Most Christians do not really believe in the resurrection, nor do they understand that there are more than one resurrection. There is of course the first resurrection to eternal life for those who died in Christ. But only very few are called in this day and age to eternal life. Most who have died were never called. They will be called in the future… in a “second” resurrection (Revelation 20:11-12).
The “second” resurrection or the Great White Throne Judgment describes a resurrection to physical life of those who had not been called before. Ezekiel 37 pictures the resurrection of the entire house of Israel to PHYSICAL life. Other passages describe the physical resurrection of Gentiles (Matthew 12:38-42; Matthew 11:20-24).
Isaiah 65:20-25 indicates that there will be an allotted time span of 100 years during which those who are brought back to physical life can qualify for eternal life. If they do, they will be changed to immortality at the end of that judgment period (Hebrews 9:27; Ecclesiastes 12:14; Matthew 12:36).
Those who are called in this day and age are already being judged now (1 Peter 4:17); if they don’t fall away, they will become immortal at the time of Christ’s Return and will not come into the judgment of the second resurrection (John 5:24).
Throughout the Bible, we are being taught that ALL who died will be brought back to life by Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:22)… in their due time order (verses 23-24).
ALL who have died will hear the voice of Christ when He calls them out of their graves (John 5:21-29). Those who died in Christ (“who did good”) will come forth to the resurrection of life (the first resurrection), and those who were not called in this life and, as a consequence, did not really know how to do good (“who did evil”) will come forth after the Millennium (Revelation 20:5) to the second resurrection (resurrection of “condemnation” should be translated in John 5:29 as resurrection of “judgment”).
Since ALL will be brought back to life, this must include all those billions of people who were NOT resurrected at the time of Christ’s return. Their resurrection WILL occur later, and they will be made alive “in Christ.” It is Jesus Christ who will raise them up, and they will, for the first time, really understand who and what Christ was and is, and that there is no other name given to man by which we can be saved (Acts 4:12).
After they died, they “slept” the sleep of death… without any consciousness. They had no feeling or comprehension of time. When they awake, it will be for them as if they had just fallen asleep a second before (compare Isaiah 63:15-16).
Even though most Christians believe in an immortal soul which keeps on living after the person dies, this is not so. The Bible teaches the resurrection from the DEAD… not, that the DEAD continue to live. Rather, life and death are irreconcilable opposites (Romans 6:23).
After asking whether the dead will live again, Isaiah proclaims in Isaiah 26:19: “Your dead shall live; Together with my dead body they shall arise.” A better rendering can be found in the New International Version, which says: “But your dead will live; their bodies will rise (again).”
Job asked the question: “If a man DIES, shall he LIVE again?” (Job 14:14). And he answers that he wants to wait for his change, continuing, “You shall call, and I will answer You; You shall desire the work of Your hands” (verses 14-15). Even though Job might have had in mind his resurrection to eternal life, the fact of the matter is that when he spoke these words, he was not yet converted. But only those who have become converted and have received the Holy Spirit can enter the resurrection of life. Still, God desires the work of His hands as it regards unconverted people, as He waits anxiously for the time of their resurrection, so that they can BECOME converted. It is God’s desire that ALL men shall be saved (1 Timothy 2:4).
In an exchange with Mary and Martha, Christ pointed out His power over death through the resurrection from the dead, and that He was about to raise Lazarus. Martha misunderstood, thinking that Jesus was referring to the fact that their brother Lazarus would rise again in the resurrection of the last day. Again, neither Lazarus, Mary nor Martha were converted at that time, but they apparently still believed in the resurrection. It may well be that Martha had the second resurrection in mind, and not the first–being perhaps unaware of a first resurrection.
It may be surprising to many, but the Old Testament speaks foremost of the second resurrection to physical life, and NOT of the first resurrection to eternal life; as ancient Israel and Judah were never converted in their lifetime. Even though the concept of the first and the second resurrections was clearly taught in Old Testament Scriptures, it is doubtful that most understood the different order of resurrections; nor, that there would be a first resurrection to eternal life.
The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection (Acts 23:8). When they tried to trick Christ in respect to the issue, they were confused as to what kind of resurrection Christ emphasized, apparently believing that Christ taught a resurrection to physical life for His followers (Matthew 22:23-28). Christ explained that He was not teaching the second resurrection for His disciples, but the first (Matthew 22:29-31). And He proved the FIRST resurrection in that He emphasized that God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, showing that God is not a God of the dead (those who will remain dead), but those of the living (verse 32); that is, that those who died would LIVE again and come back to life in a resurrection.
Some Jews might have “professed” the resurrection and claimed that they believed in more than one resurrection, but it is doubtful that they really understood the concept. Paul clearly emphasized more than one resurrection in Acts 24:12-15. In this passage, Paul even made reference to the third resurrection to physical life of those who committed the unpardonable sin and who would be destroyed in a lake of fire (compare Revelation 20:13-15; Daniel 12:2).
It is true that the first resurrection to eternal life is also mentioned in Old Testament writings in respect to those who had received the Holy Spirit (note again Daniel 12:2). Still, most in Old Testament times apparently did not know about the “first” resurrection, and in New Testament times, many disbelieved altogether in the concept of any resurrection (Acts 26:8; 1 Corinthians 15:12). This disbelief included Jews and Gentiles (Acts 17:32). Furthermore, some in God’s Church had no clear picture as to the nature of the FIRST resurrection, only thinking in terms of a physical resurrection to temporary life (apparently confusing the first with the second resurrection, 1 Corinthians 15:35-55).
Today, the Christian world might give lip service to a resurrection, but in fact, it does not believe in one, thinking instead that man keeps on living after he has died, as it falsely assumed that man has an immortal soul which cannot die. Martin Luther once asked the pertinent question: Why should there be a resurrection if we have an immortal soul, which goes to heaven when we die?
As some in the New Testament church were confused as to the concept of the resurrection (compare 2 Timothy 2:16-18), today’s orthodox Christianity, as a whole, is hopelessly confused about this entire issue. But the fact remains that we have NO hope in life after death if we reject the concept of the resurrections.
Lead Writer: Norbert Link
