by neat blue dog 21 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Vanderhoven7
You mention in the Hebrew scriptures about the resurrection of both the just and unjust and as you say ,
But none, as far as I can see, point to rising to heavenly life.
Do any of these passages in the Hebrew scriptures specifically point to a resurrection of an earthly life ?
just asking.
Hi Smiddy,
The resurrection fulfills the promise that Death will lose its sting when God plagues the grave (Sheol). The idea of course is that Jesus took our eternal death sentence while on Calvary. The promise of a resurrection is found in both Old and New Testaments. A couple of OT passages come to mind.
Psalm 16:8 I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. 9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. 10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Job 19:23 Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book! 24 That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever! 25 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: Job 19:26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: 27 Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.
Mitch Chase, in a shareable article entitled, "Does the Old Testament Teach Resurrection Hope", writes:
The Gospels, Acts, Epistles, and Revelation all proclaim the blessed hope of our Lord’s return to bring the dead back to life and, in doing so, defeat the last enemy—Death (1 Cor. 15:26). It might seem like resurrection is an exclusively New Testament hope. But it you grab this hope and pull, you’ll find it has roots leading you deep into the Old Testament. God has provided resurrection hope to his people from the beginning.
Not everyone affirms resurrection hope in the Old Testament. The Sadducees denied it because they didn’t believe it was taught in the Pentateuch. But Jesus challenged them: “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. . . . As for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God?” (Matt. 22:29, 31).
We need to read the Bible like Jesus did. He looked into the pages of the Old Testament and saw a God of life, whose power prevails over the grave.
The clearest Old Testament passage about a future bodily resurrection is Daniel 12:2: “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Both Jesus and Paul affirm its teaching in the New Testament (John 5:29; Acts 24:15).
Daniel isn’t the only prophet to speak this hope, however. Isaiah also prophesies physical resurrection:
Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead. (Isa. 26:19)
The dead are dust-dwelling sleepers, and resurrection will wake them up. Shifting metaphors, Isaiah depicts the earth giving birth. The tomb is a womb, and one day the dead will emerge in renewed bodily life.
Future bodily life isn’t just a truth to be spoken, but also a hope to be sung. The psalmist notes that while the wise and foolish both perish (Ps. 49:10), God “will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me” (Ps. 49:15). Ransoming the soul from Sheol is receiving the whole person back from death (see Ps. 16:10; Acts 2:24–29). Moreover, for the author of Psalm 71, resurrection is a comfort. Reflecting on past calamities and future deliverance, he declares: “You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again” (Ps. 71:20). God will revive us by raising us.
Without an understanding of resurrection in the Old Testament, God’s people would have died thinking God had failed to fulfill his promises. God promised the land of Canaan to the patriarchs and their offspring (Gen. 12:7; 13:15), yet Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all died “not having received the things promised” (Heb. 11:13).
Me again: Now it seems clear to me that the OT is teaching a bodily resurrection. Now the question remains; is this a bodily resurrection to an earthly or heavenly existence? Unlike the New Testament promises, I don't see the option of a heavenly hope provided in the OT. And if not heaven, where else will those raised be standing?
