Chapter 6 -
Resurrection - what is it like?
The Watchtower Society's
understanding of resurrection differs from the ordinary view mainly in three
ways:
1. All people will not
experience resurrection
2. 144,000 people will be raised
to be spiritual creations only
3. The resurrection of the
great multitude to imperfect bodies
1. All people will not
experience resurrection. Their first idea is that the worst sinners will not
experience resurrection. For example, Judas Iscariot is believed to belong to
this group:
This does not mean that
everyone can experience resurrection. The Bible indicates that Judas Iscariot
who betrayed Jesus cannot experience it. (…) He went to the symbolical Gehenna
from where there is not resurrection. (Sinä
voit elää ikuisesti paratiisissa maan päällä [You Can Live Forever in
Paradise on Earth] , p. 171)
However, the Bible tells that there will be a resurrection of both the just
and the unjust, in other words resurrection to life and damnation. Also, these
two resurrections will include all people, not just some of them:
- (Dan 12:2) And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall
awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and
everlasting contempt.
- (John 5:28-29) Marvel not at this: for
the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his
voice,
29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, to the
resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, to the
resurrection of damnation.
- (Acts 24:14-15But this I confess to
you, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my
fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets:
15 And have hope
toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection
of the dead, both of the just and unjust.
2. 144,000 people will be
raised to be spiritual creations
only. The second view
in the teachings of the Watchtower Society is that a certain group, 144,000
people (to which also the first disciples belong) will not receive
a resurrection body, but will only be spirits in Heaven without a body. This is
also how they have explained the resurrection of Jesus.
In addition, the first group
of people of these 144,000 experienced resurrection to heavenly life in 1918,
according to the view of the Watchtower Society, and the rest of them will
follow as they die:
Those 144,000 are people who
will die on Earth and will be raised to the heavenly life as spiritual
creations, as Jesus. (Romans 6:5) When they are compared to the billions who
live on Earth, they are a very "small flock,". (Totuus joka johtaa ikuiseen elämään [The
Truth That Leads to Eternal Life] p. 78)
Apostles and other early
Christians have undoubtedly already been raised to heavenly life. - 2. Tim 4:8.
But during this
invisible presence of Christ, there are still Christians alive who have this
same hope to rule in Heaven with Him. They are a remnant of those 144,000
people. When will they experience resurrection? They do not need to sleep in
death but they will experience resurrection immediately when they die. (Sinä voit elää ikuisesti paratiisissa maan päällä
[You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth], p. 173)
The Apostle Paul indicated that
those anointed Christians who had slept for a long time in their graves would
be raised first to the spiritual world to live with Christ. Over the years,
people have provided evidence that this has been happening since 1918. (Vartiotorni,
the Finnish version of the Watchtower, 1 May 1993, p. 13)
However, if we take a look at
the Bible, it indicates that the resurrection always concerns our body - also
for those 144,000 people. The soul/spirit of a believer has already gone to
Heaven to God, as has been noted earlier:
- (Phil 3:20-21) For our conversation is
in heaven; from where also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ:
21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned
like to his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able
even to subdue all things to himself.
- (Rom 8:11,23) But if the Spirit of him
that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from
the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in
you.
23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits
of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the
adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
- (1 Cor 15:35,40,44) But some man will
say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?
40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial:
but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is
another.
44 It is
sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural
body, and there is a spiritual body.
Furthermore, as far the year 1918 is concerned, this doctrine cannot be
true because the resurrection will take place in connection with the coming of
Jesus, not before it:
- (1 Cor 15:20-23) But now is Christ
risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept.
21 For since by
man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam
all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
23 But every man in his own order: Christ the first fruits; afterward
they that are Christ’s at his coming.
- (1 Thess 4:15-16) For this we say
to you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain to the
coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise
first:
3. The resurrection of the great multitude to imperfect bodies. According to the teachings
of the Watchtower Society, there is still one group - in other words, the great multitude. They believe that this
group will experience physical resurrection but it has been explained that it
is only returning to a same kind of a body as we have now. In other words, it
is about returning to imperfection, not getting a new everlasting body.
Therefore, men can still lose this body if they do not pass the final test of
the millennium:
For those who are raised to
live on Earth, He will give a new material body. This new material body will
undoubtedly be similar to the one the person had before he died, so that his
friends would recognize him. (Sinä
voit elää ikuisesti paratiisissa maan päällä [You Can Live Forever in
Paradise on Earth], p. 174)
However, the Bible says that the resurrection of the believers is not
about returning to imperfection, to the previous body, but it will lead to
something completely new. We will receive an everlasting, perfect, and immortal
body from where it is no longer possible to fall or lose eternal life. The
teachings of the Bible are clearly different from those of the Watchtower
Society:
- (1 Cor 15:42-43) So also is the
resurrection of the dead. It is sown in
corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is
sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
- (1 Cor 15:51-54) Behold, I show
you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 In a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and
the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this
corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on
immortality.
54 So when this
corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on
immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death
is swallowed up in victory.
