The thought of resurrection comes mostly during Easter Sunday, which commemorates when Jesus resurrected from the tomb, that he was buried in for 3 days after being crucified.
Jesus and his apostles professed that anyone who believes in his resurrection after 3 days and being crucified for our sins will be saved and not perish and be resurrected like Jesus and have an eternal life with God.
Last Sunday, I shared how important it is to know what eternal life will be with God. In heaven God will live with us and we will be his children. There will be no more tears, death, sorrow, or pain. We will always look upon the face of God and he will give us his name and serve him forever in his light.
It will also be important to understand what we become when we are resurrected. Our faith rest in the hope we have in God’s promise of a new resurrected eternal life given to all whose faith is found worthy by our Lord Jesus Christ.
In Luke, we find what is and is not someone who is resurrected.
Luke 20: 27 Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question. 28 "Teacher," they said, "Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. 30The second 31 and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. 32 Finally, the woman died too. 33 Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?
During the time of Jesus, the Sadducees were a political group that believe only in the written laws of God, found in the five books of Moses, called the Torah. The Sadducees denied the resurrection of the dead and an afterlife, saying the soul ceased to exist after someone dies and the body forever remain in the grave. They also do not believe in angels or demons.
Their opponent the Pharisee were a religious group that believed in the Torah and the writings of God’s prophets. They believed in the resurrection of the dead and an afterlife, believing they would be resurrected to reward or punishment in a future world based upon their behavior in this world. Believing at the resurrection God will raise the dead back to life in human form and reunited with their souls. Similar to what you can read in Ezekiel 37.
The Sadducees knew Jesus believed in the resurrection because he preached that he was the resurrection and the life that anyone who believes in him even though they die will live.
They tried to trap Jesus asking him who of the 7 husbands will be the woman’s husband at the resurrection. They knew that God would only allow the woman to have one husband.
So, Jesus tells them what will really happen at the resurrection.
Luke 20: 34 Jesus replied, "The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. 35 But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, 36 and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God's children, since they are children of the resurrection.
Jesus said the marriage union between a man and a woman only exist while they live on earth, but those who are found worthy by him will be resurrected with a new body that no longer have the need for marital union. They will be like the angels who do not have that need.
Paul also explains what kind of body we will have at the resurrection.
1 Corinthians 15: 42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a lifegiving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.
At the resurrection, our bodies will be transformed into a new imperishable glorified spiritual body and not one of perishable and sinful flesh that the Pharisees believed in. Our new spiritual body will be like that of Jesus with his mind, seeing everything from his perspective.
The Sadducees and the Pharisees could not understand the resurrected spiritual body that Jesus said will be given to those he found worthy at the resurrection because they did not know the truth of God’s word or his power.
Matthew 22: 29 Jesus replied, "You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.
The faith that our Lord Jesus finds worthy is one that hope in what eternal life and the resurrection will truly be.
Colossians 3: Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
Set your heart on your eternal life and your resurrection.
Be safe in Jesus, Ps. Glenn