Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas
Jeremy approaches Bible teaching with a passion for getting the basic doctrines explained so that the individual can understand them and then apply them to circumstances in their life. These basic and important lessons are nestled in a framework of history and progression of revelation from the Bible so the whole of Scripture can be applied to your physical and spiritual life.
Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas
NT Framework - The Nature of the Resurrection
Not resuscitation. Not reincarnation. In short, not what you think or are expecting. Resurrection, a promise from God that is thousands of years old holds tremendous promise and expectation.
More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com
This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).
Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner.
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and our series on the New Testament framework. Today, the full lesson from Jeremy Thomas. Here's a hint of what's to come.
SPEAKER_03:There's a reason we're going to get a resurrection body. I mean, there's a specific function that God has for the human race. These are not angelic functions, they are human functions, and we're designed with to get a resurrection body for purposes.
SPEAKER_00:Are you happy with your current body? Do you wish it would be better in some way? Well, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you get a do-over. In fact, it's the best do-over ever. Because when we pass from this life into the next, Christ, by his example, by his promises, testimony, and by the covenant of God with Abraham, we will be resurrected into a glorified version of this body. So whatever faults and problems you have with this one, maybe it's arthritis, migraines, maybe it's just some fatigue and tiredness. Whatever your gripe is with this current body, when we are resurrected into our eternal glory, we have a perfected version of this body. And this isn't some made-up hope that we have. This isn't a fairy tale that we tell ourselves. This goes all the way back to the book of Job and his understanding of his Savior. It goes back to Abraham and the covenants God made with him, and it traces all the way through the Gospels. Resurrection. It's a mystery that we don't really understand. There are many details that we cannot comprehend, and yet that does not invalidate the truth of what will happen. Today we look at resurrection, its nature, so that we can understand its meaning.
SPEAKER_03:I should have titled this the nature of the resurrection, because I want to talk about the resurrection body. I'll probably talk a little bit about the meaning or significance next week. So, but let's look at the nature of the resurrection body. So the resurrection body, as we talk about it, is distinct from a spirit, by which I'm talking about a spirit, like a spirit being, like an angel. It's also distinct from the idea of resuscitation, and it's also different from what is known in the religious world as reincarnation. So I want to talk about these so we get an understanding of the nature of the resurrection body. So part of that is saying what it is not. So the resurrection body is not a spirit. Now, when I say that, I don't mean that it that the resurrection body does not have a spirit. I'm not meaning that. Of course, we will have a human spirit in the resurrection body. In fact, it's the same human spirit that you have now, which is very interesting. The moment you believe in Christ, you are regenerated, right? That word's used a couple times, used in Matthew 19, 28, used in Titus 3, and other words that are used are like born again or born from above, another in John 3. This is the concept that the moment you believe in Christ, your human spirit is made alive to the things of God. It is born again in that sense. And your human spirit actually has no more changes to undergo. It is the human spirit that you will always have from now in in the resurrection body. So what we but what we don't have now is the resurrection body. So when I say the human the resurrection body is not a spirit, I don't mean you won't have a human spirit, of course. I simply mean that it's not a spirit in the sense of an angel. Okay, we're not gonna be angels. Um, no matter what Hallmark says, you know, or anything, precious moments which are precious. Uh, but nevertheless, we're not gonna be like angels. Angels are spirit beings, and what's interesting about angels is that they can be seen in the immaterial realm even though they don't have a physical body. So there is another realm outside of the senses, the five senses that God gave us for this realm. And in that other realm, angels can be seen even though they are spirit. Now, in the material realm, when they have come into this world, they appear in human bodies and can eat food. So, for example, in Genesis 19, you have the story of Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah, and uh they're two angels, but they appear as men. I mean, for all intents and purposes, Lot thought they were men. Okay. And they can eat food because in that chapter they sit down and they eat food. So that's very interesting because it must mean that at least on that occasion, when these angels came into the material realm, they materialized in some way. So when they ate food, it didn't just, you know, fall through their mouth and you could see it falling to the ground as if they were just a spirit or something like that. They were able to eat food. Now we don't know what happened to the food or anything like that. These are all very interesting things that we can't really glimpse too far into. Um people have unknowingly entertained angels. That's probably talking about the instances in Genesis 18 and 19. So we might turn over to that one, Hebrews chapter 13, verse 2. These are not just interesting points. Um, they are interesting, but they're not just interesting, they're for another purpose. Hebrews 13 2 is giving some very practical reason uh for showing hospitality to strangers. So that's the practical application. He says, Let love of the brethren continue. We're to be known for our love for one another, right? Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it. So they didn't understand or know that the people they were showing hospitality to were strangers, but in fact they were. And so, you know, maybe you have entertained angels, I don't know. But you should show hospitality because this foreigner, this stranger may be indeed, in fact, an angel. Uh, angels can destroy human armies in entire cities. God has enlisted them as his uh ministers of fire, you know, and they can uh carry out judgments and things like that on human armies as well as entire cities, such as Sodom and Gomorrah, and then a story in 1 Chronicles 21. And angels move the stone that covered the entrance to the tomb. So all we're doing here is looking at uh beings that we will not be these beings, we're not going to become angels, but you can see that they enter, they can uh enter into the material realm and they can interact with it. So they m if they moved the stone that covered the entrance to the tomb, then somehow spirit beings materialize in a way that they could interact with the actual stone so that they could move it out of the way. Very interesting. And let's turn to Luke 24 37. Some thought that the resurrected Jesus was a spirit and not, you know, no physical or material body. Luke 24, verse 37. This is the same story about the we looked at last week, the road to Emmaus and the disciples along the road that Jesus spoke with. You notice in verse uh 37, or no, this is the story just after that, isn't it? We'll be back in that story a little bit later, I think. But Luke 24, 37, they were startled and frightened when he showed up in the midst of the room, right? And thought they were seeing a spirit. But then he showed to them that he was not a spirit. He said to them, Why are you troubled and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have. Which is interesting because we know angels have in some sense materialized, but he says, as far as their basic nature, they do not have flesh and bones, they're not material, even though when they've come into contact with this realm, they've been given a physical appearance and some type of materiality that was temporary. So, um, but Jesus was in his resurrection body, he was not just a spirit. He says, Touch me, see that I have flesh and I have bones. Now that's interesting because later in 1 Corinthians 15 it says, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. And it's speaking of the resurrection, the idea that we have to be chained in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. So over there he says, You, you know, flesh and bone, flesh and blood cannot inherit that world to come. But here Jesus says, I have flesh and I have bone. Well, how both passages say flesh. One says he has it and obviously he's gonna inherit the kingdom. Other says you can't have it and inherit the kingdom. How do we understand this? Well, this flesh is obviously something different. It's something different. Uh it doesn't require vascular vascularization through blood. Blood does not inherit. So, whatever the nature of the resurrection body is, it's not gonna have blood. Blood is the transport for the oxygen that we breathe, right, through our into our lungs, and it transfers through the alveoli, into the capillary system, around your lungs, and then goes into your arteries, you know, and then to the rest of your body, and then back through your veins to get, you know, more oxygen from the lungs into the heart again, and all that, right? So, but we are not gonna have blood, so it's not required. And his resurrection body did not have blood, but it did have a flesh, something like the flesh that we have now, but something different. And that's the thing about resurrection we're gonna see. The resurrection body is both similar to our present body, but it's also different, it's also different, and that's one of the similarities. It has a flesh, but it's different, and then it doesn't have blood. Um what else do we see here? Um when Samuel was called up, or called up Saul, he wanted the witch of Endor to call up, or Saul wanted him to call up Samuel, right? Now, some people think well, this is a very interesting and challenging chapter of the Bible in 2 Kings, but did Samuel come up? I mean, he was already dead. Did he come up from the grave? Now, I this is my personal opinion, but I don't think he came up physically. I think what happened was Saul was given eyes to see in that realm. He was given eyes to see into that unseen realm. Now, a lot of people get on a tangent here on the idea that there has to be an intermediate body. This idea that after you die, yes, your your body stays here, but you get an intermediate body until the day of resurrection. I have some questions, a lot of a whole lot of questions about that. But first of all, did Jesus get an intermediate body? That's the first thing I'd ask. Did Jesus, is there any indication in the Bible that Jesus had an intermediate body during the three days and three nights he was in the grave? There's no indication of that. Um is it required that we have some kind of intermediate body in the unseen realm? I don't see why it is. You got angels, they don't have a body. They're as spirits. And these spirits can apparently be seen in that realm. So why is it required that we have to have a physical body in that realm? Why can't we just be spirits until the day of resurrection? Um, if we got an intermediate body, why would we need a resurrection body later? What's wrong with the one that God made us as an intermediate? Something wrong with that? I mean, I thought God did everything right. So there's, see, there's a lot of weird ideas, I think, that are attracted to the intermediate body. I don't think that it really holds up. Because we have direct evidence that God can has given and does give people the ability to see into the unseen realm at times and to see angels, even though they're simply pure spirit beings. So I don't see any necessity for any kind of intermediate body, and actually creates a lot of problems. Uh, what would happen to that intermediate body once we got done with it and we got a resurrection body? Would it have to be buried? Um, how could it die? How could it die if it's not sinful? How could it be done away with? See, so there's so many problems that accrue to the concept of an intermediate body. Um I think it's much easier to simply explain that just as Elisha's servant was given eyes to see the angelic spirits that surrounded them, so God can give us eyes to see one another in the intermediate state. But that's not the resurrection state. The resurrection state is a state in which we do receive a resurrection body that is somehow related to our previous body, but also distinct from it. But the resurrection body is not just a spirit. We're not going to be angels. Uh and there's a reason for that. God has a reason. He could have just made us turn into spirit beings, but he had something, he has something different in mind for us. And it has to do with our function. Let's back up so you don't read on. But um in biology, I got a degree in biology, right? That's what I did in my undergrad. They always said form establishes function. Like everything, and I was like, can't you guys see the God who created the form? I mean, to give you know certain functions. Uh I mean you're created a certain way with certain appendages, arms, feet, you know, you know, it's not just by chance you have ten fingers and not, you know, four, you know, opposable thumbs, all these things, every everything has the form that we are in uh points to certain functions that we can fulfill. And if you're not in this form, you can't do certain functions. So in where am I going with this? Uh I'm having a rough day on my memory, you know. What happens when you turn 50? Is there something that happens? I don't know, had delayed for four months or so, but still it's happening. Um, but oh, there's a reason we're gonna get a resurrection body. I mean, there's a specific function that God has for the human race. These are not angelic functions, um, they are human functions, and we're designed with to get a resurrection body for purposes. Okay, so the second point then, as we move on from the body, is not the resurrection body is not just a spirit, it's not the same as the idea of resuscitation. Okay, Lazarus is a great example of resuscitation, and there are others who are resuscitated. Um, in the book of Acts, this guy is listening to sermon by Paul. He waxes into the night, and he falls out the window, a couple stories, and he dies. Uh, but Paul goes down and he is resuscitated. He comes, but that means you come back in the same body that you uh were in before you died. This is uh evident with Lazarus because when he comes back in John 11, he has the same wrappings that they wrapped his body in, on. So he was clearly resuscitated. He doesn't get a resurrection body at that time. This means I always kind of felt bad for Lazarus. The guy died, now he's back. Like, you know, it was better on the other side. Now I've got to go through this again. And so apparently he has to live, and we don't know how much longer, but evidently he he died again. Um that's interesting. Um this is then a lot like modern-day CPR, except it can happen a lot longer after the death of the person. I mean, in in our world, you know, after about 40 minutes, if the person is brought back by CPR, there's very likely going to be a very extreme health problem for that individual. But uh Lazarus was resuscitated on the fourth day. So very obviously it's a miracle, right? I mean, you can take this body and all the tissues and and no more oxygen is given to them for till the fourth day, it's decaying quite rapidly. They said, Well, by now it's gonna stink. The women said, Let's not go in there. And so all those systems, all the physics, all the biology, all the chemistry was somehow restored and he came back to life. So, but that's still not right, resurrection. That's not what's gonna happen, thank God, because then of course we'd still be in mortal bodies and we'd be subject to dying again. So um CPR may be good to bring someone back in this body, give them more opportunity to believe if they're not a believer. If they're a believer, give them more opportunity to serve, right? But it's not the condition we ultimately want to remain in. So that's not resurrection. Um, the resurrection body third is not the same as reincarnation. Um I finally took some time this year to kind of look into this Eastern concept, and without going into their concept of eternality, basically what they believe is that the soul is eternal and that it migrates from body to body. They call this transmigration. So, first of all, something that the Bible does not teach, but they believe is that the soul is eternal. It doesn't have a beginning, it's just eternal. But secondly, that this soul is simply migrating from body to body, this is their idea, in a path that's ultimately toward nirvana. Not the music group from Seattle. But uh nirvana. Nirvana is the concept that they realize in the in the East, not originally, but later in their history, that, you know, why do we have to keep coming back in different bodies? And because all that means is what? If you're in one body, you go through that life, that life involves what? Suffering and death. Then you get in another body, and what does that life involve? Suffering and death. And then you go in another body. What does that mean? Suffering and death. And so they came up with the concept of nirvana because they were like, who wants to keep coming back and doing suffering and death? This is no fun. So nirvana is the concept that it can be escaped. You know, the birth, life, death cycle can be escaped. And so that's the concept of reincarnation. And they'll argue for it from the instances of deja vu, like you feel like you've been somewhere before or some event happened before, uh, near-death experiences, apparitions, after death communications, out-of-body experiences, uh, deathbed visions, and so forth. But that's very clearly different from the idea of resurrection. Our soul isn't just migrating into a fully different body. Instead, in resurrection, we have this concept. The resurrection body is the transformation of the present physical body into another physical body that is similar to your current body, but also different from your current body. Okay? So it's a transformation. That's that's the key word. And of course, we look at Christ. This is the first, first of all, he's the first resurrected from the dead, right? And we have more information about his resurrection than anybody else's, obviously, because he's the only one that was raised. So his resurrection body, it was the body that was in the tomb that was wrapped, and then had the facecloth, right? And when they went to the tomb, he wasn't there, the body wasn't there, and nobody had stolen the body. So what they discovered was that the body had actually transformed into his resurrection body. So somehow, you know, obviously by God's power, this is possible to. Occur. And in fact, it will happen to all bodies. Every person who's ever lived or ever will live will ultimately be resurrected. So that's what the resurrection body is. It's a transformation of our present body into a new body. Now, this body, let's go to 1 John 1. This is a reference to Christ's resurrection body. 1 John chapter 1 is described as like eternal in nature in this passage, but it can be heard, it can be seen, it can be touched. He says, What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at, and touched with our hands, concerning or related to the word of life, and the life was manifested, we have seen, and we testify, and we proclaim to you this eternal life. It was with the Father, it was manifested to us, we saw it, we heard it, we proclaim it to you. So there's a grounds for fellowship with one another. So that's interesting. Of course, John 20, 27. John 20, 27. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, right? Matthew, Mark, and Luke are the synoptic gospels, meaning they seen through the same eyes, but John is more theological. It's not a synoptic. It gives theological evaluation of the significance of the things that happen in the synoptics. John 20, 27. This is Thomas and so forth. After eight days, verse 26, the disciples were again inside, Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors haven't been shut, and stood in their midst and said, Peace be with you. Very interesting moment. Then he said to Thomas, Reach here with your finger and see my hands, and reach here your hands and put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving, but be believing. See, it could be seen. Obviously, his voice could be heard as he spoke to Thomas, and his body could be touched. The resurrection body could be touched. It can eat and drink. We're in John. So look over at chapter 21, verse 12. 21, verse 12. So this is interesting. Let's just read it. Jesus said to them, verse 12, come and have breakfast. This is a you know the story of put the nut on the other side. You know, that story. None of the disciples ventured to question him, Who are you? Knowing that it was the Lord, showing you can recognize a person in the resurrection body. You're going to know one another. I'm going to know you, you're going to know me, sorry. But, you know, we're going to recognize one another. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and the fish likewise. This is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. Presumably he ate. Other passages say he did eat. I've got several listed here. Some of them state explicitly, though it does not state it explicitly here, it's just inferred. But it can eat and it can drink. He says, you know, I'll show you, you know, and we saw some of that in Luke 24. But this, so this is an interesting idea. Now, I've already talked about angels a little bit and how they're spirit beings, but when they come into this world, we see them eating and drinking in Genesis 19. And here's Jesus, and he's eating and drinking in a resurrection body. So, in that sense, angels, however they materialize, it was very similar to what Jesus was in the resurrection body. Am I saying angels had a resurrection body on that experience? No, I don't know. I'm just saying that the experience of eating and drinking was shared between angels and the resurrected Christ. So that's an interesting idea. Now, um, it can take up space and it weighs something. John 20, 27. Obviously, it takes up space. If if Jesus says to Thomas, reach here, you know, with your finger and see my hands, reach here, your hand, put it in my side. It's obviously taking up space. Presumably it weighs something because you can't press on something that doesn't weigh anything. So presumably it weighs something. But, you know, we really don't know much about this body. We know some things. Well, we don't definitely don't know all things. We don't know the biology, the chemistry, and the physics of the resurrection body, because nobody's ever been able to experiment on one. We've never been able to take one to the lab and dissect it, which would require that the body actually be perishable and not imperishable. So it's not possible that you could even do an experiment on the body. Now you could do experiments that don't kill the body, you know, don't inflict harm to it, whatever that would mean, because you can't you can't do that to that body. But um no one has ever done this. Uh we just know that they are imperishable. We also know that they have flesh, um, but it's a different type of flesh. Again, it's not like a vascularized tissue like with blood, like we have. So you say, well, yeah, but what is I don't know. All I know is it's wonderful. Whatever it is, it's wonderful. It's not subject to scarring, right? We're not gonna have scars, we're not gonna injure ourselves in the resurrection. Uh, presumably, we're not gonna trip over you know a stump and hurt ourselves or injure ourselves. Uh whatever it is, it's uh it's a remarkable body because it is imperishable, it's immortal, right? And so I wish I could tell you so much more about it, but we'll just have to wait and see, right? We'll just have to wait and see. Now, then to break this down a little bit, the resurrection, and we'll go to 1 Corinthians 15. The resurrection body that we will have is both different from and similar to our present bodies. Different from and similar to. And this makes it very different than anything like reincarnation or something like that. No, no other belief system has a concept like that that's just explored in the scriptures. 1 Corinthians 15. Now, last week we went through the logical reason for the resurrection, the theological reason for the resurrection, and the moral reason for resurrection. Or in seminary, we call it axiological. That's just to be fancy and have like a little it doesn't matter. Okay, verse 35. Here is more about the nature of the resurrection body. Someone will say, now that's by the way, that phrase, but someone will say, when you see that in in the text of the Bible, and you see it here, you see it in James 2, and you see it in the controversial James 2, where you see it. And also in Romans 9, I believe, someone will say, This is this is to introduce a debate opponent in the ancient world. It's a hypothetical debate opponent. So Paul is saying, okay, but someone's gonna come along to me, a debate opponent, and they're gonna say this. Yeah, well, how are the dead raised, Paul? Answer that one. That's that's the the mode of what's happening here. And so that will help, actually, if you're studying, you go to James 2, and James says, but someone will say, and there's a section there in the controversial section of James 2, and you know now that whatever is said, it's in 2.18, whatever is said after that is the words of a debate opponent. It's somebody that's against James, disagrees with James. It's the same passage that says, uh, even the spirits believe that God is one, even the demons believe that God is one. That phrase comes out of the mouth of somebody who disagrees with the truth of the Bible. So can you use that to prove your theology? If you do, you're using the truth that's anti-biblical. And a lot of people use that section to try to say that faith is not enough. Because even the demons have faith. But that those words come right out the mouth of someone who disagrees with James. So whatever he means, it can't be true. It's false. So I don't think you can use that to say it's not faith alone. In fact, it's proving exactly the opposite of that would be true. That faith is enough. But there isn't a plan of salvation for demons. And believing that God is one doesn't get one to heaven anyway. One must believe that Jesus died for their sins and rose again. So the content that someone has to believe to be saved isn't that God exists. That's not enough, is it? But someone will say, an opponent, how are the dead raised? Answer that one, Paul. With what kind of a body do they come? And they think it's they think it's foolish that Paul and the Corinthians would believe in resurrection, of course. But Paul says, hey, you're the one that's a fool, right? You fool. That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies. Now he's using agriculture metaphor. We're right in the spring, so this is the time you're planting, right? You're planting, and and and maybe you, let's say you started with seeds. Now, that which you sow does not come to life unless it dies. You sowed a seed, right? The seed is the result of the plant or tree, whatever, and it released a seed, and you took the seed and you put it in the ground. Now you didn't put the whole tree in the ground, did you? You didn't put the whole plant in the ground. You just took a seed, and that's what he says next. That which you sow, you do not sow the body, which is to be. In other words, you don't take the whole tree and bury it. Right? You don't do that. But you just take a bare grain, he says, perhaps wheat or something else. That's all you need, right? And he's saying, from agriculture, you should know that there's a resurrection. Right? Just from agriculture, just from the fact that we sow seeds and it grows into a body, we take the seed, put it in the ground, it grows into a body, we should know that when our bodies die and they're put in the ground, guess what? They're gonna grow up in another body. So do you see that there's a similarity between the seed, that's our mortal body now, and the plant that grows from it, the resurrection body. Just as there's a relationship between an oak, you know, uh acorn, you know, what's in the ground, and the tree that comes from it. What's the relationship? Well, it's directly tied to the previous generation of tree. And so your resurrection body is related to our current body. Just as Christ was put in the grave and then rose again, so your body, presuming we won't get raptured, you will go in the ground and then, you know, it will be raised. So there's a relationship, but also, of course, a difference between the grain itself, the seed itself, and the tree that or plant that grows from it. Verse 38, but God gives it a body just as he wished. And to each of the seeds a body of its own. In other words, you know, there's different types of plants, different seeds, and these seeds they make a certain type of plant. They don't make any kind of plant, they make a specific type of plant. Now, verse 39, all flesh is not the same flesh. Now, this is what it said. Jesus' flesh was different than our mortal flesh, wasn't it? And this verse says that. All flesh is not the same flesh. And then he explores this idea further. He says, but there's one flesh of men, another of flesh of beasts, another flesh of birds, another flesh of fish. There are heavenly bodies, earthly bodies. Glory of heavenly is one, glory of earthly is another, one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, another glory of the stars, for stars differ from stars and glory. So also in the resurrection of the dead. He's just drawing a parallel, right? He's drawing a parallel. So let's look at these. In verse 39, verse 39 is one of the key verses that convinced me that evolution wasn't true. Because I was a Christian who was a crevolutionist. Okay? I was a this is what uh I explained this to someone and I said, Oh, I was a theistic evolutionist. And they said, Oh, you mean like a crevolutionist? You know, creation, evolution. You know, you kind of try to put the two together. And I was like, Yeah, can I use that? And they said, Yes. So I'm using that by permission. Um, I was a crevolutionist, but part of the journey was discovering what the Bible might indicate relative to evolution. And this is one of the key verses, this was the key verse that convinced me, it was like the clincher, that it's not possible to transgress uh certain barriers between in science they call it species, right? There's certain barriers that cannot be breached. Uh because see, there's all flesh, he says, is not the same flesh. There's one flesh of men and another flesh of beasts. Well, in evolution, we are beasts. We come from animals, we're just the most highly evolved form of animal. But you're an animal, I'm an animal, we're all just animals, see, in evolution. But this text says no, it's not the same. Not the same. So we don't derive from previously existing animals. We do derive from previously existing animals all the way back to the single cell that first uh came into existence, purportedly. Another flesh of birds. Uh there's another one. See, now they've got you know, dinosaurs and birds are somehow related, we're told in science, right? So you see uh in the older drawings of dinosaurs, you know, in you know, say 30, 40, 50 years ago, scaly reptilian type things. Now they've got feathers on these uh modern day dinosaurs. You've probably seen these pictures, right? Why why are they thinking that? Well they think these are related uh evolutionary wise. By the way, the evolution of a of a of a feather and uh related to a scale is very complicated. It's called pictures that you draw. That's that's what happened. They draw pictures. Where do we see this? In the books. Uh no, no, no, I mean out there. No, no, no. It's it's just like the picture. They're just pictures. Somebody drew it. What's the evidence? Well, we read in our science science textbook. Oh my goodness, are you serious? That's where we are. That's that's where the world is. Um so no, no evolution. These are different kinds. It's the same thing used in in Genesis, right? The concept of different kinds, right? And that's what Paul's primarily exploring here. And he says, This is the same thing when it comes to resurrection. The resurrection body is a different kind of body. It's a different kind. So these are differences. Um he also make likens it to the glory of the sun versus the glory of the moon. They're very different, right? I mean, don't look at the sun, right? Don't look at the sun, please don't look at the sun. But you can look at the moon, which is a reflection of the sun. So they're very obviously different intensities or different glories, right? They're not the same thing. Another glory for other stars. You know, you can look at some of these stars, and like I think, is it Sirius that's the brightest star in our night sky? Beautiful star. I mean, it literally it looks like a you know, it's got all three C's, you know, the diamond, you know, it's got all the best quality. You look at Sirius, it just looks like a diamond sitting in the sky. It's just remarkable, it's gorgeous. Um, but other stars don't have that same glory. Mars looks red, right? Because and so they named it, you know, after the god of Mars is a god of war, because Mars looks red. So um, but they differ in glory, and that's quite evident for anybody who takes some time to look at some of the stars. And so, you know, the resurrection body is also different. And that shouldn't be surprised. But there we're told in verse 42, it's sown a perishable body, you know. That's the mortal body that we, you know, it dies, right? We put it's put in the ground, sown, so to speak. It's raised an imperishable one. I mean, this is good, this has got to be awesome. This has got to be something truly stupendous. Sown in dishonor, that's down here in our fallen sinful state, raised in glory. So no fallen sinful state. Sown in weakness, that's their current state, raised in power. I mean, you're gonna be able to outjump Michael Jordan. I mean, get out of the way, brother. I'm going over the goal. I don't need, you know, those Nikes either. I can do it jumping off one toe. I mean, it's good. I don't know all the things we'll be able to do, but it's so raised in power, and this body by comparison is weak. And subject to sickness and illness. That one, no, not subject to weakness, not subject to illness, not subject to sickness. So in a natural body, that's related to the current realm, raised a spiritual body. No, that doesn't mean it's not physical. It means it's fit for spiritual life, right? A spiritual life in communion with their crew, the creator. If there's a natural body in this current realm, then there's also a spiritual body. He says logically this makes sense. So also it's written, the first man, Adam, became a living soul. And the last Adam, that's Christ, became a life-giving spirit. He gives life to us, okay, in the resurrection. However, the spiritual body is not first, right? But the natural, then comes the spiritual. The first man, Adam, is from the earth, he's earthy. The second man is from heaven. Okay, the Lord Jesus Christ. Where did he come from? Well, he came 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. So he's pointing out they're different, the differences, right? Differences in the resurrection. Just as we've born the image of the earthy, we also will bear the image of the heavenly. Just as night follows day, this will happen. And then he says, This brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. That's why there's this mystery in verse 51, that we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. So there has to be a generation that is alive when Christ returns. This is the generation that is transformed out of these bodies, or what we sometimes call translated. So this body doesn't die, your body is just changed. So no bodies will be left here on the day that this event occurs, no believers' bodies will be here. In the Left Behind series and things like that, they purport that maybe their clothes will be left behind. You know, you just see piles of clothes everywhere. It'd be like, who didn't do the laundry or who dropped the laundry this week? It's like, what is all this laundry in the world? Um, but but most certainly, I don't know what will happen with the clothes. That's fine, one way or the other. But definitely the bodies will be changed, which is another indication that your resurrection body will come from the present body. You say, well, what about those bodies that have been destroyed? You know, sailors' bodies that are jumped, dumped overboard in the middle of the of the Atlantic or the Pacific, you know, and just for all we know, who knows where all those molecules and atoms are, right? Who knows?
SPEAKER_02:Is it too hard for God to know?
SPEAKER_03:You know, they used to make the joke that, you know, uh, you know, somebody is buried in the ground, let's say no casket, the body just, you know, rots, obviously, corruption goes goes to pieces. Molecules begin to seep into the surrounding thing. Oh, before you know it, it's in the grass. Then a cow comes along and eats the grass, and then the cow gets eaten by the farmer and some of the shi some of the meat gets shipped to the market and other people in some city miles away, they eat the meat. You know, it's like, Well, where is this person?
SPEAKER_02:After all. Atheists kinda make fun of this type of thing, but God knows. I mean, it's not that hard for him.
SPEAKER_03:If he made the whole universe out of nothing, I think he can reassemble us out of something. It's a lesser miracle, right? So it's not too difficult. And Paul is obviously arguing here for the nature of the resurrection body and the fact that we'll receive this imperishable body. So that's a good thing, but we don't know everything about this body. But it is definitely different from our current body. But there are also similarities. Point two here, similarities. The sowing and growing metaphor, you know, you take the seed, it's the seed that comes from a specific tree, you put it in the ground, and it grows a specific uh tree that is related to that seed, right? Relate to the directions of how to grow that particular tree. So our resurrection bodies are, again, similar in this sense. We also want to point out that the relationship between seed and tree or seed and plant indicates future recognition of the people that you know. I mean, it's not just totally unrelated to who they are. Um, as well as the fact that Jesus was could be recognized in his resurrection body. Luke 24 on the road to Emmaus, it says that those strangers that were walking with him, that they were not permitted to recognize him. That he kind of like messed with their sight or something, so they couldn't recognize him. Which indicates if he hadn't done that, they would have recognized him. And also, of course, the comfort passages. But I've had believers say, you know, they're very worried about whether they're going to know their loved ones and friends and family members in the resurrection. And I always take them to 1 Thessalonians 4, 13 through 18. Let's just go there. 1 Thessalonians 4. Thessalonians had a number of their members who had passed away. They didn't make it to the rapture, and so they thought, well, then they're not going, they've missed it. They've missed it. That was their thinking. And this was making them upset. So Paul says, we don't want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep. Now, if you're asleep, what does that imply? You're going to wake up, right? And that's the picture of resurrection. So that you will not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope. So Christians can grieve, but we just don't grieve like those who have no hope, because we have hope, right? For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and that's the gospel, that's what we believe, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. This we say to you by the word of the Lord. We didn't make this up. This comes from him. He's truth. That we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, in one generation will be alive and remain, right? Will not precede those who have fallen asleep. Precede in what? Precede in resurrection. Verse 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. So see, they get to go first. They'll be raised first. Then we who are alive and remain here on earth, right? We will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. So they go first, then we are just translated. That generation is caught up together and changed, right? Like 1 Corinthians 15 said, in a moment and twinkling of an eye. He says, Therefore, comfort one another with these words. Well, would it be a comfort if we wouldn't know one another? No. The whole point of this is to comfort by saying, Hey, there's going to be a reunion of those who passed away ahead of us and us who are left behind, so to speak, until that time. But at that time, we're all going to be reunited. It wouldn't be a comfort if we wouldn't be able to recognize one another. So, very clearly from the Bible, we will recognize one another in the resurrection. So, if you hoped you were going to get a different mug, sorry. But let's just say this probably your mug will look better than it ever looked before. Is that fair enough? Okay. Hopefully that's that's helpful. Um, we'll go into a little bit of resurrection in the Old Testament. So that's the nature of the resurrection body, and and we don't know everything, but we know something. And um, certainly it's gonna be wonderful. Um, resurrection in the Old Testament, then we'll move in, of course, later to resurrection of the New Testament. But Job chapter 19. Now, Job is very early, and I'm not gonna go through all the evidences for uh resurrection in the Old Testament, but I've always thought this one was so interesting because it's so early. Job is probably written after the flood, but before God made the covenant with Abraham. So sometime in like Genesis 9, 10, 11, in those, uh that time period. And evidently they knew quite a bit because Job knew about the resurrection. This is one of the clearest descriptions of resurrection in the whole Bible.
SPEAKER_02:Job 19, 25. This is his second reply to Bildad, if that helped.
SPEAKER_03:Uh Job 19, 25. As for me, Job says, I know that my redeemer lives. So, first of all, he knew about a redeemer, which, I mean, in Genesis 8, 9, 10, 11, in those chapters, that's very early. So he knew about the seed promise made to Adam and Eve, right? Seed of the woman who would come and conquer. He connected that with redemption. I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will take his stand where? On the earth. So he knew that the Messiah would come to earth and set up his kingdom. Even after my skin is destroyed, says Job, yet from my flesh I shall see God. So he realizes, yeah, we die, but he says, Guess what? We're going to get another flesh, and in that flesh, gonna see God. And he recognized that his Redeemer was God, and this is the seed of the woman. And we already know, I mean, he knew so much. He says, verse 27, whom I myself shall behold, I will behold him, and my eyes will see, not another's eyes. These are will be my eyes. I I'm just hoping that my eyes, like I've got some pretty bad eyes. Like if I take my contacts out, I don't know who you are. Um I don't know what my my I think my uh prescription is something like minus 5.75 in one eye and minus like five in the other eye or something like that. Um so I don't really know who you are without without my contacts. But uh but I will still have my same eyes, they'll just be everything will be proper. I won't have to wear contacts, thank God. I hope I still have blue eyes because I've always kind of liked blue eyes. But it's his choice, right? But my eyes will see and not another, my heart faints within me. Just the thought. You know, your eyes, the eyes that you have now, will be somehow transformed into resurrection eyes, but they're still your eyes, see.
SPEAKER_02:And you will see your Redeemer, who is the God man, Jesus Christ, with your eyes. With your own eyes, and not the eyes of another.
SPEAKER_03:You'll see him directly with your own. So that's fantastic. And Job knew that. Now, the un another evidence is the unconditional covenants God made starting in um, well, technically there are promises in Genesis 12, right, with Abraham, and he tells Abraham to go to a land he would show him and so forth. It's the promised land. And their promises in chapter 12, they become a covenant in chapter 15. He puts those promises in a covenant. And it's an unconditional covenant, meaning that there's no requirement, right, on Abraham's side, but God will simply do this. Sometimes we call it a unilateral because it's one way. It's one way. It's God saying, I will do this, I will do this, I will do this. And you say, well, what does Abraham have to do? Nothing. Nothing. It's a one-way. Now, so whenever you see I will language in the covenant, in the, in the in a covenant in the Old Testament, it's a one-way covenant. Whenever you see this type of language, if you do this, I will do this. Now that's a conditional covenant. And the Mosaic covenant is conditional. He says, if you bless me, I will bless you. If you obey me, you will live long in the land, and things like that. Those are all conditional. But when you see I will language, it's unconditional. God's saying, I will do it. So the unconditional covenants, what they do is they set up a context where resurrection must take place. It's very simple. If God told Abraham that Abraham would receive the land, and the Bible tells us that he walked and wandered through the land and never owned one part of it, but even had to purchase land from people who lived in it to have a burial plot, right? Which he did. And then he died, never having received the land that God promised. What does that imply about what God must do with Abraham in the future? He must raise him. He must resurrect him because he made a promise to give him the land. So it see how resurrection is embedded in the covenant itself. Now, we'll look at this passage next week because it's New Testament, but the Pharisees, we know in the New Testament, they believe in resurrection. And we also know the Sadducees, they didn't believe in resurrection, right? And this is where they're always fighting in the gospel. And Jesus enters into this discussion with the Sadducees. Now, the Sadducees, they're also interesting because they only believed the Torah was the inspired word of God. So they did not believe anything outside of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Those are the only five books they consider inspired, okay? The Pharisees believed all of them, like we would, the same Old Testament that we have, okay? So this is another point of disagreement between the Sadducees and the Pharisees. So when the Sadducees challenge Jesus on resurrection, Jesus does something very shrewd. I mean, he could have picked something from Daniel or Job to prove resurrection. But the Sadducees don't believe those books are inspired by God. So did Jesus try to argue the point, well, now wait a minute, let's get the canon of scripture straight. Or did he just go to one of those five books that they already believed was the word of God and prove to him from that? He just went straight to that. And let's not mess with this other stuff. Let me just show you that in the old in the five books that you do believe are God's word, it teaches resurrection. And it does so, he insists in the burning bush episode, Exodus 3.6, where God is talking to Moses. He says, Take off your feet for standing on holy ground and so forth and so on. And Moses comes to the bush, and God says, or yeah, the voice in the bush says, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. Jesus quoted that to the Sadducees to prove resurrection. Now, this is their book. They believed this book, right? They believed the burning bush. They believed Moses and the voice and all that. But they didn't catch that resurrection is implied by that statement in Exodus 3:6. But it is implied, isn't it? Because Abraham had already died. Jacob had already died. Isaac had already died physically. But if God made covenant promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give them the land and all these things, and that he was their God, he's not the God of the dead, is he? But he's the God of the living, see. Jesus says, haven't you even read your own Torah? I mean, don't you guys believe this stuff? So I don't know how many how how so many Sadducees missed it, right? But hey, we're how many times have we missed it? We have to be careful, right? How many times have we missed something? It's very plainly in the text. It's implied or just explicit, and we miss it. But they all the Sadducees missed it. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people missed it. So do you think you could miss something in the Bible? Well, yeah, if we're humble enough to admit it, sure. I know I've missed things. And I'm always excited and stunned sometimes to see them. Excited. But it's implied by the unconditional covenants that there must be resurrection. The illustration of resurrection given by Abraham's offering of Isaac on the altar in Genesis 22, right? Take him up there, offer him. Such an interesting thing. Now, this this teaches us a lot more than just an interesting story about Abraham bringing Isaac up there saying, Hey, get the wood and build the altar. Now get on there on it yourself. Huh? What, Dad? Yeah, get on there. Probably knew it was coming anyway. They probably already talked about it beforehand. But this took place, right? Now you're like, why is Abraham so open to doing this? Whenever God tells you to do something, now, first of all, if God told you to kill your son, but in Genesis 9, he said, if someone kills someone else, you know, capital, it's a capital punishment crime, right? I mean, you might think first, well, this is a conflict. God says over here in Genesis 9, don't murder someone. Now you've told me to go murder my own son. Look, God's not, he doesn't have contradictions, right? He doesn't contradict himself. But you say, this seems like a contradiction. Nope, you're not thinking enough. That's the problem. Um, Augustine, well, I don't agree with a lot of Augustine's theology. He wrote to the extent that the idea that if I find two scriptures that seem to conflict with one another, the problem is not with the scriptures, the problem is with me. That's right. It always is. It always is. There's no problem here. And there was no problem in these two statements that Abraham had that God had given. Here's the thing, God had given him other statements too. The other statements that he gave Abraham were that it is through Isaac that your descendants shall be named. Right? It is through Isaac. Well, if I kill Isaac, here's Abraham again. Well, if I kill Isaac, how am I going to get any descendants? You can't make babies if you're dead. It's kind of a given. So he but he's thinking about all this, and he's thinking, okay. And you wonder, well, what all did he conclude? Well, we don't have to guess because Hebrews 11 tells us.
SPEAKER_02:He finally came to conclude that if murder is wrong, and God's told me to murder my son, and if it's through Isaac that my descendants are going to be named, and yet I'm going to kill him, then number one, I will not be murdering my son. Something will happen.
SPEAKER_03:And somehow this will result in him, if I do have to, for some reason, he's going to come back from the dead. Anyway, he figured this out, right? And that's what Hebrews 11 says. He believed that God was willing, was able to raise the dead. Now, we don't know, we don't know. I mean, the word raise can be used for resuscitation or resurrection. It's the same word. We just we don't know. You can tell from the context, like with Lazarus, that it's a resuscitation. You can tell in other contexts that it's no, it's resurrection, a new body. But uh we don't know what Abraham thought. We just don't know. He could have thought resuscitation, and he's gonna come back. I mean, that's a miracle in itself, right? Biblical resuscitation is a miracle. So it is a miracle. It's lesser miracle, let's say, than resurrection, but they both require God's power. So it's hard to say one's less and one's more. But um, he did believe that somehow Isaac will come back and be able to procreate. And we would say in hindsight, well, you can't do that in a resurrection body. We don't know if they knew that though. We have no idea what they knew. We just don't have enough information. But we do know that if he came back and resuscitated body, he would be able to procreate. We would we would know that. So we know maybe more than Abraham knew. But here's the thing God tells you to do certain things that seem completely out of whack with what this world says. And he wants you to trust him for the result.
SPEAKER_02:That's what Abraham did. He trusted. How are we supposed to live? By faith or by sight? By faith.
SPEAKER_03:If we're just living by sight, that's works. That's the flesh. We can all do that. I mean, unbelievers can do that. That's in fact, that's what they do. It's all based on sight. Christians are never supposed to live like that. Ever. Not even for one second. We're not supposed to live by by sight. We're supposed to live by faith. All the time. Just like Abraham taught us how to do in this scenario. But this scenario does teach us the picture of resurrection, right? And that's the key there. It teaches us the picture of resurrection. He's in the seed line, and ultimately there would be one that came from this line who's the Messiah, and that one would actually not just be resuscitated, as perhaps Isaac, but would actually be resurrected. And he is indeed the first resurrected from the dead. Joseph expected to be resurrected. We'll just briefly cover. He gave instructions concerning his bones. Seems kind of weird. Hey, when you guys leave Egypt, make sure you, you know, you know, inter my bones and reinter them over in the land of Israel. Why do you want to do that? Who cares? We say we don't care. I don't care where you put me. Just throw me anywhere. You know, take my ashes, throw them in the sky. I don't care. It doesn't really matter, right? But he wanted to be buried in the land of Israel. Why? Because he has certain promises, covenant promises that they would be, they would be inherit the land, right? So where did he want to be buried? In the land. Because why? Because that's where God's plan is going. Guess what's happening in the world right now? Where is God's plan going? The world can't see. They're blind. We hate Jews. What did they do 80 years ago? I mean, my goodness, are you kidding me? I mean, have you read any of this stuff? I'm fortunate to read some stuff recently that Bill gave me, Bill Proger. Some books. I mean, this is an atrocity of proportions, unimaginable. Unimaginable. I don't even want to think about it standing in front of you. Uh of the things that happened. Okay?
SPEAKER_02:And now the world is doing it again. They're hating these people again.
SPEAKER_03:John Walver, professor at Dallas Seminary for many years and chancellor, president, all that stuff at the seminary, but was one time asked, What is the greatest argument for the existence of God? Very interesting question. What is the greatest argument for the existence of God? You probably have some ideas running through your head right now. What it is.
SPEAKER_02:His answer was the existence of Israel. The existence of Israel. Why is that? Why is that the greatest argument for the existence of God?
SPEAKER_03:Because no national people, no people group, have ever been dislocated from their land and maintained their national identity. Ever. None.
SPEAKER_02:Ever in the history of the whole world. Except Israel. And they did it twice. In other words, against all odds, against all odds, against all odds, this people exist and have maintained their national identity. What more evidence do you need? This plan, like Joseph knew, is going to the land of Israel. The center of the world is not America. Definitely not Washington, DC, the filthy place.
SPEAKER_03:And yeah, Israel's not in belief right now, we get that, right? But God's at work to do something to bring about conditions to bring them into belief.
SPEAKER_02:Right? Our generation? I don't know. But it's very clear that something's going on over.
SPEAKER_03:And it's very clear that the world is completely turned upside down in their way of viewing all of this. I mean, somehow these terrorist murderers who do unthinkable things, like Holocaust type things, is somehow, oh, those poor little terrorists. And Israel's big bad meanie. This is completely upside down. Completely upside down. But isn't that what the Bible says? Romans 1 says the world will say what is wrong is right, what is right is wrong. They will redefine everything. That's what they're doing. In the court systems right now, they're redefining right and wrong. Why? Because they do the same things, Romans says. And everybody wants to confirm their behavior. So they just redefine right and wrong. And Daniel, lastly, prophesied resurrection. Unbelievers and believers both be raised to everlasting situation, believers to everlasting life, unbelievers to everlasting abhorrence. Also see Isaiah 66, 24. So the Old Testament very clearly taught resurrection, and now we know a little bit about the resurrection body, the nature of it. So I hope it's uh interesting. But of course, I hope it gives you something to look forward to as we uh uh suffer. Let's just conclude with what Paul said, right? The present sufferings, your present suffering, and I don't know what you're going through, I knew I know what some of you are going through. Um I was talking to somebody last night, and I it reminded me of what my father-in-law told me when I was, you know, under his tutelage.
SPEAKER_02:He said, you know, we the big the big problem that we face is not suffering. That's not it. It's not it's why do I suffer more than everybody else?
SPEAKER_03:Or why is it why is it disproportionate? Why do some people suffer more than others? That's that's what bothers us. I say, you know, we don't know now. We don't know. Did Job know? Did Job know why all ten of his kids died on the same day? Imagine that as a parent.
SPEAKER_02:All your children dead in one day. And then you get major health problems.
SPEAKER_03:And you're sitting there, did I do something? This is Job. I don't know of anything I did. And then his wife comes in and goes against him and says, Hey, that's it. Just curse God and die. Just be done with it all. And he says, I can't do that. You know, naked I came from the womb, naked I'll return. Blessed be the name of the Lord. See? Somehow he's able to maintain his integrity through what we would call disproportionate suffering. This man suffered a lot. He's put forth as an endurance, the guy who models endurance through trials in James chapter 5. Right? This is what we struggle with, the disproportionality of suffering. But the book of Job teaches us that in the end, God is up to something.
SPEAKER_02:And he's not, he does not have to show us before the time. But he says this I want you to trust me. I want you to trust me that I have the map, that I have the plan, and it's going to be okay. I would say for those who some little bit of an answer is this the more you suffer well, the more reward that will be in there after. Right? Because somehow this is related to the justice of God.
SPEAKER_03:He's a good God, he knows what he's doing. And it's going to be okay. You just have to to wake up every day, get in the word, trust, trust, trust, trust, trust and obey.
SPEAKER_02:Trust, trust, trust and obey. Why? Because there's no other way. To be happy in Jesus than to try to trust and obey. That's a very simple song. That's very true. Very true song.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas. If you would like to see the visuals that went along with today's sermon, you can find those on Rumble and on YouTube, Underspook and Bible Church. That is where Jeremy is the pastor and teacher. We hope you found today's lesson productive and useful in growing closer to God and walking more obediently with Him. If you found this podcast to be useful and helpful, then please consider rating us in your favorite podcast app. And until next time, we hope you have a blessed and wonderful day.