The Resurrection of the Dead
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· 18 viewsWhat is the resurrection of the dead when Jesus returns? What do we know about this resurrection. We continue to talk about when Jesus comes back and what will happen.
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The Resurrection of the Dead
The Resurrection of the Dead
We have established over the last weeks that no doubt Jesus is coming back. We have talked about the intermediate state (the time between bodily death and bodily resurrection).
This morning we will look at the resurrection of the dead. When Christ returns and those who believe Jesus Christ is Lord scripture talks about their bodies being raised when Jesus returns.
“[The resurrection of the body] is the Christian’s brightest hope. Many believers make a mistake when they long to die and long for Heaven. Those things may be desirable, but they are not the ultimate for the saints. The saints in Heaven are perfectly free from sin and, so far as they are capable of it, are perfectly happy. But a disembodied spirit never can be perfect until it is reunited to its body. God made man not pure spirit but body and spirit, and the spirit alone will never be content until it sees its physical frame raised to its own condition of holiness and glory. Think not that our longings here below are not shared in by the saints in Heaven. They do not groan so far as any pain can be, but they long with greater intensity than you and I for the ‘adoption ... the redemption of our bodies.’ People have said there is no faith in Heaven, and no hope. They know not what they say— in Heaven faith and hope have their fullest swing and their brightest sphere, for glorified saints believe in God’s promise and hope for the resurrection of the body.”
Charles Spurgeon
The Resurrection of the body is grounded and rooted in the fact that Jesus rose from the dead.
1 Corinthians speaks and tells of this truth that Jesus was buried and rose from the grave.
For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve.
Then He appeared to over 500 brothers at one time; most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep.
Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles.
Last of all, as to one abnormally born, He also appeared to me.
This week at Summers @ the Beach, I got the opportunity to share the Gospel with all the kids. I used these pictures to help keep the kids focus on me and I remember showing his picture of Jesus dying on the cross.
It was precious because some of the students were grasping the story of salvation for the first time in their life. I wish I could show you the look of sorrow on some of the kids faces as they heard how Jesus died on a cross.
I then showed them this picture of them putting Jesus in the grave. Then came this picture of Jesus coming out of the tomb and I remember one student saying wait Jesus is alive?!? Some began to ask how did Jesus come back to life?
The world does not argue that Jesus existed, that Jesus died, that Jesus was placed in a tomb or that the tomb was empty. They try to explain this is several different ways.
Jesus didn’t die on the cross.
Muslim teach that someone like Jesus died on the cross. This was 6 centuries later.
Jesus didn’t die and he got up later and walked out.
Jesus tomb was not empty
They went to the wrong tomb
The disciples stole the body of Jesus
The disciples were delusional when they claimed to see Jesus
Jesus die on the cross and actually rose from the grave.
Resurrection
Implications of Jesus’ Resurrection
He is Lord over life and death
No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down on My own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from My Father.”
He is Lord over sin and Satan
Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?
Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!
He is Lord over you and me.
If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.
Believe in the resurrection of Christ.
Surrender to the Lordship of Christ
And just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son also gives life to anyone He wants to.
The Father, in fact, judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son,
so that all people will honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
“I assure you: Anyone who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.
“I assure you: An hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
For just as the Father has life in Himself, so also He has granted to the Son to have life in Himself.
And He has granted Him the right to pass judgment, because He is the Son of Man.
Do not be amazed at this, because a time is coming when all who are in the graves will hear His voice
and come out—those who have done good things, to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked things, to the resurrection of judgment.
John 5:21-
When the resurrected Christ returns, Christians will experience physical resurrection with Him.
When the resurrected Christ returns, Christians will experience physical resurrection with Him.
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; afterward, at His coming, those who belong to Christ.
Most believers will die.
Listen! I am telling you a mystery: We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed,
in a moment, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.
All believers will be resurrected.
Since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus.
For we say this to you by a revelation from the Lord: We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming will certainly have no advantage over those who have fallen asleep.
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
Then we who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we will always be with the Lord.
Since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus.
For we say this to you by a revelation from the Lord: We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming will certainly have no advantage over those who have fallen asleep.
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
Then we who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we will always be with the Lord.
Since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus.
For we say this to you by a revelation from the Lord: We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming will certainly have no advantage over those who have fallen asleep.
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
Then we who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we will always be with the Lord.
Those who are alive when Christ returns will be physically transformed in their bodies.
1 Thessa
Those who are alive when Christ returns will be physically transformed in their bodies.
Those who are dead when Christ returns will be physically reunited with their bodies.
❍ Those who are dead when Christ returns will be physically reunited with their bodies.
Our resurrection bodies will be Christ-like.
but our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of His glorious body, by the power that enables Him to subject everything to Himself.
Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him because we will see Him as He is.
Our resurrection bodies will be physical
“Why are you troubled?” He asked them. “And why do doubts arise in your hearts?
Look at My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself! Touch Me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.”
Then He said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and observe My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side. Don’t be an unbeliever, but a believer.”
The Bible views the physical body (apart from sin) as holy, good, and valuable.
1 Corinthians
“Everything is permissible for me,” but not everything is helpful. “Everything is permissible for me,” but I will not be brought under the control of anything.
“Food for the stomach and the stomach for food,” but God will do away with both of them. The body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
God raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power.
Don’t you know that your bodies are a part of Christ’s body? So should I take a part of Christ’s body and make it part of a prostitute? Absolutely not!
Don’t you know that anyone joined to a prostitute is one body with her? For Scripture says, The two will become one flesh.
But anyone joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
Run from sexual immorality! “Every sin a person can commit is outside the body.” On the contrary, the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body.
Don’t you know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
for you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body.
Implications for our lives
We must not ignore the care of our bodies.
Our culture is filled with brokenness and often this has taken place to the body. Or the body becomes the canvas to express the brokenness. In some cases the body is also neglected because of self worth issues or stress.
Take a minute to reflect on scripture and understand that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Begin to shift our thinking away from the pain that may have been caused to the body to the fact that the body is a Sanctuary to the Holy Spirit.
We must not idolize the care of our bodies
Paul talks about this when he writes to Timothy in
If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished by the words of the faith and the good teaching that you have followed.
But have nothing to do with irreverent and silly myths. Rather, train yourself in godliness,
for the training of the body has a limited benefit, but godliness is beneficial in every way, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance.
In fact, we labor and strive for this, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of everyone, especially of those who believe.
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Scripture changes implications of death
Burial is Biblical
For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in a new way of life.
;
By faith Joseph, as he was nearing the end of his life, mentioned the exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions concerning his bones.
Christians look forward to the restoration of the body, not relief from the body.
So it is with the resurrection of the dead: Sown in corruption, raised in incorruption;
sown in dishonor, raised in glory; sown in weakness, raised in power;
sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
So it is written: The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.
However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, then the spiritual.
The first man was from the earth and made of dust; the second man is from heaven.
Like the man made of dust, so are those who are made of dust; like the heavenly man, so are those who are heavenly.
And just as we have borne the image of the man made of dust, we will also bear the image of the heavenly man.
Brothers, I tell you this: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, and corruption cannot inherit incorruption.
Listen! I am telling you a mystery: We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed,
in a moment, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.
For this corruptible must be clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal must be clothed with immortality.
When this corruptible is clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place: Death has been swallowed up in victory.
Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?
Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!
Our resurrection bodies will be spiritual (entirely Spirit filled)
Our resurrection bodies will be eternal.
Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day.
For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory.
So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
“I hope in some way I can take my wheelchair to heaven. With my new glorified body I will stand up on resurrected legs, and I will be next to the Lord Jesus. And I will feel those nail prints in his hands, and I will say, ‘Thank you, Jesus!’ He will know I mean it, because he will recognize me from the inner sanctum of sharing in the fellowship of his sufferings. He will see that I was one who identified with him in the sharing of his sufferings, so my gratitude will not be hollow. And then I will say, ‘Lord Jesus, do you see that wheelchair over there? Well, you were right. When you put me in it, it was a lot of trouble. But the weaker I was in that thing, the harder I leaned on you. And the harder I leaned on you, the stronger I discovered you to be. I do not think I would ever have known the glory of your grace were it not for the weakness of that wheelchair. So thank you, Lord Jesus, for that. Now, if you like, you can send that thing off to hell.’ ”
“I hope in some way I can take my wheelchair to heaven. With my new glorified body I will stand up on resurrected legs, and I will be next to the Lord Jesus. And I will feel those nail prints in his hands, and I will say, ‘Thank you, Jesus!’ He will know I mean it, because he will recognize me from the inner sanctum of sharing in the fellowship of
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Joni Eareckson Tada
his sufferings. He will see that I was one who identified with him in the sharing of his sufferings, so my gratitude will not be hollow. And then I will say, ‘Lord Jesus, do you see that wheelchair over there? Well, you were right. When you put me in it, it was a lot of trouble. But the weaker I was in that thing, the harder I leaned on you. And the harder I leaned on you, the stronger I discovered you to be. I do not think I would ever have known the glory of your grace were it not for the weakness of that wheelchair. So thank you, Lord Jesus, for that. Now, if you like, you can send that thing off to hell.’ ” Joni Eareckson Tada
Our resurrection bodies will be beautiful.
But whenever Moses went before the Lord to speak with Him, he would remove the veil until he came out. After he came out, he would tell the Israelites what he had been commanded,
and the Israelites would see that Moses’ face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil over his face again until he went to speak with the Lord.
Those who are wise will shine like the bright expanse of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.
Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s kingdom. Anyone who has ears should listen!
Our resurrection bodies will be powerful
Stay awake and pray, so that you won’t enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
“I still can hardly believe it. I, with shriveled, bent fingers, atrophied muscles, gnarled knees, and no feeling from the shoulders down, will one day have a new body, light, bright, and clothed in righteousness—powerful and dazzling. Can you imagine the hope this gives someone spinal-cord injured like me? Or someone who is cerebral palsied, brain-injured, or who has multiple sclerosis? Imagine the hope this gives someone who is manic-depressive. No other religion, no other philosophy promises new bodies, hearts, and minds. Only in the Gospel of Christ do hurting people find such incredible hope.” Joni EarecksonTada
“I still can hardly believe it. I, with shriveled, bent fingers, atrophied muscles, gnarled knees, and no feeling from the shoulders down, will one day have a new body, light, bright, and clothed in righteousness—powerful and dazzling. Can you imagine the hope this gives someone spinal-cord injured like me? Or someone who is cerebral palsied, brain-injured, or who has multiple sclerosis? Imagine the hope this gives someone who is manic-depressive. No other religion, no other philosophy promises new bodies, hearts, and minds. Only in the Gospel of Christ do hurting people find such incredible hope.” Joni EarecksonTada
Our resurrection bodies will be recognizable
Jesus answered, “Destroy this sanctuary, and I will raise it up in three days.”
And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then He who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through His Spirit who lives in you.
And as for what you sow—you are not sowing the future body, but only a seed, perhaps of wheat or another grain.
But God gives it a body as He wants, and to each of the seeds its own body.
I tell you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
Suddenly, two men were talking with Him—Moses and Elijah.
They appeared in glory and were speaking of His death, which He was about to accomplish in Jerusalem.
Peter and those with him were in a deep sleep, and when they became fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men who were standing with Him.
As the two men were departing from Him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it’s good for us to be here! Let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said.
We will reflect our uniqueness
So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female.
God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.”
We will retain various distinctions
After this I looked, and there was a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, which no one could number, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were robed in white with palm branches in their hands.
And they cried out in a loud voice: Salvation belongs to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!
Revelation
The return of Christ and the resurrection of Christians will usher in the restoration of creation.
For the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God’s sons to be revealed.
For the creation was subjected to futility —not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it —in the hope
that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of corruption into the glorious freedom of God’s children.
For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now.
And not only that, but we ourselves who have the Spirit as the firstfruits —we also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.
Now in this hope we were saved, yet hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he sees?
But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience.
When the resurrected Christ returns, all people (Christians and non-Christians alike) will be resurrected for the day of final judgement.
When the resurrected Christ returns, all people (Christians and non-Christians alike) will be resurrected for the day of final judgement.
Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to eternal life, and some to shame and eternal contempt.
Do not be amazed at this, because a time is coming when all who are in the graves will hear His voice
and come out—those who have done good things, to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked things, to the resurrection of judgment.
Matthew
“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.
All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on the left.
But I confess this to you: I worship my fathers’ God according to the Way, which they call a sect, believing all the things that are written in the Law and in the Prophets.
And I have a hope in God, which these men themselves also accept, that there is going to be a resurrection, both of the righteous and the unrighteous.
We long for justice