written, "Jesus answered and said unto them, 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.'"

But the religious leaders misunderstood Jesus' analogy and threw his claim back in his face. As Matthew 27:40 (KJV) records them mocking, "And saying, 'Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.'"

And what about the false accusation concocted by the Pharisees that the disciples stole the body of Christ? As Matthew 28:13 (KJV) plainly quotes those religious leaders advising the soldiers, "Saying, 'Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept.'" How can anybody steal a spirit or gasses, as some Witnesses claim Christ's body became?

If Jesus rose as a spirit being and only manifested a physical body for the sake of his disciples, why does the Bible say we'll have physical bodies at the resurrection? The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:54 (KJV), "So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." Immortality is for physical bodies since our spirits are already immortal.

And what of what Romans 8:11 (KJV) plainly states? "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you."

I could provide many more examples of Christ's physical resurrection but I'll save it for my next book called You Think You're Going to Heaven? As 1 Corinthians 15:19 (KJV)reminds us, "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable."