Board index ‹ The End of the World

[Barre Chord Barry]

How many people will rise from the dead during the rapture, and what are they going to do when they are brought back from the dead? Will these people need to eat? How will they grasp that they're alive again, and what will they do on earth once they have arose? Will there be cultural or language barriers? Will modern Christianity be recognizable to them?

[jimwalton]

You know there are vast differences of belief about the end times because the teaching of the Bible is intentionally cryptic about it. We meant to know enough to anticipate it and recognize it when it happens. We are told what we are so that (1) we are not surprised when things really bad on earth, (2) we don't think God has deserted the planet when things get bad on earth, and (3) so that we remain faithful to God when things get really bad on earth. With that foundation, I'll answer your questions.

> How many people will rise from the dead during the rapture?

Billions. Every person from all of history who was ever saved from sin by faith in God but who had died a physical death will be raised at the rapture (1 Thessalonians 4.16).

> What are they going to do when they're brought back from the dead?

We'll be with the Lord forever (1 Thes. 4.17), and at some time we'll reign with Christ on earth (Rev. 20.4). Eventually we will enter our eternal existence where we will work and play and explore and enjoy under the auspices of God's reign over all things.

> Will these people need to eat?

Probably not, but possibly. Jesus was able to eat after he rose from the dead, but that's not to say that we will need food for sustenance. A portly friend of mine once joked, "The streets of heaven may be paved with gold, but they better be lined with restaurants!"

> How will they grasp that they're alive again?

It will be self-evident. They will be both conscious and sentient.

> What will they do on earth once they have risen?

Revelation 20.4 says they will reign with God. In eternity (what is popularly called heaven), we will have normal lives like we do now, except without the suffering and problems. We will live, work, play, explore, have friends, worship, and have peace.

> Will there be cultural or language barriers?

No. The day of Pentecost (Acts 2.5-13) shows us that all such barriers will be torn down, and even though we will still be distinct cultural groups (Rev. 5.9-10), there will be no hostile or disruptive barriers between us all (Ephesians 2.14).

> Will modern Christianity be recognizable to them?

Of course. While cultural expression has changed, the foundation of the faith is the same as it always was.

[Tension]

> "Will these people need to eat?" Probably not

Out of interest, why do you say this?

[jimwalton]

1 Corinthians 15.40-54 indicates that the spiritual body of the resurrection is "imperishable", not a natural body. For a body to be like that, it can't be dependent on food for survival. As I mentioned, we probably won't need to eat, but possibly we'll be able to eat.

[Tension]

Imperishable doesn't mean it doesn't need food. Wasn't Jesus's resurrected body also imperishable? Yet he asked for, and ate, food.

[jimwalton]

Imperishable means that even with a lack of food, the "organism" will not expire. It can't, by definition, and therefore food is not necessary. While Jesus asked for, and ate, food, we learn that his body was not a cloudy specter. It had some physicality to it. But if it's imperishable, food is not a requirement.

[Tension]

> Imperishable means that even with a lack of food, the "organism" will not expire.

Where do you get that definition from? "Enduring forever" doesn't necessarily mean that at all. Paul contrasts it with natural, and says it will be spiritual, but "clothing the perishable" (1 Corinthians 15:55).

It doesn't of course mean that we become disincarnate spirits, we are forever bound by the physical ("the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable"), but we see beyond the limitations of individual lives (eg. see John 12:24). Death no longer holds a grip on us.

[jimwalton]

The Greek word used in 1 Corinthians 15.52 for "perishable" is φθορᾷ. It means "able to die; susceptible to ruin and destruction; able to deteriorate." The word for "imperishable" is ἀφθαρσίᾳ, its converse: unable to die; not susceptible to ruin and destruction; incapable of deterioration." Logically speaking, if one were to withhold food from the "imperishable" body, we have to insist that it is incapable of deterioration despite the lack of food. Therefore, food is not necessary for the sustenance of this "spiritual body," even though it has some characteristics in common with the physical body.

[Barre Chord Barry]

There are a few things that I would like to touch on, that I'm somewhat unsure of, the first being how different Christianity would appear to somebody from a few thousand years ago. What I studied and grew up with as a Baptist was mostly the gospels, with a bit of end times ministry thrown in.

For the most part, we learned a lot about what would be considered by many to be the "good parts" of the bible, if you will. A few times I would bring up to my Sunday school teacher some of the things that I had read about in the book of Leviticus and how I thought that some of it didn't make sense to me and why we didn't study it and other books of the bible more often.

I was never able to find anybody who would offer any kind of guidance for other books of the bible, as the gospels were something that we were going to focus on. That would make me think now that many Western Christians may only study and adhere to a narrow focus of what is commonly taught among many sects of the Christian faith.

How would the recently undead perceive this? Would it be considered sacrilegious to not have stoned women who were adulterers before the rapture took place? Our society has hammered out many of the beliefs that were once sacred, but may now be considered barbaric.

I wonder how Christians who have split off into many, many denominations are going to gel when they are suddenly thrust together.

Aside from those kinds of challenges, I inquired about the practical logistics of getting possibly billions of newly resurrected people on board with what has taken place in the last few thousand years. Surely there are going to be massive interruptions to the economy, food supply chain and global trade. Wouldn't this cause famine and starvation all over the world?

[jimwalton]

I'm glad to talk to you about all of this. I'm from a Baptist background as well, so maybe we have heritage things in common.

THE OLD TESTAMENT. The Old Testament is God-breathed just like the NT (2 Tim. 3.16), and the prophets of old spoke as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet. 1.21). The OT reveals God just as the NT does (Hebrews 1.1), and the OT is considered Holy Scripture just as the NT is. It concerns me that so many alleged Christians discourage reading the OT. The OT has tremendous value for Christians (2 Tim. 3.16), and we regard it as Scripture (Acts 24.14; Rom. 3.31).

The NT was created to tell the story of Jesus and to show how the OT was fulfilled by Jesus. It contains massive amounts of quotes from the OT. It tells how salvation by grace through faith was always the plan (Gal. 3.6-14), and how the "rivers" of the Eden Problem (sin), the Babel Problem (deity falsely construed), God's covenant, God's presence, redemption, and resurrection are integral to the whole (both OT and NT) to reveal God to us and bring us to salvation.

As Dr. Craig Evans says, "The Old Testament provides the context and framework for understanding the New Testament. In other words, the New Testament wouldn't makes sense to us without the Old Testament." We should never disregard the Old Testament. The whole book, OT & NT, is God's revelation for us. Even Leviticus. : )

I'd be glad to talk to you about any of them. Post a new topic on AskAChristian, and we can talk.

How will the recently undead (the raptured) perceive the changes that have taken place in the faith since they walked the earth? When we see Jesus (whenever we died, whether recently or anciently), our minds will be transformed (1 Jn. 3.2; 1 Cor. 13.12). They will be enlightened by God, and their knowledge will no longer be partial like human knowledge. We won't be omniscient, which is a characteristic of God alone, but we shall know "fully".

DENOMINATIONS. Denominations are actually a strength, and when our minds are transformed, we will suddenly be a true unity, because we will all know fully. One might actually argue that God has used denominational divisions for good. They have allowed the Gospel to reach wider segments of the human population, as different people are attracted to different church bodies. They have also raised questions that have deepened people’s understanding of the Word of God through the study requires to address those questions. One could therefore also affirm that denominations are part of God’s will for His Church so that diversity in secondary matters could exist within the overall unity of the faith. As I said to you yesterday, the varying perspectives create debate and sometimes heated argument, but all in all the diversity and variances enrich our understandings, hopefully challenging us all to think deeper and investigate further.

Note that the unity Scripture advocates is spiritual rather than organizational. Paul’s letters were addressed to individual congregations that were struggling with dissent, and he is encouraging them to live at peace with one another. There are truths that all Christians are unified in their belief over: the existence of God, creation by God, the deity of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, the person and work of the Holy Spirit, the forgiveness of sins by the blood of Christ, salvation by grace through faith, to name some. In other words, we will gel when our minds are transformed when we see Jesus.

PRACTICAL LOGISTICS. There is reason to assume division of labor. We see that among the angels and spirit beings (angels, archangels, cherubim, seraphim) as well as in the church (some are apostles, some prophets, some teachers, etc.). The newly resurrected will do what God has given them to do, and he will place them appropriately (1 Cor. 12.11).

Obviously some of the precursors to the end times will be massive interruptions to the economy, food supply chain and global trade. But look at Matthew 24.45 about when Jesus returns. Jesus will create a strategic system that will work.