Adam was created with a stature much greater than men today, and Eve too was taller than women today (PP 45). Not only were they larger but they had greater physical and mental abilities and over twenty times the vital force of modern man. No doubt the antediluvians were real giants, but after the rebellion against God and the subsequent apostasy from His plan, the race degenerated. Whereas before the flood the life span was from 300 to 600 years, after 1000 years of degeneration it had been reduced to about 100 years in the time of Abraham. At the time of Christ's first advent, about 4000 years from Adam, the human race had further deteriorated through the accumulation of disease, perverted habits, and base passions, so that the condition of that generation was almost indescribable.
So, Christ was born with an inheritance of 4000 years of human decline from the perfect man, Adam. As far as we know He was not that much different physically from His contemporaries. We are told that there was nothing about Him that would cause Him to be considered abnormal in appearance. and there is no evidence that men in those days were much different than today. There is no evidence that His resurrection body was taller than before. He walked among his contemporaries for forty days following His resurrection, and there is no mention of any extraordinary appearance. In fact, when Mary met Him at the tomb, she did not recognize him until He spoke, but she was not overawed by any supernaturalness or oddness in height nor bearing. We can assume from this that the resurrected Jesus was fairly normal for men of His day.
At the time of the second advent, when the righteous are resurrected, Adam and all the other antediluvians will assume their original stature and they will tower over us puny humans who have lived in the last generation. But not so with Christ, for He will have a stature equal to or greater than that of Adam. When did He achieve this added stature since He did not have it when He ascended? The only conclusion is that He has been growing for the 2,000 years that Adam has been resting in the grave.
However, not only Christ has grown, but we will also grow up in heaven. Children who are resurrected with their parents will grow, and so will we. "All blemishes and deformities are left in the grave. Restored to the tree of life in the long lost Eden, the redeemed will 'grow up' to the full stature of the race in its primeval glory" ( GC 645 ). Evidently, there is some kind of growth hormone in the fruit from the Tree of Life that promotes growth, and we shall eventually come "unto the measure of the stature" of Christ.
