Expert: Phillip Senn - 5/21/2004

Question
I have been told that those who have a saving faith in Jesus return to the Father after death at the resurrection.  When does the resurrection take place?  Does being cremated at death effect whether one is resurrected or not?  Please give details to the first question.  Thanks so much.

Answer
Actually, there are two resurrections. One for the believers at the coming of Christ in the clouds (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18), and the other resurrection takes place after the 1000 year reign of Christ (Revelation 20:4-5) for those that will stand in condemnation at the "great white throne" judgment.

The Apostle Paul wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, "Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: For we walk by faith, not by sight: We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." (2 Cor. 5:6-8)

From these quotes, it appears that when one "gives up the ghost" that spirit returns to the Father which gave it. It is at the resurrection that the body is reunited with the spirit as "the body without the spirit is dead". James 2:26). Notice it is the body that is dead, the soul (comprehension) isn't eliminated at the death of the body (See Luke 16: 19-31).

As far a cremation is concerned, Scripture indicates that there is a tradition among the pagans that entailed passing their children through the fire. I cannot say specifically that means cremation of a dead corpse. It is my personal belief, although I have no Scripture to back it up, that a person that is cremated is just as one whose body has decayed under natural means... God is able, in the same way that He made man from the dust, to recreate that same body from the same dust, then raise it from the grave to meet the Lord in the air, having been changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump" (1 Corinthians 15:51-58)

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With Love in Christ,
Phillip Senn