When people in ancient Israel died and were buried, it was believed that their souls went down and stayed in the dark underworld called "Sheol" or "Hades." Later, when the people of Judah were in exile in Babylon about 600 years before Jesus was born, some prophets announced the idea of someone coming back to life after being dead. This was an important belief that helped God's people look forward to the future with hope (Isa 26:19; Ezek 37). The prophet Daniel declared that the people of God will be raised from the dead. The wicked will be punished, but those who have obeyed God will awaken to everlasting life (Dan 12:2,3).

Other cultures in the ancient world had similar, but not identical, ideas about what happens to people after they die. Many Greeks, for instance, believed in the immortality of the soul, meaning that the soul would continue to exist even after the body died. But resurrection as it is often described in the New Testament is different because a person's whole being, including the body, is raised to life.

The disciples who saw Jesus after he had risen from death believed that God had
accepted Jesus' death as a sacrifice for human sins. Mark reports that the disciples are told they would see Jesus (Mark 16:8), but the other Gospels report that the disciples actually did see him (Matt 28; Luke 24; John 20,21). Paul describes how he met Christ risen from the dead, just as Peter and many others had (1 Cor 15:3-8). Adam's disobedience was the model for all human beings until Christ came. Now all God's people can be sure of life beyond the grave, since Christ continued to obey God even when it led to his being put to death (Phil 2:8). So, he was raised from death (Phil 2:10) and became the first of a whole new family of God (1 Cor 15:20-24) who would be raised from death.

Even though Jesus had told his followers that God would raise him from the dead, they did not believe him until he met them as the risen Christ and Lord. They were given his promise that they would always live with him (John 14:19,20) and that they would be accepted by God (Eph 2:5,6). The new family of God (Col 1:18) has confidence that sin and death will be completely overcome and that even now they are being changed by God and given new life (2 Cor 3:18; Phil 3:21). The climax will come when Christ comes back again as the one who defeats death and the powers of evil (1 Cor 15:23,24; 1 Thes 4:14). Christ's people will join with him in ruling over a brand new creation (Rev 20:4).