Resurrection of the Dead
This is a concept that is held in considerable doubt today by our increasingly secular world. However, faithful Saints know it is very much a future part of our eternal existence. Job testified of it (Job 19:25-26) from the Old Testament, as did Christ in the New Testament (John 5:25). Resurrection literally means to change from mortality to immortality. In our human life, we have a mortal body being governed by our developing and maturing human spirit. When we die, our mortal body goes to the grave while our spirit goes back to God for temporary assignment of residence. The spirits of the righteous (God makes this judgment) go to a pleasant place called Paradise, while the spirits of the wicked go to a place of confinement and retraining called the Prison House or Hell. At the time of the end of human affairs, a First Resurrection will occur at which time the righteous spirits come forth and join their immortal (resurrected) bodies, and they will become complete again. After a 1000-year Millennial Reign of those righteous persons with Christ, the wicked spirits will finally come forth from the Prison House and are joined to their resurrected bodies. Thus, there are in reality two resurrections approximately 1000 years apart. They are uniquely connected to the two processes of judgment. Resurrection preserves those qualities from mortal life which are, in God's judgment, worthy of being made eternal.