Two days later
Jesus set out for the town of Bethany, near Jerusalem, where Lazarus and his
sisters lived . But by the time He arrived He found that Lazarus "had already
been in the tomb four days" (verse 17). Had Jesus misunderstood the seriousness
of Lazarus' illness?
Now that Lazarus was dead, Martha had become quite concerned.
"Lord," she said, "if You had been here, my brother would not have died " (verse
21). Jesus assured her , "Your brother will rise again" (verse 22).
Now notice Martha's response: " I know that he will rise again
in the resurrection at the last day" (verse 24). What did she mean by "the
resurrection at the last day"?
Some
Jews understood
Martha, of course, was Jewish and had been taught from childhood
about the resurrection. She had read the resurrection chapter of the Hebrew
Bible-Ezekiel 37. And she was certainly familiar with Job 14:10-12: " But man
dies and is laid away; indeed he breathes his last and where is he? As water
disappears from the sea, and a river becomes parched and dries up, so man lies
down and does not rise. Till the heavens are no more, they will not awake nor be
roused from their sleep."
That did indeed seem far distant into the future. No wonder
Martha said "the resurrection at the last day."
The Pharisees would have agreed with her. They, too, believed in
a resurrection at the last day. They would certainly have cited as added proof
the prophecy found in Ezekiel 16:44-63. These verses speak of a distant future
time of resurrection of the ancient inhabitants of Sodom, Samaria and Jerusalem.
Jesus had this prophecy in mind when He said, "Assuredly, I say
to you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment
than for that city!" (Mark 6:11) . By "that city" Jesus meant one that refuses
the message of the Kingdom of God.
Jesus here associated "the day of judgment" with the
resurrection at the last day. But if the Jews thought they understood that yet
distant future time of resurrection, they and that included Martha certainly did
not understand that there would be an earlier resurrection one that would be a
thousand years earlier than the one at the last day.
Job understood it!
Job, of course, was aware of a resurrection and a judgment of
mankind as a whole "at the last day." But the patriarch Job also understood that
there would be an earlier resurrection: "Oh, that You would hide me in the
grave, that You would conceal me until Your wrath is past, that You would
appoint me a set time, and remember me! If a man dies,
shall he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, till my change
comes. You shall call, and I will answer You" (Job 14:13-15). Notice that Job
associated this his resurrection with a change - "till my change
comes." Paul, the apostle, referred to this same change when he wrote: "Behold,
I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed-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 shall be changed" (I
Corinthians 15:51-52).
Paul and Job are speaking of the same resurrection- one that to
the Jews was a mystery, because they did not understand it. Martha had not
understood it. Paul reveals this resurrection occurs at the sound of a trumpet-
"the last trumpet." This is explained in the book of Revelation as the seventh
or last trumpet (Revelation 11:15). This is the time when " the kingdoms of this
world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign
forever and ever!"
This last trumpet introduces the wrath of God (verse 18),
described more fully in Revelation 15 and 16. Job understood that the time of
his resurrection be at the occasion of God's wrath, through which he would be
protected (Job 14: 13). So Job and Paul understood that there would be a
first resurrection, at the sound of a trumpet- when Jesus returns to rule
the nations. Or as Job worded it: "For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He
shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed , this I know,
that in [Hebrew: "without" (Revised Standard Version and Jewish Publication
Society 1917 translation)] my flesh I shall see God" (Job 19:25-26) . It was
this first resurrection, a mystery to the Jews, that Jesus explained to Martha
when she assumed that Lazarus would rise again in "the resurrection at the last
day."
Jesus said to her: " I am the resurrection and the life. He who
believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes
in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:25-26). Martha, puzzled,
answered, "Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is
to come into the world" (verse 27). Jesus shortly afterward raised Lazarus from
the dead as proof He had the power to give life everlasting- to change from
flesh to spirit (I John 3:2, John 4:24)- those who believe and do what He says.
Jesus explains the
difference
The first resurrection, when Jesus returns at the sounding of
the seventh or last trumpet, is a resurrection- one that occurs a thousand years
before a second resurrection at the last day. This first resurrection is for
those who have become "the work of Your hands," said Job of the Lord (Job 14:
15). Even
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How Long Will They Again Live in the
Flesh:
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Why is it that the Christian world never grasped that
the resurrection scene in Ezekiel 37 is to mortal life in the
resurrection to judgment at the last day ? For the simple reason that
they assume Jesus Christ was raised in the same body that died! Jesus
was raised a spirit being, everlasting God being, with the power to
appear as flesh and bone, but whose life was never again to be dependent
on breathing air and on the circulation of blood . But the scene in
Ezekiel 37 is one of living, breathing beings- mortals.
So now we ask, How long will they live as mortals in
that resurrection while they are being judged? (Remember, the Church of
God is composed of those being judged now, as 1 Peter 4: 17 tells us,
and who will be eternally rewarded after they are judged.)
How long will they live while being judged?
Only one passage in the prophets reveals the answer -
Isaiah 65:17-25, especially verse 20. We would expect that period to be
like the 1,000 years because it is under the government of God,
administered by Christ. But this millennial-like prophecy is an
immediate prelude to the creation of " new heavens and a new earth"
(verse 17).
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So we read in verse 20: "There shall be no more thence
[from that time on] an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not
filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old, but the
sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed" (Authorized
Version) . The Authorized or King James Version is clearer and more
faithful to the original Hebrew than most modern translations because
the King James Version is not an attempt to interpret the text.
Several important thoughts are wrapped up in this
concise prophecy. Though many infants will begin life anew at that time,
there will be no more infants born from that time on. There will be
family, marriage and love, but no more human reproduction . The aged
will begin life anew at that time, but they, too, will fulfill their new
span of life.
How long will it be? One hundred years, two jubilee
(50-year) periods. That is a good length of time for anyone to learn and
live God's ways. Immortality for the righteous!
At the conclusion will be two classes- "the child" and
"the sinner." The last part of verse 20 says "the sinner being an
hundred years old shall be accursed." They shall be burned up as this
old earth melts with "fervent heat" (II Peter 3: 10). They shall be
ashes under the soles of the feet of the righteous (Malachi 4:3).But who
are those spoken of in the expression "the child shall die an hundred
years old"? "The child" is in contrast to "the sinner."
One is reminded of Luke 18: 17: "Assuredly, I say to
you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will
by no means enter it." The prophecy in Isaiah refers to those who become
"as a little child"- childlike in humility, openness and sincerity. "The
child" is one who is righteous. How, then, does one understand the
expression that "the child shall die " ? Because the righteous will not
continue to live in the flesh . They shall be given immortality by
becoming spirit beings, the eternal sons of God, just as the righteous
who are alive when Christ returns at His Second Coming: "Behold, I tell
you a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed- in a
moment, in the twinkling of an eye" (I Corinthians 15:51-52). Notice:
the living righteous, when Christ returns, will not sleep in death, yet
they shall die! It is " appointed for men to die once, but after this
the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). Changed in a moment The change from mortal
to immortal is a death of the cells of the natural body, but it will
happen "in a moment," as Paul said, so one will not even be aware of a
loss of consciousness!
Isaiah 65:20 is describing this kind of momentary death,
when one is changed to immortality; not the lake of fire, which is the
second death , which the sinner who is accursed suffers. So the great
purpose of the second resurrection will be finished in 100 years!
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though the few who are now called to be the work of God's hands
die, they " shall live," said Jesus (John 11 :25) , and "shall never die" (verse
26) . That is, they shall never die the second death.
But the resurrection of the human race at the last day is a
different or second resurrection , one in which multitudes of people rise to
live again in the flesh (Ezekiel 37) and "return to their former state" (Ezekiel
16:55). It is for them a time of judgment or trial in which they learn about
God's plan for mankind.
The book of life is opened to them (Revelation 20:12). They will
look back on a thousand years of God's rule and compare it, historically, with
the first 6,000 years of human rule under the sway of Satan. They will have to
choose, as the few whom God calls today have to choose between God's way or
Satan's.
It will be their time of judgment, as today is the time of
judgment for God's Church (I Peter 4: 17). Eternal life will be made available
as God's free gift for all who repent and overcome their sinful natures. But for
those few who refuse God's ways, their end is described in Hebrews 6:8.
Last
Great Day
The Jews in Jesus' day were familiar with the resurrection at
the last day. They had at least a partial understanding of the Kingdom of God
and the general or second resurrection because they kept the annual festivals of
God, which explain God's plan of salvation. That is why they expected the
Messiah to come to restore the Kingdom. But they failed, as a whole, to see the
first resurrection revealed in the Festival of Trumpets that opened the late
summer and early autumn festival season.
After the first resurrection comes the putting away of Satan,
pictured by the Day of Atonement, so he cannot deceive the nations for a
thousand years (Revelation 20:1-3, Leviticus 16).
Then comes the second spiritual harvest, pictured by the
Festival of Tabernacles. This second spiritual harvest occurs after the first
resurrection and includes those who live into the Millennium and their
descendants born during the thousand years of Christ's rule.
But this second spiritual harvest would not be completed unless
all who have lived and died throughout the past 6,000 years of human history are
included.
And that brings us to the second resurrection and the last
festival of God in the seventh month. The seven days of the Festival of
Tabernacles make up the sixth festival of the year. But this festival is
immediately followed by another one-day festival
called simply the Eighth Day by the Jews, but called the Last Great Day
by Christians.
This Last Great Day derived its name among early Christians from
the fact that it commemorated the conclusion of the plan of salvation.
Just as the millennial reign of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is
pictured by the seven-day Festival of Tabernacles and is followed by a general
resurrection, so the Festival of Tabernacles was followed by one last day- the
eighth , which is a distinct one-day festival wrapping up God's great plan.
Only those who keep this day fully understand its meaning!
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