Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Jesus spoke these words after healing the paralytic at Bethesda when accused of breaking the Sabbath, declaring that a future hour is coming when all who are in the graves will hear the voice of the Son of God and come forth. All who hear come forth to two destinies, those who have done good to the resurrection of life and everlasting life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of damnation ending in the second death. The righteous rise in the first resurrection at Christ's coming to glorious immortality, while those who have done evil rise in the second resurrection after the thousand years. He himself is the author of the resurrection with life in himself and power to raise the dead, and his own death and resurrection as first-fruits secure the raising of all the dead. Until that hour the dead sleep unconscious in the grave with no reward or punishment yet given, so the promise gives present hope in suffering and calls for preparation of heart to share in the first resurrection.
Words and Historical Setting
The saying belongs to the instruction Jesus gave after healing the paralytic at Bethesda, when the Jews charged Him with breaking the Sabbath for His Sabbath work and for claiming to work in unity with the Father. That discourse is a great subject in itself.
In it Christ stands in His true character as Son of God, equal with the Creator, doing whatever the Father does by the same power and with the same results. Raising the dead is one of the greatest works of the Father, and the Son has power in Himself to raise the dead just as the Father does. The same life-giving power is already at work bringing souls dead in sin to life for those who open their hearts to His Spirit, and it will also raise their bodies from the grave.
It was spoken to the Jews to answer the Sadducees, who denied that the body would be raised, and to promise works greater than healing the sick, the lame, and the blind. It means a coming resurrection of the dead when all in their graves will be called out to stand at the bar of God in final judgment to be awarded according to works. Then the graves will give up their dead, and secrets and dark deeds hoped to be hidden forever will be laid open as each stands before the eternal Judge whose eye sees all things, reading the soul and bringing to light mysteries supposed to be hidden with the dead. This truth is to be repeated again and again and communicated to others, though to the guilty it is an unwelcome thought because it brings future sentence according to works.
The verse means a future hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear the voice of the Son of God and come forth. That coming hour belongs to God's great day, when Christ, who has authority to give life and execute judgment, will call them forth to life or to condemnation. The assurance of life beyond the grave was the hope Israel awaited from the Messiah, and it brought light to the gloom of death. The faithful who die before Christ comes will see Him at the resurrection of life and be made like Him, and this hope makes present toil and suffering bearable as they wait for trial to end and for victory.
The raising voice is the voice of Jesus Himself, distinct from the voice of God out of Zion and Jerusalem that shakes heaven and earth. It sounds only after He leaves the heavenly sanctuary and throne and descends from heaven with His holy angels and trumpet, when He sends His angels to gather His elect from the four winds and His own voice calls them forth to meet Him in the air, not in Jerusalem and not up into the heavenly temple. The verse states eternal truth about the resurrection of the dead and the future eternal life, a foundation principle contained in the Old Testament Scriptures. That truth belongs together with the unseen world and the work of angelic agencies who minister to people on earth and cooperate with those who choose truth, and disbelief in it is skepticism that undermines what God established to keep these realities in view and acts against the Son of God.
Two Resurrections and Outcomes
All who hear will come forth to two different destinies, those who have done good to the resurrection of life and everlasting life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of damnation and final condemnation. The dead are raised to these distinct outcomes when the coming hour arrives and everyone in the grave hears the voice of the Son of God, with the good released from the tomb to immortal vigor and the evil to condemnation. The righteous rise in the first resurrection at Christ's coming to life eternal, rising with triumph and victory from every part of the earth with none overlooked, while those who have done evil rise in the second resurrection after the thousand years to the resurrection of damnation. Those who have done good come forth at the first resurrection from rocky caverns, dungeons, caves of the earth and waters of the deep, and after the resurrection of the just there is no more death, sin or sorrow. The wicked dead are called forth after the thousand years, awakening to face Him as a class distinct from the first resurrection of the righteous.
The death contrasted with eternal life is the second death, not the death through Adam that came upon all humanity. The wicked, including all brought out of their graves through the plan of salvation, receive punishment varying according to deeds for their sins, but it ends in the second death when they lose existence, not in endless life in torment. The second death has no power over those raised to life, who receive eternal life. At the second resurrection the wicked rise with the same frail, feeble, sickly bodies they had at death and in the grave, still bearing the marks of the curse. They do not come forth in immortal bloom as do those raised in the first resurrection, but rise together of every rank and learning to see Jesus in kingly majesty and recognize Him as the one they despised, mocked and crucified, fleeing in terror from His presence.
Apart from the general hour there are limited foreshadowings, for at Christ's own resurrection there was a partial resurrection when those raised were led captive through the gates of the city to the throne. Christ's resurrection gave a first, limited sign of this power when a few graves were opened, showing the same power that will raise and glorify His church with Him. At His coming and at the last trumpet those who pierced, scourged, crucified, rejected and disowned Him, and betrayed Him in the person of His saints, will also be raised to see Him come in glory, recognize Him as judge of the earth, and face judgment. That raising takes place amid the final trumpet, a shaking of earth and heaven and cleansing fire, when the righteous rise to life and are caught up to meet Him while the wicked witness His coming, to some bringing welcome, rest, peace and everlasting life and to those who fought against God bringing terror. All come up as they were when probation closed and they failed, with character, appetites and passions formed in life unchanged. Death grants no further opportunity to choose or change, to form character for heaven or obtain moral fitness for the kingdom of glory, for when He comes in the clouds in His Father's glory with the holy angels no atoning blood pleads to wash away sin and no work of purification can be performed, so the impure cannot then obtain perfection and those who refused to be remade remain unsuited to happiness with God, even as the living unready remain as found when the Son of Man is revealed.
The coming forth brings all in their graves out to stand at the bar of God in final judgment to be awarded according to works, with works tested and good and evil distinguished. Secrets and dark deeds hoped to be hidden forever will be laid open as each stands before the eternal Judge whose eye sees all, reading the soul and bringing to light mysteries supposed to be hidden with the dead. Good works are the fruit of justification by faith and of genuine faith. The final resurrection completes Christ and His church's triumph and brings the destruction of Satan and his followers, when at His second coming the whole world is represented by two classes, the just and the unjust, the righteous and the unrighteous. The resurrection is literal, raising the dead saints from Abel to the last who dies to live again with God as their God and they His people in close and tender relationship, yet the raised do not resume earthly marriage or former affairs of life but are as the angels in heaven. It rests on God's power, which finite reasoning cannot measure.
Christ's Life-Giving Power
Jesus stands in His true character as Son of God, equal with the Creator, doing whatever the Father does by the same power and with the same results, with power in Himself to raise the dead just as raising the dead is one of the greatest works of the Father. The coming hour will bring all in the graves to hear the voice of the Son of God and come forth, dividing between those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of damnation and condemnation, within the coming hour of God's great day. This was spoken to the Jews to answer the Sadducees who denied that the body would be raised, and to promise works greater than healing the sick, the lame, and the blind. He Himself is the author of the resurrection, the conqueror of the grave who stands with the keys of death and has the right and power to give eternal life, with authority to give life and to execute judgment. As the divine Witness sent from the Father, His own resurrection establishes that all who believe in Him will be raised, that those who believe will be justified and those He justifies He will glorify, lifting them to sit together with Him in heavenly places as their risen representative and head. The raising of Lazarus was an immediate act representing this coming general resurrection of all the righteous at the last day.
His willing death as humanity's substitute defeated Satan's effort to destroy the human race and opened the way for the redeemed to enter heaven. Having given His life and risen as the first-fruits, He will call from the graves those united to Him by faith, and their resurrection is part of the abundant harvest and great harvest of salvation made possible by His death and resurrection. His death and resurrection secure the resurrection of all the dead. Through the gospel of His death and resurrection life and immortality are brought to light, the kingdom of heaven is opened to believers, and the resurrection brings victory over death and the grave, opening the way to immortal life and the eternal reward.
His own resurrection demonstrates this power, for called from the tomb He came forth victorious over death, and His resurrection gives evidence of the future resurrection of those who sleep in Him. It is a preview and picture of the general resurrection, when at His second coming the dead in their graves will hear His voice and rise, and all the righteous dead from Abel to the last saint who dies will awaken to glorious, immortal life. At His resurrection a first, limited sign of this power was given when a few graves were opened and certain captives were raised and led captive, and that raising was a pledge of the resurrection of all the righteous dead. The same power that raised Him will raise and glorify His church with Him, when He appears with the angels and God's voice penetrates the graves to call the righteous dead to immortal life.
The same life-giving power that will raise bodies is already at work bringing souls dead in sin to life. Christ's voice reaches the dead and calls them forth, and it also illustrates His present power to restore people who are dead in sin so that they hear the voice of the Son of God and are changed. Those who open their hearts to His Spirit share in this power, which will also raise their bodies from the grave. The same power that raises the dead will now awaken people who are spiritually dead in sin, restoring them through Christ.
Sleep Until the Resurrection
The dead remain asleep in the grave with the whole person resting unconscious until the future hour when the Lifegiver calls, including children, the aged, and those lost at sea. The righteous rise in the first resurrection and the wicked in the second, and the resurrection is a new and sublime future event that involves the moldering body because the entire being sleeps in death. The whole person, not a conscious soul already receiving eternal happiness or misery, rests there, and this explains why Scripture emphasizes the resurrection of the body. This future resurrection gives the bereaved hope, for the righteous dead will be released from the grave and clothed with immortal life when they hear Christ's voice.
They do not receive final reward or punishment at death, rather than receiving their final reward or punishment at death the dead wait for the future event when the Lifegiver breaks the tomb's hold. If the soul went at death to eternal happiness or misery, there would be no need for a resurrection of the body and no need for a future resurrection and judgment. The reason Scripture dwells so much on the resurrection of the body is that the whole person waits unconscious in the grave to be raised, and this gives the future resurrection and judgment their importance. Mary and the saints have not been raised and cannot hear or answer prayers; they await the trumpet that calls the dead from their graves at Christ's coming.
The grave is a prison-house whose fetters and hold will be broken when the Lifegiver's voice releases the captives to immortality. Jesus will unlock the grave as a prison-house, and the just will rise to everlasting life, clothed with immortality, and die no more. Death is a great prison-house from which he will bring the captives, raising his people to bright immortality and eternal life. The faithful who died in hope rest in the grave awaiting this resurrection, when the grave's hold will be broken, the captives released, and the faithful brought forth immortal. The resurrection will reunite families whose loved ones have died, restoring their broken links never again to be severed.
Until then the dead are safe with God and rest in hope awaiting the summons. They rest in hope until the Lifegiver calls them from the grave, and the call brings them forth to immortality and eternal life. When Christ speaks they will come forth, and then they will be raised to glorious, immortal life.
Events at Christ's Coming
At the second coming He appears on the great white cloud as the Son of Man, descending wrapped in flames of fire with angels amid the sounding of God's silver trumpet and the archangel's voice, and as He gazes on the graves of the sleeping saints and lifts eyes and hands to heaven crying awake from the dust and arise, His voice resounds through all nations of the dead throughout the earth with mighty earthquake and shaking of earth and heaven and cleansing fire. The call that raises the dead to immortal life has not already occurred but accompanies His visible return in glory shining across the earth. The dead hear Christ's voice and come forth at His coming, the righteous rising to life to be caught up to meet Him, while those who rejected and crucified Him are also raised to see His return and recognize Him as judge.
Then all the righteous dead from Adam and Abel to the last saint who dies are called to glorious, immortal life, of which Christ's own resurrection is the preview and picture. They rise with triumph and victory from every part of the earth with none overlooked, from every nation, language and people, from rocky caverns, dungeons, caves of the earth, hidden pits, waters and the deep. Among them are the Waldensian martyrs and Christians buried under Rome, ransomed from their graves when Christ gives them life. God will then be their God and they His people in close and tender relationship, with no more death, sin or sorrow after the resurrection of the just.
They come forth clothed with glorious immortality and immortal vigor and health, ransomed to glory and honor. Marks of age and hereditary affliction are removed and pain, sorrow and death are left behind, yet identity continues so that living friends torn away by death recognize the risen dead. The wicked are separated from the Lord and consumed with fire.
In that same hour the living saints are changed in a moment and, carried by angels, are caught up together with the risen saints to meet the Lord in the air amid shouts of Alleluia and cries of Holy and Glory, while the earth is left desolate. They ascend in the cloudy chariot which rolls upward to the holy city, where Jesus opens the gates and leads them in. That voice calls the sleeping saints from their graves to life clothed with glorious immortality, and the living changed and caught up with them meet Christ.
Those raised are redeemed by Christ's blood from every nation, tongue and people, those raised at His own resurrection being representatives and samples of that redeemed company. They receive immortal crowns from His hands and see the marks of Calvary in His glorified body, finding greatest joy in His presence in love for Him. On the morning of the resurrection their coming forth is glorious victory in which Satan's triumph ends and Christ as Lifegiver triumphs with glory and honor, crowning with immortality all who come forth. With the faithful living they are welcomed into the holy city to see the King in His beauty, as those who have kept God's commandments and love Him supremely, where there will be no further rebellion.
The wicked also hear that familiar voice that had often called them to repentance through tender appeals from a friend, a brother and the Redeemer, and at the last trumpet it reaches the dead everywhere to awaken them. The faithful who followed Christ hear His welcome to rest, peace and everlasting life, but to those who chose to fight against God and rejected His grace that same voice now brings condemnation, recalling warnings despised, invitations refused and privileges slighted, with His goodness, mercy, love and sacrifice set against the reality of their condemnation. They rise together with the same feeble, sickly bodies they had in the grave, still bearing the marks of the curse and not in immortal bloom, and of every rank and learning they see Jesus in kingly majesty and recognize Him as the one they despised, mocked, pierced, scourged and crucified, recognizing the wounds they inflicted, and flee in terror from His presence to face judgment as He comes in glory.
Hope and Moral Preparation
The promise that all in the graves will hear his voice gives hope whether one lives or dies, for those who have served him will be raised to live in his kingdom. It was the assurance of life beyond the grave that Israel awaited from the Messiah, and it brought light into the gloom of death. That hope makes present toil and suffering bearable while waiting for trial to end and for victory, since the faithful who die before he comes will see him at the resurrection of life and be made like him. The grave is only a short rest, for the Life-giver will release the dead from its hold and raise them immortal, never again to suffer pain, sorrow, or death, and this consoles the Christian facing sickness and death. The Christian looks forward to that resurrection morning when the dead are brought up immortal beyond pain, sorrow, and death, while the sinner has no cheering hope of sharing in that blessedness. The righteous who have died will answer when the Life-giver calls them from their graves, and a bright reward awaits them.
The resurrection will be a glorious morning when the righteous dead come forth to eternal life restored to health and immortality to meet their loved ones again. Then there will be no more parting and no increase of years. Believers will meet their loved ones again not in former mortal bodies but in immortal, glorious bodies when the Lifegiver's voice calls them from their graves. The child who dies in faith rests until that call and will be raised immortal among the just. Mary rests now but will rise from death when called, reuniting with her family among the redeemed to share in victory over death and life in the New Jerusalem. Mary and her family will come forth clothed with immortal splendor, giving the faithful hope beyond death.
Lazarus represents suffering people who believe in Christ, and his patient endurance under suffering tested and showed a real, active faith in God. The suffering poor who believe will receive their reward when Christ's voice calls the dead from their graves to life. That reward comes when they rise at the resurrection, not merely as a theory during death. Though dead, the righteous continue to testify to God's truth through the record of their words and deeds, and a bright reward awaits them when the Lifegiver calls them from their graves.
The verse makes the resurrection a solemn personal question whether one will share in the first resurrection, over which the second death has no power, with the righteous rising in the first resurrection and those who have done evil rising in the second resurrection after the thousand years. All come up in the resurrection just as they were when probation closed, with character unchanged by death. No further opportunity is granted to form character for heaven or obtain moral fitness to enter the kingdom of glory when he comes in the clouds of heaven in his Father's glory with the holy angels, for no atoning blood then pleads to wash away sin and no work of purification can then be performed, so the impure cannot then obtain perfection of Christian character, and those alive when the Son of Man is revealed likewise remain just as they are found if unready. The hours now are solemn and precious and are to be devoted to preparation of heart to meet the Saviour in the morning of the resurrection.
Jesus spoke these words after healing the paralytic at Bethesda when accused of breaking the Sabbath, declaring that a future hour is coming when all who are in the graves will hear the voice of the Son of God and come forth. All who hear come forth to two destinies, those who have done good to the resurrection of life and everlasting life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of damnation ending in the second death. The righteous rise in the first resurrection at Christ's coming to glorious immortality, while those who have done evil rise in the second resurrection after the thousand years. He himself is the author of the resurrection with life in himself and power to raise the dead, and his own death and resurrection as first-fruits secure the raising of all the dead. Until that hour the dead sleep unconscious in the grave with no reward or punishment yet given, so the promise gives present hope in suffering and calls for preparation of heart to share in the first resurrection.
Words and Historical Setting
The saying belongs to the instruction Jesus gave after healing the paralytic at Bethesda, when the Jews charged Him with breaking the Sabbath for His Sabbath work and for claiming to work in unity with the Father. That discourse is a great subject in itself.
In it Christ stands in His true character as Son of God, equal with the Creator, doing whatever the Father does by the same power and with the same results. Raising the dead is one of the greatest works of the Father, and the Son has power in Himself to raise the dead just as the Father does. The same life-giving power is already at work bringing souls dead in sin to life for those who open their hearts to His Spirit, and it will also raise their bodies from the grave.
It was spoken to the Jews to answer the Sadducees, who denied that the body would be raised, and to promise works greater than healing the sick, the lame, and the blind. It means a coming resurrection of the dead when all in their graves will be called out to stand at the bar of God in final judgment to be awarded according to works. Then the graves will give up their dead, and secrets and dark deeds hoped to be hidden forever will be laid open as each stands before the eternal Judge whose eye sees all things, reading the soul and bringing to light mysteries supposed to be hidden with the dead. This truth is to be repeated again and again and communicated to others, though to the guilty it is an unwelcome thought because it brings future sentence according to works.
The verse means a future hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear the voice of the Son of God and come forth. That coming hour belongs to God's great day, when Christ, who has authority to give life and execute judgment, will call them forth to life or to condemnation. The assurance of life beyond the grave was the hope Israel awaited from the Messiah, and it brought light to the gloom of death. The faithful who die before Christ comes will see Him at the resurrection of life and be made like Him, and this hope makes present toil and suffering bearable as they wait for trial to end and for victory.
The raising voice is the voice of Jesus Himself, distinct from the voice of God out of Zion and Jerusalem that shakes heaven and earth. It sounds only after He leaves the heavenly sanctuary and throne and descends from heaven with His holy angels and trumpet, when He sends His angels to gather His elect from the four winds and His own voice calls them forth to meet Him in the air, not in Jerusalem and not up into the heavenly temple. The verse states eternal truth about the resurrection of the dead and the future eternal life, a foundation principle contained in the Old Testament Scriptures. That truth belongs together with the unseen world and the work of angelic agencies who minister to people on earth and cooperate with those who choose truth, and disbelief in it is skepticism that undermines what God established to keep these realities in view and acts against the Son of God.
Two Resurrections and Outcomes
All who hear will come forth to two different destinies, those who have done good to the resurrection of life and everlasting life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of damnation and final condemnation. The dead are raised to these distinct outcomes when the coming hour arrives and everyone in the grave hears the voice of the Son of God, with the good released from the tomb to immortal vigor and the evil to condemnation. The righteous rise in the first resurrection at Christ's coming to life eternal, rising with triumph and victory from every part of the earth with none overlooked, while those who have done evil rise in the second resurrection after the thousand years to the resurrection of damnation. Those who have done good come forth at the first resurrection from rocky caverns, dungeons, caves of the earth and waters of the deep, and after the resurrection of the just there is no more death, sin or sorrow. The wicked dead are called forth after the thousand years, awakening to face Him as a class distinct from the first resurrection of the righteous.
The death contrasted with eternal life is the second death, not the death through Adam that came upon all humanity. The wicked, including all brought out of their graves through the plan of salvation, receive punishment varying according to deeds for their sins, but it ends in the second death when they lose existence, not in endless life in torment. The second death has no power over those raised to life, who receive eternal life. At the second resurrection the wicked rise with the same frail, feeble, sickly bodies they had at death and in the grave, still bearing the marks of the curse. They do not come forth in immortal bloom as do those raised in the first resurrection, but rise together of every rank and learning to see Jesus in kingly majesty and recognize Him as the one they despised, mocked and crucified, fleeing in terror from His presence.
Apart from the general hour there are limited foreshadowings, for at Christ's own resurrection there was a partial resurrection when those raised were led captive through the gates of the city to the throne. Christ's resurrection gave a first, limited sign of this power when a few graves were opened, showing the same power that will raise and glorify His church with Him. At His coming and at the last trumpet those who pierced, scourged, crucified, rejected and disowned Him, and betrayed Him in the person of His saints, will also be raised to see Him come in glory, recognize Him as judge of the earth, and face judgment. That raising takes place amid the final trumpet, a shaking of earth and heaven and cleansing fire, when the righteous rise to life and are caught up to meet Him while the wicked witness His coming, to some bringing welcome, rest, peace and everlasting life and to those who fought against God bringing terror. All come up as they were when probation closed and they failed, with character, appetites and passions formed in life unchanged. Death grants no further opportunity to choose or change, to form character for heaven or obtain moral fitness for the kingdom of glory, for when He comes in the clouds in His Father's glory with the holy angels no atoning blood pleads to wash away sin and no work of purification can be performed, so the impure cannot then obtain perfection and those who refused to be remade remain unsuited to happiness with God, even as the living unready remain as found when the Son of Man is revealed.
The coming forth brings all in their graves out to stand at the bar of God in final judgment to be awarded according to works, with works tested and good and evil distinguished. Secrets and dark deeds hoped to be hidden forever will be laid open as each stands before the eternal Judge whose eye sees all, reading the soul and bringing to light mysteries supposed to be hidden with the dead. Good works are the fruit of justification by faith and of genuine faith. The final resurrection completes Christ and His church's triumph and brings the destruction of Satan and his followers, when at His second coming the whole world is represented by two classes, the just and the unjust, the righteous and the unrighteous. The resurrection is literal, raising the dead saints from Abel to the last who dies to live again with God as their God and they His people in close and tender relationship, yet the raised do not resume earthly marriage or former affairs of life but are as the angels in heaven. It rests on God's power, which finite reasoning cannot measure.
Christ's Life-Giving Power
Jesus stands in His true character as Son of God, equal with the Creator, doing whatever the Father does by the same power and with the same results, with power in Himself to raise the dead just as raising the dead is one of the greatest works of the Father. The coming hour will bring all in the graves to hear the voice of the Son of God and come forth, dividing between those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of damnation and condemnation, within the coming hour of God's great day. This was spoken to the Jews to answer the Sadducees who denied that the body would be raised, and to promise works greater than healing the sick, the lame, and the blind. He Himself is the author of the resurrection, the conqueror of the grave who stands with the keys of death and has the right and power to give eternal life, with authority to give life and to execute judgment. As the divine Witness sent from the Father, His own resurrection establishes that all who believe in Him will be raised, that those who believe will be justified and those He justifies He will glorify, lifting them to sit together with Him in heavenly places as their risen representative and head. The raising of Lazarus was an immediate act representing this coming general resurrection of all the righteous at the last day.
His willing death as humanity's substitute defeated Satan's effort to destroy the human race and opened the way for the redeemed to enter heaven. Having given His life and risen as the first-fruits, He will call from the graves those united to Him by faith, and their resurrection is part of the abundant harvest and great harvest of salvation made possible by His death and resurrection. His death and resurrection secure the resurrection of all the dead. Through the gospel of His death and resurrection life and immortality are brought to light, the kingdom of heaven is opened to believers, and the resurrection brings victory over death and the grave, opening the way to immortal life and the eternal reward.
His own resurrection demonstrates this power, for called from the tomb He came forth victorious over death, and His resurrection gives evidence of the future resurrection of those who sleep in Him. It is a preview and picture of the general resurrection, when at His second coming the dead in their graves will hear His voice and rise, and all the righteous dead from Abel to the last saint who dies will awaken to glorious, immortal life. At His resurrection a first, limited sign of this power was given when a few graves were opened and certain captives were raised and led captive, and that raising was a pledge of the resurrection of all the righteous dead. The same power that raised Him will raise and glorify His church with Him, when He appears with the angels and God's voice penetrates the graves to call the righteous dead to immortal life.
The same life-giving power that will raise bodies is already at work bringing souls dead in sin to life. Christ's voice reaches the dead and calls them forth, and it also illustrates His present power to restore people who are dead in sin so that they hear the voice of the Son of God and are changed. Those who open their hearts to His Spirit share in this power, which will also raise their bodies from the grave. The same power that raises the dead will now awaken people who are spiritually dead in sin, restoring them through Christ.
Sleep Until the Resurrection
The dead remain asleep in the grave with the whole person resting unconscious until the future hour when the Lifegiver calls, including children, the aged, and those lost at sea. The righteous rise in the first resurrection and the wicked in the second, and the resurrection is a new and sublime future event that involves the moldering body because the entire being sleeps in death. The whole person, not a conscious soul already receiving eternal happiness or misery, rests there, and this explains why Scripture emphasizes the resurrection of the body. This future resurrection gives the bereaved hope, for the righteous dead will be released from the grave and clothed with immortal life when they hear Christ's voice.
They do not receive final reward or punishment at death, rather than receiving their final reward or punishment at death the dead wait for the future event when the Lifegiver breaks the tomb's hold. If the soul went at death to eternal happiness or misery, there would be no need for a resurrection of the body and no need for a future resurrection and judgment. The reason Scripture dwells so much on the resurrection of the body is that the whole person waits unconscious in the grave to be raised, and this gives the future resurrection and judgment their importance. Mary and the saints have not been raised and cannot hear or answer prayers; they await the trumpet that calls the dead from their graves at Christ's coming.
The grave is a prison-house whose fetters and hold will be broken when the Lifegiver's voice releases the captives to immortality. Jesus will unlock the grave as a prison-house, and the just will rise to everlasting life, clothed with immortality, and die no more. Death is a great prison-house from which he will bring the captives, raising his people to bright immortality and eternal life. The faithful who died in hope rest in the grave awaiting this resurrection, when the grave's hold will be broken, the captives released, and the faithful brought forth immortal. The resurrection will reunite families whose loved ones have died, restoring their broken links never again to be severed.
Until then the dead are safe with God and rest in hope awaiting the summons. They rest in hope until the Lifegiver calls them from the grave, and the call brings them forth to immortality and eternal life. When Christ speaks they will come forth, and then they will be raised to glorious, immortal life.
Events at Christ's Coming
At the second coming He appears on the great white cloud as the Son of Man, descending wrapped in flames of fire with angels amid the sounding of God's silver trumpet and the archangel's voice, and as He gazes on the graves of the sleeping saints and lifts eyes and hands to heaven crying awake from the dust and arise, His voice resounds through all nations of the dead throughout the earth with mighty earthquake and shaking of earth and heaven and cleansing fire. The call that raises the dead to immortal life has not already occurred but accompanies His visible return in glory shining across the earth. The dead hear Christ's voice and come forth at His coming, the righteous rising to life to be caught up to meet Him, while those who rejected and crucified Him are also raised to see His return and recognize Him as judge.
Then all the righteous dead from Adam and Abel to the last saint who dies are called to glorious, immortal life, of which Christ's own resurrection is the preview and picture. They rise with triumph and victory from every part of the earth with none overlooked, from every nation, language and people, from rocky caverns, dungeons, caves of the earth, hidden pits, waters and the deep. Among them are the Waldensian martyrs and Christians buried under Rome, ransomed from their graves when Christ gives them life. God will then be their God and they His people in close and tender relationship, with no more death, sin or sorrow after the resurrection of the just.
They come forth clothed with glorious immortality and immortal vigor and health, ransomed to glory and honor. Marks of age and hereditary affliction are removed and pain, sorrow and death are left behind, yet identity continues so that living friends torn away by death recognize the risen dead. The wicked are separated from the Lord and consumed with fire.
In that same hour the living saints are changed in a moment and, carried by angels, are caught up together with the risen saints to meet the Lord in the air amid shouts of Alleluia and cries of Holy and Glory, while the earth is left desolate. They ascend in the cloudy chariot which rolls upward to the holy city, where Jesus opens the gates and leads them in. That voice calls the sleeping saints from their graves to life clothed with glorious immortality, and the living changed and caught up with them meet Christ.
Those raised are redeemed by Christ's blood from every nation, tongue and people, those raised at His own resurrection being representatives and samples of that redeemed company. They receive immortal crowns from His hands and see the marks of Calvary in His glorified body, finding greatest joy in His presence in love for Him. On the morning of the resurrection their coming forth is glorious victory in which Satan's triumph ends and Christ as Lifegiver triumphs with glory and honor, crowning with immortality all who come forth. With the faithful living they are welcomed into the holy city to see the King in His beauty, as those who have kept God's commandments and love Him supremely, where there will be no further rebellion.
The wicked also hear that familiar voice that had often called them to repentance through tender appeals from a friend, a brother and the Redeemer, and at the last trumpet it reaches the dead everywhere to awaken them. The faithful who followed Christ hear His welcome to rest, peace and everlasting life, but to those who chose to fight against God and rejected His grace that same voice now brings condemnation, recalling warnings despised, invitations refused and privileges slighted, with His goodness, mercy, love and sacrifice set against the reality of their condemnation. They rise together with the same feeble, sickly bodies they had in the grave, still bearing the marks of the curse and not in immortal bloom, and of every rank and learning they see Jesus in kingly majesty and recognize Him as the one they despised, mocked, pierced, scourged and crucified, recognizing the wounds they inflicted, and flee in terror from His presence to face judgment as He comes in glory.
Hope and Moral Preparation
The promise that all in the graves will hear his voice gives hope whether one lives or dies, for those who have served him will be raised to live in his kingdom. It was the assurance of life beyond the grave that Israel awaited from the Messiah, and it brought light into the gloom of death. That hope makes present toil and suffering bearable while waiting for trial to end and for victory, since the faithful who die before he comes will see him at the resurrection of life and be made like him. The grave is only a short rest, for the Life-giver will release the dead from its hold and raise them immortal, never again to suffer pain, sorrow, or death, and this consoles the Christian facing sickness and death. The Christian looks forward to that resurrection morning when the dead are brought up immortal beyond pain, sorrow, and death, while the sinner has no cheering hope of sharing in that blessedness. The righteous who have died will answer when the Life-giver calls them from their graves, and a bright reward awaits them.
The resurrection will be a glorious morning when the righteous dead come forth to eternal life restored to health and immortality to meet their loved ones again. Then there will be no more parting and no increase of years. Believers will meet their loved ones again not in former mortal bodies but in immortal, glorious bodies when the Lifegiver's voice calls them from their graves. The child who dies in faith rests until that call and will be raised immortal among the just. Mary rests now but will rise from death when called, reuniting with her family among the redeemed to share in victory over death and life in the New Jerusalem. Mary and her family will come forth clothed with immortal splendor, giving the faithful hope beyond death.
Lazarus represents suffering people who believe in Christ, and his patient endurance under suffering tested and showed a real, active faith in God. The suffering poor who believe will receive their reward when Christ's voice calls the dead from their graves to life. That reward comes when they rise at the resurrection, not merely as a theory during death. Though dead, the righteous continue to testify to God's truth through the record of their words and deeds, and a bright reward awaits them when the Lifegiver calls them from their graves.
The verse makes the resurrection a solemn personal question whether one will share in the first resurrection, over which the second death has no power, with the righteous rising in the first resurrection and those who have done evil rising in the second resurrection after the thousand years. All come up in the resurrection just as they were when probation closed, with character unchanged by death. No further opportunity is granted to form character for heaven or obtain moral fitness to enter the kingdom of glory when he comes in the clouds of heaven in his Father's glory with the holy angels, for no atoning blood then pleads to wash away sin and no work of purification can then be performed, so the impure cannot then obtain perfection of Christian character, and those alive when the Son of Man is revealed likewise remain just as they are found if unready. The hours now are solemn and precious and are to be devoted to preparation of heart to meet the Saviour in the morning of the resurrection.