The resurrection of the dead.

by Alejandro Roque Glez.

“Again he said to me, Prophesy on these bones… Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live: And I will lay sinews on you, and will bring up flesh on you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord Yahweh… Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up on their feet, an exceeding great army… O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, and shall put my spirit in you, and you shall live.”

(Ezekiel 37:4-14)

Sin causes death. Death is merely physical––for now––and in our world is expressed through the degeneration of our fleshly body, attached to consequences that affect our organs. The death of the soul as such does not exist, only its extermination by divine ordeal (Mt 10:28). The human dies physically, but still exists and goes to the place of choice. Where is it? The Holy Scriptures speak of Hades-Hell, and the Kingdom of God. One a place of confinement and suffering; and the other a resting place until the resurrection, known since ancient times, as Ezekiel prophesied here for millennia.

Since the beginning of Creation God reveals us that even a man could be raised up to heaven without seeing death; as if prophesying about what would happen to the Son of God centuries later, when he would be raised to heaven in the presence of many followers watching him (Acts 1:6-11). There was also a man of God called Enoch who led a holy life dedicated to the search for the Creator of heaven and earth, and God raised him up to heaven without seeing death (Gen 5:24) as a testimony to his time.

The prophet Elijah the Tishbite who prophesied under the Hebrew kings Ahab, in the Northern Kingdom of Israel, which had as its capital Samaria and king Jehoshaphat in the Southeastern Kingdom-Judea, with Jerusalem and its Temple, around the years 875-850 BC, was also taken up to heaven without seeing death (2 Kgs 2:11); moreover, he appears to Jesus Christ––centuries after––with Moses at the time of the transfiguration (Mt 17:3), for well said the Son of God: “And as touching the dead, that they rise: have you not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spoke to him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: you therefore do greatly err” (Mk 12:26-27).

When Jesus was crucified, it is revealed that some ancient saints––before being raised to heaven––resurrected: “And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared to many” (Mt 27:52-53). Jesus also gave authority to his disciples in order to raise bodies from death, resurrecting them (Mt 10:8). He resurrected his good friend Lazarus after being four days dead (Jn 11:39-44), among others; and that is why he pronounced one of those statements which in those days (like today) terrorizes his detractors, when he said: “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (Jn 11:25).

The disciples which cowardly fled, except Peter, who later denied him even so, were stunned when Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome (Mk 16:1), once coming from the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea where Jesus had been buried, they said it was empty and an angel had told them that he had risen. When Peter and John ran toward the tomb; John got there first, but he could not believe his eyes, the linen cloths and covering (which is made with spices and gums) retained the shape of Jesus’ body but hollow, without the body inside. Peter, the elder and a rough fisherman, with his impetuous character did not stop running and getting inside, what he saw? Christ miraculously was not there! Subsequent to this when they gathered together being very shocked, he appeared and made them to touch him and check it up. Imagine, they had witnessed his punishment, crucifixion and death: what is this now he appeared alive? They did not understand that it was just what he himself had predicted earlier; remember, these men were not lawyers but enthusiastic followers, formed under the daily ministry of the Redeemer. Thomas was not present at the time that Jesus appeared to them. Once he becomes aware said: “Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.” Eight days later Jesus appeared again and said to Thomas: “Reach here your finger, and behold my hands; and reach here your hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said to him: My Lord and my God” (Jn 20:19-28).

What next? Those previous cowards, who once ran when seeing their master and teacher was arrested, now became the heroes of History. Never ever they felt afraid again; walked into the whole known world spreading the Gospel, suffered abuses, jails and tortures. How did their character suddenly change so dramatically? The resurrection! Christ lives! It was the resurrection and the presence of Jesus once conquered death, what made them rise up and become what history reveals to us: the braves who changed and altered the course of our world.

The Bible gives us a window showing life after death while we wait on that great aforementioned resurrection. One day Jesus was surrounded by publicans accompanied with their flatterers, and he decides to tell the story of a rich man and another poor named Lazarus. What happens once they depart (die) from their carnal body? It will be too long if we must add the whole story here, thus better read it yourself (Lk 16:19-31), but we shall certainly remember that the two men were alive––though not with their fleshly bodies––one complained from hell, and the other was resting in the bosom of Abraham; that is, where the saints live until the coming day of their resurrection in the physical body.

The one suffering begged mercy for his family he had left behind: his wife, children and grandchildren, so they do not go to that place of torment where he now lamented, but the final answer given to him was: “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead” (Lk 16:31). In other words: there is the Bible, the Holy Scriptures, if you do not believe in them, it is not of use if an angel, or someone raised up from death appears in person to convince them. Faith––dear reader––is based on the knowledge of the Word of God (Heb 4:12). Do not let anyone, no matter how wise he/she self-portray and is announced, snatch from you the hope of your resurrection and the one of your loved ones; and never forget that you obtain it only through Jesus Christ.

In this quoted passage we are analyzing from Ezekiel’s book, the prophet also is foretelling the restoration of Israel at the End of Time; and same as in ancient times to Job (Job 19:25-27), here we are assured about our victory over the physical and spiritual death. The man of God beautifies life when announcing the obvious hope and promise of the Creator.

That will be a day of eternal happiness when death disappear from our mortal bodies; and then we shall be clothed in purity and incomparable temperance, being immortality the diadem of our lives (1 Cor 15:51-55). Then we will shout loud: “O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?”

There will be sung constant hallelujahs praising our God for the fulfillment of his promise about Eternal Redemption (Rev 15:2-3).

(What will life be on our planet once the Lord fulfills the promise of his coming. If interested you can read it in the form of a literary narrative, recreated in the author's book entitled: 'The King Victorino').

[These and other Old Testament prophecies are explicatively compiled in the author's book entitled: 'Major Prophets of the Old Testament;' in print and digital editions]

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