Resurrection Occurences
How many resurrections from the dead (other than Jesus) are listed in the Bible? Who performed these awesome miracles and what were the circumstances surrounding each occurrence?
The Bible lists TEN separate occasions when God, either directly or through someone, brought people back to life. These resurrection occurrences are:
1. Elijah raises the son of a woman:
"Then the word of the Lord came to him (Elijah), saying, "Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you. . . ."
"Now it happened after these things that the son of the woman who owned the house became sick. And his sickness was so serious that there was no breath left in him. So she said to Elijah, 'What have I to do with you, O man of God? Have you come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to kill my son?' And he said to her, 'Give me your son.'
"So he took him out of her arms and carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed. Then he cried out to the Lord and said, "O Lord my God, have You also brought tragedy on the widow with whom I lodge, by killing her son?" And he stretched himself out on the child three times, and cried out to the Lord and said, "O Lord my God, I pray, let this child’s soul come back to him." Then the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came back to him, and he revived.
"And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. And Elijah said, 'See, your son lives!' " (1Kings 17:8-9, 17-23, NKJV throughout)
2. Elisha raises the son of a Shunammite woman:
"Then he (Elisha) said, 'About this time next year you shall embrace a son.' And she said, 'No, my lord. Man of God, do not lie to your maidservant!' But the woman conceived, and bore a son when the appointed time had come, of which Elisha had told her.
"And the child grew. Now it happened one day that he went out to his father, to the reapers. And he said to his father, "My head, my head!" So he said to a servant, "Carry him to his mother." When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died. . . .
"When Elisha came into the house, there was the child, lying dead on his bed. He went in therefore, shut the door behind the two of them, and prayed to the Lord. And he went up and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands; and he stretched himself out on the child, and the flesh of the child became warm. He returned and walked back and forth in the house, and again went up and stretched himself out on him; then the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. And he called Gehazi (his servant) and said, "Call this Shunammite woman." So he called her. And when she came in to him, he said, 'Pick up your son.' " (2Kings 4:16-20, 32-36)
3. God uses the bones of Elisha to raise a man back to life:
"Then Elisha died, and they buried him. And the raiding bands from Moab invaded the land in the spring of the year. So it was, as they were burying a man, that suddenly they spied a band of raiders; and they put the man in the tomb of Elisha; and when the man was let down and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet." (2Kings 13:20-21)
4. Jesus resurrects the only son of a woman from Nain:
"Now it happened, the day after, that He went into a city called Nain; and many of His disciples went with Him, and a large crowd. And when He came near the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother; and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the city was with her. When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, "Do not weep." Then He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still. And He said, "Young man, I say to you, arise." So he who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He presented him to his mother." (Luke 7:11-15)
5. Jesus raises from the dead the daughter of Jarius, who is a ruler in the synagogue:
"And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. And he fell down at Jesus’ feet and begged Him to come to his house, for he had an only daughter about twelve years of age, and she was dying.
"While He was still speaking, someone came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house, saying to him, 'Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the Teacher.'
"But when Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, 'Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well.' When He came into the house, He permitted no one to go in except Peter, James, and John, and the father and mother of the girl. Now all wept and mourned for her; but He said, 'Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping.' And they ridiculed Him, knowing that she was dead.
"But He put them all outside, took her by the hand and called, saying, 'Little girl, arise.' Then her spirit returned, and she arose immediately. And He commanded that she be given something to eat." (Luke 8:41-42, 49-55)
6. Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead:
"These things He said, and after that He said to them, 'Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.' Then His disciples said, 'Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.' However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus said to them plainly, 'Lazarus is dead. . . .' So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days.
"Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, 'Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.' Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. And He said, 'Where have you laid him?' They said to Him, 'Lord, come and see.' Jesus wept.
"Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, 'Take away the stone.' . . . Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, 'Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.' Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come forth!' And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, 'Loose him, and let him go.' " (John 11:11-14, 17, 32-35, 38-39, 41-44)
7. God resurrects saints back to a physical life immediately AFTER Jesus was resurrected from the dead:
"And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves AFTER His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many." (Matthew 27:50-53)
8. In Joppa Peter resurrects a generous woman named Tabitha:"At Joppa there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which is translated Dorcas. This woman was full of good works and charitable deeds which she did. But it happened in those days that she became sick and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. And since Lydda was near Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent two men to him, imploring him not to delay in coming to them. Then Peter arose and went with them.
"When he had come, they brought him to the upper room. And all the widows stood by him weeping, showing the tunics and garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them. But Peter put them all out, and knelt down and prayed. And turning to the body he said, 'Tabitha, arise.' And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up. Then he gave her his hand and lifted her up; and when he had called the saints and widows, he presented her alive." (Acts 9:36-41)
9. Paul raises from the dead a young man named Eutychus who fell from a window:
"Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight. There were many lamps in the upper room where they were gathered together.
"And in a window sat a certain young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep. He was overcome by sleep; and as Paul continued speaking, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. But Paul went down, fell on him, and embracing him said, 'Do not trouble yourselves, for his life is in him.' Now when he had come up, had broken bread and eaten, and talked a long while, even till daybreak, he departed. And they brought the young man in alive, and they were not a little comforted." (Acts 20:7-12)
10. Paul himself was resurrected after being stoned to death. During Paul's very first missionary journey, Jews from Pisidian Antioch and Iconium arrived in Lystra and succeeded in turning the people against Paul and Barnabas. Paul is soon STONED and has his dead body dragged out of the city. Some believers find Paul's body and as they stand around it Paul comes back to life!:
"Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there; and having persuaded the multitudes, THEY STONED PAUL and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city. And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe." (Acts 14:19-20)
The Resurrection of Jesus
Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You. “But He answered and said to them,” An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:38-40 NASB)
How this one has slipped past mankind for so long is beyond comprehension. Jesus said the only sign that He was the Messiah would be that He would be dead in the grave for 3 days and 3 nights. Friday evening to Sunday morning just isn’t enough time. In fact, if you look closely at the Gospels, Jesus was already Resurrected before the sun came up on Sunday anyhow, so you can’t even count that day as a day!
So how many times have we heard that Jesus was or is our Passover? Not only is it true that Jesus was/is our Passover, but this is the fundamental clue to what happened Passion week. There were two Sabbaths Passion week, the First Day of Unleavened Bread and the weekly Sabbath. On the Hebrew calendar, the month Jesus was crucified is called Abib. Passover is on the 14th of Abib and the First Day of Unleavened Bread, which is a High Sabbath, is on the 15th of Abib. So, if Jesus was crucified on the evening of Abib 14 (Wednesday in that particular year), as our Passover Lamb, then Abib 15 (Thursday) is a High Sabbath, then the Gospels all start to reconcile.
Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. (John 19:31 NASB)
The day after Jesus was crucified was a High Sabbath, it was not the weekly Sabbath. It is also the reason that so many Christian churches eat unleavened bread for their communion service because it was the First Day of Unleavened Bread. Jesus died on a Wednesday afternoon, was placed in the tomb near sunset Wednesday. Sunset Wednesday to sunset Thursday, day 1 and a High Sabbath. Sunset Thursday to sunset Friday, day 2 and the day the women gathered the spices. Sunset Friday to sunset Saturday, day 3. Sometime after sunset Saturday, Jesus is resurrected (Praise God Almighty!) and the women discover the empty tomb sometime before the sun comes up. 3 days and 3 nights. Since Jesus was crucified on Abib 14, we can figure out that He was resurrected three days later by simply adding 14 + 3 and coming up with 17 Abib! Using the calendar and losing the days of the week make it very easy to comprehend!
The bottom line is that there is not enough time from Friday evening to Sunday morning for the only sign Jesus gave to be true. It’s yet another reason to mistrust the doctrines of mainstream Christianity. Either Jesus Christ, Yeshua the Messiah, was in the tomb somewhere near 72 hours or the only sign He gave was not fulfilled.