God Who Raises the Dead

In the passage above, the apostle Paul speaks of the serious situation he faced in Asia, saying that he despaired even of life and felt as though he had received the sentence of death in himself. Usually, when a person is placed in a situation where he faces death, he feels the preciousness of life more than ever before. Likewise, through severe suffering that was difficult to endure, the apostle Paul came to understand how important the resurrection, by which one can live again, truly is. Therefore, he confessed that he came to trust only in God, who is able to raise him again. Yes. All of us must die someday. Therefore, for us, the hope of resurrection is a precious hope that cannot be exchanged for anything else. For this reason, while we are still alive, we have no choice but to believe in and rely only on God, namely Jesus, who is able to raise us again.

The apostle Paul also testifies that Abraham, the father of our faith, believed that God is the One who raises the dead.

Romans 4:16-17 “16Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, 17(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.”

Thus, Abraham, the father of our faith, believed that God is the One who raises the dead. Therefore, it is only natural that we, who have become his descendants of faith, should also have the same faith (Romans 4:18). In addition, the Scriptures testify through many other passages that God is able to raise the dead again. One representative example is the passage recorded in Ezekiel below.

Ezekiel 37:1-10 “1The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, 2And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. 3And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest. 4Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. 5Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: 6And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 7So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. 8And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. 9Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. 10So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.”

This passage proves the great power of God, who raises the dry bones that had been dead for a long time back to life by causing them to hear the word of God. God asked Ezekiel, “Can these bones live?” In fact, long ago in the beginning, God had already formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, so that man became a living soul (Genesis 2:7). In other words, because God is the One who can create something out of nothing, we must know and believe that raising the dead again is not difficult for God at all.

The passage above in Ezekiel speaks beforehand of Jesus, the Word of God who would become flesh and come in the distant future (John 1:1, 14), and it shows in advance that the dead will live again by hearing the voice of Jesus.

John 5:25-29 “25Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. 26For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; 27And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. 28Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, 29And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.”

The event that confirmed this word was the raising of Lazarus from the dead.

John 11:17-44 “17Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already... 25Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?... 39Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days. 40Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? 41Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. 42And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. 43And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. 44And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.”

Because Jesus is the Word of God, He was able not only to raise the dead Lazarus by His word, but also to heal all who were sick and possessed with devils.

Matthew 8:16 “When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:”

The disciples of Jesus also testify that when Jesus died on the cross and rose again, many bodies of the saints which slept arose.

Matthew 27:50-53 “50Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. 51And, 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; 52And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, 53And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.”

All these words testify that Jesus Himself is the resurrection and the life. The apostle Paul, whom Jesus chose after His resurrection, also preached that those who sleep in Jesus will rise again and come with Him.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 “13But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”

Through these words, we must firmly believe in the resurrection, that the dead will live again, and we must clearly know that the God who raises the dead is Jesus. For only then can we listen more earnestly to the words of Jesus and truly hear them. The word “hear” means not only to listen with the ear, but also to receive the word and do according to it. Therefore, when we hear and keep the words of Jesus, we can be made clean by His word (John 15:3), and as we have seen above, we can also receive the life of resurrection. The Bible also expresses this in another way as “being in Jesus.” It says that when we are in Jesus, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus sets us free from the law of sin and death.

Romans 8:1-2 “1There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”

Therefore, we must now abide in Jesus; that is, we must be those who hear and keep the words of Jesus. The apostle Paul faced death because of the trouble he suffered in Asia, but at that time, he came to rely all the more only on God who raises the dead. He was also confident, saying, “Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us.” When we also live in this world with the same faith, relying only on Jesus, we must have confidence that God, who raises the dead, will surely raise us again also. 

Romans 8:10-11 “10And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.”

Amen.