5. Resurrection from the dead. Early revelation. In the Old Testament Church, for a long time, there was no teaching about posthumous retribution. She borrowed her view of the afterlife from the Canaanites and the peoples of Mesopotamia. The biblical Sheol (Hell) was a dark abyss where the light of the Lord does not reach, where the shadows of people are semi-conscious (Psalm 6:6; 87:11-12; Job 7:9).

The Egyptians, on the contrary, taught that after death the soul would suffer a fate corresponding to its earthly affairs. Israel was not given to accept this view of immortality and retribution on the other side of the grave. The Old Testament Church was prepared for the knowledge of another, more complete truth – the truth about the resurrection from the dead.

The first covert indications of it appear even before the Captivity. In the prayer of Hannah, the mother of St. Samuel, it is said that the Lord "brings down to hell and raises up" (1 Samuel 2:6). And Psalm 138:8 expresses the belief that the power of the Eternal extends to the Underworld.

The grim certainty that man in Sheol is forever cut off from life and God is contrasted with the hope that God is able to snatch mortals from the abyss:

You will not leave my soul in hell, and thou shalt not suffer thy holy one to see corruption. (Psalm 15:10)

It is important to note that we are not talking about the natural immortality of the spirit, but about the complete and complete liberation of man from the Underworld. But the Psalmist speaks of this as an exceptional miracle of God's mercy to the chosen righteous (as was the case with Enoch and Elijah):

But I am always with You; You're holding my right hand. Thou guidest me by thy counsel; AND THEN YOU WILL RECEIVE ME INTO GLORY. (Psalm 72:23-24) But God will deliver my soul from the power of the Underworld, when he accepts me. (Psalm 48:16)

These Psalms do not explain how this will happen. The Psalmist, led by the Spirit, only hopes that there is a different outcome for man than the one depicted by Ecclesiastes. Salvation from Sheol is brought by the One who holds in His hands the keys of life and death.

6. The Apocalypse of Isaiah (24-27). The first Revelation of the resurrection of the dead is found in the Apocalypse of Isaiah, which was written by one of the prophets of his school in the middle of the fourth century.

At that time, the rise of Macedonia began. King Philip, Alexander's father, was preparing for great campaigns of conquest. Revolts and unrest undermined the Iranian Akhmenid monarchy, weakened by the war with Greece. Egypt and Phoenicia were separated from the Persians.

The Apocalypse of Isaiah does not refer directly to these events. He speaks of the inner essence of history and, as it were, divides the world into two poles: on the one – the pagan kingdoms built on violence, on the other – the city of salvation, the ideal Jerusalem. The forces rebelling against God are personified by the prophet as monsters of Chaos. They rage like an angry sea, but the day of judgment is near, when the dark elements will be finally defeated:

On that Day the Lord will smite with His sword heavy, and big, and strong, Leviathan, a serpent running straight, and Leviathan, the bending serpent, And he will kill the monster of the sea. (Isaiah 27:1)

The death of the sons of Chaos will mean the end of the era of resistance to God. Satan's dark world will be destroyed in the final eschatological battle (Is 26:14).

The Church of the faithful, having passed the purifying path of sorrows, will rise in triumph.