Resurrection Question

[christianbeginning]

All of the resurrections recounted in the Bible occured within a few days or hours of the death of the person that is resurrected.

Does that imply any sort of time limit to miraculous resurrections that occur outside of the domain of the general (final) resurrection?

Why didn't anyone - inclusive of Jesus - resurrect people that had been dead for say, 10 years, or 100, or even a few months?

 

[Symes]

Christ only ever did miracles that would honour and glorify God. There had to be a reason in what was done. Even after Lazarus was raised from the dead the Jews did not believe Him. They only wanted at that stage to put Him to death.

 

[Dad Ernie]

All of the resurrections recounted in the Bible occured within a few days or hours of the death of the person that is resurrected.

Does that imply any sort of time limit to miraculous resurrections that occur outside of the domain of the general (final) resurrection?

Why didn't anyone - inclusive of Jesus - resurrect people that had been dead for say, 10 years, or 100, or even a few months?

Greetings Christianbeginning,

I believe you bring up a valid point. I too have thought about this very same thing.

Psalms 16:10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

HEBREW
07845 shachath {shakh'-ath}
from 07743; TWOT - 2343.1c,2370d; n f
AV - corruption 4, pit 14, destruction 2, ditch 2, grave 1; 23
1) pit, destruction, grave
1a) pit (for catching lions)
1b) pit (of Sheol)

GREEK
Acts 2:27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

1312 diaphthora {dee-af-thor-ah'}
from 1311; TDNT - 9:93,1259; n f
AV - corruption 6; 6
1) corruption, destruction
2) in the NT that destruction which is effected by the decay of the
body after death

In addition to this think on:

Matthew 12:40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Matt 27:52-53 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, 53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

John 11:17 Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already.

Revelation 11:9 And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.

Revelation 11:11 And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.

I have wondered about those Christians who have either long since died, or whose bodies were completely disintegrated. An atomic or nuclear bomb would ensure almost every molecule of a person's body would be vaporized.

For those who have underwent decay, their molecules have been incorporated into the plant/animal food chain. Which means within us we may have a molecule or two of any or all of the those who have gone before us.

Often we are met in the scriptures with the premise that this shell of a body is but a "tent", a "temporary abode" for the soul/spirit. We also know that our Lord went "to prepare a place for us", one that is eternal in the heavens, unchangeable, never again to undergo decay, one that is "like" Jesus own body.

1 Cor 15, tells us that the "natural" CANNOT enter the "spiritual" unless it first die (and be changed).

Now those who arose from their graves - were they only RECENTLY dead and their bodies hadn't completely decayed - like Lazarus? Almost assuredly that was the case with the Two Witnesses.

So this is a part of the "resurrection" that is a mystery to me. Do our old bodies somehow awake and its molecules somehow reassemble only to be changed, or does our "soul/spirit" where the REAL US is, just move into a habitation prepared for us by God?

I tend toward the latter, but like I said it is a "mystery" to me.

Blessings,

Dad Ernie

 

[Future Preacher]

In Matt 27:52-53 where it talks about the saints that slept, it doesnt say how long they had been dead. So they could have been dead one day, or 20 years for all we know! But I think that the reason that it is such a small period of time is because after so long, the body becomes bone.

 

[Dad Ernie]

In Matt 27:52-53 where it talks about the saints that slept, it doesnt say how long they had been dead. So they could have been dead one day, or 20 years for all we know! But I think that the reason that it is such a small period of time is because after so long, the body becomes bone.

Greetings Future Preacher,

We know that the graves opening up appears to have been a local event, it wasn't like every grave of every Jew everywhere, no matter where their bones were buried, all the way from Egypt to Babylon, were opened up. At the time of the crucifixition, there was probably millions of people in and around Jerusalem. Within a few days, many people could have died of those millions.

Also, even though bodies were prepared with various oils and spices, over a period of time, even bones turn to dust, and this is what we hear from many OT sources.

So my bet is on the recent dead being raised at the time of the cross.

Blessings,

Dad Ernie