The Hope of the Resurrection

Here is a question that you are going to need to be able to answer correctly, especially as we move further into the events of the end time: In the first resurrection at the second coming of Jesus, will the faithful who have died be physically raised from the dead in their body that they had on earth, or will only their spirits be raised and be given another body? We know that the righteous who sleep will be glorified with Christ at his coming, and that they will have a body like his in the resurrection: "Who [Jesus] shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself" (Philip. 3:21). The question is, How does this take place? There are actually a number of scripture references throughout the Bible about this subject, but there are two passages that are ultra-definitive and leave absolutely no doubt about the matter. Here is the first one: "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you" (Rom. 8:11). There it is, plain and simple. Our 'mortal bodies' will be quickened, or made alive by the power of God's Spirit when Jesus comes from heaven. The word 'mortal' means 'subject to death.' In this case it is talking about our already dead bodies being brought back to life. That is exactly what the scripture says. It does NOT say our spirit will be quickened, but rather our dead bodies. Our spirit will never die, regardless of where we go after death, and therefore our spirit is not 'mortal.' Our soul and spirit will leave our body when we die, and they will go either to paradise or hell, depending on whether we have died apart from sin or not (Jas. 2:26; Heb. 12:14; I Jn. 3:2,3). We will never cease from a consciousness of being, but we will rather be marvelously comforted in the peace of paradise, or horribly tormented in the flames of hell (Lk. 16: 23-25; Lk. 23:43; Mk. 9:45). Our body however will be without any consciousness at all because the soul and spirit will have left it.

Death is referred to as 'sleep' for the righteous because in reality our soul and spirit will come back to our body at the Lord's coming, and our body will be glorified with the glory of Jesus as we rise to meet him in the air: "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him... 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" (I Thess. 4:14,16,17). Jesus will "bring with him" those that slept because they will be caught up to meet him in the air on his way here. All of this will take place in an instant of time, and that brings me to our second revealing passage on the matter: "Behold, I shew 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: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we [those alive] shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory" (I Cor. 15:51-54). So there it is again, crystal clear. The only thing 'corruptible' about us is our body, because the word 'corruptible' means the same thing as the word 'mortal;' that being 'subject to death.' And again, our soul and spirit is NOT subject to death, and will most certainly continue on somewhere forever. The very word 'death' and the very state of death is totally in reference to our body, because the physical body is going to die and cease to function or to have consciousness.

So in the resurrection it is our physical body, which will be reunited with our soul and spirit, that will "put on incorruption," and "put on immortality." That is how "Death is swallowed up in victory," because death is about the body. The body, regardless of its state, will literally be brought back to life and instantly glorified with the same immortal heavenly substance that makes up Jesus' body. Our body will inherit eternal life like it was supposed to in the beginning. Our fleshly body will be transformed into a spiritual body, but it will still be our same body, only glorified with divine substance. The apostle Paul explained this clearly: "So also is the resurrection of the dead. It [our body] is sown in corruption; it [our body] is raised in incorruption: It [our body] is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body" (I Cor. 15:42-44). Jesus was "the firstfruits" of the resurrection, and we know that he raised in his body (I Cor. 15:23; Lk. 24:39). The scripture tells us also that Jesus is still a man, a God-man howbeit; which means that he still has the body that he had on earth, only glorified (I Tim. 2:5). If he were NOT still a man then he could not represent men as the mediator to God, which he does. The scripture also shows us that Jesus will still have the nail prints in his hands when he comes the second time (Zech. 13:6). So Jesus rose from the dead in his body, and that same body was glorified when he went into the presence of his Father. Likewise we will raise in our body and that same body will be glorified when we see the presence of Jesus coming from heaven. Much more can be said and taken from the scriptures on this topic, but for a post this size this is enough to confirm the point with irrefutable evidence from the Bible. One thing is certain, and that is that NO SCRIPTURE can contradict what has clearly been taken from the Bible in this post. Amen and God bless.