15. The Grave-The Souls Of The Dead -The Resurrections

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

THE GRAVE-THE SOULS OF THE DEAD- THE RESURRECTIONS

“Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation" (John 5:28-29).
With reference to this chapter, let us direct our attention to the bottom of the Art Chart (www.BibleSupport.com/a/gppc.png) where are pictured;

First, the grave;
Second, the place for the souls of the righteous dead;
Third, the place for the souls oil the wicked dead;
Fourth, a great gulf fixed; fifth, the resurrections from the dead.

Many people do not realize that there are separate resur­rections of the dead, and that there is more than one judg­ment. They do not realize that the Bible teaches that there is a long time, a period of 1000 years, between the “second coming” resurrection of the righteous dead, and the “great white throne” resurrection of the wicked dead.

The body of man is the only part of man that dies. The grave is the place on earth where the bodies of the dead, both righteous and wicked, are laid at rest to await their respective resurrections.

The soul of man does not die, but it remains conscious when the body dies, and it goes, after the death of the body, to the place prepared for it.

The place for the souls of the righteous dead is called “paradise.” It is pictured on the Chart as below the grave before the resurrection of Christ; but it is pictured as in heaven above after the resurrection of Christ.

Christ died, but He arose again and conquered death. When His body arose from the grave, His grave on earth was opened, and His soul and spirit returned from paradise below to join His body on earth. His body was a resur­rected body. It was immortal. Christ became the first-fruits of them that slept.

Christ, at His resurrection, led captivity captive. He freed the souls of the righteous dead from paradise below. He closed up the paradise below, and removed it to heaven above. Paul calls the paradise above the third heaven, God’s abode (2 Corinthians 12:1-4). The freed righteous ones, whom Christ brought from paradise below, went to paradise above. This paradise above is pictured on the Art Chart (www.BibleSupport.com/a/gppc.png) after Christ’s ascension. The spirit and the soul of the righteous dead now go to paradise above, and they will remain there until Christ comes to receive His church at the time of the rapture, the time when the bodies of the righteous dead are called forth from the grave.

Under the paradise below, on the Chart, is a great gulf fixed, and under the gulf is the place for the souls of the wicked dead. The great gulf between paradise and hell is impassable.

The story of the “rich man and Lazarus,” as found in Luke 16:19-31, shows that the spirits of the departed are conscious; and that they have a “soulish body,” which makes them recognizable as they appeared while on earth, for the “rich man” recognized Lazarus and talked with him across the impassable gulf.

The spirit is not without a body after death. The body, soul and spirit of a man can be compared to the make-up of a plum. When the meat or body of the plum dies, it is separated from the stone and the kernel of the plum. The kernel is alive in the stone, its body. The spirit of man is alive in its “soulish” body. The place in the other world to which the soul and spirit of each person on earth go after death is determined by what each person does with Jesus Christ, the Saviour, whether or not he accepts Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross for him and is saved. If sinful man is born again and is saved while on earth, so that the spirit of God dwells in his heart and he becomes the temple of the living God, then his soul and spirit, after they separate from the body, go to paradise, the place for the souls of the righteous dead. How a person lives as a Christian, determines the rewards or crowns he will receive at the Judgment seat of Christ.

If a man is unsaved while on earth, and evil is enthroned in his heart so that there is no place for God in his life, his soul and body go to the place prepared for the souls of the unsaved, the wicked dead. The saved or unsaved condition of man while on earth determines, therefore, where the de­parted spirit of man will reside after death, and it deter­mines the time when his body will be resurrected from the dead.

Since Adam, there has been physical death, and there is to be also a physical resurrection. “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ must all be made alive" (1 Corinthians 15:22). Both are physical.

The first resurrection is the resurrection of the righteous dead. It is in two main parts, as shown on the Art Chart (www.BibleSupport.com/a/gppc.png). The first main part occurs at the time of the rapture, when the “dead in Christ” shall rise first, when the bodies of the righteous dead are called out, leaving the bodies of the wicked dead in the grave.

The second part of the first resurrection is the resurrec­tion of the tribulation saints at the close of the tribulation period. The saints are the people who have witnessed for Christ during the tribulation period, who have not wor­shipped the beast, nor his image, nor have received his mark on their forehead or on their hand (Revelation 20:4). The souls of these tribulation saints are under the altar until the resurrection of their bodies. These saints shall live with Christ, and serve him day and night in His temple (Revelation 7:15). The Christians who are alive on earth at the time of the rapture will not see death, for they will go immediately to be with Christ.

They have been born twice and do not die at all. People, who are born twice and die, die only once. Those who are born only once will have to die twice.

Hades will hold the souls of the wicked dead until the second resurrection, which is 1000 years after the revela­tion of Jesus Christ. At the second resurrection, the bodies of the wicked dead will come forth from the grave. They will be reunited with their wicked souls, and they will appear before the “great white throne” for their judgment. After this judgment, they will go to the second death, the lake of fire.

The first resurrection is for those who are saved, the righteous dead shall come forth unto the resurrection of life (Ephesians 2:8-9).

The second resurrection is for those who have done evil, who shall come forth unto the resur­rection of damnation (John 5:29).

“Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years" (Revelation 20:6).