In Ecclesiastes, chapter three, verse twenty-one, “Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?” By physical observation, one can determine if a person’s spirit goes “upward.” Solomon revealed the meaning of this verse when he said in chapter twelve, verse seven, “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”
The theme title, “The spirit of man that goeth upward,” resonates with Daniel twelve, verse two, “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” The verse contains the simplest Old Testament reference to the resurrection of the righteous and the wicked, revealing that there are two destinies for all humankind. Jesus indicates that there are two distinct resurrections, as in John five, verses twenty-eight to twenty-nine, “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice; And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.”
The New Testament does not teach a single general simultaneous resurrection for all the dead. It speaks of a resurrection of many “bodies of saints” occurring immediately after Jesus’ resurrection. However, no one likes to talk about the afterlife, but it is amazing how God made people in His image. To live and breathe and have our being. Still, how does the body decay when the spirit leaves? “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”