Resurrection, Judgment, and Eternal Life

Greetings, today let us explore the profound truths presented by Pastor Sam Merigala regarding the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, the coming judgment, and the eternal destiny of all souls. This sermon offers essential instruction, drawing deeply from the Scriptures, particularly the Gospel of John, chapter 5, and the ancient wisdom of Job. We must grasp these biblical principles, for they govern not only our understanding of eternity but our conduct in this present age.

The Uniqueness of Christ’s Resurrection: More Than Mere Revivification

Pastor Sam Merigala begins by establishing a crucial distinction: the resurrection of Jesus Christ was an event entirely unique, one that "had ever happened before, nor afterwards". Though one might recall miraculous raisings in Scripture, such as Lazarus in John 11:1–44 or the widow of Nain’s son in Luke 7:11–17, the nature of these events differs vastly from Christ’s rising.

What Lazarus experienced was technically not resurrection—rising to a new, eternal life—but revivification—rising merely to a renewed old life. Lazarus died again and continues to await the future, final resurrection. Jesus, however, rose "not to the same life... but to a different life in which death no longer features". The great and important point, the "something more" concerning Jesus’s resurrection, is the glorious reality that He "will never die again". Thus, Jesus’s return to life is fundamentally transformative in a way that the temporary restoration of others was not.

Resurrection as the Dawn of the End Times

Furthermore, the resurrection of Christ signaled far more than a personal victory over the grave; it marked a radical shift in God’s intervention in the world. Pastor Merigala reminds us that many first-century Jews believed in a future, bodily resurrection that would coincide with the dramatic arrival of the end times, when God would restore the kingdom to Israel, inaugurating a time of peace and prosperity. For them, believing in a resurrection meant believing that this new world order had already begun.

The earliest disciples wrestled with this profound implication. Jesus had risen, yet the world remained outwardly unchanged: the Romans still occupied Palestine, and the poor still suffered. The New Testament writers, guided by the Holy Spirit, made sense of this by seeing Jesus’s resurrection as a "radical and transforming event which changed the world now". For them, the "something more" was the belief that the end times had commenced, establishing a "whole new way of being". It is crucial to understand that the end times began, but not in their entirety; a new creation has sprung forth, yet it still waits for its full manifestation.

Therefore, believing in the resurrection is inherently an act of holy defiance—a "rebellion against the evil, corruption and oppression" that threatens to overwhelm us. It is a refusal to accept the world as unchangeable. This glorious perspective grants us a "long view," looking backward to Christ's resurrection and forward to the consummation of the end times, all while recognizing traces of these eternal realities in the present moment. This belief must transform not only our worldview but our daily lives, compelling us to become people who introduce "new life wherever the world is stultifying and life-denying".

The Universal Reality of Resurrection and Judgment

Lest we think resurrection is reserved only for the saints, Pastor Merigala drives home the great and terrifying reality that "most people don’t understand that everybody who’s ever lived and died will rise again". There is no escape. Whether the body has utterly decayed or is buried in the sea, the corruption of the physical form has "nothing to do with God’s ability to raise them in a new body fit for their eternal dwelling".

Those who mistakenly believe that death brings non-existence are greatly deceived; "Everyone lives forever". Every soul will enter an eternal existence with all its faculties heightened and intensified. Every person will be raised in a body uniquely suited for their eternal abode: a body fitted for blessing and service in heaven, or a body suited for "eternal punishment and suffering" in hell. Even those who seek to escape this reality by taking their own lives merely usher themselves into the inescapable reality of the eternal world.

This truth of future bodily resurrection is not merely a New Testament concept; it reaches back to the patriarchal period. The ancient question posed in Job was, "If a man dies, shall he live again?" (Job 14:14). The answer comes through Job’s unwavering declaration: "After my skin is thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another" (Job 19:26-27). Every human being will be raised to see God.

The Ultimate Sovereignty of the Son (John 5)

Pastor Merigala then directs our attention to John chapter 5, where the authority of Jesus over life and death is revealed. Following Christ’s massive miracle of healing a man who had been disabled for thirty-eight years on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders escalated their desire to kill Him. Their hostility boiled to the surface because they believed He was violating their "false rules for the Sabbath".

The ultimate offense, however, was Christ’s staggering claim to equality with God. Jesus responded to their persecution by declaring, "My Father is working until now, and I am working" (John 5:17). The Jews rightly understood this to mean Jesus was claiming to be equal with God, the eternal Yahweh, asserting that neither God nor the Son of God were subject to their fabricated Sabbath rules.

Pastor Merigala highlights how Jesus, rather than retreating from this "blasphemy," intensified the reality of His divine identity. Jesus claimed equality with God in every essential way:

1. Equality in Works: The Son does nothing of His own accord but only what He sees the Father doing; the works of the Son are the will and purpose of the Father.
2. Equality in Knowledge: The Father loves the Son and "shows Him all things that He Himself is doing," indicating the Son has full knowledge of everything God knows.
3. Equality in Power (to Raise the Dead): Just as the Father "raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will" (John 5:21). This power to raise the dead and give life is a "greater work" than the physical healing He had just performed.
4. Equality in Sovereignty (Judgment): The Father "judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son" (John 5:22).
5. Equality in Honor: This profound display of power and authority mandates that all must "honor the Son, just as they honor the Father" (John 5:23). Failure to honor Christ means failure to honor the Father who sent Him.

This ultimate sovereignty gives Christ the power to give life and the authority to judge.

The Two Phases of Resurrection: Spiritual and Physical

Within His pronouncement of ultimate authority, Christ reveals two distinct aspects of resurrection that are coming (an hour or epoch):

1. Spiritual Resurrection ("An hour is coming, and is now here," John 5:25)

In verse 25, Christ speaks of a time that is already present ("and now is") when "the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live". This refers to spiritual resurrection—the saving of souls from spiritual death. Scripture is clear that the unconverted are spiritually dead, as exemplified by Christ’s references to the spiritually dead burying the physically dead, and the prodigal son being defined as "dead in sin" (Luke 15).

Christ is the only one who can "speak life into the dead"; He regenerates and gives spiritual life. This ministry demonstrates His identity as the "Son of God," because "only God can give life". Those who believe in Him and receive Him are made children of God.

Pastor Merigala notes that salvation has always depended on believing what God has revealed (progressive revelation). Even before the cross and resurrection had occurred, people like Abraham were justified by believing God. However, on this side of the open tomb, belief now demands hearing the word concerning Christ and believing that "God raised Him from the dead," receiving eternal life and passing "from death to life".

2. Physical Resurrection and Final Judgment ("An hour is coming," John 5:28)

The second aspect is the future physical resurrection. Christ states that an "hour is coming" when "all who are in the tombs will hear His voice and will come forth". This is the resurrection that pertains to every single person who has ever lived and died. In this context, Christ is referred to as the "Son of Man," because it takes one who is human to sit as a fair judge over all men.

The result of this physical resurrection is definitive and binary:

• Resurrection of Life: "Those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life".
• Resurrection of Judgment: "Those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment".

Pastor Merigala assures us that while salvation is by grace alone through faith alone, the judgment is based on deeds because "that’s the validation of your salvation". Good works do not save, but they affirm the reality of the transformation wrought by Christ, proving the believer to be a new creation "created in Christ Jesus unto good works" (Ephesians 2:10).

For those who are not found written in the Book of Life, they will be judged by their deeds, which will prove insufficient for righteousness, and they will be sent to the lake of fire, which is the "second death". The power Christ possesses to reassemble every individual into an eternal body, suited for either heaven or the agony of hell, is "stunning, incomprehensible".

The Sole Escape from Condemnation

This detailed exposition leads to the heart of the gospel: all people are headed for "eternal judgment" and "a resurrection unto condemnation". The escape from this terrifying reality is simple and singular: one must "hear His word and believe in Him and the God who sent Him, to have eternal life and to escape from death into life and not come to judgment".

Christ is the only one who can save us, but He will inevitably be either our Savior or our Judge. He will either raise us to "life abundant and eternal in His presence forever," or He will raise us "to condemnation and judgment to suffer forever out of His presence in a place the Bible calls hell".

We are given a stern warning from Hebrews 10:26: if we willfully reject the knowledge of the truth—the gospel—and go on sinning, "there no longer remains a sacrifice for sin". Rejecting Christ means bearing one’s own sins to the judgment. To trample under foot the Son of God and insult the Spirit of grace incurs a "much severer punishment". Therefore, beloved, "it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God". We are warned so that we may come to Christ and escape this condemnation.