The purpose of this article is to discuss the subject of resurrection life as it applies to all who are believers in Christ. Contrary to accepted Christian thinking, believers do not have to physically die to obtain resurrection life. There is no Scriptural foundation for the belief that every man has to die. Hebrews 9:27 says � it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this comes judgment; but in Christ there is the opposite promise: � and whosoever lives and believes on me shall never die. John 11:26. At some time we must enter into the experience known as resurrection�and resurrection is not reanimation only; it is a coming forth in another kind of body, one that is eternal and functions in a different manner. And this can occur while we remain on this earth, not necessarily after we die a physical death.
What is resurrection life? Christ was resurrected from the dead and entered into resurrection life, seated at the right hand of the Father. For centuries Christians have believed that we could only have this spiritual relationship with the Father after we died a physical death and then went to �heaven�. It may surprise some to know that this is not always the truth. As a matter of fact death does not mean automatic fulfillment.
Physical death is not a prerequisite for receiving resurrection life. Christ said so much when he gave us what has come to be called �The Lord�s Prayer�. Matthew 6:9-10 states: �Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. �Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven�. This means that God wants His eternal Kingdom to be a reality on earth, just as it is in the spiritual realm of God (heaven). The Kingdom on earth will be composed of not only those who have died who Christ will bring with Him at His coming. There will be those who are on the earth who have entered into the resurrection life of Christ without dying, who are waiting and have actually initiated Christ� second coming.
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In Hebrews 11:1-38 the writer records the names of the greatest men of faith that ever lived on the earth and their deeds (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, etc). Hebrews 11:37-38 states: �They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground�. Yet Hebrews 11:39-40 is very clear that none of these men and women received the full measure of what they were promised just by dying. �And all these, having gained approval through their faith, DID NOT RECEIVE WHAT WAS PROMISED, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect�.
In other words those who have died in Christ will not receive the full promise of their resurrection life until we have received it first. This is borne out by Christ when He said: �But many who are first will be last, and the last, first.� (Mark 10:31; Matthew 19:30). Those who have died first in Christ will be the last to receive their reward because �they without us�, the last, will receive our fulfillment first before them.
Revelation 6:11 states much the same thing as the souls [martyrs] cry out from under the altar asking �How Long O Lord: �When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, �How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?� In other words dying and being martyrs did not automatically give them the complete fulfillment they were seeking. They are beneath the altar crying out for the day when they can be avenged. It is we, who remain on earth, who provide this final judgment so that they receive the fulfillment they cry for.
Paul described the mystery of resurrection succinctly. �Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery; WE WILL NOT ALL SLEEP, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed� (1 Corinthians 15:50-52).
Paul makes two main points here. First he says �we will not all sleep but we will all be changed�. The Greek verb katheudo is used in the New Testament to mean natural sleep but also metaphorically as death (1 Corinthians 15:20; Matthew 27:52; Acts 13:36; John 11:11, Lazarus). As obvious from the reading of verse 51, Paul uses sleep as a metaphor for death (literal sleep does not fit within the context of what he is saying). Thus what he is pointing out is that not all will die (sleep) as a prerequisite for entering the �change� he speaks of i.e. the perishable putting on the imperishable (resurrection life). Many will put on this imperishable change while not tasting physical death.
Paul also draws a clear distinction between those who are changed while they are yet alive and those who are changed as they return with Christ. He says: �for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed� He identifies two groups who will be changed. 1. The dead will be raised [changed]; 2. And we (Paul is speaking of himself as alive, distinct from the dead) will be changed. It is well known that the early church expected Christ�s return to occur during their lifetimes. Many righteous men had died before him but he was pressing toward the mark of the resurrection he believed would occur during his lifetime.
To make the point even stronger, Christ is not returning to the earth (2nd Advent) until all his enemies are defeated on earth and the earth is made a footstool for His feet. ��but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, waiting from that time forward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet� (Hebrews 10:12-13; Psalm 110:1). When Christ was resurrected and sat down at the right hand of the Father he promised to return. This would be the Second Coming of Christ we all await. However, He will not return until all of His enemies on earth have been defeated.
�But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ�s at His coming, then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. THE LAST ENEMY THAT WILL BE ABOLISHED IS DEATH� (1 Corinthians 15:20-26).
How are Christ�s enemies on earth defeated? It is obvious they must be defeated before His return (see above). It is the Sons (plural) who remain on the earth and defeat the enemies of Christ, prior to His return. It is without dispute that Christ is bringing many Sons like Himself, to glory. Hebrews 2:10-11 states: �For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing MANY SONS TO GLORY, to perfect the author of their salvation [Christ] through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them [the Sons] brethren�.
It is these Sons who are perfected on earth prior to the coming of the Lord who defeat the enemies of Christ on earth. Who are these enemies? �For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places� (Ephesians 6:12). These forces of wickedness in heavenly places prevent His coming. He is coming to rule and reign in places occupied by wickedness. We are fighting the god of this world, Satan, the serpent of old to displace him from his wicked rule.
Satan is the god of this world. �But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the GOD OF THIS AGE [Satan] has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them� (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). When Christ died and was resurrected He defeated Satan. It is up to us to enforce that victory.
Christ intends for us to do greater works than He did, including defeating all His enemies. �Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father� (John 14:12).
Paul explained resurrection life but mentions nothing about physical death. He does discuss the fact that we must die to our soul/flesh nature of corruption in order to attain to the heavenly. �that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own. All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish. There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; 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. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So also it is written, �The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL.� The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly� (1 Corinthians 15:37-49).
That we are to be like Christ, even while we remain on earth, is without dispute in the scriptures. John said: �See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children [Sons] of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, WE WILL BE LIKE HIM, because we will see Him just as He is� (1 John 3:1-2). �For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known� (1 Corinthians 13:12).
Christ Himself said: �But I say to you truthfully, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.� (Luke 9:27). Likewise we who live are able to be transformed while we are still living. It is true we will have died to the flesh nature and to the world. Paul said: �I die daily�. But there will come a point, and it is not far off, when those on the earth, believers in Christ, will experience resurrection life just as Christ did and just as those who have gone on before us will. Thus the scripture will be fulfilled: �Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven�. The veil between us and God will be done away with and we will see Him as He is as we will be like Him, a Son of God in every respect. .
