The resurrection of Jesus Christ and OT saints was the firstfruits of the church age. Those who die in Christ, Paul claims, are immediately with Christ. Some get each personal death and resurrection mixed up with an end time resurrection.
That last statement I underlined shows you aren't really understanding the resurrection that will occur at Christ's coming, the one that is to occur which is written of in 1 Thessalonians 4 and 1 Corinthians 15. Why don't you study those Chapters? What do you have against them?
Those in Christ will never be bodily resurrected. That is what Paul is saying. Those who die in Christ are immediately with Christ, but all saints in Christ both OT and NT, will not get their glorified bodies (robes of white) until the last day. This "spiritual" resurrection is not of a dead physical body. It is getting a full image of Christ, son of God body. If you say the physical body is changed in mid air is ok, but the soul and spirit are already in heaven, just not in 1 form.
I've covered this several times on this forum. Apostle Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 15 about 2 different changes one must go through to have eternal Life in Christ Jesus. One must be changed from a body of corruption (flesh) to a body of incorruption ("spiritual body") AND this mortal (a liable to die soul) must put on immortality (deathlessness, the future glory state at Christ's return).
The wicked dead will be resurrected also, but only to a spiritual body. Their souls will still not have put on immortality through Christ Jesus. They will still be considered 'the dead', even though alive in a resurrection body (the "spiritual body" Paul taught). Paul taught this indirectly when he covered the 2 required changes. And in Acts 24:15 he said it was his hope there will be both a resurrection of the just and of the unjust. Revelation 20 teaches this when it declares only those of the 1st resurrection will not be subject to the "second death". The "second death" is NOT about another flesh death. It is about the casting of one's soul with spiritual body into the future "lake of fire" at the end of Christ's future thousand years reign.
John in Revelation states that the dead, those souls under the alter, get their robes first. That does not contradict Paul's, the dead in Christ rise first. The souls get their robes of white then under the alter. Now Paul says, that immediately, we alive on earth will meet the Lord in the air. Seal 6 says that God on the throne and the Lamb appear in the skies. Those alive in Christ meet the Lord at that time, however, more people will receive robes of white over the next few years. The harvest of wheat and tares, of goats and sheep then commences.
Yes. But the resurrection for both the just and the unjust are shown by Jesus in John 5:28-29, both as happening at the same time with His coming.
What dead are resurrected? None, it is the dead in sin, who die physically to everlasting punishment. Remember that Paul symbolically says we die daily, to a new life. The death of a sinner is a new eternal life, but eternal damnation. God set it up that physical death is the resurrection to eternal physical punishment. Those in Christ die physically so they can have an eternal life in Christ. Death is the only way to eternal life. Even in the air, the body of flesh will die, or dissappear, because the soul is given a totally new body. Paul says, "We will not all sleep, but all shall be changed." He likened it to a seed, that must die in order to live. The body of flesh is placed into the ground and sees corruption. It is the only way to receive an incorruptible body. Even those alive at the time of the 6th seal, their body will be changed in the air, from a corrupted body to an incorruptible one. Because not even living flesh and blood can enter heaven.
Well, you haven't understood Isaiah 25 where Paul was pulling from about the idea of death being swallowed up in victory.
When Jesus returns, everyone in the flesh still alive on earth will have their flesh body cast off, not just those in Christ. Whether one has their flesh cast off on the day of Christ's coming, or they receive a spiritual body by being raised on that day, we ALL will be in a spiritual body during Christ's future Millennial reign,
and that includes the nations of the unsaved, and the wicked dead that are raised to go through the Millennium also. That is what the Isaiah 25:5-9 Scripture is showing, which is where Paul got the death swallowed up in victory idea from. In 1 Cor.15 it sounds like he is applying that only to the Church, but in reality per Isaiah 25 the casting off of the flesh veil of this present world is applied to all peoples. And the John 5:28-29 Scripture agrees with it, as the wicked dead will be raised to the spiritual body also.
We all will be in the spiritual body, and on earth in that time, (except for the host of the high ones, and Satan's kings of the earth that will be locked with him in his pit prison per Isaiah 24:21-23).
Rev 21:4
4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
KJV
The idea of death is not part of God's original creation. Satan's original rebellion against Him is what caused it. This is why in final even death will go into the future lake of fire and be destroyed per the end of Rev.20. This present flesh time is to determine who wants to be with The Father and His Son eternally. So this present world time is but a mask that is to be removed at Christ's coming.
When Apostle Paul referred to our house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, per 2 Cor.5, he was speaking of the spiritual body with soul, what he also called the "image of the heavenly" in 1 Corinthians 15:49.
That kind of body is not immortal UNLESS it is made eternal through Faith on Christ Jesus. Once again, Paul showed this in the 1 Corinthians 15:53-54 verses, actually giving four different Greek words to show it. This is revealed in Revelation 20 about the idea of the "second death". The "second death" is the destruction of one's spirit body with soul in the future "lake of fire" at the end of Christ's future "thousand years" reign.
Paul explains heaven as a physical place, not just a dimensional spiritual place, yet still pointing out that dead human flesh can not be part of that physical place, not even if flesh could still live and breath.
Yes. The heavenly is its own dimension though, even though it is going to be revealed right here on earth, in the same time and space as the material earth. This dual-dimension existence was hinted at early in God's Word with the existence of His Garden of Eden upon the earth, with His River of Genesis 2 flowing out of His Garden to feed four other rivers upon the earth, and His walking in that Garden of Eden upon earth. It was also hinted at with the ability of angels to appear on earth, and also eat man's food, even without a flesh body. And later, our Lord Jesus even showed this when He said those of the resurrection are as the angels of God. To a lesser extent, Satan said he'd been walking up and down the earth when God asked what he'd been doing (Job 1).
However, the "dead" after Christ's coming are not fleshy dead. No one that is dead is still in a flesh body. When Rev.20 says "the dead" appear standing at the Judgment, they are in spiritual bodies, but their soul is still
spiritually dead being without Christ.
There is only a veil of blindness that prevents us from seeing the spiritual as normal physical existence. The same condition of our body prevents us from seeing and even understanding what is spiritual. Paul explained it to the audience of his day. But he did not compare it to Greek and Roman mythology. Nor does it have much to do with any form of Judaism. Paul should know. He was educated in Judaism, but God totally changed his life and gave him a new knowledge.
God reveals the spiritual things of His Kingdom via The Holy Spirit to those of His that it is given. Faith on Christ Jesus is the first step in our spirit receiving that. Bible study to show ourselves approved is the next step. The Pharisees, of which Paul was once one, also believed in the resurrection. And Paul was taught by the best Hebrew scholar of his day, Gamaliel. So don't tell me these things don't have anything to do with Judaism's beliefs. They particularly are the ones behind the false 'dead in the ground' fleshy resurrection theory. They believe our 'soul' only becomes manifest with a flesh body. Thus they believe the resurrection is to a new flesh body. They believe God's Salvation is for the flesh.
