ANNOUNCER: Where in the Old Testament does it say anything about bodily resurrection? Does the Old Testament teach this? Will there be a resurrection for the Old Testament saints? I’m glad you’ve joined us today. That’s what we’re going to talk about here on Grace in Focus. This is a ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society, and our website is faithalone.org. Please come and join us at our national annual conference, coming up this May 18th through the 21st. We’d love to have you with us. First timers get to waive the registration fee, and we’re going to have great times of teaching around free Grace truths, and there’s a VBS for the children as well. So get signed up, bring the family. All the information you’re going to need is at faithalone.org.

And now with today’s question and answer discussion, here is Bob Wilkin, along with Ken Yates. 

KEN: We have a question from Joanne, and it concerns the resurrection of Old Testament believers. And she wants to know if there’s a passage, I think she means in the Old Testament, but we’ll talk about it in general, that talks about when the Old Testament believers, or even if the Old Testament believers, will be resurrected. Now, of course, we know they will be, but does the Old Testament teach this? And you told me you were at a conference of Biblical scholars, and this was one of the issues that came up. 

BOB: Yeah, I was at a meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society. We call it ETS, which is several thousand Bible scholars from the US, Canada, and even around the world that come to this. And I heard one of the speakers say that the Old Testament has no concept of bodily resurrection from the dead. 

KEN: I find that very strange. 

BOB: So I happen to know the speaker, and so I talk to him after the session. I asked him, and I said, you know, the author of Hebrews in Hebrews chapter 11 says that Abraham concluded that God was able to raise him up, Isaac up, even from the dead.

KEN: So if Abraham had sacrificed Isaac, Abraham believed that God would raise him from the dead. 

BOB: Right. So that’s what I said to this friend of mine, and he said, well, Bob, I know that’s what it says, but what it really means is that Abraham’s actions imply that. 

KEN: But he didn’t believe it himself. 

BOB: He didn’t actually believe it because nobody in the Old Testament believed in bodily resurrection. So as a result, what the New Testament person is saying is his actions imply that. Well, if that’s the case, then Abraham thought he was killing his son once and for all and stopping the Messianic promise. And that makes no sense, but there’s all kinds of examples besides—of course, I realize Hebrews 11, what is that verse 19, that that verse is not in the Old Testament, but we’ve got lots of Old Testament verses that say that. 

For one thing, think about all the people who were raised from the dead in the Old Testament. I mean, people who died and they were raised right then, would that not suggest there was going to be a resurrection in the future? I suppose you could say, well, no, they thought, they were just amazed that God brought that person back to life.

KEN: Yeah, and they would die later and that would be it. 

BOB: That would be it. Okay. Well, how about Daniel 12? Doesn’t Daniel 12:1-3 talk about those who are in the dust shall rise? 

KEN: Yes. Let’s read those verses. Daniel 12.

BOB: Verses 1, 2, and 3, clearly talk about that. There’s also a verse in Job and we’ll look at that after this, Job 19:25. 

KEN: Daniel 12, it says, “At that time Michael shall stand up,” this is verse 1, “The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people,” talking about Israel. “And there shall be a time of trouble, such as there never was since there was a nation,” talking about the seven years tribulation period. “Even to that time,” so talking about the end days and times. “And at that time, your people shall be delivered, every one who is found written in the book,” and here it is. “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt.” And it also talks about rewards there in this. 

BOB: It does, right. But it clearly says that there’s going to be a resurrection. And also what about Job 19:25? 

KEN: That’s the one where, and by the way, Joanne and her question brings that up. “In my flesh,” Job says, “I will see God.” 

BOB: Right. So he knows that he’s going to do that. 

KEN: And by the way Job is probably the oldest book in the Old Testament? 

BOB: I think it is. I think he was probably a contemporary of Abraham. Maybe even before Abraham, which would mean around 2000 BC. And the next earliest books would be the Torah, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, which were written around 1440 BC. So Job might be 600 years older than the next oldest books in the Old Testament. 

KEN: So right from the very beginning then, there’s this belief in the resurrection from the dead. 

BOB: Right. And you also have, what about the promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph? Well, not only Joseph, but all of the sons. They were promised that they were going to be part of this Promised Land, and they were going to have this. And of course, the book of Hebrews in chapter 11 says, they were all looking forward to the coming kingdom and being in it. They weren’t looking forward to being in it in some kind of ethereal, non-existence. You know, like Casper, the friendly ghost, and you put your hand, and you go right through them, because there is no substance to them. No, they expected to be raised from the dead. 

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KEN: Take, for example, when Joseph gave instructions on his bones, when he told Israel,

BOB: Why would he do that? 

KEN: Take my bones back to the Promised Land. 

BOB: His bones were going to be raised from the dead. He wanted to be raised in the Promised Land, not raised in Egypt. 

KEN: Right, don’t leave me here in Egypt. Don’t leave my bones here, because he knew those bones were going to be resurrected. And Bob and I don’t think have talked about this, but I did a commentary on Mark, in Mark chapter 12, the Sadducees asked Jesus about resurrection from the dead. And Jesus responds, and He talked when you brought up Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that’s what made me think of it, to prove the resurrection, Jesus quotes from the burning bush, when God speaks to Moses, I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now, Moses, 

BOB: And he’s not the God of the dead, but of the living. 

KEN: Right, and now most people take this to mean, well, they’re with me, you know, because Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have been dead for a long time when God was talking to Moses. So I’m the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And so they go, well, what God was saying is, they’re not dead, they’re with me. Now, I take a different view on that. I take what you hinted at just a minute ago, that He had made promises to them, that He had made promises to them, that He is the covenant God, and he had made the covenant with these men. 

And the only way those promises are going to be fulfilled is if they’re resurrected. And so he says, I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And that proves that there’s a resurrection from the dead. And I don’t think that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob didn’t realize that. You know, they realized that God had made promises to them. And the only way those promises could be fulfilled is if God raises them from the dead. 

BOB: And you have examples in the Psalms where the psalmist knows Messiah is going to be raised from the dead. Well, certainly the psalmist knows he himself will be raised from the dead. Also, I had Alan Ross, I don’t know if you did, but when I was at Dallas Seminary, and I remember talking to him one time about an issue that came up in one of the New Testament profs teaching in the gospels. And he said, that’s so annoys me. He said, we should be teaching the Gospels. We, meaning the Old Testament professors. 

KEN: Yeah, for those who don’t know, he was an Old Testament professor. 

BOB: And he said, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are Old Testament. The New Testament does not start until the Book of Acts. And he said, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are written to tell us what happened during the end of the Old Testament dispensation. When Jesus is teaching, the temple still exists, right. They’re still offering animal sacrifices, the law of Moses is still in effect. And there is no Church, it’s yet future. And so the Old Testament doesn’t end until the end of the gospel of John. Now you can say, well, these books were written during the New Testament time period, right. So they should be in the New Testament, right. But they’re telling us what Old Testament people believed. So you learn that the Pharisees believed in the resurrection from the dead. Those were Old Testament people who believed. 

KEN: Even the Pharisees believed it. And I would just also add the Mount of Transfiguration.

BOB: Yeah, there’s a great example, what happened at the Mount of Transfiguration? 

KEN: Yeah. So you see Moses, and Joanne mentions Moses here, what about Moses? Well, Moses and Elijah are on the Mount of Transfiguration with the Lord. And obviously the issue is, well, they talk about his Exodus, but it’s a coming kingdom. Moses and Elijah expected to be in the kingdom. And they don’t expect to be in—now, of course, in the case of Elijah, he hadn’t died. So he’s still in a physical body. But in the case of Moses, he did die. And what we have is some sort of intermediate body. He’s not yet been glorified. But obviously he doesn’t expect to be in some sort of intermediate body. He expects to have a glorified body and he will get one. And the thing is, the idea that the Old Testament didn’t teach resurrection is kind of like saying the Old Testament didn’t teach about God. Obviously the Old Testament taught about God. And if you believe in God, you believe in life after death and you believe in bodily resurrection. And the Old Testament believers all believe that. 

KEN: And by the way, connected with this, you’ll hear people say, well, just like they say, New Testament doesn’t teach about rewards. The Old Testament believers knew about rewards. And how are you going to be rewarded if you’re not resurrected? And which is what Hebrews 11 is talking about. The rewards that are going to be given to the faithful Old Testament believer. They knew a lot more than we give them credit for. Believers today, in Christendom, believe we’re going to be floating around the clouds.

BOB: And the Old Testament believers did not believe that. And the New Testament didn’t either. But many people today who are convinced that by faith in Jesus, they have everlasting life, they’ll never perish, they’ll never hunger, thirst, whatever. Many of those people wrongly think they’re going to spend eternity in the third heaven. They don’t know they’re going to spend eternity first on the millennial earth and then on the new earth. Read Revelation 21 and 22. It’s all about I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and first earth had passed away. The streets of gold aren’t in heaven. The streets and gold are on the new earth. 

KEN: There you go. Well, Joanne, thanks for the question. We hope this helped. Basically what we’re saying is, there’s plenty of evidence that, and passages that talk about, particularly when we include the Gospels, that deal with the bodily resurrection of Old Testament believers’ name. And remember, keep grace in focus. 

ANNOUNCER: We invite you to check out our Monday, Wednesday, and Friday five minute YouTube videos at YouTube Grace Evangelical Society. You will love the content and learn a lot. Maybe you’ve got a question or comment or feedback. If so, please send us a message. Here’s our email address: it’s radio@faithalone.org, that’s radio@faithalone.org. Please make sure your question is as succinct and clear as possible, that would be a great big help.

On our next episode, did the original stalwarts and professors of Dallas Theological Seminary who were free grace also hold to four point Calvinism? Come back and join us for that and in the meantime, let’s keep grace in focus.