Did Jesus Redeem Mankind? — Page 109
109 the New Testament holds that he rose from the dead with his physical body and went to heaven with it. Thus the entire edifice of his divinity topples to the ground, and the fact emerges that the Messiah whom the Christians believe to be the equal of God the Father, is still imprisoned in his physical human form in the heavens. Again, the New Testament does not say when he will part with this body; in fact it says that he will be coming with it when he makes his second advent; as it is mentioned that when he will come next "And then shall they see the Son of man coming in clouds with great power and glory," (Mark 13: 26), (i. e. , his claim will not be readily accepted; that there will arise many doubts and misgivings). . The New Testament thus clearly says that people will see the Messiah the second time also in the same body. It is evident that he cannot suffer death a second time, for death came upon him the first time for purposes of atonement. . Once atonement has been offered, there is no room any more for death which means that either Christians must concede the position that Jesus will eternally remain imprisoned in his physical body, without the hope of release from it, or, that they should agree that the theory about the assumption by him of physical body was ill-founded; for, if it were a tenable proposition, he should have been free of the bodily encumbrance after the incident of the Cross. On the contrary, instead of being free of it, according to the New Testament, he rose again with the same body and ascended into the heavens with it. . DID MESSIAH OFFER ATONEMENT WILLINGLY?. Apropos the Christian claim that the Messiah offered atonement, it is necessary to ascertain whether the Messiah