In the New Testament, there are passages that say the resurrection of believers will occur. This event will take place at the time of Christ’s second coming. These include 1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.
When He returns Jesus said He will gather those who have placed their faith in Him:.
And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.” Matthew 24:31.
Some passages mention our being with Jesus when we die. These assure us there will be a conscious state in fellowship with Jesus after death.
Thus in Luke 23:43 Jesus assured the repentant thief on the cross that they would be together in ‘Paradise’ that day. ‘Paradise’ translates the Greek word paradeisos Strongs G3847. That word was used for the Garden of Eden in the Greek Old Testament, the Septuagint.
In Luke 14:13-14 Jesus taught: when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
In Luke 16:22, we see what is referred to as ‘the bosom of Abraham’. This is deemed to the abode of the righteous dead awaiting the judgment day. It is a place of conscious awareness. Strongs G285—kolpos for bosom. It means to obtain the seat close to Abraham, i.e. to be partaker of the same blessedness as Abraham in paradise.
In Luke 20:35-36, Jesus said to the Sadducees: those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; for they cannot even die anymore, because they are like angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.
In John 5:24-25. Jesus said Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word, and believes Him who sent me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
In all the above spoken by Jesus, we note the certainty of resurrection of believers.
We also find that the Apostle Paul lived with the same certainty.
Paul wrote to the Corinthians: Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power. 1 Corinthians 6:14.
Certainty! No doubt.
And asking his readers that if from human motives he fought then what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. 1 Corinthians 15:31-32. Certainty.
Paul wrote to the Philippians about his certainty of his own resurrection. He expressed his preference to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Also see Philippians 1:20.
And in Philippians 3:10-11 this extraordinary hope: That . . . . . becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. That is, he had the expectation of his resurrection before his death. Thus he had the expectation of Jesus’ return before his death!
Matthew 12:32. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
2 Peter 3:10-13. But the day of the Lord will come . . . . . . the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
Peter believed he and his contemporaries would experience new heavens and a new earth.
Isaiah 65:17-19. “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress.
Isaiah 26:19. Your dead will live; their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, for your dew is as the dew of the dawn, and the earth will give birth to the departed spirits.
Interestingly, our resurrection has nothing to do with how “good” we are or our status with Jesus. Both those who are going to be with God and those who are going to be separated from God will be resurrected:
Daniel 12:2. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.
Revelation 21:4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Ian Thomson 