When Will There Be A Resurrection Of The Dead?

Name: Stephen Wagoner
Question: (paraphrased) I have family that believes once we die, we are in the grave. I know that’s not the case, but it’s been difficult convincing them of that. Can you help me explain when the resurrection of the dead takes place?

Answer: Thank you for the question Stephen.

Family is very important, always rememeber that. They don’t need to believe like you and you don’t need to believe like them. The fact you are all Christian is an awesome blessing! Don’t lose sight of that and enjoy everyone’s company.

We will be praying for you and your family.

Now, let’s answer your question.

Life After Death

I want to dial in a few points about people being in the grave or returning to God when they pass away. 2 Corinthians 5:8 and Ecclesiastes 12:7 tell us, once we pass away our spirit returns to God. However, there are many other Scriptures that relay the same uplifting message.

Remember Lazarus and the Rich man?

They were both alive after they died.

Remember what Jesus said when He was crucified?

He turned to one of the malefactors and said,

“Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.”

Luke 23:43

That tells us, not only was the sinner on the cross going to be saved, but he was instantly resurrected after death along with Jesus. This sinner wasen’t even baptized, but He joined Jesus that day in paradise.

That can only mean one thing…

When we die, we return to God.

Further,

“For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him.”

Luke 20:38

How about that?

God is not a God of the dead. He does not rule over dead people, but living people.

Now, what happens when Jesus returns?

Where Are The Dead When Jesus Returns?

In Revelation 20:1-5 we learn, Satan is cast into the bottomless pit, (verses 1-3). Then, those who stood with God, today and all throughout history will reign with Jesus for a thousand years, (verse 4).

Look what verse five says,

“But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.”

Revelation 20:5

So we have dead people not living for a thousand years?

“The dead” here is symbolic for those who are spiritually dead. Those who never accepted God or Christ. I will easily prove that in a moment.

Let’s read the next verse.

Revelation 20:6
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

Notice, those who stood for God take part in the “first resurrection”, (Revelation 20:4). That includes those who died before us, and those who will live through the Tribulation.

That begs the question…

How can we call it a resurrection, if we live through the Tribulation and never die?

I mean think about that. If we live through the Tribulation and see the Lord, and we are there reigning with Jesus for a thousand years, that means we never died.

If we never died, how can we be resurrected?

Simply stated, we are talking about the resurrection of our soul if you will. Being resurrected into into eternal life which is called the “first resurrection.” Those taking part have a resurrected body and soul. Not only do they obtain their spiritual body, but their soul becomes immortal as well.

Just like Paul explained in 1 Corinthians 15:35-57.

Now, let’s read Revelation 20:6 again.

Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

See?

Those who take part in the “first resurrection” are granted immortality (body and soul) by God. That is why the “second death hath no power” over them. They have been judged, and will go on to live forever with Him in paradise.

Now, what about “the dead” from verse 5 who do not live until the thousand years are over?

Remember, it’s symbolic, and here is your proof.

Revelation 20:12
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

Woah!

Have you ever seen a dead man stand up, much less before God?

Nope.

“The dead” being discussed then, are the spiritually dead. They are those who did not take part in the “first resurrection.” They are those who did not fulfill the requirements of Revelation 20:4. These are those on the wrong side of the Gulf in Heaven. Just like the Rich Man.

In some regards, they are the people who never had a chance to hear about God, at least, in any meaningful way. They are the aborted, the handicapped, the disabled, and those whose minds could not function when they lived on earth.

You see, the whole point of the Millennium is for those “priests of God and of Christ” to teach these types of people during the “thousand-year” reign of Jesus.

I mean, who else would they be teaching, if not for teaching people who never had a chance to begin with?

Now, if these people do not accept God by the end of the Millennium, well then, they are cast into the Lake of Fire, (Revelation 20:14-15). This tells us, there are no dead people (souls) when it comes to God.

Everyone Has Been Resurrected

Moses, Enoch, Elijah, John’s fellow servant, and the other prophets are very much alive and with God. Remember, Moses and Elijah even appeared before the Disciples, (Matthew 17:3)?

If Moses was still buried in a grave, how could he have appeared before the Disciples?

So we see, when we study Scripture, we have to take the whole book into account. If we start cherry-picking verses, it’s going to make a mess out of the Bible, confuse us, and others who are trying to understand it.

/* *** Print tooltip */ #printfriendly .underline.web-tooltip.web-tooltip-top:after { content: ' (' attr(data-tooltip)')'; font-size: 70%; font-style: italic; color: #777; } /* *** Font body of document */ #printfriendly #pf-body, ol, ul, dl, li { font-family: Georgia, Arial, Tahoma; font-size: 14pt; } #printfriendly #pf-title { font-size: 18pt; font-family: Georgia, Arial, Tahoma; text-align: center; } /*dev*/ #printfriendly #pf-author { font-size: 9pt; font-family: Georgia, Arial, Tahoma; font-weight: bold; color: #888; text-align: center; } /* *** Style Table of Contents */ #printfriendly .elementor-toc__header, .elementor-toc__body { background-color:#f1f1f1; border-radius: 5px; padding: 15px; width: 75%; margin:auto; margin-bottom: 10px; display:none; } #printfriendly .elementor-toc__header-title { font-weight: bold; text-align: center; } #printfriendly h2 { font-size: 16pt; font-family: Georgia, Arial, Tahoma; text-align: center; } #printfriendly h3, h4, h5, h6 { font-size: 14pt; font-family: Georgia, Arial, Tahoma; text-align: center; } /*print link color, does not affect pdf*/ #printfriendly a, #printfriendly a:visited { color: blue; } /*remove reftagger link attributes, does not affect pdf*/ #printfriendly a.rtBibleRef, #printfriendly a.rtBibleRef a:visited { font-family: Georgia, Arial, Tahoma; color:#333; text-decoration: underline; text-decoration-color: transparent; } #printfriendly p, ul { font-size: 14pt; font-family: Georgia, Arial, Tahoma; } /*style blockquote font size*/ #printfriendly blockquote { font-size: 14pt; } #printfriendly img { border-radius: 3px; } /*favicon*/ #printfriendly #pf-src-url img { border-radius: 0px; } /*print in footer*/ #printfriendly #pf-print-area:after { content: 'Visit: worldeventsandthebible.com, © World Events and the Bible'; font-size: 10pt; color: #777; display: block; text-align: center; }