Page 45 - Gods Plan of the Ages

*Twelve denotes governmental perfection.

Hence the number three points us to what is real, essential, perfect, substantial, complete,
and Divine.
[End Excerpt]

If there were only one resurrection, it would lack the marks of being "perfect,
substantial, complete, and Divine." To bring the creation to a perfect and complete state
Yahweh has determined that there must be three resurrections. We need go no further than
the first chapter of the Bible to see resurrection depicted, and to find it related to the
number three. As Yahweh moved to re-create the earth, the narrative of Genesis tells us that
on the third day God caused the earth to arise out from under the waters. Prior to this the
waters covered all things.

Genesis 1:9-13
Then God said, "Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the
dry land appear"; and it was so. And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of
the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good... And there was evening and
there was morning, a third day.

On the third day we see the first pattern for resurrection. The land arising out of the
water stands as a symbol of man arising out of death. Man's flesh was formed of the dust
of the earth, and throughout Scriptures we see man passing through, or arising from waters,
serving as a sign of death and resurrection. Baptism serves as a figure of the same.

Romans 6:3-5
Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Yahshua have been
baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into
death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we
too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness
of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection...

Baptism serves as a parable of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, and of
those who become one with Christ. As we are put beneath the waters, we symbolically die
to our old Adamic life that is enslaved to sin. As we are brought up out of the water, we are
resurrected to newness of life in Christ. This resurrection was foreshadowed as early as the
first chapter of Genesis as the earth from which man's flesh would be formed arose from its
watery tomb. This happened on the third day, even as Christ rose from the grave on the
third day. The number three is inseparably linked to resurrection.
(The three resurrections of man will be addressed more specifically later. At this time
I will take a more general view of resurrection while bringing out certain truths.)
As we look at the types and shadows of the Old Testament we can determine when the
first resurrection must occur. The types of the Old Testament also affirm the truth that all
men will eventually be saved. A common type that Yahweh has given to us to show forth
resurrection is the harvesting of a crop. Christ employed a harvest allegory in one of His
parables to reveal the resurrection at the end of the age.

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
Yahshua presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be