The paradigm for ......The Three Resurrections

[4WD]

There is  NO RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH!

Right On, lea



AMEN and AMEN

[3 Resurrections]

4WD  -  I have never understood the almost vehement hatred for the concept of the resurrected body that is exhibited by those who claim there is no such thing.  So what's the big deal?  Come resurrection day when God hands you the incorruptible version of your former self, simply tell Him "Thanks, but I'd rather not have this", and turn yourself into a permanently invisible form of it.  Becoming invisible was definitely an option for the resurrected body that Christ demonstrated in His resurrected, glorified human form (Luke 24:31).  Is that a problem for you?  Those who deny the bodily resurrection are putting a restriction on the power of God to revive decomposed human flesh - a limitation that is not consistent with His creative powers that He displayed even during His earthly ministry.  After all, if God originally made all of creation out of NOTHING, He can certainly take the scattered molecules of our flesh, long after we have died, and create incorruptible human forms out of SOMETHING.

Which is an argument from the greater to the lesser...

Do you deny that John the Baptist said that God could create children of faithful Abraham out of the very stones of the River Jordan at the feet of the Pharisees and resurrection-denying Sadducees in his day? (Matthew 3:9)  Raising up saints out of river rocks or out of the dust of the grave - what's the difference?

[3 Resurrections]

lea  -  Yep, I do indeed "write long ones" :- )  Guilty as charged.  Mea culpa.  It's a catharsis for me, since no one in my family is in sync with Preterism, and I have also had to quietly drop my 16-year membership at my last church so that I wouldn't have to endure the frustration of putting on a muzzle every time I showed up for a church study or activity.  So, no outlet for discussion or fellowship in that direction, either.  GCF is a wonderful relief for me to be able to just ramble on, piling up mounds of verbiage, and sticking in my two cents here and there.  I'm grateful.

You asked a brief question:  "Those saints that rose out of their graves when Jesus died on the cross - died physically again.  Yes?"

Simple answer:  NO, THEY DIDN'T.  Not a possibility.

You will find the 144,000 "Firstfruits" saints still alive and remaining with the early church, since they are mentioned by Paul in Romans 8:23.  Paul said that they HAD the Firstfruits saints with them in the church assembly, waiting with eager anticipation, along with the other saints, for the final stage of their salvation - the transport to heaven of their redeemed, resurrected bodies.  Christ had promised the disciples that He would "receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."  (John 14:3)  This is what they waited for. 

Did you ever consider how this particular group of 144,000 Matthew 27 Firstfruits saints could be the answer to the apparent contradiction of how God could bring a gospel message to ALL the habitable world before the end came in AD 70?  On the one hand, Christ predicted that the 12 disciples would NOT have gone over all the cities of Israel with their evangelistic efforts before Christ had come (Matthew 10:23).  Yet, on the other hand, the gospel WAS preached in "all the world" before the end came in AD 70 (Matthew 24:14 compared with Colossians 1:6, 23 and other references). 

What the disciples could not complete evangelistically with their natural human limitations, the 144,000 Matthew 27:52-53 Firstfruits saints were well-equipped to accomplish in their resurrected condition.  With their unlimited capabilities as incorruptible saints, they could carry the gospel message into pockets of civilization everywhere on the globe in those decades between AD 33 and AD 70; areas that even the apostle Paul could not have had access to.  I remember a lengthy post on this site where this very point was being used to counter preterism, because they were claiming that there was no way possible that "ALL the world" could have had access to the gospel message before AD 70. With the ministry of the bodily-resurrected 144,000 Firstfruits saints of Matthew 27:52-53, this is entirely possible for God to have accomplished.   

Did you realize that some of this "remnant" group of Matthew 27 Firstfruits saints were actually INSIDE JERUSALEM as it was being trampled by the Zealots and eventually by the Romans?  It was some of this "remnant" of Matthew 27 saints that "gave glory to God" in AD 68 when they saw the two witnesses (Joshua ben Gamaliel and Ananus) resurrected after 3 days of lying in Jerusalem's streets.  These two witnesses were raised to life again, 3 1/2 days after the earthquake at Jerusalem (Rev. 11:8-13).  No wonder this "remnant" gave glory to God, since it was such a similar event to their own bodily resurrection, which came 3 days after the earthquake at Christ's crucifixion.

Some of these Matthew 27 saints are also referred to as the "CAMP OF THE *SAINTS*" from Revelation 20:9, sitting INSIDE JERUSALEM when it was surrounded by Gog's forces ("Gog" being Simon bar Giora and his army that surrounded Jerusalem in AD 69 before He was finally allowed into the city by the Zealots).  This means that God mercifully continued to offer His message of the gospel in the war-ravaged city of Jeruslem, using the testimony of the Matthew 27 saints all the way up to the very end of the 1,335th day.  It was on that final day of Pentecost when these resurrected Matthew 27 saints who had remained on earth were finally caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, along with all the newly-resurrected saints (as per the I Thess. 4 "rapture"context).   Their totally unique evangelistic ministry entitled this 144,000 to "learn that song" that no one else could learn except them.

The footprints of these guys show up all over the New Testament.  They can be identified, as long as one is not trying to squelch their story which includes a physical resurrection of the saints' bodies.  Their story can't be erased so easily. 

If you are at all interested, try looking at a couple comments I made about these Matthew 27 Firstfruits saints in the Theology forum - one titled simply "144,000", and another "144000".  Plus some comments I made about them in the post called "The False Doctrine of the 'Secret Rapture'" in the End Times forum - comment #86, I believe.

[lea]

I'm sorry 3R's,

I don't agree with the story you paint one iota.

I am a Preterist. 
It's all in the past, I just wanted to comment. I don't live in the past once I've studied the history.

All of Revelation is written in the past tense. Good news is that Satan has been defeated.

Let's live for the present and future blessings our Lord Jesus Christ gives us.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. ( Matt.6:33 )

God Bless You!