Jesus and the Resurrection

WHEN the Apostle Paul visited W Athens nearly two thousand years ago, “certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoics, encountered him, and some said, What will this babbler [margin, or, base fellow] say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.” (Acts 17:18) We read also that “all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.”—Acts 17:21

The city of Athens at the time was wholly given over to idolatry. They had many gods and a confusion of ideas. But it was true then, even as it has always been, that the wise of this world seem able to tolerate almost any sort of notion, no matter how fanciful, except the true philosophy concerning Jesus and the resurrection.

Who is Jesus, and what part does he have in the divine plan, and in revealing to mankind the One whom the Athenians designated “the unknown God”? Today Jesus is the titular head over hundreds of millions of humans who render him at least lip service. His professed followers are not a united body of people. Indeed, they are much divided. There are Roman and Greek Catholics. There are Protestants, who themselves are divided into many denominations. But these groups, each in its own way, and to some extent, do homage to Jesus.

In addition to Jesus’ professed followers, there are millions of others who know about him. Many of these are able to quote some of his sayings, especially parts of his Sermon on the Mount. Today there probably is not a name that is more universally known. But it was not thus in Athens when Paul visited that city of idol worshippers. Few of the Athenians would have heard about Jesus prior to that time. Paul’s task was to present a relatively unknown name to them.

But now it is different. When we ask who Jesus is, the question does not pertain to one who is unknown by name, but rather to the place this universally known person occupies in the plan of “THE UNKNOWN GOD.” It is obviously, we think, that such a question is not out of place. The widely variant opinions concerning Jesus, as represented in the hundreds of divided groups which confess his name, speak loudly of the many misunderstandings there are concerning him.

How, then, shall we find out about Jesus? Shall we consult the viewpoint of the many sectarian groups which bear his name? This would be an endless task; and fruitless also, as well as confusing. We think the better way is to go to the source of information from which the Apostle Paul obtained the truths concerning Jesus which he presented to the people of Athens, the things which made them refer to him as a “babbler” and an advocate of strange gods.

Paul was a Hebrew, and well-schooled in the religious beliefs of his people. He knew that the God of Israel, through his holy prophets, had promised to send One who would redeem the people from their sins, and deliver them from the oppressive hand of death. He knew from the testimony of the Scriptures that to accomplish this purpose of redemption it was necessary for the Redeemer to die. No doubt Paul had many times read that revealing statement concerning Jesus recorded by the Prophet Isaiah—“He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”—Isa. 53:5

Here we have expressed a great truth of the divine plan which in our day has been discarded by millions of the professed followers of Jesus. It is the doctrine of atonement, the fact that Jesus could bear the sins of the whole world of mankind. Professed Christians who no longer believe this claim that it is a bloody teaching, hence repulsive, and not worthy of acceptance by reasoning minds.

It is odd that anyone should take such a view of Jesus’ sacrificial work on behalf of mankind. Today we laud those who are willing to give their lives to save others, proclaiming them as heroes. It is just this that Jesus did, but on a far grander scale. Paul wrote concerning this: “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”—Rom. 5:7,8

Thus we are informed that God’s love was also manifested toward his dying human creatures by the death of Jesus. This too is a well-established fact of Scripture. John 3:16 reads, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” In his sermon on Mars’ hill Paul declared that God is not “worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things.”—Acts 17:25

The greatest of all God’s gifts is his beloved Son, who in turn willingly gave himself in death that ultimately mankind might have an opportunity to enjoy everlasting life. The “Unknown God” of the Athenians does not have to be placated by gifts, but himself gave that which was more costly to him than any other gift he could have presented on behalf of his sinful earthly creatures.

There is no need for any misunderstanding concerning the relationship between the Creator, and his beloved Son, Christ Jesus. The Apostle Paul wrote, “To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.” (I Cor. 8:6) Here Paul makes a sharp distinction between the Father and the Son, and, at the same time, emphasizes that the blessings the Father has provided for his people are available to us only through the Son.

The Scriptures present Jesus as “the beginning of the creation of God.” (Rev. 3:14) Paul wrote, “In whom [Jesus] we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”—Col. 1:14-17

In this comprehensive statement concerning the origin of Jesus, Paul takes us into an area of truth quite beyond the ability of our finite minds to comprehend. However, true progress in the understanding of God can be made only when we recognize that our mental capacity is extremely limited, and that there is much we need to accept as true which we cannot comprehend. Paul has informed us that Jesus was the “firstborn of every creature,” and that he was “the image of the invisible God.” He explains further that by Jesus all things were created, in heaven and earth, visible and invisible. This implies, even though our minds cannot grasp it, that there was a time when God was alone, and that Jesus was his first and only direct creation.

This throws light on God’s statement as recorded in Genesis 1:26: “Let US make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness.” This is evidently the great God of the Universe talking to “the firstborn of every creature,” who himself had been created in the image of God, even as his Father specified the first man should be created. Thus in a small way we are taken behind the scenes, so to speak, and given a very limited glimpse of creation’s Architect and Builder at work. But we can understand but little of how the work was actually done.

The created things include the “visible” and the “invisible.” In this twentieth century of progress we know that there are many invisible forces and things. These are very real, and invisible to us only because of the limitations of our vision. Scientists know much about the invisible things of creation, and the Bible tells us more. There are the angels, for example. These are real creatures, but the human eye cannot see them, because they are spirit beings, invisible to human sight.

It is evident that Jesus, before he came to earth and became a human, was the most exalted of all intelligent invisible creations. It was this mighty One who humbled himself and became a man in order that he might give his humanity in death to accomplish redemption for the sin-cursed and dying race. Here again we are in a realm quite beyond our ability to comprehend. But then we do not understand the God-designed forces which control the processes of so-called natural begettal and birth. We simply accept as fact that babies are born, and that they live.

So, in the outworking of his loving plan to rescue the world from sin and death, the Creator arranged the transfer of “the firstborn of all creation” from the “invisible” to the “visible,” by being born of a human mother. Thus, as John testifies, he “was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”—John 1:14

As to the purpose of this, the Apostle Paul testifies, “We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” (Heb. 2:9) How could one man “taste death” for “every man”? The Scriptures reveal that this was because death had come upon all through the one man Adam. Paul states it simply—“As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”—I Cor. 15:22

The question might arise as to why any member of the human race who was willing to do so could not have died for the world even as Jesus did? Why was it necessary for Jesus to humble himself and become a human in order to redeem mankind from death? The simple answer to this question is that every member of the human race is under condemnation to death. Jesus was free from adamic condemnation. He was, by virtue of the manner in which he “became flesh,” “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.” (Heb. 7:26) Jesus therefore had an uncondemned life to give in sacrifice. The Scriptures use the word ransom in this connection, and tell us that Jesus gave himself “a ransom for all.”—I Tim. 2:3-6

How many of these details Paul presented to the Athenians concerning Jesus the record does not indicate, but these are some of the clearly stated facts which the Bible presents to us about Jesus, and his part in God’s loving plan of redemption. And there was another important truth concerning Jesus that Paul understood, which was that after giving his life in sacrifice for the redemption of the world from sin and death, he was raised from the dead by the power of his Heavenly Father.

This truth is also a difficult one for the world to accept, and it seemed particularly so for the Athenian philosophers. Most non-Christian religious philosophies claim that life continues after death; that those who die are more alive than when they were living. The Scriptures, however, emphasize the reality of death. The Creator warned our first parents that if they disobeyed his law they would “surely die.” (Gen. 2:17) Four thousand years later the Apostle Paul wrote, “The wages of sin is death.” (Rom. 6:23) And Solomon wrote, “The living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything.”—Eccles. 9:5

The Bible holds out a hope of life beyond the grave, but bases this hope upon the promises of the Creator to restore the dead to life. One of the words the Bible uses in setting forth this hope is “resurrection.” The religion of the Bible is the only one in the world that teaches a resurrection of the dead, and with good reason, for it is essentially the only religion in the world which acknowledges the reality of death. In Paul’s sermon on Mars’ hill he associated Jesus with the resurrection. In his letter to the church at Corinth, Paul wrote, “Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.”—I Cor. 15:20

How much detail concerning the hope of the resurrection Paul presented to the Athenians as he conversed with the people in the market place, we may not know; but from this text we learn that to his understanding the resurrection of Jesus gave assurance that ultimately all mankind would be restored to life. And Paul wrote further to this effect—“For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”—I Cor. 15:21,22

The hope of the resurrection of the dead was not something that Paul had acquired when he became a Christian. This was a hope which was held by all Israelites who knew and believed the promises of God as set forth in the Old Testament Scriptures. In testifying before Felix, a Roman governor, and referring to the charges brought against him by his countrymen, Paul said:

“This I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets: and have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.”—Acts 24:14,15

It is clear from this that the hope of the resurrection of the dead had been set forth in the Old Testament Scriptures. However, the word resurrection does not appear in the Old Testament, God’s promises of the restoration of the dead to life being set forth there by other terminology. The Prophet Job said, “If a man die, shall he live again?” And then, answering his own question, and speaking prophetically, he added, “All the days of my appointed time will I wait [in death] till my change [from death to life] come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands.”—Job 14:14,15

Here Job refers to himself as the work of God’s hands. This is true of all mankind. As Paul explained in his sermon on Mars’ hill, we are all “the offspring of God.” Through God’s only begotten Son, our first parents were created in God’s image, and had the ability to obey the Creator’s law. They disobeyed and brought upon themselves the penalty of death. But this does not mean that God lost interest in his human creatures. As Job explains, he still has a “desire,” or love, for them—literally, in the Hebrew text, a pining after them.

It was this deep interest in his disobedient human creatures that motivated the Creator to send his Son into the world to redeem them from death. Because of this loving provision, Job, and the entire human race, will be awakened from the sleep of death. Poetically Job speaks of this as a responding to the voice of God—“Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee.” It is the “voice” of God’s authority and power, as it will be exercised through his beloved and resurrected Son, that will restore the dead to life.—John 5:28,29, Revised Version

Moses, in addition to being Israel’s emancipator and lawgiver, was also one of God’s outstanding prophets. In a prayer to the Creator he expressed his hope of the resurrection. We quote: “Lord, thou halt been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou are God. Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.”—Ps. 90:1-3

It was after man had disobeyed divine law that the Creator turned him to destruction. He said to Adam, “Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the fields; in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it was thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”—Gen. 3:17-19

Here the infliction of the penalty of death is likened to a returning to the dust of the ground. Moses said that those thus turned to destruction will be returned from death. Through the Prophet Daniel the Lord gives us further assurance of this, declaring that those who “sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake.” (Dan. 12:2) Thus the hope is held out that those who came under condemnation to death through Adam, are to be released from that condemnation and awakened from the sleep of death.

The Lord used the Prophet Isaiah also to set forth the assurance of the resurrection. He wrote, “The ransomed of the Lord shall return … with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” (Isa. 35:10) The expression, “ransomed of the Lord,” includes all mankind. It is used, evidently, to remind us that the dead are to return to life because they have been ransomed by the atoning blood of Jesus. Paul wrote concerning Jesus that he gave himself a “ransom for all.”—I Tim. 2:6

And it should be noted that joy will abound when the dead return to life. They return “with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads, … and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” Thus the resurrection of the dead is seen to be a blessed hope of life beyond the grave. Both the just and the unjust will be restored. The just will have appropriate rewards meted out to them, but the unjust will be enlightened and given an opportunity to believe, reform, and live forever.

The hope of the resurrection includes the young as well as the old. This is brought to our attention in Jeremiah 31:15-17. Here we are told of Rahel, a mother in Israel, who was weeping over the death of her children. The prophecy reads:

“Thus saith the Lord; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not. Thus saith the Lord; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. And there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border.”

In this prophecy death is described as an enemy. It is man’s greatest enemy. When it strikes down its victims there is always “lamentation, and bitter weeping.” But these victims will not remain in the land of the enemy, which is the land of death. “They shall come again to their own border.”

Just as there is the land of death, or of the dead, so there is the land of life, or of the living. And here the resurrection of the dead is described as a crossing over the border, back into the land of the living. What a bright hope this gives us for all children who have died; and the same will be true of all grownups who have died and are also now in “the land of the enemy.”

The Old Testament also speaks of the state of death as being a prison, and the resurrection of the dead is referred to as “the opening of the prison to them that are bound.” (Isa. 61:1) These prisoners of death are likened to “captives,” and their restoration to life as a releasing from captivity, or in the old English terminology, a bringing again of their captivity. This language is used in Ezekiel 16:53-55. The reference here is to the Israelites, the Sodomites, and the Samaritans, and the assurance is given that all these will be released from their captivity in death and be restored to their former estate of life. We quote:

“When I [the Lord] shall bring again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring again the captivity of thy captives [the Israelites] in the midst of them: that thou mayest bear thine own shame, and mayest be confounded in all that thou hast done, in that thou art a comfort unto them. When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate [of life], and Samaris and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate.”

And, using this same viewpoint of death, the Lord assures us of still others who will be released from their captivity in death. “It shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring again the captivity of Elain, saith the Lord.” (Jer. 49:39) Thus the Elamites are promised a resurrection from the dead.

“I will bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter days, saith the Lord.” (Jer. 48:47) From this we know that the Moabites will be brought back from their captivity in death. And again, “I will bring again the captivity of the children of Ammon, saith the Lord.” (Jer. 49:6) From the specific references to the people of these various ancient nations, we are given the assurance that God’s resurrection plan encompasses all mankind.

The Prophet David wrote prophetically concerning Jesus, “Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive.” (Ps. 68:18) This prophecy is quoted by the Apostle Paul and applied to the resurrection of Jesus. In the marginal translation of Paul’s quotation we are given the thought that, in his resurrection, Jesus became the leader from death of a “multitude of captives.”—Eph. 4:8

And what a “multitude of captives” there are to be released from their captivity in death! As we have noted, the Scriptures make special reference to many of these—the Israelites, the Ammonites, the Elamites, the Moabites, the Sodomites and the Samaritans. Jesus said that all in the grave would be called forth from death, and this includes all of death’s captives, beginning with righteous Abel, and including those who are dying today, and will die tomorrow.

It was this comforting hope of life beyond the grave, made sure by the death and resurrection of Jesus, that Paul presented to the people of Athens nearly two thousand years ago. No wonder they thought he was a setter forth of strange gods. Actually, however, as he pointed out to them, his message pertained to the plan of their “Unknown God,” the message which they referred to as “Jesus, and the resurrection.”—Acts 17:18

In Paul’s day, even as now, there were difficult aspects of the resurrection teachings which he found necessary to explain. To the church at Corinth he wrote, “Some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?” (I Cor. 15:35) In his answer to this question Paul explained that in the resurrection some would have “celestial,” or spiritual bodies, while others would have “terrestrial,” or human bodies.—I Cor. 15:34-44

According to the Bible, it is the followers of Jesus who are to receive spiritual bodies. These are partakers of a “heavenly calling.” (Heb. 3:1) When Paul wrote that all would be made alive through Christ, he added, “But every man in his own order.” (I Cor. 15:23) The Bible reveals that the “order” of the resurrection is that those who receive spiritual bodies are to be resurrected first. This is referred to in the Bible as “the first resurrection,” and we are informed that those who participate in this “first resurrection” will “live and reign with Christ a thousand years.”—Rev. 20:4,6

Yes, Jesus is to establish a kingdom on earth, a world government which will subdue and destroy all the enemies of God and of righteousness, and which also are the enemies of man. Paul wrote that the last enemy to be destroyed as the rulership of Christ progresses is “death.”—I Cor. 15:26

The destruction of death involves the awakening from death of all who have died. The period of Christ’s kingdom during which this will be accomplished is described by the Apostle Peter at “times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.”—Acts 3:19-21

It is those who will be restored to life during the reign of Christ that are to have human bodies. They will be as they were before; knowing their friends, and known by them. This is the glorious provision the Athenian’s “Unknown God” has made for his human creatures. Through this mighty project the Creator will reveal himself to mankind, and they will then learn of his wisdom, justice, love, and power, which combine to make his glory. “The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”—Isa. 40:5

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