NOTES for Isa 26:19
The theme of universal resurrection appears quite early in prophetic preaching. Isaiah of Jerusalem already speaks of it quite clearly. As for existence after death—whether blessed or wretched—the biblical books say practically nothing about it, and what little they do mention is based not on revelation received by their authors but on pre-biblical pagan experience.
There is nothing surprising about this. What, after all, is the afterlife described at length, for example, in Egyptian and Greek sacred books? Ultimately it is a condition that can be called life in the full sense only with certain qualifications. Human consciousness is indeed preserved in the state after death described by these sources; this is not the biblical Sheol, the realm of shadows where, strictly speaking, there is no life at all. Yet the human being as God conceived and created him cannot be reduced to consciousness alone, even though self-awareness truly is the foundation of spiritual life. A human being possesses both a psychic and a physical nature, and this nature is necessary precisely for a full spiritual life. The preservation of consciousness alone, even in all its fullness and clarity, is therefore insufficient for such a life.
And God revealed to His people that what awaits everyone at the end of the journey is not an afterlife but resurrection—a return to life in all its transfigured fullness, the only life that can be considered worthy of a human being as the image of God.