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Too, Jesus himself said that
" no man hath ascended up to
heaven" (John 3: 13).
There can be no doubt. Death is
the end of this physical life, this
present chemical existence.
But, does that mean we can do
our own thing without fear of con–
sequences-eat, drink, and be
merry now because tomorrow we
die?
Positively not!
Here's why.
The re ' s Mo re to Llfe than Death
The Great God has pul us here on
this earth for a great eternal pur–
pose. Not just to have the best
fling possible, then die. There is a
tremendous purpose, not even
understood by this world's reli–
gions, in our existence. We are on
t his earth for a reason . l t involves
t he answer to why we humans
suffer through the gamut of emo–
tions, troubles or good times of
human life.
Ancient Job knew the reason.
Job once reached a point near
death, psychologically and physi–
cally. Everything dear to him had
been taken away. He lost all of his
children in a tornado, as well as
ail
of his wealtb because of thieves and
a fire. Now, he was physically
stricken and racked with pain. Run–
ny, puss-filled boils covered his
ent ire body from head to foot. The
idea of death seemed sweet to J ob.
Job knew that if he died now, his
present pain and distress would be
over . Then he would wait in death,
asleep in the grave, as the Bible puts
it in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14, unt il
Godjerked him upout ofthatgrave
later. " I f a man die, shall he live
again?" Job asked himself in a sort
of reassurance knowing full well he
would. And he answered himself
with the next words: "Ail the days
ofmy appointed time will 1wait, till
my change come. Thou shalt call,
and 1 will answer thee: thou wilt
have a desire to the work of thine
hands" (Job 14: 14-15).
lf a Man Die, Sha ll He Ll ve
Agaln?
But how wi ll man , dead in the
g rave, live again? Jesus himself
June/ July 1981
answers: " Marvel not at this, for
t he hour is coming, in the which
all that are in the graves shall
hear his voice, and shall come
forth; they that have done good,
unto the resurrection of life; and
they that have done evi l, unto the
resurrection of [j udgment]"
( John
5:28-29).
There will be an accounting for
our behavior in this life! You are
going to be in one or another res–
urrection. There are going to be,
in fact, three kinds of résur–
rection. But what does the Bible
mean by a resurrection?
The F ir st Resurrectl on
Paul describes the firs t resur–
rection as taking place at Christ's
Second Coming to restore the gov–
ernment of God over the whole
earth. This soon coming event is
described in
l
Thessalonians 4:
16:
"For the Lo rd himself sh a ll
descend from heaven with a shout ,
with the voice of t he archangel,
and with the t rump ofGod: and the
dead in Christ shall rise first."
"This is the first resurrection"
(Revelation
20:5,
last sentence).
" Biessed and holy is he that hath
part in the first resurrection,"
says God, "on such the second
death hath no power" (Revelation
20:6).
T hose who will be in the first
resu rrection are d escribed in R ev–
elation
14: 12: " .. .
they that
keep the commandments of God,
and the faith of J esus." They are
few in number because most
people do not keep the Ten Com–
mandments! lncl uded, in H e–
brews
11,
are Bible notables:
Abraham, Isaac, J acob, Joseph,
David, Rahab and a host of others
not ment ioned, but known and
chosen by God. They will never
have to face death again. They
will rise out of t heir graves as
immortal spi ri t sons of God. They
will be changed from ftesh and
blood mortality to eterna! immor–
tal spirit life. They are those who
wcre converted in this life, who
received the promise of eterna!
life through the Holy Spirit
which imparts the divine nature
(U Peter 1:4) and impregnates
them with the beginning of eter–
na! life (1 Pe ter
1
:23).
But what about the multitudes
of people who never knew God, or
the Bibl e? What a bo u t the
hundreds of millions of people
now living in areas of the world
who have no access to the Bible?
Those deliberately kept from the
knowledge of God in this atheistic
secular, deceived world ?
The Sec ond Resurrect lon!
The billions of people who once
lived, but never knew God, and
never had the opportunity to
understand and choose His way of
life, will have thei r opportunity.
They will have their turn in the
second resurrection, a thousand
years after the first resurrection.
These are those mentioned in R ev–
elat ion
20:5,
called "the rest of the
dead": " But the rest of the dead
lived not again unt il the thousand
years were finished ." Think of it!
Every person now living without
the true revealed knowledge of
God, or who has lived and died, will
have a time of judgment in which
either to accept or reject tbe way of
lifeofGod.
John describes the second res–
urrection in Revelation
20:12:
"And I saw the dead, small and
great, stand before God; and the
books were opened : and another
book was opened , which is
the
book of lije:
and the dead were
judged out of those things which
were written in the books, accord–
ing to their works." There would
be no reason for a book of life to
be opened if none were to receive
eternallife. It wi ll be a time when
humanity as a whole will come to
know God and receive bis Holy
S pirit, which imparts a new spiri–
tuaJ life in mortal humans once
again living in the flesh. See Eze–
kiel 37:11-14.
The Third Resurrectlon
There are, sadly, those who know–
ingly reject God, and God's way
of life. These will be in t be third
resurrection.
The third resurrection is abso–
lu tely final. A ll who spurn God
and God's way of life, and d ied a
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