The Ressurection

According to the Bible, there is a much a greater hope found in the Bible than the fairytale of people going to hell and going to heaven upon death; this hope is not only better, but also real! This is the real Gospel hope that all Christians should absolutely put their hope in:

What is a resurrection? Many Christians have heard about the word “resurrection” in the Bible, but many can’t really grasp the full and deep meaning of the massive life changing reality of this, simple because they don’t really know what this word means along with what death really is.

Resurrection means “to restore life” or “to come back to life” [1] this fact alone might not mean much to the typical Christian/ Biblical scholar that thinks that a human’s consciousness continues in a soul/spirit form in either heaven or hell: to them a resurrection would mean just taking the souls out of heaven or hell and transporting them back into their restored physical bodies on Earth. To them this is just a different stage of life but nevertheless life still continues in one form or another. But it makes all the difference when we realize the Biblical truth that death is a state of total unconsciousness where life permanently ends and the soul (which we learned is the physical body) decomposes into non-existence. Then the idea of a resurrection is so much more vital and meaningful! In this sense, a resurrection means to rebuild the decomposed body back to together again and making it function again: this makes the consciousness of a person return thus restoring life!

Much like death is compared to sleep, a resurrection is compared to waking up from sleep.

When going to bring Lazarus back to life, Jesus said he was going to wake him up from his death nap:

“Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep (died); but I am going there to wake him up (resurrect him).”

Much like how waking up after a good night’s sleep restores complete consciousness a resurrection brings the body back together and makes it function again, so the formerly totally unconscious person immediately returns to consciousness once again! And this is exactly what happened to Lazarus:

“...Jesus called in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.”

Jesus did exactly what he said he was going to do: wake Lazarus up: he restored his consciousness by restoring his whole body to functioning order once again!

(But think about this for a second: If Lazarus's soul/consciousness was in heaven or Abraham’s Bosom having a party, worshiping God, and/or being in perfect peace compared to the depression and anxiety life on Earth can bring, why in the world would Jesus take his soul from this great place to bring it back into his body to live on Earth once again after experiencing that? Wouldn’t that be so cruel and just not make sense for Jesus to do? But if Lazarus was just in a state of complete unconsciousness in nonexistence like Jesus says he was then bringing him back to life would be a very good and merciful thing for Jesus to do and makes complete sense!)

But resurrections, though miraculous and amazing as they are, are nothing new in history:

Many people were brought back to life from being completely dead through God’s holy prophets: bringing people back from the dead is nothing really new in the miracles God had done in the past; many people had died and have been miraculously brought back to life (resurrected) by God’s power.

But all these resurrections of the past were ultimately foreshadowing one very special resurrection unlike any other that had happened before: the eventual resurrection of God’s holy messiah.

This special resurrection of the future messiah was strongly hinted and even openly told in prophecies about him:

“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;…By oppression and judgment he was taken away (killed). For he was cut off from the land of the living (killed);…He was assigned a grave…”

“...though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,…he will…prolong his days (bring him back to life again),…he will see the light of life (live again) and be satisfied…”

Many years later, the Messiah was revealed to be Jesus in the New Testament: and eventually Jesus was crucified and died to pay for Israel's (the world’s) sins. but three days later, he was miraculously brought back to life:

“...You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen(been resurrected)! He is not here.…”

The resurrection of the messiah was so significant and great there was a massive earthquake along with this resurrection:

“...at dawn on the first day of the week (the start of the resurrection),…There was a violent earthquake,…”

Along with many dead saints around Jerusalem coming back to physical life again as well!

“...The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life (resurrected). They came out of the tombs after Jesus’s resurrection…”

However, unlike all the loyal saints who were brought back to life (or any other resurrection of the past) this resurrection was vastly different from any resurrection before this:

Everyone who was resurrected back to life in the past was just resurrected back to mortal life again and just restarted reliving their old life they lived before they died (life continued as usual for many of these people, except for the now new testimony of this amazing miracle of coming back to life) however, this new given life did not last for any of them! They only lived for so long before dying again!

Jesus’s resurrection was far different: when he was resurrected, he was not only brought back to physical life but at the same time his body was also made immortal (unable to die ever again): he could not be killed or die anymore!

“God raised him (Jesus) from the dead so that he will never be subject to decay (his body would never decompose, he would never die)….”

After being resurrected to eternal life in an immortal body, Jesus’s life never went back to normal again either: he did not just return to his life as a humble rabbi and continue his ministry with his disciples as normal. No! once resurrected to eternal immortality that changed everything! That part of his life was completely over now: he would never return to being a rabbi with his disciples ever again, it was now time for a new phase of his life: to return to the third heaven to rule over all creation (reality) with God in glory!

So, he left his disciples on Earth to return back to the third heaven to rule over all creation with God where 2,000 (Earth) years later, he still reigns today in immortality:

“After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them [His followers], he was taken up into heaven…”

“...he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms (to rule with him over everything in the third heaven), far above all rule and authority, power and dominion,…”

So, why all this is wonderful, what exactly does all this have to do with the Gospel and this great hope all Christians should have?

Much like the resurrections before Jesus were foreshadowing the greater resurrection that happened to him, Jesus’s resurrection to immortality and eternal rulership with God was symbolizing the ultimate resurrection:

Along with all these other resurrections of the past, The Bible says there is a very special massive future resurrection : that would not just include some individuals that had recently died (been dead for a couple of days or so) like all other resurrections in the past have, but would include all humans in history who had ever lived since Adam and Eve (this resurrection would include people who have been dead for many many years if not centuries/millenniums by now)!

This special resurrection is directly mentioned throughout the Old Testament by both Job and the prophets Daniel and Ezekiel (who got this message directly through angels and even God himself):

“...a man dies and is laid low [in the grave];… so he lies down and does not rise; Until the heavens are no more (a reference to the special resurrection at the end of the human age),…”

He says though a human does die and does not ever wake up again (come back to life) he does mention there will be a time when they will come back to life: when “the heavens are no more” (a reference to the special resurrection in the distant future).

He even says he will be a part of this resurrection near the end of sinful human history when God comes to Earth (but he will be dead at this time and his body long since decomposed) but at this time he will be brought back to life and see God in his resurrected body!

“I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another.”

Until this time, Job said he would patiently wait until this resurrection (that he calls his renewal) which would happened at the end when God calls him out of his grave and he returns back to life!

“…I will wait for my renewal to come. You will call and I will answer you(return back to life);.."

So, Job clearly speaks of a future resurrection far in the distant future when God comes to the Earth to resurrect him.

Though Job died and his body has long since decomposed in his grave somewhere for over thousands of years by now, he will be brought back to life yet again one day in this future resurrection!

A holy angel of God named Gabriel tells God’s holy prophet Daniel that there will be a massive future resurrection for all dead humans

The holy Angel named Gabriel tells the chosen prophet Daniel of this time at the end of sinful human history, when the massive multitude of humans who have ever died in all of history (whose bodies eventually decomposed in a grave or somewhere else: what is meant by ‘the dust of the earth’) will be resurrected back to life to either be rewarded or punished:

“Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake(be resurrected):some to...life (they will live thus be rewarded), others to shame and everlasting contempt(they will be judged and punished, and their punishment will last forever).”

So, Gabriel confirms the rest of the Bible that there definitely will be an ultimate reward for loyal humans who followed/obeyed God in their life and also a ultimate punishment for wicked/evil humans who sinned/rebelled against God. But He also resolves the contradiction of how this will happen if they are already dead: they will first have to be resurrected and then they will be rewarded or punished for how they lived in their lifetime. This is how loyal humans who are already dead will be rewarded to see the future kingdom of God: they will be resurrected back to life! But this is also how evil humans who have already died will be judged and then thrown into hell to be burn up to ashes: they will also be resurrected back to life!

But this is not happening right now in some distant spiritual place in the afterlife to human souls but rather is a future event that will happen one day when this ultimate resurrection occurs: this completely agrees with the rest of the Bible which also says (as covered before in “Biblical Hell” and “Biblical Heaven/Heaven contradictions”) that Geheenah hell and the kingdom of God are all future places not in existence yet.

Gabriel even tells Daniel to continue living the rest of his life (go your way) until he died: this meant he would also join the multitude who had died before him in sleeping in the dust of the Earth (in total nonexistence) BUT when the end of the modern human era comes to and end in the distant future, God would resurrect him back to life to reward him for his loyalty to him in his lifetime:

“As for you (Daniel), go your way till the end [of your life]. [then] You will rest (you will be in total unconsciousness in nonexistence), and then at the end of the days (at the end of the modern evil human age when God comes to Earth) you will rise (be resurrected)to receive your allotted inheritance (reward).”

And eventually Daniel did die, and his body most likely buried in a grave somewhere and has long since been decomposed for thousands of year by now, but in the future when God comes to Earth he will be resurrected and live yet again and receive his reward which most definitely includes living in the kingdom of God!

This vision symbolized in detail what the future resurrection would be like : by showing Ezekiel a bunch of dry bones (dead bodies that apparently have been dead for a very long time: long enough for their bodies to completely decompose into dirt leaving only dried out skeletons) literately being filled with muscles and guts and covered with skin (the decomposed body being put back together again) and then being re-given the breath of life so the bodies would begin to function again and come back to life:

“The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live [again] ?’ I said, ‘Sovereign Lord, you alone know.’ Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: ‘…you will come [back] to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’’’”

God later confirms this vision is talking about this resurrection in the future involving his people Israel:

“Then he said to me: ‘Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them (bring you back to life: Resurrect you);…’’”

This massive resurrection also indirectly included Ezekiel (since he is also an Israelite) so one day God will bring back to life all Israelites who have ever been born and died!

In many ways, this ultimate future resurrection sounds a lot like Jesus's resurrection:

Unlike the resurrections of the past, this future resurrection will massively change everything: humans who are raised back to life in this resurrection will never go back to their normal lives ever again (even if they could, some being dead for centuries if not millenniums would definitely never be able to go back to their normal lives, even if they could) their lives will be forever changed because not only will now directly see God/his angels in full view:

Job 19:27
“...in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him…”

But loyal humans will also be living a new life in the kingdom of God when they receive their inheritance/reward from him: there will be no going back to ordinary life after being resurrected in this resurrection!

In the New Testament, this ultimate resurrection is talked about even more: In fact, along with the kingdom of God, this resurrection was also a major part of the good news (or gospel) of Jesus in his ministry and he had some very important details that were left out in the Old Testament about this resurrection:

When Jesus brought Lazarus back to life, he was not just resurrecting him in order to bring him back to life, but also to demonstrate a very important point about the ultimate resurrection (or any resurrection for that matter).

Lazarus and his sisters were close friends/followers of Jesus, so when Lazarus got really sick his sisters sent a message telling Jesus that Lazarus was sick; most likely in hope that he would come and heal him:

“Now a man named Lazarus was sick….So the (Lazarus's) sisters sent word to Jesus, ‘Lord, the one you love is sick.’”

Jesus then assured them Lazarus would not be destroyed in death from this sickness, but it would glorify God through his son (Jesus) with him getting healed:

“When he heard this, Jesus said, ‘This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son (himself) may be glorified through it.’ ”

They though (like anyone would) this meant Jesus was going to come and heal him from this sickness before he died from it, but to their surprise, Jesus remained where he was until Lazarus died from the sickness:

“...when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, and then he said to his disciples, ‘Let us go…Lazurus has fallen asleep (has died) but I am going to wake him up (resurrect him).’ ”

He intentionally waited until Lazarus died: he was not going to heal him from the disease he had, but he was going to heal him from a far worse disease that kills all humans eventually:

Of course, the sisters of Lazurus did not understand why Jesus told them their brother would get better though him if he was already dead! So when he did finally arrive, one of the sisters (Martha) told him this:

“Martha said to Jesus, ‘if you had been here, my brother would not have died’…”

“Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again (come back to life again: be resurrected).’”

She though he meant he would come back to life with everyone else in the ultimate resurrection at the end of the sinful human age (she, like all Jews of this time, would have read the Old Testament scriptures and have understood that, in the future, there would be a massive resurrection for all dead Israelites)

“Martha answered, ‘I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.’ ”

But this was not what Jesus meant concerning Lazarus coming back to life. Why this was all true, he wanted to make a very serious point that was the main core of his good news: that resurrection of the future talked about in the Old Testament was going to be controlled by him:

In fact, he was the resurrection and life it brought because of his complete control over all things!

“Then Jesus…said, ‘All authority [power] in heaven and on earth has been given to me.’ ”

However, he also reveals an especially important detail that was the core of his good news to Martha: If a human that believe he is the messiah (and chooses to follow him and obey him) even though they might die would eventually be resurrected again and given eternal life through this resurrection (they would live forever and never be able to die again!).

“...even though they die;...The one who believes in me will live (after a resurrection),…and whoever lives (in this resurrection) by believing in me will never die [again](have eternal life).”

This is the main point he wanted to make by healing Lazarus from death: Not only was he in complete control of any resurrection (he is the resurrection) but those who believed he was the Messiah (and choose to follow and obey him because of their belief) would he not only resurrected from death one day but would also be resurrected to immortality to be able to live forever! This is how humans who have died would be able to enjoy their reward forever in the kingdom of God after being resurrected!

Jesus also mentions later that these people resurrected this way can no longer die:

With this realization, Martha says she believes Jesus is the Messiah (thus becoming one of these people who will be resurrected to eternal life)

“’Yes, Lord,’ she replied, ‘I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.’ ”

After this conversation, Jesus went to Lazarus's grave where he commanded him to come out of his tomb (come back to life) and he did come back to life at his command:

"When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come out!' The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face."

thus, not only did this sickness not end in death ultimately (though it did kill him) he got sick (and died) for Jesus to be glorified (in resurrecting him), but it also proved what Jesus was saying about the resurrection as completely true: he did have power to resurrect the dead and thus he had power to give eternal life to those who followed him.

This gift of eternal life for humans who believed in him in this special resurrection was a very big part of Jesus's good news in his ministry:

“For my Father’s (God’s) will is that everyone who looks to the Son (Jesus: himself) and believes in him will have eternal life,…”

The most famous Bible verse in the entire Bible (John 3:16) says this is the very reason God sent and gave his only son to die for the world: So, no one would perish (that is be destroyed in death!) but rather be given eternal life (become immortal to live forever!):

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that [so] whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

So, to give eternal life to humans so they would be saved from Death was one of the major reasons why Jesus came! No wonder why it was a big part of his good news in his ministry, that changes everything!

But when would this special resurrection happen? Jesus reveals that this will only happen at the ultimate resurrection at the end of the human age:

So, this is a future event: Jesus has not yet given those who follow him eternal life: he will only give them eternal life at the ultimate resurrection at the end of the human age:

“...everyone who looks to the Son (Jesus: himself) and believes in him will have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

Which Jesus would resurrect all dead human beings at his command (just like he did Lazarus):

“...a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his (Jesus’s) voice and come out (be resurrected)—those who have done what is good will rise to live [forever] , and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned (be killed).”

So, Jesus would only do this for those who believe (and followed/obeyed him) at the end of the sinful human age (which is still a future event) and only then would they be given eternal life (become immortal human beings) in this next age of human history right after this event!

He kept preaching this good news until he was killed by crucifixion and was resurrected three days later in a special resurrection that gave him eternal life himself (as covered above).

After he talked with the disciples and went back to heaven to rule with God. Jesus’s special resurrection (and even his entire life and death) became a foreshadowing of all future followers of Jesus and their ultimate resurrection to eternal life:

“...just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, [so] we too may live a new life (through this special resurrection).”

“...Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us...through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,…the salvation [of the ultimate future resurrection to eternal life] that is…to be revealed in the last time (in the ultimate resurrection at the end of the sinful human age).”

“...we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we [also] believe that God will bring with Jesus (resurrect) those who have fallen asleep in him (dead Christians).”

Much like the gift of eternal life for those who believed in him was a part of the good news Jesus preached in his ministry, Jesus’s resurrection and the gift of eternal life through his resurrection for his followers was also a major part of the good news (or Gospel) of his followers (later called apostles) in their ministry, along with their testimony of Jesus’s coming, life, and sacrifice:

“...the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.”

“...the apostles were teaching the people,…in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.”

These followers (later and from that point on called Christians) are not only to live a life of obedience to Jesus/God and to begin to follow Jesus's example of how he lived in his life on Earth but are to also be crucified and die (symbolically with him through baptism) like Jesus so they can ultimately be resurrected to eternal life like him in this future resurrection:

“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.”

(this is why baptism is so important in becoming a saved Christian: it is a major key to ensuring you are resurrected to eternal life at the end of the age!)

But along with being symbolically being crucified and dying with Jesus, Christians can also be united in his crucifixion and death by being personally persecuted and even being killed from this persecution (become a martyr) so also in order to be resurrected to eternal life like Jesus.

Like Paul, he was going to do all that he could to become like Christ in order to be a part of this eternal resurrection:

“I want to know Christ (become like him)—…and participat[e]… in his sufferings (be persecuted for his belief), becoming like him in his death (be killed in persecution like Jesus was), and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead….yes, to know the power of his resurrection…”

(Though this is not always necessary for all Christians to be persecuted and killed like Jesus in order to completely unite with him in his persecutions and death in order to become resurrected to eternal life like Jesus; for all Christians, baptism does this. But Christians who are in a situation of being persecuted for their faith and cannot escape it and/or God wants them to be persecuted like this; then they are to be persecuted and possibly killed in order to get to experience what Jesus went through and be united with him like this in order to get the eternal resurrection at the end of the age.)

Through the rest of a Christian’s life, this special resurrection to eternal life is considered the ultimate goal/reward for all Christians, they are to continue to strive to continue to be considered worthy for eternal life as long as they live in obeying Jesus/God and never giving up their faith no matter what persecutions they face:

“…I press on toward the goal (the resurrection to eternal life) to win the prize for which God has called me [to]…in Christ Jesus.”

Even Jesus himself says this eternal life is the ultimate goal (and reward) for a Christian:

“...Be faithful (in your Christian life to Jesus), even to the point of [the threat of] death, and I will give you [eternal] life as your victor’s crown (a common reward for winners of a contest at this time).”

Notice through all this, going to heaven as the reward for Christians is not even really mentioned (and even if it does seem to be, as covered before in “Heaven contradictions”, that can be explained to really be references to the resurrection as well) but there are tons of direct mentions of the resurrection to eternal life as the ultimate reward for Christians! This is because Heaven was never the reward for Christians after death to begin with: it was the resurrection to eternal life!

Considering all of the above, the resurrection to eternal life is a Christians ultimate hope:

If their is no ultimate resurrection, then all hope is truly lost for those who have died, they will never live again, and their bodies forever lost:

“For if the dead are not raised,…Then those also who have fallen asleep (died)…are lost.”

(Once again, if a human’s soul went to heaven or hell after death then they would not be truly lost forever, even if there were no future resurrection: because why their physical body has been lost to decomposition their consciousness, the ‘real’ them, would live on forever in these afterlives. However, if their soul/consciousness was not a internal spiritual force separates from their body but was their body like the Bible says and once they die their body and consciousness shuts down and ceases to exist like the bible says they are then decomposition destroys their body forever, so they cease to exist forever then they are truly lost forever without a miraculous resurrection! This is the only way Paul's statement above makes sense!)

But thank God there will be a resurrection for the dead: so those who have died and their body long since decomposed are not gone forever, so Christians can have absolute hope in it:

“...I have the same hope in God…that there will be a resurrection…”

Specifically, the rest of the New Testament reveals this resurrection to eternal life would happen at the end of the evil human age when Jesus returns to Earth:

“...According to the [Jesus’s] Lord’s word,…the Lord [Jesus] himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise (All dead Christians will be resurrected to eternal life)…After that, we [Christians] who are still alive [at this time]…will be caught up (and transformed into immortal humans too) together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.”

So Paul tells when (and even how) this resurrection will happen: It will immediately happen after Jesus returns (appears in the sky) and shouts for all Christians to come to him in the sky: Then they will all come out of the grave (they were most likely buried in) and immediately their bodies will be brought back together and made immortal at the same time and then those Christians who have not died yet at this time will also be made immortal and fly to meet Jesus in the sky.

“...And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man (Jesus) in heaven (the sky): and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory (Jesus will come back to earth and be seen in the sky). And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect (resurrected Christians) from the four winds, from one end of heaven (the atmosphere) to the other.”

Jesus adds extra detail Paul does not: that Angles will lead the newly resurrected Christians to Jesus’s side from all around the world. But notice Jesus mentions he will come back in the sky, and he will call like a loud trumpet a command, but there is no mention of a resurrection: he mentions this later in other places:

“...a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out (be resurrected) …”

So after all Christians fly to where Jesus is in the air all Christians that have ever existed will always be will Jesus from that time onward:

This is the time Jesus was speaking of to his disciples (as covered before in “heaven Contradictions”) about coming back to get them after he prepared a place for them:

“My Father’s house…I am going there to prepare a place for you…And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

He would come back during his second return to get them (along with all other Christians) by resurrecting them back to life again and making them immortal: then they will be with him, so they died and have been “waiting” in non-existence for almost 2,000 years now, but one day in the future from now Jesus will return to Earth and resurrect his original disciples to immortality and then they will finally be with him forever like all Christians will!

Paul says this resurrection to immortality during the last day of sinful human history is a mystery (that is, something very few people know about) but he describes what it will be like when Christians are resurrected to immortality at this time:

“Listen I tell you a mystery (that very few people know): we will not all be asleep (dead when this resurrection happens: the generation that is alive at this time ,who are Christians, will not be dead yet so they will not need to be resurrected), but we will all be changed (Why not all Christians will be resurrected or brought back to life at this resurrection they will all certainly be changed to immortals!)-in a flash, in a twinkling of an eye (the time it takes to blink: in modern timekeeping this is less than a second this change will happen: it will be almost instant!), at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, the dead (in Christ) will be raised immoral .”

“...the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”

But what will this new immortal body be like? Will the body be different than before? If so how? Does the bible say?

“But some may ask: ‘how are the dead raised?’ ‘With what kind of body will they come?’”

To answer what type of body the resurrected Christians will have He compares a dead Christian’s body to planting a seed in the ground:

“When you sow (plant), you do not plant the body that will be (the plant that will develop), but just a seed,…”

And this is true: you don’t cover the finished plant you want in the ground: that will kill it and be pointless! But instead you cover the seed in the ground that contains the dormant plant inside of it you don’t want the dormant seed to come back up from the ground you want what’s inside the seed to be activated so the plant can begin to develop and come out of the ground a full grown plant!

Paul then says this is very similar to what a new immortal human body will be like in this resurrection: The body is the “seed” that dies and is (usually) buried in the ground (a grave: Sheol) and is destroyed by decomposition: however during the resurrection the body will be brought back together but won’t come out of the ground like it entered: like a seed that has been activated underground once it comes back up it will look entirely different than the original seed! The body will then instantly be changed and come out of the ground, and this is how it will be different from the mortal body:

“…the body that is sown (dies and is buried) is perishable (or mortal: will eventually decomposed/destroyed) But it is raised imperishable (immortal) it is sown in dishonor (sin), it is raised in glory (Righteousness); it is sown in weakness (Mortal human body), it is raised with power (Supernatural strength); it is sown in a natural [mortal] body, it is raised in a spiritual body.”

So, this new body at the resurrection will be a immortal, powerful, Righteous, spiritual body: it will be like a superhuman spiritual body! It will be the exact opposite of the former mortal, weak, sinful natural body before: a massive improvement!

He continues by saying that this change in the body’s material is parallel to the two legacies and bodies of Adam and Jesus (called by Paul ‘the Adams’):

The first Adam that is the actual Adam: the first known human created in Genesis, was created and first brought to life with ‘a natural body’ (a body made of organic material from the dirt found on Earth) and all his human descendants had the exact same material Adam’s body was made of:

‘the first man Adam became a living being (that is a living being though an organic body).’;

...The first man was of the dust of the earth (made from dirt/Earthly material: organic material) ;…As was the earthly man (Adam and also Eve by extension), so are those who are of the earth (all his [and her] descendants: human beings);…”

But then Jesus (the second/final Adam) was resurrected and his natural human body miraculously transformed into a glorious spiritual body made from material not found on Earth, but heaven (most likely the third heaven) and any who believe in Jesus as messiah and follow him will also be like him and be given a heavenly body in his image just like Adam gave his earthly body to his descendants Jesus will transform a human into his spiritual body.

“…the second man is of heaven (his body is made from material not found on Earth, but in heaven). and as is the heavenly man (Jesus), so also are those who are of heaven (who are Christians) ….the last Adam (Jesus) [is] a life giving spirit…”

So like Jesus, all Christian (as humans) must be born as a mortal organic human (like Adam) and THEN be transformed into an immortal spiritual human.

“And just as we have bore the image of the earthly man, so will we bear the image of the heavenly man.”

Why There is an ultimate resurrection at the end of the human age, it’s not just going to be one massive resurrection when Jesus comes back to Earth: there are in fact two major waves of resurrections as revealed in Revelation:

The first massive resurrection is the resurrection often talked about by Jesus and apostles: This resurrection is going to happen in the future when Jesus returns to Earth (as revealed in Revelation once there Christian are resurrected, they will be with Jesus for 1,000 years):

“...They (dead Christians) came to life…[and were] with Christ [for] a thousand years….This is the first resurrection.”

Being resurrect and/or transformed to immorality in this first resurrection is a high honor! All Christians who are going to be in this resurrection will be especially blessed and holy!

“Blessed and holy are those who share (Christians who are resurrected and/or transformed to immortal humans) in the first resurrection.”

But This resurrection will not be resurrecting all dead humans who have ever lived as well, this resurrection will be exclusively for Christians who believed and faithfully followed Jesus until they died (and also the generation of Christians who are still alive when he returns) will be instantly brought back to physical life and transformed into an immortal body (the Christians who are still alive with also be transformed to an immortal human but not resurrected because they never died: nor from this point on they never will!) Right after the first resurrection these Christians will fly to meet at returning Jesus in the atmosphere and be with him forever.

But then 1,000 years later from this resurrection there will be another massive resurrection that appears to be the final one for humans:

Every other non-Christian human who has ever died will be resurrected back to mortal life

While it’s great all Christians will eventually be resurrected; there is a much greater problem: Christians are only a very small percentage of all humans who have ever died, most human were non-Christians: many of them never even hearing of Jesus or the God of the Bible before they died All other non-Christian human who did evil or were ignorant of God’s laws or did not ever get to know the one true God in their lifetime before dying. Well, they are not lost forever either: they will also be resurrected. But unlike Christians they will not be resurrected at the same time but later: specifically, 1,000 years later after the first resurrection, as revelation reveals:

“The rest of the dead did not come [back] to life until the thousand years had ended.”

Nor will they be resurrected to eternal life: like an ordinary resurrection, they will be resurrected back to mortal life again: but all at the same time.

This resurrection is only directly talk about in Revelation and in detail of when and what it will look like:

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them (Remember Job when he said the heavens would be no more? This seem to be referring to this resurrection by the similarity) ...The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades (the grave: that is 6 feet or so under the ground) gave up the dead that were in them, (the rest of humanity will be resurrected at this time: they will be brough back to life out from places all around the world) ..."

Once all dead humans are resurrected, they will then be judged for what they did in their lives, another reason this resurrection is different from the first resurrection:

“...and each person was judged according to what they had done [in their lives].”

then, it seems, Gehenna hell (as covered before in “Biblical Hell” and “Hell contradictions”) will be started on Earth (called in revelation as ‘the lake of fire’):

“...Then death and Hades (the grave and death) were thrown into the lake of fire (This means Hell is now the way any humans will die from now on)… Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.”

This ,then, is the time when Gehenna hell (hell as humans picture it) will begin in the future (that is after a thousand year of Jesus and his resurrected saints being with him on Earth and after all humans are resurrected back to life) and human that are found guilty in this judgment (specifically, if they are found to have been evil/rebellious humans in their lifetime and/or if their names are not written in the book of life) will then be sentenced to be thrown into Gehennah hell as their ultimate punishment by God to be tortured, burn up, and ultimately be turned to ash: thus dying once again.

It's called the second death because most people here have already died once and were resurrected back to life: so, if they are found guilty and are thrown into Gehennah hell this will make them die all over again: it will literally be a second (but much more painful) death for people thrown into this fiery punishment! However, this is not only the second time humans will die but the final/ultimate death for them as well: because this time once they die from being burnt up, there is no more hope of a future resurrection for these humans ever again because as a part of their punishment is how it will affect them forever: in this case it will affect them by killing them and turning them to ash forever! So, they will truly be dead (lost) forever; never to live again!

It’s called the second death because most people here have already died once and were resurrected back to life: so, if they are found guilty and are thrown into Gehennah hell: this will make them die all over again: it will literally be a second (but much more painful) death for people thrown into this fiery punishment!

(Once again, as covered before in “Biblical Hell” and “Hell Contradictions”, if humans who were thrown into hell at this time were forever to be tortured by constantly being burnt alive in this fire like many people commonly believe, then why would it be called “the second death” If you remain alive? One could say it could be called that because it will be like death (or a fate worse than death) by constantly being burnt alive forever. But this is not an accurate description of what death is: as covered in “The Truth of Death” death is not being lit on fire forever but just unconscious nonexistence forever. If this is the second death, then this must mean those humans who are thrown into Hell will eventually die in this fire by being burnt up and turned to ash! This agrees perfectly with all other Bible verses about what happens to humans in hell: even the ones that seem to say they will be burnt up forever as covered before in “Hell Contradictions”. Also as covered before, the punishment for sin is not being constantly burnt up in fire forever: the punishment for sin IS Death: that is, the punishment for sin is to have the body break down and decompose into nonexistence and the consciousness to also go into nonexistence forever. this also perfectly agrees with the rest of the Bible too and this verse.)

However this is not only the second time humans will die but the final/ultimate death for them as well: because this time, once they die from being burnt up in judgement from God, there is no more hope of a future resurrection for these humans ever again because as a part of their punishment it will affect them forever: in this case, Hell’s fire will affect them by killing them by burning them and turning them to ash forever! So, they will truly be dead (lost) forever; never to live again!

After this judgement, the humans who are judged as innocent will live on forever in a brand-new Earth forever and also in a brand-new reality (Called in revelation, a "New Earth" and "New Heaven"):

for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away (been destroyed),…”

In this new Earth, there will be no more death or any of the horrible things associated with death/curses: because after the second resurrection and after Hell has destroyed all human sinners the curse of death will finally be removed/destroyed by God and there will be no more sadness or pain associated with death and curses:

or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away (been destroyed).”

In the end, the curse of death losses in permanently in destroying life forever: because of the resurrections and the final removal of the curse of death afterwards: Death will no longer exist in the new Earth and New Heavens death itself will be destroyed:

So, Heaven and Hell (or any spiritual afterlife for that matter) is not the real hope a Christian (or any human) should have for life after death: the resurrections are the real hope for life after death: because there is no life in death. Only by death being reversed can life resume! But by being resurrected this is when humans will either get their eternal reward (which is revealed to be living forever in the kingdom of God) or get their eternal punishment (which is being tortured and finally burnt up [killed by being turned to ash] in Geheenah hell/the lake of fire and being destroyed/in nonexistence forever) this is what many Christians/humans confuse for the afterlife (and in a way, this is the afterlife, it just doesn't immediately happen after death in the form of a “soul/ghost” like commonly thought: it happens after one of these ultimate resurrections in a physical body brought back to life, which are all future events). And after either being destroyed in Hell or rewarded with eternal life there will be no more death or the horrible things that come with it (like sickness pain sadness etc.). So, with all this in mind God's word does say what happens to a human's consciousness upon death: Nothing! This is in stark contrast to what most Christians/humans believe yet it is ultimately what God's word says! So now that you know the truth of Death, Heaven, and Hell what are you going to do now? If you're a Christian, you should now know and tell other Christians that your hope is not in going to heaven at death but is in being resurrected to immortality at the first Resurrection to forever live in the kingdom of God. But if you're not a Christian, I hope you realize now how important it is to be saved: it is THE only way you escape Gehenna Hell and death itself, so you might want to seriously consider getting saved (for more information see The Gospel section).

[C] Strong’s Greek 386-- ἀνάστασις(an-as'-tas-is) a standing up, a resurrection, a raising up, rising; by Biblehub

The Resurrection:

The real good news of the gospel!