The Easter gospel reveals the truth - there is no death! But what do we know about death, about the Resurrection, are we ready for a new life, can we exist there, beyond the grave? Archpriest Vyacheslav Perevezentsev, rector of the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the village of Makarovo (near Chernologolovka, Moscow region), answers these questions.
It is difficult to talk about death and resurrection. And this difficulty lies in the fact that the words that we pronounce seem to be familiar and understandable to us, but what they mean to us today, what meaning we fill them with, often has little in common with the meaning that the Church puts into them based on Holy Scripture. And that is why it is so difficult for us to comprehend the Easter gospel.
The words are clear to us, but behind them there is a reality that is little understood to us. For the first Christians and Christians in general, enlightened by the spirit, this reality was not some kind of abstraction, a theory, they did not read it in books - they knew it from their own experience.
Everything is connected here: it is difficult to talk about death and resurrection if we do not understand some other, simplest things. Here is salvation. We say: Christ is the Savior. But we often understand this as salvation from adversity, sorrow and grief, illness and suffering, etc. And each of us undoubtedly has this experience, such help from God. But Christ came to save us from sin and from death as the main consequence of sin.
Archpriest Vyacheslav Perevezentsev
Christ brought the Good News to people who felt their slavery to sin as their main misfortune. “Poor man I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (Rom 7.24), exclaims the Apostle Paul. They felt the inevitability and dead end of death. It doesn’t even matter whether you are more pious or less, we will all die, and this is the end. We also know that we will all die, but somehow this doesn’t bother us very much. Our culture has learned to cope with this in many ways, mainly by shifting our anxiety and concern to something more understandable and relatable.
One of our contemporaries said: “We all know that we will die, but few people believe in it.” And this is true, because to believe is to correlate your entire life with what we believe in. Faith is not just knowledge about something, but when what we know is at the center of our life and affects all aspects of this life. And in this light, the covenant of the fathers becomes clear: “Remember death,” although many today are probably closer to one of the psychotherapeutic principles: “don’t scratch where it doesn’t itch.” Remembering death does not mean making your life more constrained, anxious and neurotic, but it means making it deeper, more serious and responsible. The ancients understood this. The famous words of Cicero “The meaning of practicing philosophy is preparation for death” and Seneca “Only that person truly enjoys life who agrees and is ready to leave it.” The same thought was expressed by St. Augustine: “Only in the face of death is a person truly born.”
This terrible reality, which we seem to know about, often comes unexpectedly. You can live in completely different ways: knowing that I will have to answer for everything, or not knowing, not wanting to know. We can live in different ways, knowing that eternity awaits us and we need to prepare for it, or we are like a plant that blossomed and immediately withered.
Any real religion poses only one question - overcoming death. Different religions solve it in different ways, but this is the most important question: how to overcome it, not to fall into its clutches, how to inherit eternity.
In this sense, the Easter gospel is understandable; it is about this: there is no death. Death has been destroyed - not in the physiological, biological sense. No, in this sense everything is the same, and the poet is right: “Death and time reign on earth.”
To destroy death as a physical reality of this world, it would be necessary to destroy this world itself.
But the fact of the matter is that Christ’s contemporaries understood what is hidden from us today: death consists of two parts. There is physiological reality, and there is spiritual reality. And in this reality, death is separation from life, the Lord of which, the source of which, is only God. You can be dead while alive, and alive after passing through death. This is the main revelation. Everything may be fine with you, you may be healthy, but if you turn your back to life, to God, if your existence is reduced solely to biological functions, you exist, but do you live? And another person can die, but not break this connection with God, life. In this sense, Easter is a reminder of the reality that every person now has and which no one can escape - whether he wants or not, believes or does not believe, but after death there is a new life, resurrection. The only question is how ready we are for this life.
There will be no one who will not be resurrected - everyone will be resurrected. There will be no one who will not meet Christ, the Risen One, who loves every person. In this sense, there will be neither heaven nor hell; these constructions are largely speculative, not New Testament. The Church preaches that Christ came to destroy hell. It often seems to us that a person who has lived poorly will end up in a place where he will feel uncomfortable, and maybe even painfully, unwell. And those who lived correctly will do well.
But the picture after Easter is completely different. There will not be these two rooms, there will be one place where we will appear before God, but for some it will be good there, and for others not so much, and some will not be able to stay there at all - which the Apostle John the Theologian speaks of as second death (Rev. 20.6).
From our earthly experience we can understand what we are talking about. You can imagine this in the form of a metaphor: a person dreamed of being in the mountains, in a wonderful place where it was incredibly beautiful, he prepared for this for a long time, attended mountaineering classes, trained, climbed different peaks, learned to use special equipment, studied maps, trusted the guide.
During the ascent it was not easy, the wind was blowing, it was dangerous... And then he got there, he felt good there, he went through acclimatization and prepared. And the other one was carried by helicopter and dropped off. They sit next to each other, in the same place, but one feels good because he is ready for this, and the other is in excruciating pain because he is completely unprepared. One is in heaven, the other is in hell, but they are close.
It seems to me that this is much scarier than stories about frying pans with devils, because when there are frying pans, we have the feeling that, okay, they’ll torture us, but not forever, we’ll get tired of it. What's going on here? You are there, and time is over. If we read the Gospel, we will see that Christ speaks about this almost constantly. The parable of the ten virgins: go buy - it’s late... The most terrible word is late.
I can warm your heart with my kindness, but I can’t make it the same, you can go, work hard and make it like that, but this takes time, otherwise tomorrow it may not exist.
I am convinced that we will not understand anything about human life if we do not look at this life from the point of view of eternity, from the point of view of death. And if we look from this point, then everything lines up correctly. People say: well, won’t God forgive? He is risen, He is good. Of course he will forgive. He wants everyone to be saved, to “come to the knowledge of the truth,” according to the Apostle Paul. He wants to, but the question is whether we can take advantage of it.
Easter is a reminder that the gates of eternity are open, He is waiting for us there. But if we pretend that we don’t need anything there, that the most important thing is here on earth, then this will be a terrible disaster for us. The Apostle Paul said: “If Christ has not been raised, our faith is vain.” And then he continues: “if you only hope in Christ in this life, then you are the most miserable of all people” (1 Cor. 15.17,19).
If you hope in Christ only because He can help in this life - to make you healthy, rich or happy, then you are the most miserable of all people. They say: “Why more unhappy? We have such an assistant, how nice! The pagans have some kind of Zeus, Apollo - what can they do? And with us Christ is the Lord of the world...” Yes, we can somehow arrange our lives so that there is a piece of bread on the table, a roof over our heads, so that our teeth don’t hurt, but if we forget about eternity, we will be terribly disappointed later.
Another example: a man is sailing on a ship and realizes that the ship will not reach the shore. They tell him: here is the raft, life jackets. But at the same time, it’s cozy here, you can even transfer from a third-class cabin to a second-class cabin - you just have to try. There is a restaurant, there is music, beautiful young people, interesting conversations - life goes on. And the raft can be turned over and made into a table. But when we need a raft, it turns out that we do not know how to use it, and we are the most unfortunate people or simply stupid. Having such a treasure, they did not understand what it was needed for.
The Apostle reminds us that the resurrection of Christ is about this, that “we have no abiding city here, but seek an eternal one” (Heb. 13.14). There the joy of meeting Christ awaits us, but if we do not prepare for this meeting, it will be very scary for us. “It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10.31).
Easter resonates in our hearts with jubilant joy, but it also reminds us of our responsibility for the time that God gives us, for what we will fill this time with. And only by remembering death can one prepare for eternity.
Prepared by Maria Stroganova
At the Last Judgment, all living people will be resurrected, starting from Adam until the very end of the world. The Holy Scripture speaks about this: all who are in the tombs will hear the voice of the Son of God(John 5:28); then He will sit on the throne of His glory, and all nations will be gathered before Him(Matthew 25:31–32).
If all the dead are raised, then how should we understand the words of the psalmist: Therefore the wicked will not stand in judgment(in Slavic translation: For this reason they will not resurrect...)(Ps. 1.5)? Will You perform a miracle on the dead? Will the dead rise and praise You?(Ps. 87.11). The psalmist David obviously meant by these words a twofold resurrection: one to life, and the other to eternal death. This means that he wanted to say that the wicked will not be raised for judgment by resurrection to life, but to death. This is confirmed by the prophet David himself, as he adds: Therefore the wicked will not stand in judgment, and sinners will not stand in the assembly of the righteous.(Ps. 1.5). The Lord Jesus Christ speaks about this: the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God... and those who have done good will come forth into the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil into the resurrection of condemnation(John 5:25, 29).
Should everyone die before the Last Judgment?
Saints John Chrysostom, Theodoret and Theophylact teach that not everyone will die, but the Last Judgment will find some alive.
In his first letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul says: (IKop. 15.51). Saint John Chrysostom interprets these words this way: So, we will not all die, but we will still change. Those who are not dead will also change, for they too are mortal.
From the words of the Holy Scripture we can conclude that the body, which suffered or enjoyed in earthly life, will be involved in both eternal glory and endless torment.
It is fitting for these bodies that do not die to change and become incorruptible.
What the living will face before the Last Judgment is: A) The Creed also confirms this, the seventh member of which reads as follows: And again the future will be judged with glory by the living and the dead... 6) The Apostle Paul testifies with the words: the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are left alive will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord(1 Thess. 4:16–17).
Why does the apostle say: Just as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will come to life.? (IKop. 15. 22). All who are left alive until the day of the coming of the Lord, will die and come to life, having changed, but not fallen and risen: We will not all die, but we will all change(IKop. 15.51). (IKop. 15.53). Saint John Chrysostom, interpreting these words, says: a corruptible body is also a dead body. Deadness and corruption perish when incorruption and immortality come upon them.
Some church teachers argued that everyone must die before the Last Judgment. Since the entire human race sinned in the person of Adam, therefore all people are condemned to death. Finally, resurrection cannot take place unless it is preceded by death. Of these two opinions, we believe the one preached by the Lamp of the Eastern Church - St. John Chrysostom.
Will the resurrected bodies be the same or different?
The answer to this question can be found: A) from the psalmist David: He keeps all the bones of him [the righteous]; none of them will be crushed(Ps. 33.21): 6) from the apostle n Avla: (2 Cor. 5:10); This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.(IKop. 15.53).
From these words of Holy Scripture we can conclude that the body, which suffered or enjoyed in earthly life, will be involved in both eternal glory and endless torment.
As the grain grows, it changes, so won’t those who are resurrected also acquire new flesh? And isn’t this what the apostle is talking about: when you sow, you do not sow the future body, but the naked grain that happens, wheat or something else; but God gives him a body as he wants, and to each seed his own body(IKop. 15.36–38).
The apostle speaks about the appearance of the grain, and not about its essence, because the essence of hard grain and sprouted grain remains unchanged: if we sow a grain of wheat, it will sprout into an ear of wheat, not barley. Likewise, human bodies during the resurrection will not lose their special properties and will only change externally: sown into corruption, will be raised in incorruption. Direct confirmation of this is the resurrected body of Christ the Savior, Who will transform our lowly body so that it will be conformed to His glorious body(Phil. 3:21).
There are countless cases where the ashes of a human body have been completely destroyed and scattered by the wind, scattered during excavations, burned by fire and turned into smoke; people are also devoured by beasts, birds and fish. How will the bodies of such people be restored and return to their original form?
As before, let's say that this is a matter of faith, not curiosity, This is impossible for people, but everything is possible for God(Matthew 19:26). I meditate on all Your works, I consider the works of Your hands(Ps. 143:5), the psalmist David said about himself. Reflecting on the omnipotence of God, he unshakably believed that the sky, air, sea and everything in them were created out of nothing with one verb “let it be”: for He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it appeared(Ps. 32.9). If God raised the whole world from nothingness and created man from the dust of the earth, then, of course, He can renew the human body, even if it was scattered throughout the heavens. Saint John of Damascus was extremely surprised by those who asked: how will the dead rise? Madman!- he exclaimed. – If blindness does not allow you to believe the words of God, then believe the works!
Male and female gender of the resurrected
God created the sexes male and female, and after the resurrection men will remain men, women – women. The Lord refers to both sexes when He says that in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but remain like the Angels of God in heaven(Matthew 22:30). We will not all be resurrected in male bodies, but we will come perfect for my husband, that is, let us take on masculine strength and firmness, so that, as the apostle says, We were no longer children, tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine.(Eph. 4.14); Let us be like the Angels not in the destruction of sex, but in the absence of marriage and carnal lust.
Will the bodies of the resurrected ones require food and drink?
The resurrected bodies will not need the physical food and drink that are necessary to support the weakening corruptible body. Why then did the Lord Jesus Christ eat after His Resurrection? (Luke 24:43). He ate and drank so that the disciples, who at first mistook Him for a spirit, would believe in His Resurrection, and also to testify to the changed body.
What properties will the bodies of resurrected saints have?
The bodies of the resurrected saints will be:
A) passionless, incorruptible and immortal: sown in corruption, raised in incorruption(IKop. 15.42); those who are deemed worthy to reach that age and the resurrection from the dead...can no longer die(Luke 20:35, 36);
B) spiritual. They will become like disembodied spirits in strength, speed, incorruptibility and subtlety: they will appear thin and light, like the resurrected body of Christ, which knew no limits and barriers: the natural body is sown, the spiritual body is raised(IKop. 15.44).
B) bright, as the Savior said: then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father(Matthew 13:43). According to the testimony of the Apostle, the Lord He will transform our lowly body so that it will be like His glorious body(Phil. 3.21); sown in humiliation, raised in glory(IKop. 15.43).
What properties will the bodies of condemned sinners have?
1) The bodies of condemned sinners will also be incorruptible and immortal. The Lord Jesus Christ testifies to this, saying: And these will go into eternal torment(Matthew 25:46). In those days says the Seer, people will seek death, but will not find it; they will wish to die, but death will flee from them(Rev. 9. b). For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.(IKop. 15.53), explains the Apostle Paul.
2) The bodies will suffer, experiencing terrible torment in the flames, which will remain forever.
Chapter 14. The Last Judgment
Let us say the following about the Last Judgment:
1. At the Judgment the sign of the Son of Man will appear - the Holy Life-Giving Cross of the Lord. He will appear both to console those who worship the Crucified Lord and those crucified with Him, and to shame the wicked who crucified the Lord on the Cross.
2. The deeds and hidden thoughts of everyone will be revealed. Saint Andrew says: The books of all deeds and conscience will be opened and they will come into manifestation to everyone.
3. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself will be the sovereign Judge, for the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son(John 5:22). Although all three Persons of the Divine and Indivisible Trinity will be at the Judgment, only the Son will judge, since He endured free suffering for us. He who is judged unjustly will judge everyone with an impartial court.
The Holy Scripture says that besides the Lord Jesus Christ there will be other judges: When the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you also will sit on twelve thrones, says the Lord to the disciples, judge the twelve tribes of Israel(Matt. 19:28). Don't you know that the saints will judge the world?.. Don't you know that we will judge the angels?..(IKop. b. 2, 3; cf. Matt. 12. 4, 42). The apostles and some saints will judge not by autocratic and independent judgment, but by communicative and voluntary judgment. Having praised the righteous judgment of Christ, the righteous will judge not only people, but also demons.
The judgment of Christ will differ from the human trial, since not everything will be convicted in words, but much - in thought.
4. The court of Christ will differ from the human court, since not everything will be convicted in words, but much - in thought. The Judge will say publicly to those on His right hand: Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world... Then He will also say to those on His left: Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels... And these shall go into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into everlasting life(Matt. 25. 34, 41, 46).
This is the teaching of the Holy Scriptures about the Last Judgment, and we must comprehend it by faith, and not by fussy research. For where is faith? says Saint John Chrysostom, there is no place for testing; where there is nothing to experience, there is no need for research. It is necessary to check the human word, but the word of God must be heard and believed; If we don’t believe the words, we won’t believe that there is a God. The first basis of faith in God is trust in His teaching.
Conclusion
We want to conclude our discussion about the Antichrist and the end of the world with the words of the Supreme Apostle Peter: We announced to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, not following cunningly woven fables, but being eyewitnesses of His greatness... we have the surest prophetic word; and you do well to turn to him as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day begins to dawn and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing first of all that no prophecy in Scripture can be solved by oneself.(2 Peter 1:16, 19–20). Having rejected all false teachings, we tried to talk about the signs of the coming of the Antichrist, relying on the messages of the apostles and prophets, on the opinion of the fathers and teachers of the Church.
Perhaps someone will ask: do not general human disasters indicate that the end times have already arrived and the days of the world’s existence are numbered? Isn’t this what the apostle says in the following words: Children! lately(1 John 2.18): when the fullness of time came, God sent His (Only Begotten) Son(Gal. 4.4); All this... is described for the instruction of us who have reached the last centuries.(IKop. 10. 11). We will answer this question like this: 1) Currently, the world is suffering from many disasters: devastating wars and disasters interrupt thousands of human lives, fires, earthquakes and floods destroy cities and villages. But looking at these sorrow, Let us remember how much innocent blood was shed by Nero, Maximian, Diocletian and other tormentors and persecutors of Christians, what oppression and persecution the Orthodox Church endured during the time of the iconoclastic heresy and in subsequent centuries. If those events did not serve as a sign of the end of the world, then even more so the disasters of the present time are not a sign of the imminent appearance of the Antichrist: world upheavals, characteristic of all periods of human history, cannot indicate what belongs to one specific time. You will also hear about wars and rumors of wars, - says the Savior. – See, do not be horrified, for all this must happen, but this is not the end yet(Matthew 24.b).
2) If we understand the above apostolic words literally, then the end of the world should have come immediately after the appearance of the Savior, when God sent His (Only Begotten) Son, who was born of a woman(Gal. 4:4). Even in those great times, the Apostle John wrote: Children! lately(1 John 2:18). The apostolic times are also named last in the words: And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.(Acts 2:17). This is where the end times begin. Therefore, having encountered such evidence in the Holy Scriptures, we should not think that we are given a specific time for the end of the world. Such words and sayings speak of a time whose end is hidden. Everyone, for example, knows that an elderly person does not have long to live, but no one can determine exactly how many days or years, even approximately. The same should be understood here. The last hour has come since the Nativity of Christ, but about the end no one knows, not the angels of heaven, but only the Father(Matthew 24:36). The Apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonians awaiting the end of the world: We pray to you, brethren, regarding the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering to Him, not to rush to waver in mind and be confused either by spirit, or by word, or by the message, as if sent by us, as if the day of Christ is already coming. Let no one deceive you in any way(2 Thess. 2. 1–3). The whole world, from Adam to the present time, is similar to human life; just as a person - the small world - has three main age periods, so the great world has three periods or three laws. The first - from Adam to Moses - the youth of the world, from Moses to Christ - the second period - maturity; finally, the third - the Gospel, or period of grace - is old age and the last year, about which the Apostle John speaks: Children! lately.
It can also be said that human life has seven degrees: infancy, childhood, adolescence, youth, maturity, old age and old age. They correspond to different periods of the world’s existence: A) from the creation of the world to the Flood - infancy: 6) from the flood to the Babylonian pandemonium - childhood; V) from the division of languages and the birth of Abraham to the birth of the prophet Moses - adolescence; G) all the time the Judges from the prophet Moses to the kings are youth; d) the reign of the kings of Israel and Judah before the Babylonian captivity - maturity; e) the period of the princes and priests of the Jews before Christ - old age; And and) the time from Christ to the Last Judgment is old age or the last time, which is spoken of in the Holy Scriptures.
If we understand the apostolic words literally, then the end of the world should have come immediately after the appearance of the Savior, when God He sent His (Only Begotten) Son, who was born of a woman.
Who can know the limit of the limitless? To whom did you open up? a secret hidden for centuries?
Nobody knows about that day and hour,- says the Lord, - neither the angels of heaven, but only My Father alone; But as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man: for as in the days before the flood they did eat and drink, they married and were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and they thought not until the flood came. and did not destroy them all, so will the coming of the Son of Man be... Therefore, watch, because you do not know at what hour your Lord will come. But you know that if the owner of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have stayed awake and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore, be ready, for at an hour you do not think, the Son of Man will come.(Matt. 24. 36–39, 42–44).
So, the Lord Jesus Christ, commanding us to be ready for the day of His coming, forbids us to reveal the secret kept from everyone. The Apostle Paul says about those who boldly try to penetrate into the hidden: they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish hearts were darkened; calling themselves wise, they became fools(Rom. 1:22).
Saint John Chrysostom compares the mind to a galloping horse: just as a stubborn, hot horse does not obey its rider and crushes passers-by if it is not bridled, so the mind, which rejects the dogmas of the Church and the teaching of the holy fathers, gives rise to numerous heresies and schisms.
Immortal souls
I hope for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the next century
(Creed)
Whatever you say to the heart, it is natural for it to grieve over the loss of people close to us. No matter how hard you hold back your tears, they involuntarily flow over the grave in which lies our kindred, precious ashes. True, tears cannot bring back someone who is taken by the grave, but that is why tears flow in a stream.
A person resorts to everything he can to ease heartbreak! But, alas! It's all in vain! Only in tears does he find some consolation for himself, and only they somewhat lighten the heaviness of his heart, because with them, drop by drop, all the burning of spiritual grief, all the poison of heart disease flows out.
He hears from everywhere: “Don’t cry, don’t be cowardly!” But who will say that Abraham was cowardly, but he also wept for his wife, Sarah, who lived 127 years. Was Joseph faint-hearted? But he also cried for his father Jacob: Joseph fell on his father's face, and wept over him, and kissed him(Gen. 50, 1). Who will say that King David was cowardly? And listen to how bitterly he weeps at the news of the death of his son: my son Absalom! my son, my son Absalom! Oh, who would let me die in your place, Absalom, my son, my son!(2 Kings 18:33).
Every grave of a worthy person is watered with bitter tears of loss. And what can we say about people when the Savior Himself, who endured unbearable suffering on the Cross to the end, over the ashes of His friend Lazarus became indignant in spirit and shed tears: Jesus... Himself was grieved in spirit and indignant(John 11:33). He wept, the Lord of the belly and death, wept at the time when he came to the tomb of Lazarus, His friend, for the purpose of raising him from the dead! And how can we, weak people, hold back our tears when separated from those dear to our hearts, how can we stop the sighs in our chests compressed with grief? No, this is impossible, it is contrary to our nature... You must have a heart of stone not to grieve over a bereavement.
Only in tears does a person find some consolation for himself, and only they somewhat lighten the heaviness of his heart, because with them, drop by drop, all the burning of spiritual grief, all the poison of heart disease flows out.
It's all true. And I cannot, I do not dare condemn your tears, I am even ready to mix my tears with yours, because I understand well that where your treasure is, there your heart will be also(Matthew b, 21). I know from my own experience how inexpressibly difficult it is to raise your hand to throw a goodbye handful of earth into the grave of a loved one. I cry and sob when I think about death and see him lying in a tomb, created in the image of God, and now inglorious, disfigured by death. But although it is natural for us to cry for those who have died close to us, this grief of ours must have its own measure. The pagans are a different matter: they cry, and often inconsolably, because they have no hope. But a Christian is not a pagan; it is both a shame and a sin for him to cry for the dead without any joy or consolation.
I do not want you, brothers, to leave you ignorant about the dead, so that you do not grieve like others who have no hope.(1 Thess. 4:13), says the apostle to all Christians. What can alleviate this grief of a Christian? Where is this source of joy and consolation for him? Let's consider the reasons that make us shed tears over the ashes of loved ones, and God will help us find this source for ourselves. So, what do we cry about when we are separated from those near and dear to our hearts? Most of all, they stopped living with us in this world. Yes, they are no longer with us on earth. But look impartially at our earthly life and judge what it represents...
A wise man said long ago: vanity of vanities... all is vanity! What profit does a man get from all the labors he toils under the sun?(Eccl. 1, 2, 3). Who is it that spoke so discordantly about our life? Is it some kind of prisoner who, sitting in a stuffy dungeon, sees almost nothing except the heavy chains that shackle his body? Is it not he who resounds the vaults of the prison with such a joyless cry: “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity of vanities!”? No, he's not. So, maybe this is a rich man who, due to unforeseen circumstances, fell into poverty, or a poor man who, despite all his work and efforts, perhaps dies of cold and hunger? No, not that kind of person either. Or maybe he is a deceived ambitious man who has devoted his entire life to rising several levels higher in society? Oh no, and he’s not that kind of person. Who is this unfortunate person who has such a gloomy outlook on life? This is King Solomon, and what a king! What did he lack for a happy life? Wisdom? But who was wiser than the one who knew the composition of the earth, and the actions of the elements, and the passage of time, and the location of the stars, and the properties of animals? I knew everything, both hidden and obvious, for Wisdom, the artist of everything, taught me(Wis. 7, 21). Maybe he lacked wealth? But who could be richer than the one to whom the whole world brought all the best treasures, who had gold, and silver, and the estates of kings and countries? And I became great and rich more than all those who were in Jerusalem before me.(Eccl. 2:9). Or maybe he lacked fame or greatness? But what name was louder than the name of the Israeli king, who had millions of subjects? Then, perhaps, he lacked the enjoyment of the blessings of life? But here's what he says about himself: Whatever my eyes desired, I did not refuse them, I did not forbid my heart any joy, because my heart rejoiced in all my labors.(Eccl. 2:10). Whoever, it would seem, could get tired of such a happy, free life, but nevertheless, a person who possessed all the blessings of this earth, who experienced various earthly pleasures, finally made the following conclusion about life: “All is vanity of vanities!”
Let us remember another king - the prophet David. His throne shone with gold, and in the midst of this splendor and splendor he cried out: my heart is smitten and withered like grass, so that I forget to eat my bread … I eat ashes like bread, and I dissolve my drink with tears(Ps. 101, 5, 10). His royal robe shone with precious stones, and from his chest, covered with the brilliance of glory and grandeur, came a cry: I was poured out like water; all my bones crumbled; my heart became like wax, melted in the midst of my insides(Ps. 21:15). His beautiful palace was made of cedar and cypress, but sadly the doors opened there too. From the depths of the rich palaces sighs are heard: every night I wash my bed with my tears(Ps. b, 7).
So the happiest of people sighed about the burden of life, what can we say about those who had to bear the heavy cross of trials? The prophet Jeremiah was patient amid the persecutions and insults that he experienced for exposing lies and wickedness, but there were moments when this patient sufferer cried out: Woe to me, my mother, that you gave birth to me as a man who argues and quarrels with the whole earth! I have not lent money to anyone, and no one has lent money to me, but everyone curses me(Jer. 15, 10). And long-suffering Job, this marvelous example of firmness and generosity in the most terrible trials! You are involuntarily amazed when you hear how he blesses the Lord on the very day when he loses all his wealth and loses his children. What misfortune and what generosity! But for Job, as if this were not enough, he falls ill with leprosy, and his body is covered with wounds from head to toe. At this moment, his wife, his lifelong friend, comes to him and teaches him about despair, then his friends appear, as if only to irritate him even more... My God, my God, how many arrows at one target, how many troubles for one person ! But Job still continues to bless the Lord! What extraordinary fortitude, what amazing patience! But man is not a stone; there were moments when Job, covered with sores, bitterly cried out: perish the day on which I was born and the night in which it was said: man was conceived … Why didn’t I die when I came out of the womb, and why didn’t I die when I came out of the womb?(Job 3, 3, 11). So, if we look impartially at our days, won’t we sometimes say with the same Job: “Is not the life of man a temptation on earth?” When a person is born, he immediately begins to cry, as if he is prophesying about his future suffering on earth, so he is approaching death, and what again? With a heavy groan of exhaustion, he says goodbye to the earth, as if reproaching it for past disasters... Who lived and did not grieve, who lived and did not shed tears?
One loses those close to his heart, the second has many enemies and envious people, the third groans from illness, another sighs from the frustration of home circumstances, this one mourns his poverty... Go around the whole earth, but where will you find a person who would be completely happy in all respects?! Even if there were such a person, he would still doubt that over time his life would change for the worse, and these thoughts poison his joyful, carefree life. And the fear of death, which sooner or later will certainly stop his earthly happiness? What about conscience, and the internal struggle with passions?
This is our life on earth! There is no joy without sorrow, no happiness without troubles. And this is because the earth is not hell, where only cries of despair are heard, but also not paradise, where only the joy and bliss of the righteous reigns. What is our life on earth? This is now a place of exile, where with us the whole creation collectively groans and bugs to this day(Rom. 8:22). Say to your soul: “Eat, drink, be merry!” - but the time will come, and the words of God will be fulfilled in practice: cursed is the earth for your sake; with sorrow you will eat from it all the days of your life(Genesis 3:17). Now you are sowing roses of happiness around you, but the time will come when thorny thorns will appear near you. Do you enjoy the freshness of your strength, admire your blooming health and dream that you will live a long, calm life? But the hour will strike, and you, deceived by sweet dreams, will sadly hear a voice: this night your soul will be taken from you... you will return to the ground from which you were taken, for dust you are and to dust you will return(Luke 12:20; Gen. 3:19).
What is our life on earth?
This is our life on earth! There is no joy without sorrow, no happiness without troubles. And this is because the earth is not hell, where only cries of despair are heard, but also not paradise, where only the joy and bliss of the righteous reigns.
This is the school where we are educated for Heaven. Sometimes it’s fun to remember school life after leaving school, but was it always fun when we were brought up there? Worries, labors, sorrows - who doesn’t remember you? And who, while living in school, did not think and dream: “Oh, will my classes end soon, will I soon be released?”
What is our life on earth? This is a field for constant war with enemies, and with what enemies! Each one is fiercer and more cunning than the other! Either the world persecutes us with the cunning of a treacherous friend or the malice of a fierce enemy, then the flesh rebels against the spirit, for the flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit, and the spirit desires what is contrary to the flesh(Gal. 5:17), then the devil walks around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour(1 Peter 5:8). And while there is a war, then there can be no peace. What is life on earth? This is the path to our Motherland, and what a path! There are both broad and smooth paths, but God forbid you enter and walk these paths! They are dangerous, they lead to destruction. No, this is not the path laid out for a Christian from earth to Heaven, it is a narrow, thorny path, for narrow is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life(Pmf. 7, 14). Here more than once the good traveler will sigh from the heart, more than once shed sweat and tears... What is our life on earth? This is the sea, and what a sea! Not the quiet and bright one, which is so pleasant to look at and admire, no, this sea is menacing and noisy. This is the sea on which the small boat - our soul - is constantly threatened by danger, sometimes from whirlwinds of passions, sometimes from rapid waves of slander and attacks. And what would happen to her if she did not have with her the rudder of faith and the anchor of hope?!
This is what our life on earth means! Now consider impartially, why do we cry so inconsolably when separated from a person close to our heart? About the fact that he stopped living in this world... And this means that the person moved away from earthly vanity, left all the troubles and sorrows that still remain for us. This wanderer has already passed the earthly field, this student has already completed his years of study, this traveler has already reached the shore, he has already sailed through the stormy sea and entered a quiet harbor... He has rested from vanity, labor, and grief. This is the thought that many pagans stopped at when separated from loved ones - people who had no hope, people who believed and believe that We were born by chance and afterward we will be like those who never were: the breath in our nostrils is smoke, and the word is a spark in the movement of our heart. When it fades away, the body will turn to dust, and the spirit will dissipate like liquid air.(Prem. 2, 2, 3). This is what the pagans believe and, according to their faith, celebrate joyfully on the burial mounds of their relatives and friends. Thank the Lord, we are not pagans and therefore, looking at death as the end of all the disasters and sorrows of life, we can repeat with reverence and joy what the Apostle John said: henceforth blessed are the dead who die in the Lord; to her, says the Spirit, they will rest from their labors, and their works will follow them(Rev. 14, 13). But death is not only the end of our hectic life, it is also the beginning of a new, incomparably better life. Death is the beginning of immortality, and here is a new source of consolation for us during separation from loved ones and relatives, a source from which the Savior Himself drew consolation for Martha, who mourned the death of her brother, Lazarus, when he said: your brother will rise again(John 11:23). We will not here prove in detail the truth of the immortality of our soul and the resurrection of the body, because every Christian professes the sacred dogma: the hope of the resurrection of the dead! For a person who has lost someone close to his heart, great consolation can be the conviction that the person he is mourning has not died, but is alive in soul, that there will be a time when he will be resurrected not only with his soul, but also with his body. And everyone can easily see this such a gratifying truth in visible nature, and in one’s own soul, and in the Word of God, and in history.
Look at the sun: in the morning it appears in the sky like a baby, at noon it shines with full strength, and in the evening, like a dying old man, it sets beyond the horizon. But does it fade at a time when our earth, having said goodbye to it, is covered in the darkness of night? No, of course, it still shines, only on the other side of the earth. Isn’t this a clear image of the fact that our soul (the lamp of our body) does not go out when the body, having been separated from it, hides in the darkness of the grave, but burns, as before, only on the other side - in the sky?
So the earth preaches the same joyful truth. In the spring it appears in all its beauty, in the summer it bears fruit, in the fall it loses strength, and in the winter, like the shroud of the deceased, it is covered with snow. But is the inner life of the earth destroyed when its surface becomes dead from the cold? No, of course, spring will come for her again, and then she will appear again in all her beauty, with new, fresh strength. This is an image of the fact that the soul, this vital force of a person, does not perish when its mortal shell dies, that for the deceased there will come a wonderful spring of resurrection, when he will rise not only with his soul, but also with his body for a new life.
The soul, this vital force of a person, does not perish when its mortal shell dies, and for the deceased there will come a wonderful spring of resurrection, when he will rise not only with his soul, but also with his body for a new life.
But what can we say about the sun, the earth, when even the most beautiful flowers, carelessly trampled by us, only lose their existence for a while, only to then appear again in such beauty that even King Solomon himself did not dress like each of them? In a word, in nature everything dies, but nothing perishes. Is it possible that only one human soul, for which everything earthly was created, should cease to exist forever with the death of the body?! Of course not!
The merciful God alone, out of His goodness, created man, adorning him in His image and likeness, crowned him with glory and honor(Ps. 8, b). But how would His goodness be reflected if a person lived on earth for fifty or a hundred years, often struggling with hardships, sorrows, trials, and then with death lost his existence forever?! Is it only for this reason that He adorned us with god-like perfections and from His Divine power has been given to us everything we need for life and piety(2 Peter 1, 3) to suddenly destroy this beautiful creation after several decades?! God is just, but what is happening on His earth? How often the path of the wicked is successful, but virtue groans with grief, and vice rejoices with joy. But the time will undoubtedly come, the time of righteous judgment and retribution, when We must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ, so that everyone can receive according to what he did while living in the body, good or bad.(2 Cor. 5:10).
God lives, my soul lives! This joyful truth is revealed with full force by the Word of God and confirmed by history. Prophet Daniel says: Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awaken, some to eternal life, others to everlasting reproach and disgrace.(Dan. 12:2). Here Isaiah cries: Your dead will live, your dead bodies will rise!(Isa. 26:19). And Job reflects: When a person dies, will he live again? On all the days of my appointed time I would wait for my replacement to come(Job 14, 14). And here is the wondrous testimony of the prophet Ezekiel, who was destined to even see the image of this resurrection. He saw a field strewn with dry human bones. Suddenly, according to the Word of God, these bones began to move and began to approach one another, each to its own composition, then veins appeared on them and flesh grew, they became covered with skin, then the spirit of life entered them, and they came to life. Listen also to the words of the valiant mother of the Maccabees, exhausted because of the terrible suffering of her martyred sons, to the words she said to her last, youngest son: “I beg you, my child, be worthy of your brothers and accept death, so that I, The mercy of God has acquired you and your brothers again!” This wondrous mother, who after the martyrdom of her seven sons herself suffered the same death, was consoled only by the fact that after her death she would again be inseparable with her martyred sons. This comforting truth, so clearly revealed in the Old Testament, already appears in full light in the New Testament. For what could be clearer than the words of the apostle: just as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will come to life, each in his own order: Christ the firstborn, then those who belong to Christ at His coming.(1 Cor. 15, 22, 23). Or what could be clearer than the words of the Savior: the time is coming, and has already come, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and, having heard, will live(John 5:25). There are so many similar passages in Holy Scripture and they are all so clear that we will not list them here. And who is saying this? This is the Son of God, whose words and promises are so sure that Until heaven and earth pass away, not one... line will pass from the law until all is fulfilled.(Matt. 5:18). This is the Almighty Lord, Who during His earthly life not only healed the sick, tamed storms and winds, cast out demons, but also raised the dead. This is the greatest Prophet, Who predicted everything, everything was fulfilled in due time with all accuracy and completeness!
There will be a time when the Antichrist will reign on earth. His power will continue until the Day of Judgment, when the Second Coming of the Lord, the Judge of the living and the dead, will take place on earth. The second coming will be sudden. “As lightning comes from the east and appears to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (Matthew 24:27). “The honorable Cross will first appear at the Second Coming of Christ, as the honest, life-giving, venerable and holy scepter of the King Christ, according to the word of the Lord, who says that the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven (Matthew 24:30)” (Rev. Ephraim the Syrian). The Lord will abolish the Antichrist by the appearance of His coming. In the Holy Scriptures, the Savior spoke about the purpose of His coming to earth - about eternal life: “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:15-16 ).
The general resurrection of the dead is also spoken of in the eleventh article of the Creed. The resurrection of the dead, which we expect (expect), will follow simultaneously with the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and will consist in the fact that the bodies of all the dead will unite with their souls and come to life. After the general resurrection, the bodies of the dead will change: in quality they will be different from the current bodies - they will be spiritual, incorruptible and immortal. Matter will change into a new state unknown to us and will have completely different properties than it does now.
The bodies of those people who will still be alive at the Second Coming of the Savior will also change. The Apostle Paul says: “A natural body is sown, a spiritual body is raised... we will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet: for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we (the survivors) will be changed.” (Shor. 15, 44, 51, 52). We cannot explain this future change in the living for ourselves, since it is a mystery, incomprehensible due to the poverty and limitations of our carnal concepts. According to the change of man himself, the entire visible world will change: from the corruptible it will turn into the imperishable.
Many may ask: “How can the dead be raised when the bodies of the dead turn to dust and are destroyed?” The Lord has already answered this question in the Holy Scriptures, figuratively showing the prophet Ezekiel the secret of the resurrection from the dead. He had a vision of a field strewn with dry human bones. From these bones, according to God’s word spoken by the Son of Man, human structures were formed in the same way as they were during the primitive creation of man, then they were revived by the Spirit. According to the word of the Lord, spoken by the prophet, first there was a movement in the bones, bone to bone began to connect, each in its own place; then they were connected by veins, clothed with flesh and covered with skin. Finally, according to the second voice of God, the Spirit of life entered into them - and they all came to life, stood on their feet and formed a great multitude of people (Ezek. 37:1-10).
The resurrected bodies of the dead will be incorruptible and immortal, beautiful and luminous, strong and strong (they will not be susceptible to disease). The transformation of the living at the last day will be accomplished as quickly as the resurrection of the dead. The change of the living will consist in the same thing as the resurrection of the dead: our present bodies, corruptible and dead, will be transformed into incorruptible and immortal. God did not condemn us to death in order to destroy His creation, but in order to change it and make it capable of a future incorruptible life.
“At the voice of the Lord all the dead will rise. Nothing is difficult for God, and we must believe His promise, although it seems impossible to human weakness and human reason. How God, taking dust and earth, created as if some other nature, namely, a bodily nature, not like the earth, and created many kinds of natures: hair, skin, bones and veins; and how a needle thrown into fire changes color and turns into fire, while the nature of the iron is not destroyed, but remains the same; so on the Resurrection, all members will be resurrected, and, according to what is written, “a hair of your head will not perish” (Luke 21:18), and everything will become light-like, everything will be immersed and transformed into light and fire, but will not melt or will become fire, so that the former nature will no longer exist, as some claim (for Peter will remain Peter, and Paul - Paul, and Philip - Philip); each one, filled with the Spirit, will remain in his own nature and being” (Reverend Macarius of Egypt).
All matter will be renewed for the judgment that will be carried out on its spiritualized representatives - people. This court in Church Tradition is called the Terrible, because at that moment no creature will be able to hide from God’s justice, there will no longer be intercessors and prayer books for sinful souls, the decision made at this Court will never change.
We often hear the festive bell ringing - the bell. It depicts the Archangel's voice, which will sound at the end of the world. Blagovest reminds us of this end. One day, all people will suddenly hear a terrible voice: without any warning it will be heard, and after it - the Last Judgment, which will be solemn and open. The Judge will appear in all His glory with all the holy Angels and will carry out judgment in the face of the whole world - heavenly, earthly and beyond the grave. Two words will decide the fate of all humanity: “Come” or “Go away.” Blessed is whoever hears: “Come”: a joyful life in the Kingdom of God will begin for them.
Meanwhile, this blissful state of the righteous will not be interfered with in the least by their own bodily nature. The bodies after the resurrection will become dispassionate, spirit-like and completely obedient to the spirit. The bodily senses will acquire special sensitivity and will not be an obstacle to seeing God.
Sinners will be rejected from the face of God and will go into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels (cf. Matt. 25:41). These terrible conditions in which sinners will remain are depicted in Revelation under various images, especially under the image of pitch darkness and Gehenna with an undying worm and unquenchable fire (Mark 9, 44, 46, 48). About the undying worm, Saint Basil the Great († 379) put it this way: “It will be some kind of poisonous and carnivorous worm that will devour everything with greed and, never being satisfied with its devouring, will produce unbearable pain.” So, sinners will be given over to external, material fire, which burns both bodies and souls, and to which will be added the burning internal fire of a late awakening conscience. But the most terrible torment for sinners will be their eternal separation from God and His Kingdom.
The decision of the Last Judgment will be holistic - not for the human soul alone, as after a private trial, but for the soul and for the body - for the whole person. This decision will remain unchanged for all forever, and for none of the sinners there will be any possibility of ever being freed from hell. Moreover, the people themselves will clearly see everything they have done and recognize the indisputable righteousness of the Judgment and sentence of God. What will happen next? The last day will come, on which the final judgment of God will be carried out over the whole world, and the end of the world will follow. In the new heaven and new earth, nothing sinful will remain, but only righteousness will live (2 Pet. 2:13). The eternal Kingdom of Glory will open, in which the Lord Jesus Christ, together with the Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit, will reign forever.
NOT EVERYONE WHO SAYS “CHRIST IS RISEN!” AT EASTER AND “TRULY IS RISEN!”, THEY GUESS THAT THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST IS DIRECTLY CONNECTED WITH THE GREAT HOPE – THE COMING RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD.
"Your dead will live,
Dead bodies will rise!
Rise up and rejoice,
laid low in the dust:
for Your dew is the dew of plants,
and the earth will spew out the dead"
Bible. Isaiah 26:19
Not everyone who declares at Easter “Christ is risen!” and “Truly is Risen!”, they guess that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is directly related to the great hope - the intentions of the Almighty to one day bring about the resurrection of absolutely all people who have ever died with faith and hope in the Savior. Both Christ himself and His apostles spoke about this more than once.
The Christian's hope for future eternal life is based on faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and is closely interconnected with the grandiose event that awaits our world - the resurrection of the dead. Jesus Himself says of Himself that He is “the resurrection and the life” (Bible. John 11:25). These are not empty words. He demonstrates His power over death by publicly raising Lazarus from the dead. But it was not this stunning miracle that became the key to eternal victory over death. Only the resurrection of Jesus ensured that death would be swallowed up in victory. In this sense, the resurrection of Christ is a guarantee of the massive resurrection of believers promised by the Word of God at the moment of the approaching Second Coming of the Savior: “...The Lord himself, with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel and the trumpet of God, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first.” (Bible. 1 Thessalonians 4:16).
The meaning of faith
Any hope of a sincere Christian is based not so much on God's timely help in this sinful life as on the future resurrection, when he will receive the crown of eternal life. So the Apostle Paul wrote to his fellow believers about the Christian’s greatest hope for his resurrection: “And if in this life only we hope in Christ, then we are the most miserable of all men.” Consequently, if there is no “resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen... And if Christ is not risen, then your faith is vain... Therefore, those who died in Christ perished. But Christ has risen from the dead, the firstborn of those who have fallen asleep,” Paul urges (Bible. 1 Corinthians 15:13–20).
Awakening from death's sleep
People do not have natural immortality. Only God is immortal: “King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality.” (Bible. 1 Timothy 6:15–16).
As for death, the Bible calls it a temporary state of non-existence: “For in death there is no remembrance of You (God - author's note)“Who will praise You in the grave?” (Bible. Psalm 6:6. See also Psalm 113:25; 145:3, 4; Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6, 10). Jesus Himself, as well as His followers, figuratively called it a dream, an unconscious sleep. And the one who sleeps has a chance to be awakened. So it was with the deceased, and then with the resurrected (awakened) Lazarus. This is what Jesus told His disciples about his death: “Our friend Lazarus fell asleep; but I am going to WAKE HIM... Jesus spoke about his death, but they thought that He was talking about an ordinary sleep. Then Jesus said to them directly: Lazarus is dead." (Bible. John 11:11–14). It is worth noting that in this case there is no doubt that Lazarus died and did not fall asleep in a lethargic sleep, since his body had already begun to rapidly decompose after four days in the tomb (See John 11:39).
Death is not a transition to another existence, as some believe. Death is an enemy that denies all life, which people cannot defeat on their own. However, God promises that just as Christ was resurrected, so sincere Christians who have died or will die will be resurrected: “As in Adam all die, so in Christ all shall live, each in his own order: Christ the firstborn, then those who belong to Christ at His coming.” (Bible. 1 Corinthians 15:22–23).
Perfect bodies
As already mentioned, according to the Bible, the resurrection of the dead will occur at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. This will be a visible event for all inhabitants of the globe. At this moment, those who have died in Christ are resurrected, and those believers who are alive will be transformed into incorruptible, perfect bodies. The immortality lost in Eden will be returned to all of them, so that they will never be separated from each other and from their Creator and Savior.
In this new state of immortality, believers will not be deprived of the ability to have physical bodies. They will enjoy the bodily existence that God originally intended - even before sin entered the world, when He created the perfect Adam and Eve. The Apostle Paul confirms that after the resurrection the new glorified or spiritual body of saved people will not be immaterial, but a completely recognizable body, maintaining continuity and similarity with the body that a person had in his earthly life. This is what he wrote: “How will the dead be raised? and in what body will they come?.. There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies; but the glory of those in heaven is one, and that of the earth is another. So it is with the resurrection of the dead: it is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption... the spiritual body is sown, the spiritual body is raised. There is a spiritual body, there is a spiritual body..." (Bible. 1 Corinthians 15:35–46). Paul calls the body of the resurrected “spiritual” not because it will not be physical, but because it will no longer be subject to death. It differs from the present only in its perfection: there will be no traces of sin left on it.
In another of his letters, the Apostle Paul states that the spiritual bodies of resurrected believers at the Second Coming will be similar to the glorified body of the risen Savior: “We also await a Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body, so that it will be conformed to His GLORIOUS BODY, by power , by which He acts and subdues all things to Himself" (Bible Philippians 3:20–21). What Jesus' body was like after the resurrection can be understood from the narrative of the Evangelist Luke. The risen Christ, who appeared to the disciples, said: “Why are you troubled, and why do such thoughts enter your hearts? Look at My hands and at My feet; it is I Myself; touch Me and look at Me; for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have. And having said this, he showed them his hands and feet. When they still did not believe for joy and were amazed, He said to them: Do you have any food here? They gave Him some of the baked fish and honeycomb. And he took it and ate before them." (Bible. Luke 24:38–43). Apparently, the resurrected Jesus tried to assure His disciples that He was not a spirit. Because the spirit does not have a body with bones. But the Savior had. To completely dispel all doubts, the Lord offered to touch Him and even asked to give Him something to eat. This once again proves that believers will be resurrected in incorruptible, glorified, non-aging spiritual bodies that can be touched. These bodies will have both arms and legs. You can also enjoy your food in them. These bodies will be beautiful, perfect and endowed with colossal abilities and potential, unlike today's corruptible bodies.
Second resurrection
However, the future resurrection of dead people who truly believe in God is not the only resurrection that the Bible speaks of. It also clearly speaks of something else - a second resurrection. This is the resurrection of the wicked, which Jesus called the resurrection of judgment: “All who are in the graves will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who have done good will come forth into the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil into the resurrection of condemnation.” (Bible. John 5:28–29). Also, the Apostle Paul, once addressing the ruler Felix, said “that there will be a resurrection of the dead, the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Bible. Acts 24:15).
According to the biblical book of Revelation (20:5, 7–10) , the second resurrection or resurrection of the wicked will not occur at the Second Coming of Christ, but after a thousand years. At the end of the thousand-year reign, the wicked will be resurrected to hear the verdict and receive due retribution for their iniquities from the merciful, but at the same time fair Supreme Judge. Then sin will be completely destroyed from the face of the earth along with the wicked who did not repent of their evil deeds.
New life
The good news of the first resurrection of the dead at the Second Coming of Christ is much more than just interesting information about the future. It is a living hope made real by the presence of Jesus. It will transform the present life of sincere believers, giving it more meaning and hope. With confidence in their destiny, Christians are already living a new, practical life for the benefit of others. Jesus taught: “But when you make a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you will be rewarded at the resurrection of the righteous.” (Bible. Luke 14:13, 14).
Those who live in the hope of participating in the glorious resurrection become different people. They can rejoice even in suffering because the motive of their lives is hope: “Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of glory. God's. And not only this, but we also boast in sorrows, knowing that from sorrow comes patience, from patience experience, from experience hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Bible. Romans 5:1–5).
Without fear of death
Because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Christian believes in the coming resurrection of the dead. This living faith makes present death something of little importance. It frees the believer from the fear of death because it also guarantees him future hope. This is why Jesus could say that even if a believer dies, he has the assurance that he will be brought back to life.
Even when death separates loved ones among Christians, their grief is not filled with hopelessness. They know that one day they will see each other again in the joyful resurrection of the dead. To those who did not know this, the Apostle Paul wrote: “I do not want you, brothers, to be ignorant about the dead, so that you do not mourn like others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, then God will bring those who died in Jesus with Him... because the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel and the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.” (Bible. 1 Thessalonians 4:13–16). Paul does not console his brothers in the faith that their dead Christian loved ones are alive or somewhere in a conscious state, but characterizes their present state as a dream from which they will be awakened when the Lord descends from heaven.
“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed”
It is not easy for a secular person who is accustomed to questioning everything to gain confidence in the hope of his own resurrection. But this does not mean that he lacks the ability to believe, because he has no obvious evidence of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself said that people who have not seen the risen Christ with their own eyes are not in a less advantageous position than those who have seen Him. The Apostle Thomas expressed his faith in the risen Savior only when he saw Him alive, and Jesus said to this: “You believed because you saw Me, blessed are those who have not seen and believed.” (Bible. John 20:29).
Why can those who have not seen believe? Because real faith comes not from vision, but from the action of the Holy Spirit on the heart and conscience of a person.
As a result, it is worth noting once again that a Christian’s belief that Christ has risen makes sense only when he receives hope from God for his personal participation in the coming glorious resurrection.
Does this matter to you personally?
