But I know there is someone in heaven who will come at last to my defense.

Even after my skin is eaten by disease, while still in this body I will see God.

I felt the powerful presence of the LORD, and his spirit took me and set me down in a valley where the ground was covered with bones.

He said to me, "Mortal man, can these bones come back to life?" I replied, "Sovereign LORD, only you can answer that!"

Tell them that I, the Sovereign LORD, am saying to them: I am going to put breath into you and bring you back to life.

So I prophesied as I had been told. While I was speaking, I heard a rattling noise, and the bones began to join together.

God said to me, "Mortal man, prophesy to the wind. Tell the wind that the Sovereign LORD commands it to come from every direction, to breathe into these dead bodies, and to bring them back to life."

God said to me, "Mortal man, the people of Israel are like these bones. They say that they are dried up, without any hope and with no future.

When I open the graves where my people are buried and bring them out, they will know that I am the LORD.

Jesus answered them, "How wrong you are! It is because you don't know the Scriptures or God's power.

Now, as for the dead rising to life: haven't you ever read what God has told you? He said,

Do not be surprised at this; the time is coming when all the dead will hear his voice

and come out of their graves: those who have done good will rise and live, and those who have done evil will rise and be condemned.

Why do you who are here find it impossible to believe that God raises the dead?

This is how it will be when the dead are raised to life. When the body is buried, it is mortal; when raised, it will be immortal.

When buried, it is a physical body; when raised, it will be a spiritual body. There is, of course, a physical body, so there has to be a spiritual body.

We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will take back with Jesus those who have died believing in him.

There will be the shout of command, the archangel's voice, the sound of God's trumpet, and the Lord himself will come down from heaven. Those who have died believing in Christ will rise to life first;

Then the sea gave up its dead. Death and the world of the dead also gave up the dead they held. And all were judged according to what they had done.

The length of our lives is decided beforehand--- the number of months we will live. You have settled it, and it can't be changed.

Human life is like forced army service, like a life of hard manual labor,

Job lived a hundred and forty years after this, long enough to see his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Trust in the LORD. Have faith, do not despair. Trust in the LORD.

I waited patiently for the LORD's help; then he listened to me and heard my cry.

He pulled me out of a dangerous pit, out of the deadly quicksand. He set me safely on a rock and made me secure.

The LORD is good to everyone who trusts in him,

So it is best for us to wait in patience---to wait for him to save us---

Be patient, then, my friends, until the Lord comes. See how patient farmers are as they wait for their land to produce precious crops. They wait patiently for the autumn and spring rains.

You also must be patient. Keep your hopes high, for the day of the Lord's coming is near.

I've lost all hope, so what if God kills me? I am going to state my case to him.

Listen to this secret truth: we shall not all die, but when the last trumpet sounds, we shall all be changed in an instant, as quickly as the blinking of an eye. For when the trumpet sounds, the dead will be raised, never to die again, and we shall all be changed.

(SEE 15:51)

He will change our weak mortal bodies and make them like his own glorious body, using that power by which he is able to bring all things under his rule.