Roughly five centuries before Christ, the prophet Daniel was told by a messenger from God that in the future there would come a day when:
Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever (Daniel 12:2-3).
Popular culture tells us that when someone dies they go immediately to heaven, if they’ve been a good person, or to hell if they have not. This view of the afterlife can be seen in books, and movies, and TV shows, and especially in cartoon; it’s everywhere. That’s why many people find it a bit surprising when they learn that what the Bible teaches is actually quite different, as well as somewhat stranger.
The Scriptures are indeed clear that the death of our physical bodies is not the final end for any of us. That much, at least, agrees with the popular picture. But the Bible is also clear that the dead will one day rise physically from the grave to face judgment. This resurrection of the dead is taught in both the Old and the New Testaments. Jesus himself spoke about it, saying:
“But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous” (Luke 14:13-14).
On another occasion, when one particular group of Jewish scholars, called Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection, tested Jesus with a question about the resurrection and marriage, he replied:
“The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection. But in the account of the burning bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive” (Luke 10:34-38. See also Matthew 22:23-33 and Mark 12:18-27).
The Apostle Paul wrote about the resurrection of the dead in several of his letters, and spoke about it while he was on trial (Acts 24:15). The author of Hebrews tells us about martyrs in the past “who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection” (Hebrews 11:35). And, most interestingly, Revelation shows us not just one, but two resurrections. When Jesus returns, he will first raise from the dead those who were killed for the sake of the gospel (Revelation 20:4-5). The resurrection of the rest of the dead comes later, and with it comes the final judgment (Revelation 21:12-15). Obviously, we should keep in mind that there is a great deal of symbolism in Revelation. But where symbols are used, they are used appropriately. In other words, they are fitting representations of the underlying reality they symbolize. And in this case, the underlying reality the symbols are representing is still that the dead will be raised again to bodily life when Christ returns.
Our future is not to live forever as disembodied spirits, either in heaven or in hell. God created humanity from the beginning as physical, embodied creatures. In fact, he created the human body first, then endowed that body with a spirit (Genesis 2:7). When Christ returns, Scripture tells us that he will bring with him those believers who have “fallen asleep” – a euphemism for death that is common in the New Testament (1 Thessalonians 4:14). But that same passage also tells us that those who have died in Christ will rise from the grave (1 Thessalonians 4:16). The straightforward reading of this passage is that the souls of those believers who have died will return with Christ, and they will be reunited with their newly risen bodies. But those bodies will have been changed:
The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body (1 Corinthians 15:42-44).
In this context, a “spiritual body” does not mean a body that is purely spirit, without any physical substance, but rather a body that draws its life from the source of all life through the Holy Spirit. As one commentary puts it, “it is ‘spiritual’ not in the sense of ‘immaterial’ but of ‘supernatural’”1. And when Christ returns, the bodies of all of us who have not yet died will also be changed in the same way (1 Corinthians 15:51-53).
Why is this important? Well, for one thing, the knowledge that we will rise from the dead should motivate us to continue working to advance God’s kingdom, even in the midst of hardship and opposition. Paul ends his discussion of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians by writing:
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58).
This verse gets quoted by Christians a lot. If we read it in it’s context, however, it’s obvious that this passage is not talking about rewards in heaven. It’s telling us that what we do for the Lord in this world will not be done in vain, because this physical world, transformed and renewed along with our bodies, is where we will live eternally. When Revelation talks about “a new heaven and a new earth” (Revelation 21:1), the Greek word translated new means fresh, unused or unworn. The picture is of a newly restored and recreated world, but not an entirely different kind of existence.
This is not the afterlife that our culture teaches us to expect. It is, however, what the Bible teaches, and it is what Christians have historically believed. The early Christian creeds, statements of faith from the first few centuries of the church, unanimously speak of the coming resurrection.
So the Bible tells us that one day the dead, both believers and unbelievers, will rise to face judgment. But it doesn’t just assert that this will happen; it gives proof. You see, the resurrection has already started. The Apostle Paul wrote to the believers in Corinth:
For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power (1 Corinthians 15:22-24).
The resurrection of the dead began with Jesus. When Christ rose on the third day, he was just the first. Phase 1, if you will. Interestingly, as early as the first century AD, there were some false teachers who claimed that the full resurrection had already taken place (2 Thessalonians 2:2, 2 Timothy 2:18). The Scriptures warn us not to be fooled by such claims. The second phase of the resurrection will take place when Christ returns, and he is not going to return secretly (Matthew 24:26-27). But the fact that he himself rose from the grave is the proof that we who trust in him will one day be raised as well:
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his (Romans 6:5).
So what happens if I die before Christ returns? Some theologians believe that my soul in that case remains unconscious in God’s care until it is reunited with my transformed body at the resurrection. This idea is called soul sleep, and it is definitely a minority opinion. Most theologians hold, instead, that the souls of believers are conscious and aware as they wait in heaven. Jesus’ statement to the criminal on the cross that, “today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43) seems to support this idea, as does the Apostle Paul’s claim that he “would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). Both theories, however, recognize that the souls in heaven are not there to stay, but rather are waiting for the resurrection.
However, the Holy Spirit did not reveal this just because it’s cool. This doctrine of the resurrection of the dead is actually important, because we far too easily fall into the trap of thinking that physical things don’t matter very much. In the past, some have even gone so far as to teach that believers are free to commit any sin they want with their physical bodies, because only spiritual things are important. But our bodies are gifts from God, and we know that when Christ returns:
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away (Revelation 21:4).
Every bodily affliction will be removed, including those that we’ve inflicted on ourselves. But that incredible working of God’s grace does not leave us free to abuse our bodies now. On the contrary, when God created the physical world we live in, a world which includes us, he said that it was very good (Genesis 1:31). To misuse our bodies, therefore, through drugs, or alcohol, or sexual immorality, or even by taking stupid risks, is to misuse God’s gift. A gift that was given to us both for our good and for the good of others around us.
For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory” (1 Corinthians 15:52-54).
1. Fee, Gordon D.
2014 The First Epistle to the Corinthians, Revised Edition. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids.