What is the resurrection?

[B-A-C]

I thought Jesus said, "I am the resurrection, and the life" Who died with Christ on the cross? We did! When God raised up Jesus from the dead did he not also raise us up also?

I'm not a big fan of this temporal time displacement theory.
Jesus did His work 2,000 years ago, but we aren't saved until we make the choice in todays "real" time.

In any case, all those who believe in Jesus are resurrected at the moment of salvation, who are all
these people "asleep" in Christ if they aren't dead believers? Who are the dead in Christ that will be
raised before those of us who are alive? Also, if they are already resurrected, why do so many verses
say they will be raised on the last day?

 

[Curtis]

I'm not a big fan of this temporal time displacement theory.
Jesus did His work 2,000 years ago, but we aren't saved until we make the choice in todays "real" time.

In any case, all those who believe in Jesus are resurrected at the moment of salvation, who are all
these people "asleep" in Christ if they aren't dead believers? Who are the dead in Christ that will be
raised before those of us who are alive? Also, if they are already resurrected, why do so many verses
say they will be raised on the last day?

Is there such a thing as a dead believer? There is no such a thing!!! I thought Jesus only gives life not death! There is no death or darkness in Jesus.
What does the Bible say about those who have fallen asleep, or have died?

1Th 4:14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. !!!!!
1Th 4:15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
1Th 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.

Who is Jesus bringing with him when he returns for his Church? "ALL of those who have fallen asleep!!!!!!
What for?So, they can retrieve their physical bodies to be changed into a supernatural body!!!
Before they come where do suppose they are right now?

 

[Curtis]

Jesus did His work 2,000 years ago, but we aren't saved until we make the choice in todays "real" time.

That brother is totally not true!!!

We were saved before the world began!!!

2Ti 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

Eph 2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
Eph 2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved)
Eph 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

Do you see anywhere in this scripture were it says you were saved by faith? It says God saved us EVEN WHEN WE WERE STILL DEAD IN SINS!!!!, and he raised us up even when we were still dead in sins!!!!! That is what is called "mercy", and "Grace"

Stop thinking in time frame analytical thinking.

 

[rag4aCrown]

I personally believe it does... but this causes problems for those who believe that we go to heaven immediately when we die.

Ecc 12:7; then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.
Gen 3:19; By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return."

So it the body returns to the earth, the only thing left is the spirit (soul).
Some believe the spirit and soul to be two different things, but I believe them to be the same thing.

In 2 Cor 5:6-8; Paul says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

However, we have several other verses that say we sleep.
John 11:11; Acts 7:60; Acts 13:36; 1 Cor 15:6; 1 Cor 15:18; 1 Thess 4:13-15; 2 Pet 3:4; etc...

And that we will rise on the last day.
John 6:40; John 6:44; John 6:54; John 11:24; John 5:28-29;

Of course it's easy to reconcile 2 Cor 5:6; if we say while we are "asleep" we are still with the body.

Some will say, what about the bodies that have decayed, or destroyed entirely by fire, or in some
other catastrophic way. I'm not sure where the soul rests in this case, but one thing is for sure,
if it is only the body that gets resurrected.. then there is no resurrection for those people.

(I suppose it's possible the body gets re-constructed miraculously in some way).

However... that leads us back to ...

1 Cor 15:35; But someone will say, "How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?"
1 Cor 15:36; You fool! That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies;
1 Cor 15:37; and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else.
1 Cor 15:38; But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own.
1 Cor 15:39; All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish.
1 Cor 15:40; There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another.
1 Cor 15:41; There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.
1 Cor 15:42; So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body;
1 Cor 15:43; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;
1 Cor 15:44; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
1 Cor 15:45; So also it is written, "The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
1 Cor 15:46; However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual.
1 Cor 15:47; The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven.
1 Cor 15:48; As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly.
1 Cor 15:49; Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.
1 Cor 15:50; Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
1 Cor 15:51; Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,
1 Cor 15:52; in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
1 Cor 15:53; For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.

So if the perishable cannot inherit heaven, if appears only our new bodies can go there.
But we aren't given our new bodies until the resurrection.

It only causes a problem now because they are still not separate from the carnal, fleshly world. The body returns to the earth (the dirt) in which it came (God created it from the dirt) and the spirit returns unto God from which it came. Two different worlds... carnal flesh and spirit supernatural.

 

[rag4aCrown]

I personally believe it does... but this causes problems for those who believe that we go to heaven immediately when we die.

Ecc 12:7; then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.
Gen 3:19; By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return."

So it the body returns to the earth, the only thing left is the spirit (soul).
Some believe the spirit and soul to be two different things, but I believe them to be the same thing.

In 2 Cor 5:6-8; Paul says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

However, we have several other verses that say we sleep.
John 11:11; Acts 7:60; Acts 13:36; 1 Cor 15:6; 1 Cor 15:18; 1 Thess 4:13-15; 2 Pet 3:4; etc...

And that we will rise on the last day.
John 6:40; John 6:44; John 6:54; John 11:24; John 5:28-29;

Of course it's easy to reconcile 2 Cor 5:6; if we say while we are "asleep" we are still with the body.

Some will say, what about the bodies that have decayed, or destroyed entirely by fire, or in some
other catastrophic way. I'm not sure where the soul rests in this case, but one thing is for sure,
if it is only the body that gets resurrected.. then there is no resurrection for those people.

(I suppose it's possible the body gets re-constructed miraculously in some way).

However... that leads us back to ...

1 Cor 15:35; But someone will say, "How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?"
1 Cor 15:36; You fool! That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies;
1 Cor 15:37; and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else.
1 Cor 15:38; But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own.
1 Cor 15:39; All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish.
1 Cor 15:40; There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another.
1 Cor 15:41; There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.
1 Cor 15:42; So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body;
1 Cor 15:43; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;
1 Cor 15:44; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
1 Cor 15:45; So also it is written, "The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
1 Cor 15:46; However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual.
1 Cor 15:47; The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven.
1 Cor 15:48; As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly.
1 Cor 15:49; Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.
1 Cor 15:50; Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
1 Cor 15:51; Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,
1 Cor 15:52; in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
1 Cor 15:53; For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.

So if the perishable cannot inherit heaven, if appears only our new bodies can go there.
But we aren't given our new bodies until the resurrection.

I believe we (our spirit) does return to heaven upon the fleshly bodies death (in this world); but my spirit is not of this world and the dirt will not hold what it does not own; the Spirit belongs to God. It is not ours; but His. To live is Christ, to die is gain. Amen. Even Stephen, (end of Acts ch 7 beginning of 8; go read it); Stephen was/is resurrected in Jesus, immediately. Where do we go then? The Word (in Revelations) tells us we are given white robes and we are held under the alter until the rest (the remaining chosen to fulfill God's prophecy) is/are killed.
I believe God's Word and it is True. What is born of the flesh is flesh (and will parish), what is born of the Spirit is spirit (and will live); for we return to the Father from which we came. Amen

 

[rag4aCrown]

I'm not a big fan of this temporal time displacement theory.
Jesus did His work 2,000 years ago, but we aren't saved until we make the choice in todays "real" time.

In any case, all those who believe in Jesus are resurrected at the moment of salvation, who are all
these people "asleep" in Christ if they aren't dead believers? Who are the dead in Christ that will be
raised before those of us who are alive? Also, if they are already resurrected, why do so many verses
say they will be raised on the last day?

There will be no power after the second death. Right now, we have power; all those who has died with Him and has been covered by His blood, has excepted HIM, is indeed ALIVE; yet not I, but HIM who lives in me. Right now, because He is ALIVE in me and I am ALIVE in Him, will I raised on my (the) last day and we (I) will return unto the Father; only because Jesus is ALIVE in me, right now. The dead in Christ are those who have fallen asleep because they did not follow the Lord as they have been given instruction to do; hence, walking in the obedience of the Holy Spirit, denying the flesh, pick up the cross I have been given to carry, forsaking ALL, and follow HIM.