Death and Resurrection

Death and Resurrection

Death and resurrection are like secondary bookends in Scripture in that they

respectively occur just after creation and just before eternity. Although these

subjects appear to be fully understood by Christians, there are nonetheless

some details applicable to each that are not generally known – the

relationship of the spirit to each event. Therefore, to provide the depth to

comprehend the impact of these two events on man it is necessary to address

the first and second death, the first and second resurrection, and the time

elements of each from the creation of man to eternity. Even though these

subjects are not specifically highlighted in Scripture and dwelt on with finite

detail the Bible nonetheless does provide enough facts through critical

analysis of the Biblical text for us to see the impact on man and the sequence

within the Plan of God.

Secondarily, the concept of being born again will be addressed as it relates

to death and resurrection, and the position some scholars take in that

relationship. And finally, a discussion will be presented on the resurrection

of Jesus as the focal point of this phenomenon and its meaning to our own

resurrection at some time in the future.

Death

“And the Lord God commanded the man saying, ‘Of every tree of the

garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil

you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’”

(Genesis 2:16-17). We all know that after the fall Adam lived for 930 years,

so when God said he would die after eating the forbidden fruit what is the

significance of this statement relative to death?

In order to obtain the full meaning of this statement it is necessary to analyze

the phrase “…for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” The

word used here translated as die means to kill. Thus, taken in the literal

sense, as we understand the word kill, Adam would have died physically on

the spot. But, he did not for as stated above he lived for 930 years.

Therefore, there must be a broader aspect of the term “you shall surely die.”

Before proceeding lets look at the Hebrew word translated as day. It means

warm hours, which comes from a root word meaning to be hot. Thus, the

reference is to a specific time frame for death in accordance with the

statement God made to Adam. But, again Adam lived a long life after the

fall.

Dr. Grant Jeffrey states, “Adam and Eve were created as pure and innocent

human beings, place by God in a perfect world.” As a result, they were

destined to live forever and commune with God in the garden. This

deductive reasoning is derived from the statement, “…for in the day that you

eat of it you shall surely die.” This indicates that if Adam had remained

obedient and thus innocent there was no reason for death. So, what happened

the day he disobeyed and ate the forbidden fruit?

This question leads us to look at two aspects of death, one spiritual and one

physical. When Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and

evil they both realized they were naked (Genesis 3:7). The Hebrew word

translated naked in this verse means exactly what it means in English – to

make bare. But, to find its true meaning we need to look at its root word,

which means to be crafty or cunning. Thus, the Hebrew carries a dual

meaning – they were physically naked, but they were no longer innocent for

they now had the sin nature of being crafty or cunning like Satan. “Now the

serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God

had made.” The KJV uses subtle (cunning) and is from the same root

word as naked. Thus, the result of the disobedience was immediate spiritual

death. Physical death was at this point guaranteed for some time in the

future. However, in addressing death we must analyze the spiritual as well as

the physical for each has a major role in the resurrection topic, which will be

discussed later in this paper.

Spiritual Death

The term spiritual death is relative to our relationship with God. It does not

mean that the spirit ceases to be as in physical death. The spirit came from

God and at physical death the spirit goes back to God. “Then the dust will

return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.”

(Ecclesiastes 12:7). What God does with the spirit is the basic issue

regarding death. Therefore, some instrument of atonement had to be created

to prevent the permanent spiritual death of Adam and Eve, and total

separation from God for eternity. This is found in the first blood sacrifice in

Genesis 3:21. “Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of

skin, and clothed them.” Hebrews 9:22 tells us that without the shedding of

blood there would be no atonement (remission) for sin. So, God killed the

first animal to cover the sin of disobedience by Adam and Eve, thus enabling

their spirit to live. Adam and Eve were spiritually dead, but through the act

of the atonement they became spiritually alive and were not destined to be

totallyseparated from God for eternity.

Regarding their disobedience Dr. Grant Jeffrey states, “As a result of Adam

and Eve’s sinful rebellion, people now possess the knowledge of the

difference between good and evil. God revealed a new test of obedience.

People were to follow the dictates of conscience, rejecting evil and

following good. Yet humanity failed this test of obedience too.” The result

of this failure is the history of the world. The end result is that we can

choose to follow Satan and have spiritual death or we can choose to follow

God and have spiritual life. This is what is meant by the term “to be dead to

sin, but alive in Christ.”

Physical Death

As stated above, physical death is the long-term affect of the original

disobedience by Adam and Eve. God said to Adam, “In the sweat of your

face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were

taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19). What is

being stated here is that although the physical body did not sin, but it is the

spirit that sins, the physical body had to die so the spirit could return to God

for either punishment or for glory. It is at this point the spirit and the

physical body are separated. It is not a permanent separation, as we shall see.

Both will be joined together again at a predetermined time in the future.

We are all familiar with physical death. And, we know to some extent the

cause and affect of physical death. But, it is not fully understood why man’s

life span has over the past thousands of years decreased from an average of

907 years before the flood to what it is today. Although this is detail for

another paper, in essence God slowly changed the environment, initiated by

the effects of the flood, to reduce man’s life span. He did this for two

reasons. One, He knew the longer man lived the more evil he becomes, and

two that if everyone lived an average of 907 years the earth could not

contain the resultant population physically let alone economically. Thus,

there are literally billions of physical bodies buried waiting to be rejoined by

their respective spirit sometime in the distant future.

As stated earlier, the spirit goes back to God when it separates from the

physical body. At this separation, it goes into what is called an intermediate

state to wait for the judgement. The spirit of those who rejected God while in

the body will be sent to Sheol. This place is believed to be a shadowy

underground region inhabited by disembodied spirits of man (Numbers

16:30, Job 11:8, Amos 9:2). It is also described as a place where wicked

spirits await the day of judgement (Acts 2:31, Rev. 1:18).

For believers in God during Old Testament times their spirit went to a

comfortable place of waiting known as Abraham’s bosom (Luke 16:22-26).

However, a great transformation occurred after Christ’s death and

resurrection when He defeated Satan. For those believers in Christ since the

cross, at death their spirit goes immediately to a place called paradise to be

in the presence of the Lord (Luke 23:43). Paul states in 2 Corinthians 5:8,

“We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and

to be present with the Lord.”

Second Death

The above discussion represents the physical death of man and the departure

of his spirit to the intermediate state. This is defined as the first death. The

second death is not actually a death in the physical sense where the body

goes to the ground, as in “dust you shall return”, but a place where eternal

pain and torment is the norm. The details of this process will be explained

later in addressing the resurrection. However, the reason it is called the

second death is that those who fall into this category will be completely

separated from God and be tormented forever. We first see this separation

in Genesis 4:13-14. “And Cain said to the Lord, ‘My punishment is greater

than I can bear! Surely You have driven me out this day from the face of the

ground; I shall be hidden from Your face…” The fact that God had hidden

Cain from His face means that Cain is forever separated from God. Thus, the

second death will be a literal living hell where the body and the spirit are

joined. More on the joiningof the body and spirit later.

Resurrection

Before getting into the details of the resurrection I think it necessary to

address the position some hold that being born again is the first resurrection,

when in fact it is not a physical resurrection, but a spiritual transformation.

John 3:3 and 5 states, “Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I

say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he

cannot enter the kingdom of God.’” Then in verse 6 He states, “That which

is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

Although some may hold to a position that being born again is a resurrection

it cannot be since the definition of resurrection is to stand up or rise up from

the dead. Resurrection is in direct reference to the physical body not the

spirit. As explained herein, the spirit joins the body at resurrection – i.e. the

spirit of the one who was dead and is being resurrected. The act of being

born again is the process of accepting Christ as one’s Savior and thus

enabling the Holy Spirit to co-habitate with his spirit, which is in the blood.

This is no resurrection, but it does ensure the one being born again will take

part in the first resurrection.

In regards to the water baptism in verse 5, it is in keeping with Jesus’

baptism in Matthew 3:15. Jesus told John the Baptist, “Permit it to be so

now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Three words

within this text basically define the baptism effect – fitting, fulfill, and

righteousness. Fitting refers back to Numbers chapter 19 in that water was

used to cleanse the High Priest before he entered the Holy of Holies. Fulfill

applies to something prescribed by God. And righteousness means to attain

integrity, virtue, purity of life, uprightness, correctness in thinking, feeling

and acting.

Since Jesus combined the water baptism and the Holy Spirit as the absolutes

for being born again this places the act strictly as the initial event to attain

the first resurrection. Born again applies to the physical living body and

spirit whereas the resurrection applies to the physical dead body and the

joining thereto of the previously separated spirit at the first death. To say

that being born again is the first resurrection in misinterpreting Scripture and

exegetical heresy.

Corruptible/Incorruptible

To fully appreciate the discussion herein on the resurrection it is first

necessary to address the corruptible and incorruptible body concept. When a

person is born he/she is born into corruptibility as a result of Adam and

Eve’s sin. That body is subject to death. The definition of corruptible is to

pine or waste away, to spoil or wither. The body is subject to decay thus

perishable regardless of what man can do. On the other hand, incorruptible is

defined as unending existence, meaning the body is not subject to that

imposed by corruption. Incorruptible is the act of continuance or of being

genuine. We do not really know all the attributes of the incorruptible body

for in that state we will not be subject to time or space yet we will seem to

function as before. This is evident in the things Jesus did after His

resurrection.

Resurrection

Resurrection is defined as to stand up again as in Matthew 22:23. “The same

day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked

Him…” However, in 27:52-53 it means resurgence from death or to rise.

“And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen

asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they

went into the holy city and appeared to many.” The first reference is in

connection to a general resurrection whereas the second is in reference to the

resurrection of Christ. Then in Philippians chapter 3 Paul states that he

anticipates the coming of the resurrection of the dead admitting that he is not

perfect. The underlying message here is that Paul knows he will be much

better off with Christ in an incorruptible body.

Before proceeding with the rest of the details of the resurrection, I think it is

necessary to differentiate the three references to this subject cited in

Matthew and Philippians.

The Sadducees say there is no resurrection. The Greek word translated here

for resurrection is anastasis meaning to stand up. The adverb ana means up,

whereas stasisis from aprimary root meaning to stand. Thus, the Sadducees

were saying if a person died he would not be capable of standing up as

before in his original state. However, we know this did happen in the case of

Lazarus whom Jesus brought back to life. But, Lazarus was still in his

corruptible body.

In Matthew 27:52-53 the Greek word used for defining the resurrection of

Jesus and the saints is egersis. As stated above, it means resurgence from

deathyetit portrays the idea of collecting one’s faculties or to gather. It

figuratively means to gather or collect together something previously non-

existent. In this case it is incorruption, which is the first occurrenceof this

phenomenon.

Then in Philippians 3:11 the Greek word Paul uses is exanastasis, which

means to arise from death. It is from aroot word meaning to produce or

beget. It also uses the same adverbana as anastasis meaning up. However,

exanastasis contains the preposition ex or ek denoting origin or from whence

motion or action proceeds. In this sense Paulis making reference to Christ’s

resurrection for without His act of resurrection (corruptible to incorruptible)

there would be no true resurrection.

But, what does all this mean, and what is the process? As I stated in the

discussion on the spirit, at physical death the spirit departs the body. The

spirit goes to the immediate state whereas the body goes to the grave where

rot and decay begins. God told Adam that at death his body returns to the

dust of the ground from which it came. However, when resurrection occurs

the decayed body takes on incorruption and is again joined by the spirit that

was in the immediate state. So, now we have the body and the spirit back as

one, but in an incorruptible form. This means at the point of resurrection the

body and the spirit begin eternity.

This act of resurrection applies to the good (those in God and Christ), and

the wicked (those who have never accepted God and Christ or those who

rejected them) at their respective resurrections. The good go to be with

Christ for eternity while the wicked to the lake of fire for punishment

throughout eternity. Both are in incorruptible bodies, and are joined by their

respective spirits. This is eternity.

Two Resurrections

Just as there is the first and second death there is also the first and second