A Resurrection Better Than a Physical One
In the preceding Learning Activities we have completed an introductory study of physical resurrection in the Bible. It may come as a surprise to most that the Bible has many additional passages using the word and action of resurrection that are NOT describing physical resurrection! These references, by far, exceed the mention of physical resurrections.
As powerful and dynamic as physical resurrections are, and here I am excepting the physical Resurrection of Christ as it is in a category all by itself, there are resurrections in the Bible that go well beyond all of the physical ones! I can say this becausde you will learn from these lessons about resurrection that there is also a resurrection that rersults in ETERNAL LIFE!
1. Hebrews 11:35
2. What had the women mentioned in the verse above already witnessed?
3. Even though these women had already witnessed a physical resurrection, what were they looking forward to in the future?
How could that be possible? What could be “better” than a physical resurrection?
4. Genesis 2:16, 17
5. What restriction did God put on Adam in the passage above?
6. What did God say would happen to Adam if he disobeyed this restriction?
7. Genesis 3:6
8. What did Adam do in the verse above?
9. Genesis 4:1, 2
10. Did Adam and/or Eve die the day they ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?
11. Genesis 5:5
12. How old was Adam when he died physically?
After Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil they continued on with their biological life and even bore children! What did happen to Adam is that he was banished from the Garden of Eden (see Genesis 3:22-24). This banishment indicates a separation of man from God. This disobedience to God by man is called sin resulting in separation from God. What became of the “death” that Adam was to suffer if he disobeyed God? We know that God is true to His promises. We must therefore ask ourselves what kind of death did Adam suffer for his disobedience since it was obviously not biological or physical death? The only conclusion we can draw from these passages is that the death spoken of was not a physical or biological death but a spiritual death. The Bible, we shall see shortly, refers to this human condition as “sin-death.” A person can be living biologically, but they are dead spiritually at the same time.
13. Romans 6:16
14. In the verse above, what does sin result in?
15. Romans 6:23
16. In the verse above, what does sin result in?
17. Romans 7:13
18. In the verse above, what does Paul say that sin had worked into his life?
19. Was Paul biologically dead in the verse above, or had he biologically died and then been resurrected back to life to make this statement?
20. Romans 8:2
21. What law did Paul say he had been made free from in the verse above?
22. 1 Corinthians 15:21, 22
23. In verse twenty-one above, who do you think the man was who brought about the death being spoken of, and who do you think was the man who brought about the resurrection of the dead? HINT: What does verse twenty-two say?
All of the passages above are references to spiritual death. They have absolutely nothing at all to do with biological death. Notice however, that to reverse either biological death or spiritual death requires a resurrection. These two types of resurrections, however, are entirely different. The vast majority of Bible passages about resurrection are concerned with spiritual resurrection of man from sin death and NOT about physical (biological) resurrection.
24. 1 Corinthians 15:56, 57
25. According to the passage above, what does sin result in?
26. What is man’s victory over spiritual death?
These and other passages we will be looking at in the next Learning Activity will illustrate the biblical reality that sin results in separation from God, which is spiritual death. The one thing that is common to both physical death and spiritual death is that the only way to reverse these is by resurrection. What you are about to discover is that spiritual resurrection is the more miraculous of these two types of resurrections because without it there is no eternal life!
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