POST OVERVIEW. A study of three Old Testament prophetic passages which present the resurrection of the saints. This will be a chapter in my book, “The Resurrection: when the church is glorified.”

While the resurrection of the saints is not a prominent theme in the Old Testament, there are three passages from the major prophets that speak about this event and give us a clear foreshadow of it. We will look at Isaiah 26:19, Ezekiel 37:1-14 and Daniel 12:2 to see the resurrection in the Old Testament.

ISAIAH 26:19 – DEAD WILL LIVE, CORPSES WILL RISE

¹⁹ 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.

In this verse, Isaiah gives a clear prophecy of the general resurrection of the saints. Why do we say that this is such a prophecy? First, this is certainly a prophecy of some resurrection, for the word-pictures in the text require it: “your dead will live; their corpses will rise. Those “who lie in the dust” (Genesis 3:19) are commanded to “awake and shout for joy, and the earth will give birth to the departed spirits.” These words can only be resurrection words. It is also clear that this is not a prophecy of Jesus’ resurrection, for Isaiah speaks of these people in the plural. Finally, knowing from biblical theology that there will be a resurrection of the saints on the last day, we conclude that the prophet is making a prophecy about the general resurrection of all the redeemed at the παρουσία. In that day, the tomb will become a womb, “many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake” (Dan. 12:2), “and the dead will be raised imperishable” (1 Cor. 15:52).

EZEKIEL 37:1-14 – THE VALLEY OF DRY BONES

One of the most dramatic and powerful passages in the prophecy of Ezekiel appears in Ezekiel 37:1-14, when the prophet describes his vision of the valley of dry bones. This vision pictures the great resurrection of the saints on the last day.

THE VISION ITSELF – 37:1-10

A suggested outline of this short passage in Ezekiel 37:1-10 follows:

• 37:1-2 – The Spirit of the LORD brings the prophet out to the middle of a valley, and the valley is full of dry bones. Before the resurrection, the tombs of the departed saints are full of dry bones.
• 37:3-6 – By means of a question to Ezekiel, the LORD foretells what He is about to do to these dry bones. “I will cause breath (or “spirit,” ruah in Hebrew) to enter you that you may come to life. I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive” (37:5-6). The LORD describes resurrection as flesh and skin put on dry bones.
• 37:7-10 – Ezekiel prophesies over the bones, and there is a rattling and then the bones come together, and sinews and flesh and skin grow on them, but there is no breath (or “spirit”). Then, at the command of the LORD, the prophet prophesied again, “and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army” (37:10; see the parallel in Revelation 11:11). What was foretold now comes to pass as the glorified saints stand on their feet. Notice that the picture is of an army prepared for battle. This is a foreshadow of the army of the resurrected saints that will return with the LORD to vanquish the nations (Psalm 149:5-9; Rev. 19:14).

(6/27/2024) Ezekiel’s vision is of a mighty army raised to its feet. But now we must ask some questions.

For what purpose is a mighty army raised? To fight a great battle.

For whom is a mighty army raised? For a mighty King.

Just so, this mighty resurrection army will be raised up in resurrection power on the last day to follow her mighty King into the great final battle (Rev. 19:14). We see, then, that Ezekiel 37:10 agrees completely with Rev. 19:14 when King Jesus returns on His white horse. Then the armies of His saints, “clothed in fine linen, white and clean, will be following Him on white horses.” The mighty army of Ezekiel 37:10 is none other than the armies on white horses of Rev. 19:14.

Ezekiel’s vision presents for us a prophetic picture of the resurrection of the saints as their dry bones are brought together and clothed with flesh and given breath to become an exceedingly great army.

THE EXPLANATION OF THE VISION – 37:11-14

Then in 37:11-14, the LORD explains the vision to Ezekiel. While the explanation of the vision does introduce some difficulties in interpretation, it also confirms that this is indeed a vision about resurrection. “Thus says the LORD God, ‘Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves’ (37:12; see also John 5:28-29). ‘Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves’” (37:13). Then, to remove all ambiguity, He says, “I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life” (37:14). In this study of the resurrection, we can be confident that the LORD has given Ezekiel a vision of the resurrection of the saints. They will come up out of their graves and come to life.  

DANIEL 12:2 – THOSE IN THE DUST WILL AWAKE

Before we look at the resurrection in Daniel 12:2, we first need to understand the verse’s context. Daniel 11:21-45 has chronicled the activities of a “despicable person” (11:21) who comes to power “at the end time” (11:40; also 11:27, 36), which means that the events of Daniel 12:1-3 also occur at the end of time. Since this is an end-time passage, we expect to see end-times and last-day events, like the activity of antichrist (the “despicable person,” 11:21ff), the great tribulation (12:1), and the resurrection of the saints (12:2). What should be noted is that Daniel’s prophecy of these events is in complete harmony with the more detailed New Testament accounts of these same events. The resurrection described in Daniel 12:2 is unmistakably the same resurrection we see described in 1 Thess. 4 and in 1 Cor. 15, etc. The resurrection veiled in the Old Testament is the resurrection revealed in the New Testament.  And so, in Daniel 12:2, we read of the resurrection of the saints.

Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.

Resurrection is certainly in view, for we read of “those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake.” Daniel’s vision sees the resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous. The verse is very similar to what Jesus says in John 5:28-29, where our Lord speaks of “those who did good deeds” and “those who committed evil deeds.”

The next verse speaks of the righteous as “those who will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven” (Dan. 12:3). These are the saints who have been glorified in the resurrection. Jesus says the same thing in Matthew 13:43: “The righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”

CONCLUSION

An examination of these three Old Testament passages has shown that the resurrection of the saints at the end of the age was part of God’s redemptive plan from the beginning.

Soli Deo gloria            rmb                 6/27/2024                   #706