Look at the original language in the lexicon:
μέλλειν = to be about to
I don't believe this is about a physical resurrection. I believe this is in reference to the prophecy of Daniel - the section recorded in Daniel 12:
Daniel 12:1-2 ~ “At that time Michael shall stand up, The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; And there shall be a time of trouble, Such as never was since there was a nation, Even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, Everyone who is found written in the book. 2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt.
3 Those who are wise shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever."
Who is this about? Do you notice the part about "the sons of your people" (spoken to Daniel)? And that “your people” would be delivered?” He is speaking of the Jewish Tribulation of AD 70. In fact, Jesus quotes vs 3 about the righteous shining and applied it to the end of the old covenant age, the time of the Jewish tribulation in AD70.
(in Mt. 13:43)
This is not about an end of the world event or even a physical resurrection (in my belief). It is an event (IMO), spoken in prophetic language to describe what would happen to Judah and Israel in the last days of the Old Covenant. It is about Daniel's people... Israel!
When Would This Take Place?
4 “But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”
Notice that the angelic messenger dressed in linen doesn't say the end of time, but the time of the end. The end of what? The end of the Old Covenant age. Paul said in 1 Cor. 10:11,
"Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom THE ENDS OF THE AGES HAVE COME."
Acts 3:24 ~ "Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold THESE days."
The days they were living in were the time of the end.
Daniel 12 has a context that provides us with the timing of when all these things would take place. The angelic messenger says that ALL these things will be finished at a certain time in history. It would be the time when the center of power for Judaism was completely shattered... the temple. He also says how long this event would last... times, time and half a time. That is the prophetic equivalent to 3.5 years. (time = 1 year; times = 2 years; half a time= 6 months). Do you know how long the time was that Rome attacked Jerusalem and finally destroyed the temple? It was 3.5 years.
Here is one more contextual evidence from the words of Jesus. Pay attention to the fact that he is applying Daniel 12 to THIS age. What age was Jesus living in? According to Paul, Jesus was "born of a woman, born UNDER THE LAW..." THIS age, to Jesus was the age of the Law. He doesn't say "that age" as some distant one thousands of years later, but rather, the one they were living in at the moment:
Matthew 13:39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. 40 Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of THIS AGE...43 Those who are wise shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever.
So we know WHEN Daniel 12 was to take place, so what kind of awakening from the dust is Daniel 12 referring to? It must not be physical at all.
"Who sleep in the dust of the earth"… I just learned that this is a figure of speech used in ancient cultures to describe those who were utterly defeated. That is why in the Garden the language is used of the serpent licking the dust of the earth. That is why Israel is depicted in Ezekiel 37 as being in the Valley of dry bones, in the place of utter defeat, in the dust. In Genesis 28:14 he describes the children of Israel’s descendants being like the dust in the earth. In this case dust meaning as numerous as specks of dust, but he corporately calls them dust. In 1 Samuel 2:8 (the poor he lifts from the dust) people who live in the dust refers to the poor, and the powerless where he specifically raises them up out of the dust. It means out of their defeat and poverty.
So this is not speaking of a physical resurrection. It is the raising up, regathering of Israel, not bringing Israel back into their physical territory in 1947. We already have the timing of this event as the period of time leading up to the fall of the temple in AD 70. It is the regathering of those who were scattered through the dispersion into Babylon and Assyria, etc. In other words those cast out of the land, many years before, were considered “dead” corporately.
Remember the image in Ezekiel 37 of the valley of dry bones? Israel is pictured as dead in terms of covenant, their covenant was broken, and they were pictured as if they were lifeless.
Remember that Jesus was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel... the Israel that was sent into captivity. In Acts 2 we find that Jews from all over the world, the scattered ones, were there for Pentecost and so began the re-gathering.
So what happened in the resurrection of Christ? According to Ephesians 2 ALL were made alive together with him, and ALL were raised together with him. Israel was God's "first born" and as Nicodemus should have known, there was coming a time for all Israel to be reborn. Spiritually speaking that took place at the resurrection of Christ. An awakening took place. As Jesus said those
in the graves, or as Daniel would say it,
in the dust of the earth… the defeated poor broken disenfranchised scattered Israelites, would hear his voice and because they were raised together with Christ, they would experience the age of new covenant kingdom life.
That started in the ministry of Jesus but it really blossomed on the day of Pentecost where thousands were gathered together in Jerusalem from the ends of the earth, being regathered into the NC.
But what about those who did evil? Did you know that in Hebrews 3:12 the author calls the Jew's unbelief evil? Those who refused to come out of the Law, even though they were in the midst of the greatest awakening in their history,
if they refused to believe Jesus, they would die in the fall of Jerusalem. That is why Mark 16:16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. This "saved" is not about going to heaven. It is about them identifying with Christ and being saved from the fall of Jerusalem and its condemnation of the system of Law.
So some experienced the resurrection out of the dust and the age of life of the New Covenant, while others experienced the resurrection out of the dust, but refused to believe and were caught in the condemnation of the fall of Jerusalem. If you want the "condemnation" of Daniel 12 to be "eternal", even though the word doesn't mean that, one could still come to the same conclusion because the judgment on Jerusalem and on the temple system was a message that is to stand "forever" as a testimony. But Daniel 12 never meant a physical resurrection.
