The resurrection of the dead seems
obvious but look at the complete picture. The resurrection of the dead is an
important doctrine of both the Old and the New Testament.
Job 19:25 For
I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon
the earth: 26 And though after my skin
worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: 27 Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes
shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.
Job says he knows that his Redeemer
is alive and that He will stand on the earth in the last days. How is that for
a prophecy from close to two thousand years before Christ? Job goes on to say
that Job himself will see this redeemer with his own eyes even though, by then
his body will have decomposed into nothing. So, Job here speaks of a
resurrection from death, that he is fully expecting to happen so that he will
physically, not just spiritually, but physically see his Redeemer, who we know
is Christ, the Son of God, or the visible form of God. This is a physical
resurrection of a physical body. Without the resurrection Christianity is just
another religion created by man, a monstrosity of oppression and deceit.
Romans
8:23 And not only they, but ourselves
also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within
ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Isaiah spoke of a resurrection a
thousand years after Job.
Isaiah
26:19 Thy dead men shall live, together
with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for
thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.
And Daniel a few hundred years
after Isaiah.
Daniel
12:2 And many of them that sleep in the
dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and
everlasting contempt.
Ezekiel also spoke of a physical
resurrection although many insist this is metaphorical, simply about the
restoration of Israel. I believe it is, on its literal level, physical
regarding flesh and blood.
Ezekiel
37:1 ¶ The hand of the LORD was upon me,
and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of
the valley which was full of bones, 2
And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very
many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. 3 And he said unto me, Son of man, can these
bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest. 4 Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these
bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. 5 Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones;
Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: 6 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. 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I
prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came
together, bone to his bone. 8 And when I
beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered
them above: but there was no breath in them. 9
Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and
say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath,
and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the
breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an
exceeding great army. 11 Then he said
unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they
say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.
12 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.
13 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, 14 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.
In the record of Paul’s debate with
the religious leaders of his day when he was first arrested the proof of the
belief in the resurrection is evident.
Acts
23:6 But when Paul perceived that the
one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council,
Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and
resurrection of the dead I am called in question…8 For the Sadducees say that there is no
resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both.
Acts
24:15 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…21 Except it
be for this one voice, that I cried standing among them, Touching the
resurrection of the dead I am called in question by you this day.
The Resurrection is the primary
doctrine of Christianity, for without it, saying that Jesus Christ was God
means nothing. Without the Resurrection, belief in the judgment of sin in
eternity is a stupid and vain oppression of the spirit of man. If we die and
cease to exist we have nothing but self-righteousness in this life if we are
religious.
Paul said it like this;
1Corinthians
15:12 ¶ Now if Christ be preached that
he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of
the dead? 13 But if there be no
resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: 14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our
preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. 15
Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified
of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead
rise not. 16 For if the dead rise not,
then is not Christ raised: 17 And if
Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. 18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in
Christ are perished. 19 If in this life
only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
As noted before, in Leon Macbeth’s The Baptist Heritage, early seventeenth
century Baptists held the resurrection of the dead as one of the six
fundamentals of the doctrine of Christ in Hebrews, chapter 6.[1]
It is primarily by belief in
Christ’s resurrection that we are saved from an eternity of destruction and
agony, the natural fate of all mankind.
Romans
10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him
from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation.
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