(Acts 26:8)….”Why should it be thought incredible by you that God raises the dead? Note the present tense of this verse. It does not say God previously raised the dead or God will only raise the dead in the future. Think about this…..our God is “I AM” – not “I WAS” or “I WILL BE” (Exodus 3:14). In other words, God is always the same, yesterday, today, and forever, and He can raise anyone from the dead at any time without breaking a sweat. (John 5:21)…..”For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. As a matter of fact, Elijah in (1 Kings 17:20-22), and Elisha in (2 Kings 4:32-35) both saw the dead raised.
Even after his death, touching the bones of Elisha caused a dead man to come back to life (2 Kings 13:21). This caused the word of Elijah to be fulfilled that Elisha would have a double anointing, enabling him to do twice as many miracles as Elijah.
(Hebrews 11:35)…..Women received their dead raised to life again. And others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Included in the “hall of faith” in Hebrews 11, are women who received their dead raised to life again. So it was a choice made by these women to press in and receive something extraordinary from God. Surely this includes the women mentioned in the above accounts with Elijah and Elisha. But there could have been others! Not only did Jesus raise someone from death three times during His earthly ministry (Luke 7:14), (Luke 8:54), (John 11:41-44).
After the resurrection of Jesus we find both Peter (Acts 9:40), and Paul (Acts 20:10) raising someone from death. So eight individual people are mentioned in the Bible who were raised from the dead. This does not count Jesus or the “many” mentioned in (Matthew 27:52-53) who were raised after His death. Abraham, whose faith we are to imitate (Romans 4:12,16), believed God would raise his son Isaac from death (Hebrews 11:19). In our day, as people have begun to literally believe what the Bible says, there are numerous testimonies from around the world of people being raised from death. Certainly, not everyone will be raised from death during this present age. Jesus did not raise every dead person to life during His earthly ministry and we are not supposed to raise everyone either. But why should we think it is a thing impossible for God to do?
But here is one of the greatest miracles God has ever done, and continues to do. Yes the Lord in a sense, still raises people from the dead. You see God just doesn’t raise people from the dead physically, but spiritually. I was once dead, but now I have been raised (alive) spiritually (Ephesians 2:1-10). Imagine that! The same God (our God) not only has the power to physically bring anyone He desires back to life, but the power to translate my life from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His beloved Son (Jesus). What do you think about that?