The Resurrection

Here we discuss the doctrine of the resurrection. This is derived mainly from the book of Daniel, Jesus teaching in the Gospel of John and Paul’s teaching. Revelation depicts this doctrine in symbolic form. What did Jesus and Paul teach concerning the two resurrections? How do these relate to the millennium?

Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection: on such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with Him a thousand years. (Rev 20:6).

Through the first resurrection saints reign with Christ. Through the first resurrection we enter into the kingdom of Christ. Both the believers on earth and those now in heaven are reigning with Christ through being partakers in the first resurrection. What is this first resurrection? Jesus spoke of two resurrections. The first resurrection Jesus spoke of was the new birth:

…He that hears My word and believes on Him that sent Me, has everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death to life…The hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father has life in Himself; so has He given to the Son to have life in Himself. (John 5:24-26).

In these verses Jesus spoke of the new birth, being raised from death in sin to life. He said, “The hour is coming and now is…” Jesus came to usher in His kingdom and the new birth. His kingdom was at hand, coming and was already here, about to be fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost. In this resurrection we have already passed from death to life. It is now, through the hearing of faith, not in the future (Rom 10:17). This is the first resurrection. Those who are born again reign with Christ:
…much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. (Rom 5:17).

Paul also described the first resurrection in Ephesians:

And you has He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins…But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath made us alive together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved). (Eph 2:1-5).

The Second Resurrection

Going back to John 5, Jesus goes on to describe the second resurrection:
(The Father) has given Him (Jesus Christ) authority to execute judgement also…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, to the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, to the resurrection of damnation. (John 5:27-29).

This speaks of the judgement at the end of the world. This hour is in the future. The dead bodies shall rise from the graves, both the just and the wicked in the same hour. There is no gap between the resurrection of the just and of the wicked. They are both in the same hour. The resurrection of the body at the last day is also spoken of by Jesus in another place:

Martha said to Him, I know that he (Lazarus) shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life: he that believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this? (John 11:24-26).

It is claimed that John 11 pre-figures the bodily resurrection at the end of the world. Martha said that she knew that Lazarus would rise on the last day. Jesus said that He is the resurrection, meaning both that in Him is eternal life for those who believe and also that He is the one who will give life to our bodies on the last day.

The last day is distinguished from the term last-days, or latter days. The terms last-days and latter days were used by the prophets concerning the end of the Old Covenant era. Peter confirms this is Acts 2 where he refers to Joel’s last-days being fulfilled at Pentecost. The last day is the bodily resurrection at the end of the world. We do not know when this will be and it has no direct relation to the term last-days.

In John 11 Jesus said two things about the second or the bodily resurrection. He said that the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then He said those who are alive and believe in Him will not die. This is exactly what Paul said.

For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain to the coming of the Lord shall not go before them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thes 4:15-17).

Paul said he was passing onto the church of the Thessalonians what Jesus had given the apostles. This is what Paul means by the term the word of the Lord. He meant what Jesus had said in the flesh when on earth. Paul referred to the word of the Lord in his epistles, e.g. with regard to divorce in 1st Corinthians 7 and the Lord’s Supper in 1 Cor 11. 1 Cor 15:1-7 is another example of Paul referring to New Testament scripture already in existence.

In 1st Thessalonians Paul was referring to John 11. The dead in Christ rise first, then we which are alive in Christ are changed and join the others in the air, i.e. we do not die. Paul did not speculate when this would be. He did not even state the season. He did not say it was near at hand. In fact he said it was not at hand. We discuss this in another chapter.
In 1st Corinthians 15 Paul spoke of this again and the context intimates that Paul saw it as far off:

Then comes the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father…the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. (1 Cor 15:24, 26).

Paul said that Christ would reign until the end, when the kingdom would be handed to the Father at the resurrection of the dead. He is speaking here of the resurrection of the body. Paul did not say when this would happen. He did not say he was expecting it soon. This passage speaks of the end of the world, as does Rom 8:19-25, Heb 2:8-10, as does also the last chapter of the book of Revelation.

Some might ask, “How do we know when Revelation is symbolic and when it is literal? How do we know that the first resurrection is about new birth and that the second is about the body?”. We know by what the rest of scripture teaches. The epistles teach that the new birth is the first resurrection and the physical resurrection of the body occurs after the reign of Christ. The Revelation does not add any new doctrine to the epistles.