The Resurrected Body – Part 1

The Resurrected Body – Part 1
Scriptures reveal two Great Resurrections from the dead, referred to as the First Resurrection and the Second Resurrection. This raises several important questions.
  • How is the divine aspect of our nephesh (the self or person) resurrected back to life?
  • What kind of body will we have when we return to life during either of these two Great Resurrections?
  • Will our body be flesh or spirit, mortal or immortal?
  • Does our new body get old and suffer from disease or does it remain forever young and vibrant?

Saul begins to address these questions in his first letter to the assembly at Corinth. He points out that some will ask the questions, “How are the dead raised? And with what body do they come?”1

Saul responds by dividing the process into two categories:

    1. The type of body at the resurrection
    2. The quickening of this body at the time of our change when one attains eternal life.
We will take up the issue of quickening the body into eternal life in detail in another discussion. For now, we will concentrate on the incorruptible body that a person receives at their resurrection.

In this regard, Scriptures teach that when we rise from the grave, our nephesh (person) will have a new ruach (spirit)-type physical body composed of incorruptible flesh. With this new body, the ruach (spirit) of life will be restored to us and we will once more live.

Nevertheless, we shall remain mortal until we have qualified to be quickened into eternal life.
From the Grave

At death, the body itself, except in cases of complete dissolution such as being turned to ashes or dust and scattered, is the home of the nephesh while it remains in the state of sheol, or death.

The flesh is ‘aphar, meaning dust or the material substance of the ground, and the nephesh, or person, “clings to the ‘aphar”2 while in a death sleep in sheol. When a person is resurrected, they must come forth from the ‘aphar. This is clearly explained in the Scriptures.

When a person is raised, their body will be called out either from the grave or from the ‘aphar, which can be ground, water, or another material substance near where the body was completely dissolved. In this situation, the nearby ‘aphar becomes the grave for the divine part of the human nephesh.

The place where the body is buried is where people first expect the nephesh to return to life. This idea likely explains why the patriarchs, such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their wives, wanted to be buried in the Promised Land.3

Joseph, the son of Jacob, insisted that when the Israelites left Egypt during the Exodus, his body should be taken from Egypt and placed in the Promised Land.4 This request only makes sense if he wanted to show his trust in the Resurrection and hoped to be raised in the Promised Land.

Meanwhile, Moses, who was forbidden to enter the royal portion of the Promised Land, was buried on Mount Nebo, just east of the Dead Sea.5 He will cross over into the royal portion, the land of Kanaan after he has been resurrected during the First Resurrection.

Important examples of this principle are as follows:

  • When those of Israel are resurrected from the dead, Yahweh reports, “You will know that I am Yahweh, when I have opened your graves and have brought you up out of your graves, my people, and I have put my ruach into you and you will live.” (Ezek. 37:13-14)
  • When the Messiah died and was raised, “tombs were opened, and many bodies of the fallen asleep (i.e., dead) saints arose, and having GONE FORTH OUT OF THE TOMBS after his (Yahushua’s) arising, entered into the sacred city and appeared to many.”6 No doubt the reawakenings of these saints (and not of the wicked) came about due to the power of the sacred ruach which was nearby at the time it was used to raise the Messiah from the dead. The important point is that the person came out of the grave where his physical nephesh and body was placed.
  • In another statement the Messiah informs us, “Truly, truly, I say to you, that an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the son of the deity, and those having heard will live. For even as the father has life in himself, so he also gives to the son life in himself, and authority he gives to him also to execute Judgment, because he is the son of man. Do not wonder at this, for an hour is coming in which ALL THOSE IN THE TOMBS WILL HEAR HIS VOICE, AND WILL COME FORTH, those that practiced good, unto a resurrection of life, and those that do evil to a resurrection of judgment.” (John 5:25-29)
  • When Lazarus, a friend of the Messiah, was raised from the dead by Yahushua, his body was brought forth from the tomb in which he was buried.7 “And he (Lazarus) who had been dead came forth, bound feet and hands with grave clothes, and his face with a handkerchief bound about. Yahushua said to them, Loose him and let him go.” (John 11:44)
  • The Messiah himself died, being nailed upon a torture-stake,8 but came back to life from his tomb. Suffering death, he (the nephesh or self) went into the state of sheol in the midst of the land (i.e., buried in a grave or tomb).9 Then after lying in the grave for three days,10 the Messiah was resurrected and his own body came out of his tomb,11 for he was still able to manifest the nail holes in his flesh.12
  • The two great witnesses of Yahweh who are murdered 3½ days prior to the First Resurrection are left unburied in a broad place of Jerusalem.13 “And after these 3½ days, the ruach of life from the deity entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and a great fear fell upon those beholding them.” (Rev. 11:11)
  • If one’s grave is in a dunghill, he will be raised from its trash. This will even be true for a member of the Elect.14 Similarly, if one died and was buried at sea, then they will rise from the sea.15

We should note that whether we are discussing revitalization (the resurrection of a corruptible body into an incorruptible body) or reactivation (the resurrection of an incorruptible body that has died), there will be no need for a resting place for the dead when the renewed heavens and earth are created at the end of our current world age. Consequently, at that time, sheol (the state of death) will no longer exist.16

Flesh, Nephesh, and Ruach
The individual that is brought up during either of the two Great Resurrections will be composed of their person and innermost self, having a new fleshly ruach-type incorruptible body, and brought back to life by the animating ruach.

•   A Body of Flesh
The body that returns from the dead during either of the two Great Resurrections is composed of ruach-type flesh—i.e., the bodies of those coming up in the First Resurrection and Second Resurrections will have an incorruptible fleshly body. That we are resurrected with a ruach-type incorruptible body of flesh is confirmed by several facts.

Job addresses the issue of a flesh-and-blood body after the Resurrection during his lamentations. While voicing his desire to die and go to sheol because of the terrible ailments that were then afflicting his body, Job writes:

For I know that my redeemer is living and at the last he will raise (us) up above the ‘aphar.17 And after this skin of mine corrodes, YET FROM MY FLESH I WILL SEE ELOAH, whom I will see for myself, and my eyes will see, and not another’s (eyes); (although now) my reins in my bosom are exhausted. (Job 19:25)

That this passage is a discussion of Job’s own resurrection (at which time Yahweh will be standing above the ‘aphar which is being raised, i.e., Job’s body) is further supported by the ancient Greek Septuagint (LXX) translation of this verse:

For I know that he is eternal who is about to deliver me, to raise up upon the land my skin (“body” in the Alex. LXX) that endures these (sufferings). (LXX Job 19:25-26)

The main point that must be gleaned from this verse is that Job will see his Savior after the Resurrection and that he will do so with his own flesh and eyes. We have the same indication in Isaiah 40:5 (quoted by Luke 3:6), which speaks of the time after the Resurrection:

And the glory of Yahweh will be revealed, and ALL FLESH will see it together, for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken. (Isaiah 40:5)

In another place Isaiah directly states, “their dead bodies will stand up,”18 meaning that the nephesh that lies dormant in the ‘aphar of the ground will be resurrected. At the same time, this new body will be a mortal, ruach-type incorruptible body of flesh.

This detail is confirmed by the fact that shortly after the Messiah’s resurrection, when he was quickened into a higher, immortal ruach form, he reminded his followers that he was still flesh and bone.19 The discussion regarding this aspect of the resurrected body will be reserved for a later discussion. For now it will suffice to show that we will still have some kind of flesh or physical body upon our being resurrected.

•   Salvation of the Nephesh
It is important to realize that, just because one is resurrected, it does not mean one automatically attains immortality or that this body is no longer of a flesh-and-blood type.

To demonstrate, the apostle Keph (Peter) points out that our trust in the Messiah will result in our

. . . receiving as the end of your trust THE SALVATION OF YOUR psuchon (= NEPHESH), concerning which salvation the prophets sought out and searched out, who prophesied of the grace toward you. (1 Pet. 1:8-10)

Psalms similarly refers to the resurrection of the nephesh where it has:

Also, my flesh will rest in hope, for you will not leave my nephesh in sheol. (Ps. 16:10)

A nephesh is, on the one hand, the exchange of oxygen in the blood,20 and, by extension, “life” itself. The human nephesh differs from that of the animal world in that the fleshly nephesh of mankind was combined with the breath (sacred ruach) of Yahweh when Adam was made a living nephesh,21 creating a nephesh that clings to the ‘aphar in death rather than dissipating when the creature dies.

The human nephesh (person) includes the leb (inner self, mind) and lebab (innermost self, subconscious mind), which require a flesh-and-blood existence to live and be self-aware.

•   The Ruach of Life
As with the present human condition, besides a corruptible fleshly body and our nephesh, we must also have the ruach of life or animating ruach. The animating ruach belongs to Yahweh.22 It only becomes our possession while we are permitted to live.23 Even the Messiah gave up this animating ruach when he died.24

Saul informs us:

Abstain from all appearance of evil. And the very deity of peace sanctify you wholly, and your entire pneuma (= ruach) and the psuche (= nephesh) and soma (= gewiyah; body) will be preserved as blameless at the coming of our sovereign Yahushua the Messiah. (1 Thes. 5:23)

Therefore, all three parts (the body, the person, and the animating ruach) must be brought back together and preserved as blameless at the Messiah’s coming—whether at his second coming, when the First Resurrection takes place, or at his third coming, at the end of the Millennial Judgment Day, when he returns with father Yahweh.

This animating ruach, as previously noted, must not be confused with the sacred ruach which was blown into Adam’s mouth, combining with his fleshly nephesh to create the human person, nor with that manifestation of the sacred ruach which will cover us at the quickening, giving us eternal life.

For example, at the time of his second coming, the Messiah will give the Elect eternal life.25 Nevertheless, eternal life is the next stage after being resurrected back to life. The Resurrection itself can only bring you back to a mortal life. A higher level of life springs forth from the sacred ruach, which will quicken us, “each in his own tagmati (tagmati; rank, order).”26

The Resurrection Process
An excellent description of the resurrection process is described in Ezekiel 37, in the vision of the valley full of the dry bones of deceased Israelites. In these passages it is explained how those of the Elect of Israel will be brought to life during the First Resurrection.

And he (Yahweh) said to me, Prophesy to these bones and say to them, Dry bones, hear the word of Yahweh. Thus says adonai Yahweh to these bones, Behold, I will make ruach enter into you and you will live. And I will put upon you sinews, and will bring up upon you flesh, and will spread over you skin, and put in you ruach, and you will live. And you will know that I am Yahweh.

So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied there was a noise, and behold, a shaking. And the bones drew near, a bone to its bone. And I watched, and behold, THE SINEWS AND THE FLESH CAME UP UPON THEM, AND THE SKIN SPREAD OVER THEM FROM ABOVE. YET NO RUACH WAS IN THEM.

Then he said to me, Prophesy to the ruach. Prophesy son of Adam and say to the ruach, Thus says adonai Yahweh, from the four winds, Come ruach and blow on these slain ones, so that they will live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, AND THE RUACH CAME INTO THEM AND THEY LIVED AND STOOD UPON THEIR FEET, a very, very great army.

And he said to me, son of Adam, these bones are all the house of Israel. Behold, they say, Our bones are dried and our hope has perished. We are cut off to ourselves. Therefore prophesy and say to them, Thus says adonai Yahweh, Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, my people, and will bring you to the land of Israel. And you will know that I am Yahweh in that I opened your graves, and have brought you up out of your graves, my people. And I will put my ruach in you, and you will live, and I will put you upon your own land, and you will know that I, Yahweh, have spoken and have done it. (Ezek. 37:4-14)

Therefore, the grave is opened and the body is reconstructed around, and in union with, the nephesh (self, person), which in the state of sheol (death) has been clinging to the ‘aphar (dust).27

At first the bones come into existence and are put together, followed by sinews and flesh (because the resurrected body has flesh), and finally the skin, which spreads over the body from above. The body is new but the nephesh (with its leb and lebab) is the same person who died.

However, even though the body is reconstructed around the nephesh, the person has not yet come to life. The awakening and animation of the nephesh only occurs when the animating ruach from Yahweh enters into the new ruach-type incorruptible body.

Furthermore, it is only after the nephesh has been awakened from its death sleep that “you will know that I am Yahweh.” In other words, even if one knew before death that Yahweh would resurrect him in the future, one cannot “know” that “I am Yahweh” until after one has been awakened from sheol and has become self-aware, for there is no knowledge or self-awareness while in sheol.
Marked Out

How does one distinguish the Elect of the First Resurrection from other lifeless persons lying in sheol who will arise during the Second Resurrection? According to Scriptures, those accounted worthy are marked.28

In Revelation we read that the 144,000 Elect of Israel, who suffer through the Great Tribulation that occurs just before the First Resurrection, being servants of the living deity, must be “sealed” on their foreheads.29

What is this mark that seals the Elect? Revelation reports the following:

And I saw, and behold, the lamb (the Messiah) standing upon Mount Zion, and with him a 144,000, HAVING THE NAME OF HIS FATHER (i.e., Yahweh) WRITTEN UPON THEIR FOREHEADS. (Rev. 14:1)

A seal, of course, is a mark. It is also obvious that this mark of the sacred name is not a physical impression on the body. The word “name” indicates one’s character,30 and therefore a reflection of the person’s nature. In effect, carrying the name Yahweh reflects having the divine nature, for you are part of Yahweh, being part of the body of Yahweh.

As a result, the very idea that the name has been placed upon the forehead of the Elect refers to the divine nature being placed in their minds, especially the lebab (innermost self). The Elect, therefore, are marked out by their acquiring the divine nature within their lebab, a subconscious nature obtained by their trust and adherence to the instructions of father Yahweh.

Carrying the sacred name also indicates that the person has the sacred ruach. Scriptures, for example, indicate that the 144,000 Elect of Israel of the First Resurrection will be baptized with the sacred ruach, placed upon them in the sacred name, prior to their experiencing the Great Tribulation and their death.31

Indeed, the sacred ruach separates and marks out these men from others by the fact that it remains with them after their death.

Our example comes with the members of the 24 Elders of the First Resurrection.32 Moses was so filled with the sacred ruach that his face glowed or radiated;33 and Yahweh, because of his special position and attributes, buried Moses so that no man could find him.34

The great prophet Elijah, who like Moses was filled with the sacred ruach, was hidden away from men.35 In this regard, both Moses and Elijah are represented as rising up in the First Resurrection.36 The twelve apostles are also defined this way, and they too were filled with the sacred ruach.37

Elisha, as still another example, had “a double portion” of the sacred ruach.38 That the sacred ruach remained with him after death is demonstrated by the fact that his dead body was still able to raise the dead long after his own demise.39

These details indicate that such men will not only have the divine nature in them but their nephesh will continue to have the enhanced light of Yahweh’s sacred ruach after their death. Others who have possessed the gift of the sacred ruach in this life lose it upon death.

The Elect, on the other hand, will retain the sacred ruach after death, sealing in their nature. As a result, Yahweh will be able to distinguish them from others while they yet lay in sheol.

Continue reading The Resurrected Body – Part 2 for a detailed examination of the incorruptible body we will receive at our resurrection and the final conclusions drawn from the evidence.

Endnotes

    1. ↑ 1 Cor. 15:35.
    2. ↑ Ps. 119:25.
    3. ↑ E.g., Gen. 23:1-20, 25:7-10, 35:16-20, 27-29, 49:28-50:13.
    4. ↑ Gen. 50:24-25; Exod. 13:19.
    5. ↑ Deut. 34:1-6.
    6. ↑ Matt. 27:52-53.
    7. ↑ John 11:17-44.
    8. ↑ John 19:17-37; Mark 15:22-39; Matt. 27:33-34; Luke 23:33-47.
    9. ↑ Matt. 12:40; John 12:27-34; Eph. 4:7-10; Acts 2:27-31; cf., Ps. 16:8-11.
    10. ↑ Acts 2:25-27, 31-32; Ps. 16:8-11; Matt. 16:21, 17:22-23; Luke 9:22.
    11. ↑ Mark 15:42-16:11; Matt. 27:57-28:15; Luke 23:50-24:12; John 19:38-20:18.
    12. ↑ Luke 24:36-40; John 20:19-27.
    13. ↑ Rev. 11:1-10.
    14. ↑ Ps. 113:7.
    15. ↑ Rev. 20:13.
    16. ↑ Rev. 20:14, 21:8.
    17. ↑ The Hebrew is al ‘aphar ye-qum (he will raise [us] up above the ‘aphar).
    18. ↑ Isa. 26:19.
    19. ↑ Luke 24:39.
    20. ↑ Lev. 17:11-12; Gen. 9:4; Deut. 12:23.
    21. ↑ Gen. 2:7; John 20:22.
    22. ↑ Job 27:3-4; Eccles. 12:5-7.
    23. ↑ Ps. 104:29, 146:3-4; Job 34:14-15.
    24. ↑ Matt. 27:50; Mark 15:37; Luke 23:46; John 19:30.
    25. ↑ Rev. 20:6.
    26. ↑ 1 Cor. 15:20-24. The Greek term tagmati means a “body of soldiers, division, brigade . . . order, rank” (GEL); “an order or series, a class” (ILT); “something orderly in arrangement (a troop), i.e. (fig.) a series or succession:—order” (SEC Gk. #5001). Therefore, the verse refers to those of higher rank going first.
    27. ↑ Ps. 119:25; cf., Ps. 44:25; Job 38:38.
    28. ↑ E.g., Ezek. 9:1-11.
    29. ↑ Rev. 7:1-8, esp. v. 3; cf., 9:4.
    30. ↑ Hebrew shem carries the meaning “honor, authority, character” (SEC Heb. #8034). The Greek term onoma similarly means “authority, character” and “fame” (SEC Gk. #3686).
    31. ↑ That the 144,000 Elect of Israel experience the Great Tribulation during which they die (i.e., sheep of slaughter, Ps. 44:22), see Rev. 7:1-8, 13-15, 20:4-6. Also cf., Heb. 6:1-5.
    32. ↑ The imagery of the 24 Elders is found in Rev. 5:7-14 (also Rev. 4:4, 10, 11:16, 19:4). Among the patriarchs are Abraham, Isaak, and Jacob; among the prophets are Moses, David, Elijah, Elisha, as well as the two witnesses. Also among these 24 elders are the 12 apostles.
    33. ↑ Exod. 34:29-35.
    34. ↑ Deut. 34:5-6.
    35. ↑ For a detailed discussion, see Did Enoch and Elijah Die?
    36. ↑ Cf. the metaphoric statements in Rev. 11:3-6; also see Matt. 17:1-9; Mark 9:2-9; Luke 9:28-36; and the importance of the body of Moses (Jude 1:9).
    37. ↑ That the apostles will rule in the Millennial Kingdom, see Matt. 19:28; Luke 22:30; Rev. 20:4. That they were baptized and filled with the sacred ruach before their deaths, see Acts 1:5, 2:1-4, 10:48.
    38. ↑ 2 Kings 2:9.
    39. ↑ 2 Kings 13:20-21.

Bibliography and Abbreviations

AB = The Amplified Bible, Containing the Amplified Old Testament and the Amplified New Testament. Zondervan Publishing House, Michigan, 1965.

AVTV = An Arabic Version of the Testimonium Flavianum and its Implications, by Shlomo Pines, Jerusalem, The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1971.

CHAL = A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament. William L. Holladay. Based upon the Lexical Work of Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1971.

CS = A Concordance to the Septuagint and the Other Greek Versions of the Old Testament (including the Apocryphal Books). Edwin Hatch and Henry A. Redpath. 3 vols. Reprinted by Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1991.

GEL = An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon. Founded upon the seventh ed. of Liddell and Scott’s Greek-English Lexicon. At the Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1961.

HEL = Hebrew-English Lexicon. Zondervan Edition, 1970. Catalog #6264. Samuel Bagster & Sons, LTD., London. Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

IB = Green, Jay. The Interlinear Hebrew/Greek English Bible. 4 vols. Associated Publishers and Authors, Inc., Indiana, 1979.

ILT = Lex. Greek–English Lexicon to the New Testament. This lexicon is located in the back of The Interlinear Literal Translation of the Greek New Testament. George Ricker Berry. Zondervan Publishing House, Michigan, 1958.

LSB = Holy Bible: Lindsell Study Bible, The Living Bible Paraphrased, ed. Harold Lindsell, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Illinois, 1971.

NIV = The Holy Bible, New International Version, by the International Bible Society (Cornerstone Bible Publishers / Zondervan, 1984).

NJB = Wansbrough, Henry, gen. ed. The New Jerusalem Bible. Doubleday & Company, Inc., New York, 1985.

NTB = Moffatt, James. A New Translation of the Bible. Harper & Row, New York, 1954.

REB = Rotherham, Joseph Bryant. Rotherham’s Emphasized Bible. Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1959.

SEC = Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance.

YDNB = Parke-Taylor, G. H. Yahweh: the Divine Name in the Bible. Wilfrid Laurier University Press, Waterloo, Ontario, 1975.

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