In the last devotion, we talked about two groups of disciples who will be involved in the first resurrection. This devotional reading looks at how the first and second resurrections differ.
Nuggets
- The first resurrection is a limited resurrection.
- The blessing is not limited only to those sharing in the first resurrection.
In the last devotion, we started talking about the first resurrection. We ran out of room to finish the discussion.
Only two groups of disciples are part of the first resurrection.
- Those who have been beheaded for their faith.
- Those who didn’t take the mark of the beast.
Let’s Put It into Context #1
To read devotions in the On the Day of the Lord theme, click the button below.
Devotions in the Thousand-Year Reign series
Let's Put It into Context #2
“Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment” (Jn. 5: 28-29 ESV)
In order to understand the first resurrection, we have to address what the second resurrection is.
Seiss described it. He wrote, “The placing of it as the first in a category of two resurrections, the second of which is specifically stated to be the literal rising again of such as were not raised in the first, fixes the sense to be a literal resurrection.”
Resource
I know. That is kind of a circular definition.
The second resurrection is the one we normally think of as the resurrection. It’s when tombs open and people fly. It is for everyone.
To put it in the Revelation timeline, we’ll be coming to that in a couple of verses. “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done” (Rev. 20: 12 ESV).
The First Resurrection
“... This is the first resurrection” (Rev. 20: 5 ESV)
The first resurrection is a limited resurrection.
I know I’ve read about the first and second resurrections before, but I just haven’t understood them. So, I really wanted to dig in and see what was what.
Revelation 20: 4 tells us who is being resurrected here. “… Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life …” (Rev. 20: 4 ESV).
We know that there is a priority of resurrection. Jesus rose first. “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (I Cor. 15: 20 ESV).
Then, the dead in Christ will rise.
“For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first” (I Thess. 4: 14-16 ESV).
Then there living will rise.
“Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord” (I Thess. 4: 17 ESV).
But go back to the dead rising first. We normally take this as the Rapture. Can it also mean the thousand-year reign?
Probably not. This doesn’t limit it to the two categories of disciples that will reign with Jesus. Also, there is the whole meeting in the middle of the sky part.
Hebrews 11: 35 talks about being raised to a better life. I think – and Spurgeon agrees – that this means a better resurrection, not that there will be levels in eternity.
Resource
God isn’t going to set us up to be proudful about what we did here on earth. We know He shows no favoritism.
- “For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe” (Deut. 10: 17 ESV).
- “So Peter opened his mouth and said: ‘Truly I understand that God shows no partiality’” (Ac. 10: 34 ESV).
- “For God shows no partiality” (Rom. 2: 11 ESV).
- “Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him” (Eph. 6: 9 ESV).
Rewarding someone for their faithfulness during persecution is not favoritism.
We have to realize that this resurrection is only going to involve saints – and only some saints. Worldview people will go on as business as usual.
After Seiss gave us the definition we used in the Context section, he expanded on that. He said the first was the resurrection of the just, and the second was the resurrection of damnation.
Resource
I can see that if all saints were resurrected. Revelation 20: 4 clearly says it is a limited group.
Jesus did talk about this. “Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment” (Jn. 5: 28-29 ESV).
To me, that says the first resurrection will involve those who have already had their physical death. That also tells me that the Rapture will be right before the Day of the Lord.
The Blessing of the First Resurrection
“Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years” (Rev. 20: 6 ESV)
The blessing is not limited only to those sharing in the first resurrection.
This is the fourth of six blessings. The first three are in Revelation 14, 16, and 19. The other two are in Revelation 22.
Dictionary Chick has to go to work here.
- Blessedness means we have been perfected, i.e. we have reached a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues and to serve and worship God.
Since blessed is past tense and is present tense, that means those who are sharing in the first resurrection will have these qualities.
But I don’t this this as being exclusive to those who share in the first resurrection, just as I don’t see this meaning every disciple will share in it. We can’t take this verse out of context of Revelation 20: 4, and too many other verses say this will be the reward of all.
- “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord” (Jer. 17: 7 ESV).
- “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord” (Ps. 118: 26 ESV).
- “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers” (Ps. 1: 1 ESV).
- “For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy” (Lev. 11: 45 ESV).
- “Since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’” (I Pet. 1: 16 ESV).
- “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple” (I Cor. 3: 16-17 ESV).
- “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (I Pet. 2: 9 ESV).
- “You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (I Pet. 2: 5 ESV).
- “‘Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel” (Ex. 19: 5-6 ESV).
Second death is spiritual death.
The first death is important as it separates the body from the soul. We know all mankind must die.
- “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Heb. 9: 27 ESV).
- “nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince” (Ps. 82: 7 ESV).
- “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Ps. 73: 26 ESV).
- “a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted” (Ecc. 3: 2 ESV).
We must drop these sinful bodies so that we can be perfected. God doesn’t want to fix what is broken. He wants pure, unbroken bodies for us.
The second death is absolute punishment.
True, the first death came as a result of sin. We were eternal until then.
But more importantly, that original sin separated us from God. Our physical death isn’t what we should focus on when we think of the original sin. We must focus on our spiritual condition.
The first death is separating our souls from our bodies while the second death separates our souls from God.
Only His priests can recognize God. He is our everything – and we should make Him such.
Making the Connections #1
“And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him'” (Jn. 20: 34-38 ESV)
Okay. I didn’t quite know where to put this. So, we are discussing it here.
Jesus is answering a Sadducces’ question about marriage and the resurrection. If we have multiple spouses, whose spouse are we going to be in eternity.
There are some who interpret this question as we aren’t supposed to marry, let alone have multiple marriages.
I don’t read it that way. I believe it says that, when eternity starts, marriage won’t be a practice among us.
Why won’t marriage be the norm? We will be married to the Lamb. We won’t need another spouse.
The Sadduccees were trying to trip Jesus. They didn’t believe in the resurrection. Jesus not only answered their question about marriage, but He also set them straight on resurrection.
It is a real thing.
Making the Connections #2
“And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (Jn. 6: 39-40 ESV)
If there are two resurrections, why didn’t Jesus talk about it when He was on earth?
Oh, come on. I may talk about how proud I am of Adam dealing with his autism one day and talk about some of the issues that occur when he goes nocturnal, some of which is brought on by the autism.
That doesn’t mean I am no longer proud of Adam.
Jesus had only three years of ministry. He wasn’t going to get to talk about everything.
But maybe Jesus did. John himself addressed that.
- “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (Jn. 20: 30-31 ESV).
- “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (Jn. 21: 25 ESV).
We can get a couple of good points out of these verses.
- What Jesus said isn’t negated by what He didn’t say or what isn’t recorded.
- The purpose of what is written is for our belief, not our understanding.
The first and second resurrection falls under this. He may have discussed the differences between the two resurrections. But that isn’t necessary for our belief of Him as our Savior.
We don’t have to understand chapter and verse. We just have to believe our Savior is coming back for us, and we will spend eternity with Him.
Making the Connections #3
The Homilist was talking about how human spirits are invisible to each other. Regardless, we do fellowship with together.
I can get that. We are good at hiding our innermost self from those around us.
What is said many times to police after they arrest someone as being a murderer or a serial killer? “They seemed so normal. They were nice and quiet, never giving anyone any trouble.”
So, if we don’t really see each other, we have no leg to stand on when we say we can’t worship an invisible God.
We can see God all around us. We can feel God within us.
I like what the Homilist wrote. In Soul Priesthood, it was written, “Through words we pour our souls into another’s and our minds meet and mingle in fellowship.”
Resource
We pray to God. Our faith is in our minds and hearts – where our souls are. We meet God through prayer.
How Do We Apply This?
- Fear and dread a second death.
- Understand the great privilege it is to not be under the power of second death.
- Recognize God’s constant presence.
- Acknowledge God as our Maker, Sustainer, and Author.
- Acknowledge God’s presence is necessary for our well-being.
- Meet God at His mercy seat.
Resource
Father God. You are always present with us. We want to be blessed and holy. Lord, we may not make the first resurrection, but we do not want to miss the second resurrection and being judged Your children. Amen.
What do you think?
Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
If you don’t understand something and would like further clarification, please contact me.
If you have not signed up for the email providing the link to the devotions and the newsletter, do so below.
If God has used this devotion to speak with you, consider sharing it on social media.