Raising the dead - resurrections or resuscitations?

Reports of people being raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit seem to be increasing across the world. We have recently heard, first hand from Canon Andrew White, the Vicar of Baghdad (incidentally a St. Thomas's Hospital anaesthetist before ordination), of 27 such raisings at his church.

I in no sense want to minimise these wonderful and miraculous events, which powerfully point to the reality of the Kingdom of God amongst us, but some have referred to these raisings as resurrections when they are not.

There has only been one observed bodily resurrection from the dead in all of history: that of Jesus Christ. What we are hearing about, and many are clearly witnessing, is in fact resuscitation from physical death.

The difference may seem academic until one accepts that Jesus rose physically from the dead never to die again. Those who have subsequently been raised from death will, like us all, still suffer a physical death. Lazarus is a New Testament example of this (Gospel of John, Chapter 11). Resuscitation is to be seen as the ultimate physical healing in this life.

Lest I leave any doubt about the reality of eternal life after death, there is good news. The promise of a final resurrection, with the gift of new resurrection bodies, holds good for all those who trust in Jesus Christ, whether they have been resuscitated in this life or not.