Resurrection and Salvation

Salvation includes the resurrection of believers and the New Creation, both of which will occur when Jesus arrives from Heaven.

Central to the doctrine of salvation is redemption. God will not abandon what He first created. The term ‘redemption’ signifies the recovery of that which was lost. The universe has been enslaved and condemned to decay and death by sin. In God’s redemptive plan, however, the end state of the things and creatures rescued by Him will not simply be restored. They will be vastly superior to their original state, and this is epitomized by the promised bodily resurrection.

Until Jesus arrives, his Church is to focus on announcing the Good News of God’s Kingdom and Salvation to all nations. Jesus assigned this mission to us between his Ascension and Return when he will send his angels to “gather his elect” from the “four corners of the Earth” – (Matthew 24:14, 13:36-43, 24:29-31).

[Rainbow - Photo by Todd Cravens on Unsplash]

The “end” will not come until his people complete this mission. That is the factor that will determine the timing of Christ’s arrival in glory:

• “What will be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age? <…> This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole habitable earth for a testimony to all the nations, then the end will come” – Matthew 24:3, 24:14).

Since we must bear witness to Christ’s salvation to all men, allowing his Church to be destroyed or physically removed from the planet before his “arrival” is not an option. Without the Church’s presence, there will be no message of the Good News for men to hear; thus, Jesus will not allow the “gates of Hell” to overwhelm his Church.

When Paul discussed the believer’s future hope with the congregation of Corinth, he based it on the past Death and Resurrection of Jesus, the bedrock of the Apostolic Message. Our salvation was not achieved through his sacrificial death alone, but also through his resurrection from the dead. Death and Resurrection are two sides of the same coin. Just as God raised Jesus from the dead, so He will also raise us, but “each in his own order” - (1 Corinthians 15:3-4, 20-23).

The New Testament teaches redemption, not the abandonment or annihilation of God’s creation. Salvation will be implemented fully when the righteous dead are raised bodily to “meet” Jesus as he descends from Heaven, and the “New Heavens and the New Earth” appear “wherein righteousness dwells” - (1 Peter 3:10-13).

Not only will dead believers be resurrected, but those who remain alive will be transformed and receive immortal bodies. The fact that followers of Jesus are still alive when he returns demonstrates that his Church will still be functioning on the Earth until the Last Day:

• “We all will not sleep, 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 will be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruptness, and this mortal must put on immortality” – 1 Corinthians 15:51-53).

• “For we say this to you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, will in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first; then we that are alive, that are left, will together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. And so will we ever be with the Lord” – (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17).

Paul locates the resurrection and transformation of believers on the day when Jesus “arrives.” In his first Letter to the Thessalonians, he reassures the congregation about the fate of their dead compatriots, which is why he stresses their future bodily resurrection.

All dead saints will be raised and thereafter participate in the glories of this final day. All members of the congregation, both the living and the newly resurrected, will meet Jesus together. It will mean both individual and collective salvation and the day when he will gather his “elect <…> from one end of Heaven to the other” - (Matthew 24:31, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, 1 Corinthians 15:20-28).

JUDGMENT AND VINDICATION

When interpreting this picture, the larger literary context must be kept in view. In the fifth chapter of 1 Thessalonians, Paul warns that the unprepared will be overtaken by that day, “like a thief in the night.” It will be the “Day of the Lord,” an event associated in Scripture with the judicial punishment of the wicked.

In his second Letter to the Thessalonians, Paul declares that when Jesus is “revealed from heaven,” the righteous will be vindicated but the unrighteous will receive “everlasting destruction,” God's “just judgment.” Both of these events will occur at that same time - (2 Thessalonians 1:5-10).

The most comprehensive list of final events is found in 1 Corinthians where Paul corrects false teachings about the resurrection:

1. “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ will all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first-fruits, then they that are Christ's at his arrival. Then comes the end when he will deliver up the Kingdom to God, even the Father, when he will abolish all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. For He put all things in subjection under his feet. But when he says, All things are put in subjection, it is evident that He is excepted who did subject all things to him. And when all things have been subjected to him, then will the Son also himself be subjected to Him who subjected all things to him, that God may be all in all” - (1 Corinthians 15:22-28, 50-57).

The “arrival of Jesus from Heaven” will result in the cessation of death, the resurrection of the dead, the final subjugation of all hostile powers, the consummation of the Kingdom, the transformation of those saints who are still alive from mortality to immortality, and the New Creation.

Our bodily resurrection will mean the termination of death itself, and believers will be physically changed from being mortal to immortal. This is the same scenario presented in 1 Thessalonians. The point is not the removal of the Church from the Earth, but the resurrection and transformation of the saints, both dead and living.

That day will result also in the separation of the righteous from the unrighteous. It will mean great joy for the prepared, but shame and punishment for the unprepared. The old creation that has been subjugated by sin and death will be replaced by the “New Heavens and the New Earth” where righteousness and freedom from suffering will prevail- (Matthew 13:30. 25:13, 25:31-46, 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10, 2 Peter 3:10-11).

The Last Day will be characterized by its finality. Death will cease, the New Creation will arrive, resurrected and transformed believers will be with the Lord, but the unrighteous will receive “everlasting” destruction - (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10, 2 Thessalonians 2:5-10).

Salvation does not mean deserting the original creation, but its metamorphosis. It will include Resurrection and New Creation. The Gospel proclaimed by Jesus Christ is about redemption. Even now, the Universe is “groaning” in anticipation of the resurrection of the “Sons of God” and the “restoration of all things” - (Romans 8:19-25, 2 Peter 3:10).

New Jerusalem will descend from Heaven to the Earth, and everyone who has been redeemed by Jesus will live forevermore with him in the Holy City free of all sorrow, hunger, suffering, and death.

“And I heard a great voice out of the throne saying, Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them, and be their God. And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore. The first things are passed away. And he that is sitting on the Throne said, Behold, I make all things new” – (Revelation 21:3-5).

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SEE ALSO:

• Final Events - (In writing to the Corinthians, Paul outlines the events that will occur at or shortly before the arrival or ‘Parousia’ of Jesus on the Day of Christ)

• The Absent Church? - (The vision of John being summoned to Heaven is not a portrayal of the rapture of the Church)

• The Death of Death - (The arrival of Jesus at the end of the age will mean the termination of the Last Enemy, Death - 1 Corinthians 15:24-28)

• The Just Judgment of God - (The “Revelation” of Jesus “from Heaven” will result in the vindication of his faithful followers, but everlasting loss for all men and women who reject the Gospel)