The Doctrine of Resurrection and Glorification

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Lesson #17

• The Doctrine of Resurrection and Glorification
• The Doctrine of Resurrection:
  • Christianity is the only religion in the world that promises a bodily resurrection.
    • There are various aspects of resurrection that challenge the human mind.
    • The most frequent question people have is this question, “What will the resurrected body be like?”
    • While we can gain some insight through scripture, there are still many unanswered questions, but we will see clearly what God has revealed to us through His Word about resurrection.
  • The Biblical concept of resurrection begins early in the Old Testament. The theme is more fully developed in the New Testament with the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
    • The Old Testament concept of resurrection:
      • God originally created man to live forever because he had continual access to the tree of life in the Garden of Eden. (Gen 2:9)
        • At that time, there was no need for any thought of resurrection. Man would never die, but he would live forever.
        • The term “resurrection” means = the raising to life of that which was physically dead.
      • The need for resurrection came because of Adam’s fall into sin in Gen 3. God removed Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. They no longer had access to the tree of life, and because the consequence of sin is death, they would die physically. (Gen 3:24)
        • With Adam’s fall into sin death entered man’s human experience.
        • With death came the need for resurrection.
      • In an eternal future to come, God will restore man’s access to the tree of life.
        • Read Rev 22:2, 14
      • The oldest book in the Bible is the book of Job. In all of Job’s problems, he expressed his belief in the resurrection of the body.
        • Read Job 19:25-26
        • Notice that Job says that in his flesh he will see God.

There are some who talk about a resurrection, but these false theologians do not mean a resurrection of the body but a “spiritualized” resurrection.

Through the Old Testament and the New Testament, whenever resurrection is mentioned, it is always a resurrection of the body. A physical resurrection is what God revealed to the Jews from the beginning.

• • • • In the Old Testament, the promise of a future resurrection was seen as an incentive to be faithful to God because resurrection to eternal life was the promised reward.
        • Read Psa 88:10
        • Read Isa 26:19

There were people raised from the dead in the Old Testament, but they were resuscitated to this physical life.

That meant that they would die again eventually.

For example: in 1Kin 17:17-24 Elijah raised the son of a poor woman.

For example: in 2Kin 4:31-37 Elisha raised a child.

For example: in 2Kin 13:20-21 A man was raised when he touched the bones of Elisha.

Beyond these examples of resuscitation to physical life, the Jews believed in a resurrection to eternal life.

• • • • • Read Dan 12:2-3
      • In the Old Testament, the promise of a future resurrection was seen as the time when God would settle the accounts of the wicked to eternal condemnation and of the righteous to eternal life.
        • In this life we do not always see that the wicked reap from the evil they sow, nor do we always see the righteous reap from the good that they sow in life.
        • Therefore, because God is a just God, there must come a time when God will settle accounts for the wicked and for the righteous. This concept of a just God, gives rise to a belief in a future judgment.

Read Psa 49

Read Psa 88

In Psa 88 we see the cry for resurrection from Sheol or Hades. We need to understand what the Old Testament describes as the grave or the place of the dead.

During the time of the Old Testament, when a person died, whether believer or non-believer, his soul and spirit went to a place called Sheol or Hades waiting for a final resurrection.

The non-believer went to a place in Sheol (Hades) called Torment.

The believer went to a place in Sheol (Hades) called Abraham’s Bosom.

Read Luk 16:19-31 (The story of the rich man and the poor man, named Lazarus)

In this passage we can understand these two places of the dead were located in Sheol (Hades).

Luke describes these two places as they existed through the Old Testament. However, everything changed with the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Read Eph 4:8-10

Read Col 2:15

Read 1Pet 3:18-22

Jesus became sin for us on the cross (2Cor 5:21).

Because the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23), Jesus had to experience Sheol (Hades). He went to both parts of Sheol (Hades}.

Jesus announced to those imprisoned on both sides of Sheol (Hades) that He had borne man’s sins victoriously on the cross.(1Pet 3:19)

Then He raised from the dead and appeared to Mary Magdalene, but she could not touch him. (Joh 20:17) because He was not yet ascended to heaven to sprinkle his shed blood on the heavenly mercy seat. (Heb 8:1-2)

When He raised from the dead, He took the souls of the Old Testament saints, as well as Abraham’s Bosom, and moved them to heaven. (Eph 4:8) There he gave the place a new name. He called it Paradise. (Luk 23:43)

Then, Jesus, as our High Priest offered his blood to God, the Father, and is now seated at God’s right hand. (Heb 9:24 Heb 1:3)

Now when New Testament believers die, they go to Paradise in heaven to await their resurrection.

Jesus Christ did not move the non-believers. Therefore, in this New Testament age, all non-believers who die still go to the place called Torment in Sheol (Hades).

They all still await a final resurrection and judgment.

• • • • With the development of the two schools of thought in Judaism, we have a division of belief in regards to the resurrection.
        • The Pharisees from the second century believed in the resurrection of the body. (Act 23:8)
        • The Sadducees from the second century did not believe in the resurrection of the body. (Mat 22:23 Act 23:8)
    • The New Testament concept of the resurrection:
      • Before the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Martha verified her belief in a future resurrection at the time of the raising of her brother Lazarus. (Joh 11:24)
      • The physical resurrection of Jesus Christ stands as the model for individual, physical resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus Christ occurs in all the four gospels.
      • It is the resurrected body of Jesus Christ that gives us the description of what our bodies will be like after our resurrection.
        • Jesus had a continuity of identity. He was the same person before the resurrection as after it. (exemplified by the marks of crucifixion in his body.)
        • Jesus could communicate so that people could hear him.
        • Jesus could eat and drink.
        • Jesus could be physically felt.
        • Jesus could pass through walls.
        • Jesus could be in one geographic location at one instant and the next moment at a different location a great distance away.
      • Read 1Cor 15:42-50 (The whole chapter of 1Cor 15 is about the resurrection of the believer.)
        • The resurrected body is a spiritual body.
        • The resurrected body is an incorruptible body.
        • The resurrected body is a heavenly body.
        • The resurrected body is a glorious body not subject to death.
      • The presence of the Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee that a person who believes in Jesus Christ will be resurrected to eternal life.
        • Read 2Cor 5:1-6
        • Read Eph 1:13-14
    • The importance of the concept and doctrine of the resurrection to our faith:
      • All of the sermons listed in the book of Acts that were given in the early church mentioned the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
      • 1Cor 15 tells us that the belief in the doctrine of the resurrection is essential to the Christian faith.
        • If we do not believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the price of sin has not been paid and all people are still in their sins.
        • If there is no resurrection, faith is vain. (1Cor 15:14, 17)
        • If there is no resurrection, there is no forgiveness of sin.
        • If there is no resurrection, there is no purpose for life.
        • If there is no resurrection, there is no belief in a future judgment or an eternal justice.
        • If Jesus did not raise from the dead, neither will we.
        • If Jesus did not raise from the dead, all mankind is lost. (1Cor 15:18-19)
  • Conclusion:
    • Read Joh 11:25
    • Notice that Jesus did not say, I am the way to resurrection. He said that He is the resurrection. In other words there is only resurrection for those people who are united with and in Jesus Christ. Resurrection is a state of being in a relationship with Him.
• The Doctrine of Glorification:
  • The doctrine of glorification comes from the concept of the ultimate perfection or moral holiness of believers in Jesus Christ. It is accompanied by the purity and brightness of the glory of God.
    • The word “glorification” does not appear in the Greek or Hebrew text of the Bible but the word “glorify” does. (doxazo in Greek)
    • The Old Testament does anticipate the theme of glorification but does not develop the theme.
      • Read Psa 73:24
      • Read Dan 12:3
    • The New Testament amplifies and develops the theme of glorification.
      • Read Rom 8:17, 30
      • Read 2The 1:12
      • Read Rom 5:2
      • Read Col 1:27
        • The hope of glorification is a future promise for all believers in Jesus Christ.
        • This promise of glorification has not yet been fulfilled in the New Testament believer.
      • Read Rom 8:18
      • Read 1Pet 5:1
      • Read 2The 2:14
    • When does this glorious event of our glorification occur?
      • Read Eph 5:27
      • Read Phil 3:20-21
      • Read Col 3:4
      • Read 2The 1:10
        • The glorification of the believer will occur at the resurrection of believers.

For the New Testament saints, glorification occurs at the rapture of the church. This is the hour when the believer receives his new, incorruptible body.

For the Old Testament saints, glorification occurs at the event of the second coming of Christ. (Dan 12:1-3)

Remember Jesus said that the first shall be last and the last shall be first. (Mat 19:30)

The Old Testament saints were the first to believe in the Messiah by faith while the New Testament saints were the last to believe in Christ by faith. Therefore the New Testament saints are the first to be resurrected and the Old Testament saints are the last to be resurrected.

• • • • • Because resurrection and glorification occur at the same time, we have studied these two themes together.
    • The duration of glorification is eternal.
      • Read 2Tim 2:10-11
      • Read 1Pet 5:10
  • Glorification is the marvelous work of God accomplished through the process of sanctification (the process of being made holy) where the believer is made to be more and more like Christ. God gives the believer a small part of His glory a little at a time.
    • Read Rom 8:30
    • Read 1Cor 2:7
      • The calling, the justification, and the glorification are accomplished by the marvelous grace of God.
      • God prepares glory for the believer.
        • Glorification is part of our eternal inheritance.
        • Read Rom 9:23
        • Read Rom 8:17
      • God prepares the believer for glory.
        • In the process of the Christian life after having received Christ as your savior, God takes you through learning experiences (trials) that cause you to become more and more like Christ in your attitudes and actions, in your faith, and in your personal relationship to God.
        • Read 2Cor 4:17
  • Conclusion: We can say that sanctification is the process of change in the believer’s life that occurs here and now on this earth, while the glorification of the believer is the end result of sanctification and will occur in the future at the resurrection of the body.
    • Read 2Cor 3:18
    • The believer is changed one increment of glory at a time until he reaches the ultimate perfection of holiness with a new body.
      • The body is a necessary part of the final glorification of the believer. A person cannot become glorified where he reaches the ultimate perfection of holiness as long as he is in this mortal body.
        • Read 1Cor 15:43
        • Read 1The 2:12
      • The glorified believer needs an immortal, spiritual body to stand before God in moral perfection for eternity.