Inspiration/Revelation: What It Is and How It Works

The Two “Special Resurrections”

An illustration of how those writings give us not only additional details but also suggest new relationships between certain specific passages of Scripture is seen in the treatment Ellen White gives in her discussion of the two special resurrections spoken of in the Bible. IRWHW 78.6

1. The special resurrection at Easter. Twice in the Bible, once in Matthew’s Gospel and once in Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians, there is mentioned an intriguing subject with tantalizingly little detail: the special resurrection that took place on Easter Sunday morning and the amazing aftermath, 40 days later at the Ascension. IRWHW 78.7

These are the facts as they are found in Scripture: In Matthew 27:51-53 we are told that (a) there was an earthquake at the moment of Christ’s death; (b) It opened a number of graves; (c) after Christ arose Sunday morning “many” were raised to life; (d) these persons were identified as “saints” (in the Bible a saint is not some super-righteous, miracle-working holy person, but rather an ordinary, garden-variety Christian, a sinner saved by grace); (e) the persons raised from the dead then went into Jerusalem (“the holy city”); (f) they appeared to “many” of the citizens of that place; and in Ephesians 4:8 (margin) we are further told that (g) they ascended with Christ to heaven 40 days after they were raised from the dead. IRWHW 78.8

Ellen White, however, draws back the veil and gives nearly a dozen additional facts of identification and information: IRWHW 78.9

• During their natural lifetimes they were “co-laborers with God.” ⁴¹

• They were martyrs; “at the cost of their lives” ⁴² “they had borne their testimony unflinchingly for the truth.” ⁴³

• They represented “every age” of history “from creation down even to the days of Christ.” ⁴⁴ (Abel was the first martyr; John the Baptist the last martyr of record before Calvary.)

• They differed in stature and form, “some being more noble in appearance than others.... Those who lived in the days of Noah and Abraham resembled the angels in form, comeliness, and strength.” ⁴⁵ [Adam was more than twice the height of men now living; Eve a little shorter (her head came a little above his shoulders)]. ⁴⁶

• These were raised to immortality; ⁴⁷ whereas the three persons raised during Christ’s pre-Calvary ministry were not raised to eternal life, and subsequently died again. ⁴⁸

• Christ was the One who raised them to life. ⁴⁹

• Their work was to witness to the resurrection of Christ. They were witnesses that the priests could not silence. ⁵⁰ Their testimony contradicted the perjury of the bribed Roman soldiers. ⁵¹

• Their message was: The sacrifice for man is now complete; Jesus, whom the Jews crucified, is now risen from the dead. ⁵² The proof? “We be risen with Him.” ⁵³

• They were the living fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 26:19. ⁵⁴

• Jesus presented them in person to His Father in heaven as the first fruits of all the righteous dead who someday would be brought back to life. ⁵⁵

It is true that in Ellen White’s writings we have “no new topic, no new revelation, no new doctrine“: but we do have a great deal of new information! IRWHW 79.1

2. The special resurrection just before the second coming of Christ. Four passages of Scripture speak, directly or by implication, of a special resurrection just before the second coming of Christ. ⁵⁶ Ellen White interprets for us: There will be three classes of people—(a) all those who have died in the faith under the third angel’s message, keeping the Sabbath; (b) the crucifiers of Jesus who did not find salvation before they died 19 centuries ago; and (c) the most violent opponents of Christ’s truth and His people. ⁵⁷ Only the first two categories are reasonably inferred from Scripture, the third comes to us as additional, extrabiblical information, from the prophetic gift in our own time. IRWHW 79.2