The First Two Mass Resurrections of the Dead

[OldCoot]

On 10/8/2019 at 11:00 AM, WilliamL said:

FIRST:

John 5:25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour comes, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and the ones hearing shall live.”

“Hearing” here is meant according to the Hebrew verb shâmăh, which implies, besides hearing, also receiving and obeying the message heard. That message was the “Gospel [Jesus] preached to those who were dead,” “to the spirits in prison [Hades/Sheol],” when He “descended into the lower parts of the earth.” 1 Pet. 4:6; 3:19; Eph. 4:9; cf. Acts 2:27, 31; Luke 4:18.

Those in Hades who heard, received, obeyed and thus lived, “[came] out of the graves after His resurrection…and appeared unto many;” because they, having become members of “[His] church, …the gates of Hades [could] not prevail against [them]” to keep them in that soul-prison. Matt. 27:53; 16:18

This was the first mass resurrection of the dead.

What constitutes a "mass" resurrection?

I see the first literal resurrection of the dead occurring in Matthew 27:51-53, which occurred shortly after the time of Yeshua's (Jesus) resurrecti0n.  And those who were resurrected being called saints.

It is my personal belief that these resurrected saints were later taken to the Father as the presentation of the First Fruits by the High Priest (Messiah) as per Leviticus 23.   It doesn't say that in the scripture text itself, but many early church writers who either knew the Apostles or their students wrote that these saints were in fact resurrected to eternal spiritual state, no to die physically again, and some elaborated that these were taken to the Father. 

Dr. Norman Geisler put together an extensive list of the writings associated with this.  Anyone can find it online rather easily.

 

[WilliamL]

On 11/29/2019 at 10:29 PM, OldCoot said:

What constitutes a "mass" resurrection?

I see the first literal resurrection of the dead occurring in Matthew 27:51-53, which occurred shortly after the time of Yeshua's (Jesus) resurrecti0n.  And those who were resurrected being called saints.

It is my personal belief that these resurrected saints were later taken to the Father as the presentation of the First Fruits by the High Priest (Messiah) as per Leviticus 23.   It doesn't say that in the scripture text itself, but many early church writers who either knew the Apostles or their students wrote that these saints were in fact resurrected to eternal spiritual state, no to die physically again, and some elaborated that these were taken to the Father. 

Dr. Norman Geisler put together an extensive list of the writings associated with this.  Anyone can find it online rather easily.

Agreed, with the minor exception that I believe the resurrected saints ascended on Nisan 21, not Nisan 18. The latter date, that of the Firstfruits wave offering, was of Jesus alone. Whereas the saints did not come out of their graves until after the resurrection of Jesus, who ascended first and alone to atone for sins before the heavenly throne.

Nisan 21 was the last day of the feast of unleavened bread, when formerly the Israelites escaped Egypt and the Egyptians once and for all, when they passed through the waters of the Red Sea. I believe this was a type of the resurrected saints passing out of this world into the heavenly one.

[Diaste]

On 10/10/2019 at 3:16 PM, WilliamL said:

You repeat a common misunderstanding about the "protos resurrection" in verse 5. Protos here means first in preeminence, not first in time. Jesus and the saints who came out of the graves in his day were part of this resurrection, as will be the Rev. 7 saints before the throne, the Two Witnesses of Rev. 11, and the 144,000 before the heavenly throne in Rev. 14. These are all part of the protos/first/foremost-in-preeminence resurrection.

 4413 /prṓtos ("first, foremost") is the superlative form of 4253 /pró ("before") meaning "what comes first" (is "number one").

First in every aspect including time as the root of 'protos' is pro and carries a time aspect. I'm betting, "próteuó: to have the first place", would appear here if He meant hierarchy since it literally means:

"to be first (in rank or influence) -- have the preeminence."

I have to agree the graves were opened when Jesus ascended but the only characteristic of this event is 'appeared to many in the Holy City'. Nothing else. We could speculate all we want about the destination of these people, or their ultimate destiny but it would be just speculation. They could be immortal on earth for all we know. 

It looks to me like the resurrections in question, First and Second, have everything to do with judgement and reward and the presence, and in the presence, of the Almighty.

 

²⁵ Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.

²⁸ Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,

²⁹ And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

"

I don't know how you can split this into two resurrections. One resurrection where His voice is heard by the dead, the dead come forth and are judged accordingly. I suppose it's possible this is a reference to Rev 20 and the resurrections but there needs to be more to go on. "They that hear shall live" covers both the resurrection to life and the resurrection to death. I don't think we should read "and they that hear shall live" as a limited group as it seems to divorce from the context which is as much about comprehension of the Lord's words as it is about the physical reality of the dead rising from the grave.

Hence verse 25 is about the spiritual 'hearing the voice of the Lord' which is life itself, comprehending that voice and the Word, the essence of all life and truth taking up residence in our Spirit, and 28-29 is the physical coming forth of the dead from the graves to appear before the Son of Man.

[Diaste]

On 10/22/2019 at 5:17 PM, JoeCanada said:

Hi seeking the lost,

This is an interesting statement.

If we, all believers in Christ, are not resurrected until the end of the thousand years, the millennium, then what is the purpose of that 1000 year period?

If Jesus rules and reigns on the earth during that 1000 year period, and we are told that we will rule and reign with Him, then how is it that we are not resurrected until after the 1000 years?

I'm with you on this. A promise would not be fulfilled, that of reigning for 1000 years with Christ.

If memory serves day and night, the classic definition of a day, ends when Jesus returns. Sun goes out, moon goes out, stars fall. This is the great event of the last day and there is no more "and the morning and the evening were the first day".  And I don't think there are 'days' in the Millennium:

"I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life."

 

[Uriah]

May I say at this point that the scriptures are clear that people will reign with Jesus for 1,000 yrs. This is why Rev. 20 says, "THIS is the first resurrection......"

I have written multiple about the Matt. 27 "resurrection" that was not.

 

 

Edited December 22, 2019 by Uriah
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