Hope of the Resurrection

Isaiah’s book of prophecy is the largest book by a single prophet in the Old Testament. He wrote during the reigns of several kings of Judah, from about 740 to 680 BC.

Isaiah and his book are good examples of what we talked about when we first talked about what a prophet is, and what prophecy is.

We said...

A Prophet is a person given a revelation to pass on / proclaim to others.

Isaiah was given messages from God. God revealed things to Isaiah so he would pass them on to the people of Israel.

The things that God revealed to them are the prophecies.

We said that...

Prophecy is a message from God meant to edify, comfort, encourage, or exhort/warn.

Isaiah’s book includes many exhortations about current conditions during the reigns of those kings, including idolatry and unjust rulers and judges. He decries the people forsaking the Lord, and predicts punishment at the hands of the surrounding nations, which did come to pass.

He edifies, or builds up those who do walk with the Lord, like King Hezekiah. He encourages them to continue to follow the Lord and look to Him alone for salvation.

He gives comfort and encouragement to those who did follow the Lord, like King Hezekiah when Sennacherib surrounded Jerusalem.

Whatever God’s message was, Isaiah received the message from God, and then passed it on.

Some of what Isaiah passed on was pointing out present conditions.

Some of it talked about what God had done in the past.

And, some of it revealed what God was going to do in the near future, and the far-off future.

God told Hezekiah, through Isaiah, to not fear Sennacherib because God was going to wipe out his army and that Sennacherib would return home and be cut down by the sword. What God said through Isaiah, came true .

Isaiah passed on to Hezekiah, at a later time, that God would allow Babylon to conquer Judah, which happened years later in 586 BC.

Some would not find that remarkable because Babylon was a rising power in the days of Isaiah.

However, later, Isaiah passed on that God chose Cyrus to defeat Babylon, and to tell the Jews to return to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple.

This is remarkable because Cyrus was a ruler of the Persian Empire which defeated Babylon nearly 100 years after Isaiah lived! God called him by name, and he did exactly what God said! He told the Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple.

Again, studying prophecy, especially those portions that are foretelling the future which has already come true should truly stir our hearts to believe all of what God has revealed. What other God has foretold future events that happen exactly as He says, even down to the name of the man!

Of course, what is really encouraging to us as Christians are the many passages that talk about Jesus, the Redeemer, the Messiah, the Savior who came to give light to those who were not Jews. The one who came to give sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, mobility to the lame! The One who came as a suffering servant to bear our sins, so we could be reconciled to God!

So many wonderful prophecies in Isaiah!

If you have not been doing the read through the bible in a year, start now. Read through Isaiah and continue on for the rest of the year!

Study prophecy—God’s revelation—given to us to give us exhortation, edification, comfort and courage! Study to know we can trust all that God says will happen just as He says it will.

Study to know the encouragement of what is still yet to come!

And, that is what we are doing today. Today we are talking about ...

The Hope of the Resurrection!

Prophecy was not given by God in a complete revelation all at once. Instead, God has revealed different aspects of what He is going to do to different men/prophets, at different times. God revealed to them what God felt was important at the time.

To get a full picture of what is yet to come, we need to understand certain concepts that are revealed in scripture, keeping in mind the whole of what God revealed. Then, at a later time, we will try to draw it all together into one cohesive picture.

One of the concepts we need to understand is that of the Resurrections.

As we understand this topic, we will find hope, and we will find encouragement. That is why today’s message is titled, Hope of the Resurrection.

Why study this concept? God has revealed that in the future, there will be resurrections. Because there are different resurrections that God has revealed, if we are not careful, we can be confused and mix them up.

So today, we want to begin clearing up the Resurrections God has revealed, and find the Hope that we can receive because of the resurrections.

To help us be clear, I want us to keep in mind the following:

Differentiating Resurrections:

Is the resurrection Spiritual or Physical?

Who is resurrected?

When is this resurrection?

What is the outcome of this resurrection?

What those resurrections are, who is a part of the resurrection, when they take place, and the outcome of those resurrections are important to understand if we are to find the encouragement that God intended to give us through revealing what is coming regarding resurrections.

First, I want to look at the Spiritual Resurrection.

The Spiritual Resurrection

Ever since Adam and Eve, the first man and woman God created, chose to disobey God and do what they wanted, all mankind has been separated from God by sin.

Sin is anything we think, say or do that is contrary to God’s holy, perfect standard. We all think, say and do things that are wrong according to God. That separates us from Him, or as the Bible puts it, makes us spiritually dead. We do not have a spiritual connection with our Creator and God.

Another way God puts it, is that our hearts, which were made to love and worship the Lord, love and worship ourselves, and our desires.

This separation from God is the source of all pain, suffering, misery, and physical death in the world.

God does not want us to be separated from Him. He promises to give a new heart to His people when they return to Him.

Jeremiah 31:33 NIV

“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

Jeremiah 32:38–39 NIV

They will be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me and that all will then go well for them and for their children after them.

Ezekiel 11:19 NIV

I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.

I hope you notice that getting a new heart is not up to the person to do. We cannot perform this spiritual heart surgery on ourselves anymore than a physical heart doctor could perform his own heart transplant. It just cannot be done.

In each of these passages, it is God who is the one that gives the new heart. It is not because of the great efforts of the people. It is God at work in anyone who will repent!

As my family was doing the read through the Bible, I thought God gave a great example of this spiritual resurrection—a return to spiritual connection with God—in Israel, during the time Isaiah was a prophet, during the reign of Hezekiah.

Example: Hezekiah

To understand this example, we need to know the background.

Israel was broken into 2 nations after Solomon’s reign. Israel to the North had 10 of the tribes. Judah to the South had 2 tribes.

Israel was evil, with king after king that would not follow the Lord.

Judah had some good, and some bad kings.

Ahaz, was a bad king.

2 Chronicles 28:1–4 NIV

Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. Unlike David his father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord. He followed the ways of the kings of Israel and also made idols for worshiping the Baals. He burned sacrifices in the Valley of Ben Hinnom and sacrificed his children in the fire, engaging in the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places, on the hilltops and under every spreading tree.

He was bad. And he didn’t stop there. Later, he went to Damascus, saw an altar to a false God there, sent the plans back to Judah, and had the priests make one like it to replace the altar at the temple. Then, he took the original altar, removed parts of it, and used it for himself.

It is further recorded like this...

2 Chronicles 28:22–25 NIV

In his time of trouble King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the Lord. He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him; for he thought, “Since the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me.” But they were his downfall and the downfall of all Israel. Ahaz gathered together the furnishings from the temple of God and cut them in pieces. He shut the doors of the Lord’s temple and set up altars at every street corner in Jerusalem. In every town in Judah he built high places to burn sacrifices to other gods and aroused the anger of the Lord, the God of his ancestors.

Ahaz was one of the worst kings of Judah. He led the nation to walk away from the Lord.

However, his son Hezekiah became the next king. Hezekiah was good!

He had the priests restore the temple, and purify it so it could and would be used to worship the Lord alone.

2 Chronicles 29:4–5 NIV

He brought in the priests and the Levites, assembled them in the square on the east side and said: “Listen to me, Levites! Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the temple of the Lord, the God of your ancestors. Remove all defilement from the sanctuary.

He goes on to tell them that their fathers were evil and did wrong, so the Lord was angry with them and allowing their enemies to conquer them.

But now,

2 Chronicles 29:10–11 NIV

Now I intend to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger will turn away from us. My sons, do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before him and serve him, to minister before him and to burn incense.”

However, only certain Levites took up the cause. You can see that in verse 12.

It was such a mess that it took weeks to clean up and purify in order to do the sacrifices and worship the Lord.

And when they could, Hezekiah led all of them to sacrifice to atone for the sins of all of Israel, not just Judah!

It was a real celebration! People came and began to worship the Lord again!

The problem was, not enough priests had consecrated themselves, so the Levites who took care of the temple had to step in and help with the sacrifices, until more priests consecrated themselves.

But they did, and there was great joy as people returned to worshiping the Lord.

Then, Hezekiah did something even bigger! He sent messengers through all of Judah where he was king, and ALSO, through all of Israel, to invite everyone to come back to worship the Lord, and to celebrate Passover again.

It was actually a month after when they were supposed to do it, but they couldn’t do it before because the temple was a mess.

He sent this message,

2 Chronicles 30:6–9 NIV

At the king’s command, couriers went throughout Israel and Judah with letters from the king and from his officials, which read: “People of Israel, return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, that he may return to you who are left, who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. Do not be like your parents and your fellow Israelites, who were unfaithful to the Lord, the God of their ancestors, so that he made them an object of horror, as you see. Do not be stiff-necked, as your ancestors were; submit to the Lord. Come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever. Serve the Lord your God, so that his fierce anger will turn away from you. If you return to the Lord, then your fellow Israelites and your children will be shown compassion by their captors and will return to this land, for the Lord your God is gracious and compassionate. He will not turn his face from you if you return to him.”

The couriers went. Unfortunately, a lot of people just ridiculed them. However, some came, and many of the people from Judah came.

Here’s what they did first:

2 Chronicles 30:13–14 NIV

A very large crowd of people assembled in Jerusalem to celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread in the second month. They removed the altars in Jerusalem and cleared away the incense altars and threw them into the Kidron Valley.

They got rid of the altars that Ahaz set up on every street corner! They said, we are done! We don’t want to follow our own ways anymore. We want to follow the Lord.

They got rid of the old, then they held the Passover.

But there was a problem. Not only were they doing the Passover at a time other than what God had set up, they also did not purify themselves to do the Passover. There were rules about how they had to be ritually clean to participate, and the people just came without following those rules. Likely because they had no idea!

2 Chronicles 30:18–20 NIV

Although most of the many people who came from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover, contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the Lord, who is good, pardon everyone who sets their heart on seeking God—the Lord, the God of their ancestors—even if they are not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary.” And the Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people.

I love that!

Hezekiah started his reign by telling everyone that they needed to return to the Lord, who was a compassionate God.

Then, when people started coming, even though they didn’t get it all right according to the prescribed ways, Hezekiah asked God to pardon them because they had their heart set on seeking the Lord.

Then, God, who looks at the heart, not the outward show, heard Hezekiah’s prayer and healed the people.

Now, there is nothing there about these people having a physical sickness.

No, the healing was not physical. It was spiritual.

They were so far from God. They had gone so far from God that they were even sacrificing their children to idols! They were wicked beyond what we can imagine. They were far from God.

They were completely separated from God, and even though God had sent prophets to warn them, and to encourage them to repent, they had put the prophets to death!

Now, these people came to the Lord. They knew they needed Him.

Even though they were the same ones that killed the prophets, the ones who burned their babies in the flames to idols, the ones who did not follow all that God said, God still pardoned and healed them!

They had new hearts! Hearts to seek the Lord!

It turned into such a celebration as they began to worship their true God, that they extended the feast of unleavened bread for another seven days! During this time, more of the priests, who should have been leading the people to worship God, but who had instead led them in worshipping false Gods consecrated themselves! In other words, more people were coming and finding forgiveness, and peace from the Lord!

As I read that account with my kids, I thought what a wonderful example of the spiritual resurrection this is.

If anyone was looking at Israel and Judah during the days right before Hezekiah became king, they would have thought it was hopeless.

There was no way these people could be saved. There was no way these people would ever want, let alone get a new heart to love and serve the Lord. They were as bad as they come!

Yet, God worked, brought one man, Hezekiah, to point people back to God, and then God worked in their hearts and healed all who would come back.

It was not because they were worthy, because they weren’t.

It was not because they did the right things, because they didn’t.

It was not because they were so good at doing the Passover, because they weren’t.

It was only because God is a compassionate God who is quick to forgive, and wanting to restore and heal. He is just waiting for them to respond to His call to return.

And when they returned, God gave them a new heart. God restored them spiritually.

I see this as the Spiritual Resurrection:

The Spiritual Resurrection:

Spiritual restoration to God

Who: the One who comes to Him in faith

When: when they come

What outcome: New Heart, forgiveness, peace, joy

The same goes for us.

The bible speaks of us as being spiritual dead, that is separated from God by our sin.

Ephesians 2:1 NIV

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,

However, for everyone who will believe God’s promise that Jesus died to pay for our sins and rose to give us knew life, are given that new life.

Ephesians 2:4–5 NIV

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

That is a spiritual resurrection.

The spiritual resurrection is salvation, being made alive spiritually to have a relationship with God now.

We are given a new life in relationship with God the moment we receive Jesus’ gift of forgiveness and life.

This is for anyone who will believe what God says: Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden.

Believe that Jesus paid for your sins when He died and rose again, and you will be saved.

You will be forgiven for everything you have ever done.

You will be given peace with God.

Romans 5:1 NIV

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

You will be seated with Christ in heaven.

Colossians 3:1 NIV

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

In other words, you will be exalted to an esteemed position in God’s eyes!

No more guilt. No more shame. No more reason to fear. He has taken your guilt. He has removed your shame. He has healed you from your sin, and made you a new creation in Christ!

You will find joy. Life may be hard, but you have joy because you are a child of God with a great future, including a physical resurrection!

Paul writes about this Spiritual Resurrection in Romans 6.

Romans 6:1–14 NIV

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

We do not have to live the same old lives, bound to the same old sins. We have a new master now!

We can do new things. We can live the right way if we will listen to Him, instead of our own desires!

And, not only that, but even though this body will eventually wear out, whoever believes will have a physical resurrection!

John 11:25–27 NIV

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

The Bible talks about the Spiritual Resurrection, and it talks about Physical Resurrection as well.