Length: 7 Minutes
A very common question amongst those who believe in resurrection is, “What if someone doesn’t want to be raised?” Well, before someone died, they may have been resistant to the idea for different reasons. Let’s talk about two of them.
Person #1
A person who was resistant to the truth of resurrection, especially someone who is not saved.
Some people who have died may have been completely resistant to the Lord, or at least the idea of resurrection. There’s a type of person that simply isn’t open to believe it. Would God raise up that person?
Answer:
A person does not need to be saved to receive miracles through you. But whether we are ministering to someone else, whether we are preaching to them, healing them, or raising them from the dead, it’s not all dependent on our knowledge of Jesus. They need to know Jesus for themselves (Mark 6:5), or at least submit to us to receive from us (Genesis 39:5).
If you wanted to heal or preach to someone, but they are resistant to it, that will affect their receiving for sure. It’s the same with resurrection or anything else. If you want to raise someone but they are resistant to the truth of resurrection, that will affect their receiving.
Jesus Himself could do no mighty works where people’s unbelief was severe enough.
Mark 6:5-6 (NKJV) Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He marveled because of their unbelief.
The beliefs of other people come into play, even if we’re praying for them. The thing that I am not sure of is how their faith works after they have died. Once someone dies, their physical brain is not working, so they cannot believe with their physical mind. But their spirit still has a mind (whether they are in heaven or hell doesn’t matter). Their spirit can still think. Jesus illustrated this with the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16).
So I am not sure how much the beliefs of their physical mind (before they died) or the beliefs of their spirit come into play, but I know for sure that their beliefs have an influence over their receiving. It’s not all on your knowledge.
In summary, here are the things we know for sure:
- God wants them to live. That’s why Jesus died in their stead.
- We have the ability inside of us to raise them.
- That person still needs to believe or at least be willing to submit to receive through you.
Now where does that leave us? As with our preaching, healing, or anything else, just be led by the Lord as to who to pray for and when. Delight yourself in the Lord so that He can put His desires in your heart (Psalms 37:4-5). And when you feel like praying for someone, pray for them. If you feel resistant to the idea, like you’re going against your internal grain, then don’t pray for them (Luke 4:25-27). Praying for the dead to be raised is no different than praying for someone in any other scenario.
Apart from the Lord giving us knowledge, we wouldn’t know whether someone was truly receptive or not. So as always, just be led by the Lord as to whether someone will receive the life within you. But be sure of this. God wants that person to live. He paid a very high price to make that possible. Never use the “they weren’t receptive” line as an excuse for not truly believing that Jesus provided this for everyone.
This life is extended to everyone in the world. They just need to be open to receive it, either for themselves or tasting of it through you.
Person #2
A Christian who was tired and wanted to be with the Lord.
This is a far more common question I hear about. What if a Christian died (fell asleep) but they were just tired and wanted to go home to be with the Lord? That can certainly be the case and there’s no condemnation there whatsoever. But would God raise this person back up?
Answer:
I know that many believers may have been tired before they pass, and just wanted to be with the Lord. Some may have even told you to not raise them back up, if you have that kind of reputation.
Here’s what we know for a fact though. If a Christian was of this opinion, they were only tired because of an ailment or hardship in their body at the time. The Bible says that no one hates their body but nourishes it and cherishes it (Ephesians 5:29). No one wants their body to die. People just want pain relief and I understand that. That is certainly not lost on me, nor on the Lord. God is not angry with someone who wants to go home to be with Him. But because it’s true that no one hates their own body, especially not a believer, I know for a fact that they would have a change of heart if they could be raised, being healed and whole of whatever they were experiencing before.
How do I know this for sure? Because God will physically raise every Christian who has died sooner or later — either now or when Jesus comes back (1 Thessalonians 4:14). When Jesus comes back, the bodies of all Christians who have died will be raised. Yes, that even goes for the Christians who were “tired and wanted to be with the Lord.” God will raise them up anyway. And why won’t they mind one bit? In fact, why will they be pleased? Because they will be healed and whole.
This proves that every Christian would have a change of heart if they knew there was life sufficient to raise them without the hardship they were experiencing before.
That’s my first answer. But I have one more interesting point to make about Christians. Make sure you follow me with this:
Jesus wants everybody to live (John 10:10, Luke 9:56, and Proverbs 8:35). But it’s more than that. In our spirits, we think just like Jesus (Hebrews 12:23 and 1 Corinthians 2:15). So, if Jesus wants our bodies to live, truthfully, even the spirits of those believers who have died and went to heaven, they themselves also want their bodies to live. Our spirits think just like Jesus.
So, the physical mind of some Christians may just be tired of suffering, and they want to be with the Lord. That may be the case, but truthfully every Christian, in their spirit, wants their bodies to live just as much as Jesus does because we have the mind of Christ!
There is no Christian’s spirit in heaven that doesn’t want their body to live again. They are of the same opinion as Jesus. They don’t want to be unclothed of their body. They just want their body to be swallowed up by life (2 Corinthians 5:4).
To summarize:
If a Christian was tired and just wanted to be with the Lord, possibly even requesting that you don’t raise them, I don’t think that’s much of a determining factor. They only said so because of the discomfort they were feeling at the time. That’s understandable. But despite their request, God is going to raise them up anyway, sooner or later. What they really want is to simply be raised up healed of what they were feeling before. And we know that’s exactly what God wants.
So that should answer the question of “what if they don’t want to be raised?”
People have different levels of receptiveness to the idea of resurrection, but none of that should overshadow what God’s will is. God wants everyone to live. No exceptions. And apart from someone being entirely resistant to the truth, God will use you to raise people back up again. But remember, you’re the believer, not the Resurrection. So you do the correct believing and the Lord will raise people from the dead through you.
I would encourage you to read “The Resurrection Handbook: Death Is Not God’s Solution To Suffering” for more on this.
If this blessed you, share this with someone else!
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