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líe unconsc ious benea t h the
earth?
Three Resurrections
Since man does not have an
immortal soul that continues liv–
ing after death, the only hope for
a personal future is a resur–
rection-a rising from the dead!
The Bible teaches the resur–
rection, not the immor tality, of
the soul! The resurrection is our
only hope of inheriting eterna!
life.
Actually, the Bible speaks of
three resurrections from the dead.
Every person who has ever lived will
be in at least one of them!
The apostle Paul describes the
first resurrection in 1 Thessaloni–
ans 4:16-17:
" For the Lord himself shall
descend from heaven with a
shout, with the voice of the arch–
angel, and with the trump of God:
and the dead in Chr ist [true
Chr ist ians who h ave died
throughout history] shall rise
first: then we which are alive and
remain [true Christians sti ll liv–
ing] shall be caught up together
with them in the clouds to meet
the Lord in the ai r: and so shall
we ever be wi th the Lord."
At the Second Coming of Jesus
Christ , the righteous wi ll be res–
urrected to immortal spiri t life by
the power of the Spirit of God.
They will rule with Christ during
bis thousand-year reign on earth.
They will be changed from mor–
tal to immortal-"born again," to
use the biblical terminology .
(Write for our free booklet,
Just
What Do You Mean - Born
Again?
for an explanation of this
much-misused phrase.)
These resurrected saints shall
be Spirit as God is Spiri t, immor–
tal as he is immortal, divine as he
is divine! They will be born into
bis Family as bis very sons and
daughters!
This first resurrection is also
described in
1
Corinthians 15:51-
54.
The Rest of the Dead
Now, what of those billions of
dead who were cut off from con-
20
tact with God during their life–
times, who lived and died in igno–
rance of God's revealed truth?
They wi ll remain in their
graves until after the thousand–
year reign of Christ and the saints
on earth. They will then be resur–
rected back to physical life in the
second resurrection (Revelation
20:7, 11-12) . They will then be
given their first real chance for
salvation, an oppor tunity to quali–
fy for eventual change to immor–
tality.
Few understand this vital
t ruth! The vast majority of man–
kind has never even had a chance
for salvation!
-
Anciently, the prophet Ezekiel
was permitted by God to see in
vision this great second resur–
rection. God showed Ezekiel a
valley full of dried bones:
"And he said unto me, Son of
man, can these bones live? And
I
answered, O Lord God, thou
[alone] knowest" (Ezekiel 37:3).
God then declared: " Thus saith
the Lord God unto these bones;
Behold,
1
will cause breath to
enter into you, and ye shall live:
and
1
will lay sinews upon you,
and will bring up flesh upon you,
and cover you with skin, and put
breath in you, and ye s hall
live ..." (verses 5 and 6).
Ezekiel then witnessed- across
three-and-a-half millennia into
the future- a portian of this
great worldwide resurrection to
physical life. " ... and the breath
carne into them, " he recortls,
"and they lived, and stood up
upon their feet, an exceeding
great army" (verse
1O).
The Second Death
Finally, what of those who stead–
fastly refuse to foll ow God's way,
those who are given a chance
now, in this life, to qualify for
immortality but turn it down?
These wi ll have a part in the
third resurrection, a resurrection
to physical life, at which time
they will be mercifully de–
stroyed- put out of their misery
forever. They will be consumed
in tbeir ent irety in a lake of fire
(Revelation 20: 13-15), becoming
ashes
under the feet of the righ–
teous (Malachi 4:3). How much
more merciful than the concept
of eterna) torture i n "hell"!
"The wages of sin is death" says
your Bible in Romans 6:23- not
everlasting suffering in hellfire!
This is the "second death"
(Revelation 20: 14) from which
there is no resurrection. The sec–
ond death is final. God is not will–
ing that any perish, but he will
not force salvation on anyone!
" ... there shall be a resur–
rection of the dead, both of the
just and unjust," the apostle Paul
declared (Acts 24: 15). A resur–
rection is the
only
hope for man–
kind!
For an in-depth biblical exami–
nation of this vital s u bject ;-,
request our reprint series, "The
Three Resurrections."
How Can You Be SURE?
The Bible reveals a great future
for the immortal, born-again sons
and daughters of God. But how
can you know that what the Bible
says is really true, that we will
live again?
Hanging in the Tate Gallery in
London is a touching painting by
a mid-nineteenth-century artist.
lt shows a young woman standing
deep in thought by the grave of a
dead loved one. The painting
bears the title,
The Doubt: Can
Th ese Dry Bones Live?
This
question has occupied the
thoughts of mankind for millen–
nia.
On a stone gravemarker near
the woman's feet 1ies a sprouting
chestnut, symbolic of life-possi–
bly the artist's veiled answer to
the question posed by the paint–
ing's t itle. On the gravemarker is
carved a simple but confident
inscription:
Resurgam-" 1
shall
rise again!"
A
powerful statement, that!
But how can you be sure? Is there
any way you can be sure?
Anciently, God's servant Job
asked, " lf a man d ie, shall he live
again?" (Job 14:14). J ob knew
the answer: "all tbe days of my
appointed time willl wait, till my
change [to immortality] come.
The
PLAIN TRUTH