The Resurrection of the Dead has to do with eternity. In order to understand it, we have to understand what the spiritual definitions of "Death" and "Eternity" are.
What is Eternity
1. Eternity is the realm of God's time, it's not just an endless extension of our time, it is part of God's nature, and it's the realm in which he lives.
i. Out of eternity, by an act of creation, God brought into being the present world and with it the order of time as we know it - past, present, future, days, seasons, hours etc.
ii. Time is directly and inseparably related to this present world.
iii. The most precious of all time is the kairos or opportune time we have to make decisions while on this earth.
What is Death?
1. You cannot have resurrection until there has been a death so it's important for us to understand more about death.
1. In the world we live in, there has been a conscious effort to remove anything that might be unpleasant or painful about death.
a. Death is real, it's unpleasant, it's painful, and it's cruel.
i. Any view of life that cannot accept this fact is deceptive and unrealistic.
ii. Any religion that does not have a positive answer to the reality of death is inadequate to meet the needs of man.
iii. What distinguishes Christianity from all other religions and philosophies is that it has a positive, proven answer to death.
iv. Death is the universal enemy of the whole human race.
1 Corinthians 15:26, Hebrews 9:27
b. Someone once said, "You may miss every appointment you ever made while you live, but there are two appointments you're going to keep: the first is death, the second is judgment."
i. The Bible clearly reveals that there is continual conscious existence after death and also personal accountability for what we have done during our lives.
ii. Accountability - it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment - we will be held accountable.
iii. When modern medicine encounters a physical problem it seeks to provide three things:
1. Diagnosis
2. Prognosis
3. Remedy
iv. The diagnosis reveals the cause
v. The prognosis predicts the course that the disease will take.
vi. The remedy is the answer to the disease. It's the way to cure it, or the way to stop it's spread or keep it from killing you.
a. When we face the topic of death, the bible offers us all three of these things: diagnosis, prognosis and remedy.

First there is the diagnosis:
Romans 5:12
1. So, death came through sin.
2. Because all men have sinned, death comes to all men.
1 Corinthians 15:56
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
1. What is a sting? It is the means by which some kind of insect injects its poison into the body of its victim and thereby produces a negative result such as pain, an infection, an irritation or poisoning.
a. The means by which death injected its corruption into our bodies was sin.
b. Sin is the sting that injects the poison of death.


Second there's the prognosis:
1. The Bible indicates that death comes in 4 successive stages:
a. The first is spiritual death.
Genesis 2:17
i. To our understanding of death, Adam did not die but lived another 900 plus years, but in the very day that he sinned he was cut off or alienated from a life with God - which is spiritual death.
Ephesians 2:1
ii. (I read in a book by Derek Prince) Once man's spirit was cut off from God by sin, his physical life was like a battery that could not be recharged. It continued to function for quite awhile, but ultimately it would run down.
iii. I find this a perfect analogy.
b. The second phase is soulish death
i. The soul that sins it shall die - Ezekiel 18:4 & 20
ii. When we allow sin to reign in our souls - mind, will and emotions - sin begins to erode every area of our well being until:
1. All sane thinking is dead - we have confusion, deception, turmoil, anxiety, unrest, insanity
2. All rational emotions are dead - we become hard, unfeeling, callous, or we are emotionally unstable due to being ruled by our emotions
3. Our wills are held captive - the lusts of our flesh press against all sane judgment compelling us to go down paths we would not travel had we been thinking clearly.
a. Relationships die,
b. Finances dwindle,
c. Peace is destroyed, and in its place there's anxiety, fears of all kinds, mistrust, instability, worthlessness, rejection
d. Instead of joy there's depression, oppression and sadness,
e. Instead of love there's hate, bitterness, resentment etc.
4. All that our souls were meant to feel and be, is destroyed until we are walking in total darkness and death principles.
c. The third phase is physical death
i. This is what we actually call "death."
ii. It is the separation of the soul from the body. There is a visible result in the condition of the body when it "dies."
iii. It begins to decay and rot. It will develop an odor, stiffen, become cold.
iv. However, the condition of the soul remains unchanged by physical death.
1. This could be good news or bad news, as we will see in the remainder of this teaching.
d. The fourth phase of death is what the Bible calls "the second death."
i. This kind of death can only be known through the revelation of Scripture.
ii. Someone with no knowledge of the Scriptures will have no knowledge of further death after the physical death of the body.
Revelation 20:14-15
1. In this Scripture we note two important things:
a. The second death is both final and eternal resulting in irrevocable banishment from the presence of God.
i. There is no way back from the second death -
ii. No one can pray you out, you can't earn your way out, repent your way out, or work your way out
iii. The work of salvation covers life BEFORE this point. If you have not partaken of the grace of salvation before now - at this point, it is too late.
b. Secondly, the second death does not stop the consciousness - you are aware of all that is happening. Your conscience hasn't ceased to be. Your awareness is still intact.
2. Let's briefly review the Bible's prognosis of the course of death in a human life:
a. Spiritual death - The alienation of man's soul from God through sin and the place we all find ourselves from the moment we are born.
b. Soulish death - the health and well being of every part of our soul deteriorates and is corrupted by the world around us if we continue in sin without Christ and without truth and light.
c. Physical death - the separation of the soul from the body and the first of two appointments that every man born into this world must keep.
d. The Second Death - the final irrevocable banishment from the presence of God of every soul appointed to this fate - yet with a continuing consciousness of who and where you are!
1 Corinthians 15:22
1. Death is the fate of every human being because of Adam.
2. Resurrection from the dead is the appointment of God for all who will attain it; and the ability to attain it is made possible through the death and resurrection of Christ.
Acts 17:30-31, 2 Corinthians 5:10
1. God's appointed judgment is for the whole world; that is why all men are commanded to repent, because one day they will all be judged. This earth is the realm of time for that decision. You make choices here that will affect your eternity.
2. We will be judged for what we do IN THE BODY - that's here on earth!
a. Who you belong to is decided here, and YOU make the decision!
b. Hell is perpetual exile from God - loneliness and darkness for eternity - this is true spiritual death.
i. God does not consign people to hell against their wishes - he only confirms their choice to be there.
ii. Every day we make decisions to include God or reject Him. When people choose not to give God a place in their lives He will at some point give them exactly what they requested.
iii. When you choose to live separate from God here on earth you are also making the choice to be separate from Him for eternity - ultimately we get what we insist on when all is said and done - the choice is ours.
2 Peter 3:9-11 (The Message Bible), Ephesians 4:17-19
1. When we walk in the futility of our own minds apart from God our understanding is darkened. In that state, we can't see or understand clearly the things around us, or the road we're on, and we are then alienated from the life of God because of our ignorance.
a. We continue to walk in death principles generating further death in our lives and cut off from the source of life and the knowledge needed to change our course - or even the knowledge that change IS needed.
2. Our hearts become blind. We become past feeling or conscience. At that point, we give ourselves over to lewdness, uncleanness and greediness.
3. Again, it's quite clear that we make our choices here regarding not only where we will spend eternity but also who we will spend it with.
a. Supporting Scriptures: Psalm 9:17; 10:4-6, 11 and 13; Psalm 14:1-3 are a few.
b. We are also going to find out that the quality of your resurrection is decided here as well, and YOU make that decision too.

The Mystery of Resurrection
a. Old Testament saints did not understand resurrection. It was this kind of a mystery to them.
b. The mystery of the resurrection was revealed in the New Testament. The disciples not only understood it, but it was a central theme in their preaching and a vital part of their teaching of Christ.
i. Hebrews 6:1-2 calls it a basic doctrine of Christ.
ii. Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 2:15, "hold fast to this teaching you have been taught both in word and in epistle or letter.
1 Corinthians 15:12-16
iii. The resurrection is the primary and essential truth of the entire Gospel of Salvation, and it is the main theme of the entire New Testament.
Romans 10:9-10
1. The word for "saved" in this Scripture is Sozo and it means to make whole, to restore to original condition. It includes healing, deliverance, protection, preservation, and eternal life.
2. In both the Old and New testaments we see a type of resurrection in that people who died and were raised from the dead, like Lazarus.
a. This comes under the heading of miracles, but there is another resurrection - a type of which Christ is the first fruits.
b. The raising of someone from the dead to live again that falls under the heading of "a miracle" differs from the resurrection of Christ in one very important way.
i. Those raised from the dead by the Holy Spirit, termed "a miracle," would one day die again physically. Their bodies were not changed, but they were still subject to death and decay.
ii. Those who will be raised as Christ was will never again die physically. Their bodies will have overcome death and corruption forever.
1 Corinthians 15:20-26
1. Releasing the traditions of men is necessary to receive the light of truth.
a. Jesus said that men's traditions block his word from having its intended effect and influence in our lives.
Colossians 2:8
2. Jesus is trying to show us about the traditions of men. They block us from seeing revealed truth because they keep us bound within the mindsets of certain patterns of thinking making us a prisoner of those ideas. We are not free to come outside the pattern of tradition to see how it all connects HIS WAY. Thus we have hundreds of denominations clinging to their little corner of truth and never seeing how it all fits together.
3. To see and understand the need of a complete bodily resurrection and to get an understanding of what caused the destruction and decay of our bodies, what restores them, and what God's view of the human body is we have to start at the beginning - in Genesis.
4. A study of Genesis chapters 1-3 shows that death is the product of Adam's fall. He's the author of death - not Satan! That's the first traditional mindset we need to erase.
a. On the 6th day God created man or Adam and on the 7th day he rested.
b. The word "rest" here means to move in. Not to lie down and take it easy.
c. So the first thing that Adam experienced was God moving into him. Adam was the expression of the divine nature within until he turned his soul away from the divine presence within to self and the world around him.
i. Adam was NOT deceived remember, but he deliberately ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
ii. He did that because his focus had turned from God to self.
d. In Genesis chapter 2 verses 16-17 we see something else.
Genesis 2:16-17
And the Lord God commanded the man
1. The Lord God told man ...
a. Now look in Genesis 3:1
Genesis 3:1
And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said,
1. The serpent asked Eve, "has God said?".
2. Two different words are used here when referring to God.
a. The Lord God - Jehovah, self-existent, covenant keeping, personal God, grace-giver who dwells with his people.
b. God - Elohiym - Supreme, Almighty God, Creator
c. All through Scripture when God wanted to reveal a truth about himself he did it by a revelation of His Name.
i. So, right here in the garden Creator God was trying to reveal an aspect of his character to Adam and Eve when he spoke to them in the Name of the Lord God - Jehovah, the personal, covenant God.
ii. He wanted them to know him as more than Creator. He wanted them to know him as a personally involved, covenant keeping, nurturing God who loved them.
iii. Satan immediately begins to distort the character of God by calling him Creator-a more general and impersonal aspect of his character.
1. Eve didn't catch it, and sometimes we don't either.
2. To be ignorant of any facet of his being is to know less of him.
3. To miss or misunderstand the facet of his being he is presently trying to reveal is to be deceived and misled. It is also to miss the present visitation of God to you.
Matthew 23:37-38
3. They missed their present visitation of God. They missed the Name of FATHER he was trying to reveal to them.
a. In so doing, they were left desolate - dead!
b. They were left without inhabitant - the presence of God within
c. They were left deserted of God and deprived of comfort (Webster's 1828).
d. Since Adam's fall God has been dealing with man to turn his soul back to God - back to the divine presence within and away from self and the world.
i. Your soul is your mind, will and emotions. Whatever your soul comes in union with births fruit in your life - good or bad.
James 1:13-20
1. We are deceived and sin is given birth when our soul unites with self and the world to draw us away from the divine presence.
2. When that drawing away has its full work in you it brings forth sin (which is to miss the mark of God's plan, purpose, truth, and inheritance) and when that process has fully matured in your life it brings forth death naturally and spiritually.
a. We are blocked from the tree of life until our soul turns back to God.
Matthew 9:16-17
3. God can't put his inheritance in a body with an unprepared soul.
4. Out of the death of the human race through Adam, one rose above death and conquered it Spirit, Soul, and Body. He was the root out of dry ground that Isaiah 53 speaks of. That dry ground was the human race.
5. Satan wanted to prevent Jesus from getting through as the Son of Man. He didn't care if he got through as the Son of God only, because then he'd be an isolated figure, someone we couldn't relate to or join with. He'd be a different substance from us and he would not qualify as Savior.
6. However, because he DID get through as the Son of Man and now every human being can get through to the presence of God and every believer relying on HIM can overcome in the realm of his soul in all things because of what the Son of Man did!
7. The battle is for the soul of man.
a. Note the importance of the revealed Name to relay a truth and/or a facet of His character.
1. Our present visitation - the one we need to understand is SON OF MAN! Because He lives, we live also! Pilate said, "Behold the MAN."
2. In his life as well as in the Garden and on the cross he wrestled in his soul to keep his soul turned to God and tuned to His voice. He wrestled and overcame as the SON of MAN.
Isaiah 49:1-6
1. Jesus overcame death in the realm of his soul and because he did, death could not hold his body in the ground!
2. The New Testament church worshipped with a different understanding than we have.
a. They worshipped one who had total victory over all death - every death principle that operates against the human race was overcome and conquered by Him - by a man with the presence of God within! By the SON OF MAN!
b. They understood both his death AND his resurrection. They understood and looked for the blessed hope.
2 Timothy 4:6-8 , Philippians 3:8-16
1 Corinthians 15:54-57
Jesus Christ THE SON OF MAN!
1. This is the living hope that propels us into overcoming lifestyles.
2. Joseph had this hope of resurrection revealed to his heart long before the "mystery" was revealed to the church at large. That's why he told the Israelites to bring his bones back with them. He knew death was temporary.
3. Old Testament history tells us that when saints died they buried their bodies with their feet toward the East (Prophecy tells us that when Jesus returns he will enter through the East Gate into Jerusalem!). They were buried this way in preparation for the coming of the Lord and resurrection.
a. It's interesting to note that the word casket is the Hebrew word ARON and it's the same word used when describing the ARK of the Covenant!
b. The tomb of every believer is a borrowed tomb for one day it will be empty!
c. The tomb of every believer is an ARK of SAFETY for your physical body!
1 Thessalonians 5:23
4. The hope of the early church was NOT heaven, but resurrection and their cry was: be ready - be holy!
a. There's a transformation process taking place in each of us right now in preparation for his return.
b. When Adam sinned the human race fell and became of a different substance than the Father so that He had to separate Himself from His union with us. We have to be changed back into our original substance again.
c. The blessed hope of the church is not escape but apprehension of a full resurrection - a transformation or change of substance!
5. We have been duped by tradition. We recognize this with the unsaved, but fail to recognize the same error in the church.
a. We understand that people who think they can wait until the last second to make a decision for Christ or worse those who believe they aren't living for the devil so therefore when they get to the other side they will belong to God, are in error.
b. We know that the decision is made here and life on earth is the kairos time to make that choice.
c. Yet, we don't recognize the same error in the church that says one day the Lord will descend with a shout and catch me up to meet him in the air and everything bad about me will be changed in the twinkling of an eye.
d. We have a kairos time here on earth to make choices to insure our full resurrection! Our full resurrection involves the saving of the soul! That is a process that is taking place NOW. It will NOT be done in the twinkling of an eye at the end! It will be too late then.
e. Supporting Scriptures: Note the word "soul" and the phrases concerning the "soul."
Matthew 16:26 and Mark 8:36-37
Luke 12:16-21
NKJ -[21] "Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God."
Hebrews 10:39, 1 Peter 2:11, James 1:21-22, James 5:19-20, 3 John 1:2
Psalm 23:1-6
1. Walk through the valley of the shadow of death:
a. That is death's presence
b. Death's authority
c. Death's influence
d. Death's threat
e. THIS WORLD where death still has sway!
2. Death is the last enemy to be placed under Jesus' feet. He, death, still has some power - the power of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law (1 Corinthians 15:56).
a. The law gives death its authority through sin (The wages of sin is death!)
3. Supporting Scriptures continued:
Psalm 24:3-4, Proverbs 15:32-33, KJV - Proverbs 15:33, Proverbs 16:17, Proverbs 19:8, Proverbs 19:16, Psalm 26:8-9, Psalm 30:3, Psalm 56:12-13, Psalm 66:8-9, Psalm 66:16-17, 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, Hebrews 6:19, Romans 8:20-25, Titus 2:11-15
4. In all of these scriptures both old and new testament alike, the word for soul is the same.
a. In Hebrew it is nephesh
b. In Greek it is Psuche
c. SOUL; SELF; LIFE (Noun). Vine's Dictionary
i. "Soul; self; life; person; heart." This is a very common term in both ancient and modern Semitic languages.
ii. The basic meaning is apparently related to the rare verbal form, napash. The noun refers to the essence of life, the act of breathing, taking breath.
iii. However, in over 400 later occurrences it is translated "soul." While this serves to make sense in most passages, it is an unfortunate mistranslation of the term.
1. The KJV alone uses over 28 different English terms for this one Hebrew word. The problem with the English term "soul" is that no actual equivalent of the term or the idea behind it is represented in the Hebrew language.
2. The Hebrew system of thought does not include the combination or opposition of the terms "body" and "soul," which are really Greek and Latin in origin.
3. The Hebrew contrasts two other concepts which are not found in the Greek and Latin tradition: "the inner self" and "the outer appearance" or, as viewed in a different context, "what one is to oneself" as opposed to "what one appears to be to one's observers."
a. The inner person is nepesh, while the outer person, or reputation, is shem, most commonly translated "name."
i. Again note the importance of the name to reveal a truth concerning a person. This concept is built right into the Hebrew language.
b. The saving of your soul (your inner self) is of the utmost importance to the Lord. That is the area we have to overcome while here on earth.
c. Your soul isn't going to change in the twinkling of an eye - it's your responsibility to overcome here on earth! The only thing that will change in the twinkling of an eye is your physical body - and how much it changes will depend on your choices now.