For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. (1 Cor 15:15-18)
From the Torah flow the promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that are foundational to the Christian faith. Yet, the principle of the resurrection is somewhat veiled in the first five books of the Bible. It was the prophets who brought clarity to the resurrection by writing, “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt,” (Dan 12:2), and “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.” (Isa 20:19)(Isa 26:19). For those people who did not hold the word of the prophets as inspired, there was no resurrection at all in the Pentateuch of Moses. Among these were the Samaritans and the Sadducees “who taught that the soul became extinct when the body died and death was the final end of the human being,” (Everyman’s Talmud, page 357).
The Pharisees saw the prophets as inspired by God and said, “Woe to the guilty one (the Sadducees) who declare that the dead will not live; since those who were not in existence come to life, how much more will they who have lived come to life again!” (Sanh 91a). Since the Pharisees believed that all truth had its origin in the Torah, they searched out the Torah for proof of the resurrection.
“Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them. I am the LORD,” (Lev 18:5)(Gal 3:12). The Pharisees reasoned that since it is necessary for a man to be alive in order to obey the commandments, the phrase “live by them” must be referring to eternal life. The Sages then saw the Torah as the source of eternal life, “Great is the Torah for it gives to those who practice it life in this world and the world to come,” (m.Avot 6:7). Building on the concept of the Sages, Jesus said the Jews in Jerusalem during one of the feasts, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me,” (John 5:39).
"See now that I myself am He! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand.” (Deut 32:39). The sequence “put to death and bring to life” goes against the natural order were life is first created and then death follows. Because the order was reversed by the LORD, the Pharisees reasoned that the LORD was telling His people that life can come after death. A similar line of reasoning is employed by the Sages in reference to the writings of Solomon. “What is the connection between ‘the grave’ and ‘the barren womb’? (Psa 30:15-16) The intention is to tell you that as the womb receives and yields up, so the grave receives and yields up,” (Everyman’s Talmud, page 360).
“Observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, and so that you may live long in the land that the LORD swore to your forefathers to give to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.” (Deut 11:8-9). The Pharisees observed that it was not “their descendants,” but “to them (the forefathers)” that the LORD swore to give the land. Since the promise was perpetual, the Sages reasoned that the Patriarchs must be perpetual. The same reckoning was used by Jesus to demonstrate the resurrection to the Sadducees, “But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” (Matt 22:31-32)
The principle of the resurrection became fundamental to the theology of the Pharisaic Jew by the turn of the first century, “Since a person repudiated belief in the Resurrection of the dead, he will have no share in the Resurrection,” (Sanh. 90a). From the previous statement, we understand why the topic was passionately debated in the apostolic text. Maimonides, the Jewish scholar who wrote 1000 years after Jesus, established thirteen principles of faith. He established these principles to demonstrate that the physical lineage was insufficient by itself, but Jews must also hold certain fundamental beliefs to enter the world to come. Among the principles that Maimonides defined,
“I believe with perfect faith that there will be a revival of the dead at the time when it shall please the Creator, Blessed be His Name, and His mention shall be exalted for ever and ever.”
Without the resurrection, both the faith of the Jew and the faith of the believer in Jesus Christ is useless, (1 Cor 15:14). The resurrection demonstrated that Jesus was the Son of God (Rom 1:4), provided evidence that believers will also be raised (1 Cor 6:14), and provided proof that God has appointed a day when He will judge the world, (Acts 17:31). For if the dead are not raised, then this life alone holds both the rewards and punishments merited for actions.
THE FIRST RESURRECTION: A SIGN OF THE KINGDOM
But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. 21 For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming, 24 then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. (1 Cor 15:20-24)
The apostle Paul provided this sequence for the resurrections of the dead:
(1) Christ, the firstfruits;
(2) then when he comes, those who belong to him,
(3) Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death,” (1 Cor 15:23-26)
The initial resurrection occurred three days after Passover, when Jesus Christ arose as “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep,” (1 Cor 15:20). The next resurrection will occur at the return of Christ, “when he comes.” The final resurrection is part of “the end,” the “summing up” (Eph 1:1), when all things will be placed in subjection Messiah (1 Cor 15:25-28). This resurrection will not occur until the conclusion of the Messiah’s reign on earth. John spoke of this resurrection when he said, “The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed,” (Rev 20:5).
In Rabbinic thought, the Kingdom of God is the transitional period between the present world and “olam haba,” the world to come, (Heb 2:5). As such, signs of the world to come should mark the beginning of the Kingdom and increase in magnitude as the fullness of the Kingdom is manifested. A certain and sure sign of the Kingdom is the resurrection of the dead. After all, how can the Saints who are asleep “reign with him (Christ) for a thousand years” (Rev 20:6), and live in the world to come if they are not first resurrected from the dead? Paul spoke of the coming resurrection in this manner.
“Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body,” (Phil 3:20-21).
According to Paul, the power of the kingdom is “the power that enables him (Christ) to bring everything under his control.” The power of the kingdom “will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” Jesus once told his disciples, “"Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power ." (Mark 9:1). Believers often debate when the disciples saw the kingdom. Did the disciples see it at the transfiguration or was it John who saw the kingdom in his Revelation vision?
The answer is much simpler as are many of the truths of God. To not taste death is to experience the kingdom and to see the resurrected Jesus is to witness the power of the kingdom. The power of the kingdom is manifested in the resurrection, as Jesus was “declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead,” (Rom 1:4). I am increasingly convinced that every miracle performed by Jesus during His ministry was given to demonstrate that the Kingdom of God was at hand. The above statement of Jesus to the disciples becomes a type of word association, “some…will…see the kingdom of God” as “not tast(ing) death.” I admit this midrash might be a bit of a stretch. Yet, Jesus came to “preach the good news of the kingdom of God” (Luke 4:43), supported by miracles that testified to the kingdom.
"Go and report to John what you hear and see: the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM.” (Matt 11:4-5).
The resurrection of Lazarus near the end of Christ’s earthly ministry caused many Jews to believe and the Sadducees to seek an opportunity to kill Jesus. Jews held an expectation that the resurrection of the saints would accompany the appearing of the Messiah. For this reason, Matthew wrote to his Jewish audience, “The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many.” (Matt 27:52-53).
Rich, thanks for the inspiration. Scott
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