Deliverance from the Cross — Page 97
VI ASCENSION The central and conclusive factor that must be kept in mind when approaching the question of the ascension of Jesus to heaven is that Jesus was put on the cross in his physical body, was taken down from the cross in the same physical body, and the same physical body was placed in the sepulchre. It was the same body that was resuscitated and it was in that body that he thereafter met the disciples. That body was not a spiritual or transfigured body or a spirit. The failure to keep this reality in view has occasioned a vast amount of confusion in the Christian mind, beginning with St. Paul. Indeed, a section of the Muslims have also suffered from that confusion. After a large number of Christians had entered the ranks of Islam and had brought their mythical traditions with them, an increasing section of Muslims began to be influenced by these Christian traditions, and among other erroneous notions, adopted the idea that Jesus had been raised to heaven in his physical body. It is true that the Holy Quran says that God reassured Jesus: 'I shall cause thee to die a natural death, and shall exalt thee to Myself'. (al-e-’Imran, 3:56) 97