The Resurrection

Apostles, and the Spirit empowered writers of our New Testament, looked forward to a day that people who had died would return to life. Their hope stemmed from Our Lords own promises and the Old Testament scriptures with which Paul especially, was well versed. After all, they didnt have a New Testament. Most likely, the writers had no clue that their letters to the churches would become a part of The Holy Bible.

Many subjects were addressed in early letters to believers based upon writers understanding and the prompting of The Holy Spirit as to what the followers of Jesus needed to know. Yet today, we take encouragement from those inspired writings.

Today, as when the Gospels and New Testament letters were written, many believers need reassurance about what is commonly called The Resurrection. Persons who have not yet heard (with understanding) the Good News, need to know too. Because we focus so heavily on the New Testament, many of us lack knowledge of the sacred manuscripts that some, like educated Paul the Apostle, held in such high regard.

Lets examine some scriptures upon which Christian buoyancy is based. In so doing, our confidence can be strengthened and our own faith enhanced.

As The Book of Job is believed to be the oldest book in the modern Bible, it is a great place to start. We will use the CEV (Contemporary English Version) translation because, although The Bible has not changed, our language has. Translated from Greek and early manuscripts, the CEV version makes it easier for me to understand some scriptures.

(CEV) Job 19:23 I wish that my words could be written down 24 or chiseled into rock. 25 I know that my Savior lives, and at the end he will stand on this earth. 26 My flesh may be destroyed, yet from this body I will see God. 27 Yes, I will see him for myself, and I long for that moment.

(CEV) Isaiah 26:19 Your people will rise to life! Tell them to leave their graves and celebrate with shouts. You refresh the earth like morning dew; you give life to the dead.

(CEV) Ezekiel 37:1 Some time later, I felt the LORD's power take control of me, and his Spirit carried me to a valley full of bones. 2 The LORD showed me all around, and everywhere I looked I saw bones that were dried out. 3 He said, "Ezekiel, son of man, can these bones come back to life?" I replied, "LORD God, only you can answer that." 4 He then told me to say: Dry bones, listen to what the LORD is saying to you, 5 "I, the LORD God, will put breath in you, and once again you will live. 6 I will wrap you with muscles and skin and breathe life into you. Then you will know that I am the LORD." 7 I did what the LORD said, but before I finished speaking, I heard a rattling noise. The bones were coming together! 8 I saw muscles and skin cover the bones, but they had no life in them. 9 The LORD said: Ezekiel, now say to the wind, "The LORD God commands you to blow from every direction and to breathe life into these dead bodies, so they can live again."

10 As soon as I said this, the wind blew among the bodies, and they came back to life! They all stood up, and there were enough to make a large army. 11 The LORD said: Ezekiel, the people of Israel are like dead bones. They complain that they are dried up and that they have no hope for the future. 12 So tell them, "I, the LORD God, promise to open your graves and set you free. I will bring you back to Israel, 13 and when that happens, you will realize that I am the LORD. 14 My Spirit will give you breath, and you will live again. I will bring you home, and you will know that I have kept my promise. I, the LORD, have spoken." (CEV) Daniel 12:1 Michael, the chief of the angels, is the protector of your people, and he will come at a time of terrible suffering, the worst in all of history. And your people who have their names written in The Book will be protected. 2 Many of those who lie dead in the ground will rise from death. Some of them will be given eternal life, and others will receive nothing but eternal shame and disgrace. 3 Everyone who has been wise will shine as bright as the sky above, and everyone who has led others to please God will shine like the stars.

Well, we can see why Jews, those familiar with the Old Testament scriptures, had such confidence; Jewish and now Christian believers are assured of a Resurrection. Now lets see what Jesus who claimed to BE the Resurrection said and did.

(CEV) John 11:25 Jesus then said, "I am the one who raises the dead to life! Everyone who has faith in me will live, even if they die.

(CEV) John 11:1 A man by the name of Lazarus was sick in the village of Bethany. He had two sisters, Mary and Martha. This was the same Mary who later poured perfume on the Lord's head and wiped his feet with her hair. 3 The sisters sent a message to the Lord and told him that his good friend Lazarus was sick. 4 When Jesus heard this, he said, "His sickness won't end in death. It will bring glory to God and his Son." 5 Jesus loved Martha and her sister and brother. 6 But he stayed where he was for two more days. 7 Then he said to his disciples, "Now we will go back to Judea." 8 "Teacher," they said, "the people there want to stone you to death! Why do you want to go back?" 9 Jesus answered, "Aren't there twelve hours in each day? If you walk during the day, you will have light from the sun, and you won't stumble. 10 But if you walk during the night, you will stumble, because you don't have any light."

11 Then he told them, "Our friend Lazarus is asleep, and I am going there to wake him up." 12 They replied, "Lord, if he is asleep, he will get better." 13 Jesus really meant that Lazarus was dead, but they thought he was talking only about sleep. 14 Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead! 15 I am glad that I wasn't there, because now you will have a chance to put your faith in me. Let's go to him." 16 Thomas, whose nickname was "Twin," said to the other disciples, "Come on. Let's go, so we can die with him." 17 When Jesus got to Bethany, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Bethany was only about two miles from Jerusalem, 19 and many people had come from the city to comfort Martha and Mary because their brother had died. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus had arrived, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed in the house.

21 Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 Yet even now I know that God will do anything you ask." 23 Jesus told her, "Your brother will live again!" 24 Martha answered, "I know that he will be raised to life on the last day, when all the dead are raised." 25 Jesus then said, "I am the one who raises the dead to life! Everyone who has faith in me will live, even if they die. 26 And everyone who lives because of faith in me will never really die. Do you believe this?" 27 "Yes, Lord!" she replied. "I believe that you are Christ, the Son of God. You are the one we hoped would come into the world." 28 After Martha said this, she went and privately said to her sister Mary, "The Teacher is here, and he wants to see you." 29 As soon as Mary heard this, she got up and went out to Jesus. 30 He was still outside the village where Martha had gone to meet him.

31 Many people had come to comfort Mary, and when they saw her quickly leave the house, they thought she was going out to the tomb to cry. So they followed her. 32 Mary went to where Jesus was. Then as soon as she saw him, she knelt at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." 33 When Jesus saw that Mary and the people with her were crying, he was terribly upset 34 and asked, "Where have you put his body?" They replied, "Lord, come and you will see." 35 Jesus started crying, 36 and the people said, "See how much he loved Lazarus." 37 Some of them said, "He gives sight to the blind. Why couldn't he have kept Lazarus from dying?" 38 Jesus was still terribly upset. So he went to the tomb, which was a cave with a stone rolled against the entrance. 39 Then he told the people to roll the stone away. But Martha said, "Lord, you know that Lazarus has been dead four days, and there will be a bad smell." 40 Jesus replied, "Didn't I tell you that if you had faith, you would see the glory of God?"

41 After the stone had been rolled aside, Jesus looked up toward heaven and prayed, "Father, I thank you for answering my prayer. 42 I know that you always answer my prayers. But I said this, so that the people here would believe that you sent me." 43 When Jesus had finished praying, he shouted, "Lazarus, come out!" 44 The man who had been dead came out. His hands and feet were wrapped with strips of burial cloth, and a cloth covered his face. Jesus then told the people, "Untie him and let him go." 45 Many of the people who had come to visit Mary saw the things that Jesus did, and they put their faith in him.

In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul, whom I have previously suggested is the first Modern Day Apostle, assured believers in Jesus of a Resurrection also.

(CEV) 1 Corinthians 15:1 My friends, I want you to remember the message that I preached and that you believed and trusted. 2 You will be saved by this message, if you hold firmly to it. But if you don't, your faith was all for nothing. 3 I told you the most important part of the message exactly as it was told to me. That part is: Christ died for our sins, as the Scriptures say. 4 He was buried, and three days later he was raised to life, as the Scriptures say. 5 Christ appeared to Peter, then to the twelve. 6 After this, he appeared to more than five hundred other followers. Most of them are still alive, but some have died. 7 He also appeared to James, and then to all of the apostles. 8 Finally, he appeared to me, even though I am like someone who was born at the wrong time. 9 I am the least important of all the apostles. In fact, I caused so much trouble for God's church that I don't even deserve to be called an apostle. 10 But God was kind! He made me what I am, and his wonderful kindness wasn't wasted. I worked much harder than any of the other apostles, although it was really God's kindness at work and not me.

11 But it doesn't matter if I preached or if they preached. All of you believed the message just the same. 12 If we preach that Christ was raised from death, how can some of you say that the dead will not be raised to life? 13 If they won't be raised to life, Christ himself wasn't raised to life. 14 And if Christ wasn't raised to life, our message is worthless, and so is your faith. 15 If the dead won't be raised to life, we have told lies about God by saying that he raised Christ to life, when he really did not. 16 So if the dead won't be raised to life, Christ wasn't raised to life. 17 Unless Christ was raised to life, your faith is useless, and you are still living in your sins. 18 And those people who died after putting their faith in him are completely lost. 19 If our hope in Christ is good only for this life, we are worse off than anyone else. 20 But Christ has been raised to life! And he makes us certain that others will also be raised to life.

21 Just as we will die because of Adam, we will be raised to life because of Christ. 22 Adam brought death to all of us, and Christ will bring life to all of us. 23 But we must each wait our turn. Christ was the first to be raised to life, and his people will be raised to life when he returns. 24 Then after Christ has destroyed all powers and forces, the end will come, and he will give the kingdom to God the Father. 25 Christ will rule until he puts all his enemies under his power, 26 and the last enemy he destroys will be death. 27 When the Scriptures say that he will put everything under his power, they don't include God. It was God who put everything under the power of Christ. 28 After everything is under the power of God's Son, he will put himself under the power of God, who put everything under his Son's power. Then God will mean everything to everyone. 29 If the dead are not going to be raised to life, what will people do who are being baptized for them? Why are they being baptized for those dead people? 30 And why do we always risk our lives

31 and face death every day? The pride that I have in you because of Christ Jesus our Lord is what makes me say this. 32 What do you think I gained by fighting wild animals in Ephesus? If the dead are not raised to life, "Let's eat and drink. Tomorrow we die." 33 Don't fool yourselves. Bad friends will destroy you. 34 Be sensible and stop sinning. You should be embarrassed that some people still don't know about God. 35 Some of you have asked, "How will the dead be raised to life? What kind of bodies will they have?" 36 Don't be foolish. A seed must die before it can sprout from the ground. 37 Wheat seeds and all other seeds look different from the sprouts that come up. 38 This is because God gives everything the kind of body he wants it to have. 39 People, animals, birds, and fish are each made of flesh, but none of them are alike. 40 Everything in the heavens has a body, and so does everything on earth. But each one is very different from all the others.

41 The sun isn't like the moon, the moon isn't like the stars, and each star is different. 42 That's how it will be when our bodies are raised to life. These bodies will die, but the bodies that are raised will live forever. 43 These ugly and weak bodies will become beautiful and strong. 44 As surely as there are physical bodies, there are spiritual bodies. And our physical bodies will be changed into spiritual bodies. 45 The first man was named Adam, and the Scriptures tell us that he was a living person. But Jesus, who may be called the last Adam, is a life-giving spirit. 46 We see that the one with a spiritual body did not come first. He came after the one who had a physical body. 47 The first man was made from the dust of the earth, but the second man came from heaven. 48 Everyone on earth has a body like the body of the one who was made from the dust of the earth. And everyone in heaven has a body like the body of the one who came from heaven. 49 Just as we are like the one who was made out of earth, we will be like the one who came from heaven. 50 My friends, I want you to know that our bodies of flesh and blood will decay. This means that they cannot share in God's kingdom, which lasts forever.

Yes, my friends, there is a Resurrection. We have every reason to believe that we will again see those who have preceded us to an earlier grave.

Thanks to the easily read Contemporary English Version translation of the original, undefiled scriptures, I feel that we can rest securely in our knowledge of The Truth.

Lord, help us hold firmly to Your message, sharing our knowledge of You, and Your long-ago recorded scriptural promises, with others who have not yet heard (with understanding) The Good News.

In another Modern Day Apostle Series article, we will look at what is commonly called The Rapture.

~Rubit Increased Awareness Is Decimated In 2006~

Rascal