Resurrection In Context #4
/by Oscar M. Baker
14. Matt. 10:15. Verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorra in the day of judgement, than for that city. No resurrection is in view. It is the land that is to be judged in this day of judgement which would have come in a few years if Israel had repented.
15. Matt. 12:40-42. For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly… The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgement with this generation…The queen of the south (Egypt) shall rise up in the judgement of this generation. The second resurrection is in view, for this generation spoken to here will not make the first resurrection. Also men of Nineveh and queen of Sheba, even tho believers, cannot have part in the resurrection of Israel’s overcomers. So all these will appear at the great white throne judgment and enter paradise.
16. Matt. 16:18. Upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Resurrection is not mentioned here, but certainly implied. When He calls, all that are His will come forth from the graves (hell), and the gates of those graves will not be able to hold back the dead.
17. Matt. 22:13. Bind him hand and foot…and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. You will find this expression, “weeping and gnashing of teeth” several times. “The outer darkness’ is described in Isa. 60:2. It is among the nations. So there is no death or resurrection here. It is a judgment when the Lord comes and unprofitable servants will be banished from the land and so miss the inheritance and kingdom.
18. Matt. 25:46. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. This has to do with the judgement of the living nations when the Lord comes. They have not known Him. They are judged according to the way they have treated Israel in their great tribulation. So the sheep are separated from the goats (kidlings). The goat nations lose their identity. But the peoples of both the sheep and goat nations will be evangelized in the great commission (Matt. 28:18-20).
19. Matt. 27:52. And the graves were opened and many bodies of the saints which slept arose. They slept, so were believers. They came out of the tombs after the Lord’s resurrection. They appeared unto many. No doubt were recognized by their friends and relatives. This would be parallel to the raising of Lazarus. They would have to die again someday. These are a part of the infallible proofs of Acts 1:3.
The texts of this article are from Matthew. The reader may note that there are many other references in which no resurrection is implied or mentioned, which are taken to mean such. Watch the words hell and hell fire. These are not the grave, but the city dump of Jerusalem.
Truth For Today Reprints Bk 4, pg 54
