The
Bible teaches clearly and in many places the truth of resurrection of the body. Bodily
resurrection is primarily a biblical revelation, for Greek philosophy, which saw
the body as a hindrance, taught only the immortality of the soul.
A.
In the Old Testament
1. Job 19:25-27. During his affliction Job longed
for death as a way of relief and wished that he could know there was some sort of
hope beyond the grave which would make his present suffering tolerable (14:13-14).
He expressed that hope in 19:25-27, a hope in a living God who would vindicate his
case even after his death. He is sure that even after his body is decayed, he will
see God from his flesh (v. 26). When the Hebrew preposition, min, is used with the
verb “to see,” it indicates the vantage point from which a person sees; i.e., Job
expected to be in a body in his resurrected state.
2. Exodus 3:6. In His debate
with the Sadducees, the Lord cited this verse as proof of the fact of resurrection
(Matt. 22:31-32). The argument is based on the fact that when God identified Himself
to Moses at the burning bush He did so by associating Himself with Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob in a living relationship which did not cease when those patriarchs died.
3.
Psalm 16:8-11. In these verses David was writing of his own future resurrection.
These verses were cited by Peter in Acts 2:25-28 and 31 as finding their ultimate
fulfillment in the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the first Easter.
4. Psalm
49:14. Here the psalmist asserts that the righteous will ultimately triumph over
the wicked, either in this life or in the life to come (“in the morning”).
5.
Isaiah 26:19. Here the prophet explicitly teaches the bodily resurrection of the
redeemed.
6. Daniel 12:2. Here both the resurrection of the righteous and
the resurrection of the wicked are taught. The New Testament reaffirms these two
resurrections (John 5:28-29) but reveals they will not occur at the same time (Rev.
20:4-5).
7. Zechariah 14:5. If “holy ones” refers to believers, then this
prophecy assures their resurrection, for they come with Christ at His second coming.
Some, however, think it refers to angels, though possibly to both resurrected believers
and angels.
B. In the New Testament
1. Matthew 16:21;
17:23; 20:19. Christ predicted His own resurrection on the third day after His death.
2.
Matthew 22:31-32; John 2:19-22; 5:28-29; 11:25-26. Christ taught the truth of resurrection.
3.1
Corinthians 15:20-24, 35-50; 2 Corinthians 5:1-4; Philippians 3:21; 1 Thessalonians
4:13-18. Paul not only taught bodily resurrection but also gave added details about
the resurrection body.
II. THE ORDER OF RESURRECTIONS
As
already noted, all bodily resurrections fall into two categories: the resurrection
of life or the first resurrection, and the resurrection of condemnation or the second
resurrection (Luke 14:13-14; John 5:28-29). These resurrections will not occur at
the same time, so time is not the distinguishing feature; life or eternal death is.
A.
The Resurrection of Christ
First in the order of resurrections was
the resurrection of Christ. Though others had been raised from the dead before Christ,
He was the first to rise from the grave with a body that was no longer subject to
death (Rom. 6:9; Rev. 1:18). This is why Paul calls Him the Firstborn from the dead
(Col. 1:18). His resurrection is the first of many to come (1 Cor. 15:23).
B.
The Resurrection of Those Who Are Christ’s at His Coming
This resurrection
will include several groups: the dead saints of this Church Age (1 Thes. 4:16), the
dead saints of Old Testament times (Dan. 12:2), and martyrs of the Tribulation period
(Rev. 20:4). These resurrections of the saints of all ages constitute the first resurrection
(Rev. 20:6), the resurrection of life (John 5:29), or the resurrection of the righteous
(Luke 14:14).
C. The Resurrection of Unsaved Dead at the End
The last
group to be raised will include the unredeemed dead of all time, and they will be
raised at the end of the millennial kingdom to stand before the Great White Throne
in a judgment that will sentence all of them to the lake of fire (Rev. 20:11-14).
III.
BETWEEN DEATH AND RESURRECTION
Strictly speaking, death is the separation
of the material from the immaterial (James 2:26). In the case of every death, the
body is disposed of usually by placing it in a grave. But the immaterial facet of
a person continues to exist for all eternity. The question before us now is, what
is the state of the immaterial between physical death and bodily resurrection?
A.
For the Unredeemed Person in Old Testament Times
When such a person
died, his soul, spirit, or immaterial nature went to sheol to wait for the resurrection
of the body at the end of the Millennium. But the body is also said to be in sheol,
for about half the times it is used in the Old Testament it refers to the grave (see
Num. 16:30, 33). Other times it refers to the place of departed spirits, of both
the righteous (Genesis 35:27) and the wicked (Prov. 9:18). This is the place of darkness
where the unredeemed dead are confined until death (which claims the body) and hades
(the Greek equivalent of sheol which claims the soul) give up their dead at the Great
White Throne (Rev. 20:13).
B. For the Unredeemed Person in the New Testament
Times
The body goes to the grave, and the spirit goes to hades to
wait for the resurrection of the body at the close of the Millennium (as with Old
Testament unredeemed people) (Luke 16:23). Hades stands in contrast to heaven (Matt.
11:23; Luke 10:15), a fiery place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt.
13:40-42), a place of eternal torment (Mark 9:43-48), and a place of outer darkness
where there is no light at all (Matt. 22:13).
C. For the Redeemed Person
in the Old Testament Times
In the case of the Old Testament saint,
the debated question is where did his soul (spirit or immaterial nature) go at the
time of death? Was he taken immediately into the presence of the Lord, or did he
go to the saved compartment of sheol/hades from where he was taken into heaven when
Christ descended into hades between His death and resurrection?
Hoyt expresses
this latter option this way. “As a result of the resurrection and ascension of Christ,
a reorganization took place in the intermediate state. There was a removal of all
the righteous from the upper part of sheol-hades, and its gates were barred to entrance
by any saved soul thereafter. From this time on paradise is above where Christ is,
and the spirits of all the saved go to be with Christ at the moment of physical death”
(Herman A. Hoyt, The End Times [Chicago: Moody, 1969], p. 45).
Several passages
are cited in favor of this viewpoint. In Ephesians 4:9, Paul wrote that Christ descended
in to the lower parts of the earth. Some understand this to mean that our Lord descended
into hades between His death and resurrection to take those in the “saved compartment”
of hades into heaven. However, the phrase “of the earth” may be an appositional phrase,
meaning that Christ descended (at His Incarnation) into the lower parts (of the universe),
namely the earth.
Also cited is the account of the rich man and Lazarus which
supposedly shows that both men went to hades, the rich man to punishment in one compartment
of hades and Lazarus to bliss in the other compartment (which is labeled “Abraham’s
bosom” in the story). Clearly the account teaches some important facts about death
and hell: (a) there is conscious existence after death; (b) hell is a real place
of torment; (c) there is no second chance after death; and (d) the dead cannot communicate
with the living. But does it teach two compartments in hades? Not really, for Abraham’s
bosom is not said to be in hades but rather “far away” from It. Abraham’s bosom is
a figurative phrase for paradise, or the presence of God. It was paradise promised
to the repentant thief by the Lord (Luke 23:43), not a blissful compartment of hades.
First
Peter 3:18 is also linked with the supposed descent of Christ into sheol/hades. While
there between His death and resurrection He announced His victory over sin and removed
those in the paradise compartment to heaven. More likely, however, the verse means
that the preincarnate Christ preached through Noah to those who, because they rejected
that preaching, are now spirits in prison.
According to Harry Buis, the two-compartment
theory was a development of the intertestamental period. “The main development of
the doctrine of eternal punishment in this period comes from the fact that sheol
is now divided into two compartments: one for the good, called paradise; the other
for the evil, called gehenna” (The Doctrine of Eternal Punishment (Philadelphia:
Presbyterian and Reformed, 1957], p. 18. The following pages give proof from the
apocalyptic literature of that period).
I believe that the Old Testament saint
at death went immediately into the presence of the Lord. The repentant thief was
promised he would be in paradise the day of his death (Luke 23:43), and paradise
was the presence of the Lord (2 Cor. 12:4). At Christ’s transfiguration Moses and
Elijah appeared in His presence talking with Him.
Are we to understand that
this conversation between Christ, Moses, and Elijah took place in the upper compartment
of hades where Moses at least would have been until after the death of Christ? Are
we to understand then that the transfiguration of Christ took place in paradise-hades?
Are we to understand that Elijah was taken at his translation to sheol/hades and
not heaven? I think not; rather, the Old Testament saint went immediately to heaven
to wait for the resurrection of his body at the second coming of Christ.
IV.
UNIVERSALISM
Simply stated universalism states that sooner or later
all will be saved. The older form of universalism which originated in the second
century taught that salvation would come after a temporary period of punishment.
The new universalism of our day declares that all men are now saved, though all do
not realize it. Therefore the job of the preacher and the missionary is to tell people
that they are already saved. Though Karl Barth denied that he taught the universal
reconciliation of all men, he clearly did teach the universal election of all in
Christ. Others plainly state, for example, that God’s radical love pursues men until
all are saved.
A. Biblical Evidence
Verses which universalists
appeal to are John 12:32, “will draw all men to Myself”; 1 Corinthians 15:22, “in
Christ shall all be made alive”; Philippians 2:11, “every tongue should confess”;
and 1 Timothy 2:4, “who desires all men to be saved.” But these verses do not teach
that all people will ultimately be saved. John 12:32 says that the Cross of Christ
makes possible the salvation of both Jews and Gentiles. Notice that the Lord, in
the same passage warned of judgment on rejecters (v. 48). First Corinthians 15:22
states that all who are in Christ will be raised, not everybody. Philippians 2:10-11
assures us that someday all people will acknowledge Jesus as Lord, but not necessarily
as Savior. First Timothy 2:4 expresses God’s desire that all be saved, but does not
promise that all will be.
Universalists conveniently overlook other verses.
Consider, for example, some of the Lord’s own words. “He who does not obey the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36). “These will
go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matt. 25:46).
Because the same word is used it is impossible to argue that eternal punishment is
not unending in the same way that eternal life is.
Other New Testament passages
which teach eternal damnation include 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9, “will pay the penalty
of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord”; 1 Corinthians 1:18;
4:3; and Hebrews 2:3. Everyone is either saved or lost, and anyone who dies without
receiving Christ as personal Savior will be eternally condemned.
B.
Theological Evidence
Some universalists prefer to argue theologically.
They appeal to the nature of God as being totally love. How, then, they ask, could
such a God condemn anyone either in this life or the life to come? God is too good
to reject anyone. However God’s character involves not only love and goodness but
also righteousness, holiness, and wrath. Universalists sacrifice God’s righteousness
to His love which results in a god different from the God of the Bible.
Others
argue that a just God would not give infinite punishment for finite sin. But this
ignores that important principle that crime depends on the object against whom it
is committed (an infinite God) as well as on the subject who commits it (finite man).
Striking a post is not a culpable act as striking a human being is All sin is ultimately
against an infinite God and deserves infinite punishment.
