When will the Resurrection take place?

The next subject we have to consider is the resurrection of believers, including all “that are Christ's” (1 Cor.15:23), called also the resurrection of life (John 5:29), the first res­urrection (Rev.20:5,6), and the resurrection of the just (Luke 14:14). This takes place at the coming of the Lord (1 Cor.15:23) into the air (1 Thess.4:16,17), which may take place at any moment (Luke 12:40), and for which we wait (Rev.22:20). At this resurrection none of the wicked dead will be raised (Rev.20:5). Although sleeping in the same tomb, side-by-side, the “sheep” only will hear the Shep­herd's voice; the others who heeded it not in life will not then hear it in death, but will lie in their graves for the thou­sand years of the millennial age. Such then is the resurrection of life, and although in some verses it may seem to be very closely connected with the resurrection of judgment (John 5:29), both being said to take place in the same hour (5:28), yet we find from Revelation 20:5 that this hour extends over at least a thousand years, and that the resurrection at the last day, that we hear Martha speak of (John 11:24), has now been clearly divided into two parts — perfectly distinct in character and time.

What God did for Christ, He will presently do for all who belong to Christ. They will have a resurrection in character like to His. "Every man in his own order; Christ the first-fruits; afterwards they that are Christ's at His coming" (1 Cor. 15:23). The notion of a general resurrection at the end of time is erroneous. No such confusion could possibly mark the ways of God. He has drawn a sharp line of demarcation between those who serve Him and those who serve Him not. At the moment of Christ's descent into the air according to 1 Thess. 4, all believers who have fallen asleep from the beginning until that time will be raised from their tombs; and, together with the changed living ones, will be taken in triumph into the Father's house. Apocalyptic martyrs will subsequently be added to their number, but the mass of the believing dead will be raised at Christ's return. "Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection; on such the second death has no power" (Rev. 20:6).

A first resurrection implies that there will be a second. This will be the resurrection of judgement, and will take place at the close of Christ's kingdom — at least a thousand years after the resurrection of believers. The Father having given the Son authority over all flesh, He will, at the appointed hour, summon even His enemies into His presence. Alas for all such! Constrained to meet Him as Judge whom they spurned as Saviour, they will be confronted at the great white throne with the record of their works to their confusion and dismay. Beyond that dread event there is no resurrection; the second death is "a death that never dies," and none will ever be raised out of it.

Let us turn to Rev. 20. There we have the preparations for the millennial kingdom. The previous chapter gives the public appearing of the Lord Jesus, accompanied by His heavenly saints, and the overthrow and destruction of those who oppose His progress. Then we get Satan bound and consigned to the bottomless pit for a thousand years. What remains? Simply to point out those who are to share with Christ in the glory of that wonderful period. Hence we have "the first resurrection." The various classes of the heavenly saints are shown in their risen condition; and we read, "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. 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. 20:4-6). Nothing can be plainer than this to a simple mind. It is not a resurrection of good principles, as some have strangely said, but of persons; and that prior to the millennium, and long before the last great judgment. There is no meaning in the term "the first resurrection" if there be but one; and what can be made of the words "the rest of the dead?"

When the Lord Jesus comes for His own every sleeping believer will be raised up in glory. We read, "Christ the firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ's at His coming" (1 Cor. 15:23). At the same moment that the living are changed the sleepers will be raised. They will hear the shout of their Lord and the trumpet call, and will come forth to be re-united with all their brethren in His presence. The bodies of the saints sown in corruption will be raised in incorruption; sown in dishonour, will be raised in glory; sown in weakness, will be raised in power; sown as natural bodies, will be raised as spiritual bodies, conformed to Christ Himself (1 Cor. 15:42-44). No others will be raised at that time. "The Lord knows them that are His." All who have despised Him, what ever their morality and religiousness in life, will be left in their graves for the judgment at the great day.

Jesus sits, then, on that great white throne, the earth and the heaven flee from His face, and now there comes a moment, unparalleled in its solemnity, in the history of men. "I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God." It is the closing moment of the second hour of the 5th of John. Is there any resurrection of the blessed here? Clearly not; they have been already raised more than a thousand years, and taken part in the millennial reign. The two resurrections are separated, as to time, by at least one thousand years, but they are separated more than that, by their utterly different character. They that have done good "have already come forth to the resurrection of life." If the Lord came this evening, every sleeping believer would be so raised. But what about the unbelievers? They are left for this day — left for the "resurrection to judgment" here, before the great white throne. It is a judgment of persons, not deeds, though they be judged according to their deeds — a judgment only of unbelievers — and though standing before the throne, they are all spoken of as "dead." They have been delivered from the grip of the first death, only to taste the second death, hence, they are still called dead.

This is the first resurrection — the resurrection of the righteous from among the dead at the commencement of the millennium. The wicked dead are not raised till after the millennium, till the day of judgment. 1 Corinthians 15:23; Revelation 20:5, 11-15.

While on this subject of the resurrection, we would remind the reader of the order of it, as affecting Christians. Of this 1 Thess. 4:15-16, tells us. The dead in Christ will rise first; then the living saints will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. Further, of the suddenness of the Lord's coming for Christians 1 Cor. 15:51-55 warns us. And of the space of time between the resurrection of the just and that of the unjust Rev. 20:4-5, definitely states. It will be a thousand years.

But in resurrection an order is to be observed: "each in his own rank." (N. Tr.) as verse 23 puts it. Christ rose from amongst the dead first, and is pre-eminent. Afterward, at His coming, all who are His are also to rise from amongst the dead, leaving the unsaved dead in their graves. And, "then comes the end," when the unsaved dead will be raised, though this is not explicitly stated here, but implied in verse 26. If Revelation 20:11 - 21:4, be read, it will be seen that death is destroyed when the wicked dead have been raised.

The great mass of God's people are raised “at the last day” of the Christian dispensation (1 Thess.4:14-17; 1 Cor.15:51,52); the rest, who are slain or die from that time till the Lord appears, are raised at “the last day” of the Jewish, or Law, dispensation, just before the Millennial Age is ushered in, when no saints will die any more. Rev.20:4 refers to those who have suffered death between the event of 1 Thess.4:14-17 and the Lord's appearing.

All the vast multitude of the unregenerate dead, from the earliest ages down to the termination of the kingdom of Christ on earth, will be raised by the mighty power of God, and be brought before the great white throne to receive the award of their eternal doom. And to show that not one sinner who has ever passed away, wherever he may have died, shall escape, it is added in verse 13, "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell [hades] delivered up the dead which were in them." At the mighty voice of the Son of God, just as the fish came at his bidding into the nets of His disciples, and Lazarus came out of his tomb, so will all this countless throng "come forth" out of their graves, or from their last resting-places, unto the resurrection of judgment. (John 5:28-29.)

All the vast multitude of the unregenerate dead, from the earliest ages down to the termination of the kingdom of Christ on earth, will be raised by the mighty power of God, and be brought before the great white throne to receive the award of their eternal doom. And to show that not one sinner who has ever passed away, wherever he may have died, shall escape, it is added in verse 13, "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell [hades] delivered up the dead which were in them." At the mighty voice of the Son of God, just as the fish came at his bidding into the nets of His disciples, and Lazarus came out of his tomb, so will all this countless throng "come forth" out of their graves, or from their last resting-places, unto the resurrection of judgment. (John 5:28-29.)