Resurrection of Children
- Michael E.B. Maher
- Feb 20
- 5 min read
But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
(Revelation 20:5)
As we have already discussed, only the saints partake in the first resurrection. Nevertheless, the passage quoted above reveals that the rest of the dead will live again after the Lord’s millennial reign. This raises an important question: who are the rest of the dead to whom this passage refers?
It is not referring to unbelievers. Although their bodies will indeed be raised from the dead in order to appear before God at the Great White Throne judgment, they will nevertheless remain spiritually dead. As such, they do not truly live again.
Rather, the rest of the dead who will live again are all the children of God who have died and gone to heaven from the time of Adam until the close of the age. As previously noted, their number is estimated to be approximately thirty billion. Like the saints, their bodies have been sown into the earth, awaiting resurrection unto life (1 Corinthians 15:44).
Their resurrection will therefore take place just prior to the Great White Throne judgment, for it is at that judgment that the present earth will be done away with. At that time, these children of God will finally live again, receiving resurrected bodies as the present creation gives way to the new order God will establish.
Resurrected Bodies of Children
And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain—perhaps wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body. All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, “the first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption.
(1 Corinthians 15:37-50)
The question arises: what will the resurrected bodies of the children of God be like? Many assume that their bodies will be the same as those of the saints, but this is not the case. Although Scripture does not explicitly describe the bodies of the children of God, various aspects of their lives on the new earth indicate that the nature of their bodies will differ significantly from those of the saints.
In the passage cited above, the apostle Paul describes the resurrected bodies of the saints as being like the resurrected body of the Lord Jesus. He refers to the saints’ bodies as heavenly and distinguishes between celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies. A celestial body is a heavenly body, which the saints will have.
Paul also states that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. We know that the resurrected bodies of the saints will consist of flesh and bone—not flesh and blood—as the Lord Jesus demonstrated when He said His resurrected body was composed of flesh and bone (Luke 24:39). Thus, the saints, as heirs of the world and joint heirs with Christ, will inherit the kingdom of God in their resurrected bodies.
In contrast, a terrestrial body is an earthly body, composed of flesh and blood. This is the type of body the children of God will have. As previously mentioned, the children of God are not heirs of the world nor joint heirs with Christ, as the saints are. With their bodies of flesh and blood, they can dwell in the kingdom of God but cannot inherit it. Consequently, the resurrected bodies of the children of God will resemble the bodies Adam and Eve had before the Fall, composed of flesh and blood.
Unlike the resurrected bodies of the saints, the resurrected bodies of the children of God will not be immortal. Does this mean the children will eventually die? No. Just as Adam and Eve’s original bodies could sustain life, the children of God’s bodies will continually regenerate cells, preventing death. They will also have access to the leaves of the tree of life, which will provide health and vitality (Revelation 22:2). However, unlike the saints who have overcome and are given access to the fruit of the tree of life (Revelation 2:7), the children of God will not eat its fruit, for doing so would grant them immortality (Genesis 3:22).
God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings.
(Acts 17:24-26)
It is precisely because the children of God will have terrestrial bodies of flesh and blood that they will be able to have offspring and multiply on God’s new earth. As the Holy Spirit explains, God uses the blood of man to propagate mankind across the earth. This understanding also clarifies why the age of twenty is considered the age of maturity for God’s children—they will be able to have offspring and populate the new earth.
Additionally, the saints have been made both kings and priests to God (Revelation 1:6), whereas the children of God are neither priests nor kings. As priests, the saints will minister before God in the heavenly city of Jerusalem, while the children, not being priests, will not dwell there to serve the Lord. As kings, the saints will be joint heirs with Christ, inheriting the world to reign over it.
In contrast, the children of God will not inherit the world to come, because they are not joint heirs with Christ. Nevertheless, they will dwell on God’s new earth as His children, and it will be over these children that the saints will reign as kings for all eternity.
Michael E.B. Maher
Comments