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The Quick and The Dead

by Wayne Blank

"I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, Who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His Kingdom" (2 Timothy 4:1 KJV)
"But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you." (Romans 8:11 KJV)

Many of us can recall our surprise when we first learned that The Bible speaks not just of a resurrection, but of resurrections - more than one, separated by a long span of time. The future resurrections will occur in two stages, the first at the return of Jesus Christ (to our Jewish readers, that's what Rosh Hashanah, known to Christians as The Feast Of Trumpets, ultimately represents), and the second after the 1,000 years (to our Jewish readers, that's what Shemini Atzeret, "the 8th day" of Sukkot, ultimately represents - the 7 days of Sukkot, known to Christians as The Feast Of Tabernacles, represents the first 1,000 years after the earthly rule of the Messiah begins).

Resurrections Up To Now

Through Bible History, there are a number of recorded resurrections of people back to normal physical life after they had died from old age, illness or injury. All of these people would have died a natural death again later. A few examples:

The widow's son by Elijah (1 Kings 17-24)
The Shunammite's son by Elisha (2 Kings 4:32-35).
A man whose body had been placed in Elisha's tomb (2 Kings 13:21).
Lazarus by Jesus Christ (John 11:43-44).
The ruler's daughter by Jesus Christ (Matthew 9:23-26).
A number of people at the moment of the death of Jesus Christ (Matthew 27:51-53)
Eutychus raised back to life through Paul after he fell out of a third-floor window (Acts 20:9-10).
Tabitha by Peter (Acts 9:36-43)
Of course, the greatest resurrection up to now, the only one to glorious spirit life so far, was that of Jesus Christ Himself (Luke 24:1-53).

The Resurrection At The Return Of Christ

Those who have been truly called, and have repented, through all the ages up to the day of The Return of Jesus Christ will be resurrected from the dead, or instantly changed if they are alive that day, to eternal spirit life. They will serve Him, and rule the world with Him, during the 1,000 years (see The Elect):

"For this we declare to you by the word of The Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of The Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep.For The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel's call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air." (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 RSV).
"Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom judgment was committed. Also I saw the souls [see Where Is Your Soul?] of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life, and reigned with Christ a thousand years." (Revelation 20:4 RSV)

"This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and they shall reign with Him a thousand years." (Revelation 20:5-6)

The Resurrection At The End Of The 1,000 Years

All of the people who have lived through the ages who did not have the opportunity to learn of Christ and be converted will be resurrected back to physical life at the end of the 1,000 years - not as any sort of "second chance," but as their first chance. Then, for that relatively short time between the second resurrection and the final judgment, they will learn the truth and have the opportunity to repent and be converted. Those that choose to obey God will then be transformed into eternal spirit beings just as those who were changed at the Return of Christ 1,000 years before.

The logical reason that Satan will be released from his prison for a short time after being locked up for the previous 1,000 years is to test those who will then know the Truth for the first time, including the hundreds of millions of people of the last generation of humans then alive, the descendants of the humans that were born and lived through the 1,000 years when Satan had no influence over them, as he does with the world now.

"The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended." (Revelation 20:5 RSV)
"And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself any more, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it," when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left." (Isaiah 30:20-21 RSV)

"And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be loosed from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations which are at the four corners of the earth, that is, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city; but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever." (Revelation 20:7-10 RSV)

The Lake Of Fire

All of those through the ages who refused to repent after they learned the truth will be resurrected back to physical life for passing of the sentence that they will have brought upon themselves. These incorrigible wicked will be destroyed along with those who rebel later. They will be completely obliterated - burnt to lifeless ash. It will be as though they never existed.

"And the sea gave up the dead in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead in them, and all were judged by what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire; and if any one's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." (Revelation 20:13-15 RSV)
"For behold, the day comes, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says The Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear My Name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go forth leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says The Lord of hosts." (Malachi 4:1-3 RSV)

"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23 RSV) [i.e. an eternal death of complete oblivion after being burnt to ashes, not an eternal life of burning without end]

"For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind." (Isaiah 65:17 RSV) [i.e. "things" including the people who refused to repent and obey God when they were given the opportunity to do so, and who were completely destroyed in the lake of fire]

The Two Resurrections
By: Lehman Strauss

The resurrection of the human body from the grave is clearly taught in God’s Word. Job, the oldest of the patriarchs, said: “For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God” (Job 19:25-26). It is evident that Job was firm in his belief in the resurrection of his body and a future life beyond the grave.

Abraham, the founder and father of his race, lived to be one hundred seventy-five years old, and “died in a good old age” (Genesis 25:7-8), but “he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:10). He never saw that city in his earthly pilgrimage, for earth to him was a “strange country.” The godly old patriarch shared with others who “desire a better country, that is, an heavenly; wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He hath prepared for them a city” (Hebrews 11:16). But Abraham believed that the heavenly city would be inhabited by a fleshly body, “accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead . . .” (Hebrews 11:19).

David was confident of a future life. He said: “My flesh also shall rest in hope” (Psalm 16:9), and “I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness” (Psalm 17:15). These words of the man of God refute the erroneous teaching that the resurrection refers to the spirit of man, and not to his body. Neither the soul nor the spirit of man dies, but it is his body which dies and is buried. Therefore it must be the body that is raised from the dead, and not the soul or spirit.

When our Lord Jesus was here upon earth, He taught that all men who die will be raised again at some future date. “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, And shall come forth . . .” (John 5:28, 29). We affirm and avow our belief in the resurrection of the human body from death and the grave. Without this hope our Christian faith is vain, our brightest hopes are merely bursting bubbles, the Bible is not a true and reliable record, the men who wrote it were poor deluded victims of falsehood, and Jesus Christ is the world’s biggest impostor. But so clear is the Bible on the subject of the resurrection that we admit no confusion or doubt.

A Wrong Conception

Many people, among them some Christians, have been taught to believe that there is only one “general” resurrection of all the dead at the end of the world. This is a serious error which has robbed many believers of joy and victory in this life. Nowhere in the Scriptures are we taught that the bodies of all men will be raised at the same time. It is true that all the dead will be raised and brought into judgment, but neither the time, the place, nor the judgments are the same. The Bible clearly distinguishes between a first and a second resurrection.

. . . 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 (John 5:28-29).

When men are raised, not all will be raised at the same time nor in the same condition. There will be two resurrections for two classes of men. One will be raised to eternal life and immortality, while the other will be raised to condemnation and banishment from the presence of the Lord. There is a “resurrection of life” and a “resurrection of damnation.”

And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee; for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just (Luke 14:14).

There is, then, a “resurrection of the just,” and since “all shall come forth,” there must of necessity be a resurrection of the unjust. Since the dead in Christ shall rise first, the implication is that the dead out of Christ (or without Christ) will be raised afterwards. Luke makes no mention in the above passage about a resurrection of the unsaved. Indeed the unsaved shall be raised, but not for a considerable length of time after the saved have been raised. When Paul testified before Felix, he said, “that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust” (Acts 24:15). The Apostle John makes a clear distinction between the two. He speaks of the redeemed who “lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection” (Revelation 20:4-5).

Every believer has passed out of death into life (John 5:24). His life “is hid with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3), and the exceeding greatness of God’s power in resurrection toward us who believe is the same “mighty power which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead” (Ephesians 1:19-20). And by that same power will all the unbelieving dead be brought out of their graves to stand before the judgment of the Great White Throne.

The First Resurrection

“For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, and the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16).

Surely language could be no clearer than this--“The dead in Christ shall rise first.” We see first that the time of the First Resurrection is the coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ in the clouds of Heaven to rapture all of the saints to Himself. Here we must distinguish between Christ’s coming for His own before the millennium and His coming again to raise the rest of the dead (unbelievers) who remained in their graves during the thousand years. Let there be no misunderstanding that it is a settled fact that there is at least a one thousand year interval between the First and the Second Resurrection. The Apostle John, by Divine inspiration, confirms this,

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them; and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. (Revelation 20:4-5).....

http://bible.org/seriespage/two-resurrections