Has the Resurrection Already Occurred?

Audio read by Tom Parks -  MP3
 
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When Christ was resurrected from the dead the New Testament states that "many bodies of saints arose" (Matthew 27:52,53). When did this event occur? And were these saints Abraham, Moses, David, and the other righteous saints of Old Testament times?
 

This event occurred after Christ was resurrected that Sunday morning. That is precisely what the text says (Matthew 27:53). And who were these saints? They were certainly not any of the Old Testament personalities.

These resurrected people were those who went into the city of Jerusalem and showed themselves to various disciples after Christ was resurrected to show the power of God in his ability to resurrect any people, and not just his own Son Jesus. This was intended to give a further testimony that God also has the power to resurrect the dead at the time when Christ returns at his second advent.

Let us look at the situation a moment. Had these resurrected saints been any of the Old Testament people, they would have been a witness to no one living at the time. Why? The matter is simple. None of the people living in the first century had ever seen any of the Old Testament saints. Had these people just resurrected have been Abraham and the others, and they would have said to the people of Jerusalem that they were indeed the Old Testament saints, then the people of the first century would have not believed them for none of them had ever seen the earlier patriarchs and their resurrections would have been no witness whatever. However, had these saints just recently died (which was the case), then they would indeed have been witnesses. These people were only resurrected back to a temporary human existence (not to a spiritual resurrection that will last for the rest of eternity) because the apostle Paul said that at Christ’s resurrection he was the first-fruit to the prophesied spiritual resurrection (I Corinthians 15:23), while others (Such as Abraham, Moses, Paul, Peter and even ourselves) must wait in our graves in a state of complete unconsciousness (Ecclesiastes 9:5) until Christ returns at his second advent and we (With all the Old Testament saints) will be resurrected to be just like Christ at his resurrection. These few people who were resurrected at Christ’s resurrection were brought back to life temporarily as a witness to the power of God in his ability to resurrect the dead. They later died again to await the grand resurrection to spiritual life that will occur at the second advent.

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