A friend of mine seems to think that it is possible for someone to raise from the dead now. I thought that Jesus was the last person to do that. He seems to think that I am underestimating God’s power. I believe that God can do anything, but I don’t think He will raise anybody from the dead simply because there is no need to do so anymore. Do you know the answer?<\/p>\n\t
Actually Paul raised a young man after the resurrection: “And in a window sat a certain young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep. He was overcome by sleep; and as Paul continued speaking, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. But Paul went down, fell on him, and embracing him said, “Do not trouble yourselves, for his life is in him.” Now when he had come up, had broken bread and eaten, and talked a long while, even till daybreak, he departed. And they brought the young man in alive, and they were not a little comforted<\/em>” (Acts 20:9-12).<\/p>\n But your friend is playing a common trick of exchanging what is possible for what is actual. It is possible for God to end the world tomorrow, but that possibility does not then mean it will actually happen.<\/p>\n Yes, it is possible for God to raise people from the dead. He has demonstrated that power in the past and promised to do so one day in the future. “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth — those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation<\/em>” (John 5:28-29). The question is never God’s ability. The question is if God has chosen to do so in these times.<\/p>\n In the past raising people from the dead was not something arbitrarily done. Many people died and were not raised. Only a few were raised. Those raised were done to accomplish a purpose. Usually, it was to show that the person involved was a prophet of God and that God was using him to deliver a message.<\/p>\n So the real question is: Where is the evidence that God is doing it today? Because while God can do as He pleases, He stated that miracles would cease. “Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away<\/em>” (I Corinthians 13:8). Thus it isn’t a question of what God can do, but believing what God said.<\/p>\n People in charismatic religions are much like the Israelites who were told to go into Canaan to conquer it. When they refused and said they would rather die, God told them that they then would die in the wilderness. Some then decided that they should go anyway. Moses warned them that God would not be with them. He already told them what to do, but they demonstrated their disbelief by going, and they were killed as a result. Today people refuse to believe that God said He would stop giving people the ability to do miracles. Thus, they continue on claiming that they have the ability — though no evidence exists that it is there. As Jesus warned, “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’<\/em>” (Matthew 7:22-23).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: A friend of mine seems to think that it is possible for someone to raise from the dead now. I thought that Jesus was the last person to do that. He seems to think that I am underestimating God’s power. I believe that God can do anything, but I don’t think He will raise…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[109,363,664],"class_list":["post-19984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-death","tag-miracles","tag-resurrection"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":24427,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-the-dead-cannot-come-back-to-earth-then-how-did-jesus-raise-the-dead\/","url_meta":{"origin":19984,"position":0},"title":"If the dead cannot come back to earth, then how did Jesus raise the dead?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 1, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If Jesus said that dead people cannot come back to earth, how did He raise Lazarus and some other people? Answer: \"So man lies down and does not rise. Till the heavens are no more, They will not awake Nor be roused from their sleep\" (Job 14:12). \"And as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1988,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-the-bible-speak-of-souls-sleeping\/","url_meta":{"origin":19984,"position":1},"title":"Does the Bible speak of souls sleeping?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 14, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do the Scriptures ever speak of souls sleeping anywhere? Answer: A common idiom for death is sleep. \"But man dies and is laid away; indeed he breathes his last and where is he? As water disappears from the sea, and a river becomes parched and dries up, so man\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":65300,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jesus-the-firstborn-from-the-dead\/","url_meta":{"origin":19984,"position":2},"title":"Jesus, the Firstborn from the Dead","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 2, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton \"And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood\" (Revelation 1:5 NKJV). \"Firstborn\" is a term that can point\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51832,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-should-you-think-it-incredible\/","url_meta":{"origin":19984,"position":3},"title":"Why Should You Think It Incredible?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 27, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Hugh DeLong The death of Jesus was a stumbling block. The resurrection of Jesus also causes many to stumble. In preaching to the Athenian philosophers, Paul testified that God had raised Jesus from the dead. \"Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked\" (Acts 17:34).\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4060,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-jesus-believe-in-life-after-death\/","url_meta":{"origin":19984,"position":4},"title":"Did Jesus believe in life after death?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 13, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Did Jesus believe in life after death all of his earthly life? Was His knowledge gained from the Torah, or was it revealed specifically to Him by God? Answer: Christians believe that Jesus was God in the flesh and thus the author of the Torah (the five books of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4640,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-jesus-comes-again-who-will-be-raised\/","url_meta":{"origin":19984,"position":5},"title":"When Jesus comes again, who will be raised?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 6, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Concerning when Jesus comes again, who will be raised? Just a few chosen or everyone? What about all the aborted babies? Have the saints already risen? I have so many questions on the subject that I don't know how to ask them all. If all the poor aborted babies\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19984\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}