Revelation 20:5 “But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.”
As we have already discussed, it is only the saints that partake of the first resurrection. Nevertheless, the above quoted passage of scripture reveals to us that the rest of the dead will live again after our Lord’s millennial reign. So who are the rest of the dead that this passage is referring too? It is not referring to the unbelievers, for even though they will be raised from the dead to appear before God at the great white throne judgement, they will still remain spiritually dead and they will thus not live again. The rest of the dead that will live again however, 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 we have already mentioned, their number is approximately twenty five billion and just like the saints, their bodies have also been sown into the earth waiting to be raised to life once again. And so we see that their resurrection will take place just before the great white throne judgement, for it is at that judgement that the current earth will be done away with. Their resurrected bodies will not be like the resurrected bodies of the saints however, for they have not been born-again and are therefore not part of the body of Christ. Their resurrected bodies will be similar to the bodies that Adam and Eve had before they sinned in the Garden of Eden. The children of God will also not be judged, for just like the saints; the children of God will not be judged for salvation. However, unlike the saints they will not be judged for their works either, for God does not hold children accountable for any deeds done (if any) during their brief lives on the earth.
Michael E.B. Maher
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