Many Or All Will Be Resurrected?

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It is written:

Daniel 12:1-2-At that time Michael shall stand up, The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; And there shall be a time of trouble, Such as never was since there was a nation, Even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, Every one who is found written in the book. 2  And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt.

The Bible is clear that at the Lord’s Second Coming, there will be a resurrection of all the dead.

John 5:28-29-Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29  and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.

John 6:39-This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.

John 6:40-And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

John 6:44-No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.

John 6:54-Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

John 11:24-Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

John 12:48-He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.

Yet we are also told in Daniel that “many” will arise at the end of time.

Is this a contradiction?

Not at all.

Very simply, the word “many” as used in the Bible often had reference to “all.”

“But the use of the word ‘many’ in Hebrew is not quite parallel with its use in English. Hebrew rabbîm‚ ‘many’, tends to mean ‘all’, as in Deuteronomy 7: 1; Isaiah 2: 2, where ‘all nations’ becomes ‘many peoples’ in the parallel verse 3; and in Isaiah 52: 14, 15; 53: 11, 12, where this key-word occurs no fewer than five times, with an inclusive significance. 31 As Jeremias points out, the Hebrew word kol, ‘all’, means either ‘totality’ or ‘sum’; there is no word for ‘all’ as a plural. For this rabbîm does duty, and so comes to mean ‘the great multitude’, ‘all’; cf. ‘Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth …’ (NIV). The emphasis is not upon many as opposed to all, but rather on the numbers involved. In the light of this usage our author can be seen to be thinking of a general resurrection prior to judgment. Jesus almost certainly has this verse in mind in Matthew 25: 46 and John 5: 28, 29. As in chapters 2, and 7, the world as we know it has come to an end and an entirely new order has come, because the everlasting God has broken into time. He is the source of everlasting righteousness (9: 24) and of everlasting life, wording first coined32 here in the Old Testament, though other writers express the conviction that the warmth of fellowship with the Lord that they enjoyed on earth could not be ended merely by death (Pss 16: 11; 17: 15; 73: 23, 24; Isa. 26: 19).” (Joyce G. Baldwin, Daniel: An Introduction and Commentary (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries Book 23), 225-226 (Kindle Edition); Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic)

The Word of God is clear that at the Return of Christ, ALL will stand before Him. Our only hope of redemption is if we are found in Christ (Ephesians 1:3), and we enter into Christ when we as believers in Him repent of our sins and are immersed (baptized) in water (Acts 2:38; Galatians 3:26-27).

Have you been baptized into Christ?

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen.

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