Resurrection From the Old To the New

Hello ladies and gentlemen, a good morning to you. I'm William Bell and this is All Bible Prophecy Fulfilled podcast. I want to thank you for tuning in with us. We look forward to a great study and I invite you to open your Bibles, open your hearts, open your minds, and hopefully keep your ears open because we're going to say some things that may be challenging to you but also should be encouraging as well as uplifting. And as we continue in this study, we're going to keep our focus on the Holy Spirit, which we have been discussing for some time, and we're looking at the Holy Spirit in raising the body from the dead. But when we talk about the raising of the body, that's a little bit more detailed subject than most people allow because most people are only focused on the resurrection of a physical body from the grave. And we're going to take this from the perspective of Ezekiel so that we can see in the background of Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, the Old Testament, we're going to look at how the Scriptures develop the subject of resurrection. And with some controversial passages which are found in the New Testament, we're going to see how they become much easier to understand as we develop this concept. Now, in Ezekiel 37, Ezekiel prophesied that there were dry bones that God was going to breathe life into and they would live. So, in verse 4, he says to me, prophesy to these bones and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones, I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with the skin and put breath in you, and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord. Now, in our previous lessons, we talked about the Holy Spirit and the fact that God had poured out his Spirit in the last days, in the closing days of the Mosaic Age. And it is through that Spirit, which is called the earnest in the New Testament, that he is raising these dry bones. We're not to understand these dry bones as literal corpses that are in the ground, but the Bible identifies them if we read far enough. In verse 11, the Scripture says, then he said to me, son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off. Therefore prophesy and say to them, thus says the Lord God, behold, O my people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves and bring you into the land of Israel. Now, we're not just speaking about the tribe of Judah in the captivity of Babylon, nor are we only speaking about the 10 northern tribes who were in captivity in Assyria. So, we're not discussing something that happens in the 6th century or in the 8th century BC, because the Assyrians were still holding Israel captive and they were still scattered among those nations, as far as the 10 tribes were concerned, and we don't have Judah and Israel being delivered from captivity, carried into their own land in the 6th century BC. Of course, you do have later on with Judah being carried back, but you never have the whole house of Israel. So, for those who try to make this text refer to some historical event that happened in the 6th century BC, or even much later in our time, are missing some crucial and critical elements in passage. This is about the whole house of Israel, so it refers to all 12 tribes. Now, notice they said our hope is lost. We're going to refer to this passage perhaps again in the New Testament, but I just want to bring it up now, because when Paul talked about the resurrection, he spoke about the hope of all 12 tribes. When he said, and now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers, to this promise our 12 tribes, earnestly serving God night and day, hope to attain. For this hope's sake, King Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews. And so, from that perspective, we can see, as he said, why should it be thought incredible by you that God raises the dead? So, here is the prophecy of the hope of the 12 tribes being mentioned here, and this is why they were hoping for this resurrection, because of what was taught in Ezekiel. Then when we go to chapter 37, chapter 37 speaks about the two houses being brought together under the illustration and analogy of two sticks that Ezekiel had in his hand, and with those two sticks in his hand, God was going to bring both the house of Ephraim, which he calls the northern tribes, and Israel and their companions, but also he said that he was going to bring Judah and his companions. So, once again, we're looking at all 12 tribes. They were the two sticks, and these two sticks would become one in Ezekiel's hand, representing the gathering of all the nations, or Israel out of all the nations, and bringing them into their own land. And as a result, we have the restoration, we have the regathering, we have the resurrection. All of this was being done through the Spirit, and therefore refers to the events that were taking place in the last days of Israel. Now, with that being established, we can see from this perspective that they were going to be raised out of their graves, but we also want to take a look at the book of Daniel, because Daniel shows us that Israel was yet in their graves, particularly Judah, and this is important because it shows you the separation, if you please, to a degree, of Judah, as opposed to Israel, when we look at the book of Daniel. So, let's take a look, and we'll look at Israel in a moment, and see the same thing for Ephraim, but let's now take a look at Daniel. In verse 11 of Daniel chapter 9, Daniel said, Yes, all Israel has transgressed your law, and has departed so as not to obey your voice. Therefore, the curse and the oath written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against him. Now, I think it's interesting that Daniel made the statement that all Israel has transgressed the law. And then he said, in verse 12, he has confirmed his words which he spoke against us, and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster. For under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem. Verse 13, as it is written in the law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand your truth. Now, Daniel says something very, very significant here. And that is that as he acknowledged that they had transgressed the law, he also acknowledges that they had not repented of their sins. They had not turned from their sins. And said, therefore, even though this great disaster has come upon us, as it is written in the law of Moses, he says, we have not turned from these iniquities. We have not made our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand your truth. And therefore, the Lord has kept the disaster in mind and brought it upon us, for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works, which he does, though we have not obeyed his voice. Look at how many times Daniel says that they had not obeyed the voice of God. Verse 15, and now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with the mighty hand and made yourself a name as it is this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly. So, he's confessing their sin. O Lord, according to all your righteousness, I pray, let your anger and your fury be turned away from your city, Jerusalem, your holy mountain, because for our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people are a reproach to all those around us. Now, while Daniel was still speaking, the Bible says, verse 20, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and presenting my supplication before the holy mountain of my God. And yes, while he was still speaking, Gabriel the angel came and gave him this vision of the 70 weeks, saying to him, 70 weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy. Now we are well aware that this prophecy was fulfilled in 70 AD. It was when they were going to finish the transgression, the very one that he was confessing, saying that they had not repented and they were confessing their sins before God. He says they were to finish the transgression. Now you can find that in Matthew 23, when Jesus tells the Jews to fill up then the measure of your father's guilt and said that upon that generation, he was going to avenge all the righteous blood from the blood of righteous able to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Barakiah, whom they murdered between the temple and the altar. He said, assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. Now, of course, he's talking to the Southern kingdom. At that point, he's talking to Judah. However, we will see that it is not simply Judah who is charged with sin, but it is also Israel. And we'll get to that in a moment. But what I'd like to do next is turn to Daniel, the 12th chapter. And as we look at Daniel 12, as Daniel is still prophesying concerning Judah, he says at that time, Michael shall stand up the great Prince who stands watch over the sons of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time. And at that time, your people shall be delivered. Everyone who is found written in the book and many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Now notice, he says that many who slept in the dust of the earth would awake. Again, Daniel is prophesying among Judah and saying that Judah was in their graves or were in their graves and that they would be raised, but that's only part of the house of Israel. So we've got the Southern kingdom, which would be Judah that's involved in their graves. Now, what about the house of Israel? What was their situation? What was their condition? Well, let's take a look in the book of Hosea and we're going to go to Hosea chapter five, beginning at verse 13. And in this context, we find that God charges Ephraim with sin. The Bible says, when Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah saw his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria and said to King Jerob, yet he cannot cure you nor heal you of your wound. For I will be like a lion to Ephraim and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I will tear them and go away. I will take them away and no one shall rescue. I will return again to my place till they acknowledge their offense. Now notice the reason God is saying that he's acting as a lion to them and that he's going to tear them as a lion would rip apart and shred their flesh to pieces. He says it is because they have sinned. And he said, I will return to my place till they acknowledge their offense until they repent. You saw in Judah or rather in Daniel, where Judah had not repented. Well, apparently neither had Ephraim. And we'll see that in a And then they say, starting in chapter six, come and let us return to the Lord for he has torn, but he will heal us. He has stricken, but he will bind us up. After two days, he will revive us. On the third day, he will raise us up that we may live in his sight. Now, how were they dead? They were dead in sin and God had turned his face from them. Another indication that they are in sin because the face of God is turned against him. Isaiah 59, one in two, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot say neither is his ear heavy that he cannot hear, but your sins have separated between you and your God and your iniquities that he will not hear. And so his face is turned away because of their sins, but he says they would come and they would return, which indicates repentance and the Lord who had torn them would then heal them. And he would bind up that which had been stricken, but notice after two days, he will revive us. And on the third day, he will raise us up that we may live in his sight. Now that text is quoted in first Corinthians chapter 15, one through two, a one through four, which tells us that the original context out of which it is quoted is a context of Israel being in sin. And so when Paul says in first Corinthians 15, moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel, which also preached to you, which also you have received and in which you stand by, which also you're saved. If you keep in memory what I preached to you, unless you have believed in vain, for I delivered to you, first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and rose again the third day, according to the scriptures. And those last two phrases that he was buried and rose again are elliptical phrases, which means that not only did he die for their sins, but he was buried for their sins and he rose for their sins. And you find that statement very clear, at least stated in Romans chapter four and verse 25, who was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification. So it was all about sin and restoring man to God. But not only do we have this text, let's take a look at one more text. And that is Hosea chapter 13. It says when Ephraim spoke trembling, he exalted himself in Israel, but when he offended through bail worship, he died. Now they sin more and more and have made for themselves molded images. So here again, we see that it is Ephraim who is not repenting. As I said a moment ago, not only did Judah not repent, but Ephraim or Israel, the Northern tribes didn't repent as well, because it says when they spoke trembling, when they were humble, they exalted himself in Israel. But when he offended, that is he sinned against God through bail worship, he died. And then after dying, instead of repenting, the Bible says, now they sin more and more and have made themselves molded images. And you can read more of what that stated, but let's go down to verse 14, because we're running out of time. But in verse 14, he says, I will ransom them from the power of the grave. So we see that Israel is in the grave, just like Judah was. I will ransom them from the power of the grave. I will redeem them from death. Oh, death, I will be your plagues. Oh, grave, I will be your destruction. Pity is hidden from my eyes. Now, when God says that, we find that quoted in first Corinthians 15 as well. In first Corinthians chapter 15, and the verse is 55. He says, oh, death, where is your sting? Oh, Hades, where is your victory? The sting of death is sin. And the strength of sin is the law. It's again talking about sin. He's quoting directly from Hosea. Daniel 12 too is likewise quoted in first Corinthians 15, because in verse 32 or 34, he says, awake to righteousness and do not sin for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame. When Daniel said many of those who slept in the dust of the earth would awake some to everlasting life and some to everlasting condemnation. And then said, and many of those who walked in the light would turn many to righteousness. Those who had eternal life would turn many to righteousness. He's talking about awakening to righteousness. And so both Daniel and Hosea are quoted in first Corinthians 15, both of whom were dealing with the problem of sin in the nation of Israel. So we have those two involved in sin. Now we're going to develop this further when we return, and this is going to take place in our next broadcast. And so we want to encourage you to stay tuned, to make sure that you tune in because there's some exciting information that we're going to be sharing with you in these broadcasts. And once again, we encourage you to visit our website at allthingsfulfilled.com. We also encourage you to check us out on YouTube, where you can respond by asking questions. We respond to those questions also on Facebook, where this podcast will be posted and we will respond to you regarding any questions that you have of anything that we have said. So we look forward to engaging with you, to be back with you at the next appointed time. And until that time, this is William Bell with All Bible Prophecy Fulfilled saying, have a very pleasant day.