The Resurrection of the Dead

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The first rule of Bible study is to always let the Bible interpret the Bible. Keep the truths that it contains simple and the hollow—and invariably shallow and silly—ideas of men will fall like a house of cards.

Here is why the dead have no knowledge or remembrance of God.

Jesus said, “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which ALL that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [Greek: judgment]” (John 5:28-29).

Christ understood that most would find this astonishing. That is why He told the disciples to “Marvel not at this”—He understood that most people would marvel at the thought that everyone who has ever lived is now “in the grave,” awaiting the resurrection! You should not marvel at the words of Christ either. Accept them! He said that “all” are in the grave, not “some.”

There are no conscious thoughts and no remembrance of God after death because everyone who has ever died is now awaiting one of the resurrections Christ referred to. All people will be resurrected, either to eternal life or to judgment. This is what God’s Word says. No wonder David said, “As for me, I will behold Your face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I AWAKE, with Your likeness” (Ps. 17:15). He understood that the resurrection was an awakening back to life.

We saw that, like David, Job also looked forward to the resurrection of life. But this time notice the verses surrounding his earlier-referenced question: “O that you would hide me in the grave, that you would keep me secret, until your wrath be past [the coming Day of the Lord, or Day of God’s Wrath], that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me! If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. You shall call, and I will answer You” (Job 14:13-15).

Job did not ask that God would only hide his body in the grave. He asked God to “hide me … keep me … appoint me … remember me.” He also recognized that God would keep him “secret.” Ask yourself how this fits with being in heaven or hell. If so, God would be pretty poor at keeping secrets and the rest of the verse would make no sense. And why would God need to “remember” Job if he were scheduled to go straight to heaven at death, or if salvation was to occur immediately at death? Both (God and Job) knew he would await the resurrection for thousands of years.

Now look at Job’s question—“if a man die, shall he live again?” If Job was going to still be alive at death, how could he “live again”? Job knew that he would be “waiting … in the grave” for his resurrection at an “appointed time,” when he would be “changed.” He knew that living again was equivalent to being born again.

But what did it mean that he would be changed?

We saw that Paul wrote of the “change” that awaits all true Christians. Read again 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, 54: “Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump … the dead shall be raised.… and this mortal shall have put on immortality, THEN [not yet] shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, DEATH is swallowed up in victory.” I repeat, it is certainly an almost complete mystery to the world that there is coming an awakening and a change at the resurrection.

And again, we must also ask, how can one go from “mortal” to “immortal” if he already has an immortal soul? This idea is also a mystery—but, unlike the mysteries of God, it is one of the “mysteries” devised by men that cannot be understood or solved, because it makes no sense.

Do you see the silly logic of men when they ignore plain scriptures?

Just as Job understood that he would be “changed,” and David understood that he would “awake,” Paul understood that Christians will be “changed”—will awaken from “sleep”—once the resurrection has come. At the resurrection, people will literally awaken from death. Ask yourself: how can people be resurrected if they are already alive as immortal souls? Only the dead, like Christ from the tomb, need to be brought back to life. That is the purpose of a resurrection. Do not be fooled by deceivers who say, “The resurrection only applies to the body, since the soul has remained alive”! You have already seen numerous scriptures disproving that fallacy.

Upon the most basic examination, the ideas of intelligent men are often exposed as outright foolishness. Men invented the popular concept of hell as a means of scaring people into following the false religions that they have created. The true God would never roast people for all eternity—not allowing them to burn up, to mercifully end their suffering. This is what a monster would do. But then, humanly-devised, fictional gods will “do” and “teach” whatever their human “designers” have decided for them.

Billions have lived and died without ever knowing the name of Jesus Christ and without ever having had an opportunity for salvation. If the unsaved, upon death, go directly to hell, then over half the people who have ever lived are still alive there!

Since no human has ever returned from the dead to offer a firsthand report—of course, silly stories and fabrications in tabloids abound—we must either choose to believe the ideas of men or search the scriptures for what God reveals about this subject.

Three Resurrections

Remember that “all that are in the grave” will eventually be resurrected. Actually, the Bible teaches that God’s plan includes THREE separate resurrections. Revelation 20:1-15 describes each. We have already discussed the FIRST resurrection. Rev 20:4 explains that the saints shall reign on Earth with Christ for 1,000 years after Satan has been bound (Rev. 20:1-2). We will further discuss the first resurrection later, but Rev 20:5 explains that “the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.”

At the end of the 1,000 years will come the SECOND resurrection. This will include the billions of people, from the time of Adam, who never had an opportunity to know the truth. Now continue in Revelation 20:1-25 with what we read earlier: “And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged … according to their works” (Rev. 20:11-12).

The book of Ezekiel contains a fascinating chapter describing, in vision, a valley of dry bones. Nearly every Sunday school child sings about the bones described in this vision, yet with no understanding. Take time to read the 37th chapter in its entirety. It depicts the millions who have been part of the physical nation of ancient and modern Israel (all 12 tribes, not just the Jews) being given the opportunity for the spiritual salvation that God never offered them in the Old Testament.

Rev 20:11 describes them as “without hope.” Ezekiel was instructed to speak to this vast pile of disconnected dry bones. Notice: “Thus says … 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” (Ezek. 37:12). Here, millions are described as being resurrected from their “graves.” It is obvious that the resurrection that this is describing is physical, back to a flesh-and-blood existence. Notice what happens next.

Ezekiel continued to speak to the bones: “Thus says the Lord GOD unto these bones … I will cause breath to enter into you, and you 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 you shall live” (Ezek. 37:5-6). Eze 37:13-14 add, “And you shall know [not yet] 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 you shall live, and I shall place you in your own land …” (Ezek. 37:13-14).

When will Israel know what has happened? At the resurrection! Only then will Israel “know” that God has taken them from the grave. They are part of the billions who will come up in the second resurrection. This is the period referred to as the Great White Throne Judgment (Rev. 20:11), and it is the time when all human beings will be shown the truth. God will “put [His] Spirit in [them].” Most people will grow, overcome, and qualify to receive salvation and join all those who preceded them in the first resurrection.

On a side note, I have counselled several people who were considering suicide. All who are tempted to take this easy way out, thinking that it will end all their suffering and sorrows, should consider the following: When people die, they do not know anything. There is no awareness of the passing of time, whether of days or centuries. In effect, they will reawaken immediately—having no awareness of the passing of time—and find that they still have all of their old troubles, and have added to themselves the guilt of self-murder! Suicide, then, does not make things better. It makes them much worse, and, in a sense, immediately so!

There is one final, or THIRD, resurrection. We referred to it when we read Malachi 4:1-3 and Obadiah 16. Revelation 20:14-15 describes those who are resurrected and shown what they missed out on in God’s kingdom, before being cast into a vast lake of fire: “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

2 Peter 3:10-12 also describes the time when the wicked are burned up and fulfil Malachi 4, becoming “ashes under the soles of the feet of the righteous.”

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