This teaching by Shawn focused on the topic of resurrection of the dead as outlined in Hebrews 6:3. Shawn delved into the biblical teachings on the first and second resurrections, the timing of these events, and the significance of Christ’s return in relation to the resurrection of believers. The teaching also emphasized the importance of understanding eschatology and the biblical prophecies surrounding the resurrection.

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Hebrews 6:3 Part 5 Bible Teaching Script

Hebrews 6.3 E
November 24th 2013
WELCOME – apologies and thanks to Mark. Over the course of ministry I have worked odd jobs.

I was a loader for UPS a few years back and this time around was looking to work graveyard at the Post Office.

There was a mandatory one time training last weekend which I couldn’t get out of and from all reports Mark did a fantastic job.

Okay . . .

EXPLANATION of GATHERING
Taping
Music
Corporate prayer

PRAYER

REFLECTION TIME

Well, okay . . . still in Hebrews 6:1-3.
I have challenged you before with concepts – challenges that continue to come back and make life difficult for me.

We’re not holding back on this next issue – or on any other.
Now, we started six weeks ago. Again, after telling the Jewish converts in chapter five that they ought to move on from just drinking the “MILK” of the Word and onto the MEAT of it, chapter six opens with our text – three short verses which, continuing the thought say:
Hebrews 6:1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
3 And this will we do, if God permit.

Note that the writer say:
“leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection . . .”
I can’t hardly wait to get into what “Christians moving on to perfection” looks like – the teaching is simply put stunning.
Nevertheless, before we can talk about becoming complete Christians, before we can, “move on to perfection,” it is my opinion that we need to really discuss and explore (and therefore understand) what these fundamental positions are to the faith we are supposed to leave behind.
The writer summarized these basics for us saying, “leaving therefore “the principles of the doctrines of Christ,” and then gives us three categories of two each:
Category one:
“Repentance from dead works and of faith towards God”
Category two:
“of doctrines of baptisms and the laying on of hands,” and category three, which we are going to enter into today
“Of resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment.”
Resurrection of the dead.
Here we are, 2013. We have had billions of Christian people, tens of thousands scholars, hundreds of thousands of churches and denominations come and go since Christ and very, very few of us (myself included) really understand “the doctrine of resurrection of the dead.”
And yet here is the writer of Hebrews telling his readers to leave the doctrine behind, presumably because the doctrine is so elemental it ought to have been understood by any reader of scripture.
Let’s ask ourselves a few questions about resurrection. Answer to yourselves if you know or think you know.
Ready?

According to scripture, how many resurrections are there?
Have any of them occurred yet? When, if so?
According to the Bible what has to happen before resurrection of the dead can occur?
What has happened to all the people who have died as believers since the Day of Pentecost?
Have any been resurrected?
Are most waiting to be resurrected?
Does resurrection mean our literal bodies are going to rise out of our graves or is the resurrection a spiritual body?
Will we look like we look now, with flesh and bones and hair? Or will we get another type of Body?
What does scripture mean when it speaks of a “better resurrection?”

Now, having asked these questions, I would be willing to bet that in the face of the eight of them we would have a couple hundred different views.
Why is there so much confusion or better yet, misunderstanding about a topic SO elemental to the Christian faith?
Now, there have been debates on the idea of resurrection which existed well before Jesus walked the earth.
In fact the doctrine was a hotly debated topic among the two major components that formed the Sanhedrim – the Sadducees and the Pharisees.
We can see how heated the topic can be when we read about an event that took place in the book of Acts.

At one point (chapter 23) Paul finds himself in the midst of some real trouble. After being questions he insulted a member of the Sanhedrim by calling him “a whited wall.” Then listen to what he does (before they can take and stone or kill him)

In chapter 23 at verse 6 we read:

“But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: (Listen) of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question.
7 And when he had so said, there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees: and the multitude was divided.
8 For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both.”

So even among these two men of high religious repute, Paul was able to divide the group by and through the topic of resurrection . . . and take the focus off himself and the trouble he was in.

Smart man, old Paul.

So let’s cover the resurrection.

It’s pretty simple.

Jesus was resurrected first.
Some were resurrected after Him.
More will be resurrected later.
And once everyone has received their heavenly body or a body of damnation, the resurrection will be over.

(beat)

Good enough?

Alright, let’s move on then…..
(long beat)

I wish it was this simple. Truly. I yearn to move on to talking and teaching about “perfection” and what it entails and looks like – that is why we are here, isn’t it?

But there is soooo much surrounding the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead – including elements regarding end times, judgment, and most importantly the second coming of Christ, that the facts surrounding it have become so tragically twisted we all sort of slip into a fog (of sorts) when the subject comes up.

It’s really quite intriguing when we think about it. Here is one of the single most definitive issues about Christianity, the Bible speaks of it in many places, but like end times, there are so many elements to properly understanding it most believers avoid all the specifics and sort of just acknowledge a belief in it but can’t really say much more.

And we are all left sort of secretely wonder about things like:

How we’re going to crawl through six feet of dirt when we’re resurrected?
Is it okay to be cremated? (I mean when I was LDS we were told that cremation was wrong because it caused God a lot more work when it came to resurrection)!
The questions and issues are plentiful.

I find the subject sort of intriguing because since we all believe that we all go on (at death) to another dimension, one where we will presumably know each other, and have rest, etc., and we will enter into a dimension where God Himself remains a Spirit (in other words, God Himself, of all the states He could choose to inhabit He choose Spirit) what is the appeal of reuniting with this fleshly body again?

Think about it. In this life we can’t wait to distance ourselves from the confines of our mortal, fleshly bodies – with all of its limitations, and since we all believe that we do go on living after this flesh dies as Spirits, WHY do we long to pop back into the original house in this picture of our coming out of the graves?

We are, however, confronted with some biblical facts that cannot be ignored but must be understood harmoniously with the topic of resurrection from the death.

I would suggest that once we have clearly established what resurrection from the dead IS – when it takes places – we will be free to move on to perfection with peace, and smiles, and a complete faith in God.

So, let’s hit on some of the obvious elements to the topic. First, Jesus Himself taught the resurrection. Remember in John 5:28-29 when He said:

“Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.”

From this, right off the bat we know that resurrection is going to happen to all men and women, good and bad, believer and not.

But we also learn that there is a “resurrection of life” and a resurrection of damnation.”

As we continue to move along through a general examination of the topic of resurrection I am going to “slip in” some ideas that may be novel to your thinking. We will explore these novelties in full, so hang tight, but I think it is very important to get a reasonable understanding from scripture of resurrection before we get into the more complicated issues.

The resurrection of the human body from the grave is clearly taught in God’s Word.

Job, the oldest of the patriarchs, said:

“For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.” (Job 19:25-26).

Because Job wrote “yet in my flesh I shall see God,” many Christians use this ancient passage to prove that resurrection is absolutely defined by the fact that our literal physical bodies, like Jesus body, would come out of the graves and into a future life beyond.

This stance has been supported by the fact that since Jesus was resurrected in such a manner, and since He is the first-fruits of all who will be resurrected after Him, we naturally assume that our resurrections will follow the same pattern.

It’s a reasonable assumption.

According to Genesis 25:7-8 Abraham, the founder and father of his race, lived to be one hundred seventy-five years old, and “died in a good old age.

Then, speaking of Abraham Hebrews 11 tells us that he believed that there was a heavenly city that would become his eternal home and that it would be inhabited his very person, (or, as verse 19 of Hebrews 11 says . . .)

“accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead . . . .”

Many people read this verse and believe too, that if Abraham testified that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, that it means Abrahams flesh would be reconstituted (I guess in the grave) prior to or while it is being raised to new life, and the Christian idea of a physical resurrection from the literal grave is reiterated.

David was confident of a future life. He said in Psalm 16:9

“My flesh also shall rest in hope” and then in Psalm 17:15 he said “I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness.”

Of course, and again, because Christ was raised with His body (remember He said to His disciples when He appeared in the upper room and they were terrified, thinking He was a spirit –

Luke 24:39 “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.”

With this, and a number of other factors not mentioned, the vast majority of Christianity believes that they are going to come forth from the grave – bearing a new physical body.

We will get to whether resurrection literally does mean physically out of the grave or spiritually out of the grave later.

But one think I think we can ALL agree upon is

All will be resurrected
This means all will rise from the grave, and
all will receive a body.

Moving out to the teachings of our Lord He clearly taught (when He walked the earth) that all men who die will be raised again at some future date.

Again, in John 5:28-29 Jesus said (and note that this was one thousand nine hundred and eighty years ago):

“Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, And shall come forth . . .”

Now many people have long believed that there is going to be one giant resurrection party (so to speak).

Similarly, many people believe that at this general resurrection party all the graves and tombs, and people evaporated in wars, and fires, and crashes, and all who drown and became fish food, are going to come crawling out and popping up from every crook and cranny of the belly of the earth.

I think it is really important for us to consider all of this – even imagine it as far as this is possible – so we can attempt to get a reasonable view of what scripture is saying about it all around.

We cannot forget that Jesus said to a lawyer looking to trip him up that the greatest commandment is

Mt 22:37 “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.”

Alright, first of all, there is not a single general resurrection we are all awaiting to occur.

Nowhere in the Scripture are we taught that the bodies of all people will be raised at the same time.

It is true that all the dead will be raised, and some to a place of judgment, but neither the time, the place are the same.

The Bible clearly distinguishes between a first and a second resurrection and essentially I think we can biblically conclude that there are two resurrections for two classes of humanity.

One class – the first class – will be raised to eternal life and immortality, while the other will be raised to condemnation and banishment from the presence of the Lord.

Essentially we can title these two resurrections as

“resurrection of life” and
a “resurrection of damnation.”

Again, and as a means to reassert the point, Luke 14:14 mentions:

“the resurrection of the just,” and because we know that all people will be resurrected, there must be a resurrection of the unjust too.

Again, the implication, biblically speaking is that since the dead in Christ shall rise first the natural idea is that those who are NOT dead in Christ will be raised after-wards.

In Acts 24:15 Paul, when testifying before Felix, said, “that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.”

The Apostle John also makes a clear distinction between the two.

He speaks (in Revelation 20:4-5) of the “redeemed” who “lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But then he speaks of the “rest of the dead” not being raised until “the thousand years” were finished.

Remember that thousand years comment because it is going to play an important role in our comprehending the biblical presentation of resurrection of the dead.

So, again – two resurrections – one for believers, and later, one for all who have not or did not believe.

There is plenty of evidence n scripture about what actually occurs for believers in
Christ.

When we have talked in the past about the possibility that God will ultimately redeem all people – even those who have been cast into hell and or the lake of fire – many people have asked me,

“Well then what is the point of being a believer?”

Being a participant in the first resurrection is one of many great benefits to choose Christ now.

Jesus said in John 5:24
“Every believer has passed out of death into life.”
Paul said in Colossians 3:3 that the life of believers “is hid with Christ in God” and Paul says in Ephesians 1:19-20 that by the same exceeding greatness of God’s power Jesus was raised from the dead would be used to raise those who die in Him.”

We also learn later that by this same power all the “unbelieving dead” will be brought out of their graves to stand before the judgment of the Great White Throne.

Speaking more specifically about the “First Resurrection,” we KNOW that it will not begin or occur until Jesus returns.

Paul says in 1st Thessalonians 4:16

“For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, and the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first”

Then he writes in 1st Corinthians 15:20-23

“But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.

So we can add, with biblical certainty, that
the time of the First Resurrection is when the Lord Jesus Christ returns in the clouds of Heaven to resurrect BELIEVERS.

Got that?

The first resurrection is when the Lord returns in the clouds to resurrect believers.

The second resurrection is when He will come again to raise the rest of the dead who died as unbelievers.

Typically, between these two resurrections we are told there must be 1000 years.

There’s that 1000 number again. It’s also known as a millennium and is interpreted a dozen different ways to Sunday – depending on a person’s eschatological view of things (eschatology is a big word that describes a person’s view of the end of things, or end times).

We typically think of eschatology in terms of if we believe Jesus is going to return before or after “the tribulation,” (you know, to items linked to when the end of everything is coming around and how) but in reality, eschatology includes a whole bunch of sub-categories to what we call “end times,” including our views on

death
the afterlife
Heaven and Hell
the Second Coming of Jesus
the Resurrection of the Dead
the Rapture
the Tribulation
the Millennium
the end of the world
the Last Judgment
the New Heaven
the New Earth
the New Jerusalem
the end of the COI

Now listen – I just listed fourteen major issues relative to Christianity and each of them are thought of in a dozen different ways by the Body at large!

I mention this to you because there is no way doctrinal certitude in the body was ever the ambition and intention of God.

There is just too much that we differ on.

Nevertheless, some things are made so plain and apparent in the Word that I do believe it is our duty to discover them if possible.

You all still with me?

Now, as a means to get a biblically clear explanation of these two resurrections (that we’ve already discussed) we have to chose what we will focus on in scripture relative to the topic and what we will set aside (because in setting some things aside for the time being we clear the way to see the rest of the field more plainly.)

Again, there are a few things that we know with a great deal of biblical certainty relative to the resurrection of the dead:

That there will be a resurrection of the dead in Christ and there will be a resurrection of those who have died as unbelievers.
Secondly, I think we can safely say that the first resurrection (of believers) will occur at his coming or return to the earth after ascending.
And finally, just to clear it off the table for a minute, I think we can safely say that the resurrection of the damned will occur later or at another time in the future.

When it comes to the first resurrection, there are a few more things to consider which we can certainly call facts.

At the commencement of the First Resurrection there are three groups of believers who will have been raised up at different times.

The first were when Jesus rose from the grave.

We read in Matthew 27:51-52) that when the Lord was crucified on the Cross that it says:

“And, behold the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose.”

This is not chronological because we know that Jesus is the first-fruits so Matthew is stating in one verse EVERYTHING that occurred once Jesus died.

So we know that He is the first -fruits of all who slept and the first group in the first resurrection rose right after He rose.

First-fruits are important when it comes to understanding the resurrection – really, when it comes to understanding most topics relative to eschatology.

1st Corinthians 15:20-23 say it well:

“But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits (and those who immediately followed Him at that time); afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.”

The Jews kept certain national feasts annually among themselves. One of them was called the Feast of First fruits which was a feast of consecration held around the beginning of harvest time.

Leviticus 23:9-10 speaks of it, saying:

“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest unto the priest.”

Interestingly enough, the harvest the Jews participated in annually was divided into three parts.

It was all one harvest presented on three different occasions.

First, there was the sheaf of first-fruits. It typified of a number of significant things. First, it was the best of the harvest, second, it was offered to God, and third, it was a pledge (an evidence, so to speak) of an even greater harvest that would follow.

This was a beautiful picture of the Resurrection of Christ, which caused Paul to write in 1st Corinthians 15

“But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept.”

Again, as the first-fruit from the grave, Jesus was the best, His resurrection was God’s, and it typified (was evidence) of a greater harvest to come.

Then, after the first-fruits were taken and offered to God there followed the harvesting of the “larger part of the crops.”

When does this second group of believers begin to be resurrected from the dead?

In 1st Corinthians 15:23 we read: “Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming.”

This is the greatest question, then, that we need answered from the Bible – when does IT say Jesus is coming?

This is how resurrection is directly tied to eschatological studies.

Finally, the COI would do one more run through in the harvest. It was known as the gleanings.

There are always loose crops that fall by the way, and these must be gathered up.

These loose remnants were known as gleanings.

We remember in the book of Ruth how she came, it says in Ruth 2:3 and “gleaned in the field after the reapers.”

This is a picture of the final sweep of the harvest and the last sweep in the first resurrection.

It is to the second stage of the First Resurrection which we are going to make our focus.

This will commence when Jesus appears for the first time and when all true believers will be resurrected.

Paul talks about this in (of course) first Corinthians 15:52, saying:

“In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”

So, the best way, in my opinion, to understand the second phase of the first resurrection of the righteous unto life is find out if the Bible can answer the following question:

(ready)

“When (or does) the Bible say when and if Jesus will return?”

(beat)

Now I am really well aware that in our Christian culture today we have all been anxiously waiting on Jesus to return to earth.

We see the signs. We observe the times and we are certain it’s coming round the mountain.

There have been magnificent proposals that detail everything about “end times” and there have been magnificent men and women of faith – really great believers – who have explained these proposals in minute details (over and over again) . . . so we can know what is going to happen, so we can see the imminent events that predict His coming, so we can expect a rapture, and the graves opening up and nearly twenty centuries of dead believers to first climb out and walk among us.

But . . . what does the Bible say about when Jesus is coming back. That is all I care about.

So for the next number of weeks we are going to explore this question almost to the point of exhaustion FROM THE BIBLE – because if the Bible definitively spells out the time frame WHEN and IF Jesus will return we’ll will then possess a much greater understanding of this basic elemental topic called, “the resurrection of the dead.”

Before wrapping today’s introduction to the resurrection, let’s talk about the second resurrection.

Again, the timing of this “resurrection of the damned” is largely dependant on what an individual’s eschatology is.

A Great White Throne will be in place and the Judge (who is our Lord Jesus Christ (as John 5:22 plainly says,

“The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.”

Those, who as Ephesians 2:1 says remain “dead in trespasses and sins” stand before God physically alive in their resurrection bodies.

Where did all of these non-believers come from?

Hell.

John the Beloved wrote in Revelation 20:12 and 14

“I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God . . . the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works”

This last judgment will be that of the “unsaved dead” who will stand before the Great White Throne in “living, resurrected bodies” to receive their sentence.

Revelation 20:15 says:

“And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

So there is the thumbnail sketch.

A first resurrection of believers arriving in three phases, all orbiting around the Old Testament celebration of the Harvest.

The first phase being the first fruit of the grave – which is Christ and then those who followed in right after at the time of His resurrection.

The second being the great harvest of believers who will rise when Christ returns for the second time, and the third being a resurrection of gleanings – or those souls scattered and left.

The Second resurrection will be all those who died unbelievers and this will occur in mass after hell gives up her dead and they are there waiting the Great White Throne Judgment.

In conclusion, and as I said, our best chance of understanding the resurrection of believers is to first understand how the Bible answers this question:

When or will Jesus return again.

I would not only suggest to you, but I will prove to you through the Bible, the following in the weeks to come:

That the Lord, the Gospels, Paul, Peter, John, James, and Revelation have all manifestly told us when Jesus would return.
That the second and third phase of the resurrection of believers began (when they said it would) and that
Unbelievers (since His ascension) have waited and are waiting (in hell) for the second resurrection of the damned to take place prior to them facing the Great White Throne judgment.

Give the Bible and my attempts to prove all this, a chance.

Questions
Comments
No Women’s Bible studies until after the holidays.
No Thursday open mic Bible Study this week.

PRAYER