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THE PHYSICAL RETURN OF YOUR SON DOES NOT NECESSARILY NEED TO HAPPEN?  IF THAT IS TRUE, WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT FOR MANY.

I must answer your question in this manner.  Remember, I have been emphasizing that my son is the pattern for all the sibling troupe.  At the fully appointed time, he became a man – laid aside his privileges forever to live life as a man.¹¹²  He remains a man.  As such, he has never seen me, no man has.¹¹³  He was intimate to the point of being one with me and my spirit.  We could live our life through him as a man.¹¹⁴  He trusted in the invisible me to the point of doing all our bidding – even to the laying down of his life in the cruelest manner imaginable to a man.¹¹⁵

YOUR SON PERFORMED THE MIRACLES AS A MAN?

Yes he did.  My, how bright you are.  Of course, we directed him, but faith is the only thing that pleases us to the point of being moved to action on one’s behalf.¹¹⁶  We would empower him as he proceeded as a man by faith in the invisible.  He was the pattern.

IN WHAT WAY?

My son was disappointed with some in his inner circle when they refused to believe the reports of his resurrection from those who had seen him.  They demanded physical evidence in order to believe.  They behaved much like those who had demanded that he come down from the cross to cause them to believe that he was whom he had claimed to be.¹¹⁷  Of course, those in his inner circle were distraught about how things had seemed to turn out and that their own agenda had not been fulfilled.  We chose to cut them some slack.

YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT DOUBTING THOMAS?

Yes, plus some others before him.  However, we were able to use the occasion of  Thomas’ disbelief to put forth a timeless principle during a subsequent appearance by my son.

112           “(Christ), although He existed in the form (essence) of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant . . . (coming) in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:6-7, New American Standard).

113           “No one has seen God at any time” (John 1:18a).  “. . . who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see” (1 Timothy 6:16a).

114           “I and My Father are one. . . . If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him” (John 10:30, 37-38).

115           “And being found in the appearance of a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8).  “. . . I lay down My life for the sheep. . . . No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself” (John 10:15b, 18a).

116           “But without faith it is impossible to please Him . . .” (Hebrews 11:6a). It’s the author’s belief that only our behavior that is activated by or in response to faith is pleasing to God to the point that He will be moved to engage Himself on our behalf in our endeavor, trial, etc.

117           “Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe” (Mark 15:32a).