Rising to Life Again

All those who die before the return of Christ will enter an intermediate state, the souls of believers enjoying bliss in the presence of Jesus in heaven and the souls of unbelievers suffering the beginnings of eternal judgment in hell (Matt. 10:28; 2 Cor. 5:1–10). Theologians call this the intermediate state because it is not the final state of existence that human beings will experience. Scripture teaches that at the return of Christ, the souls of believers and the souls of unbelievers will be reunited with their bodies and that people will exist forever in an embodied state. In other words, the Bible affirms the resurrection of the dead (Dan. 12:1–2).

The doctrine of the resurrection of the dead refutes any idea that the physical world is inherently evil or that the human soul is more important than the human body. God would not raise His servants’ bodies if the physical creation should be despised. Our Creator made human beings as body-soul composites, and our existence would be incomplete if He glorified our spirits but not our bodies. God raised and glorified the physical body of the Lord Jesus, and He will raise our bodies to new, imperishable life on the last day so that we can fully bear the image of Jesus’ own glorified body (1 Cor. 15).

In addition to affirming the goodness of the material creation, the resurrection of the body manifests the justice and righteousness of God. Francis Turretin points out that our actions as human beings belong to both body and soul. A good deed engages the soul and body, as does an act of sin. On account of this, when the Lord judges us, Turretin says, “it is just that the whole man and not part of the man should be affected by a reward or by punishment.” As we will see, we will go through a final judgment when we are raised from the dead and our works will be evaluated. Believers will be saved not by their good works but only by Christ, yet the Lord will graciously reward our service to Him. Unbelievers, however, will be condemned for their sinful works, never having rested in the atonement of Jesus (Matt. 25:14–30; Rev. 20:11–15). The bodies of those who never trusted in Christ will also be raised, not for glorification but so that these individuals experience full condemnation. Louis Berkhof writes that God raises the unjust “in order that death in its widest extent and in all its weight might be imposed on them. Their resurrection is not an act of redemption, but of sovereign justice, on the part of God.”