The apostle Paul preached about the resurrection when he was in Athens:

Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there. Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, What does this babbler want to say? Others said, He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods, because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection. And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean. For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing. Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: . . . Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead. And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, We will hear you again on this matter. So Paul departed from among them .(Acts 17:16-23, 30-33)

In defending himself before the Sanhedrin after his arrest in the Temple (Acts 21:23-22:30), Paul uses the truth of the future resurrection to sow confusion among his accusers:

But when Paul perceived that 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; concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I am being judged! And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees; and the assembly was divided. For Sadducees say that there is no resurrection--and no angel or spirit; but the Pharisees confess both (Acts 23:6-8)

The resurrection offers us the hope of eternal life (Titus 1:1-2; 1 Corinthians 15:50-55). This hope should give us comfort as we endure the trials of this life. In writing the Thessalonians, Paul tells them to comfort one another with the knowledge of the future resurrection (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

After his appearance before the Sanhedrin, Paul latter appears before the Roman governor Felix (Acts 24:1-22). He again talks about the resurrection:

But this I confess to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets. I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. . . . Or else let those who are here themselves say if they found any wrong doing in me while I stood before the council, unless it is for this one statement which I cried out, standing among them, Concerning the resurrection of the dead I am being judged by you this day. (Acts 24:14-15, 20-21)

Paul spoke of the " resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust." We have already seen that the “resurrection of the just” (Luke 14:14) is referring to the those raised from the dead at the second coming of Jesus. The resurrection of the unjust is the same thing as the “resurrection of condemnation” (John 5:29) and is outside the limits of this study.

Some two years latter, Paul in defending himself before King Agrippa (Acts 24:25-27; 25:13-32), again speaks of the fact that God will resurrected the dead:

And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers. To this promise our twelve tribes, earnestly serving God night and day, hope to attain. For this hope's sake, King Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews. Why should it be thought incredible by you that God raises the dead ?(Acts 26:6-8)

Future Glory And Redemption

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance .(Romans 8:18-25)

Paul is encouraging the Roman Christians not to focus on the trails and problems of this life, but to focus on the future “glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). He further encourages them to eagerly wait for the redemption of their bodies (verse 23). This redemption happens at the resurrection when the physical body changes to a glories spiritual body:

But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body. All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, 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. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body .(1 Corinthians 15:38-44)

A House Not Made With Hands

For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord .(2 Corinthians 5:1-8)

Paul is comparing this physical life to an earthly house or tent. He contrasts this mortal life, with the habitation, house or tent which is from heaven. This mortal habitation is swallowed up by one giving life. The life Paul is referring to is the immortal life which Christians receive at the time of the resurrection. These verses sound similar to what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:

Behold, I tell 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 trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory .(1 Corinthians 15:51-54)

While still in this physical body, Christians are in a sense absent from being in the real presence of the Lord. When Christians become absent from the body at the time of the resurrection, they will be present with Lord. When their physical bodies change into spiritual bodies (1 Corinthians 15:38-54), they “shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

The Resurrection As Motivation For Good Behavior

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore He says: Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil .(Ephesians 5:8-16)

Because of the future resurrection Christians should be careful how they live their lives.

Attaining To The Resurrection From The Dead

Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus .(Philippians 3:8-14)

Paul is saying we have a part to play in attaining the resurrection. As we know from Luke 20:35, the resurrection is something we have to be counted worthy to receive. In Philippians 3:11-12 Paul equates attaining the resurrection with attaining perfection. When resurrected with spirit bodies, we will be “just men made perfect” (Hebrews 12:23). Our lowly bodies will conform to Jesus’ glorious body (Philippians 3:21).

False Teachings About The Resurrection

And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort, who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some (2 Timothy 2:17-18).

During the first century there were some in the Church who did not understand the fundamental doctrine of the resurrection of the dead (Hebrews 5:12-6:2). Paul writes to Timothy about two men who were teaching that “the resurrection is already past.” Paul had written earlier in 1 Corinthians 15:12 about some in Corinth who were saying that there was “no resurrection of the dead.”

The First Resurrection In The Old Testament

We have examined in great detail what the New Testament has to teach about the First Resurrection. We will now see what the Old Testament teaches us about this subject. The Old Testament does not provide as much detail about the resurrection of the righteous as the New Testament, but it still gives us a reasonable amount of information.

If A Man Dies, Shall He Live Again?

But man dies and is laid away; Indeed he breathes his last And where is he? As water disappears from the sea, And a river becomes parched and dries up, So man lies down and does not rise. Till the heavens are no more, They will not awake Nor be roused from their sleep. Oh, that You would hide me in the grave, That You would conceal me until Your wrath is past, That You would appoint me a set time, and remember me! If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, Till my change comes. You shall call, and I will answer You; You shall desire the work of Your hands .(Job 14:10-15)

Job understood there would be a future resurrection of the dead. That there would be some point in the future when God would bring the dead back to life. From the context of the what Job is saying, he is speaking of his own resurrection. As a righteous man (Job 1:8; 2:3; Ezekiel 14:14, 20), Job would be in the First Resurrection.

Job knew that the dead were unconscious and would “not awake nor be roused from their sleep” until “the heavens are no more” (verses 10-12). In His Olivet prophecy Jesus speaks about a time when the “heavens are no more,” although He uses different words to express this idea:

Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other .(Matthew 24:29-31)

After the stars fall from heaven and the darkening of the sun and moon, Jesus will return to earth and resurrect the righteous (Matthew 24:29-31: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17). This will be the “set time” when God will “remember” Job (Job 14:13).

Job asked the questions “if a man dies, shall he live again?” He answers his own question by saying “All the days of my hard service I will wait, Till my change comes. You shall call, and I will answer You; You shall desire the work of Your hands” (verses 14-15). Jesus said:

“Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. . . . Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth--those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation” (John 5:25, 28-29).

Jesus will call Job to come forth “to the resurrection of life.”

When Jesus calls Job from the grave, Job will come out of the grave changed from a physical body to a spiritual body. The apostles Paul describes this future body:

But someone will say, How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come? Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain--perhaps wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body. . . . So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, 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. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam became a living being. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell 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 trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory .(1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-54)

I Shall See God

For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! If you should say, How shall we persecute him? --Since the root of the matter is found in me, Be afraid of the sword for yourselves; For wrath brings the punishment of the sword, That you may know there is a judgment .(Job 19:25-29)

The following translations give a clearer understanding of these verses.

New Revised Standard Version
For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in [or “without” margin] my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me! If you say, How we will persecute him! and, The root of the matter is found in him; be afraid of the sword, for wrath brings the punishment of the sword, so that you may know there is a judgment. .(Job 19:25-29)

American Standard Version
But as for me I know that my Redeemer liveth, And at last he will stand up upon the earth: And after my skin, even this body, is destroyed, Then without my flesh shall I see God; Whom I, even I, shall see, on my side, And mine eyes shall behold, and not as a stranger. My heart is consumed within me. If ye say, How we will persecute him! And that the root of the matter is found in me; Be ye afraid of the sword: For wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, That ye may know there is a judgment. (Job 19:25-29)

Job eagerly awaits the time “at the last” (New Revised Standard Version) when his Redeemer will stand upon the earth (Job 19:25). He knows that at some point after he dies, when his flesh or skin decomposes, he will see God. He yearns for this future event (verse 26-27). The New King James Version translates verse 26 as: “And after my skin is destroyed, this I know That in my flesh I shall see God.” This gives the impression that after Job dies, and his flesh decays, there will come a point when he will again have a fleshly body, and be able to see God. If these verse are referring to the First Resurrection, then there appears to be a problem. As we saw in 1 Corinthians 15:35-54, in the resurrection, the dead receive a spiritual body not a physical body.

When we examine some other translations of verse 26, this problem disappears. The marginal rendering of this verse in the New Revised Standard Version states: “and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then without my flesh I shall see God.” It acknowledges the possible translation of the English word “in” in verse 26, as “without.” Some other translations such as the New International Version have similar readings in their margins. The American Standard Version translates verse 26 as: “And after my skin, even this body, is destroyed, Then without my flesh shall I see God.” Job, without his fleshly body, but with a spiritual body will one day live again and see God.

When I Awake In Your Likeness

As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness .(Psalm 17:15)

In the Bible sleep can be a metaphor for death (Psalm 13:3; John 11:11-14; 1 Corinthians 15:18, 20; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-16), and waking up a metaphor for the resurrection of the dead (Isaiah 26:19; Daniel 12:2; John 11:38-44). David eagerly awaits the time when he awakes from death having the likeness of God, and looks upon a glorified God. The apostle John writes about a similar time:

“Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed [Jesus’ second coming], we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2).

The apostle Paul also writes about the same future event:

“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself” (Philippians 3:20-21).

It is important to remember that Jesus is also God (John 1:1-3, 14).

God Will Redeem My Soul From The Power Of The Grave

This is the way of those who are foolish, And of their posterity who approve their sayings. Selah Like sheep they are laid in the grave; Death shall feed on them; The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; And their beauty shall be consumed in the grave, far from their dwelling. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, For He shall receive me. Selah .(Psalm 49:13-15)

The Psalmist looks forward to God redeeming him from the power of the grave. God encourages Christians to look forward to their future glory (Romans 8:18), and the redemption of their bodies (verse 23). This redemption happens at the resurrection when the physical body becomes a glories spiritual body:

So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, 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. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body .(1 Corinthians 15:42-44)

Your Dead Shall Live

Your dead shall live; Together with my dead body they shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust; For your dew is like the dew of herbs, And the earth shall cast out the dead .(Isaiah 26:19)

The following translations provide a clearer understanding of this verse.

The New International Version
But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead .(Isaiah 26:19)

The New Revised Standard Version
Your dead shall live, their corpses shall rise. O dwellers in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a radiant dew, and the earth will give birth to those long dead.(Isaiah 26:19)

Isaiah 26:19 tells us that the dead will live again. Their bodies will rise from the dust, the grave, with shouts or songs of joy.

The Resurrection Of King David

The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, Thus speaks the LORD God of Israel, saying: Write in a book for yourself all the words that I have spoken to you. For behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that I will bring back from captivity My people Israel and Judah, says the LORD. And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it. Now these are the words that the LORD spoke concerning Israel and Judah. For thus says the LORD: We have heard a voice of trembling, Of fear, and not of peace. Ask now, and see, Whether a man is ever in labor with child? So why do I see every man with his hands on his loins Like a woman in labor, And all faces turned pale? Alas! For that day is great, So that none is like it; And it is the time of Jacob's trouble, But he shall be saved out of it. For it shall come to pass in that day, Says the LORD of hosts, That I will break his yoke from your neck, And will burst your bonds; Foreigners shall no more enslave them. But they shall serve the LORD their God, And David their king, Whom I will raise up for them .(Jeremiah 30:1-9)

During the end time, God punishes the House of Israel and the House of Judah by sending them into national captivity (Jeremiah 30:1-11; Ezekiel 5:1-17). In Ezekiel 5, Jerusalem is a type of all Israel (Ezekiel 4:1-8). The second coming of Jesus Christ and the resurrection of the dead will happen at the blowing of seventh or last trumpet (Revelation 11:15-18; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-16; Matthew 24:30-31: 1 Corinthians 15:50-53). When this “great trumpet [is] blown” those Israelites who have survived are brought out of captivity by Jesus and return to the land of Israel (Isaiah 27:12-13; 11:10-16; 10:20-23). This will be like a Second Exodus. In the future, when thinking of the Exodus, we will first think of this one, not the one lead by Moses (Jeremiah 16:14-15; 23:3-8).

When the Children of Israel return to the land, Jesus will be their King (Luke 1:30-33; Jeremiah 23:5-8; 33:14-17). But, under Jesus there will be another king ruling over Israel and that will be the resurrected King David. God says that when He brings “back from captivity [His] people Israel and Judah,” and causes “them to return to the land that [He] gave to their fathers” that “they shall serve the LORD their God, And David their king, Whom [He] will raise up for them” (Jeremiah 30:3, 9). Since David’s death around 960 B.C. (Unger’s Bible Dictionary) he has been waiting his resurrection from the dead. As we have already seen the dead are not conscious, but are "sleeping," waiting to be raised at the return of Jesus Christ.

There are other scriptures in the Old Testament prophets which speak of the future rulership of David as king and prince over the Houses of Israel and Judah. The time frame of these prophesies is after the second coming of Jesus, in the period known as the Millennium. In order for David to again reign as a king over Israel, he must be resurrected from the dead:

Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you--The sure mercies of David. Indeed I have given him as a witness to the people, A leader and commander for the people. Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, And nations who do not know you shall run to you, Because of the LORD your God, And the Holy One of Israel; For He has glorified you .(Isaiah 55:1-5)

Therefore thus says the Lord GOD to them: Behold, I Myself will judge between the fat and the lean sheep. Because you have pushed with side and shoulder, butted all the weak ones with your horns, and scattered them abroad, therefore I will save My flock, and they shall no longer be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep. I will establish one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them--My servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the LORD, will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them; I, the LORD, have spoken .(Ezekiel 34:20-24)

Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, As for you, son of man, take a stick for yourself and write on it: For Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions. Then take another stick and write on it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, his companions. Then join them one to another for yourself into one stick, and they will become one in your hand. And when the children of your people speak to you, saying, Will you not show us what you mean by these? -- say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Surely I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will join them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand. And the sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes. Then say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again. They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. Then they shall be My people, and I will be their God. David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them. Then they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant, where your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell there, they, their children, and their children's children, forever; and My servant David shall be their prince forever .(Ezekiel 37:15-25)

For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim. Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They shall fear the LORD and His goodness in the latter days .(Hosea 3:4-5)

Awake To Everlasting Life

At that time Michael shall stand up, The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; And there shall be a time of trouble, Such as never was since there was a nation, Even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, Every one who is found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever .(Daniel 12:1-3)

There will come a time in the future when the dead, “those who sleep in the dust of the earth,” awake from their sleep of death. Some of those resurrected will receive everlasting life. Others will receive “shame and everlasting contempt.” This sounds very similar to Jesus’ statement in John 5:28-29:

“Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth--those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.”

Awaking to “everlasting life” is a reference to the First Resurrection. Those in this resurrection cannot die again because they have immortality (Luke 20:34-36; 1 Corinthians 15:52-55). Like those in the “resurrection of condemnation,” those who awake to “shame and everlasting contempt” are not the dead in Christ and are beyond the limits of this study.

Those who awake to everlasting life are the wise who “shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever” (Daniel 12:3). The apostle describes the First Resurrection is similar terms:

But someone will say, How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come? Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain--perhaps wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body. All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, 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. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body .(1 Corinthians 15:35-44)

The Gospel of Matthew also deals with the theme of the resurrected righteous shining like the stars of heaven. In explaining the meaning of the “Parable of the Tares” (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43), Jesus gives a description of the end of the age when the wicked, separated from the righteous are “burned in the fire”(verse 40). Jesus then says the righteous who the angles have gathered into his barn (verse 30) “will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (verse 43). This gathering of the righteous into Jesus’ barn by angels, is similar to what Jesus said in Matthew 24:31:

“And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

You Will Rise To Your Inheritance

But you, go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days .(Daniel 12:13)

In this final verse of the Book of Daniel, Daniel learns that he will die (rest), but at the “end of days” he will rise from the dead and receive an inheritance. In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul writes that it is at the time of the resurrection when one inherits the Kingdom of God:

Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell 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 trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. (1 Corinthians 15:50-53)

Ransomed From The Power Of The Grave

I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. O Death, I will be your plagues! O Grave, I will be your destruction! Pity is hidden from My eyes. (Hosea 13:14)

Hosea writes of a time when the dead are ransomed from the “power of the grave,” and redeemed from death. He is clearly speaking of a future resurrection. The apostle Paul uses this verse to support his teachings on the resurrection record in 1 Corinthians 15:51-55:

Behold, I tell 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 trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?

"O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?" (1 Corinthians 15:55) appears to be based on the Septuagint translation of Hosea 13:14: “Where is thy punishment, O Death? Where is thy sting, O Hades?” (This translation comes from Old Testament Quotations in the New Testament by Robert G. Bratcher, The United Bible Society, Third Revised Edition, 1984, page 51).

Conclusion

In our study of the fundamental doctrine of the resurrection, specifically the resurrection of the dead in Christ, we have seen that this resurrection will occur at Jesus’ second coming. At that time deceased Christians will rise from the dead with new spiritual bodies, the bodies of those Christians still living change from physical to spiritual. We saw what Jesus taught about this coming resurrection, and how important this resurrection was to the message preached by the New Testament Church. Finally, we examined what the Old Testament had to teach us about the coming resurrection.

Written by: Calvin Lashway