Included in responses to the discussion on resurrectional responsibility was an excellent, basic question: “Why does God raise people from the dead to punish them? It seems a shame to raise people just to condemn them again.”
Clear statements
The revealed facts of the case are unambiguous:
“Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Dan. 12:2).
“There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye [contemporaries of Christ who must be raised for this verse to be true] shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out” (Lk. 13:28).
“[Many] in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:28,29).
“There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust” (Acts 24:15).
Wicked people will be raised; they do not have a second chance for repentance; they are punished, ultimately with everlasting destruction. We may recoil from such a prospect, but God has revealed to us what He is going to do. Our personal preferences notwithstanding, we are bound to accept scripture.
But why?
We may ask, “What’s the point of doing this?” Christ knows the faithful; he doesn’t need to personally interview people to see if they are truly his. If he wanted to, he could just raise the righteous.
The Lord is not vengeful, he is forgiving! Surely he does not want to even the score with people centuries after they have sinned. Exercising his wrath upon the wicked gives him no pleasure at all (Ezk. 18:23; John 3:17).
And what good can be accomplished in those who have done evil? They have already sealed their eternal fate by their conduct in this life. It’s too late for any punishment to bring about reformation.
So what’s the point? Why raise wicked people from the dead?
Whenever we ask, “Why?” about clearly revealed facts, we need to be cautious about our own thinking. We may come to understand why God does something and we may not. Our understanding “Why,” however, is irrelevant to the facts. We accept divine revelation even though divine reasons may not be immediately apparent. Too often, we have seen people doubt clear Bible facts solely because they do not understand the thinking of God. That is the wrong way to approach scripture.
Some Reasons
To keep His promise
God has promised to avenge His elect. We are told:
“Avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord” (Rom. 12:19).
“Shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him…?” (Lk. 18:7).
“It is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you…when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven…” (II Thess. 1:6-7).
He will avenge His elect because He has promised to do so and God keeps His word.
Objections may come to mind: “Why don’t the merciful righteous relieve God of His promise so the wicked persecutors can simply remain in the grave?” God made the promise to help the righteous submit to extreme injustice in this life. We might be able to better understand the value of His promise if we were personally victimized by brutal persecution. If we are, we no doubt would find great consolation that God “will judge and avenge our blood” (Rev. 6:10). Here is a case where the Almighty takes a more practical approach to the reactions and needs of the faithful than we might in moments of unrealistic idealism.
A second objection could be that God punishes the wicked now. He does not need to raise them for that purpose. This may be true in some cases but it is not true in all.
Not in this life
The wicked are not consistently punished in this life. “There is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness…there be just men, unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous” (Eccl. 7:15; 8:14).
Answering the theory of exact retribution, Job rightly pointed to the facts: “[If that theory is correct] Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? Their seed is established…their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them…they spend their days in wealth, and in a moment [without prolonged suffering] go down to the grave” (Job 21:7-13).
Throughout history this situation has been a great trial for the righteous and a trap for the wicked. The righteous lament: “I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked…How doth God know? is there knowledge in the most High? Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain…” (Psa. 73:3,11,13). The wicked say unto God: “Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. What is the Almighty, that we should serve him: and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?” (Job 21:14-15). They have said, “It is vain to serve God…we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered” (Mal. 3:14-15).
The consolation to the righteous is that he will ultimately see the eternal fate of the wicked: “Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off thou shalt see it” (Psa. 37:34). This can only refer to the resurrection. Only then will the righteous “inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever.” Only then will the transgressors “be destroyed together” (Psa. 37:29,38).
These scriptures make it perfectly clear that many wicked people will be raised for punishment. They do not receive their judgment in this life on any consistent basis, thus God will raise them for that purpose.
Positive objectives
God’s objectives are positive even when He pours out His judgments. Forty-nine times in Ezekiel, the objective of divine judgment is stated to be that, “They might know that I am the LORD.” The Jews at least learned part of the lesson. As we can tell from the New Testament, they were purged of worshiping pagan gods by the terrible punishments they experienced.
But who could benefit from those raised for punishment? Two classes: the mortals and the rulers of the kingdom.
Those who enter the kingdom age as mortals (Zech. 14:16) will understand wickedness does not pay. They will have seen the judgments upon the nations and they will know of those raised for punishment. If those raised and rejected are sent back into the world before eventually dying (as some of us suspect may happen), the impact will be even greater. In any case, the mortals during the kingdom age face judgment at the end of the millennium (Rev. 20:11,12). Knowing of the earlier resurrection of the unjust, they will have no doubt that God will in fact carry through on what is set before them — a resurrection to glory or punishment.
Secondly, the faithful, who are glorified and given authority over the nations (Rev. 2:26,27), will have been benefited by the judgment experience. They will have their faith in God reconfirmed for they will have seen Him keep His word regarding the fate of the wicked. Their own preaching of the Truth to the mortals (Isa. 30:21) will be given added vigor as they convey what they have seen with their own eyes: God cannot be spurned with impunity. They will approach their task of leading mortals into godliness (Rev. 20:4,6) with consummate zeal as they will have a crystal clear picture of what lies ahead at a future resurrectional judgment.
Some readers may puzzle at these last comments. They may feel immortals think and perform automatically and involuntarily. Surely this cannot be the case, for the immortal angels express emotions (Gen. 19:16), have varied abilities (Dan. 10:13) and continue to learn (I Peter 1:12). We look forward to being like the angels.
Other readers may feel nothing useful is to be learned from the judgment experience; they may feel that the process of character development stops at death. Yet what person, who is saved, would not be humbled by seeing some of his life’s work revealed as useless “wood, hay, stubble” (I Cor. 3:12-15)? Furthermore, the judgments of Christ will serve to crystallize divine priorities in the minds of the faithful (Matt. 25:38-40). This will be of great benefit to them for their work in the kingdom.
There are thus positive reasons why God raises people to punish them. Much good can come to others.
The Fear Motive
Underlying the foregoing scriptural points is a teaching to which some object God uses fear of punishment as a motivation for right conduct.
There can be no doubt that He does. A reading of Deuteronomy 28 sets out in stark form blessings for obedience and extraordinary punishment for disobedience. The message of the prophets echoes the law (we earlier alluded to Ezekiel’s prophecy which illustrates the point).
This theme is not exclusive to the Old Testament. “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” are the words of the Lord Jesus (Luke 13:3,5). The gospels abound with allusions to the consequences of disobedience. Paul wrote: “Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God…toward thee goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off” (Rom. 11:22). John who wrote, “There is no fear in love” earlier warned, “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him” (I John 4:18; 3:15). We must obey or we have no part in eternal life.
If fear of punishment is the only thing that drives our discipleship, we will never succeed. We must love God and joy in what lies ahead. But we are ignoring scripture, the variance in human personalities and our own spiritual highs and lows if we think fear never plays apart in keeping one on the straight and narrow path.
The resurrection of some wicked to be punished by God is clear Bible teaching. We need to accept it and make certain it is not applicable to ourselves.
(Many of the above points relate to the discussion on resurrectional responsibility and should be kept in mind when reading editorial comments in “Letters to the Editor.”)
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One