The omnipresence of the Lord
I heard a nondenominational/Baptist pastor say that the ascended Lord's body is only present in heaven at God's right hand, and thus, cannot be present in the Lord's Supper. On the contrary, I believe our WELS teaching on the true body of Christ present in Holy Communion, and the obviously miraculous way that his true body can be present at multiple places in the world at the same time. Can you explain what the Bible says about the corporeal body of Christ in this post-ascension time of history? And how does the truth of God's omnipresence relate to the corporeal body of Christ.
Traditional Reformed theology holds the erroneous view that Jesus’ human body can occupy only one space at a time. With that wrong idea in mind, Reformed theology envisions Jesus’ body—after his ascension—only in heaven, and the earthly elements in the Lord’s Supper merely symbolize his body.
When Jesus ascended into heaven, he withdrew his visible presence from his followers on earth. He did not abandon them. He promises: “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them” (Matthew 18:20). The God-Man, Jesus, with his human nature and body as well as according to his deity, is present when his followers gather in his name. Shortly before his ascension, Jesus gave a similar promise of his presence in the lives of his followers: “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). Jesus’ divine nature shares with his human nature characteristics or attributes so that his body is also capable of being present anywhere and everywhere he wills to be (omnipresence). His body is truly present in the Lord’s Supper (Matthew 26:26-28).
While these truths of Scripture may go beyond our understanding, Spirit-worked faith believes them. Like you, I do not seek to change Scripture to make it more understandable to my mind.