Bible Answer Man Explains When Christians Will Receive Resurrected Bodies, What Happens After Death
"Bible Answer Man" Hank Hanegraaff on Monday explained when believers will receive their eternal resurrected bodies following death, and what will happen to people who are still alive to witness Jesus' return.
A listener named Barbara asked Hanegraaff in a Facebook video if he can explain what the Bible says about people receiving their resurrected bodies.
The president of the Christian Research Institute noted that he wrote about that subject in his 2016 book, AfterLife: What You Need to Know About Heaven, the Hereafter & Near-Death Experiences.
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"I talk about life as we are experiencing it in the present, and then about life after life. And what that entails is that when you die as a believer, you are absent from the body, present with the Lord. But there's also life after life after life, which is when Jesus appears a second time," Hanegraaff described.
He pointed to Jesus' Words in John 5:28-29, where He says: "Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out — those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned."
Hanegraaff said that what this means in a concrete fashion is that "someone who has died this year, died as a believer, they are absent from the body, present with the Lord. Their body is disintegrating in the grave, their soul is aware in the presence of God. That will be so until the time that the Lord descends, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel, and the trumpet call of God."
"At that time, you will then see that those who are already in the graves will be resurrected. The souls will return to the resurrected bodies, and we will be what we were intended to be prior to the Fall (of Adam and Eve)," the Bible Answer Man continued.
"If you are alive at that time, you are transformed in the moment, in the twinkling of an eye. So I think we need to make a distinction between the intermediate state, and the eternal state."
Later on, Hanegraaff said that "this is our hope, isn't it? Our hope is that we are going to be resurrected when Jesus appears a second time — immortal, imperishable, incorruptible."
Hanegraaff, who in 2017 revealed that he's battling mantle cell lymphoma, a type of cancer, has spoken about what will happen to believers at Jesus' return on a number of occasions these past few months.
In March, he said that Christ will physically appear to the world when He returns a second time.
"Jesus appears physically — of that there is no doubt. The Christian faith is not platonic, it is physical. That is one of the reasons God used physical objects on this Earth to point to spiritual verities," he responded to another listener's question.
He affirmed that "millions and trillions" of people will be raised.
"I know that it will be wonderful, because the Bible describes it as glorious," Hanegraaff said of the new bodies people will receive.
Watch Hanegraaff's video below:
