It is important to note at the outset that the eschatological (future) resurrection in Scripture is completely overshadowed by the central truth of Christianity-the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.  The greatest news ever is what God in Christ did for a bunch of undeserving sinners.

That said, however, there is truth concerning a future resurrection that we need to consider.  At least for believers the resurrection of Jesus stands as the prototype and the guarantee of our own.  From the nature of Christ’s resurrection body, we can deduce some things regarding the future resurrection.  First, the resurrection body is not only spiritual, but also physical, much ancient and modern theology notwithstanding.  Christ’s body could be touched, it could eat, it bore the marks of the crucifixion.  Certainly it had some qualities, such as passing through material objects, that a “normal” body doesn’t have, but it was nevertheless physical.  Second, the resurrection body maintains continuity with the present body.  Jesus’ resurrection body could be recognized as Jesus, though sometimes in the resurrection appearances it was not.  One difference is that our resurrection is yet future.  Even in the NT there were some who equated it with regeneration, essentially denying both its physicality and its futurity.  They were in error.  The new age dawned with the coming of Christ, but its full expression has not yet come.

Orthodoxy insists on a real resurrection of both Christ in history and humanity in the future.  “I believe . . . in Jesus Christ our Lord who . . . on the third day rose again from the dead . . . and in the resurrection of the body. . . .”  No amount of mental gymnastics or wishful thinking can change the hopelessness of any alternative into hope.

Beyond the central reality, theologies begin to diverge, especially concerning the number and the timing of the resurrection(s).  Those differences are at least partly driven by differences over other eschatological ideas, especially the millennium, and seem to be somewhat parallel to one’s understanding of the judgments.  Reformed theologians usually hold for one general resurrection, of the saved and unsaved together, just before the one final judgment.  Those of a more dispensational bent usually see at least two resurrections-sometimes more-the saved when Jesus returns to earth, and the unsaved after the millennium and before the white throne judgment.

The importance of the resurrection is grounded in creation.  God made us to function in a physical universe requiring a physical body.  The death that destroys it is an unnatural, judgmental event.  While it is possible to have a disembodied personal existence, it is not normative (2 Cor. 5).  Though there is some exegetical wiggle room, the fires of hell, if literal, would require an embodied existence to have their effect.  Likewise, the eternal state for believers is sometimes expressed in physical terms that would require a body to enjoy.

Phil Meade, Dana Arledge, Will Uminn, Kevin Farmer