Scripture and Truth

I would like to look at a passage of scripture from Isaiah and put a few other scriptures together with it to show us a very real, and miraculous, and powerful truth. I'll do it one scripture at a time from Isaiah, then put the others with them after each scripture from Isaiah. "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" (Isa. 26:19). "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept... But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming" (I Cor. 15:20,23). "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" (Dan. 12:2). "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" (Jn. 5:28,29). "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" (I Thess. 4:16,17). Now I'll go to the next verse from Isaiah: "Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast" (Isa. 26:20). "So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!" (Job 14:12,13). "The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness" (Isa. 57:1,2). "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 shall be changed" (I Cor. 15:51,52). "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God 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 them which are asleep. 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. 4:14,15-17). "For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain" (Isa. 26:21).

"The mountains saw thee, and they trembled: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high... Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the heathen in anger. Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed" (Hab. 3:10,12,13). "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other... But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be" (Mat. 24:29-31, 36-39). "Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ" (II Thess. 1:6-8). I'm certain that this is enough consistent scriptural evidence to show us that there will be a physical resurrection of the dead in Christ, as well as those who lived righteously before Jesus came. Those who are raised will be raised immortal and incorruptible, and they will meet the Lord in the air on his way to the earth, and therefore will be with him when as he comes. Those who are yet alive and holy in Christ will be instantly changed to immortality, and will be caught up with the dead to meet Jesus in the air; and all of these will reign with him a thousand years on the earth (Rev. 20:6). This "first resurrection" takes place at THE second coming of the Lord Jesus back to this world, and there is no "rapture" in the mix here, certainly not in the Bible. Also this "resurrection of the just" clearly takes place when Jesus comes from heaven to destroy the wicked who have rejected him, as we have seen from the Bible clearly (Lk. 14:14). All of these things take place at once, as we have seen, and the truth of this matter is like every other truth of God when it is seen; it is utterly simplistic. It is the body and soul that sleep, while the spirit goes to paradise in a conscious state of peaceful, glorious existence with all who have died in righteousness and faith before them (Lk. 16:22-25; Lk. 23:42,43; II Cor. 5:6-8). At the Lord's coming the spirit will be instantly reunited with the soul and body, and the body will be glorified with Christ (Rom. 8:17: Philip. 3:21; I Jn. 3:2,3). May God help us to be in that number! Amen.