You Will Be Resurrected, Part 2

Dr. Alan Dunn

The unnerving thing about pandemics is that they confront us with our mortality. We do all we can to avert and avoid death – and rightly so. Paul calls it the last enemy that Christ will abolish in conjunction with His second coming at the end of this age [1 Cor 15:26]. Unless we are alive when Jesus returns, we will pass through that dark valley [Ps 23:4]. If we escape the lion of the CV19 pandemic, we still face the bear of some other mortal enemy.[1] Regardless of how we die, or even if we are alive at Christ’s return, all of us will be resurrected and endowed with resurrection bodies [1 Cor 15:51-53; 1 Thes 4:14-18]. In part 1, we briefly answered two questions: “Who will be resurrected?” and “What will be resurrected?” We now turn to two more questions.

How Will The Dead Be Resurrected?

We will not discover the answer to this question at the bottom of a test tube in a chemistry lab. The “scientific method” is of no use in answering this question. A substantial amount of faith is already evident in the mere asking of this question. How the dead will be resurrected is a question that can be answered only by the God who raises the dead. It is a question asked only by those who read Scripture and receive Scriptural answers that satisfy faith.

The Sadducees were a “liberal denomination” of Judaism in Jesus’ day. Matthew tells us that the Sadducees said there is no resurrection.[2] Intending to trick Jesus, they approached Jesus with a disingenuous question about the resurrection. Jesus adroitly answered their challenge and then confronted their heretical disbelief in the resurrection. After answering their cynical ploy, Jesus tells these secular scholars, You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God [Mat 22:29]. How will the dead be raised? Scripture’s answer is, “By the power of God.” Paul asked King Agrippa, Why is it considered incredible among you if God does raise the dead [Acts 26:8]? It boils down to whether or not God is omnipotent and thus stronger than death. The God who created all things out of nothing, who shone light into darkness and formed and filled the world, certainly can rectify death’s rending destruction. What is incredible when God is the Actor? With God, all things are possible [Mat 19:26b]. In 1 Corinthians 15:35, Paul acknowledges that someone will say, “How are the dead raised?” His answer, succinctly stated, is in v.38, But God gives it a body…

How will the dead be raised? By the power of the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist [Rom 4:17]. Who exercises this power? Jesus, the God-Man. Jesus demonstrated his ability to resurrect the dead a week before His own death and resurrection. He went to a cemetery where His friend Lazarus had been buried four days earlier [John 11]. Martha, Lazarus’ grieving sister, possessed the orthodox hope that Lazarus will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. Jesus funneled and focused Martha’s hope on Himself as the resurrection and the life [v23-26]. He then stood before Lazarus’ tomb and raised him back to life by the power of His voice: Lazarus come forth! He who had died came forth [John 11:43-44]. Jesus repeatedly tells us, I Myself will raise the dead [John 6:39-40, 44, 54]. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself [Phil 3:20-21]. Our exalted Lord Jesus will return and exercise the power of omnipotence and will raise the dead. Even now, the hosts of heaven extol our God who sits on the throne, and the Lamb, saying, “Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be unto our God forever and ever. Amen [Rev 1:10,12].

How is it that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus – neither death, life, angels, principalities, things present, things to come, powers, height, depth, nor any other created thing, or combination of created things [Rom 8:35-39]? Nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ because we are embraced in the love of divine omnipotence. The love which the Father has for the Son envelops us as we are united to the Son [John 17:26]. We are loved by the triumphant, exalted Lord who, in love, has given us resurrection life by the gift and indwelling of His Spirit. Jesus, omnipotent love, upholds us, preserves and protects us, and will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.

When Will The Dead Be Resurrected?

Again, Jesus answers this question. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him, may have eternal life; and I Myself will raise him up on the last day [John 6:39-40]. When will the dead be resurrected? On the last day. One day will be the last day. One day will be your personal last day. One day will be the last day of this present age. This fallen, cursed world is not eternal. It is heading to its last day, the day for which it yearns, the day when the sons of God will be resurrected and creation itself will be set free from corruption [Rom 8:19-23].

Not only is the day fixed by the Father’s decree, but the very hour. But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone [Mat 24:36; see John 5:26-29]. There have been many date-setters in the past, who assured their followers that they knew when Jesus would return. They have all been wrong and so will be every future date-setter. You too, be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect [Luke 12:40]. He is coming. He does not tell when, but He tells us to be ready.

In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Paul tells us that Jesus will return with those who have died in Him. The bodies of His people will rise first and then those who are still alive will be transformed and go forth to meet the returning King [see 1 Cor 15:51-52]. What is our hope when we see fellow-believers fall asleep in Jesus? Paul would have us comfort one another because when Jesus comes, we will all be together with the Lord. Imagine, sitting at the banquet feast with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, along with all the Old Testament believers such as those who are listed in Hebrews 11. The apostles and the brethren mentioned in the New Testament, as well as those recorded in Church history, will also be at the feast. There will also be others, like us, the untold multitudes of faithful disciples who lived lives of quiet obscure obedience to Jesus, our Lord [Mat 8:11]. And Jesus will be there. Blessed are those slaves whom the master shall find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve and have them recline at the table and will come up and with on them [Luke 12:37]. Imagine.

We Must Focus Our Hope on the Return of Jesus and the Resurrection of the Dead

One of Satan’s most successful strategies to ensnare men is to offer us a short-sighted hope, to deceptively entice us to satisfy our innate longings with things that fall short of the glories of the age to come. He does this in the lives of entire societies as well as our personal lives. In his book on the twentieth century, Modern Times [Harper Collins, 1983], historian Paul Johnson incisively discerns “the two great diseases of modern times: ethnic nationalism and the belief that states based upon it can be transformed into utopias” [p.578]. Satan would convince us that we can attain to heaven on earth by socio-political policies of social-engineering, even, if need be, through genocide. Johnson observes the harsh truth that “utopianism is never far from gangsterism” [p.718]. The hope of utopia falls short of the glory of God [Rom 3:23]. Rather than trusting in Jesus and waiting for the glories of the resurrection, Satan would have us inhale the smoke of his lies and hope in utopian pipe-dreams. Abraham was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God [Heb 11:10]. John says, I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband [Rev 21:2]. For which “utopia” do you long?

As for our personal susceptibility to settle for a truncated hope, we need to hear Jesus’ warning against being a thorny-soil hearer of the Word. Mr. Thorny fails to produce any harvestable fruit, that is, any evidence of living faith in the resurrection, because the seed of the Word was choked by worries and riches and pleasures of this life [Luke 8:14]. Mr. Thorny attends church, even knows some Bible verses, but his heart and mental energies are given to worry, the pursuit of riches and pleasures – all of this life. He is happy to profess a sort of Christianity, as long as it benefits him in this life. But, if we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied [1 Co 15;19]. “Yes,” you say, “but don’t we benefit from following Christ ‘in this life?’” Yes, discipleship to Jesus should enhance our experience and enjoyment of the good things of this world: our families, our labors, our health, and our personal relationships with our neighbors. But the substance of our salvation consists of blessings which belong to the age to come, which are not of this life. The grace of God instructs us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, zealous for good deeds, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus [Tit 2:11-14].

Who will be resurrected? All men. What will be resurrected? Our bodies. How will we be resurrected? By the divine power of Jesus. When will we be resurrected? When Jesus returns at the last day. Do not allow any other hope to intervene between you and your focused yearning for Jesus. Sure, the noble man devises noble plans, and by noble plans he stands [Isa 32:8]. Set goals, make plans, work your plans. Press ahead into tomorrow. But run this race with your eyes fixed on Jesus. Keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God… When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory [Heb 12:2; Col 3:1-4]. We will be resurrected with bodies that shine like the sun by Jesus Himself on the day of His return. Let us do all, whether we eat, or drink, or whatever we do, for the glory of Him for whom we long. Even so, come Lord Jesus [1 Cor 10:31; Rev 22:20]!

[1] As when a man flees from a lion, and a bear meets him; or goes home, leans his hand against the wall, and a snake bites him [Amos 5:19].

[2] Luke summarizes the beliefs of the Sadducees and the Pharisees in Acts 23:8, For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor an angel, nor a spirit; but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. The Sadducees were guilty of heresy and the Pharisees of hypocrisy.