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not persons who are alive on the earth and have never died. The fact that the Lake of Fire is called the second death confirms that the persons who are cast into it are alive when they they are cast in, for if the persons were still actually dead they could hardly be said to have part in another death (Revelation 20:11-15). It may be noted here that it is said that if anyone was not found written in the book of life he was cast into the Lake of Fire. The wording infers that at least some were cast into the Lake of Fire, but how many is left open. This is, I think, because God desires that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). The salvation door is open so to speak, and we must not get fatalistic and assume that there must be a large number that find themselves having part in the second death. If all those who stand before the great white throne are sent there why does not Scripture simply say so ? If none were sent there it might be inferred that the place did not really exist. Would the Lake of Fire exist and never be used ? However, if no one else were sent there, the devil and his angels would be. The eternal fire was prepared for them ; not mankind (Matthew 25:41). What sort of body the dead will be raised in we can leave with God. He gives to everything a body as it pleases him (1 Corinthians 15:38). That these dead will have bodies can perhaps be inferred from Matthew 10:28 where it speaks of the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

The First Resurrection

As to the Lord's people we are told that they will have glorious bodies like Christ's (Philippians 3:20/21; 1 John 3:2). It will be what Paul calls elsewhere our house which is from heaven (2 Corinthians 5:1). We shall certainly not be raised in a flesh and blood condition. This is important, as the so-called Apostles' Creed speaks of the resurrection of the flesh. Scripture never does. Scripture speaks of bodiescoming out of the tombs in one case (Matthew 27:52), perhaps fulfilling Isaiah 26:19 (see the context)Paul, however, wished to be delivered out of his body of death (Romans 7:24). He speaks of bodies being quickened and redeemed (Romans 8:11 & 23). These latter passages point rather to what will happen to the living saints when Christ comes for his own rather than to the resurrection as there is no mention of rising from the dead. That our present bodies are bodies of flesh is certainly true - they are our natural bodies (1 Corinthians 15:44). However, what will be raised will be a spiritual body (1 Corinthians 15:44). Christ said the flesh profits nothing (John 6:63). Would Christ waste time raising up something quite unprofitable ? Further, Paul states flatly that flesh and blood cannot inherit God's kingdom (1 Corinthians 15:50). From a practical point of view when a person dies his flesh returns to dust (Genesis 3:19). Would God go to the trouble, if we may so speak, of searching through grains of dust to find out what belonged to whom ? In fact, a person may have been eaten by cannibals. To whom then would the flesh belong: the eater or the eaten ? We are to a large extent composed of water. Are we to suggest that God would search for the drops of water that were once part of our bodies ? In fact one could go on to speak of even smaller particles such as atoms and parts of atoms, especially if persons had been destroyed by atomic explosions. Even in the vision of the dry bones in Ezekiel 37 there is no suggestion that the flesh that came upon the bones was the same flesh that had formerly been on them. It is appreciated that this vision is of the resurrection of a nation, rather than personal resurrection, but there is no suggestion that Israelites that are alive in the world at the end of the age will be personally those that lived at or before the time of Ezekiel. God raised up John the Baptist who ministered in the spirit and power of Elias (Luke 1:17), but he was not personally Elias, though he stood for him (Matthew 17:10-13). Similarly, God can raise up our bodies without actually raising the materials of which they were composed when we died. As a matter of fact the materials of which our bodies are composed are changing all the time. The point to remember is that our bodies are the vehicle in which we express ourselves. If one had a woman's thoughts and feelings but a man's body there would be something seriously wrong. What we shall receive when Christ comes will be a body in which we shall be able to express what we are as formed by the Spirit. We will be recognised by what we are spiritually. All that we were as men (or women) in the flesh will have disappeared. There will be no male or female (Galatians 3:28); we shall be as the angels of God (Matthew 22:30).

April 2000

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