Resurrection of God’s People

The voice of the Son of God calls the sleeping saints from their graves. Throughout the earth the dead will hear that voice, and they that hear will live, a great army of every nation, tribe, tongue, and people. From the prison house of death they come, clothed with immortal glory, crying out: “O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” (1 Corinthians 15:55).GrH_a 46.7

All come out from their graves the same height as when they entered the tomb. But all arise with the freshness and vigor of eternal youth. Christ came to restore what was lost. He will change our lowly bodies and conform them to His glorious body. The mortal, corruptible form, once polluted with sin, becomes perfect, beautiful and immortal. Blemishes and deformities are left in the grave. The redeemed will “grow up” (Malachi 4:2, KJV) to the full stature of the race in its original glory. The last lingering traces of the curse of sin will be removed. In mind and soul and body, Christ’s faithful ones will reflect the perfect image of their Lord.GrH_a 46.8

The living righteous are changed “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.” At the voice of God they are made immortal, and with the risen redeemed they are caught up to meet their Lord in the air. Angels “gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:31). They carry little children to their mothers’ arms. Friends long separated by death are united, never to part again, and with songs of gladness they ascend together to the city of God.GrH_a 47.1