Resurrection is the beginning of eternal life
The transformation of a caterpillar into a Monarch butterfly is nothing short of a miracle. God created caterpillars to live for just a few weeks as they eat constantly and grow stronger. The caterpillar then envelops itself in a self-made silk cocoon (pupa) and basically hibernates for 10-14 days as it undergoes a dramatic metamorphosis. Eventually a beautiful butterfly emerges, which is naturally immune to its main food — poisonous milkweed leaves. The Monarch varies in its life expectancy, with some butterflies migrating up to 2,000 miles in North America. Most interestingly, recent research has shown that some butterflies actually remember some parts of their life as a caterpillar, as measured by smelling tests! This may be our spiritual key to why God made these creatures and what we can learn from them.
Christians have correctly compared the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly as similar to death and resurrection. Like a caterpillar, disciples of Christ spend their entire lives working and living in preparation for a future life. The present time is temporal, short-term, and focused on a better life to come. Like a caterpillar in a cocoon, believers become “asleep in Christ” (1 Cor 15:6, 18; 1 Thess 4:13-15; 2 Pet 3:4) at death and unconsciously wait for the resurrection (John 5:21-23; Phil 3:20-21). Their labors are finished and each awaits the next step in their life cycle. Upon awakening, Monarch butterflies get to work, only this time in a glorified body and with an innate mission. They faintly recall some aspects of their prior existence, but focus on their new life. In a similar way, people who are resurrected and glorified will find themselves in a new world, with a heightened focus on the things of God. Those who are counted as worthy will partake in all of the promises and blessings as new creatures (2 Cor 5:17; Rom 6:4). May each of us live to be like a butterfly in the Kingdom of God. But first, we must understand what to expect with our own resurrection.
Bible examples of resurrection
During Jesus’ ministry, a group called the Sadducees ruled as priests. These leaders were known for their riches and corruption, as well as for their lack of belief in angels or resurrection. They approached Jesus and challenged him with a hypothetical example intended to disprove the resurrection and Jesus’ teaching. They wanted Jesus to answer a trick question about resurrection and asked what would happen when one woman was married seven times. Which man would she be married to when resurrected? This turned out to be an easy test for Jesus as he said, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven” (Matt 22:29-30). Jesus knew their hearts and questions about resurrection, and he knows ours as well.
There are more than ten examples of people who were resurrected in Scripture. Elijah and Elisha both raised boys from the dead, and another dead man rose after touching Elisha’s bones (1 Kgs 17:19-23; 2 Kgs 4:32-35; 2 Kgs 13:20-21). Peter raised faithful Tabitha (Acts 9:37-41) and Paul raised the young man, Eutychus (Acts 20:9-12). Jesus raised the most people from the dead. In mercy, he raised the daughter of Jairus, a desperate synagogue official (Luke 8:41-54). Another time, Jesus raised a young man being carried on the way to his burial (Luke 7:12-15). One famous example is when Jesus raised his friend, Lazarus, after he was in a tomb for four days (John 11). That’s when Jesus affirmed his teaching and authority regarding resurrection:
“Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world” (John 11:24-27).
Other examples of resurrection are the Lord himself and the “many saints” raised after his resurrection (Matt 27:52-53).
Who will be resurrected?
No one knows, specifically, who will be resurrected and judged by Jesus. But we do have enough Biblical evidence to have a good understanding. Every person since creation will not be resurrected. In the book of Daniel it says, “And 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). Jesus taught that the resurrection is something to which believers attain, and not something that is guaranteed for all (Luke 20:35; Rev 20:6). Many reasons why people will be resurrected and appear in judgement are provided in the Bible. Paul confirmed that all dead, faithful, baptized believers would be resurrected and after judgment given glorified bodies. We know others, but not all, will be resurrected and judged according to their beliefs and actions. We must seek after Jesus so as to become like him eternally.
What is a resurrected body like?
In the first century Christian church, people asked basic questions about resurrection. They didn’t know all of the answers. Some mistakenly thought that the resurrection was already past tense and ended (2 Tim 2:18). Some former priests still held to the false belief that there is no resurrection at all (1 Cor 15:12; Acts 23:8; Acts 6:7). Paul spent considerable effort correcting wrong doctrine in what is known as the resurrection chapter (1 Cor 15). He told the Corinthians that a resurrected body is a glorified body. “It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body” (1 Cor 15:44). “For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality” (1 Cor 15:53).
When Jesus was resurrected, he was made a partaker of the Divine nature. Before he had ascended to his father (John 20:17), Jesus was able to supersede normal laws of time and space. When his disciples were in a closed room, Jesus appeared out of nowhere to be among them (John 20:19). He could disappear in front of people (Luke 24:31). His appearance seemed to change (Luke 24:31; John 21:4, 12). We know that Jesus also visibly ascended to heaven forty days after his resurrection. No longer was Jesus’ body perishable, but it was made immortal. Paul added that Jesus “will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Phil 3:21).
Where and when will the resurrection occur?
When Jesus returns to the earth, faithful and unfaithful saints will be gathered together from the four corners of the earth to meet him.
“For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thess 4:16-17 NASV).
While the details are still fuzzy – Paul says we see in a mirror dimly (1 Cor 13:12) — we’ve already established that the reward for all faithful is eternal life on earth. When Jesus died, the gospel of Matthew records that many dead people were resurrected. They walked out of their tombs and appeared to many people in Jerusalem. While these faithful people were not glorified with immortality, their resurrection is an example for the manner in which they were raised. They were resurrected in the location where they were buried. They were recognized by others who had known them before. They were all resurrected at the same time. The timing coincided with Jesus’ glorious revival. This is our hope as well, that if we have fallen asleep (died), then we will be resurrected and given immortality by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
May we share the vision and hope that Paul expressed when he said, “that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection of the dead” (Phil 3:10-11).
“Let the resurrection joy lift us from loneliness and weakness and despair to strength and beauty and happiness.” Floyd W. Tom kins
“We live and die; Christ died and lived!” John Stott
“Your dead will live; their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust awake and shout for joy” (Isa 26:19).
The Bible says:
- There will be a resurrection from the dead. 1 Cor 15; Dan 12:2; Isa 26:19
- There are requirements to be resurrected. Rom 6:3-5; Luke 20:35; Mark 16:16
- Faithful resurrected people will be judged and given immortality. Matt 25:34-40; John 5:21-23; Col 3:4 Chicago, IL Ecclesia
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One