God Will Raise The Dead!
Part 2
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept [have been asleep]. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. I CORINTHIANS 15:20-22
And God both raised up the lord, and will also raise up us by His own power. I CORINTHIANS 6:14
God raises the dead. This is how “death is swallowed up in victory”. God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. There’s a day coming when God “will also raise up us by His own power”! Today Jesus Christ is the only man who has died and now lives. Christ is risen and has “become the firstfruits” of all who are dead or “asleep”.
These truths are just as vital and essential today as they were in the first century when the apostle Paul taught them.
Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come: That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people [Israel], and to the Gentiles [the nations]. ACTS 26:22-23
Moses and the prophets and Paul all spoke and recorded the Word of God which is the unchanging and unchangeable truth. As simple and clear as the written record from God has been, it is truly remarkable how universal the teaching has become that denies man’s resurrection with the slick, counterfeit teaching that says you “go to heaven when you die”.
God gave one of the prophets, Ezekiel, a very detailed description of His way and His plan to raise the dead. Ezekiel prophesied to the covenant people, Israel, this breathtaking depiction of those in the grave being made alive!
Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O My people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up out of your graves, And shall put My spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord. EZEKIEL 37:4-5,12-14
Could it be any simpler or any plainer? God said, “I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves”. He didn’t say, “At the moment you die I will bring you to heaven in My mystical, mysterious way.”
Jesus Christ taught the same truth that Ezekiel taught. The record in John chapter eleven tells us that “Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus”. Lazarus became very sick and died. On the fourth day that Lazarus was in the grave, Jesus came to Mary and Martha in Bethany.
When Martha heard he was coming she left the house and met him on the way. They talked about her brother, Lazarus.
Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at [in]the last day [the concluding day]. JOHN 11:23-24
Neither Jesus nor Martha said that Lazarus was “in a better place” or “happy now that he’s home in heaven”. Jesus said that he would rise again. Martha repeated this and added when he would rise: “in the concluding day”. Martha had obviously been instructed, with detailed certainty, how and when the dead would be made alive. HOW are the dead made alive? God will raise the dead. WHEN are the dead made alive? In the Day of The Lord (which is called “the concluding day” because it is the concluding period of time of this present age).
Like Martha, Jesus Christ also used the expression “in the concluding day” and this is recorded in the Gospel of John five times. Here are two of those five:
And this is the will of Him that sent me, that every one which seeth the son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at [in] the last day [in the concluding day]. JOHN 6:40
He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the Word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day [in the concluding day]. JOHN 12:48
The “concluding day” is the Day of The Lord which is the concluding period of time of this present age. Today there is very little understanding about the Scriptural meaning of the word “age”. This is greatly due to the translators of the King James Version who translated the Greek word aiōn as “world” rather than age. The Scriptures teach that there were past ages, there will be future ages and there is a present age.
Which He wrought in Christ, when He raised him from the dead, and set him at His own right hand in the heavenly places. Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world [aiōn = age], but also in that which is to come [the coming age]. EPHESIANS 1:20-21
And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end [the conclusion] of the world [aiōn = age]? MATTHEW 24:3
In the Day of the Lord, which is the conclusion of this age, there will two times when the dead are resurrected. The first is “the resurrection of the just”. The second is “the resurrection of the unjust”. During this time the lord Jesus Christ will “arrive” or become personally present. The time of his arrival will be a very wondrous, dramatic occasion.
And then shall appear the sign of the son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth [which have been resurrected] mourn [mourn=to beat the breast in great emotion], and they shall see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. MATTHEW 24:30
Jesus Christ referred to this future event (of his arrival in the clouds) as he was being interrogated by the high priest after they had arrested him in order to execute him.
And the high priest arose, and said unto him, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee? But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the son of God. Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said. Nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. MATTHEW 26:62-64
His arrival and the two times of resurrections are some of the extraordinary, remarkable, marvelous events which will occur during the Day of The Lord. There are also many other unparalleled things accomplished in the Day of The Lord that I am not going to detail here. I do want to say that the phrase found in the King James Version that reads “the day of judgment” should be understood as “judgment’s day”. There is no definite article “the” in the text. The word “judgment” is simply a descriptive term. Therefore “judgment’s day” should not be reconstructed and refashioned into the non-Scriptural, yet very popular, proper-noun phrase: “The Judgment Day”.
When will the dead be made alive? We know that during the Day of The Lord there is a first resurrection (of “the just”) and a second resurrection (of “the unjust”).
But this I [Paul] confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy [a cult], so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets: And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust. ACTS 24:14-15
There is one other event, still future, when the dead will be made alive. This event is not mentioned by Jesus Christ in the Gospels nor by any of the Old Testament prophets. God first made this known to the apostle Paul. God revealed to Paul all the great truths and information which, until then, had been “hid in God” and therefore called the “mystery”, or secret.
If ye have heard of the dispensation [administration] of the grace of God which is given me [Paul] to you-ward: How that by revelation He [God] made known unto me the mystery [secret]; Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; And to make all men see what is the fellowship [administration] of the mystery, which from [away from] the beginning of the world [aiōn = age] hath been hid in God. EPHESIANS 3:2,3,5,9
In verse 9 the Greek words tōn aiōnōn were translated into the phrase “the beginning of the world”. This is both wrong and misleading, tōn aiōnōn = the ages. It should simply read, “…which away from the ages hath been hid in God.”
The information which God revealed to Paul had not been known because it was a secret hidden in God away from men and angels for ages. Now God wants all to see and understand all the great truths which are fully declared in the church Epistles. In the second Epistle to the Thessalonians, one of these now-revealed great truths is “our gathering together unto him”.
Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, II THESSALONIANS 2:1
The details of this “gathering together” are given in the first Epistle to the Thessalonians.
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep [the dead in Christ], that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. [Should read: “…them also which sleep will God, by means of Jesus, bring with him”.] For this we say unto you by the Word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the lord shall not prevent [preceed] them which are asleep [the dead in Christ]. For the lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. I THESSALONIANS 4:15-18
At the time of this “gathering together” the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then the alive in Christ will be changed and “caught up together” with the dead in Christ who were changed first. We will meet the lord in the air and “ever be” with him!
This “gathering together”, when the dead in Christ are made-alive, is distinctly different in many ways from the later events of the first and second resurrections. There has been no end of confusion in the teaching that unites some truths of the gathering together with some truths of the first resurrection and attempts to describe one singular event.
The resurrections occur in the Day of The Lord. The gathering together could occur any time– maybe even today! Paul clarifies the order of these events in his second Epistle to the Thessalonians.
Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. [“the day of Christ” is “the Day of The Lord” in every Greek text] Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away [a falling away=the departure] first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. II THESSALONIANS 2:1-3
There is the order of these three significant events.
First, “the departure” which is our gathering together unto him.
After that, the man of sin will be revealed (this man is erroneously labeled the Antichrist).
And finally, the concluding period of time of this present age: the Day of The Lord.
Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
“Death is swallowed up in victory!”
