As we have explained before, the Bible teaches three resurrections—one to eternal life, and two to physical life. But does the Bible tell us anything about the location as to WHERE, exactly, those who have died will be resurrected?
In our Q&A on the “resurrection of the physical body,” we addressed the question as to HOW God will resurrect those who have died. We wrote the following:
“Regarding the resurrection of those who died ‘in Christ,’ that is, in whom God’s Holy Spirit dwelled when they died, we read that they are resurrected with an immortal SPIRITUAL body. God will raise them up to spiritual, immortal and eternal life. God will not first resurrect their dead ‘physical bodies’ and then ‘change’ them into spiritual bodies. Rather, God will resurrect or raise the Christians with spiritual bodies…
“When we die in Christ, our bodies decay. The bodies of those who died in Christ thousands of years ago have completely decayed. They became dust and ashes, as God said that they would (Genesis 3:19)… HOW exactly, will God resurrect those who died in Christ? We know that God gives every man a spirit which separates him from the animals (1 Corinthians 2:11)… The spirit in man records all our thoughts and retains all of our memories, as well as our general outward appearance. We read that the spirit in man goes back to God when man dies. In addition, a Christian receives in his life God’s Holy Spirit, which will also return to God, together with the spirit in man, when the Christian dies… It is through the spirit in man (combined with the Holy Spirit) that God will raise Christians with immortal spiritual bodies…
“The Bible also teaches that all those who did NOT die ‘in Christ’ will be resurrected AFTER the Millennium to be given their chance to choose God’s Way of Life. This is commonly referred to in the Bible as the ‘second resurrection.’ But they will be resurrected as physical beings, not as Spirit beings. When they are raised from the dead, they will receive a new physical body–not a spiritual body. But this does not mean that God will resurrect their identical physical bodies, which they had when they died, and which subsequently decayed in their graves–or which were obliterated in atomic and nuclear blasts in Hiroshima, Nagasaki and in a nuclear war still prophesied to come, or which became ashes during the Holocaust, or which were cremated.
“HOW, exactly, will God resurrect them? God will not raise their physical bodies which had been decayed and decomposed. Rather, He will resurrect them in the same way (albeit to physical life) as He will raise those who died in Christ… When those in the second resurrection are being given physical life, God is not resurrecting their physical bodies, per se… The resurrection to a physical existence in Ezekiel 37, describing the ‘valley of dry bones,’ is of course a vision, and uses figurative terms, to describe a resurrection to physical life. It cannot be used literally to teach a resurrection of the same dead physical bodies. After all, in the vision, the very dry bones speak, verse 11…
“Insofar as the second resurrection is concerned of those who died [about] 1,000 years or even [about] 7,000 years earlier, and whose bodies decayed or were obliterated, God will be using their spirit in man (which returned to God upon death) to create through it a new physical body for them. God will give them a new flesh and blood physical body, as He pleases, using the spirit in man as a ‘mold’ which has retained even the outward appearance of the person.
“This is not to say that the persons will be raised exactly to the same physical existence that they had when they died. For instance, we don’t believe that a person who, through an accident or a birth defect, had only one arm or one leg, will be resurrected to exactly that identical state, but, in all likelihood, with two arms and two legs. We find it reasonable to conclude that blind persons will be raised with eyesight. An aborted fetus will obviously not be resurrected as a fetus, but as a human being who will be capable of living on his own. When Adam and Eve were created, God did not create them as little children, but as grown adults, perhaps in their early or mid-twenties, and He placed in them the spirit in man, even though they were without any prior experience.
“We don’t know how, exactly, God will raise those in the second resurrection. The Bible does not reveal whether a person who died at age 90 will look like a 90-year old person in the second resurrection, or whether he will look like the person that he was when he was in his twenties. But it stands to reason that all will be resurrected to live healthy lives for about one hundred years, which–as the Bible indicates–is most likely the time allotted to them during the Great White Throne Judgment period…”
There are many additional questions regarding the exact way in which God will raise the dead in the resurrections. One question which is repeatedly asked is WHERE exactly the resurrections will take place. Will they take place at the exact location where they were buried? If so, what will happen after their resurrection?
The Bible gives us several indications as to what is going to occur regarding those in the FIRST resurrection to eternal life. First of all, we read that ALL who are in their graves (that would include those who died “in Christ”) will hear the voice of Christ and come forth (John 5:28-29). It appears, therefore, that they will be resurrected at the place of their burial and come forth from there. Of course, as was explained above, their bones decayed, and their resurrection will be to spirit existence; still, it appears that God will raise their spiritual bodies at the place of their burial.
This is apparently generally the case, but not exclusively. For instance, over the millennia, some, if not many Christians, were not buried in a grave, but they might have been cremated or burned, and their ashes might not be deposited anywhere. Or, they might be “buried” in the ocean. Although the Bible does not specifically state this, if no exact location for a “burial” exists, they might be raised at the place where they died.
What will happen immediately after they are raised in the first resurrection? We read that they will be brought to the returning Christ, meeting Him in the air. But how exactly will that occur? Will they know precisely, when they are raised from the dead, that they need to lift themselves up to meet Christ?
The Bible indicates that angels will have an active part in this. We read that when Christ returns, He will send out His angels to gather His elect: “And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His ELECT FROM THE FOUR WINDS, FROM ONE END OF HEAVEN TO THE OTHER” (Matthew 24:31).
Notice what we wrote in our Q&A on the “four winds”:
“Consider that some converted Christians will be at the place of safety when Christ returns (compare Revelation 12:14; 3:10). But this is not true for everybody. Others will have survived the Great Tribulation in their respective localities, but some, if not many, will have been, as captives, brought to all kinds of places all over the world (compare Deuteronomy 28:64-68). Others, over the millennia, died in Christ, and they were buried in diverse places. When Christ returns, they will hear His voice and be resurrected to immortality, coming out of their graves (John 5:28-29), or they will be changed to immortality (if they are still alive and Christ’s Spirit dwells in them, 1 Corinthians 15:50-52). Then, the angels of God will gather all of them (Psalm 50:5) and bring them to Christ to meet Him in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). Christ and His saints will then descend together to the Mount of Olives to begin to rule in the KINGDOM OF GOD here on earth (Zechariah 14:4-5; 1 Thessalonians 3:13; Jude 14-15; Daniel 7:14, 22, 27; Revelation 5:10; 20:4).”
It appears, then, that those who died in Christ will basically be raised at the (approximate) location where they were buried or their remains were kept, or, if no such location exists, they might be raised at the place where they died. In any event, after they are raised, angels will come and bring them to the returning Christ, meeting Him in the air.
We might also notice the account of the two witnesses. Judging from the context of the passage, they will be resurrected to eternal life at the time of the first resurrection of all Christians, and at the place of their death. They will hear a voice from heaven, saying to them to come up here, and they will ascend in a cloud (as all Christians will rise on clouds at the time of their resurrection). It is not specifically mentioned here that angels will be actively guiding them in this process, but the voice from heaven, which might very well be an angelic voice (compare 1 Thessalonians 4:16), suggests this—it most certainly does not contradict Christ’s statement in Matthew 24:31.
Where will those in the SECOND and THIRD resurrections to physical life be raised?
It appears that the dead will also be raised at the (approximate) locations WHERE they were buried or where their remains were kept, or where they died.
For instance, we read in Ezekiel 37—even though this passage is just a vision—that the dry bones of the Israelites are being resurrected at a certain location, and that afterwards, the resurrected people will be transported to the land of Israel; that is, however one wants to look at this vision, the thought is being conveyed here that they are not resurrected right away in the Promised Land where they will finally end up living. Notice God’s words in Ezekiel 37:12: “O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves [they will hear the voice of Christ and come out of their graves, as we read in John 5:28-29], and BRING YOU into the land of Israel.”
We find also an interesting passage regarding those who will be resurrected in the third resurrection: “The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades [the grave] delivered up the dead who were in them” (Revelation 20:13). This seems to indicate that their resurrection to physical life will take place approximately at the location where their death and/or their burial took place. But what is going to happen next, especially for those who died at sea—both in the third and the second resurrection? (We might think of all the Egyptians, for example, who drowned and died in the Red Sea). Since they will be resurrected to physical life, they would not be able to survive for long in the sea, unless some supernatural event would occur. And the Bible says that it will.
In regard to the third resurrection, we are specifically told that God will send His angels to gather the incorruptible wicked out of the kingdom and cast them into the lake of fire (Matthew 13:41-42). So, wherever those who have committed the unpardonable sin will be resurrected, angels will transport them supernaturally from there to the place where the lake of fire will be situated, to be burned up and destroyed. But before they are destroyed, they will appear before the judgment seat of Christ (apparently in Jerusalem), to be judged and condemned by Him, each one according to his works (Revelation 20:13-14).
It stands to reason, then, that angels will also be actively involved in regard to those who will be raised in the second resurrection. They too will end up standing before God (Revelation 20:12). In fact, we read that ALL will stand before the judgment seat of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10; Romans 14:10-12). Somehow, they have to be brought to Christ. Undoubtedly, angels will play a part in this, but remember that those who have qualified to become God beings in the Kingdom of God will also rule and judge, under Christ (compare Daniel 7:18, 21-22, 27; Revelation 22:5). Even though the Bible does not specifically explain the exact nature of their involvement at the time of the second resurrection of their loved ones who had died, without having been called to salvation in this day and age, we feel rather confident that those immortal God beings will be right there, with Christ, when their physical loved ones will be brought by the angels to Jesus Christ. Some of the immortal God beings might even be there at the very place of the resurrection of their loved ones, to bring them, with the angels, to Christ.
When Christ was resurrected, He manifested himself and appeared to Mary Magdalene, to the other Mary, the eleven disciples, to other disciples and to His half-brothers, and these appearances confirmed to His unconverted family members what He had told them before, and they had undoubtedly a major impact on their conversion.
Now assume that you have been called in this day and age, and that you will qualify for the Kingdom of God and enter into eternal life at the time of Christ’s return. Continue to think of your loved ones, friends and relatives who had heard the truth to an extent, but had died before Christ’s return, unable to accept the truth, because they were not called then. Imagine that they will be resurrected in the second resurrection and see you right there and then (as you will manifest yourself to their eyes, as Christ did in front of His relatives and friends). What a great impact will that fact have on them? They will realize that God’s Word, which they had been taught, had been true, and it can be assumed that most will gladly embrace the opportunity then to become converted and enter the Family of God.
Realizing all of this, what a great and tremendous responsibility we have today—those of us who have been called and chosen in this life to salvation—to make our calling and election sure, so that we can be there, as immortal God beings, to help our loved ones, friends and relatives in the second resurrection, to also come to the knowledge of the truth!
Lead Writer: Norbert Link
