The concept of resurrection from the dead is a continuous theme throughout the Bible. Jesus, during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, was the first to be resurrected. Then during Pentecost, we are reminded of God’s plan involving several distinct periods of time in which He works to bring humanity to salvation, to eternal life. Those are pictured by small and large harvests.
Then on the Day of Trumpets, we are reminded about what is called the first resurrection of all those who are Christ’s at His future second coming. And finally, the Last Great Day, when all the rest of humanity that has ever lived is resurrected and for the first time given their opportunity to choose eternal life.
“But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming” (1 Corinthians 15:20–23).
Paul states that death entered the human experience through Adam’s sin. Everyone who has ever lived has sinned, other than Jesus Christ, and therefore has earned the death penalty. Through Christ’s righteousness, resurrection from death can also enter into the human experience as well, but not all at once. But for now, all humans must die. Humans have to face up to their mortality. Death is an enemy that nobody has ever escaped. The fear of death is one of the deepest and most abiding of all human fears or passions.
“Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Hebrews 2:14–15 NLT).
Humanity, however, still does have a concept of eternity in them, but it can never get there, on its own. What you may not realize, however, is that much of what is going on behind the scenes in mankind’s ongoing technological revolution is to try to reach immortality. Today there are scientists that are trying to figure out if and how we can bring Artificial General Intelligence to the point of “consciousness” or “self-awareness”. All of this technology is supposed to eventually lead mankind into what is known in some scientific circles as the “singularity”.
This idea was popularized in a book from the 1980’s by Ray Kurzweil, entitled “The Age of Spiritual Machines.” The idea is that machine intelligence would begin to merge with human intelligence. The vast knowledge that is in a human brain would begin to merge with the vastly greater capacity, speed and knowledge-sharing ability of machines. In their mind, this is simply the next step of evolution. It is technical evolution overcoming the limitations of biological evolution. And man is looking to AGI to solve his problems.
And well, death is the greatest problem to solve. That’s what they are looking to. If that wasn’t enough, apparently at some point long after this singularity is reached, eventually we, then, begin to saturate other forms of energy all around us with this supreme intelligence that we’ve developed, and then continue to spread this vast intelligence throughout the universe. And there are lots of people that believe that this is the pathway for us to the universe.
In fact, right now, if you have the money, you can cryogenically freeze your body at death so that you can take advantage of this coming singularity. Just a couple of days ago I saw an article in the news about some island somewhere, where the rich apparently can come live and work with a bunch of scientists and these longevity medical specialists to try make “death optional.” It’s true. Apparently, if you don’t partake in these services then you’re just choosing to die.
Much of humanity is becoming more and more convinced that overcoming death is possible without God. This lie, of course, started in the Garden of Eden, when Satan told Eve, “You will not surely die. For God knows when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God…” Satan was offering a short cut, and it was a lie.
The philosophy behind much of technology, especially the medical fields, is to perpetuate this lie. They believe they just need to increase a little bit more in knowledge and then you will “not surely die.” They are seeking knowledge apart from God. We should seek medical advice and help when needed, but what is our overall mindset regarding it? Is it looking to God’s promised future, or to man’s conceived future?
But for all this effort and ability, where does it lead?
“For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened” (Matthew 24:21–22).
Not only will the false systems and governments fail, but also the false religion of scientific progress built without the knowledge of God. Their wayward desire to defeat death ends up leading to the death of almost all of humanity. That’s where it ends.
The solution to death is not scientific, or biological or technological. It’s spiritual. God created humans as mortals and gave them a defined lifespan (which has changed over time, but it’s still a defined period of time), and then they die. That is the stated and it’s experienced over and over again. And that’s a result of sin and there’s nothing we can or ever will be able to do that can override God’s judgement of death as a consequence.
But, Jesus Christ, who was God, chose to pay the consequence of death in our stead, so that the Father would be able to forgive sin, and raise a mortal human from the dead and give them eternal life. A resurrection to eternal life is a promised and incredible outcome for His people. True followers of Christ are to be given this awesome and undeserved gift of forgiveness and then promise of eternal life at a future resurrection:
“But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death” (1 Corinthians 15:23–26 ).
Imagine the concept of death no longer having any meaning whatsoever. Isaiah 65:17 talks about the new heavens and the new earth. But afterwards it says that the “former things shall not be remembered, nor even come into mind.” If you have been a faithful believer, begotten by the Holy Spirit, then once your changed or resurrection takes place, death has absolutely no power, zero power at some point. It becomes completely forgotten (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
With this knowledge, and faith in His promises we can face death without the same kind of fear that the rest of mankind now faces. That knowledge is eventually made available to all people, once Satan is removed from his position of authority over the earth:
“And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years” (Revelation 20:4–6).
After the return of Jesus Christ, and after the 1000 year period of His rule over earth, the rest of humanity is resurrected back to physical, mortal life. Other passages such as what is written in Ezekiel 36 and 37 make clear that the purpose is to make the Holy Spirit available to them, to everyone so that then they will have the same opportunity to choose to accept the gift of forgiveness of sin, and then eternal life. And afterward, at some point, they also can look forward to a resurrection from which death has no power, no ability to harm them:
“Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. . . .And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:1,4).
So, interestingly enough, this “singularity” does have a nugget of truth to it. Some amount of truth because humanity will actually inherit the universe, just not in the way they think.
So, besides us not getting pulled into the idolatry of modern technology, also be aware of one of the driving forces behind it, which is mankind working feverishly, and ultimately failing, in their attempt to try to defeat death while still living in a sinful state. Getting pulled into this system can, if we’re not careful, lead us to thinking and fearing like the world thinks and fears, so much so that we can begin to operate with rather unbalanced or ungodly viewpoints as we navigate life’s choices.
The return of Christ celebrates the soon coming fulfillment of a key step in the wonderful plan and purpose of God. It’s a day that reminds us of a pivotal resurrection in God’s plan, a resurrection to eternal life. Christ makes that possible and who, at some point, completely destroys death so that it no longer has any power whatsoever over all people. These are truths and promises from the source of truth.
Tim Vail