Ethnicity and the Resurrection

[Neto]

In the resurrection, will we still belong to separate ethnic groups?

My guess is 'no' and I think separate ethnic and also earthly Christian labelling (i.e. denomination, cons/lib, Anabaptist/Catholic, etc) will be gone. I might also guess we will all be one colour in our new bodies. These are only guesses but I lean toward the thought that whatever separates us now in these human forms will be replaced by a new heavenly body even though we will still know each other in some way. We sometime may joke about how we will get along if we get new bodies but our current differences are carried over. I can't conceive that we will continue to not get along, as we do here, once in heaven.

I suppose some Christians study NDEs trying to get more information on this. I'm not one. Whatever form we are in as long as we will be forever with the Lord, is really all that matters to me.

I think that IF we DO still in some way "belong to" our respective ethnic groups, it will be there as it should be here - It won't matter to us. Maybe I'm back-tracking here a bit, as I hadn't thought about skin color in the resurrection. I think we will very possibly still exhibit the same skin color as we have here. All peoples are beautiful, just as we were created. I will enjoy living in harmony with people of all "shades and colors".... What I mean is that maybe those differences will remain, but we will glory in one another, each with his or her unique appearance, and bring God praise for his wonder inspiring creation.

[Neto]

Jesus will always be the lion of the tribe of Judah and the son of David. I think he is Jewish eternally. The question of ethnicity in the resurrection is about the type of new life that will be. If you imagine a disembodied, spirit existence then ethnic consideration is reduced. More continuity with the world as we know it increases the role ethnicity, and other things that make us human might play.

I'm starting to see it more this way, I think.

[Neto]

I am not one who thinks that all of the promises God made to the Jewish people are null and void. However, it brought me up short when I heard a radio preacher say that "... they forgot that Jesus is Jewish."

Who was the preacher and what was the context?

Recently, some anti-Semites have been using the slogan "Christ the King" to troll Jews online. In that context, some commentators have pointed to the Jewishness of Jesus, saying you can't be anti-Semitic and a follower of Jesus.

I recently read this:

If you’re one of the very-online white nationalists who decided during Holy Week to claim the hashtag “Christ is king” as an antisemitic troll, I’ve got what might seem to you to be both good news and bad news.

The good news: Christ is king. The bad news: He’s a Jew. The even worse news: He’s not the kind of king you think he is.

This week commentator Candace Owens, recently fired by The Daily Wire for anti-Jewish comments, made news as she used the slogan online, allegedly as a response to Daily Wire cofounder, Ben Shapiro, who is Jewish. The phrase was then amplified by so-called “Groypers,” the social media mob assembled around the white nationalist Nick Fuentes, whose singular mission seems to be to put the Mein back in Mein Kampf.

And yes, Fuentes is now saying things like "I love Hitler". Saying Jews do not belong in America. And associating that with Christianity.

https://www.adl.org/resources/blog/fuen ... premacists

In that context, I think it's appropriate to point this out:

The cross, after all, came with a label affixed to it. Above Jesus’ head were the words Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews, written not just in Aramaic but in Greek and Latin too (John 19:19–22). Many have speculated as to why the prosecuting governor, Pontius Pilate, who personally wrote this inscription, did so—and why he wouldn’t change it, when asked, to “This man said, ‘I am the king of the Jews.’” What we do know is that the Roman system, of which Pilate was an official, used humiliation and intimidation as governing tools. After all, that’s what crucifixion is—a ghastly and shameful act of torture meant to provoke fear in anyone who might challenge the Caesarean order and to dehumanize anyone killed that way.

The Gospel of Mark indicates that the sign’s inscription, “the king of the Jews,” was actually the charge against him (15:26). The “Jesus is king” language would have been self-evidently a kind of joke, making fun of both Jesus and his fellow Jews under Roman occupation.

It was a Christian Jew, on a radio talk show (Moody Radio), where Dr. Michael Redelnick answers callers questions. I don't know what the question was, or even the general context. I just walked through the room where my wife had the radio playing, and heard his say that one sentence. I didn't have time to stop & listen.

[Bootstrap]

Jesus will always be the lion of the tribe of Judah and the son of David. I think he is Jewish eternally. The question of ethnicity in the resurrection is about the type of new life that will be. If you imagine a disembodied, spirit existence then ethnic consideration is reduced. More continuity with the world as we know it increases the role ethnicity, and other things that make us human might play.

I'm starting to see it more this way, I think.

Looking at Acts 15, quite a few people in the early church didn't even think of the possibility of a Gentile Christian until God forced them to ... I think they saw Jesus as Jewish and Christianity as the true Judaism. But God had plans beyond that ...

[Sudsy]

What I'm really hoping for is a body much different than my current one. One without missing parts.

[Bootstrap]

The phrase "every nation, tribe, language and people" is a theme in the Revelation.

Revelation 21 says that there will still be nations - and the glory and honor of the nations are brought into the new Jerusalem:

22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

[Neto]

What I'm really hoping for is a body much different than my current one. One without missing parts.

Some people think that we'll all be at some sort of ageless adult stage. I guess I think that I don't mind if I look old there. The idea that looking old is bad is, I think, a fallen human thought, not one that belongs in the Presence. Did Jesus' scars disappear when he ascended back into heaven? I do not know. But many hymns treat those "imperfections" in his resurrected body as precious in the sight of His redeemed. Even if you do not get the other arm back, I know that when you see Christ face to face, you will become like Him, and none of that will matter, - you will not be "handicapped" in the sight of the Holy One.

[Neto]

The phrase "every nation, tribe, language and people" is a theme in the Revelation.

Revelation 21 says that there will still be nations - and the glory and honor of the nations are brought into the new Jerusalem:

22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

I guess that the interpretation one takes regarding heaven, the reign of Christ, and the new heaven and the earth affects how we understand this reference, and others like it. (That is, are these peoples and nations resurrected believers, or the descendants of believers who survived the years of torment by the false Messiah.)

[barnhart]

What I'm really hoping for is a body much different than my current one. One without missing parts.

Some people think that we'll all be at some sort of ageless adult stage. I guess I think that I don't mind if I look old there. The idea that looking old is bad is, I think, a fallen human thought, not one that belongs in the Presence. Did Jesus' scars disappear when he ascended back into heaven? I do not know. But many hymns treat those "imperfections" in his resurrected body as precious in the sight of His redeemed. Even if you do not get the other arm back, I know that when you see Christ face to face, you will become like Him, and none of that will matter, - you will not be "handicapped" in the sight of the Holy One.

Jesus resurrected body still had the scars but I don't know if that is a special case or represents a system where the struggles and hardships we overcome become badges of honor and respect. I notice in Revelation people who are beheaded for their faith seem to play a special role.

[barnhart]

I recall somewhere in CS Lewis' writings about the next life that he speculated gender will be preserved as a trophy, like a warrior might preserve his helmet or sword long after it's original purpose is gone.