Doctrines (posted Saturday, April 14 2007)

In the time when our Lord Jesus Christ walked the earth, one of the controversies among the Jewish scholars was over the existence of a resurrection from the dead. As Christians, we believe that the Messiah was ressurected and that this was foreshadowed and prophesied in the Old Testament.

Where does the Old Testament teach about a resurrection?

What did Jews teach on the resurrection?

The two main Jewish sects which were divided on the issue of resurrection were the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The Pharisees believed that the Old Testament, which they called Tanakh, did teach about a future raising from the dead to eternal life. The Sadducees taught that there was no resurrection, but that one was to follow the precepts of God for this life alone.

The Sadducees desired so much to entrap Jesus Christ in a lie that they presented Him with a hypothetical question based on resurrection, even though they did not believe in it.

- Matthew 22:23-24,28 That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. "Teacher," they said, "Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and have children for him. [...] Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?"

Paul also used this division to his advantage when he was arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin for teaching against Judaism.

- Acts 23:6-8 Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, "My brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. I stand on trial because of my hope in the resurrection of the dead." When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. (The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and that there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.)

One interesting implication in Paul's episode is that Pharisees were much more apt to believe in Jesus as Messiah because they believed in resurrection, angels, and other spiritual things. In fact, the New Testament records a number of Pharisees believing in Him but not many Sadducees.

What does the Old Testament teach on resurrection?

There are some key passages which very clearly teach a post-death resurrection that foreshadows the incredible future life that both Old Testament and New Testament saints will have with God for all eternity.

- Job 19:25-27 I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes; I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

- Psalm 16:9-11 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

- Psalm 22:26 The poor will eat and be satisfied; they who seek the Lord will praise him - may your hearts live forever!

- Psalm 41:11-12 I know that you are pleased with me, for my enemy does not triumph over me. In my integrity you uphold me and set me in your presence forever.

- Psalm 49:15 But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself. Selah

- Psalm 52:9 I will praise you forever for what you have done; in your name I will hope, for your name is good. I will praise you in the presence of your saints.

- Isaiah 38:18-20 For the grave cannot praise you, death cannot sing your praise; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness. The living, the living - they praise you, as I am doing today; fathers tell their children about your faithfulness. The Lord will save me, and we will sing with stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the temple of the Lord.

- Ezekiel 37:12-13 Therefore prophesy and say to them: "This is what the Sovereign Lord says: 'O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them.'"

- Ezekiel 37:25 They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children's children will live there forever, and David my servant will be their prince forever.

- Daniel 12:2 Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.

- Hosea 13:14a,b I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction?

- Jonah 2:6 To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought my life up from the pit, O Lord my God.

And there are many other Psalms and passages teaching that resurrection was a belief held by the Old Testament saints.

Conclusion

Early churches were frequently infiltrated by the belief that there is no resurrection, including of Jesus Christ Himself. This heresy is a corruption of the Gospel which saves souls and was a prevalent enough problem that Paul had to reprove the Corinthians on the poor logic and dire consequences of such a teaching.

- 1 Corinthians 15:12-19 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.

Therefore the modern Christian, all the more armed with both the Old and New Testaments, may be confident in the consistant teaching of Scripture of the resurrection, both of Jesus Christ and of the saints.