Resurrection of the dead
Doctrine of the resurrection predates Christianity
The word resurrection comes from the Latin resurrectus, which is the past participle of resurgere, meaning to rise again. Although the doctrine of the resurrection comes to the forefront in the New Testament, it predates the Christian era. There is an apparent reference to the resurrection in the book of Job, where Job says, "I know that my redeemer lives, and that he will stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though... worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh I will see God." [Job 19:25–27] Again, the prophet Daniel writes, "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt." [Dan 12:2] Isaiah says: "Your dead will live. Together with my dead body, they will arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust, for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth will cast out the dead". [Isa. 26:19]
This belief was still common among the Jews in New Testament times, as exemplified by the passage which relates the raising of Lazarus from the dead. When Jesus told Lazarus' sister, Martha, that Lazarus would rise again, she replied, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." [Jn 11:24] Also, one of the two main branches of the Jewish religious establishment, the Pharisees, believed in and taught the future resurrection of the body. [cf Acts 23:1–8]
Two Resurrections
An interpretation of the New Testament is the understanding that there will be two resurrections. Revelation says: "Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such, the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with him a thousand years." [Rev 20:6] The rest of the dead "did not live again until the thousand years were finished". [Rev 20:5]
Despite this, there are various interpretations:
- According to the premillennial post-tribulational position there will two physical resurrections, separated by a literal thousand years (one in the Second Coming along with the Rapture, another after a literal 1,000 year reign);
- According to premillennial pre-tribulationists there will be three physical resurrections more (one in the Rapture at the beginning of tribulation, another in the Second Coming at the final of tribulation, the last one after a literal 1,000 year reign), they claim that the first resurrection includes the resurrection in the Rapture and the resurrection in the Second Coming, the second resurrection would be after the 1,000 year reign;
- According to premillennial mid-tribulationists there will be three physical resurrections too (one in the rapture at the middle of tribulation, another in the Second Coming at the finale of tribulation, the last one after a literal 1,000 year reign), the first resurrection would be the resurrection in the Rapture and the resurrection in the Second Coming, the second resurrection would be after the 1,000 year reign.
- According to amillennial position there will be only two resurrections, the first resurrection would be in a spiritual sense (the resurrection of the soul), according to Paul and John as participation right now, in the resurrection of Christ, through faith and baptism, according to Colossians 2:12 and Colossians 3:1 as occurring within the millennium interpreted as an indefinite period between the foundation of the Church and the Second Coming of Christ, the second resurrection would be the general resurrection (the resurrection of the body) that would occur at the time of Jesus' return.
The resurrection body
The Gospel authors wrote that our resurrection bodies will be different from those we have now. Jesus said, "In the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels of God in heaven." [Mt 22:30] Paul adds, "So also is the resurrection of the dead: the body ... is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body." [1 Co. 15:42–44]
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church the body after resurrection is changed into a spiritual, imperishable body:
In some ancient traditions, it was held that the person would be resurrected at the same spot they died and were buried at (just as in the case of Jesus' resurrection). For example, in the early medieval biography of St Columba written by Adomnan of Iona, Columba at one point prophecies to a penitent at the monastery on Iona that his resurrection would be in Ireland and not in Iona, and this penitent later died at a monastery in Ireland and was buried there [83]
Other views
Although Martin Luther personally believed and taught resurrection of the dead in combination with soul sleep, this is not a mainstream teaching of Lutheranism and most Lutherans traditionally believe in resurrection of the body in combination with the immortal soul.
Several churches, such as the Anabaptists and Socinians of the Reformation, then Seventh-day Adventist Church, Christadelphians, Jehovah's Witnesses, and theologians of different traditions reject the idea of the immortality of a non-physical soul as a vestige of Neoplatonism, and other pagan traditions. In this school of thought, the dead remain dead (and do not immediately progress to a Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory) until a physical resurrection of some or all of the dead occurs at the end of time. Some groups, Christadelphians in particular, consider that it is not a universal resurrection, and that at this time of resurrection that the Last Judgment will take place.
Armageddon
Megiddo is mentioned twelve times in the Old Testament, ten times in reference to the ancient city of Megiddo, and twice with reference to "the plain of Megiddo", most probably simply meaning "the plain next to the city". None of these Old Testament passages describes the city of Megiddo as being associated with any particular prophetic beliefs. The one New Testament reference to the city of Armageddon found in Revelation 16:16 also makes no specific mention of any armies being predicted to one day gather in this city, but instead seems to predict only that "they (will gather) the kings together to .... Armageddon". The text does however seem to imply, based on the text from the earlier passage of Revelation 16:14, that the purpose of this gathering of kings in the "place called Armageddon" is "for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty". Because of the seemingly highly symbolic and even cryptic language of this one New Testament passage, some Christian scholars conclude that Mount Armageddon must be an idealized location. R. J. Rushdoony says, "There are no mountains of Megiddo, only the Plains of Megiddo. This is a deliberate destruction of the vision of any literal reference to the place." Other scholars, including C. C. Torrey, Kline and Jordan argue that the word is derived from the Hebrew moed (מועד), meaning "assembly". Thus, "Armageddon" would mean "Mountain of Assembly," which Jordan says is "a reference to the assembly at Mount Sinai, and to its replacement, Mount Zion."
The traditional viewpoint interprets this Bible prophecy to be symbolic of the progression of the world toward the "great day of God, the Almighty" in which the great looming mountain of God's just and holy wrath is poured out against unrepentant sinners, led by Satan, in a literal end-of-the-world final confrontation. Armageddon is the symbolic name given to this event based on scripture references regarding divine obliteration of God's enemies. The hermeneutical method supports this position by referencing Judges 4 and 5 where God miraculously destroys the enemy of His elect, Israel, at Megiddo, also called the Valley of Josaphat.[citation needed]
Christian scholar William Hendriksen says:
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