Questions About the Resurrection
Son, I want to say more about something. I can see your mind is troubled about the resurrection of the dead. Let me be clear: there is no resurrection—or to put it another way, our mortal bodies don’t become immortal, this corruption doesn’t put on incorruption—until after Christ comes.
He’s the one who brings to pass the resurrection of the dead. But son, the resurrection hasn’t happened yet. Now I’m going to share a mystery with you. There are many mysteries that no one knows except God himself. But let me tell you one thing I’ve prayed hard to understand—about the resurrection.
There’s an appointed time when everyone will come back from the dead. When that time is, no one knows—but God knows when it’s set to happen. Whether people come back from the dead once, twice, or three times doesn’t matter. God knows all these things. It’s enough for me to know this: there is a time appointed when everyone will rise from the dead.
The Space Between Death and Resurrection
There has to be a gap between the time of death and the time of resurrection. So what I want to know is this: what happens to people’s souls from the moment of death until the appointed time of resurrection?
Whether there’s more than one appointed time for people to rise doesn’t matter. After all, not everyone dies at once, and that doesn’t matter either—for God, it’s all one day. Time is only measured for us. So there is a time appointed when people will rise from the dead, and there’s a space between death and resurrection. What happens to people’s souls during this space—this is what I’ve prayed diligently to understand. And this is what I know.
When the time comes for everyone to rise, then they’ll know that God knows all the times appointed for us.
Where Spirits Go After Death
About the state of the soul between death and resurrection—an angel revealed this to me: the spirits of all people, as soon as they leave this mortal body, whether they’re good or evil, are taken home to the God who gave them life.
Then the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness called paradise—a state of rest, a state of peace where they rest from all their troubles and cares and sorrow.
Then the spirits of the wicked—those who are evil—have no part of the Spirit of the Lord. They chose evil over good, so the spirit of the Devil entered them and took over. These are cast out into outer darkness where there’s weeping and wailing and grinding of teeth. This is because of their own wickedness, being held captive by the Devil’s will.
This is the state of the wicked—in darkness, in a state of awful dread, waiting for the fiery rage of God’s judgment to fall on them. They stay in this state just as the righteous stay in paradise, until the time of their resurrection.
Understanding the First Resurrection
Some people have understood this state of happiness and this state of misery before the resurrection to be a first resurrection. I’ll admit it could be called a resurrection—the raising of the spirit or the soul and their assignment to happiness or misery according to what has been spoken.
And there’s been talk of a first resurrection—a resurrection of everyone who lived from the beginning of time down to Christ’s resurrection from the dead. We don’t suppose that this first resurrection refers to the resurrection of souls and their assignment to happiness or misery. You can’t suppose that’s what it means.
No—it means the reuniting of soul and body for everyone from Adam’s time down to Christ’s resurrection.
Whether the souls and bodies of these people—both the wicked and the righteous—are all reunited at once, I don’t say. Let it be enough that they all come forth. Their resurrection happens before the resurrection of those who die after Christ’s resurrection. Son, I’m not saying their resurrection happens at Christ’s resurrection. But I’ll give you my opinion: the souls and bodies of the righteous are reunited at Christ’s resurrection and his ascension into heaven.
The Restoration of All Things
Whether it’s at his resurrection or after, I don’t say. But this much I do say: there’s a space between death and the resurrection of the body, and a state of the soul in happiness or misery, until God’s appointed time when the dead come forth and are reunited—both soul and body—and are brought to stand before God and be judged according to their works.
This brings about the restoration the prophets spoke of. The soul will be restored to the body, and the body to the soul. Every limb and joint will be restored to its body. Not even a hair on your head will be lost—everything will be restored to its proper and perfect form. Son, this is the restoration the prophets have spoken of.
And then the righteous will shine forth in the kingdom of God.
But an awful death comes to the wicked. They die as far as righteousness is concerned, because they’re unclean, and nothing unclean can inherit God’s kingdom. They’re cast out and forced to partake of the fruit of their own labor—the evil works they’ve done. They drink the dregs of a bitter cup.