Does the resurrection of Lazarus contradict Hebrews 9:27?

Question

 If the Bible says “it is appointed to man once to die and then the judgment,” how do we harmonize Lazarus being raised from the dead and thus having to die twice?  The same question applies for anyone who was recorded in the Bible as having been raised from the dead.

Answer

While it does seem that the resurrection of Lazarus contradicts Hebrews 9:27, it does not.  The verse in Hebrews speaks of the ultimate end of every man because of the fall of Adam.  When Adam sinned in the Garden, God imposed death as the consequence of sin. And the book of Romans confirms that the “wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).  Therefore, Adam, and everyone born since him, has death as the penalty of sin imposed upon them.  

The death imposed in the Garden, and upon all mankind, was both a spiritual death and a physical death. Adam and Eve died spiritually at that time, and they began to die physically.  While Jesus made a way for mankind to be born again spiritually and live forever, the physical body still dies.  Hebrews 9:27 is speaking of that physical death and declares there to be only one physical death, then the judgment.

No Contradiction

So how could Lazarus (and others) be raised from the dead, live again, and die a second physical death?  The simple answer is that those who were resurrected and brought back to life were resurrected by a miracle of God. And in doing so, God set aside the natural order of what physical life has been since the fall of man — one physical death. 

We know there were also times when God set aside the natural order with a miracle of His doing.  There was the long day of Joshua, in which the sun “stood still” (Josh 10:13).  There was also the star that led the wise men to Jesus following His birth (Matthew 2:7-10).  We know our God is omnipotent and can do whatever He wills (Psa 115:3).  Just as God can re-birth a spiritually dead soul, He can also physically “re-birth” a dead body.  But only God can do such.  Only He can set aside the natural order He created or ordained. Therefore, the resurrection of Lazarus does not deny what is said in Hebrews 9:27.  It was a miracle that supersedes that which is common to man (death), and it was done to testify of who Jesus is and the power of Almighty God.  

So also, in the New Testament, there were resurrections by God through His servants, Paul and Peter.  These were done to affirm their apostleship and display the might of God through His miracles. 

Why These Resurrections?

This raises another question, why did God do resurrection miracles? 

Resurrections recorded in the Old Testament were meant to be a sign for those who witnessed them (under the Old Covenant).  It was to display God’s power over life and death, and, in the case of Lazarus, to reveal Jesus as their Messiah, the Anointed One sent by God, because the Jews knew that only the power of God could raise someone from the dead. 

Resurrections after the cross also display the power of God, then working through His servants, and thereby authenticating their apostleship.

Another Question

So why doesn’t God resurrect people during the time in which we live?  It could be a way of revealing His power and might to the lost. 

Before answering that question with biblical reasoning, be aware that some people claim God has resurrected people back to life.  However, those claims cannot be fully substantiated.   There is a difference between resuscitating a body at the time of clinical death and resurrecting, or physically regenerating a body, that is confirmed dead by clinical diagnosis and the passage of time.    Remember, Lazarus had already been dead and in the grave for four days.  After that amount of time, decomposition had already set in… for (as is so profoundly stated in the King James Bible) “he stinketh” (John 11:39).  Only after the soul has permanently departed a clinically dead body, is a person truly physically dead.  And as of now, medical science is unable to measure the departure of the soul.  

A Biblical Reasoning

While we cannot speak for God and answer why He does not resurrect people in our time, we can reason “why” from Scripture.  As mentioned, resurrections were a sign of God’s power and might.  And God gave His people, Israel, such signs so that they would believe.  We are told that the Jews required a sign (1 Corinthians 1:22), and Jesus performed signs and wonders to reveal Himself as their promised Messiah (John 4:48, John 20:30).  Peter confirmed this in his sermon on the day of Pentecost:

Acts 2:22, 32-33  “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know… This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.

Acts 2:36  “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

2 Cor 5:7  For we walk by faith, not by sight.

While the Old Covenant Jews required a sign, we do not.  We have the written testimony of the life, death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.  

All mankind will die one death physically, and then face the judgment of their eternal destiny.  Those who have come to Jesus in faith, been regenerated spiritually by Him, and given His righteousness (Read about Imputed Righteousness), will be judged worthy to live eternally with Him.   For those who have rejected God’s free gift of salvation, they will die one physical death, be judged unworthy and spiritually dead, and will live eternally separated from their Creator.  

So Hebrews 9:27 is true in that all will die one physical death, followed by judgment.  As Christians, our judgment is “You are worthy in Christ” and we will enter into Heaven and God’s presence  (2 Cor 5:8).  So death is a blessing of our inheritance as God’s children. 

This explains why God would not resurrect a believer to physical life after death.

It would be taking away the gain of which Paul spoke.  

Philippians 1:21  For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

It would be stripping away the reward that Jesus promised.

John 14:2-3  In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

It would be rescinding the glory that we long to obtain.

2 Thessalonians 2:14  Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:17-18  For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

2 Corinthians 5:1-2  For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.  For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven.

Conclusion

The resurrection of Lazarus was not a contradiction of Hebrews 9:27.  It was a revelation of the power of our mighty God, given at that time as a sign for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  During the time of the early church, such signs were still needed to authenticate the ministry of the apostles.  In our time, such signs are not needed.  Jesus has been fully revealed by His life, death, burial, and resurrection and in His Word is the testimony we need to walk by faith.  

Rom 10:17  So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

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