Friday: Further Thought ~ The Old Testament Hope

Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “Visions of Future Glory,” Pages 722-733, in Prophets and Kings.

Modern science teaches that all matter is composed of atoms, themselves made up of two smaller particles, quarks and leptons, which are believed to be the building blocks of all physical reality.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

If, then, at the core the physical world is quarks and leptons, couldn’t the God who not only created and sustains that world just reconfigure the quarks and lepton when the time comes to resurrect us? Mocking the resurrection, atheist Bertrand Russell asked what happens to those whom cannibals ate, because their bodies are now part of the cannibals’, and so who gets what in the resurrection? But suppose the Lord simply grabs quarks and leptons, the ultimate building blocks of existence, from wherever, and, based on the information that He possesses about each one of us, reconstructs us from those quarks and leptons on up? He doesn’t need our original ones; any will do. Or, in fact, He could just speak new quarks and leptons into existence and go from there. However He does it, the God who created the universe can re-create us, which He promises to do at the resurrection of the dead.

“The Life-giver will call up His purchased possession in the first resurrection, and until that triumphant hour, when the last trump shall sound and the vast army shall come forth to eternal victory, every sleeping saint will be kept in safety and will be guarded as a precious jewel, who is known to God by name. By the power of the Saviour that dwelt in them while living and because they were partakers of the divine nature, they are brought forth from the dead.” — Ellen G. White Comments, The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 4, p. 1143.

Discussion Questions:

There are an estimated 2 trillion galaxies out there, each made of billions and billions of stars. And some of these stars have planets orbiting them, just as the planets in our solar system orbit the sun. Now, think about the incredible power of God, who not only created all these stars, but who sustains them and knows them by name (Psalm 147:4). Though this amazing reality does not prove that this same God can or will raise the dead, how does it reveal to us this same awesome power that He does have and why, certainly, something like the resurrection would not be beyond His power?
Hebrews 11:1-40 highlights the faithfulness and expectations of many of the so-called “heroes of faith” of ancient times. How can this chapter enrich our understanding of the hope that the characters in the Old Testament had, even before the resurrection of Jesus?

<–Thursday

Amen!