Resurrection

Resurrection as defined by Webster's Dictionary: "to raise from the dead, the rising of all human dead before the final judgment." This is the general understanding and idea that most people have about the resurrection; the literal physical raising of our dead physical bodies at the coming of Jesus in judgment.

The Bible speaks of the resurrection often. It speaks of it in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. In the KJV it is mentioned 41 times in the New Testament and in the Old Testament it is mentioned often but not by the specific word resurrection. Phrases like: "ye shall stand in the end," "cause you to come up out of your graves," and "those that sleep shall awake" are used throughout the Old Testament and literally mean "resurrection". Resurrection is a major Bible topic and concern for any Bible student. Considering the frequency this word is used and emphasis placed upon it, it is vital that we allow the Bible to define what is meant by resurrection. It is high time we let God tell us His definition of what He means by resurrection and not accept Websters definition if it contradicts God's word!

In the beginning when Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, before death, there was no need of resurrection. Death had not occurred and therefore resurrection was of no concern or need. However as time progressed and man sinned... death came. God made a law and a promise, "in the day that thou eat of the forbidden fruit thou shalt surely die" (Gen 2:17)... literally in the Hebrew tongue it would read "a death ye shall die". That day came when Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden fruit and in that day they did indeed die the death foretold by God! God did not lie. He did not change His mind. God made a promise and God kept His promise, THE DAY THEY PARTOOK THEY DIED. Please notice they did not perish physically; they did not collapse onto the ground and their hearts did not stop beating. It was NOT a physical death, it WAS a spiritual death. They had died spiritually. Rom 6:23 says the wages of sin is death, Isa 59:1-2 says your sins separate you from God! This is the same type of death that Paul experienced in Rom 7:9 "the commandment came, sin revived, and I died." Paul said he died yet he was still there writing to the church at Rome. Yes, you are spiritually dead when you sin. Your sins separate you from God.

For those that refuse to accept what God said and take Him at His word they will argue that the day Adam partook is the day that he 'began' to die physically and physical death was brought into this world by Adam's sin. First, this kind of thinking is in clear violation of what the text actually says. Second, please pay careful attention and notice that it was Abel that introduced physical death into this world NOT Adam (Gen 4:8). In fact Adam outlived his righteous son Abel (Mt 23:35) and lived to be 930 years old (Gen 5:5). And what about Gen 2:16 where God told Adam he could "eat" of every other tree? What would have happened to Adam had he not eaten? Just like you and I, he would have grown weak and eventually died! Adam had to eat or he would have died and this was before he died spiritually!

If you sin then you die, it is that simple. But the opposite is also true, no sin equals no death! But wait a minute, babies are without sin, they are innocent (Lk 2:23), why then do babies sometimes die? Because physical death is not the result of sin! The wages of sin is SPIRITUAL DEATH, NOT PHYSICAL DEATH! Back to Adam and Eve for just a moment, if the death penalty pronounced from God was physical death then why did Adam live 930 years and why did Abel a righteous man (Heb 11:4), Adams son die before Adam? No, it is indisputable the curse placed upon mankind by Adam breaking Gods command to not eat of the forbidden fruit was SPIRITUAL DEATH, NOT PHYSICAL DEATH! And Jesus came to cure the death of Adam (Rom 5:12-19), (1Co 15:22) "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."

In John 5:24-29 Jesus is speaking with the Jews and he is telling them that they were dead. In verse 24 He told them, if they would hear Him and believe on Him that they would not come into "condemnation." This word "condemnation" is the same Greek word translated in other passages as "judgment." And then Jesus told them they could pass from death to life. Did you catch that? He was speaking with living people and told them they were dead but could come back to life! In verse 25 He told them " The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live." Yes, they could come back to life (resurrection) NOW! In verse 26 He said "As the Father has life in himself so He hath given the son of man to have life in himself." What kind of life does the Father have in Himself? Jesus answered that in Jn 4:24 when He said that God was a Spirit! That was the life that was to be given! Verses 27 God had given Jesus the authority to execute judgment and that is exactly what Jesus was doing at that time! He was calling them dead and telling them they could live! The hour was coming but NOW IS He told them! They could at that time pass from death to life and not come into condemnation (judgment).

In verse 28 Jesus now addresses the hour that was coming, and said that all that are in the graves shall hear His voice. Please notice at this point Jesus is talking about those who were "in the graves" He was NOT talking about those who were living. Those "in the graves" would come forth! Yes the hour was coming when judgment would come, not for physical life but for the life that God had in Himself and the life He gave Jesus to have in Himself. This could only be Spiritual life and this is the context of these passages.

Verse 29 says they would come forth, some to the resurrection life and some to resurrection of damnation. No doubt this is reference to heaven and hell, no doubt this is the release and end of Hades where those "in the graves' were. In fact the definition of Hades is "the place of the dead, place of the unseen or covered up." Hades or as the KJV uses that word "Hell" is translated "Grave" in (1 Cor 15:55) "O death, where is thy sting? O grave (HADES), where is thy victory?" Yes in Jn 5:29 Hades was going to be judged and those who where there would go to heaven or hell! Jesus knew there was going to be a resurrection of the just and unjust and He knew it from Dan 12:2.

Jesus had said in Mt 5:18, Lk 21:20-32, that ALL things written in the law and prophets (the Old Testament) had to be fulfilled before the Law and Prophets could cease, and He said it would all be fulfilled in that generation and particularly when they would see Jerusalem compassed with armies! This demands that the resurrection prophesied in Dan 12:2 would have to take place in AD70.

Now notice what takes place in (John 11). Jesus's friend Lazarus had died physically. Jesus was in another town when he received the news of Lazarus's death. Upon hearing that Lazarus had died Jesus returns to Bethany where Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha lived and where Lazarus was buried. In John 11:24 "Martha saith unto Jesus, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day." Martha was a Jew and knew there was going to be a resurrection in the last day. She would know this from the same passage that Jesus knew it from (Dan 12). In John 11:25 "Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:" John 11:26 "And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?" Jesus immediately responds to Martha and lets her know that the prophecies of the Old Testament were being fulfilled before her very eyes. He (Jesus) IS the resurrection! Further, he that lives and believes IN Him shall never die and then Jesus asked "believest thou this"! Several verses later we find Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead physically. In a discussion on Facebook, I had several preachers telling me that the raising of Lazarus was proof positive that Jesus came for physical resurrection and these verses illustrate that there will be a future resurrection of the physical dead. Why? Because Jesus raised Lazarus physically. But here is the problem with that analysis, Lazarus died again physically! Did you catch the power of that? Jesus said those who live and believe in Him would never die, but we then have one of Jesus's closest friends and one of His most faithful followers DYING AGAIN! Lazarus is not still here alive physically, he is not over 2000 years old, BUT he is still alive spiritually and will never die again! Therefore, there is NO NEED FOR A FUTURE PHYSICAL RESURRECTION for Lazarus! He is NOT DEAD!

In the debate I had with John Chowning, John kept saying that it was heretical to say that Jesus died spiritually. John claimed that Jesus ONLY died physically and that was the price He had to pay to redeem men from their sins. I responded to that by citing, among other things, Adam's death and that was the death that Jesus came to cure, spiritual death. Even more blistering to Chowning's position is the explicit Bible statements which say Jesus did indeed die spiritually! (1Co 15:45) "And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam (Jesus) was made a quickening spirit." Paul explicitly states that Jesus was made a "quickening spirit" this MUST mean that Jesus's spirit came back to life and that it MUST have died in order for that to take place. Also note the words of (Isaiah 53:10) "Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin..." What was it that was made an offering for sin? This is talking about Jesus and it was His SOUL that was made a sin offering! No wonder while on the cross before physical death Jesus cried out "my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me" (Mt 27:46). It is plain, it is explicit, it is absolute, it harmonizes, it is conservative, the Bible claims that Jesus's soul had to pay the price. Yet Chowning calls us heretics over this while at the same time his good friends Ben Vick and Rusty Stark agree with us on this! Oh consistency where art thou?

To drive this truth home even further, in 2Cor 5:14 Paul said; "For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:" Do you believe that "all were dead" when Jesus went to the cross? IF you believe Paul you do. BUT herein lies the kicker, if ALL WERE DEAD, then how did they crucify him, how did the hang him on the cross, how did they bury him IF they were "all dead"? IT MUST BE, MUST BE, that the only way they were dead was spiritually! There is no way around that, unless you are like brother Chowning and deny plain Bible teaching!

We have access to life (resurrection) even now through baptism (Rom 6:3-6, Col 2:12, Jn 3:3-5) and if we have been resurrected then we, like Lazarus, need not worry about any future resurrection! We are alive with the Lord and we NEVER have to die again. Jesus paid that price, "believest thou this" (Jn 11:25-26)?

Biblical resurrection is NOT how Webster defines it. It is NOT how the average person generally understands it. Biblical resurrection is how the Bible describes it! Physical death is NOT the Christian's enemy, it is a natural process that ALL must experience (1Kngs 2:2, Psl 89:48, ECC 1:4, 3:19-20). Spiritual death on the other hand IS the enemy! Paul would declare this truth in (Php 1:21) "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Paul was saying that when he died physically he could go to be with the Lord. How could physical death be the Christian's enemy? Jesus did not come to resurrect us from physical death He came to resurrect us from spiritual death, to raise us up to be alive with Him spiritually (John 3:3-5, Rom 6:3-6, Col 2:11-13, Gal 3:27-28).

Steve Baisden