Revelation 20:4-6 “And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. (5) But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. (6) 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 a thousand years.”
Scripture plainly reveals to us that there will be two separate resurrections. Our Lord Jesus spoke about both when He was on the earth, and He called the first one, the resurrection of life and the second one, the resurrection of condemnation (John 5:29). In the above quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit very clearly mentions the first resurrection. And so if there is a first resurrection then there must of necessity be a second resurrection as well. In this section we will look at the first resurrection. As revealed in the above passage of scripture, the first resurrection will be the resurrection of the saints only, i.e. the church. You will recall that we discussed earlier, that all saints who have fallen asleep in Jesus are dwelling in heaven in spirit only and do not yet have their spiritual bodies. And so it is at the first resurrection that the saints will finally receive their resurrected spiritual bodies.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 “But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. (14) For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. (15) For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. (16) For the Lord, Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. (17) Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus, we shall always be with the Lord.”
So when will the first resurrection take place? As revealed in the above quoted passage of scripture, the first resurrection will occur at the second coming of our Lord Jesus. And so we see that the first resurrection and the rapture of the church are synonymous terms, for this passage reveals that the saints on the earth will be caught up together with the resurrected saints to meet the Lord in the air. Several things will take place when our Lord Jesus returns on that day, beginning with the archangel’s shout from heaven and the sounding of the trumpet of God, both of which will be heard throughout the whole earth, and so we see that this will not be a quiet secretive event. The scripture reveals that our brothers and sisters in Christ, who currently reside with Him in heaven, will descend to the earth first to collect their resurrected bodies. And so their natural bodies that have been sown as dust into the earth will be instantly formed by God into their resurrected spiritual bodies, and they will finally put on their eternal dwellings. Then the bodies of those who will still be alive on the earth when our Lord returns, will also instantly be changed from their current natural bodies to the new spiritual bodies that they will dwell in for all eternity. The apostle Paul speaks of this event in another passage of scripture when he says, “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed--in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). It is then that all the saints will be caught up together from the earth to meet the Lord Jesus in the clouds. And so the saints that are still alive on the earth will at that point leave this world and step outside of time to join the rest of the saints in eternity.
Michael E.B. Maher
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