Bible Study Seattle

Are there any hints about resurrection we can learn from pregnancy?  How much is nature telling us about the future?  “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”  Romans 1:20

“Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God.  For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.   Jesus replied,  “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”  “How can someone be born when they are old?”  Nicodemus asked.  “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”  Jesus answered,  “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.  Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’  The wind blows wherever it pleases.  You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.  So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

We talk about Christians being born again, but the entire world will be born again!  In prophecy, time is usually given as a year for a day.  Human pregnancy is 40 weeks, or 280 days give or take.  Could the resurrection pregnancy take 280 years?  There is no way to know now, but we will know in the future!  Jesus must come back for his bride [the church], then they will have children.  But the time between his return and the time that Jews and Gentiles are resurrected back to life on earth will probably exceed 280 years.  Perhaps this is why Jesus is given a thousand years to restore creation?

“Heaven must receive him [Jesus] until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.”  Acts 3:21  What will happen in the interim between Jesus’ return and the resurrection “first to the Jew, then to the Gentile?”  Romans 1:16   This will surely give new meaning to the term second coming.

Pregnancy starts invisibly.  Thus the resurrection will probably start invisibly.  The first trimester can bring morning sickness;  perhaps this will manifest in the earth somehow?  Second trimester is said to be easiest, and third trimester is when women ‘show’.  Pregnancy gets very obvious at that point.  The birthing process itself starts around 40 weeks, plus or minus two weeks.  So it will be with the resurrection – the exact date will be unknown, but the general time will be known.  “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree:  As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near.  Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door.”  Matthew 24:32-33  Contractions start in groups followed by calm.  They gradually increase and get the woman physically ready to push out the baby.  “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.”  Mark 13:8  Often, contractions start at night.  Thus it will be that the evening will start the process to resurrection.  The first half of Hebrew days are ‘evening’, the second half ‘day’.  Thus, the first 500 years of the Millennium are ‘evening’, and the second 500 years are ‘day’.  The labor for the firstborn child is usually about twice as long as the second child.  Thus it will be that the church, the firstborn, will take twice as long to resurrect as the second born, the world.  Thus it may take the full 600 years between the Exodus and the completion of Solomon’s temple to resurrect all mankind.  When the baby is finally born, the woman rejoices and forgets all her pain.  “A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.”  John 16:21