RAISING THE DEAD

Resurrections in the Bible Elijah raises a little boy from the dead Elijah raises the son of the Shunammite woman A dead man's body that was thrown into the dead Elisha's tomb is resurrected when the body touches Elisha's bones Jesus raised the daughter of Jairus shortly after death Jesus raised a young man Jesus raised Lazarus Peter raised a woman named Dorcas or Tabitha Paul revived a man named Eutychus who had fallen asleep and fell from a window to his death So with all these resurrections, why is Christ considered the first resurrection?

All of these were genuinely dead and raised from the dead, but they did not receive the eternal resurrection body, just the same old mortal body which died some time later. Jesus was the first to receive the immortal, eternal body.

Paul says, for eternity, each of us will be the same person , in a body, and with life. Paul uses the term spiritual body which means a body empowered by the Holy Spirit, the life breath of the soul. Flesh and blood are left behind. Sounds almost like some form of energy.

What is the difference between everlasting life and eternal life? The Biblical view of life is that life begins at conception and did not exist before that time. Everlasting life is a life that begins at some point and continues forever. Eternal life is a life that always was and always will be, so that term only applies to God

Rabbis used to discuss what was the optimal age the resurrection body would be. Some people had died while really old, some died at birth. What age do you think is optimal? If it is a spiritual body and no flesh and blood, does the age really matter? So people may not have liked their body, so why get stuck with it for an eternity?