Originally posted by cougan
Here are few more questions for you.
When did Jesus empty out hades?
When we place the resurrection of the dead in the far future it removes us from the Jewish root and understanding of the resurrection which is clearly seen in the Bible. Christians miss the blessing of "seeing" God's completed work in Christ.
The resurrection was (only promised to Israel). (Acts 26:6-Paul preached totally from the Old Testament. Acts 26:21-22. Christians today who have eternal life have no need of resurrection. (John 11:26)
The future resurrection that was addressed in the gospel's eschatological massage was not a different future resurrection from the one foreseen by the prophesy of Israel. Daniel 12:1-3; Acts 26:6-8
In order to understand the first century Jewish concept of the resurrection you must first understand the concept of the "first fruits" and "the harvest." Where did this idea of "firstfruits" originate? "On the same general principle that the firstborn of man and beast belonged to the God of Israel and were to be devoted to Him, Nehemiah 10:35-39.
The firstfruits, including the first grain to ripen each season, were to be brought as an offering to God. Every Israelite who possessed the means of agricultural productivity was under this obligation. (Exodus 23:19; 34:26; Numbers 15:17-21; 18:12-13) Speak the to children of Israel, and say to them: When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest. He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted on your behalf; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. Leviticus 23:10-11
"The firstfruits were brought in a basket to the sanctuary and presented to the priest, who was to set the basked down before the altar. Then, the offerer recited the story of Jacob's going to Egypt and the deliverance of his posterity from there. He then acknowledged the blessings with which God had visited him. Deuteronomy 26:2-11
It would be natural for Paul to have thought of Christ as the "firstfruits" because the day of Christ's resurrection was the second day of Passover week on which the first ripe sheaf of the harvest was offered to the Lord. Lev 23:10-11,15.
Paul was also establishing another basic point. While Christ was the firstfruits his people were also significance of the "first ripe sheaf" (Romans 16:5; 1 Corinthians 16:15; James 1:18). Because they were buried with Christ in baptism into death: and raised in His, resurrection by the glory of the Father they walked in the newness of life. (Romans 6:4)
These "New Covenant saints" were the ones who Jesus addressed in verse. 25 of John 5 These saints who followed their Lord would never die. John 11:26 Death, to God, means to be separated from Him. If we are going to ever understand the Bible we must see things from God's viewpoint, not man's
Eternal Life was the gift to those (New Covenant saints) who would finish their days on earth under the New Covenant. John 10:28 Believers who live until that day in 70 A.D. when everything under the Old Covenant was fulfilled by the inauguration of the kingdom and the New Covenant would never die. (John 5:25, 11:26)
They would never experience waiting in the place of the dead the Hadean realm but would be "absent from the body, present with the Lord" (2 Cor. 5:8) That is resurrection.
The resurrection began with the resurrection of Jesus. He opened the way. The saints who died after they followed the Lord were the collective believers were of the first resurrection-firstfruits to God (which is seen in the last part of Revelation 20:5. These firstfruits were representative of the whole harvest before God (Revelation 14:4).
This select group of Christians was purchased from the earth as a FIRST FRUITS offering. The Greek for purchased means: to go to the market. It is a picture of God coming to the earth to select His FIRST FRUITS from the entire harvest. The term "firstfruits" itself implies the remainder of the harvest was ripe.
The firstfruits are related to the harvest as the part is to the whole. Every Jewish Christian understood this Old Testament concept. The second important truth inherent in the firstfruits figure is the readiness of the harvest to be gathered as signified in the offering of the firstfruits. The act of reaping had already begun; and the harvest was ready to be cut." (Revelation 14:15)
The harvest were the dead in Christ from past ages like Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Job, etc. These (saints are see in the first part of Revelation 20:5 not of a time still to come, for in Christ the time for death to be abolished had arrived (2 Timothy 1:10).
These are the ones who Jesus addressed in John 5:28. These "Old Covenant saints" were the rest of the harvest- the general resurrection. These were the ones "though he may die, he shall live (John 11:23). Knowing this, we can appreciate why God said: I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. (Matthew 22:32; Mark 12:27; Luke 20:38)
The harvest follows the ripening (perfecting) and offering of the firstfruits. With the return of Christ and the destruction of temple, the way into God presence was now opened (Hebrew 9:8). The Hadean realm was emptied and the harvest of Old Covenant saints was gathered in the general resurrection in A.D.70 Its clear. Its biblical. Its easily understood only if we interpret the Bible through a Jewish understanding.
One way to better understand the teaching of John's resurrection in Revelation 20:5 is to get a better grasp of the literary devices that are used by the writer to produce the desired results of the revelation he is seeking to unveil. One such device is
chiasmas, which is a term that designates a literary figure or principle, which consist of "a placing crosswise" of words in a sentence or writing.
The term is used in rhetoric to designate an
inversion of the order of words or phrases which are repeated or subsequently referred to in the sentence or writing.
I will show how chiasmas is used by John and his desied results of the revelation he is seeking to unveil in Revelation 20 this weekend on my web site.
