RESURRECTION
It is the fundamental principle of God’s gracious dealings with man, since man is under the sentence of death, and in death itself, due to sin (cf. Eph. 2:1, 4-6; Col. 3 :1-4, etc.).
The expression “the general resurrection” is found in works of theology, and there is a general belief that all the dead will be raised simultaneously. However, this idea is not found in the Scriptures.
The Lord speaks of “resurrection to life” (John 5:29). The order of the definitive resurrection, leaving aside the “temporary” resurrections with which God manifested his power, is: “Each one in his due order: Christ, the firstfruits; then those who are Christ’s, at his coming. Then the end…” (1 Cor. 15:23-24).
This “end” is evidently the raising up of the wicked to judgment, or, in other words, “to the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:29).
In Rev. 20:4-5 there is a close correspondence with the passage in 1 Cor. 15:23-24; In both we can see, with the key phrase “each in his due order”, how the millennial reign of Christ (see MILLENNIUM) is interposed between the resurrection of His own and the resurrection of damnation, or “the end.”
Thus, following the order of resurrections established in the Scriptures, they can be considered, successively:
(a) The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ’s return to a glorified bodily life, three days after his death, constitutes, along with the cross, the very basis of the Gospel (1 Cor. 15: 3-4). Without this glorious fact, the Christian’s faith would be totally vain (1 CO. 14:14-19).
The resurrection of the Messiah is already announced in the OT (Luke 24:44-46; Gen. 22:2-5; cf. Heb. 11:19; Num. 17:1-11; cf. Rom. 1:4 ; Is. 53:10-12; Mt. 12:39-40; Ps. 16:9-10; 110:1; cf. Acts 2:29-36).
Jesus himself had warned his disciples of this (Mt. 16:21; 17: 22-23; 20:19; Jn. 2: 18-22; Mr. 9: 9-10).
After his death had been duly confirmed and the authorities had taken all precautions to avoid any fraud, the fact of the resurrection has been demonstrated with indubitable evidence.
The testimonies are numerous and consistent: the women, Mary Magdalene; the disciples, Peter, John, James, Thomas; the guards, the elders, the disciples of Emmaus, the five hundred brothers mentioned in 1 Cor. 15:6, the eleven apostles, Saul of Tarsus (cf. the Gospels, Acts 10:40-41; 1 Cor. 15:5 -8).
The disciples, far from inventing imaginary apparitions, were hardly persuaded of such an extraordinary fact. The Lord Jesus had to strongly reproach them for their unbelief and hardness of heart (Mark 16: 13-14; Luke 24: 22-25, 37-39), and gave them such proofs that they were finally completely persuaded.
Their consequent faith transformed them and enabled them to go even to martyrdom for their risen Lord. On the other hand, the tomb had been left empty, and the same enemies of the nascent Church, who had all the resources of power in their hands, were never able to present the corpse of the Crucified.
After the forty days spent with his apostles, the Lord left them, and glorified on high sent them the Holy Spirit (Acts 1: 3-9). From then on, the disciples became everywhere witnesses of the resurrection (Acts 1:22; 2:32; 3:15; 4:10, 33; 5:31-32; 10:40-42; 13:30-37; 25:19, etc.).
Consequences of the resurrection:
(A) For Jesus Christ Himself: He has been declared the Son of God with power (Rom. 1:4); He has been given all power in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18); Since then he has been seated at the right hand of God, crowned with glory and honor (Acts 2: 32-34; Heb. 2: 9), waiting for the time of his coming to establish his kingdom (Acts . 17:31).
(B) For believers: the resurrection makes our salvation possible (Rom. 4:25). The living Christ intercedes for us and gives us full salvation (Heb. 7:23-25; 1 Pet. 3:21). Christ, the last Adam, creates a new humanity, of which the believer becomes a part (1 Cor. 15:45-49).
He is the firstfruits of the dead, and his resurrection is the firm guarantee of that of the believer. He is the resurrection and the life; indeed, he is risen (1 Cor. 15:20-23; Jn. 11:25-26). (See JESUS CHRIST.)
(b) The resurrection of believers.
This is a fundamental article of the Christian faith, and the Bible shows it in a multiform way. Although it is frequently stated that it is not mentioned explicitly in the OT, it nevertheless contains direct allusions to it, and clear prophecies.
There are accounts of three resurrections that demonstrate that God’s power triumphs over death (1 Kings 17:21; 2 Kings 4:34; 13:21). Two raptures demonstrate that the Lord’s loved ones can escape the grave (Gen. 5:24; 2 Kings 2:11). Three types of the resurrection have already been mentioned in section (a) above about Jesus Christ (Gen. 22:5, cf. Heb. 11:19; Num. 17:8; Mt. 12:39-40).
Ezekiel gives a stunning vision of a national resurrection. Although it is about the resurrection of Israel as a nation (Ez. 37:1-10, cf. Ez. 37:11-14), it is still notable that the image used for this is that of the resurrection.
Job proclaims, in one of, if not the oldest, books of the Bible, his faith in the resurrection based on the life of his Redeemer (Jb. 19:23-27). The psalmist knows that God will bring him out of the abode of the dead (Ps. 49:15).
Isaiah announces the definitive victory over death (Is. 25:7-8). While Isa. 26:19 is understood by some to refer to the national resurrection of Israel, again the observation regarding Ezekiel applies: the very fact that the image of the resurrection is used is extremely significant.
Daniel clearly speaks of two types of resurrection (Dan. 12:2), and he personally receives the assurance that he will rise to receive his inheritance (Dan. 12:13). (For a detailed exegesis of Dan. 12:2, see appendix at the end of this article.)
Finally, Hosea sings of triumph over the tomb. Jesus himself sees in Ex. 3:6, 15-16 an affirmation of the resurrection (Lk. 20:37-38). In fact, the idea of the resurrection underlies all the teachings of the OT.
In the Judaism of the Lord’s time it was accepted as an article of the orthodox faith (cf. Jn. 11:24), and the fact that the Sadducees did not believe in it is presented as an anomaly (Mt. 22:23; Acts 23:6-8).
In the NT there are six other cases of resurrection (Lk. 7:13-16; 8:55; Jn. 11:44; Mt. 27:52-53; Acts 9:40; 20:9-10). But it is evident that each of these people brought back to life died again, with the possible exception of those mentioned in Mt. 27:52-53.
Only Christ has been definitively resurrected, with the possible exception of a handful, after His resurrection, as a pledge of His future work. As for us, we hope for “a better resurrection” (Heb. 11:35). All of these examples and promises form a basis for Paul’s fuller revelation of this teaching.
The way in which the resurrection will operate.
(A) Following the analogy of nature. In fact, in it we can observe how life arises from death (cf. Jn. 12:24), how the small seed is much smaller than the future plant, how the Creator has the capacity to raise an infinity of diverse bodies (1 Cor. 15:35-41).
(B) According to 1 Cor. 15:42-44 the new body will be incorruptible, glorious, full of power, spiritual.
(C) In fact, it will be like that of the resurrected Christ (1 Cor. 15:45-49; Phil. 3:20-21). Just as in the earthly body the adequacy had its emphasis on the soul, being an “animal”, psychic body, in the new body the emphasis is placed on its adequacy to the spirit (1 Cor. 15:44-45).
Time of resurrection.
It will take place at the coming of Christ (1 Cor. 15:23), on “the last day” (John 6:39, 40, 44, 54), at the time of the rapture of the church (1 Cor. 15: 51-53; 1 Thes. 4:13-18).
The believers who live on earth at that moment will not die: transformed in the blink of an eye, they will be caught up in the air to meet the Lord along with the believers previously dead and now resurrected.
This will be the glorious first resurrection, in which the martyrs of the Great Tribulation who will be called to life at the beginning of the thousand years will take part, along with the saints of the OT (see appendix to this article; cf. Rev. 2: 4-6).
Already now the believer already has resurrection life, having been spiritually resurrected in his new birth (John 5:24; Rom. 6: 1, 4; Eph. 2: 4-6; Col. 1: 3-4) ; but the adoption, the resurrection of the body, is still pending (Rom. 8:23).
Those who will take part in this resurrection are “Christ’s” (1 Cor. 15:22-23), those whom the Father has given him (John 6:39-44). But not everyone will participate in it, because they do not have Him. This is the reason why there is talk of a “resurrection from the dead” (Phil. 3:11; Mark 9:9-10).
This doctrine is notable not only for its fullness and spirituality, but also for how far it is from the philosophical conceptions that emerged outside of Revelation.
In fact, it is absolutely different from the Greek conception which claims that the soul is pre-existing to the body and immortal to live eternally independent of the body; Salvation, in these systems, consists of definitive liberation, detached from the body.
The Manichaeans (heretics of the first centuries AD) established an irreducible antagonism between the body and the spirit, with the material body representing evil, and the soul being degraded by its union with the body.
In contrast, the Scriptures teach that the body and soul, both created by God, are good in themselves, and destined for each other and for immortality (cf. 1 Cor. 6:15, 19).
(c) The resurrection of the wicked.
In the Scriptures it is clearly taught that there will be two resurrections: that of believers, to eternal life, and that of those who have not accepted the Savior, to judgment and eternal confusion (Dan. 12:2; Jn. 5:28- 29; Acts 24:15; Rev. 20:4-5). The first resurrection takes place before the beginning of the Millennium, and the other immediately after, to give rise to the Final Judgment (Rev. 20:5, 12-13).
From these texts it is clear that at this moment the unjust will be resurrected, those who have experienced evil, those who do not belong to Christ, and who have not been considered worthy to take part in the first resurrection; those who, not having been saved by faith in the redemptive work of Christ, will be judged by their works. Blessed and holy is he who has a part in the first resurrection! (Rev. 20:6).
(d) Appendix: exegesis of Dn. 12:2.
It should be noted that the translation commonly given in various versions is not correct. In the King James Version it is translated like this: “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awaken, some to eternal life, and others to shame and perpetual confusion.”
From this passage one can get the impression that there will be a simultaneous resurrection of both groups. But in this translation the language is incoherent. It is stated that “many” will be awakened, and this seems to refer to “many” of two groups, but evidently not all.
In fact, as N. West shows in his work “The Thousand Years in Both Testaments”, the correct translation of the passage, in relation to the context, is: “And (at that time) many (of your people) will awaken (or , they will be separated) from those who sleep in the dust of the earth.
These (who awaken) will be to eternal life, but those (those who do not awaken at this time) will be to eternal shame and confusion.”
Thus, in reality, Daniel teaches the resurrection of one of the two classes to which the people of Israel belonged at that time (Dn. 12:1). For a full consideration of the wording of this passage and its relationship to the eschatological framework of the OT and NT, cf. N. West, op. cit., PP. 265-268.