CHAPTER -1-

CHAPTER -1-

How the Resurrections are Essential to our Understanding of How All WILL have Opportunity for Salvation.

What we are considering here in this booklet is a very important Doctrine in God's Church. In fact Hebrews 6 lists this particular subject as one of the fundamental Doctrines of the Church. And it IS very much a fundamental Doctrine. The subject of this is the resurrections from the dead. And it is put in the plural for an appropriate reason. But it isn’t possible to understand God's Plan for mankind fully and correctly without understanding the resurrections, because the two are tied together. They're one and the same as far as being inter-dependent upon one another. You can't proceed through the subject of God's Plan for man without incorporating the resurrections from the dead. They are essential to one another.

But, more than just the Doctrine of the resurrections, there is the greater matter of Eternal Salvation. ( The positive aspect of Judgment listed also in Hebrews 6.) We live in a world where the numbers of truly converted seem to be unexplainably small. Can anyone fully explain how so many could ultimately be hopelessly lost, and then attempt to support a claim God as a Being of Love?

But truth is as strange, and maybe even stranger, than fiction, and we'll see that as we proceed through this. Christ said, “Marvel not” at this. There was good reason to tell the people that.

Resurrections Passages Harmonized

But it’s the back of the inside title page where we ought to refer to first, because a lot of people are somewhat familiar with this subject but perhaps not as thoroughly as they ought to be. How many resurrections are there? We know for a fact that there's at least two, just simply from a very clear scripture in Revelation 20:5 where it talks about the first resurrection implying that there's another, and then it says the “rest of the dead live not again for a thousand years”. So we know that there's at least one other resurrection occurring a thousand years later. (This would also suggest there are none during the thousand year interlude!) Now ask your typical churchgoer – why does there need to be more than one and why are they separated by a thousand years? We will answer that.

A lot of people take exception to the idea of there being three because they don't find in the Bible anywhere where it talks about three resurrections. And I've heard people say – well if I can see that there are three in the Bible, I would certainly not have a problem with that. My point to you is that, in fact, there IS a place in the New Testament that talks about three resurrections, and it talks about all three together and in order! And it's not just in one place. It's in two places! And when you take those two places and overlay them, harmonizing them together, you can realize what we're seeing, that one amplifies the other. Those two places are in John 5 and Revelation 20. Both of those places talk about all three resurrections. The passages are not lengthy, and it's not that distinct if you read through each one separately, but if you consider them both and harmonize them as I have done for you – you see those paragraph marks (¶ ) – it becomes very obvious.

Now in the first of these two places, Jesus Christ is quoted in the first person as giving this message, and, you'll notice, He punctuates each of the three with an exclamation. He starts out by saying “Most assuredly”. And you go down to the second paragraph, He says again, “Most assuredly”. And in the beginning of the third paragraph He says, “Do not marvel at this”, expecting that they certainly would marvel at it, and some people do even today. Jesus Christ spoke of three separate situations that involve a resurrection. Now the same writer again being inspired, the Apostle John, in the book of Revelation, covers the same ground. And he does so in Revelation 20.

Let's review both of these and look at what they say. For a ‘harmonization’ of these passages, refer to the back of the inside Title Page.

The First Resurrection

For example, the first: “Most assuredly I say unto you...” (The lighter type is John 5. The heavier type is Revelation 20.) These are harmonized together for you. “Most assuredly I say unto you, he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into judgment but has passed from death into life.” And we can say already, these are a separate category of people. Reading in the same account in Revelation 20...“And I saw thrones, and they sat on them and judgment was committed unto them and they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.” And then that key passage - “but the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.” This prior one that we just talked about is called the first resurrection. “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection over such the second death has no power. But they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him for a thousand years.” This second death having no power is the same thing that Jesus Christ was talking about in John 5 where he said “...has passed from death into life”. These people are they who are already assigned to the first resurrection – who have, in this life, in God's mind, already passed from death into Life. And they will receive that Life, that ever-living Spirit form, at the Last Trump, when Christ returns, in the exclusive event we know as the first resurrection.

A Subsequent Resurrection

Noting Christ's punctuation where he goes on to say again in John 5, “Most assuredly I say unto you...” And when you see something worded like that, you can know that this is not an allegory. This is not a metaphor. This is not a simile or any of those things that theologians like to throw at us when they don't want to believe something. “Most assuredly I say to you, the hour is coming and now is when the dead will hear the voice of the son of God. And those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself so is he granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also because He is the Son of Man.” This resurrection is a resurrection in which judgment will take place.

Many times, we regard the word “judgment” in its condemnative sense. We need to also consider its evaluative sense. When someone takes you to court, what do you do? You first present the evidence, and after the evidence is evaluated, then sentencing can be rendered. Evaluation is every bit a part of judgment. So when we see the word “judgment”, consider that it may mean, in this case I believe it does mean, that the people that come up in this resurrection will be judged, for the first time, just as the Household of God is being evaluated presently. (1^st Peter 4:17)

Continuing on in the Revelation 20 version of the same narrative, “Then I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away, and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and the books were opened.” What for? “And another book was opened which is the book of life. “And the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books.” Why would you bring a group of people up, raise them from the dead, and then open the books to them? And also open the Book of Life? Whose names would be in the Book of Life at this juncture? Wouldn't the people whose names are in the book all have been raised in the first resurrection? Why would you open the Book of Life in this particular phase? (Now, we know the White Throne Judgment is after the millennium, so this has to be referring to the second resurrection!) (Let me suggest to you, it's opened to add more names. And what are the books that are opened? Because these are the books that provide the criteria for the evidence that is considered in these people's lives. The books are ‘biblos’. The Bible is opened. And it wasn't opened to them before. They didn't understand it before. But in this era, they are allowed understanding which they were not allowed earlier, and we'll consider that situation a little further on here. This resurrection provides opportunity for those who never had a real chance. Their names could be added to the Book of Life depending on how they respond to the BOOKS being opened to their understanding. So this is a distinct and separate resurrection. It is not condemnative at this point in time. However, their responsive actions determine what their final situation will be. It will determine their just reward, which is undetermined at the moment of their being raised back to life.

All Rise for Sentencing

So then, moving down to that third paragraph. Again, Christ punctuates it with a “Do not marvel at this” expecting His audience certainly would have marveled. He says “For the hour is coming in which all who are in the grave will hear His voice.” And there's something unique in this paragraph. It's that boldened word “all”. (He doesn't say “all” in the previous paragraph. In the previous paragraph, He says “The dead will hear his voice, and those who hear will live” ‘Those who hear’, suggesting that not all will hear and not all will live. Why? What's the difference? What's the distinction? There’s a simple explanation: Those who did have an opportunity in their lifetimes and who go to their grave having spurned it, bypass that second resurrection. They've had their chance. That resurrection is for those people who died not having had a chance. And that makes all the difference. Those who had a chance in their first life and who blew it, sleep on through and await the sentencing resurrection which is the one that we read of last in both narratives.)

“Do not marvel at this for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth”. And notice, this group, and here again is something not said in the previous one, “Those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation.” You have two groups of people being brought up together. That doesn't happen in the first resurrection. Those who come up in the first are exclusively God's righteous Saints who were converted, who have God's Spirit, and who remained converted to the end of their lives. The second – it doesn't say that any are ‘separated out’ either. The second is for opportunity for those who never had opportunity. The third resurrection brings up everyone: “ALL”! And God sets His sheep on the right hand and the goats on the left. He has to separate them out from among one another. But they come up together. An important thing to notice. Those who have done good to the resurrection of Life. They are then brought into the same Life that those in the first resurrection entered intoâ€¦and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation. And Revelation 20's version of the same thing, continuing on in the bold type, “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hades delivered up the dead which were in them. And they were judged...” and in this case it means sentenced, “â€¦each one according to his works”. Affirming what we just read in John 5. “This is the second death”. You don't see the second death referenced in either of those first two resurrections, especially the second. We just don't see the second death mentioned there. But here we do.

So we have the three resurrections, all together, in order, in the New Testament, given by Christ Himself, to the same author in both cases. Once, being quoted directly in the first person, and the second time being by His direct inspiration of John's revelatory vision. The first resurrection is to Life. The second is to afford judgment and justice, in other words evaluation, to those who died never having had opportunity. The third is the final sentencing of all either to life or condemnation. And that condemnation being the second death from which there is no resurrection. The second death is experienced by no one without their first having passed through an evaluative judgment. For the Saints of God, for those who are called now, that time is now. For the rest of the dead, their opportunity will come after the end of the thousand years.

Kinds of Peoples in God’s Plan (See also page 12)

Part and parcel with understanding the resurrections, we should pause to consider the situations of those who live in the various ages of man. They are the Patriarchs and Prophets of God – a select group of people. These are the few individuals that God specifically called in the Old Testament times. A couple of references you can look at would be Luke 13:28 and Revelation 11:18. Though these are assigned to Life, they do not receive it before their New Testament counterparts. (Hebrews 11:40) They without us shall not be made perfect, referring to being raised and given their Spirit bodies.

Then we have another category of people, called the Church of God. These are the truly converted individuals God calls and justifies during the New Testament era. These are they who He will glorify in their respective resurrections whether the first or the third. And those destined to be in the first is a special category. These exhibit Christ's direct likeness spiritually in the present era, and are referred to with references such as: Revelation 14:4, Hebrews 2:10 & 12:23, 1^st Timothy 3:15, Ephesians 2:18-22 to mention a few. You can look them up on your own. They’re called the church of the firstborn, the firstborn of many brethren, fellow citizens with the Saints, the Church of God, the pillar and ground of the truth, the remnant of whom the Lord shall call. It might also be appropriate to mention that these are they specially called of and by the Father. (John 6:44)

Then there's another category of people to consider. In Hebrews 10, it speaks of their condition. These are they who have truly received salvation. They received God's Spirit but for some reason, they either neglected or ended up rejecting it. “And it's impossible of those, if they shall fall away, to renew them again”. Hebrews 6:5 tells us that. “It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” This is a special time for those being called, and they’re those who were called, those who responded, those who received God's Spirit, but who end up rejecting it. They have no hope of a second chance. (And we shouldn't have people think that that's what this treatise is talking about. We're not talking about a second chance. We're talking about an opportunity for those who lived and died and never had an opportunity. And there's a lot of those kinds of people.) So we have people in Christian society even today that we could call “Lost” – people who have rejected God's call, who know and who dread what’s coming. They've rejected His Holy Spirit. They've lost the Life of Christ that had been living in themselves through God's Spirit. For them, there remains no further hope of salvation! (Hebrews 6:6)

And then there's another considerable category of people who haven't had a chance yet. For example, infants and young children who died prematurely – prior to what we would call the age of accountability. What chance do they have? There are those who lived prior to the time of Christ. They couldn't have had God's Spirit except with maybe rare, rare exception. Those people who were never presented an opportunity to hear – living in Pagan lands and closed societies. How many millions, how many billions of people have never really had a chance when you think about it, throughout history? And then we have those who Satan has specifically blinded. Sometimes even religious people. 2^nd Corinthians 3:14. “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost and whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them”. Satan has blinded some. (God allows it!)

Then there are those that God has purposely blinded, He says, so that he might have mercy upon all. Now that's a strange thing to say. If God is going to blind someone, what kind of mercy is that? But read what it says 2^nd Corinthians 3:14. “But their minds were blinded for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament. which veil is taken away in Christ”. Imagine that! Israel doesn’t really understand the Old Testament! We can understand the depths of the New Testament that they could not. “But even unto this day when Moses is read the veil is upon their heart”. And in Romans 11, “For I would not brethren that you should be ignorant of this mystery less you should be wise in your own conceits that blindness in part is happened to Israel until the fullness of the gentiles be come in”. Blindness in part is happened to Israel. Blind for what? And then it goes on, “And so all Israel shall be saved.” What? After being blinded? How is that going to save somebody? Well it works when you understand God's Plan and what He's doing. “All Israel shall be saved, As it is writtenâ€¦ And here's a promise in the Old Testamentâ€¦ “There shall come out of Zion the deliverer and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob for this is my covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins”. He says, “I shall take away their sins”. Now where does that leave them with respect to Condemnation? He's blinded them for a time! In verse 32 in that same passage, “For God has concluded them all in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all.” How can He have mercy on them? How can He take away their sins when they're already in their graves? WHEN will this occur?

So then, we have this group of innocently unconverted people. And these are found in virtually all of the ages of mankind. Called here ‘the rest of the dead’. And you can read about them in places such as Revelation 20:5 where it says, “the rest of the dead live not again until the thousand years were finished.” Being that this is not a sentencing event, we can know this is referring to what we recognize as being the second resurrection: the resurrection to opportunity, in which ‘those specifically given to hear will arise! (John 5:25)

And then there’s a curious passage in Revelation 20 that I think we need to consider. It's in the middle of that second paragraph on the back of the inside title page. This is from Revelation 20:11. “Then I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it from whose face and the earth and the heaven fled away.” Picture this: Christ is going to sit on a throne, and when He is enthroned, the heaven and the earth are going to move back away, creating this vast space. But then He says, “and there was found no place for them”. Well you'd think there'd be a place for at least some of them, wouldn't there be? I mean look at the Earth. The Earth isn't that big, but it's big enough for everybody that's here. God can't create a space big enough for them? Is it a question of space? (Or is it referring to an assignment?)

And this gives us a clue to a fuller understanding and the full meaning of the second resurrection. “There was found no place for them.” Place for them for what? No place where they can rightfully be assigned?! He can't bring them into Life and he can't condemn them at this point in time because they never had a chance. There is no justifiable place to which he could assign them at this pre-judgment moment. That's why the period of opportunity that we understand the second resurrection to be, is where such a determination can be made. Do you follow that? It's an obscure little passage, but sometimes God throws zingers in there that tell us a lot. There was no place for them. God could not, in His righteous justice, rightfully place them anywhere at this point in time. Some of these being people who He had blinded Himself! We read that passage in Romans 11. He blinded them for a reason, that He might have mercy on all – that he might take away their sins. Strange, unless you realize what we're looking at. We're looking at the period of opportunity when those people will have their opportunity for the first time. So that's the situation with respect to the rest of the dead – those who never were called. Their minds were blinded and until this day remains the same veil. Blindness in part, and we can say in this case, in major part, looking around us, is happened to Israel. (And we know who Israel is. Not just Jews.) Satan also has blinded the minds of most. And it isn't their fault, necessarily, that they were born in a time or situation not affording to them a real opportunity for salvation. The Father selects whom He will call in this era. The rest will be provided full opportunity in the post-millennial era.

Another group of people, whom we could called the ‘Alive Agains’ and are who the Rest of the Dead will become after the second Post-Millennial resurrection. Those who rejected salvation are excluded from this recall to physical life because they've already had their opportunity. That passage that we read in John 5 indicates that there will be those who do not hear this particular call where in the last one, all do hear and come forth from the grave! The purpose of this ‘alive again’ resurrection is to, for the first time, provide them with the opportunity for salvation which they never had.

A final category of people – are the Saints of the Most High. These are the firstfruits, Spirit-Born Saints raised into Spirit Life in and by the first resurrection. “Flesh and blood can not inherit the Kingdom of God”. That's a very important piece of information. (Though there will be people who physically survive thru the Great Tribulation, and live on into the Millennial Era, they are not ‘heirs’ of the Kingdom in the sense Paul referred to in 1^st Corinthians 15:50.) “These will be given the Kingdom, no others”. And you can read of that in Daniel 7:27. These will live and rule with Christ in his earthly Throne. They will bear the radiant appearance of Jesus Christ, in certain situations. Philippians 3 & 1^st John 3. They will be manifest first at Christ's second coming and will have experienced the first resurrection. So we can see there are going to be some Saints who are called earlier than others. Some are predestined to be called early. Some are destined to be called later. (May we call it ‘post-destination?) It's God's call. Others will be added to the Family but with a lesser stature than the firstfruits. The firstfruits are Christ's Bride. Those added into the family after the firstfruits resurrection are the children of Christ and his Bride. Christ and his Bride are going to produce a Family of people – of future God-beings. And their experience, those who live after Christ’s second coming, will be to live a physical life just as people do now – to live, to be given the Truth, to be given the chance to respond to that Truth, and to accept or reject. Then, when they have either accepted or rejected, God can rightfully assign them to their place. So these are the differing kinds of beings we need to consider in their respective timeframes.

Developing Phases in the Plan of God

We can identify four distinct and separate eras or ages, if we want to call them that, of God's dealing with mankind. The first is the Old Testament era. It lasted from 2600 B.C., the time of Abraham, to the time of Christ. Basically from the Covenant made with Abraham to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And you'll notice, each of these ages are bracketed by a resurrection. When you say what is the resurrection when the first age began? Well, we understand that baptism is a picture of a resurrection. (1^st Corinthians 10:1-2) The earth was ‘baptized’ in the flood of Noah. Abraham was born about two years after Noah died, so it spans back a long way. But there was that type of resurrection of the Earth, at least, and human society that otherwise would not have existed had it not been for Noah. The first age begins after the flood and it ends with the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The second great age is the Christian era, and that's us now. It's from the time of Christ's resurrection to the first resurrection when Christ returns. It begins with a resurrection, ends with one. Christ's and then what’s called the first resurrection, which involves His Saints being raised immortal.

A third creates a Whole New World: the Millennial age. These people who live in the new world, are those who survive the Great Tribulation and they who descend from them during the ensuing Millennium. It exists between the first resurrection and the second, and it's the thousand-year period of time that we read about in Revelation 20:5. Again, this age also begins with a resurrection, and it ends with one.

And then we have the fourth and final age during which God will be working to save humanity. The people who live in a truly hopeful age, a hopeful situation, a hopeful condition. A hope and an opportunity that they never had, to become truly converted. This period of time exists between the second resurrection and the third. We don't know how long it's going to be. We expect it's going to be at least the remainder of one full generation.

In the first age, we have two different kinds of people living together. We have those people that we've identified as being the Patriarchs and the Prophets and with them, a vast unconverted population, for the present, known as the rest of the dead. There weren't very many people called from this era. Those who were converted or those who had God's Spirit at that point in time were very, very few and far between. It wasn't the general calling. And that leaves us still with the questions, what about the rest? It isn't their fault that they were born in that era. Will they ever have an opportunity? They're all long dead. They're in their graves. What Hope could they possibly have?

Then moving into the second age. What changes? Well we still have the rest of the dead, because there are peoples who live in this age who also don't have an opportunity. And we have the Lost – those who have spurned their opportunity. And we also have the first phase of the Saints. And it's only this generation who are considered the firstfruits. We know who they are from observing the annual Holyday: the Feast of Pentecost.

When we move into the third age, the Millennium, we now have the Saints of God who have been changed from flesh to Spirit. This age also begins with a resurrection and ends with one. This is truly a whole new world order in that the rulership (its Kings and Priests) will be immortal Spirit Beings, serving under Christ and the resurrected Apostles. (Matthew 12:28) With them we have the a people who physically survive the great tribulation and live on over into the Millennial Age and their progeny down through the next thousand years. Imagine a thousand years with no wars, no epidemics, no disasters. Imagine what the world population is going to become. How much has it grown in the last thousand years with wars and all kinds of disease epidemics? There's going to be a massive number of people who live during the Millennial Age. And of those people who live in the Millennial Age physically, now you're going to have physical people and Spirit beings living together. Can you imagine that? The Millennial Age population will have a choice to become the second phase of the Family of God or they can remain unconverted. Those who choose to become converted (Whosoever Will) will become the progeny of Christ and His Bride. (Imagine the power of that situation in convincing people of the Truth: being able to bring them to conversion, with them living with a ruling class that’s actually been ‘born again’ in the fullest sense: having been made Spirit!)

But it's the final age that is most interesting and least regarded in the religious world. The era after the thousand years when the rest of the dead live again. The beings that rule in that generation will be the Saints: immortal Spirit Beings, the Spirit Born Saints of God (who continue to rule in this next era), and those made alive again, who formally were known as the rest of the dead. These when raised, also are raised yet physical (as we see in Ezekiel chapter 37). And they, like their Millennial predecessors, will have the same choice – to become converted and members of the Church or to remain unconverted. This era also is bracketed by a resurrection. It begins with one and ends with one: from the second to the third. And the one that it ends with marks humankind’s final chapter. Mankind's final day! The Last Day, after which there will not be any physical beings left alive on Earth. And God never made this occasion a Holy Day. It isn't a day that pictures something particularly pleasing to Him. Not that there aren't multiple billions that were brought into His family in Spirit form at this point in time. There are! Here we arrive at that final resurrection of all time – the one separating the sheep from the goats – but because the goat part of that contingent that is going to have to be cast into the lake of fire – the second death, I believe it's the reason that He never set this one aside as a Holy Day. This is the Day of Senten-cing of the vast masses. This is the final stand, the final appearance of humanity in physical form!

With this progression, we can see the full implementation of the Plan of God for mankind. He says He is not willing that any should perish. But if we were to go by our determination, we would say the vast majority who have ever lived are indeed going to perish. Look around. How many people are truly converted in our age even, let alone those other ages? God is not willing that any should perish, but it looks like he's got a plan that isn't working, by our point of view. But when you understand His Plan, when you understand the resurrections, when you understand the various ages in which He is going to work with humanity, you can see that God has a Plan where no one will perish who doesn't specifically choose to for whatever unimaginable reason. So that's the benefit that we can get from understanding the resurrections from the dead. This too provides us with the means to comprehend the application of God’s Eternal Judgment!

I hope this has been informative to you. I tried to present it in such a way where it would make sense – where it would illustrate the realities of what God is doing. There are three distinct and separate resurrections, and there has to be. It doesn't work, it isn’t explainable, if there isn't. This isn't just a Doctrinal argument. God's Plan for man cannot include the vast majority that He intends be included without these three resurrections, particularly the one providing opportunity.

Considering Historical Resurrections

Something I want to add this, because I think it would be important, we should look at the Bible accounts of documented physical resurrections. There are many. We can see in Job 14 – “If a man die, shall he live again?” and Job answers his own question: “All the days of my appointed time will I wait 'til my change come”. And he says in chapter 19 “For I know that my Redeemer liveth and that He shall stand in the latter days upon the earth. And tho’ after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh I shall see God”. Job understood about a resurrection and not just a resurrection but one back to physical life. “Whom I shall see for myself and mine eyes shall behold and not another. Tho’ my reigns be consumed within me”. Job anticipated being restored to a physical existence, and Job is one of the earliest Bible writers. His time could have been even prior to Moses, we're not exactly sure.

In 1^st Kings 17, we see that Elijah raised the widow's son in Zarephath. In 2^nd Kings 4, we see Elijah raises the Shunammite couple's son. These were raised back to physical life. They're not alive today. They first were physical, they died, they were raised back to physical life, and they died again.

Ezekiel 37 – a very familiar passage of scripture. Our song writers had fun with this one. But Ezekiel 37 is the vision of the valley of dry bones. And in verse 4, “He says unto me prophesy upon these bones and say unto them, oh you dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus said the Lord God unto these bones, behold I will cause breath to enter into you and you shall live and I will lay sinews upon you and will bring up flesh upon you and cover you with skin and put breath in you and you shall live. And you shall know that I am the LORD.” Suggesting that they didn't really know Him before. But we have an obvious description of a physical resurrection. You can't mistake it. Down to verse 10 - “So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived and stood upon their feet and an exceeding great army. Then He said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: ” The first nation that God is going to work with in this particular way. (Not them only.) “Behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, And shall put My spirit in you and you shall live”. His Spirit wasn't in them previously. They weren't converted. These are among ‘the rest of the dead’. But they're raised back to life, physical life. God's Spirit is put within them. And the question from there is – then what do they do? Will they use God's Spirit and become converted or not? That's what this period of time is for. The second resurrection period (when this event will happen) is for the purpose of making His Spirit available to people to whom it was not made available before.

We have the account of Lazarus, in John 12. In Matthew 9, Mark 5 & Luke 8, you see there's another reference to the time when Jesus Christ raised the daughter of a certain ruler of the synagogue. In Acts 9:36-43 we read of when Dorcas was raised by Peter. These also were brought back to life, physical. They all have returned to the grave.

Sodom, Tyre and Sidon Berate Chorasin, Bethsaida and Capernaum

Christ Himself, talked about this second resurrection period. In fact, He had more to say about the second resurrection than any other. Matthew 10, for example, “Assuredly I say unto you it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city”. And how do we read the day of judgment? Is it the day of condemnation or is it the day of opportunity? Matthew 11 will reveal a little more about this particular statement. “Then He began to upbraid the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done because they did not repent. Woe to you Chorazin. Woe to you Bethsaida. For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And you Capernaum, who are exalted to Heaven, will be brought down to Hades, for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you”. Let me ask you a question. How would it be more tolerable if both of these groups are going to be condemned anyway? Is there a more tolerable condemnation and a less tolerable condemnation? To be more tolerable, obviously, one has to exceed the other in tolerability.

What we're seeing here is a picture of two different societies, originally separated by hundreds of years, being brought up together, living together, getting to know each other, getting to know the opportunities that each of the others had, and saying you bunch of jerks! I wish we’d had the oppor-tunity that you had. We wouldn't have done what we did! And you had all that?! One society is going to rise up and condemn the other for the witness that they had that they ignored. So it shows us that this resurrection, (which again, is going to be a physical resurrection), is going to bring people together from all different ages. They're going to live together, they're going to come to know each other, and they're going to have the opportunity that they obviously never had. That's the intent of what He is talking about - these societies, who were brought up, brought back to life, who were never converted.

This passage then inserts an interesting parenthetical in the very next verse, verse 25, by adding, “At that time, Jesus answered and said I thank you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them unto babes”. What things? The things that He was just talking about. What He's saying is that theologically trained people and the intellectual and the educated aren't going to understand this. But the simple people are! Those that He gives understanding to. They're going to understand that there is more than one resurrection, and what the purposes of those resurrections are. He had just said at that time that there would be a day of judgment, and we can understand that to include an evaluative judgment period, in which people of different generations would be raised up together from their unrepentant (but repentance possible) state, in the flesh. Jesus Christ had more to say about the second resurrection than any other.

Go to Luke 10:12. “Woe to you Chorasin. Woe to you Bethsaida. For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented a great while ago. But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you.” Luke 11:29 - “And while the crowds were thickly gathered together, He began to say, this is an evil generation. It seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonas the prophet. For as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so also the Son of Man will be to His generation. The queen of the south will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and indeed a greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.” Do we catch what He's telling us? These people are going to be brought back to life in physical form and they are going to have the opportunity to learn to respond and to repent that they never had. This is that period of time. People of different generations, separated by centuries, are going to be living together. There's only one way that can happen. And the men of His generation are 2000 years dead already. There are people, there have been people, who have been raised back to physical life. They're not still alive, any of them. All of those people who have been resurrected went back to the grave. Lazarus, a close friend of Jesus, was raised from the dead. John 12:1,10&17. Why did He raise Lazarus? I pose to you this reason – Lazarus died just before the day of Pentecost. Not having received God's Spirit because it wasn't yet poured out, Lazarus likely would not have been in the first resurrection. But when Christ raised His close friend from the dead, and presumably he lived another several months at least, he could have received God's Spirit, and he could then be in the first resurrection.

And there's another group of people that's very curious in Matthew 27, and I've heard very few comment on this one. But let's look at it. Matthew 27:51-53 “And behold the veil of the temple was rent in two from the top to the bottom and the earth did quake and the rocks rent.” And you can read the accounts and you'll realize there were two different earthquakes: one at His death and another at His resurrection. But in verse 52, here's the key - “And the graves were opened and many bodies of the saints which slept arose.” Many, it says. Here again, we have people called Saints, prior to the day of Pentecost. People who were effectively ‘in the Church’, I suppose we could say, during the time of Christ's ministry who happened to die prematurely or at least prior to the day of Pentecost. He raised them back up. And again, presumably, they lived for more than another month or two. Then they did receive God's Spirit, and these who were converted directly by Christ's ministry, will also be in the first resurrection. See, these things are understandable once we understand the resurrections from the dead.

Sheep to be Separated Out from Among the Goats

Just as a final comment, here. Let's look at Daniel 12:2 “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt”. Just as a general picture, Daniel was inspired to write of this event where people are brought up together and they have to be separated into two different groups of people. Some to everlasting Life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. In Matthew 25, Christ talks about separating the sheep from the goats. Which resurrection is that? It certainly isn't the first because no goats come up in the first. How can it be the second when no sheep come up in the second? It has to be the third where two separate groups are reaped together, and we can read of that in Revelation 14, which basically talks about the same event but very graphically. He shows us two great reapings, and the people in it come up together. After separation, the first contingent is harvested by Christ, Himself. And the second, who are to be thrown into the winepress of the Wrath of God, is reaped by an angel. It's a very clear picture of a judgment of final sentencing. And after this point in time, there won't be any physical beings left. Those who are harvested into Life will then be given Spirit bodies. No longer physical. And those who are reaped for God’s wrath will be cast into the Lake of Fire. And after that, the grave and the institution of Death itself will be folded into the Lake of Fire and burned up. There won't even be any more need for graves or death, because there are no physical people left who are capable of death. All left, at that point in time, will have been made Spirit Beings living with Christ in God’s Family.

God the Father to Live with His Family on Earth!

And I suppose we shouldn't leave this story hanging. I want to add one more thing. I think now would be a very good time to go there. 1^st Corinthians 15. An insightful passage of scripture. A very potent and informative few verses because it talks about this very final moment in time. Start in verse 53. “For this corruptible must put on incorruption”. That's the change from physical to Spirit. “And this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written death is swallowed up in victory. O death where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law but thanks be to God which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Let’s especially look at 1^st Corinthians 15:22-28. “For as in Adam, all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive but every man in his own order. Christ, the firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ's at His coming,” Those are the two resurrections that bracket the New Testament era. “Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God even the Father when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power for He must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet and the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For He that has put all things under His feet. But when He says all things are put under Him, it is obvious that He is excepted which did put all things under Him.” In other words, Christ was over everyone except His own Father. “And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall also the Son be subject unto Him that put all things under Him that God may be all in all.” What we see is, Christ is going to surrender up the Kingdom to the Father. Once the Earth is purified of sinful human beings, God the Father can come down to Earth and live with the fully perfected Spiritual Body. The Father, then, will take over the whole world! So there's another chapter, yet one more great age, beyond these that are in this particular booklet.

Something for us to think about. It presents a good subject for another day.

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(Note: The following 14 Chapters present articles written on this subject independently of being compiled into this booklet. They do contain some duplication of material.

Each Chapter was intended to be a complete topic on its own. This explains the reason for such material being repeated, in some cases, more than once.)

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Population Groups and Progression in the PLAN of GOD

(The TRUE Way to Full Atonement (Sonship) and Eternal Judgment. )

God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance 2^nd Peter 3:9

There being the HUGE contingent of ‘unconverted’ from every age should tell us something!

Either God’s Plan for Mankind is ill conceived and inadequate, or our conception of it is!

God’s PLAN is commensurate with His WILL. In it, no one will be left without opportunity for salvation!

EPISODE I (Pre-Christian Era)

Old Testament Era (2600 years) Abraham to the time of Christ

Prophets and Patriarchs

Rest of the Dead (those not offered opportunity for salvation)

EPISODE II (Christian Era)

Christ’s Resurrection (2000 years) to the Firstfruits Harvest

Rest of the dead (those not offered opportunity for salvation in this generation)

Conversion Rejecteds (those who had but who spurned their opportunity)

Saints I (The Converted) (only this generation of these becomes the ‘firstfruits’)

EPISODE III (The World to Come) (Millennial Age)

The First Resurrection to the Second (1000 years) Isaiah 65:17-20, Rev 14:13

Saints Immortal (Spirit Beings (Prophets and Saints I, converted prior 1st resurrection))

Millennial Population (The physical survivors of the ‘last days’ and their decedents )

Saints II (these become the converted Progeny of Christ & His Bride )

Conversion Rejecteds (millennial population who spurn their opportunity)

EPISODE IV (Hope in the Resurrection) (Post-Millennial Age)

The Second Resurrection to the Third (one generation long?)

Saints Immortal (those Spirit Beings raised to Life back in the first resurrection)

Alive Agains (formerly were the Rest of the dead) Rev. 20:5 (these are yet physical)

Saints II (additional Children of God, Progeny of Christ & His Bride )

Conversion Rejecteds (Those who spurn their first opportunity here provided)

NOTE: Rejecteds of all prior ages and the Millennium are not brought up in the second resurrection.

NOTE: Consider the placement of the passage in Rev. 14:13. “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them.” This is after the first resurrection, which is clear from the context of the chapter. This is uttered after the angel (v.6) presents the ‘everlasting gospel’ to the remainder of humanity! These who live in the millennial age in the flesh die and are buried awaiting their resurrection to sentencing just as we do today! Those who are raised to live in the ‘Last Great Day’ (the second resurrection) are allotted a full lifetime after which those consigned to a third resurrection come up to join them in sentencing.

A FINAL Appearance (Mankind’s Final Day) (NOT a Holyday!)

The Third Resurrection – Separating the Sheep from the Goats & Sentencing

All will hear and rise up together. Righteous and wicked will be separated apart from one another.

Matthew 25:31-34 & 41 & 46 The resurrection involving separating the sheep from the goats

Daniel 12:2 Many shall awake to everlasting life and some to everlasting contempt. (Concurrently?)

Revelation 14:14 – 20 The great harvests, with two separate reapings. (Also Revelation 7: )

Death and the grave will be eliminated. (As there will be none left capable of death.) Rev. 20:14