Resurrection: The state of one risen from the dead. Merriam-Webster Webster
Cambridge Dictionary: In the Christian religion the return of people to life.
Britannica: The event in the Bible in which dead people will be brought back to life.
Oxford English Dictionary: The rising of the dead.
Collins Dictionary: A rising of the dead. The dead coming back to life.
It seems there is agreement in the definition of resurrection. Now what about death ?
Merriam-Webster: the permanent cessation of life.
Britannica: The total cessation of life.
Cambridge: The end of life.
Collins: The permanent end of life of a person or animal.
Seems like there is agreement here too.
Now what about life ?
Merriam-Webster: The quality that distinguishes a vital and functional being from that of a dead body.
Britannica: A newness of life in Christ.
Collins: Life is the quality which people, animals and plants have when they are not dead.
Can a man be both dead and alive at the same time ?
The scriptures teach us that death is exactly as defined above and that life is exactly as described above. Many people believe they are immediately aware and alive when they die. If this is true it renders resurrection useless. It makes Jesus and Paul liars because Jesus and Paul preached a resurrection in the last day of the entire church but not the rest of the unconverted world who will be resurrected in the flesh at the second resurrection. Jesus said in
Revelation 1:18YLT. “I am he who is living, and I did become dead, and, lo, I am living to the ages of the ages.”
Now, Jesus was dead, that is he was not alive, but then he was alive again and lives forever. This is or at least should be very easy to understand. The words of Solomon, Isaiah, Daniel and King David all testify to the state of the dead; they know nothing and can do nothing. The dead are asleep, that is unconscious and unaware of anything. It is a foundation truth of the scriptures that the ONLY way to live again after you die is by a resurrection from the dead. There is no immediate life after death for anyone, everyone dies. Yes, their human spirit returns to GOD but totally inoperative because your human spirit requires a body in which to be conscious, aware and active. This new body is provided to the saints at the resurrection when this mortal must put on immortality. The saints receive a spirit body that is immortal, will not age or decay and die and is our new spiritual life. It is the fulfillment of the promise, the realization of the hope we have now as an heir but at the resurrection an inheritor. Luke 18:18 Mark 19:29 John 12:25
Titus 3:7 “so that having been justified by HIS grace we would become HEIRS with the HOPE of EVERLASTING LIFE.”
There are scriptures that can be misunderstood that many think proclaims immediate life after death but this would directly contradict the truth of the resurrection which is a foundational truth of GOD. It is also not the message of the gospel but a perversion of it. The reward of the saints is not some place in heaven or a condemnation to a place called hell, it is life itself, everlasting life. The saints have been give the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of the promise, the hope of the resurrection. 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 Ephesians 1:13-14 Ephesians 4:30
The timing of our return to life after death is when Jesus appears, in the last day, when the 7th trumpet sounds, when Jesus returns. Any scripture that you interpret to say something different violates the truth of the resurrection and your interpretation is incorrect. Men have crept in unawares and altered scriptures; some deliberately, some by bad translations, some by improper placement of punctuation but all of this can easily be overcome by GODS spirit in the saints.
If GOD enables you to understand this article then you are blessed now, if not you will be blessed later.
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