The Resurrections
Hal Molloy · Jun 1, 2003
Major Bible Themes (2002-03), No. 48
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/48262255543715

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

for those who are visitors. We're going through Dr. Schaeffer's book on major Bible themes, and there's 52 chapters in there, down to chapter 47. We're going to be talking about the resurrection this morning. Next week, we're going to be looking at the judgment of Israel and the nations, and we're going to combine that. We're going to combine chapter 48 with chapter 51, the Great White Throne Judgment. So we're going to be talking about judgments next week in terms of the judgment of the nations in Matthew 24 and the Great White Throne Judgment in Revelation chapter 20. share with you some passages in Scripture, and I thought it would be faster to just put them up on the screen here, as opposed to having you open up your Bibles and turning to each one.

So, here's the question. As we go through these passages on resurrection, I want you to think in your mind as to how these passages relate to each other? And how do these resurrections relate to each other? And how many resurrections are there? So there's lots of questions that come up as you go through these passages.

So as you go into the Old Testament in Daniel chapter 12 verses 1 and 2, it says this, at that time shall Michael stand up the great prince which stands for the children of thy people and there shall be a time of trouble. What time is that? This is Daniel. We talked about Daniel's 70th week. And Daniel, this is a time of trouble. And what period is that? Tribulation period. So there shall be a time of trouble. Tribulation period.

Such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time, and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that should be found written in the book. So, you see, here's a passage when we talked about Israel a couple weeks ago. Here's a passage that says, during this time of trouble, that the nation of Israel is going to be delivered, and this time is yet future.

And many of them, in verse 2, now in Daniel 12, and many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting content. Now notice the difference here. There are those that sleep in the dust, those who are dead, but they're going to be raised. And they're going to be raised either to everlasting life or everlasting content.

Then, as you look at John chapter 5 and verse 25, it says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they shall hear and live. marvel not at this, for the hour is coming in 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, they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation." So again, here's a contrast. Resurrection of life, resurrection of damnation. In Acts 24, 15, "...and have hope towards God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust."

So here you have two groups again, the just and the unjust. goes to resurrection of life, to damnation, to life, to contempt. Just a couple of other passages. Well, this is the first mistake I made this year. Now the question is, What are those passages? Hold on a second while I do my homework. So now you're going to have to turn in your Bibles. Turn to Revelation chapter 20. Look at verse 4. Revelation chapter 20. Look at verse 4.

And I saw thrones, and they that sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them. And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, who had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years." Who are these people in verse 4? Those that were martyred during the tribulation period which just preceded this thousand years, which is the kingdom which is to follow. Look at verse 4 of verse 5.

But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection On such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years." So observe here that there are those that are resurrected just prior to the thousand years, and it says, the rest of the dead live not again until the thousand years were finished.

But look at the end of verse 5. It says, this is the first resurrection. Now, let me just get back to this. I'll come back to this passage. But I just want you to observe that there is the resurrection of the first resurrection, and implied in the passage, even though it doesn't say second, implied there is a second resurrection. But later on as we go down into this passage, These people are raised unto the second death.

It calls it the second death. So the question is this. How do you correlate all of these passages of Scripture? How do you correlate the resurrection of the just, the resurrection of the unjust, the resurrection to eternal life, the resurrection to damnation, the resurrection here in Revelation 20, in terms of before the thousand years and after the thousand years, etc. How do you correlate all that? So the question is, is this the way you correlate it? And this is what is called the amillennial view. And amillennialism is a teaching of eschatology, the doctrine of last things, or the teaching of last things.

Amillennialism simply says this, as the notes indicate, that they believe that there is no millennium. There is no 1,000 year period. We just read this passage talking about 1,000 years. The Amillennialists will say, they spiritualize this passage of scripture. They say 1,000 years really doesn't mean 1,000 years, it just means some time.

So they spiritualize it. So the question is this, is this the view? So can we put all of the references to those passages, like the Amillennials do, say, well, when Christ returns at the end of the world, that this is where the resurrection is going to be. And just so you understand Amillennialism to a small degree here, what they believe is that Israel was the church. The church now is Israel.

And there are two kingdoms that are operating simultaneously or in parallel. And there's God's kingdom and there's Satan's kingdom. God's kingdom is working for good, Satan's kingdom is working for evil. So you have both good and evil working in parallel.

Until the end of the world, Christ returns, there's going to be a general judgment, and there's going to be a general resurrection. And so the just and unjust, those who are raised to life and damnation will be raised. The first and the second resurrection I got second in parentheses because it doesn't call it the second resurrection, but it implies that, that they're going to be raised and there's going to be a general judgment and that's it. So question, is that how we can summarize these passages?

The next system of eschatology is what is called the post-millennial view. Post-millennialism simply says that Christ's return is going to be after the millennium. So what post-millennialism believes is essentially that Israel was the church, and the church today is now Israel.

The working out of God's plan is a little different. In Amillennialism, you saw that there were two kingdoms working in parallel. Kingdom for good, kingdom for evil. Satan's kingdom for evil. In Postmillennialism, you know what I mean. The Great Commission, as talked about in Matthew chapter 28, is working today that that the gospel is being preached throughout the world, and what's going to happen is that the entire world is going to be Christianized at some point in time. And there's going to be a triumph over evil. Good is going to triumph over evil.

Now, do you believe that? See, when the World Wars came along, when World War I came along, The post-millennial people said, OK. And when World War II came along, they said, wow, I don't know. And that doctrine kind of subsided, if you will. But it's still around. Then after this Great Commission, then there will be this millennium. It's an undefined period of time. So the 1,000 years that we read in Revelation is really not 1,000 years. It's some undefined period of time. And during this period of time, there's going to be righteousness and peace on the earth.

And then, at the end of that undefined period of time, the end of the world, and again, same thing with amillennialism, with postmillennialism, there's going to be a general resurrection. And Christ's second coming and a general judgment. So, very similar in terms of in terms of the resurrection. Everybody is going to be resurrected at the same time. So, question, is that the view? Well, this is what we're going to be looking at. We're going to be looking at how do these passages correlate? Do they correlate to the amillennial or the postmillennial view.

And we've looked at two of the views with respect to the theological views on the resurrection, but there's one more view we haven't looked at. And the question, are there distinctions between resurrections? So that when you ask the question, Is there a distinction between the resurrection, say, of Lazarus and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ? Is there a difference between those two resurrections?

So we'll be looking at that in terms of distinctions. And then if those two views that we looked at, the amillennial and the postmillennial view, is not the view and there is another theological view, then is there more than one resurrection? And if there are, what are those future resurrections?

And then finally we'll look at how we can summarize the whole thing. So, let's take a look at past resurrections. we're just going to look at the resurrections that are past. So as we look at the resurrections that are past, first of all, we need to define what does resurrection mean?

Now, I don't have the Greek written up here, but all you Greek students, how would we pronounce this? How do we break this down into syllables? We've got at least a half a dozen Greek students here. Shy Greek students. It's anastasis. Anastasis is the word that's used for resurrection. And simply, literally it means, stasis means stand up, to stand. And ana means up. So it means to cause to stand up.

So it's used as a raising up of the physical body from physical death. So if there was a physical death and someone was raised back to life from physical death, that's called a resurrection. Now, the question is, they were raised up from the dead. and raised to what? Do they go from physical death to life? The question you have to ask is, what kind of life? That's the key in understanding resurrections. What kind of life? So that as you go through Scripture, the widow's son in 1 Kings was raised back to life by Elijah. And then Elisha raised the Shunammite's son. Interesting in terms of the children, all of the children that were raised from the dead.

And then when you get to the New Testament, there was a ruler of the synagogue raised by the Lord Jesus, and the widow's son that was raised by the Lord Jesus, and then Lazarus himself was raised from the dead by the Lord Jesus. And then, immediately after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, then you had all of these believers, all of these saints, come out of the tombs, and they were raised from the dead, and they came out of the tombs.

We don't know how many, but there was a multitude. There was a multitude of saints that were resurrected. Then Peter raised Dorcas and And Paul, as he was preaching one night, to midnight, and there was a young man sitting in the window, and he fell asleep. And he fell asleep, and he fell out the window, and he died. And Paul raised him back from the dead. So these were people that were resurrected. But at the same time, in between here, the Lord Jesus Christ was resurrected. Now the question is, was there a difference between the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and the resurrection of anyone else?

So let's just compare two. Let's take Lazarus and let's take the Lord Jesus Christ, because their resurrections were fairly close. Do you remember when The Lord Jesus came to Mary and Martha, and Mary and Martha were upset because the Lord wasn't there when their brother Lazarus died. And there's this dialogue between them. And the Lord Jesus Christ said, it was good that I wasn't here.

And he proceeds then to raise Lazarus from the dead, and he goes down to the tomb. And it's interesting, it's the only time in scripture where we see that Jesus wept. The question is, why did he weep? I mean, he wept because he was sorrowful for Mary and Martha, and he felt their sorrow, and he wept.

And he went to the tomb, and what did he say? Does everybody remember? What did he say? He said, He didn't say, come forth. But he said, what? Lazarus, come forth. If he would have just said, come forth, guess what would have happened? But he made it specific. Lazarus, come forth. OK. So now Lazarus comes forth. And he comes out of the tomb. What does the Lord Jesus Christ command meant to do with Lazarus. Now, the type of burial that they had in those days was the type that, pardon me?

To unwrap him. In fact, his words are, cut him loose. Right? Cut him loose. The type of burial they had is that they would put alloys and myrrh and all that sort of stuff and then wrap with linen cloth the body. each member and the whole trunk of the body, and it would wrap something almost like a mummy. So Lazarus came forth, you know, like this, and the Lord Jesus said, cut him loose so that he would be loose from the grave clothes.

Now, do you remember when John and Peter ran to the tomb? And John outran Peter. Peter wasn't doing his jogging, but John was. And John got there first, and they looked in. And it's interesting, as you go through that context in John chapter 20, in terms of the words that are used in the Greek, it's hard to see it in English, because it uses the same word, to see. But there's three different words, to see, in the Greek. But on one of those words, to see, in the Greek, when it says, John saw and believed. And the word to see there means to perceive, to understand totally what happened. Because he was looking at the grave clothes, and they were just lying there, untouched, not cut. And they were sunken because the body wasn't there.

How did he get out of those grave clothes? How did Lazarus get out of the grave clothes? Had to be cut out of them, right? How did the Lord Jesus Christ get out of those grave clothes? He had to go through them. He had a different kind of body. He had his First Corinthian called a spiritual body. It was like his physical body, but it was a spiritual body. It was a different kind of body.

And so the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ was a different kind of resurrection. All of these were raised to life, but with a different kind of body. All of these people that were raised, Old Testament, New Testament, those after the resurrection of Christ and Dorcas and the young man. So what I like to call them is restorations. They were restored back from the dead. So they were raised a natural body. They were raised a mortal body to die again. And so they died again. Every one of these people died again.

Now, there are theologians that say, that these people, after Christ's resurrection, that they had the same type of resurrection that Christ had, that they were raised with a spiritual body. Well, a spiritual body is an eternal body. It's eternal, never ever to die again. Christ will never ever die again.

So my question is, where are they? Right? Isn't that a fair question? We don't see them around. If they were raised in the fashion that Christ was raised, they would still be here. Well, then they said, well, they went up to be with the Lord. Well, Scripture never says anything about that. The only Scripture we have is where it talks about Christ ascending up to the Father.

And those people watched him in Acts chapter 1, right? And the angels came along and said, hey, why stand you there gazing? Because the same Lord Jesus that you see going into heaven shall come back in like manner. It didn't say the same Lord Jesus plus all these people from the grave that you see going up.

No, it was only the Lord Jesus Christ that was being taken up. So the question is, If only the Lord Jesus ascended, and that's the only documentation we have, and there's no documentation that these saints ascended, I think the conclusion that you have to come to is that the resurrection of these saints was a restoration, back to physical life, only to die again. So, Christ's resurrection, he's raised a spiritual body, He's raised as an immortal body, never to die again. So, as we look at distinctions, are there distinctions in the resurrection? You betcha. There's a great distinction with respect to the resurrections. What does this say?

How many people have had this resurrection to a spiritual body? Just one. The Lord Jesus Christ is the only one that has been resurrected with respect to a spiritual body, respect to having an immortal body. There's only been one resurrection. So that's past resurrections.

How about the future? So now we come to another view, another theological view, which is called the pre-millennial view. And this is what we believe. We believe that this view is, if you go through Scripture and you take Scripture plainly and literally, that this is the view that ties to Scripture in a literal, plain sense. when you interpret a thousand years as a thousand years. So we interpret this millennium, a millennium means a thousand years, we interpret it. It says a thousand years, we believe it means a thousand years.

Okay, so we didn't look at the passage because I didn't have the slide, but in Hebrews it talks about the better resurrection, and it talks It talks about these widows who had their children raised from the dead, physically raised from the dead. In Hebrews it says, but they looked to a better resurrection. Better than the physical resurrection. They looked to a better resurrection.

Isn't that interesting? And that better resurrection is resurrection like the Lord Jesus Christ. So here's another theological view of the resurrection, and answering the question, what are the future views of the resurrection? So we're going to talk about this better resurrection. Actually, it's going to be resurrections. I mean, there's going to be several, but we could call it the better resurrection and summarize it.

So now I want you to turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 is the resurrection chapter And Paul goes through the whole argument with respect to the resurrection. And look at verse 20. And prior to that, Paul is going through the argument. with respect to the fact that there is a resurrection. Because there are many people that didn't believe that there was a resurrection.

And Paul laid the foundation that there is a resurrection from the dead. And so in verse 20, it says, But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by many come death, for since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

But every man in his own order, Christ the first fruit, afterward they that are Christ's that is coming." Okay, notice that. That Christ is the first fruit, and they that are Christ's that is coming. Who are Christ's? When it says, they that are Christ's, who is that talking about? The church is talking about the believers since the day of Pentecost, when the church was formed. They that are in Christ, they that are believers in Christ, they that are part of this church age.

So it looks at the resurrection as a harvest, and you have all of the harvest, and you have what is called the first fruit of the harvest, the first ripen of an entire crop. So it looks at the resurrection as an entire crop, but there are some fruits of a crop that ripen first. So Christ is the first fruit, and then we who belong to him at his coming. Then as you go through the passage in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, and we've gone through this in our previous studies with respect to Christ coming with the saints, that Christ descends, and there's a shout, a trump, an archangel, and the dead in Christ rise.

And those who are alive are going to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and those who are dead are going to be resurrected and meet the Lord in the air. And those who are alive, it says, are not going to precede those who are dead, who are resurrected. So that when Christ comes for his saints at that time, the church is resurrected. And the dead in Christ shall rise.

Those who are alive here on earth shall be translated, shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, they shall be changed, as it says in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 51, says that they are changed in a moment and in the twinkling of an eye, in the smallest amount of time as Roger went through that passage. So here is the Christ as a first fruit, and we at his coming. So that's part of the better resurrection. Then, as you go into Revelation, and we're talking about the Great Tribulation, and there's these two witnesses through the first half of the Tribulation, and they have power over the earth to stop the rain, and et cetera.

God gives these two witnesses tremendous power. And the world hates these two witnesses, and they try to kill them, and they can't. And anyone who tries to kill these two witnesses are killed. And so you can imagine the hatred that the world has for these two witnesses. And then the inner Christ comes on the scene, and he is the only one that can slay these two witnesses. And he does. He slays these two witnesses, and the world is so happy. We're talking about one big party. one big celebration around the entire world. And it will be on every TV screen. It will be on the internet. It'll be everywhere.

And they'll take pictures of these two witnesses laying in the streets of Jerusalem for three and a half days. And they're celebrating. The celebration stops like that. Because God raises these two witnesses from the dead. He resurrects them. And the whole world is stunned. And God takes them up.

And then, if you will, the trouble starts. The great tribulation, the tribulation, the great one, the scripture says, this last three and a half, excuse me, this last three and a half years of the Tribulation period is really, and we went through all the judgments, and we saw all the sealed judgments, and the trumpet judgments, and the bull judgments, and they intensify during this last half of the Tribulation. And there's 144,000 witnesses, remember, during this Tribulation period that are witnessing and proclaiming the Gospel. And there are many that come to believe. And because they believe, they are martyred.

There are many that are killed. And so the passage that we just read in Revelation 20, verses 4 through 6, let's go back to it. Because here it comes. I just want you to see the big picture here. When we talk about the better resurrection, we're talking about we're talking about five groups of people that are being resurrected, Christ the first fruit, the church at his coming, then the two witnesses is number three, number four, and we don't know which is four or five, but number four is the Tribulation Saints, number five is the Old Testament Saints. So we have five different individual resurrections, five different groups of people, I'll put it that way, as part of this better resurrection. So Revelation chapter 20.

So in verse 4, those who were martyred are going to rule and reign with Christ How are they going to rule and reign with him? What has to happen? Because during this tribulation period, they're going to be martyred. But they're going to rule and reign with Christ. So what needs to happen? They need to be resurrected.

So in verse 5, it says, but the rest of the dead, not until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. So here's my question. When it says, this is the first resurrection, is it talking about those that lived not until the thousand years were finished? In other words, is it, it says, but the rest of the dead, So it's not about these tribulation saints ruling and reigning with Christ, being raised, ruling and reigning with Christ. It's not to say, but the rest are dead, live not till the thousand years were finished. And then there's a statement, this is the first resurrection. Does that statement, this is the first resurrection, apply to this final resurrection? Or does it apply to the resurrected saints? from just one verse of scripture, what does it look like?

Pardon me? Right. Right. So the rest of the dead, so the rest of the dead live not, verse finished, and it says, this is the first resurrection. It appears that this is the first resurrection of Christ, doesn't it? I mean, as you read it, it kind of looks that way. It's Greek. Okay. You don't need the Greek. Now, look at verse 6. Look at verse 6. Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection. Look at that statement. What would that, who would that apply to? It would apply to the, you would think that it would apply to these right here, right?

Because as we go on into this passage of scripture, this final resurrection is eternal death. Okay, and the rest is, and so it makes, so the scripture And this first resurrection has these tribulation saints. Blessed in that has part in the first resurrection, on such there's no power. And this resurrection here is a resurrection to the second death or ethic.

Okay, that's a good question. Good question. Will people, will righteous people in the millennium? Help me in that question. Here's about all we know in terms of what scripture says. We know that this is going to be a peace, prosperity, and longevity of a long life. And there's a passage which talks about the kingdom period, where it says, again, if he dies at a hundred years old, he's young. I don't know much about this period of time, but it does appear that people will die. The physical laws are still going to apply. People are going to be in accidents. People will die. But people will probably live like back before the flood.

900 years, 1,000, never lived 1,000 years, but pretty close. But it appears that it will be longevity. Okay, so let's look at the rest of verse six. that has part in the first resurrection has no power but, look what it says, but shall be a priest of God and of Christ and shall be a Christian for how long? A thousand years.

These are the people that are part of the first resurrection, right? They shall be a Christian for a thousand years. So, it cannot be a statement that says this is the first resurrection is not talking about these people right here, right? Because it's talking about these, blessed are they that are in the first resurrection, they shall rule and reign with him. Okay. Any questions on this so far? Why did we wait here? Oh, first of all, let me see if I understand the question. Number one, the rapture is not a resurrection. It's a change of life. The physical body is not dead. It's not dead. It's formed. It changes form.

Right? Okay. So, Craig, your question is... In fact, you can call this whole thing the first resurrection. Do I have it? I don't. Yeah, I think you can list the First Resurrection. See what Craig's question is? Yeah, Better Resurrection, the subtitle, the First Resurrection. Good point. Okay, how do we summarize it?

Just to, as you take a look at resurrection, from the very first to the very last resurrection, just raising a physical dead to life. The question you have to ask is what kind of, so all of these people that were, except for the Lord Jesus Christ, prior to the cross, post, were restored back to life. So they were physically dead, they were raised to a previous state, I'm just looking at the wording, maybe I should have said physical dead, raised to, previous state of decay, okay, they were raised, and their bodies kept on decaying, and they died again, and they died. then resurrection, or we can call it, okay, with the physical that are raised with, and as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, that it's a natural body, it's a raised body, it's so incorruptible, it's raised, you have the description of the body of the better resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15. So it's an incorruptible body, it's eternal. So the better resurrection. the last resurrection where all of the unbelievers from the beginning of time to the end of time, the beginning of the world to the end of the world, that physically dead, are put there to not trust in faith. Old Testament saints at the cross, we look, but salvation comes only through the Lord Jesus Christ and the belief in His person and His work.

So all of those who did not put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, those who didn't look forward to the cross and believe what God said today, who can look back to the cross and don't believe that Jesus Christ died for their sins, those people will be raised at the end of the world at the last resurrection, as you read in the Great White Throne Judgment, will be judged in the Book of Mormon. The judgment is the same. Now, what I didn't have time to do, the resurrection, in terms of what does it mean personally to you and to me? What are the implications of the end?

I knew I wouldn't. But Vern is going to be taken off sometime here in June. And I think what I'll do is at the 10 o'clock service, present that part of it today. So tune in sometime in June. Yes, Emory. Correct. Correct. Okay. Going in, all there are, and we'll see this next week, all there are, and however they have children, And we know at the end of this Millennial Kingdom, there are a lot of unbelievers who fought seasonally for a season. Okay.

So, this is about Sinead. Those that are born in the Millennial Kingdom, if they choose to die, would they have to be forgiven? Okay, a believer who is sick, a believer who dies... Okay, that's an excellent question and say anything. So, I think you can... It could die during the millennial kingdom. I think we can assume that the physical laws are not going to change, in a sense.

People are going to die. Believers, I don't think a lot will, but they will. And the question is, when is their resurrection? And then, because Scripture doesn't say, you could then also assume that they don't never again, but those believers who come through the millennia of kingdom, what happened to these people? They have a family, right? They come back. And what? Translated? We don't know. Scripture. That is how they're going to... Mystery resurrection. Mystery resurrection. Okay, let's close this.

Again, Father, we are thankful for your... You revealed to us a glorious plan. God, Father God, that to us through your word, Jesus, and knowing, Father, that of your purpose and plan is the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you, Father, for him. We thank you that we will be part of this better resurrection, that our bodies will be changed and will be just like his, and that we'll be spending eternity face-to-face with you. But we thank you, Father, even right now, that we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies that you have seated us with Christ right now in the heavenlies, and we can have that fellowship with Him. And we thank you, Father, for it. In Christ's name, amen.