"That alien looks just like my dead brother!"

How would you respond if your dearest dead loved one knocked on your front door?

On ABC's Resurrection (which airs on Sunday nights), I was surprised at the reaction by some of the people who encountered their returned relative. Some were overjoyed. Some were very suspicious and stand-offish toward the newly raised individual.

We were all so happy after my brother's resurrection.

It seemed to me the difference was in what each person thought was possible. Those who seemed to be spiritual knew that resurrection was very possible with God. The unspiritual people had no room in their thinking for the possibility of resurrection, so they were confused and skeptical. And there were some people who seemed to be in between the two - cautiously believing.

On Resurrection, one of the doubters thought his returned father was an alien. Hollywood probably contributes greatly to this idea. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (first released in 1956 and remade in 1978) was not a movie about resurrection, but did revolve around aliens taking over human bodies, so that you could not tell who was human or who was alien - until it was too late. Too often we give credit to, or blame, aliens for things we don't understand. 

What about you? Would you see your returned loved one as a miracle of God, or as a disguised visitor from Mars with evil intentions? Do you even expect to see your dead friends and family again?

You should.

I can't say for sure what the dead will look like when they are raised. Though I did have a very vivid dream about my brother, Troy, being resurrected. In the dream, he approached me at one of my daughter's school functions. He was shorter than I remember (he had all the height in my family - my Mom, Dad and I are all under average height). He was also dressed like a farmer going to church (we weren't farmers, and he never went to church). Nevertheless, I knew it was him. I knew he wasn't an alien. And I was overjoyed to see him. This is because I know God will resurrect all of the dead. I was shocked, but I didn't doubt.

But the Bible does give us some encouraging clues about the resurrected in 1 Corinthians 15, what I consider the fullest revelation we have of resurrection in the whole Bible. It was written by the Apostle Paul. But I would encourage you to read the entire Bible to get the big picture on, not only resurrection, but all things pertaining to God.

I will make a few comments on the text in red.

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1 Corinthians 15 

New International Version (NIV)

 

The Resurrection of Christ

Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. ² By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

³ For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, ⁵ and that he appeared to Cephas (Peter), and then to the Twelve. ⁶ After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷ Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, ⁸ and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

⁹ For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰ But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. ¹¹ Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

 

The Resurrection of the Dead

¹² But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³ If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴ And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. ¹⁵ More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. ¹⁶ For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. ¹⁷ And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. ¹⁸ Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. ¹⁹ If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

²⁰ But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. ²¹ For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. ²² For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. (Verse 22 leads into this section that talks about the resurrection of all people - the good and the bad. There will be two distinct resurrections that will occur in the future.) ²³ But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. ²⁴ Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. ²⁵ For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. ²⁶ The last enemy to be destroyed is death. ²⁷ For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. ²⁸ When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.

²⁹ Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? ³⁰ And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? ³¹ I face death every day—yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord. ³² If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised,

“Let us eat and drink,
    for tomorrow we die.”

³³ Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” ³⁴ Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.

 

The Resurrection Body

³⁵ But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” ³⁶ How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. ³⁷ When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. ³⁸ But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. ³⁹ Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. ⁴⁰ There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. ⁴¹ The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.

⁴² So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; ⁴³ it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; ⁴⁴ it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. (Note the contrast between the bodies we are born with and the bodies we will be resurrected with: perishable, dishonored at death, buried in weakness, natural vs. imperishable, glorious, powerful, spiritual.)

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. ⁴⁵ So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. ⁴⁶ The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. ⁴⁷ The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. ⁴⁸ As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. ⁴⁹ And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man. (We are now like Adam. We will then be like Jesus.)

⁵⁰ I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. ⁵¹ Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— ⁵² in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. (This is describing of the first, blessed resurrection that will occur at the return of Jesus to the earth. All of the faithful will be resurrected at this time. The rest of the dead will be raised 1000 years later at the Great White Throne judgment. See Revelation 20.) ⁵³ For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. (Here's another contrast between the natural and spiritual bodies: mortal vs. immortal.) ⁵⁴ When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

⁵⁵ “Where, O death, is your victory?
    Where, O death, is your sting?”

⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷ But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (All of our victory is because of Jesus.)

⁵⁸ Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

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Have faith in God. He will raise all of the dead. And He will reconcile all people to Himself through Jesus. The resurrected will not be aliens in the sci-fi sense. But they will be unlike anything we now have on the earth - imperishable, glorious, powerful, spiritual, immortal.