The Resurrection

The Resurrection

By Richard P. Joseph

You would think that a discussion on the resurrection would be an open and close case but it is not quite that easy.  Depending on who you ask, you might be surprised at the answers you receive.  Hopefully I can simplify it and make sense out of the confusion.  The first thing we need to do is separate the two main types of resurrection.

One resurrection belongs solely to Jesus Christ.  His resurrection out of the grave is unique to all mankind.  Since Jesus was a sinless being and he was God incarnate, he had the power to lay his life down and to pick it up again, ostensibly proving that he is who he said he was.  He rose from the grave, showed himself to the apostles and then went back to the father whence he came.  There is not much argument about that resurrection but there is about the resurrection of all other humans.

The bible also indicates a second resurrection event.   This is where the confusion comes in for some people.  There are probably many views but I will only mention three at this time.  One is called the Individual Body View, one is called the Collective Body View and one is the Futurist view.  

I will eliminate any futurist view immediately because there is no mention of

prophetic fulfillment after the year AD70.  Jesus and Daniel said that all prophecy and vision will be finished once the power of the Holy People is shattered.  All of the law was fulfilled in Jesus and finished by AD70.  If you are not familiar with that then please refer to my older posts on preterism.     

The next view I will eliminate is the Collective Body View.  I would explain it to you but I can’t figure it out even after doing some research on it.  It seems to morph as it goes by.  The best I can do to explain it is by saying that someone is getting the New Covenant mixed up with a resurrection event and coming up with a concocted mess.  Jesus instituted the New Covenant sealed with his blood.  This new covenant was the fulfillment of the Old Covenant which God made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  This new covenant seals the Christian people as the new covenant people.  

Matthew 26:27 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 For this is My blood of the new[c] covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. 29 But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”

Rev:21 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. 2 Then I, John,[a] saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.

The new covenant is a new order of being between God and Man.  It was the fulfillment of the Mosaic law.  God’s covenant is no longer with the Nation of Israel but now with Spiritual Israel.  The proponents of the corporate body view, what I can gather, believe that this was the resurrection.  In other words they believe that the body (believers) were resurrected out of the old law and came to life in the new covenant.   This has a way of eliminating the personal element from the equation.  Nobody doubts that there is a new covenant but it should not be mixed up with the resurrection itself.  The Corporate Body View has led many astray into various cultish type beliefs that I will not mention here.  Suffice it to say that I do not support this doctrine.  I have read several of Don Preston’s works and he labors and labors over scripture but never seems to express any exact or precise conclusion.  He has many good things to say but I still can’t figure out what his view on the resurrection really is.  I think it is what I described above but I cannot confirm it.  This leaves us with the first choice I mentioned above.

The Individual Body View makes the most sense from a scriptural and historical point of view.  This view has been promoted heavily by Ed Stevens (http://www.preterist.org).  I strongly advise you to visit his website for a complete explanation of his views.  The individual body view follows the flow of scripture without having to tweak any of it to make it fit.  It also considers that God is in the people business and not necessarily in the nation business.  

At the last supper, Jesus made it very clear that he was in this to save souls of men, not to start another cultus type of nation.  In John 14 Jesus lets the disciples know that they will all personally be with him in his eternal kingdom soon.  

14 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions;[a] if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.[b] 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself;

When Peter, Paul and the other New Testament authors commented on the resurrection doctrine they always had an individual person aspect attached to it.  Even Revelation 20:5 talks of a first resurrection and then later describes what appears to be a second resurrection then Hades and death were cast into the Lake of Fire.  As confusing as that sounds there is one common thread that laces through it and that is the idea of personal souls being raised up into God’s everlasting heavenly realm.  The sequence is always; millennium(40 year transition period) including first resurrection, tribulation of the saints, rapture of the living saints and resurrection of the souls in hades, then Hades and death cast into the lake of fire, then the wrath is poured out on those that rejected Christ in Israel.   Resurrection is not mixed up with a covenant change even though they may occur at the same time.  Since Hades was emptied of its contents, there is no future resurrection.  We now are ushered directly to heaven or hell at our death.  Hades only existed as a holding place until the Messiah finished his redemptive work.  There is no need of this intermediate place after Christ finished his priestly duty.  We are not part of some corporate blob, we are individuals who must personally account for our lives on this earth.  We will personally meet and bow down before Jesus Christ.   We will enjoy a real heaven and behold the glory of God in our new immortal bodies.  If we do not have a personal relationship with God then why are we wasting our time?