Atheism is a pessimistic form of the philosophy of naturalism or humanism. It has no evidence of life beyond the grave and knows no mechanism by which a resurrection may be accomplished. The heathen religions of the world are likewise destitute. Unwilling to accept total oblivion, most of them opt for some form or reincarnation in which fleshly existence is repeated but devoid of any hope of something better. Only among Jews, Moslems and Christians is there belief in a super-natural God who exercises power over nature and who will some day raise the dead. Both Jews and Moslems, however, deny that any man has ever risen from the dead. They deny the resurrection of Jesus. Their hope is not based upon concrete demonstrations of God's power to raise the dead.
The following verses indicated resurrection after death in the Old Testament:
Only in Christianity does one find solid hope. If God raised up Jesus, he will just as surely raise us up. In I Corinthians 15, Paul presents an unanswerable argument for the resurrection of the dead and promises that, as in Adam all died, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. W.C. Witcher, in his book Legal Proof does a masterful job, presenting from the standpoint of the brilliant criminal lawyer, proof of the resurrection of Jesus that would stand up in any court of law. Both reason and revelation testify to the certainty of the final resurrection of the dead. Those who would scoff at the evidence are unwilling seriously to consider it. The alternatives are either total annihilation, or else fleshly reincarnation. Why would one settle for less when a resurrection is certainly promised? Solomon said that the body would return to the dust as it was, but the soul goes back to God who gave it. At death we consign the body to the grave. We do not consign the soul there. Jesus promised, in John 5:28, "All that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth". You will note that those are the ones that are in the grave that shall come forth. What is in the grave? Well the body is in the grave, and so the bodies will come forth.
Thus Paul, in his description in I Corinthians 15, says "It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body". The Bible teaches a bodily resurrection. The perishable becomes imperishable and the mortal becomes immortal. Death is swallowed up in life. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The general resurrection, heralded by the resurrection trumpet, will signal the awakening of the wicked and the good alike at the same time. There is no millennium separating them by a thousand years. In the same instant, the same twinkling of an eye, both good and bad arise. The bad cannot miss it and the good do not want to miss it.
Every time we see a blade of green grass shooting up as the snows of winter melt away, we are heartened in the hope of resurrection, for God would not give the sprigs of nature promise to live again at the end of winter, and leave a man, made in his own image, with a lesser prospect.
