Night (or Day) of the
Living Dead;
The Fulfillment of
the Isaiah
26:19 Prophecy
The bible speaks of an intriguing event that
is going to happen in the near future. There are references in
the bible of the day (or night) that there will be a
mass resurrection of believers who will walk around on
the earth.
There are eight events in the bible of
individual persons being raised from the dead:
1Kings 17:17-24 The widow of Zarephath’s son was
raised back to life
by Elijah
2 Kings 4:20-37 The Shunamite’s (also a
widow) son was raised back to life by Elisha
2 Kings 13:21
A
man was raised back to life when his body was tossed
onto Elisha’s tomb
Luke 7:11-16
The
widow of Nain’s son was raised back to life by Jesus
Mark 5:35-43
The 12 year old
daughter of Jairus’
was raised back to life by Jesus
John 11:1-44
Jesus
raised Lazarus back to life from the tomb
Acts 9:36-41 Peter
raised Tabitha (Dorcas) back to life
Acts 20:7-12 Paul
raised Eutychus back to life after he fell out of a
window
There is one event that happened at Christ’s
resurrection where many dead saints came out of their
graves:
Matthew 27:52-53
“and the graves were
opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen
asleep were raised; and coming out
of the graves after His resurrection, they went into
the holy city and appeared to many.”
These were bodies of the saints and not
spirits and they came OUT of their graves. We don’t
know anything else, but I would submit that these Old
Testament saints received their indestructible,
immortal bodies as Jesus was resurrected and then they
eventually went to heaven.
Isaiah 26:19 states;
“Your dead will
live; Their corpses will rise. You who lie in the
dust, awake and shout for joy, For your dew is
as the dew of the dawn, And the earth will
give birth to the departed spirits.”
This verse (prophecy) was partially fulfilled
at Jesus resurrection
at the event spoken of in Matthew 27:52-53.
However there will a final and greater
fulfillment at the Rapture. Paul in his letter to the
Ephesians quotes Isaiah 26:19 in Ephesians 5:14 and adds
that it is Christ that shall give them light. When we
look up (using Strong’s Concordance) the word
for “light” used in Ephesians 5:14 we find that it was
used only
this one time in the new testament and it’s
translation is that Christ arouses the person from
sleep (death).
The Rapture
consists of two parts as indicated
by Paul in his first
letter to the Corinthians and his first letter to the
Thessalonians:
Part
1-The Change
"Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all
sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the
trumpet will sound, and the dead will be
raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and
this mortal must put on immortality.” (1
Corinthians 15:51-53).
Part 2-
The Departure
“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven
with a shout, with the voice of the archangel
and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ
will rise first. Then we who are alive and
remain will be caught
up together with them in the clouds to meet
the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the
Lord. (1
Thessalonians 4:16-17).
I have previously written about this two part rapture
and the article was posted June 8, 2013 on 5 Doves,
the link is
http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/june2013/kurts68.htm
When we look at the events of the Rapture at
I Corinthians 15:52-53
we see that
the dead will be raised imperishable. THIS WILL BE the
direct fulfillment of Isaiah 26:19. Also, we see that
in I Thessalonians 4:16-17 that the dead
in Christ will rise first, meaning that they will be
on earth for a period of time, before they ascend into
the clouds. This is a
greater fulfillment of what happened at Christ’s
resurrection when the dead saints came out of their
graves at Matthew 27:52-53.
After we go through the “change” from
perishable to imperishable, we will be with the
resurrected “dead in Christ” to witness for a brief
period of time before we are “caught up” to meet the
Lord in the air. We will be unstoppable with our
immortal, imperishable bodies. Those saved after this
“change” will not be part of the departure event.
This is why so many people will be saved
during the tribulation.
The
rapture will not be a hidden event. Jesus is in the
business of saving souls, and after the harvest of the
rapture He will glean the fields for every last
person.
That is what the Book of Revelation is all
about, it is about God applying ever increasing
pressure through His judgments to get the most hard
hearted persons to repent.