What is the Resurrection

The single most significant event in the history of the human race took place on the first Sunday after Passover in about the year A.D. 30. It was the resurrection of Yeshua. He overcame the grave, He defeated death, and He promises resurrection life to all who trust in Him.

The majority of the Church believes that the Resurrection of believers will happen sometime in the future and that it will be physical. But Preterists say that it happened in the past and was spiritual. What does the Bible say? In our time this morning we are going to look at what the Bible says about the Resurrection.

Paul looked forward to a future resurrection. In Philippians 3, he wrote that he had forsaken his own righteousness and trusted only and completely in Christ "that" he might attain the resurrection from the dead.

that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Philippians 3:10-11 ESV

What exactly did Paul mean by this? What is the resurrection that he hoped to attain? Was he hoping that his physical body would one day be taken out of the grave and given life? We will attempt to answer these questions this morning. Let's begin by reviewing the context of this verse. The theme of Philippians 3:4-11 is justification by faith alone. The key verse in this section is 3:9.

and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—Philippians 3:9 ESV

Paul sees only two kinds of righteousness: (1) Self-righteousness which leads to damnation, and (2) God's righteousness given through faith which equals salvation. This is the righteousness that Paul wanted to have—that which only comes by faith in Christ. This is speaking of justification by faith alone.

In verse 8, Paul informs us he is no longer trusting in his own righteousness in order that he may gain Christ. Then in verses 9-11, he tells us what it means to gain Christ. In verse 9, he teaches that to gain Christ means to receive His righteousness. Then he goes on in verses 10-11 to explain further what it means to gain Christ.

that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, Philippians 3:10 ESV

I see all of the things he mentions here to be results of justification. Paul "suffered the loss of all things and counted them as rubbish" in order that he might "gain Christ." And gaining Christ means "Receiving his righteousness, knowing him, knowing the power of his resurrection, knowing the fellowship of his suffering, and being made like him in our death to sin."

that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Philippians 3:11 ESV

Paul "suffered the loss of all things and counted them as rubbish, in order that" he may attain to "the resurrection from the dead." The Greek word that Paul uses here for "resurrection" is exanastasi. This Greek word is only used here in all the New Testament. It is the word anastasis, which means "resurrection." Used with the prefix ek (preposition meaning "out") we get the literal understanding of "the out resurrection out from the corpses." This verse is speaking of the resurrection of the righteous. The resurrection of the righteous will take them out of the total number of those dead.

Robertson's Word Pictures in the New Testament says, "Apparently Paul is thinking here only of the resurrection of believers out from the dead, and so double ex (ten exanastasin ten ek nekron). Paul is not denying a general resurrection by this language, but emphasizing that of believers."

What exactly did Paul mean by "the resurrection"? The traditional view that is held by most of the church is that when believers die, their bodies go into the grave and their spirit goes to heaven to be with the Lord. They are in a disembodied state awaiting the resurrection of the body at the end of time. Then at the end of time, the Lord returns, resurrects all the decayed bodies of the dead saints, puts them back together, and then changes the physically resurrected bodies into spiritual immortal bodies like Christ's. Does that sound like what you have been taught?

Have you ever thought about how the Lord will put all those decayed bodies back together? Will He re-gather and reassemble all the scattered atoms and molecules which composed individual bodies at the time of death? This problem is addressed by M.C. Tenney in his book, The Reality of the Resurrection:

When the body of Roger Williams, founder of the Rhode Island colony, was exhumed for reburial, it was found that the root of an apple tree had penetrated the head of the coffin and had followed down Williams' spine, dividing into a fork at the legs. The tree had absorbed the chemicals of the decaying body and had transmuted them into its wood and fruit. The apples, in turn, had been eaten by people, quite unconscious of the fact that they were indirectly taking into their systems part of the long-dead Williams. The objection may therefore be raised: How, out of the complex sequence of decay, absorption, and new formation, will it be possible to resurrect believers of past ages, and to reconstitute them as separate entities?

This problem of joint ownership of atoms and molecules is a big problem. After death, various body particles returned to dust, reentered the food chain, got assimilated into plants, eaten by animals, and digested into countless other human bodies. At the resurrection, who gets which atoms and molecules back? As you can see, it can get quite complicated. Another thing that bothered me was why God would raise our dead decayed bodies and put them all back together just to change them into immortal spiritual bodies?

That is basically what the church teaches about the resurrection. But is it what the Bible teaches? One very important thing that we need to understand about resurrection is that resurrection was the hope of Israel.

Now when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, "Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial." Acts 23:6 ESV

having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust. Acts 24:15 ESV

For this reason, therefore, I have asked to see you and speak with you, since it is because of the hope of Israel that I am wearing this chain." Acts 28:20 ESV

And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope I am accused by Jews, O king! Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead? Acts 26:6-8 ESV

It is clear from this last verse that Paul sees the resurrection of the dead as that which fulfills "the hope of the promise made by God unto our fathers."

The word "resurrection" does not appear in the Tanakh, but the concept does.

And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Daniel 12:2 ESV

This is the Resurrection of the just and the unjust.

But go your way till the end. And you shall rest and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of the days." Daniel 12:13 ESV

Here we see a resurrection at the end of the age.

THE BIBLICAL VIEW OF RESURRECTION

It is interesting to note that the Bible never uses the terms "resurrected body," "resurrection of the body," or "physical resurrection." Does that surprise you? The church uses those terms quite often, but the Bible never does. The phrases that the Bible does use are "the resurrection of the dead" and "the resurrection from the dead."

So, in order to understand "resurrection," we must understand death. Resurrection is "resurrection from the dead." To understand death, we need to go back to the book of beginnings, Genesis. In the book of Genesis, we see God creating man:

then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. Genesis 2:7-8 ESV

After creating man, God placed him in the garden of Eden and gave him a command.

The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." Genesis 2:15-17 ESV

God warned Adam regarding the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, "for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." Adam disobeyed God and ate of the tree.

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Genesis 3:6 ESV

Did Adam die that day? Not physically! Adam lived at least 800 years beyond the day he ate the fruit. But God said he would die the day he ate, and we know that God cannot lie. Adam did not die physically that day, but he did die spiritually. He died spiritually the moment he disobeyed. Spiritual death is separation from God.

therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. Genesis 3:23-24 ESV

Adam and Eve were removed from the garden, the presence of God. Their sin brought spiritual death which is separation from God.

Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. Isaiah 59:1-2 ESV

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—Ephesians 2:1-5 ESV

Paul uses an adversative coordinating conjunction de (but) to introduce God's actions toward us in contrast to our plight in verse one. You were dead, "But God"—our salvation hangs entirely on those two words. We were dead, but God! We were enslaved to sin, but God! We were trapped, but God! We were self-destructing, but God! We were lost in sin, but God!

Because of his sin, man was separated from God. He was dead in trespasses and sins. The focus of God's plan of redemption is to restore through Christ what man had lost in Adam.

Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. Romans 5:18-19 ESV

For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 1 Corinthians 15:21 ESV

Because of Adam's sin, we are all born dead, separated from God. But through Christ came the resurrection from the dead to all who trust in Him. Yeshua came to destroy the works of the devil:

The one who commits sin is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose: to destroy the devil’s works. 1 John 3:8 CSB

"The Son of God was revealed for this purpose: to destroy the devil’s works."

What are the works of the devil that Yeshua came to destroy? John said earlier that Christ "appeared to take away sins" (3:5), something he achieved by offering himself as an atoning sacrifice (2:2; 4:10). He also says that Yeshua's blood (death) cleanses his people from all their sins (1:7, 9). We can safely infer that through his atoning death Yeshua dealt with the problem of human sin and in so doing destroyed the works of the devil. It is my understanding that the works of the devil included separating man from Yahweh.

Yeshua came to redeem man from spiritual death, to resurrect man back into the presence of God. The Bible is God's book about His plan to restore the spiritual union of His creation. Resurrection is not about bringing physical bodies out of the graves; it is about restoring man into the presence of God.

SHEOL AND HADES

Prior to Yeshua’s messianic work, no one went to Heaven. First John 5:20 says that Yeshua is eternal life and nobody had eternal life until the age to come:

who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. Mark 10:30 ESV

If prior to Yeshua’s finished messianic work, no one went to Heaven, where did people go when they died? In the Tanakh, the Hebrew word for where they were prior to the resurrection is Sheol. In the New Testament the Greek word is Hades. What this place was is not something that everyone agrees on.

Most scholars see Sheol as either the grave or some sort of reference to a place "in the earth" to which everyone goes. This latter view is part of the three-tiered cosmology of ancient Israel and other ANE peoples.

Some teach that we have to believe in a place called ‘Sheol’ because the Israelites believed it was a place.  Yes, the Israelites did believe that Sheol was a place. But, the Israelites also believed in a cosmic tree. The Israelites believed that running through the center of the earth is this gigantic tree whose branches go to the heavens and whose roots go down to Sheol. But I don’t know anyone who believes that today. Just because the Israelites believed something doesn’t make it true.

So, some see Sheol as a place or a realm where the spirits or souls of the dead are held awaiting resurrection. It's a state of unconscious survival. It is not non-existence. It is merely a state of existence where one is not conscious or aware of the passage of time and cannot know anything. Some see it as a semi-conscience state, and others see it as a conscience state. It is a holding tank for departed souls.

My view on Sheol is that it is synonymous with death. Throughout the Tanakh we see this fact in numerous passages where death and Sheol are placed in parallel.

Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol; death shall be their shepherd, and the upright shall rule over them in the morning. Their form shall be consumed in Sheol, with no place to dwell. Psalms 49:14 ESV

What man can live and never see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah Psalms 89:48 ESV

Whether you think Sheol is a place or death doesn’t really matter for this discussion. What matters is that Sheol was a place where all men went prior to the resurrection. It is also important is that we understand that the Bible makes it clear that there is something beyond Sheol for the righteous—even though Jobs says,

As the cloud fades and vanishes, so he who goes down to Sheol does not come up; Job 7:9 ESV

This is true of the unrighteous. But notice Hannah’s prayer:

The LORD kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. 1 Samuel 2:6 ESV

"Raises up" is a literal translation and speaks of resurrection. The idea is that of coming "up" out of Sheol, which was conceived of as under the earth. Notice this "upward" language in Proverbs 15:24.

The path of life leads upward for the prudent, that he may turn away from Sheol beneath. Proverbs 15:24 ESV

The "upward" idea is contrasted with Sheol, which is "below" in Israelite cosmology.

In Hannah's theology of Sheol, to die is to be brought down to Sheol where all the other dead are. To be rescued from that condition is to be brought back to life, and that is something that only the LORD can do.

The Tanakh uses many metaphors and similes to describe Sheol, but the bottom line is that it is death. Therefore, I see Sheol used to speak not of a place or a realm, but of death and the grave. When someone is in Sheol, he is dead and he ceases to exist. But the hope of Israel was resurrection, that Yahweh would raise them from death. Whether your view of Sheol is of a realm where the spirits or souls of the dead are held awaiting resurrection or of death and the grave, the bottom line is it was not heaven.

"Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Acts 2:29 ESV

For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, "‘The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand, Acts 2:34 ESV

David was dead, but he did not go to Heaven. He had a promise, however, that he someday would. God had promised to redeem His people from the grave.

I shall ransom them from the power of Sheol; I shall redeem them from Death. O Death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion is hidden from my eyes. Hosea 13:14 ESV

Psalm 49:15 says the same thing:

But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. Selah. Psalms 49:15 ESV

These verses express hope that God will provide salvation beyond the grave, one of the few references in the Tanakh to life after death. These verses anticipate the clear New Testament teaching of life after death, of eternal life, and of salvation from God.

All people were believed to go to Sheol when they died.

What man can live and never see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah.  Psalms 89:48 ESV

To be taken out of Sheol, whether a place or the grave/death, and brought into the presence of the Lord, is what the Bible calls resurrection.

THE TIME OF THE RESURRECTION

According to the Bible, when was the resurrection to take place? The Scriptures testify that the time of the resurrection was to be at the end of the Old Covenant age. We know this to have happened in A.D. 70 with the destruction of the Jewish Temple. The disciples knew that the fall of the temple and the destruction of the city meant the end of the Old Covenant age and the inauguration of a new age.

"At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Daniel 12:1-2 ESV

Daniel says that this resurrection will come after a time of great trouble for the Jewish nation. That sounds just like Yeshua’s words in Matthew 24.

For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. Matthew 24:21 ESV

Here, Yeshua is speaking of the destruction of Jerusalem.

Notice also verse 3.

And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. Daniel 12:3 ESV

Now compare that with Yeshua’s words in Matthew 13.

Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear. Matthew 13:40-43 ESV

Both Daniel 12 and Matthew 13 are speaking about the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. The resurrection, therefore, is an event that was to happened in A.D. 70.

Verses 4 and 8 of Daniel 12 identify this time as "the time of the end."

But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase." Daniel 12:4 ESV

In response to Daniel's question at the end of verse 6, "How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?" the angel answers.

And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream; he raised his right hand and his left hand toward heaven and swore by him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time, and that when the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an end all these things would be finished. Daniel 12:7 ESV

This again speaks of the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. The last verse in Daniel 12 records a promise given to Daniel about his own personal resurrection.

But go your way till the end. And you shall rest and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of the days." Daniel 12:13 ESV

The statements found in verses 1, 7, 11, and 12 tie the resurrection to the time immediately following the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D 70.

What Daniel had written was well ingrained into the thinking of the Jews. We see from Yeshua’s discussion with Martha that Martha had no doubt as to when the resurrection would be.

Yeshua said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." John 11:23-24 ESV

Yeshua taught that the resurrection would happen on the last day:

And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." John 6:39-40 ESV

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. John 6:44 ESV

Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. John 6:54 ESV

When is the last day? To the Jews, time was divided into two great periods—the Mosaic Age and the Messianic Age. The Messiah was viewed as one who would bring in a new world. The period of the Messiah was, therefore, correctly characterized by the Synagogue as "the world to come." All through the New Testament, we see two ages in contrast: "This age" and the "age to come."

He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you. 1 Peter 1:20 ESV

Yeshua came during the last days of the age that was the Old Covenant age, the Jewish age. That age came to an end with the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70.

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. Hebrews 1:1-2 ESV

Yeshua was speaking in the last days. What last days? The last days of the Bible's "this age"—the Old Covenant age.

for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Hebrews 9:26 ESV

When was it that Yeshua appeared? He was born, not at the beginning, but at the end of the ages. To suppose that he meant that Yeshua’s incarnation came near the end of the world would be to make his statement false. The world has already lasted longer since the incarnation than the whole duration of the Mosaic economy from the exodus to the destruction of the temple. Yeshua was manifest at the end of the Jewish age.

In Yeshua’s answer to the Sadducees about the woman who had seven husbands, he indicated that the resurrection was to occur at the changing of the ages.

And Yeshua said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, Luke 20:34-35 ESV

The resurrection was not something that was available to them in "this age" (the Old Covenant age) but would be available to them in "that age" (the New Covenant age), implying that the resurrection would occur at the beginning of the New Covenant age.

Clearly, the resurrection was to happen at the end of the Jewish age, the Old Covenant age. We know that this happened in A.D. 70.

Paul spoke of the nearness of the resurrection in his day.

having hope toward God, which they themselves also wait for, that there is about to be a rising again of the dead, both of righteous and unrighteous; Acts 24:15 YLT

The Greek word mello is found here, so Young’s Literal Translation has it correct in its rendering "there is about to be." If the TIME of the resurrection is seen as A.D. 70, then we know that the NATURE of the resurrection was spiritual rather than physical. It is a fundamental fact of eschatology that TIME DEFINES NATURE. Since we know that the resurrection is past, we know that it was spiritual and not physical. The resurrection of the dead that took place at the end of the Old Covenant in A.D. 70 and was not a biological resurrection of dead decayed bodies but a release from Sheol of all who had been waiting through the centuries to be reunited with God in the heavenly kingdom.

We can see several things from the teaching of Hymenaeus and Philetus about the resurrection beliefs of the early Christians.

and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some. 2 Timothy 2:17-18 ESV

They must have believed that the resurrection would be spiritual in nature, and, therefore, not subject to confirmation by any physical evidence. If the early Christians had believed that the resurrection would involve the physical bodies coming out of the graves, as is taught today, Hymenaeus and Philetus could never have convinced anyone that the resurrection had already happened.

They also must have believed that life on earth would go on with no material change after the resurrection. They didn't believe that they would be on a renovated planet earth as a consequence of the resurrection. Otherwise, the teaching of Hymenaeus and Philetus would have been impossible. No one would have paid any attention to them.

The reason that their teaching that the resurrection has already happened was overthrowing the faith of some was that it postulated a consummation of the spiritual kingdom while the earthly temple in Jerusalem still stood. This was a mixture of law and grace. This destroyed the faith of some by making the works of the law a part of the New Covenant.

WAS CHRIST PHYSICALLY RESURRECTED?

YES! Absolutely and without a doubt. Since Christ's resurrection was physical, won't ours be? NO! Christ's actual resurrection was His going to Hades and coming back out. When he was resurrected from Hades, He was raised into his original body, which was transformed into His heavenly form. This was done as a SIGN to the apostles that he had done what He had promised. The resurrection of Yeshua’s body verified for His disciples the resurrection of His soul. David had prophesied:

For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. Psalms 16:10 ESV

Peter preached that David looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of Christ:

he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. Acts 2:31 ESV

These verses speak of both spiritual death (the soul in hades) and physical death (decay of the flesh). Yeshua was resurrected from both.

The reason there are differences in the way we are raised and the way in which Christ was raised is because of those Biblically defined differences between Christ's body and ours. Differences such as the following: (1) Christ is the only one who is both fully God and fully Man—God incarnate. (John 1:1-18). (2) Christ is the only one who was virgin born, and, therefore, born without original sin. (Rom. 3:21-26; 5:12-21; 7:4-11; etc.). (3) Christ is the only one who ever lived a sinless life. (Heb. 4:15). (4) Christ is the only one promised that his flesh would not suffer decay. (Acts 2:27, 31).

His human body was not subject to original sin, nor corruptible (i.e. He was "impeccable"), nor did He ever commit sin and become corrupted. Because of this, He could keep His selfsame body, whereas, we cannot.

Unless Yeshua’s body had been resurrected, His disciples would have had no assurance that His soul had been to Hades and had been resurrected. The physical resurrection of Christ was essential to verify the spiritual, to which it was tied. While the physical resurrection of our bodies would have no point because we will not continue living on this planet, breathing earth's oxygen, and eating earth's food after we die physically.

WHAT HAPPENS TO US AT DEATH?

Since the resurrection is past, what happens to believers when they die? Their physical body goes back to dust from which it came.

All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return. Ecclesiastes 3:20 ESV

And their spirit is united to their spiritual body and goes to be with the Lord.

But someone will ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?" You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. 1 Corinthians 15:35-38 ESV

We get the same kind of body Christ has, but we do not get it the same way He got His nor do we get our same physical body back like Christ did. We get a new spiritual body which arises out of the inner man. God gives us a spiritual body!

It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. 1 Corinthians 15:44-46 ESV

This affirms two different kinds of bodies. Our natural body dies, and we receive a spiritual body. Paul says, "IT IS RAISED A SPIRITUAL BODY."

Those of us who have trusted Christ in the New Covenant age, have life and do not need to be resurrected.

Yeshua said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" John 11:25-26 ESV

Yeshua is saying, "He who believes in me shall live (spiritually), even if he dies (physically), and everyone who lives (physically), and believes in Me, shall never die (spiritually)."

Two categories of believers are discussed—those who would die before the resurrection and those who would not. For those who died under the Old Covenant, He was the Resurrection, but for those who lived into the days of the New Covenant, He is the Life.

Under the New Covenant, there is no death, spiritually speaking, no separation from God:

When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Yeshua the Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:54-57 ESV

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." Revelation 21:4 ESV

Where there is no death, there is no need of a resurrection. We have eternal life and can never die spiritually. Therefore, we don't need a resurrection. At death, we go immediately to heaven in our spiritual body.

The resurrection was a one-time event in which the Old Covenant saints were brought out of Sheol/death to be with the Lord. We have put on immortality and will put on our immortal body when we die physically. As believers, we live in the presence of God, and in physical death, we simply drop the flesh and dwell only in the spiritual realm.