An acquaintance said recently, "I believe everybody will go to heaven." That implies that everyone deserves eternal life. That person missed the intent of the entire Bible. God restores our immortality out of grace. His grace is boundless - even Hitler and Stalin could have been recipients of grace, and have the hope of being resurrected. Of course, they don't deserve anything more than death; the same as sinner Larry. Regardless of the sin, we all deserve death.
God even called Hitler to repentance. It appears that he never did. Just as the thief on the cross, Hitler could have repented, even at the last moment. I believe this vile man could have had the hope of resurrection, of course thinking it was for a Thousand Year Reign. Repentance and trust are the only things necessary for immortality, but it must be for right reasons. The idea that everyone is going to heaven, and thus be resurrected, is called universalism. It implies that mankind deserves eternal life, when it is eternal death that the unrepentant deserve!
Christians live with the "hope of salvation"; that our faith will restore us with a resurrected body on "the great and terrible day of the Lord" - great for Christians, and terrible for all the others. Adam had the hope of a rebirth when he would be resurrected after he died. He longed for a return to the Garden! That longing is inborn in us, just as Adam's original sin is. After Adam spiritually died, I'm sure he thought, this can't be all there is to life. God bailed him out, not because he deserved it, but in spite of not deserving it. Adam lived his 963 years looking forward to living forever in his peaceful Garden. As soon as he sinned, he began to wither and die. His hope was for a second chance, a new Creation, and to be resurrected; thus regaining his spiritual and physical body.
That promise was shown when God displayed his power one day.
The Word of God spoke to Ezekiel. The Israelites were reproved of their sins. They didn't deserve anything because they had become dead. God promised Israel that their nation would be resurrected. As usual, God meant that literally and spiritually. They were to become a great nation, but more importantly, God showed that the people could be resurrected as well:
Ezekiel 37:5 Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: 6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. 8 And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. 9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. 11 Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. 12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. 13 And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, 14 And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord.Ezekiel heard God speak and saw those things, apparently in a vision. It's obvious that the arising skeletons were symbolic of the Jews and their resurrection, but there was a spiritual promise there as well. Ezekiel saw dry bones resurrected. It is clear that the dead lived again in this vision. That is our hope!
The dust gave up the bones, God shook them to their place, the tendons grew back, the flesh was reattached to the tendons, and then everything was covered with skin. God didn't stop there. He blew breath back on their dead bodies and they became living souls again! Restored as human beings, they lived and stood up on their feet, thus retaining the mind they once had.
The body came from the dust but the soul came from another place. The four winds delivered the soul from God to the once dry bones. These were not mindless zombies but became a great army. Somehow God keeps the mind and soul together when He transforms men!
The Word was speaking of more than Israel. His people are Christians. The resurrection is not for the Jews but those who trust in Jesus. Ezekiel understood who was speaking, and what God really meant. For those who know that Jesus is Lord, they "shall be saved". That day is resurrection day. It comes at different times for different people but for all Christians, they shall be raised from the dead!
I once was dry bones. I had no hope, and realized that someday I would die. My fear was that I would just lie in the grave. Because of righteous parents, I was taught young that there is hope. As soon as I realized the inevitability of death, I turned to the One and Only One who could save me - Jesus Christ. Salvation is only by that name and no other! I will still die one day. I know that, but the Word asks:
1 Corinthians 15:55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?Death comes quickly. I won't survive death but God will defeat it because I trust in Jesus. The grave will not be able to contain my dry bones. God will raise my dry bones, assemble them as before, grow new tendons, put my flesh back, and cover my new self with skin. More importantly, I will arise when God blows a new spirit back into me. The winds will carry me to the heavens as the trumpet sounds. There I will be a private in Jesus's army. We will march to victory when death is overcome!
You see, because Jesus died, I believe that. The resurrection is a necessary component of being born-again. My soul, after the sting of death, will wait in the presence of God - being glorified, and at the resurrection my dry bones will join the spirit there. I will still be me, not someone else, but this will be a new me - with an indestructible body who will be in God's army forever, not fighting but praising!
When we are born-again, the character of this new person begins to develop. God breaths His Spirit into the soul of Christians. When that happens, Christians are set apart to be part of Jesus's spiritual army. That is sanctification. God wants His army to be as perfect as they can be. He trains us to follow Him as King in the Kingdom of God. Our training consists of being like Jesus as much as humanly possible. After we are trained sufficiently, each boot camp being of different duration, God puts the trained soldier away until it's time.
The body rests in he grave - returning to the dust, but the soul lives on singing and praising God. That is reward enough in itself, but God made a covenant with Adam - He would be recreated! Our bones will someday rise, Adam's among them, and God will breath into our soul, imbuing it with His Holy Spirit - right back into those old dry bones. That's what all Christians wait upon. That's the end of being saved. It fulfills our hope!
I look forward to the day when my dry bones arise from their storage and are made like new. Even more so, will be when my soul returns to meet my flesh and God blows His Spirit back into what was once dry bones. What a great day that will be for some of us, but a terrible time for most,
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