Q:
• Can we know for sure if some of the anointed are
already in heaven with Jesus, or is this still future?
-----------------------
•
Here is a question I have been thinking about. The Wt says that every anointed
one has to die in order to get heavenly life. I guess they disagree with what
Paul wrote in 1 Cor 15:51!
Those anointed who live now and to the very end will not die but just transform,
right? Can we even use the word "resurrection" in their case because they have
not been dead in the first place?
Also, your article
says: " When the dead in union with
the Lord are raised up in the first resurrection, they will have mortal physical
bodies like they had before they died, the same as their brothers who are still
alive at the presence of the Lord, with whom they are now united."
This sounds logical but how is this in harmony with 1 Co 15:42?
How can they be resurrected to mortal bodies but be "in incorruption"? I thought
that term only applies to spirit bodies who cannot die. Or is that verse talking
about the resurrection to heaven/transformation? (although I dont understand why
it would be called a resurrection anyway because these people are alive already,
they are just transformed)
I am a bit confused here... quite complicated issue this one!
_________________________
A:
Although the Society has revised and even discarded many of Rutherford’s
teachings over the past decades, yet they still hold to most of his teachings regarding "the holy ones,"
and that includes their resurrection. It is still claimed that the heavenly resurrection
began in Rutherford's day, some time before 1935; with one recent Watchtower article even
suggesting
that these already resurrected anointed ones "may be
involved in the communicating of divine truths today"
to the the governing body.—w07 01/01 pp. 27-28.
(See previous question on this website: "Are resurrected
anointed ones involved in the communicating of divine truths today?")
Are the dead "who died in union with the Lord" already with
him in heaven?
Has the first resurrection begun? Can we know for sure? Yes, we can, if we
accept the apostle Paul's words on the subject, for he received the information
"by a word from the Lord." (1 Thess. 4:15, ESV; 1 Cor. 11:23; 2 Peter 3:15-18)
In both of his letters to the congregation in
Thessalonica, the apostle Paul explains when and under what circumstances the
"holy ones" will be united with Jesus, revealing that this will take place
immediately after "the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his
powerful angels in a flaming fire, as he brings vengeance upon those who do not
know God and those who do not obey the good news about our Lord Jesus. These
very ones will undergo the judicial punishment of everlasting destruction from
before the Lord and from the glory of his strength." According to Paul, it
is after the
destruction of the ungodly at Armageddon that the time arrives for Jesus "to be glorified in
connection with his holy ones and to be regarded in that day with wonder in
connection with all those who exercised faith."
(2 Thess. 1:7-10; 1 Peter 4:17,18; Rev. 19:11-21) Note how Paul describes this
to take place:
"For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus,
God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
15
For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that
we who are alive, who are left until the coming
[presence, παρουσία]
of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
16
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the
voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And
the dead in Christ will rise first.
17
Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them
in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air,
and so we will always be with the Lord."
(1 Thess. 4:14-17;
ESV)
Paul assures the disciples that whether they will fall
asleep in death, or are alive at the time Jesus returns, none—neither the
dead nor the living—will
precede any of the others; for they will all of them, together, at the same
time, be united with the Lord. He explains that this will be made possible because
"the dead in Christ will rise first." That means that all the holy
ones who died since the time of the apostles will be raised from the dead. This
is the "first" or "the earlier
resurrection from the dead," that Paul himself was hoping to attain; and
regarding which the apostle John writes: "Happy and holy is anyone having part in
the first resurrection; over these the second death has no authority, but
they will be priests of God and of the Christ, and will rule as kings with him
for the thousand years." (Phil. 3:11; Rev. 20:6; Dan. 7:13,14, 27) This
first resurrection is not a rising up from the dust (grave) straight into
heaven, as is commonly taught, but a return to life in order for them to join
their brothers who are living at the presence of the Lord. Jesus
will be glorified when he resurrects his holy ones, in the same way he and his Father were glorified when
he raised Lazarus from the dead. (John 11:4, 25,26, 38-44) Upon their
resurrection, they will then, as one group, be caught up together in the
clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so [they] will always be with the Lord."
Paul explains that when Jesus is "glorified in connection with his holy ones,"
he will also "be regarded in that day with wonder in connection with all those who
exercised faith, because the witness we gave met with faith among you."
(2 Thess. 1:10) Forty days after his resurrection, while Jesus was with his
closest disciples, encouraging them, they stared in wonder as they
beheld Jesus being
lifted up before their eyes,
ascending to heaven,
until "a cloud caught him up from their vision." Two angels
then told them: "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky?
This Jesus who was received up from you into the sky will come thus in the same
manner as you beheld him going into the sky." (Acts 1:9-11) Yes, Jesus will
return in the same manner he left two thousand years ago, but this time he will
not return to his Father alone; for he will bring with him his holy ones, his bride of 144,000. (John 14:1-3; Rev. 1:5-7;
14:1, 3; 19:7-9) And just like on that first occasion, when his apostles stared
in wonderment as Jesus was lifted up before their eyes, so too those "who
exercised faith" will wonder in amazement as they witness this thrilling event.
These
ones
are the survivors of the great tribulation, who the apostle John saw in vision,
"standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes, and
crying with a loud voice, saying: 'Salvation we owe to our God, who is seated on
the throne, and to the Lamb.'" (Rev. 7:9, 13-17) They will forever serve as
witnesses to the reality of God's kingdom, having met its rulers and observed
their ascension to heaven. I know that you
already understand much of this, but I am including these additional points simply
to show that the first resurrection could not possibly have already started, not
according to what Paul writes, because these things
are still future. (Rev. 7:1-3, 15; 20:3,4; Zeph. 1:14, 18; 2:2,3)
As you also note, according to the apostle Paul, not all the holy ones will be in need of a
resurrection, since some of them will still be alive at the time Jesus returns,
as he clearly says in his letter to the Thessalonians. He further leaves no
doubt about that in his explanation of the resurrection to the congregation in
Corinth, where he says: "Look! I tell you a sacred secret:
We shall not all fall asleep in death,
but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,
during the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised
up incorruptible [imperishable], and we shall be changed. For this which is
corruptible [perishable] must put on incorruption, and this which is mortal must
put on immortality." (1 Cor. 15:50-54)
You raise the
point:
Can we even use the word "resurrection" in their case because they have not been
dead in the first place?
Technically, No! The word "resurrection" in Greek
[ἀνάστασις
-
anastasis, which literally means
to stand up],
is used only in connection
with someone
rising up, or standing up from the dead. That is the word Paul
uses at 1 Thessalonians 4:16, where he says that "those who are dead in
union with Christ will rise first [be
resurrected, ἀνάστασις]." But in his letter to the Corinthians, Paul
always uses
the Greek word
ἐγείρεται [egeiretai]
in connection with the dead being "raised up."
(See 1 Cor. 15:12, 13,
14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 29, 32, 35, 42, 43, 44, 52) Why does that matter? Because
the word egeiretai (pronounced: eh-yei' re tai) can refer to
more than just someone being raised up from the dead. Egeiretai can also
apply to:
•
a person getting up from
sitting or lying down; or to wake up from a normal sleep (Matt. 2:13);
•
someone who is 'down' with disease,
lying sick (Mark 9:27; Acts 3:7)
•
to raise up offspring, cause to
be born (Matt. 3:9; 22:24)
•
to cause to appear, bring
before the public, such as a prophet (Matt. 11:11; 24:11, 24; Mark 13:22; Luke
7:16; John 7:52);
•
to incite, stir up, rise up
against (Matt. 24:7; Mark 13:8; Luke 21:10);
•
of reasonings and lofty ideas
that are "raised up" against God (2 Cor. 10:5)
•
of buildings, to raise,
construct, erect (John 2:19); etc. etc.
I think you get the idea. When the word
egeiretai is used
instead of
anastasis,
being "raised up" does not necessarily mean being raised from the dead in a
resurrection, but can also refer to the holy ones "meeting the Lord in the air"
when they are raised up from their earthly position, which according to
Paul applies equally to those who died and return in the first resurrection,
and those who survive to the presence of the Lord and have no need of a
resurrection. That is why Paul explains that "we shall not all fall asleep in
death, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye."
The change occurs
for all
of them
when they are caught up in the clouds
together to meet
the Lord in the air," at which time their
physical mortal and perishable bodies are changed into immortal and imperishable
spirit bodies.
The
change of course is necessary because "flesh and blood cannot inherit God's
kingdom." Paul explains that "if there is a physical body, there is also a
spiritual one." "It is sown a physical body, it is raised up
[egeiretai]
a spiritual body." Their being "raised up" with a spiritual body does not
refer to a resurrection from the dead, but to the change that Paul speaks of,
which will take place for them in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. This of course is true of all the holy ones. (1 Cor. 15:44, 50)
Paul similarly encouraged the disciples in Colossae, to whom he wrote: "If,
however, you were raised up [egeiretai]
(not resurrected
—
anastasis)
with the Christ, go on seeking the things above, where the Christ is seated at
the right hand of God. Keep your minds fixed on the things above, not on the
things upon the earth. For you died, and your life has been hidden with the
Christ in union with God. When the Christ, our life, is made manifest, then you
also will be made manifest with him in glory." (Col. 3:1-4)
When we accept the Scriptures, and do not "go beyond the things
that are written," as the Society does in holding fast to Rutherford's
interpretation regarding the "holy ones," it's not really all that complicated to understand; although Peter
acknowledges that among Paul's writings there are "some things hard to
understand, which the untaught and unsteady are twisting, as they do also the
rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction." (1 Cor. 4:6; 2 Peter 3:15,16)
http://www.perimeno.ca/Index_A.htm