Anchor My Faith

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Author: Stephen Weller
756 words, 4 minutes read time

The Last Day

Scripture: John 11:23-24

In the previous lesson we left Martha and Jesus just outside of Bethany. In this lesson we will listen to their further conversation.

^{Jn 11:23} “Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”’

Jesus now begins his teaching about the resurrection by saying to Martha that Lazarus, her brother who had died from an illness, would rise from the dead. If you were Martha what would you think that meant? Do you think it meant that Jesus would physically bring Lazarus back to life as he had done others, or would you think it meant raising Lazarus in the resurrection?

^{Jn 11:24} “Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”’

In the previous lesson, we asked the question if we thought Martha believed that Jesus might raise Lazarus from the dead. From this verse it seems that she didn’t because she mentions the resurrection on the last day, but what does that mean?

Maratha, being Jewish, had been taught from childhood about the resurrection. In Job 14:10 – 12 (ESV) we read: ¹⁰ “But a man dies and is laid low; man breathes his last, and where is he? ¹¹ As waters fail from a lake and a river wastes away and dries up, ¹² so a man lies down and rises not again; till the heavens are no more he will not awake or be roused out of his sleep.” From this we conclude that the last day refers to the time at the end of the 1000 years when the end comes.

Continuing in Job we read ¹³ “Oh that you would hide me in Sheol, that you would conceal me until your wrath be past, that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me! ¹⁴ If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my service I would wait, till my renewal (or change) should come. ¹⁵ You would call, and I would answer you; you would long for the work of your hands.” (Job 14:13 – 15 ESV).

Notice that Job associated this resurrection with a renewal or change. Paul speaks of this in 1 Corinthians 15:51 – 52 ESV: ⁵¹ “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, ⁵² in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.” Job and Paul are speaking of the same resurrection, one which the Jews didn’t understand, and one which Martha didn’t understand. Knowing this we now see why it was important for Jesus to teach about the resurrection.

Paul speaks of this resurrection happening at the last trumpet, which I understand to be the last of the seven trumpets. Revelation 11:15 (ESV) reads: “Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” At that time “The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.” (Revelation 11:18 ESV).

This seventh or last trumpet introduces the wrath of God in the tribulation period. This also ends the church age and the work of the church as the last sheep would have been found. What few Christians would be left on earth are those Paul speaks of as “shall not all sleep” shall be raised and changed. It is this first resurrection, a mystery to the Jews, that Jesus is explaining to Martha when she assumed that Lazarus would rise again in “the resurrection at the last day.”

Conclusion

Of the 500 plus lessons I have written for this harmonization series, this one stands out as one of the most significant to me because of the connections with a passage in Job, 1 Corinthians and Revelation. This lesson further establishes for me that the church age, which began at Pentecost (Acts 2), ends when its work is finished just before Revelation 11:18. I know many disagree with me on this, but after nearly 70 years of Bible study this continues to be my conviction.