When will the earthly resurrection take place? Martha said of her dead brother, Lazarus: “I know he will rise in the resurrection on the last day.” (John 11:24) How did she know that? The resurrection was a subject of controversy in her day, since the Pharisees believed in it but the Sadducees did not. (Acts 23:8) Still, Martha must have known of pre-Christian witnesses who hoped in the resurrection. (Hebrews 11:35) Too, she could have discerned from Daniel 12:13 that the resurrection will occur on the last day. She might even have learned this from Jesus himself. (John 6:39) That “last day” coincides with the Thousand Year Reign of Christ. (Revelation 20:6) Imagine the excitement during that “day” when this grand event begins!—Compare Luke 24:41. Who Is Coming Back? At Revelation 20:12-14 is recorded John’s vision of the earthly resurrection: “I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and scrolls were opened. But another scroll was opened; it is the scroll of life. And the dead were judged out of those things written in the scrolls according to their deeds. And the sea gave up those dead in it, and death and Hades gave up those dead in them, and they were judged individually according to their deeds. And death and Hades were hurled into the lake of fire. This means the second death, the lake of fire.” The resurrection will encompass “the great and the small,” both prominent and inconspicuous humans who have lived and died. Why, even infants will be among that number! (Jeremiah 31:15, 16) At Acts 24:15, another important detail is revealed: “There is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.” Prominent among “the righteous” will be faithful men and women of old, such as Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, and Rahab. (Hebrews 11:1-40) Imagine being able to converse with such ones and obtain eyewitness details of Bible events of long ago! “The righteous” will also include the thousands of YHVH GOD-fearing individuals who have died in more recent times and who did not have a heavenly hope. Do you have a family member or a loved one who might be among these? How comforting it is to know that you can see them again! Who, though, are the “unrighteous” individuals that will also come back? They include millions, perhaps billions, who died without having an opportunity to come to learn and apply Bible truth. How will returning ones be “judged out of those things written in the scrolls according to their deeds”? These scrolls are not the record of their past deeds; when they died, they were acquitted of the sins they committed during their lifetime. (Romans 6:7, 23) However, resurrected humans will still be under Adamic sin. It must be, then, that these scrolls will set forth divine instructions that all must follow in order to benefit fully from the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. As the last trace of Adamic sin is eliminated, ‘death will be brought to nothing’ in the fullest sense. By the end of the thousand years, Creator Yahwah will “be all things to everyone.” (1 Corinthians 15:28) No longer will man need the intervention of a High Priest or Ransomer. All mankind will be restored to the perfect state Adam originally enjoyed.
Posted on: Fri, 02 Aug 2013 03:09:50 +0000
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