THE TIME OF THE END QUESTIONS, Part VII
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Question: What is meant where the writer of Daniel penned just before presenting his last four prophecies pertaining to the Second Advent: “And many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life…” Daniel 12:2?
Answer Continues: Returning to the first part of Daniel 12:2 “Many who are asleep in the dust of the earth shall awake.” This passage is generally accepted as an Old Testament idea of redemption, an idea adopted in most of Christianity.
A ruler of the Jews named Nicodemus approached Jesus secretly in the night with questions, according to John 3:3, 5-7:
“Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. … Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”
Jesus said at the beginning of his ministry: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15). Is not this the same thing the Master later told Nicodemus?—being born again then requires significant/transformative repentance in order to see the kingdom of God.
For the bulk of Paul’s Chapter 15 to the Corinthians, the apostle continually reiterated that it is not a physical, mortal body that inherits the kingdom of God, but an immortal, spiritual state of being that inherits.
Note Paul in I Corinthians 15:51, 52 “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”
Since a neurosurgeon, Dr. Eben Alexander, was in a coma with no brain activity, meaning no hallucinations to explain his after-death, active experiences, then people (whom those here think of as dead or “asleep”) actually are actively living on. (See Proof of Heaven) Given the opportunity for progress to repent and grow spiritually, it reasonably follows that they individually can reach that spiritual, immortal state of being while on the other side of death.
Answer continues in Blog 57.