In our last article, we proved that Jesus made a promise that he would return in that generation.
Matthew 24:34 “Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.”
We proved that Jesus was not lying, making a guess, or misunderstood by the disciples, and made an oath that he would return within that generation and without delay. The only sensible conclusion is that Jesus was telling the truth. He promised to return in their generation and lifetimes.
But according to Jesus’s disciples, Jesus did not promise to only return on the clouds, he promised to resurrect and judge the living and the dead. In the words of Jesus:
Matthew 16:27-28 For, the Son of Man is about to come in the glory of his Father, with his messengers, and then he will reward each, according to his work. Verily I say to you, there are certain of those standing here who shall not taste of death till they may see the Son of Man coming in his reign.
John 6:40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
Jesus’s promise to “reward each according to his work” and “raise him up on the last day” was interpreted by the disciples to promise that the dead and living would be resurrected and judged according to their deeds when Jesus returned. Paul writing under the inspiration of Holy Spirit (Galatians 1:11-12) says as much:
2 Timothy 4:1 I do fully testify, then, before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who is about to judge living and dead at his manifestation and his reign
1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
1 Corinthians 15:23 But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back.
Acts 24:15 having a hope in God, which they themselves also await, that there is about to be a resurrection, both of the just and of the unjust.
Peter, also writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit teaches the same:
1 Peter 4:4-7 With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; 5 but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. 7 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.
According to Peter both the living and the dead were about to be judged. When reading between the lines, we can understand that this judgement implies the resurrection of the dead would happen at the time of the judgement. The resurrection and the great judgement were inseperable events. How could the dead be judged if they were not first raised?
However, accepting that the dead were raised in that generation has proved to be a challenge for many honest readers of the Bible. While some of us may look at Josephus and Tacitus’s statements of angelic armies being seen on the clouds in 66AD we have a harder time accepting the idea that the dead were resurrected. Do we have any historical accounts of the dead being raised? If they were resurrected into immortal bodies, wouldn’t this mean we have 2000 year old people roaming around the earth today?
If Jesus promised to resurrect the dead in that generation and didn’t do so then he would be open to the charge of giving a false prophecy which would destroy his qualification for being the Messiah (Isaiah 53:9, Deuteronomy 18:22). It is important for us to give a closer look at this prophecy and ensure we have understood it correctly so we do not hastily misjudge Jesus.
How could the Resurrection have happened?
We have assumed the Bible teaches that physical bodies will come out of the ground and dwell on earth forever. However, what if the resurrection can be understood differently? What if instead of fleshly bodies coming out of their graves to live a new immortal life on earth, it was spirits resurrecting from the lower earthly realm of Sheol or Hades to a new life in Heaven with new immortal spiritual bodies? There are many scriptures that lend themselves to this view.
Were we meant to live on earth forever?
Did God intend us to dwell on earth forever after the resurrection? Many scriptures suggest our final dwelling place is in heaven not earth. Jesus built our homes in heaven, he placed our inheritance in heaven, and he made our citizenship in heaven:
John 14:2-3 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
Where did Jesus intend to take us when he returned? To his Father’s house. Is that on earth? Clearly it’s not earth as he will be leaving earth to go prepare the place and return to earth to fetch us.
Philippians 3:20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ
Our citizenship is heaven, not a new earth.
2 Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
Jesus describes making a house for us in his Father’s House. The above verse tells us that house is waiting for us in the Heavens. And it’s not a temporary house that will keep us until the new earth arrives, it’s an “eternal” house.
1 Peter 1:4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you
Our inheritance is waiting for us in heaven, not the new earth.
John 17:14 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
We are not associated with this world, we are of heaven and that’s ultimately where God plans for us to be. This challenges the idea that in the resurrection we will all be walking around earth forever. When Jesus returns to get us (i.e. the resurrection) he will bring us into our houses and inheritance in heaven.
But if Jesus was busy preparing a room for his disciples in heaven while he was away, wouldn’t that imply that they weren’t invited into heaven until he returned? So what would happen to the disciples if they died before Jesus returned?
Are we supposed to wait in heaven for our resurrection back to earth?
Several New Testament passages challenge the idea that heaven is only temporary and that we will return to earth in the resurrection. In two passages that speak of a future resurrection, both describe saints coming out of Hades or Sheol, not returning from heaven to earth. Hades is the Greek word for Sheol (Psalms 16:10, Acts 2:31).
Revelation 20:12-13 The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done.
This passage does not say, “death and heaven gave up the dead that were in them,” rather it says “Hades gave up the dead” that was in it. So the dead were not waiting in heaven before the resurrection.
1 Corinthians 15:52-57 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 will be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this corruptible will have put on incorruption, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then what is written will happen: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “Death, where is your sting? Hades, where is your victory?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
What passage is he quoting from?
Hosea 13:14 I shall ransom them from the power of Sheol; I shall redeem them from Death. O Death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion is hidden from my eyes.
Paul, quoting from Hosea 13:14 says that when the yet future resurrection would happen, the saints would be rescued from Hades. Was Jesus going to rescue them from their painful existence in heaven to a new life on earth? Not at all! He was going to rescue them from Sheol to a new life in heaven.
Hebrews states heaven was yet closed
Hebrews tells us Heaven was not open to anyone until the coming age arrived.
Hebrews 9:8 By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing 9 (which is symbolic for the present age)
Hebrews 11:16,40 Instead, they were longing for a better country, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them… 40 God having planned something better for us, so that not apart from us, they should be made perfect.
Hebrews 13:14 For here we do not have an abiding city, but we are seeking for the coming one.
Notice the “first section” of the earthly temple was a symbol for the “present age.” He is saying that as long as they were in the present age, the way into the “holy places” was not yet opened. In Hebrews, the “holy places” is a synonym for “heaven.”
Hebrews 8:1 Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2 a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man.
Hebrews 9:24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.
So then the author of Hebrews is saying heaven was not available to the saints until their present age came to a close but it was soon coming to a close.
Thus, saying the resurrection did not happen is a very disturbing statement. It implies we are not invited into heaven yet and will go to Sheol when we die. Thankfully, Jesus did return and because of that we are invited into heaven when we die (Revelation 14:13).
Will our physical, fleshly, and earthly bodies be resurrected?
2 Corinthians 5:1-3 we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself… we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies
Paul tells us that we will not be bodiless spirits floating around in heaven. We will be in heaven, but we will have heavenly bodies.
Being dead in Sheol was often described as being “asleep.” When the saints’ earthly bodies died and they didn’t have a spiritual body, theirs spirits would lose their consciousness and were in a sleeping state. In the resurrection, God was going to give them a spiritual, heavenly body so they could dwell with Jesus in his Father’s house.
1 Corinthians 15:35,44,47-49 How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come? …It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.
…The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
Their old bodies bore the image of the man of earth, while their new heavenly bodies would bear the image of the man of heaven. Their body was not meant to be a natural body living on earth but a spiritual body capable of living in heaven.
What substance do the resurrected bodies have?
We typically imagine physical earthly bodies coming out of their graves when we imagine the resurrection. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul was asked what kind of substance our resurrected bodies will have?
1 Corinthians 15:35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?”
Paul proceeds to answer
“44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body… 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man”
In another place Jesus says,
Luke 20:35-36 But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, 36 and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels.
When we hear terms like “spiritual body”, “heavenly man”, “like the angels”, we tend to think of things that are primarily invisible but have the possibility of becoming physical or some state in-between if they wished or were allowed. Angels are primarily invisible but on certain occasions they are allowed to be physical or some state in-between. Remember the two angels in Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:1-11)? Remember when Jacob wrestled with God (Genesis 32:22-32)? Remember Elisha’s vision of the angels (2 Kings 6:17)? Remember God’s voice sounding like thunder before Jesus died (John 12:28-29)? Or when he was baptized (Matthew 3:16-17)? All these beings are usually invisible, but on certain occasions have become visible and even tangible. The most obvious reading of this text is that the resurrected bodies are primarily invisible with the capability of being physical or some in-between state.
Now N. T. Wright, believes that when it speaks of a “spiritual” body it’s not speaking of the substance of the body but rather the power animating it.
A lot of scholars seem to look at the Pauline phrase which in Greek is “pneumatic” body and in English is “spiritual” body, and they seem to think the resurrection won’t be physical at all.
The word “spiritual” in 1 Corinthians 15 comes from the Greek “pneuma.” But the word is pneumatikos. Greek adjectives that end in -kos do not describe the substance out of which something is made. They describe the force that is animating the thing in question. It’s the difference between saying on the one hand, “Is this a wooden ship or a steel ship?” and saying on the other hand, “Is this a nuclear-powered ship or a steam-powered ship?” And the sort of adjective it is of the latter type, it’s a spirit-powered body. But it’s still a ship.
Read more at https://www.beliefnet.com/faiths/christianity/2004/07/your-spirit-powered-resurrection-body.aspx
However, that doesn’t seem to answer the question in context. Paul isn’t answering who will give life to the bodies, he probably assumed all his listeners knew it was the Spirit who was going to give life to the dead. What they didn’t know was what “form” or “substance” these bodies would have. “With what kind of body will they come?” So it’s well within reason to accept this “spiritual” body as an indirect description of its substance rather than who animated them. But since this substance can be material, invisible, or some in-between state, Paul describes the resurrected body by it’s power instead of it’s substance (which is subject to change). In this way, we can even explain Jesus’s resurrected body.
Luke 24:31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.
John 20:26 Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said.
Luke 24:37-39 37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”
Jesus’s body of “flesh and blood” is the same body that ascended into heaven and is invisible to us today. The conclusion we can make from this is that the resurrection has a possibility of being physical, invisible, or some in-between state.
In this podcast, Dr. Michael S. Heiser, a Bible scholar describes how first century Jews, Gentiles, and Paul saw the spiritual body in such a manner:
Naked Bible 88: What is the “spiritual body” Paul talks about in 1 Cor 15?
Proof the Resurrection happened as described
The conclusion this brings us to is that when the Resurrection happened, the saints would come out of Sheol where they had been waiting and head straight to heaven in their new spiritual bodies, they would not dwell on earth forever. This event could be physical, invisible, or some in-between state. We have just such an event coming in the same year and possibly same moment as Jesus’s return in the year 66AD:
Danial Morais, author of revelationrevolution.org states:
In A.D. 66 when the Jewish revolt began, Nero Caesar was in Greece building a canal. Concerning the construction of this waterway, Cassius Dio writes, “[W]hen the first workers touched the earth, blood spouted from it, groans and bellowings were heard, and many phantoms appeared. Nero himself thereupon grasped a mattock and by throwing up some of the soil fairly compelled the rest to imitate him.” [Cassius Dio Roman History 63.16.] In recording this same event, Suetonius indicates that as Nero broke the ground the sound of a trumpet was heard. [Suetonius Lives of the Twelve Caesars 6.19.] The fact that a trumpet was heard at the time in which the dead were raised is a clear fulfillment of 1 Corinthians 15:52: “For the trumpet will sound, [and] the dead will be raised imperishable . . .”
Josephus (A.D. 75) – Jewish Historian – This event occured in 66AD
“Besides these [signs], a few days after that feast, on the one- and-twentieth day of the month Artemisius, [Jyar,] a certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon appeared; I suppose the account of it would seem to be a fable, were it not related by those that saw it, and were not the events that followed it of so considerable a nature as to deserve such signals; for, before sun-setting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armour were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities. Moreover, at that feast which we call Pentecost, as the priests were going by night into the inner [court of the] temple, as their custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations, they said that, in the first place, they felt a quaking, and heard a great noise, and after that they heard a sound as of a great multitude, saying, “Let us remove hence” (Antiquities of the Jews book 17-20 – The life of Flavius Josephus)
Tacitus (A.D. 115) – Roman historian – This event occured in 66AD
“13. Prodigies had occurred, but their expiation by the offering of victims or solemn vows is held to be unlawful by a nation which is the slave of superstition and the enemy of true beliefs. In the sky appeared a vision of armies in conflict, of glittering armour. A sudden lightning flash from the clouds lit up the Temple. The doors of the holy place abruptly opened, a superhuman voice was heard to declare that the gods were leaving it, and in the same instant came the rushing tumult of their departure. Few people placed a sinister interpretation upon this. The majority were convinced that the ancient scriptures of their priests alluded to the present as the very time when the Orient would triumph and from Judaea would go forth men destined to rule the world.” (Histories, Book 5, v. 13).
Side note
Tacitus says “The doors of the holy place abruptly opened, a superhuman voice was heard to declare that the gods were leaving it, and in the same instant came the rushing tumult of their departure.”
Josephus says this event took place at night. Does this remind us of any passages?
2 Peter 3:10 and it will come — the day of the Lord — as a thief in the night, in which the heavens with a rushing noise will pass away, and the elements with burning heat be dissolved, and earth and the works in it shall be burnt up.
We see then that we have historical references from three sources indicating something matching our imagined Resurrection was happening at the same moment Christ was seen on the clouds.
Therefore, given that Christ made a promise to return in that generation, given that Christ promised to raise the dead when he returned, and given that in the Resurrection new spiritual bodies were meant to head up to heaven, and given that these historical events all occured in parallel with Christ’s coming within that generation, it can only be concluded that the Resurrection of the dead happened in 66AD exactly as Christ promised. And if we have proof that the Resurrection of the Dead happened as promised, it’s not hard for us to believe that Jesus “rewarded each according to his work.” So then, we can prove Christianity is still a valid religion both scripturally and historically.
The problem of silence
Ideally, we would have the apostles validing that such a resurrection happened. However, we don’t have any writings from the disciples after this date. The disciples never even mention the fall of the Jewish temple, and that would have been of extraordinary significance to Christians, it proved Christ was a valid prophet:
Matthew 24:1-2 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
For such a remarkable event to have passed without even a mention from the apostles is extraordinary. In fact, we are lacking writings of many cultures during that period, not just Christians. Does this give us the idea that their writings were burned by Vikings? Perhaps the saints were raptured? We don’t know for sure what happened, but we do know that the Christians had just endured the Neronic persecution and the great apostasy as prophesied by Jesus (Matthew 24:11-12, 24:22, 10:21-22), perhaps most of the Christians had given up, been killed, or were afraid to write at this time. Then again, if all the Christians were in Pella, perhaps they didn’t have a need to write to each other. Such theories are just speculation at this point although my friend Ed Stevens has put much research into proving that Christians were raptured at this time.
Certainly, more was going on during that period than we realize, but their silence shouldn’t be used as an excuse not to believe this event happened. Many other events such as the fall of the temple, the proving of Christianity as God’s people, the ending of Jewish persecution, were exceptional events that should have been noted by the disciples but were not. Until research brings more discoveries we can only imagine why we don’t have any writings after this date.
However, given the promises that were made and our historical records we can relax about Christianity’s validity. Christ did come as promised and he resurrected the dead at this time.
A message of hope
This should be good news for us today, because it proves that today when believers die, they go to Heaven and not Sheol. Before the Resurrection, when we died we were unconscious in the grave, there was no reward for our labor or good deeds (Ecclesiastes 9:5).
After the resurrection, when we die we go to heaven with the Lord and our deeds go with us, which shows we will be conscious:
Revelation 14:13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this down: Blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, they are blessed indeed, for they will rest from their hard work; for their good deeds follow them!”
One of the core concepts of our modern Christian faith is that when we die we go to heaven. This is only possible because the Resurrection has already happened.
As we have shown, Jesus made the promise that when he returned he would judge the living and the dead. We have shown that his reliability and Messiahship depended on this promise being fulfilled. We have an event in history that correlates with this prophecy matching the same time and description that the scriptures depict. Everything being said, we have good reason to believe the Resurrection of the Dead happened as promised and that Jesus is our true and validated Messiah.
In our next article, we will demonstrate that Jesus’s promise to return in their lifetimes and “reward each according to his work” is the same event as the Great White Throne Judgment in Revelation 20 and would happen in their lifetime.