Eternity in Biblical Perspective:
Heaven & Hell –
The Final State—I Believe in the Resurrection of the Body!

Hebrews 9:24-28

By Dr. Harry Reeder III

Hebrews 9 has been the foundational text for our first three studies of God's revelation of His appointment Book for us. They are appointments that cannot be canceled. We will be looking at a number of passages around this matter of the resurrection of the body but first we will look at the passage in Hebrews where we were looking at the offering of Christ Himself as the High Priest. Hebrews 9:24-28 says

24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, 26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Prayer;

Father, thank You for this Your Word and these moments we can spend together. Father, would You open up Your Word and be kind enough not only to forgive the preacher of his sins but to overcome his frailties and inadequacies so that Your people by Your Spirit might see the excellencies of Him who has called them out of darkness into light and might know the truth of His Word, particularly in this matter of the future expectation of what we declare when we confess 'I believe in the resurrection of the body.' I pray this in Jesus' Name, Amen.

We say "I believe in the resurrection of the body" when we do the Apostle's Creed. Of course, the resurrection of the body is built within all of our confessions. We get a chance to affirm this in a moment with three statements from our confession. We will do the one we did in the last study and two more to add to it in this study, but in this particular text, the text is aimed at teaching us that Jesus Christ is the High Priest, greater than the Levites because He has fulfilled the order of Melchizedek which is greater than the ironic priesthood. Because He has fulfilled the greater then the priesthood is fulfilled in Him and He has brought once and for all a sacrifice that pays for our sins Himself. Just as His sacrifice is once and for all the writer of Hebrews says (vs. 27) it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.

We have been following the track of that so in the first study on the final state of heaven and hell we looked at the transition into eternity of death. Death has been birthed by God as the right and just punishment of the sin of Adam and as all have sinned then all die so the curse of our sin is the same as that of Adam and this is death. There is a threefold part to death – spiritual, physical and eternal meaning separation. Death is not is not an end, it is a beginning. Death is separation not an end. It is the beginning of something else but it is not natural. It is something that is here because of God's divine judgment upon sin. We also looked at the death of death in Jesus Christ in that He has won the victory over death because He has won the victory over sin and the grave and therefore in Christ there if life evermore. When He comes again He will destroy ultimately and finally death in all of its dynamics and will have no place in the new heavens and the new earth.

The second thing we looked at is if believers who are in Christ have the victory over sin and death then what is their state when they die? In fact, what is the state of everyone when they die? So in our last study we looked at the intermediate state. To be absent from the body as believers is to be present with the Lord. As we go to Hades, meaning the place of the dead, when we die, in this place of the dead there is this ushering of the believer into paradise or Abraham's bosom or third heaven which are all interchangeable terms, into everlasting but not a final state of bliss and glory. The unbeliever is ushered into torment of a torment of Hades in which there is torment upon them but not the final state of torment which is a place called Hell, Ghenna, a final state of torment. Now that we have looked at this intermediate state, the state in which Jesus entered Himself into where He said to the thief on the cross "This day you shall be with Me in paradise." It is this Jesus who bore our hell on the cross, descended to the grave and announced this victory in it. There in that place announced the victory and came before all of those who had died before looking to the fulfillment of God's promises in Him.

Now, what is next? What comes next is the return of Christ. When Christ returns there will not only be the judgment but in order for the judgment to take place there will be a resurrection of the bodies that are in corruption, that have been aside, dust to dust and ashes to ashes. Does that mean believers? Yes. Does that mean unbelievers? Yes it does. I'd like us to recite our confession which very succinctly raps these things up into simple statements. The first part of the confession was chapter 1 and what we looked at in the intermediate state in the last study.

"After death, the bodies of human beings decompose and return to dust but their souls which do not die or sleep have an immortal existence and immediately return to God who created them. The souls of the righteous are then perfected in holiness and are received into the highest heavens where they behold the face of God in light and glory and wait for the full redemption of their bodies. The souls of the wicked are thrown into hell where they remain in torment and complete darkness, set apart for the great Day of Judgment. Scripture recognizes only these two places and no other for the souls of those separated from their bodies."

So there is yet to come the judgment and there is yet to come the final state of bliss which is the new heavens and the new earth. Then there is yet to come the final state of torment which is Ghenna, the eternal lake of fire for unbelievers and that's where we are getting to in our study. But how do we get to the new heavens and the new earth? When Jesus comes back we are taken out of that intermediate state through the redemption of our bodies which have returned to dust – ashes to ashes and dust to dust – from which the bodies came which is the matter of the earth itself.

Let's go the second paragraph of this confession. "Those who are alive at the last day will not die but will be changed. At that time all the dead will be raised with the very same bodies and no other than the same bodies they had before although with different characteristics, which will be united again with their souls forever."

The last paragraph says "By the power of Christ, the bodies of the unjust will be raised to dishonor but by His Spirit the bodies of the just will be raised to honor and be made according to the pattern of His own glorious body."

Now that's how our confession sums up very succinctly a number of things. Where and how are those drawn from? In fact, some would say to us that this whole notion of this resurrection of the body is something imported into Christianity during the New Testament writing. The fact is the resurrection of the body is already there in the Old Testament very clearly of believers and unbelievers and the resurrection of the body and all of its implications are fulfilled and declaration through the resurrection of Christ and enlightened and illuminated but it doesn't start in the New Testament. It actually starts back in the Old Testament that these basic truths are already taught to us in at least seed form and then brought to fruition for us in the New Testament.

Let's go back for a moment. There is death, the intermediate state and when Jesus comes back. What is the condition of all humanity? When Jesus comes back there will be those who are living which means their body and soul are integrated together. They haven't died, they haven't separated. Their body and soul are there together. Then there are those who have died when Jesus comes back which means they are disintegrated where the body and soul have been separated at death. For those who died believingly their soul has gone to be with the Lord and their body is separated and decomposing in some way – through fire, the ground, the ocean and some destroyed etc. There are all kinds of ways those bodies have decomposed of believers and unbelievers. For unbelievers there souls are in torment and their bodies have decomposed.

Then Jesus comes back and what happens? For those who are alive who are believers, we are told, are caught up to be with the Lord. For those who are alive who aren't believers will be caught up to the judgment of Christ. Those who have died who are believers and those who have died and are unbelievers, their souls will be reunited with a resurrection body, I believe, in the resurrection of the body.

Now, does the Bible teach that or is that just something imported into the New Testament? To begin with, it wouldn't have been imported into the New Testament because none of the cultures and religions of that day would have had anything to do with the resurrection of the body. In all of the religions of that day body was evil. They wouldn't want a doctrine of the resurrection of the body. If one came from Greek philosophy, if one came from the barbarian philosophies of Europe, if one came from the Far East, there was no idea of the resurrection of the body because that's the last thing they'd do. That's why they do things like cremation as a burial process. That's why Israel stood out so distinct from its surrounding neighbors when it set aside the body with care and respect in light of God's good creation and the anticipation of the resurrection.

So why do they do things like cremate or put them out to float on the ocean? It is because the last thing they would want is a resurrection. The body was evil. Spiritual was good but physical was evil. So no one would have imported from the religions of that day a resurrection of the body. In fact, there is nothing more counter cultural in that day than the doctrine of the resurrection of the body. But secondly beyond that it was already imbedded in the Old Testament. Some of you already know that because of the study we did on Daniel with great diligence. So let's look at that passage in Daniel where we were taught that.

It's in Daniel 12. This passage is speaking of the end of time and the fulfillment of redemption. Daniel 12:2 says "And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth (those who have died and the bodies are decomposing) shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." Note, the resurrection of the body, note the resurrection of the body to life for believers, to shame or condemnation and contempt for unbelievers. Daniel, coming out of the Babylonian captivity is not the first one to believe in the resurrection. In fact we are told very clearly there was a man named Abraham that believed in the resurrection.

Let's look at Hebrews 11. This marvelous godly man called Abraham, clearly a sinner, but clearly saved by grace clearly brought to God's grace and then grown before our very eyes in the pages of Scripture. He came to a very crucial moment where there was a son he longed for that God had promised and had given to him but was the son along side of Abraham's affection to God, was it before his affection to God or was it above his affection to God? God, for many reasons, to give us a type of Christ, to show us His love and also to test Abraham, sent Abraham to sacrifice his only son. For the sake of time I'm not going to the text in the Old Testament but there's an amazing moment when they are going up the hill to sacrifice. It's the very hill in which the temple mount will one day be seen. As they are headed up that hill Abraham turns to the servants, as he is going up to kill his son, and he says "I and the boy are going up to sacrifice and we shall return."

Many have preached on that and have said that's because Abraham knew deep down there was going to be a ram put in the thicket as the sacrifice. Oh no, why did Abraham say that 'we' shall return when he was going up to sacrifice Isaac? It wasn't because he knew Jehovah Jireh would provide a substitute sacrifice. It was because he had believed the Word of God and therefore believed in the resurrection and anticipated that. If Isaac was to be killed and he was the child of promise then God would have to resurrect him to be faithful to His Word. So Abraham believed in the resurrection. Hebrews 11:17-19 says 17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, 18 of whom it was said, "Through Isaac shall your offspring be named." 19 He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. The reason Abraham said, "We shall return" is because he believed in the resurrection.

Jesus shows us how the resurrection was embedded in a number of texts. Let's look at Matthew 22 where Jesus shows us how it was embedded throughout the Old Testament in numerous ways and He gives us insight into one. There were the Pharisees and there were the Sadducees. The Pharisees believed in the resurrection and the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection and that is why they were sad-you-see. I knew you already knew that. In this passage the Pharisees have come to test Jesus and the Sadducees want to test Jesus. Matthew 22:23-33 says

23 The same day Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question, 24 saying, "Teacher, Moses said, 'If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up children for his brother.' 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no children left his wife to his brother. 26 So too the second and third, down to the seventh. 27 After them all, the woman died. 28 In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her." 29 But Jesus answered them, "You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. 30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 31 And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: 32 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not God of the dead, but of the living." 33 And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching.

When you read that you may immediately think, "What was so astonishing about that?" They knew their Bible unlike many evangelical Christians and they knew exactly what Jesus had said to them at that moment. It makes you wonder how long these Sadducees had spent in trying to disprove the resurrection, thinking "Okay Jesus we have one You can't answer." Jesus simply says to them "You don't know the power of God or the Scriptures. The Scriptures say I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I am not the God of the dead but of the living." So why would that astonish them? It was because of one little word – "I am" the God of the living. Abraham is dead so who recorded God saying that? It was Moses who recorded that over 400 years after the death of Abraham. So they contextualized. They did their Bible study in their mind. God said "I am" and not "I was" the God of Abraham. This is another reason I believe in the inspiration of the Scripture. Every word is important and just the word "am" turns the whole argument on the Sadducees. That means Abraham lives and will live. I believe in the resurrection and they went away astonished at His teaching.

It's not only Daniel, Abraham or prior to all these things in the declarations of God. You can even go back to a patriarch before Abraham. That is Job and as Job is considering the issue of death, what did he say? He said, "I know that I shall see Him in my flesh." How are you going to see Him in your flesh? You would if your body is going to be resurrected. In the context of dealing with the death that was all around him, Job as he is grappling with it made this declaration of faith, "I know not only does my Redeemer live but I know I shall see Him in my flesh." That's the resurrection of the body. We can multiply that even more throughout Scripture but at least how they understood the resurrection, not simply the spiritual resurrection, but the resurrection of this body that flew in the face of all the cultural stuff that was around them. They believed it because God taught it and then Jesus of course affirms it.

So, why the resurrection? I'd like to look at Colossians 3. I will only be able to outline this for you but each one of these deserves its own sermon. Colossians 3:1-4 says 1 If then you have been raised with Christ (If you have been raised with Him then He has been raised), seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.(See how the resurrection has a very practical resurrection and command of the Gospel – where we set our minds, where we put our lives.) 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Paul does the same thing in Romans 6 when he takes the act of baptism and he doesn't give you the methodology but he gives us the theology of baptism where it is a declaration that you have died to yourself and you're alive in Christ. You have been raised from the bone yard of sin and you are now one with the resurrected Christ. Therefore now you live unto Him. How can you live unto what you have died to? You live for Him.

So here is this declaration of Christ is risen, now what are the implications for me concerning the resurrection? I have seven to give you. The first one is the resurrection of Jesus is a declaration of what has been done for you or the declaration has been made for you. Jesus is risen therefore you are saved. It is not His resurrection that justifies you, it's His resurrection that proclaims that His has been accepted for you. Because His offering has been accepted He shall see the travail of His soul and be satisfied. He was delivered up because of our transgressions. He was raised because of our justification. The resurrection is a declaration that all in Christ are alive forevermore.

The second thing about the resurrection is the resurrection also declares you have a Savior who intercedes for you. Romans 8:33-34 says 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. The resurrection tells me Jesus is there interceding for me.

Thirdly, the resurrection is proclaiming He is coming again for you. This same Jesus resurrected whom you see ascended will come again in like manner to gather His people to Himself.

The fourth thing the resurrection declares is that you have already experienced a resurrection. What is the resurrection you have already experienced? You have been born again. You have been brought from death unto life. The Bible says in Ephesians 2 that we were dead in our sins but God being rich in mercy caused us to be born again to a living hope so you have already had a spiritual resurrection. Everyone who is a believer has already through the risen Christ experienced a spiritual resurrection. We were dead in our sins. We were like Nicodemus where we could not see or enter the Kingdom of God but God being rich in mercy caused us to be born again. Every believer is a walking resurrection miracle. We have been taken from the spiritual cemetery of life and we are raised to newness of life in Jesus Christ.

The fifth thing is you have already benefited from a status change in the resurrection. If you are a believer you have not only experienced the new birth of your spiritual life, you have also had a status change. Now God is your Father, Jesus is your Savior, He is your elder Brother, He is your Intercessor, and you have been raised up with Him in the heavenly places. When Jesus entered into heaven He brought you. Remember how the High Priest would go into the holy of holies? They had the names of the tribes upon the stones and their breast plate and as this High Priest, Jesus, did His sacrifice in His resurrection and then ascended into heaven, you ascended with Him. He led captive a host of captives. You have had a status change. Your citizenship is now in heaven.

Sixthly, a bodily resurrection has been assured for you and we'll look at a passage of Scripture on this in a moment.

Number seven is an example of what you will be like has been provided for you. I'd like to look at Philippians 3. You have been resurrected and your citizenship is in heaven. Philippians 3:20-21 says 20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. What will we be like in the new heavens with that resurrected body? It will be comparable to the resurrected body of Jesus. So the example has been placed before you and a bodily resurrection is assured for you. Jesus is coming for you. He has already begun transforming your soul and your spirit and He will now transform your body in that day to be like His resurrected body. We shall be like Him.

I'd like to look at 1 Corinthians 15. Here Paul affirms the resurrection. He says the resurrection of Jesus is Scriptural and there are key witnesses. There are quantities of witnesses and I have reputable witnesses. 1 Corinthians 15:12-19 says 12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? (In other words, the resurrection of Jesus demands that you believe in the resurrection of the dead. His resurrection is a declaration of the resurrection of the dead. When the church at Corinth listened to the Greek philosophy that the body was evil why would God raise these evil bodies? He is making the point with them that if Jesus is raised then you must believe in the resurrection of the dead. Then he goes on to turn the argument backwards in verse 13.)

13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

It's not because the resurrection saves you but it's because the resurrection is the declaration that His saving work was accepted. Jesus said He was going to die for our sins. How do we know that's effective? There is only one way and that is the grave couldn't hold Him. He is resurrected and if He is resurrected then there is a resurrection of the dead. If there is a resurrection of the dead, it's because He has been raised. His resurrection assures ours. Let's look further into 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15:20-28 says

20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.(He has already conquered death but it will be destroyed.) 27 For "God has put all things in subjection under his feet." But when it says, "all things are put in subjection," it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. 28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.

Let's slip down a little further in the chapter. 1 Corinthians 15:35-49 says

35 But someone will ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?" 36 You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. 39 For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. (There is so much we have evolved from animals and this text tells us there is something different from us to them. We are not the same.) 40 There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. 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. (This is amazing that Paul is able to reveal this to us by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit before the telescopes tell us all that.) 42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 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. 45 Thus it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. This of course is Jesus and the resurrected body of Jesus.

He goes on to finish the chapter in 1 Corinthians 15:50-58 by saying

50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 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 shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." 55 "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through, our (resurrected, interceding, coming again) Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

So why the resurrection? I have given you these seven things now what about the resurrection of believers? Number one why are believers raised? It is to provide from Christ a body in perfection and glory that replaces our bodies that are under the curse of sin with its imperfection and their corruptions. God will give you a glorious body. He is raising this body and it shall put on immortality. The corrupt shall put on the incorruptible. The natural shall put on the spiritual and it shall be given in perfection and glory liken to Christ and this body of imperfection will be transformed out of its corruption to the incorruptible.

Number two, He is going to resurrect the body of believers to position all believers so that they can be acknowledged by Christ. The Scripture says that we shall stand before Him and He will own us – enter in My children, My beloved. We are given that resurrected body to come before the judgment. We will study the judgment more in our next study. In these resurrected bodies the soul and body will be reunited and it is then that Jesus will acknowledge you. I want to look at 1 John 3:1-3 says 1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. It is on that day that He acknowledges us and it is on that day that He calls us to enter in to openly and eternally declare our innocence that we are acquitted in Christ in that day.

Number three is we are also being equipped with a perfect body that is set up for the new heavens and the new earth so that we can enjoy and eternally commune with Him. Jesus says "I am preparing a place for you so that where I am there you may be also." We will be with Him. He will be in our midst and in this new body that will be liken unto His will be glorified. Some say to me "Some people were blown to bits, others were thrown in the ocean and some have been burned, so how is that body going to be raised?" How did God make the first body? He made it from the dust so this will not be a problem for the Lord. Don't sell short the power of God. The same God who created us can raise us. I am reminded of the little boy who said to his mother one day, "Momma how did God make Adam?" She said, "From the dust of the ground." He said, "Momma come here and look and by the way when we die what happens to us?" She said, "You return to the dust." He said, "The first Adam came from the dust of the ground and when we die we go back to the ground?" She said, "Yes." As the mom looked under the bed, the child said, "I have somebody coming or going here but I don't know who it is." God has no problem doing that in His act of resurrection any more than He did in His creation. So God will raise us up with an equipped body that we will be able to commune with Him for all eternity.

What about the resurrection of unbelievers? Why would unbelievers be resurrected? Let's see what the Bible tells us. Let's look at John 5. We will look at two more passages of Scripture before we close. It will be this one and one other. This is a wonderful passage of Scripture on the authority of Jesus Christ and that in Him is life evermore. John 5:25-29 says

25 "Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

It's not because of what you do that saves you, it's that saved people will have a track record and it will show up in the judgment. It's not their works that saved them but they'll be changed and it will show up in the judgment. Those who are unbelievers that will show up in the judgment and they will be resurrected to that judgment. This affects believers and unbelievers.

Let's look at Acts 24. The Apostle Paul is affirming the same thing but this time to a pagan who was laughing about the matter of the resurrection. Paul is defending the faith and he is defending it before Herod Agrippa, Festus and Felix. The have the place pretty well located where Paul did this and I love to stand there when I visit it. Acts 24:14-15 says 14 But this I confess to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets, 15 having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust. So, according to this passage, there will be a resurrection of the just and the unjust.

Now the last passage I want to look at is in Revelation 20. We will spend more time on this passage in the next study but I just want you to see this one piece of it. There is the second coming of Christ, the judgment seat, now look at what this says in Revelation 20:11-15 says

11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Here, clearly both believers and unbelievers are resurrected. Why are unbelievers resurrected? Number one, it is to position the unbelievers for judgment just as you are positioned to be acquitted. They will be positioned with this resurrected body for judgment. Number two, unbelievers will be openly and eternally separated from the benevolent and gracious presence of God. No one has ever lived hell on earth. Everyone has tasted of God's grace and goodness. The rain has fallen on the just and the unjust but the unbeliever has a body prepared for a judgment of utter separation from God, His presence and His benevolence. Number three, it is to prepare the unbeliever with a body for eternal judgment in the place of hell. It says "With this resurrected body, an eternal body, into an eternal conscious torment in a place called hell forever and ever" and the body is a forever body for forever judgment. Number four is to provide a body that is capable of sensing the judgments and torments of hell. It is a spiritual body but it is one in whatever and however the descriptions of hell are given, will bring forth the everlasting consciousness of separation from the presence of God.

Here are three takeaways. Number one is the resurrection of everyone is an assured event of history. There is coming a day when everyone will be resurrected. It is yet to occur but it is an absolute fact. Because the resurrection of Jesus is true then the resurrection of the dead is true.

The second takeaway is the resurrection will occur at the return of Christ. There is no secret half coming of Jesus. At the return of Christ the dead will be given up from the oceans, the grave, from everywhere. At the return of Christ there will be this resurrection where the believers will go to glory and the unbelievers will go to the judgment of eternal condemnation.

Thirdly, what will the resurrection body be like? It will be like the body of Jesus and that's as far as I can tell you. You will be able to see Him, know Him. He ate. He opened doors and walked in. He also went in when the door wasn't opened. He was here and then He would be there. He was ubiquitous like the angelic presence in that resurrected body. We shall see Him. We shall be like Him. Every time I walk by that special needs class with some of our children that grapple with bodily challenges or see an old person whose body has be emaciated dying their last breaths, I think, they have a resurrected body. Babies are not babies forever. Old people who die are not old people forever. We will be recognizable but there will be this glorious body with no effects of sin, no ability to sin and we will be like Him. Now, are you in Him? Let's pray.

Prayer:

Father, thank You for the time we could be together for we covered a lot from Your Word in this study and I pray that You would cause Your people to be able to absorb at least elements of this so that when they talk with others they will be able to share what is absurd to the world and always has been, the resurrection of the body. Father, it is true for Jesus has risen and because He is risen we are raised with Him. We have been born again in Him and He is coming again and will give us a body transformed to be with Him as He openly acknowledges us. I pray that everyone reading this will know Him. I pray for this evangelism clinic this week and the Bridge to Life training that You will use us to share this with others so that in the resurrection they will not receive a body prepared for judgment but a glorious body prepared to be with Jesus for they have come to Christ who has come to us who has borne our hell for us that we might live with Him forever. I pray this in Jesus' Name who has risen, Amen.