When I first read the story of John Huss—and that after his body had been burned his ashes were thrown into the Rhine River and eventually arrived at the ocean, a questioned formed in my mind. Where will John Huss resurrect? At the place of his death, in the Rhine River, or in the ocean? How is it possible to gather all of these ashes in order to restore John Huss’s life?

Or what about individuals who have been eaten by a large quantity of fish?

Well, these questions remained in my mind until I studied the subject in greater detail and found the wonderful answer to my questions.

But before answering them right away, there is a more relevant question to make:

The righteous patriarch Enoch, who lived near the beginning of history, had a great fear in his mind. The just and the unjust live and act according to their either righteous or evil character. In the end, both die and end up in the same place. So, what is the difference between the two?

What is worth more? Being just or unjust? Enoch took his question to God, and God mercifully answered him through a vision in which Enoch saw what the difference would be between the just and the unjust throughout the history of humanity. He showed Enoch the coming of the Redeemer, His life, His death and the atonement for sin, His resurrection, and His second coming with power and great glory to give His reward. Enoch was happy with the divine answer, and with great hope, he awaited that glorious day.

After accepting salvation through God’s grace, the second most important principle found in the Bible is the promise of resurrection. It is so important for our spiritual life that the Bible makes mention of it several times.

The apostle Paul dedicated an entire chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians to this topic (chapter 15). He says that if we do not believe in the resurrection, we are the most miserable of souls.

If we do not believe in the resurrection of Christ, there goes our gospel, there goes our faith, and we are considered false witnesses.

Thus, for us who witness death around us, to speak of the resurrection—to believe in the resurrection—is one of the sweetest hopes available to mortal beings.

This is not a theoretical topic, not superstition, nor something that we will see only in the future. It is something that has already happened. We have sufficient evidence to believe in it.

When Satan induced our parents to sin, they lost their right to live eternally—and as a consequence, they eventually became acquainted with death. Satan rejoiced, for he knew that now he would have many subjects in his kingdom.

But we know death had a short reign of only approximately 2,500 years, because in Romans 5:14 says, “death reigned from Adam to Moses.”

Why only until Moses? Because this is where we have affirmation that Moses was resurrected without seeing corruption, and in Mark 9:4 we find Moses and Elijah on the mount of transfiguration with Jesus.

“And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus” (Mark 9:4).

The second account of a resurrection we find is the resurrection of the son of the widow of Zarephath, which was performed by the prophet Elijah.

“And [Elijah] stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul come into him again. And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived” (1 Kings 17:21, 22).

The third account was of the Shunammite woman’s son, performed by the prophet Elisha.

“Then [Elisha] returned, and walked in the house to and fro; and went up, and stretched himself upon him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. And he called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called her. And when she was come in unto him, he said, Take up thy son” (2 Kings 4:35, 36).

The fourth account is of an unplanned resurrection. It occurred during a funeral procession when, for fear of the Moabites, those carrying the body threw it into the grave of Elisha. The man resurrected and returned to the city with the fugitives.

“And Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year. And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha: and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet” (2 Kings 13:20, 21).

The fifth person to be resurrected was the son of the widow of Nain. His funeral procession came upon Christ on its way to the cemetery, and Jesus, moved with compassion, resurrected him.

“And it came to pass the day after, that [Jesus] went into a city called Nain; and many of his disciples went with him, and much people. Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother” (Luke 7:11–15).

The sixth person to be resurrected was Jarius’ daughter. Jarius went to Jesus personally with the certainty that He would be able to bring his daughter back to life. And it was so.

“While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live” (Matthew 9:18).

The seventh person was a close friend of Jesus who, after becoming ill, passed away. His sisters were sure that if Jesus had been with them during his illness, Lazarus would not have died. But Jesus gave the two sisters a powerful statement. He said: “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John 11:25).

“[Jesus] cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go” (John 11:43, 44).

If we follow the chronolo–gical order, the eighth resurrection was that of Christ Himself.

But we will get to this point in the second part of this article in the next issue of this magazine.

The account of the ninth resurrection is found in Acts 9:40, where the apostle Peter, while visiting the city of Lydda, was told that Tabitha, called Dorcas, had died. Peter went to Joppa, the city where Tabitha was, and after a prayer, Tabitha was brought back to life, and she continued her life of service towards her fellow men and women.

“Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down, and prayed; and turning him to the body said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up. And he gave her his hand, and lifted her up, and when he had called the saints and widows, presented her alive” (Acts 9:40, 41).

The last registered resurrection was of the sleepy Eutychus, who, sitting in a window, was listening to Paul’s extensive discourse when he was overcome by a deep sleep and fell out of the window.

Paul, embarrassed by the situation, descended the stairs to where the body lay and brought the young man back to where they were. They celebrated and continued to listen to Paul until morning.

“There sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead. And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him. When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed” (Acts 20:9–11).

—To be continued in next issue.