Smoodock's Blog

We have been studying the coming of the Lord, as that event was taught by Paul in his two epistles to the Thessalonians. We began by studying Paul’s eschatology as it is evidenced in his epistles leading up to chapter four of what we call his first letter to the Thessalonians. Then we considered Paul’s eschatology in the second letter, with a view to discovering whether or not his eschatology was one united doctrine, or if he taught there were two comings of Christ, two resurrections, two judgments etc. We found that Paul taught only one coming of Christ, and everything he taught was built upon that foundation. Moreover, when we considered, if he could be teaching anything new, we discovered that Paul taught nothing but was taught in the Law and the Prophets (Acts 26:22), and particularly what Jesus, also, taught (1Thessalonians 4:15).

Paul taught that the resurrection of the dead was an event that would take place in the future, that is, after the time of his writing to the Thessalonians (1Thessalonians 4:16), but he expected that event to occur in the lifetimes of that first century generation of believers to whom he wrote (1Thessalonians 4:15, 17 – note the phrase: we who are alive). Later, Paul would write to Timothy, his friend and helper, that it was a very serious matter to put the resurrection in the past:

But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some (2 Timothy 2:16-18).

Remember, in previous studies we found that the resurrection is not only the dead returning to life, it is a gathering of all the elect (both living and dead) to Christ, and that gathering points to the establishment of the New Covenant at the return of Christ, and the abolishing of the Old Covenant with the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem (cp. Matthew 16:27-28; 24:29-31).

Not a few Christian today believe that the resurrection took place just after Jesus had arisen from the dead, but, if that were true, the dead would have entered their reward forty years before the living. While one might find support for such a thing in 1Thessalonians 4:15 in that the living wouldn’t precede the dead in being perfected, it would contradict 1Thessalonians 4:16 that puts the resurrection into the future, to sometime beyond Paul’s writing, but not so far that it would occur beyond the generation of “we who are alive and remain until the coming…” (1Thessalonians 4:15, cp. Verse-17). But, what, some may ask, did Matthew mean when he claimed the dead arose after Jesus’ resurrection?

And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many (Matthew 27:51-53).

It seems to me that the sole purpose of this resurrection was to witness to Jesus’ resurrection. These folks were known by the residents of Jerusalem. It was not a resurrection to eternal life, but one to physical life, just as Lazarus was raised to physical life. They would later die, just as everyone else does, because flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God (John 3:3-6; 1Corinthians 15:50). The resurrection of Matthew cannot be the one referred to by Paul in 1Thessalonians 4:13-17, and, therefore, to eternal life. We know this, because, not only does Paul say we who are alive would not precede the dead ones in being perfected, but neither would the dead ones precede we who are alive (Hebrews 11:40). Therefore, the resurrection was one united event uniting both the living and the dead in a single gathering before the Lord, to the end that the New Covenant would be established at the time of the destruction of the Old Covenant. Moreover, as we can see by considering the text in Matthew, the graves were opened at the time the veil of the Temple was torn from the top to the bottom, when the earthquake broke the lintel from which the veil hung. This event was a precursor to the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD, at which time the dead would arise to be gathered to Christ at his return. The resurrection in Matthew was a physical event that foreshadowed the spiritual reality that would occur in 70 AD.