Resurrections

1 CORINTHIANS
15:21-24

For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. The New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House) 1984.

Humm!!
Notice the order of Resurrection from mortal to immortal, firstly Christ(which has occured), then the first fruits (first ressurection) and then afterwards all the rest who belong to him. The end of rebellion against God occurs after everything that is opposed to God's kingdom is thrown into the lake of fire and the kingdom of God is handed to the Father.

REVELATION 20:3-6

He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time. I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.

Humm!!
As Christ has already been ressurected from the dead, then the first fruits are next and this occurs prior to the 1000 year rule of Christ kingdom on earth. Knowing that the first general resurrection of mortal bodies to immortal bodies is the resurrection of God's priests for the thousand year reign of Christ's kingdom on earth and that the rest of the mortal bodies living or dead do not get changed to immortal bodies till after the thousand year reign of Christ then lets look at these other type of resurrections that occured when mortal bodies are once again reunited to their souls bringing them back from death to life in the bible.

JOHN
11:38-44

Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. "Take away the stone," he said. "But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days." Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me." When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."

Humm!!
In this instance Lazarus had been dead for four days before Jesus brought him back to life and although he was resurrected from the dead he was resurrected to his mortal body which would die later on so this was not to an immortal body.

MATTHEW 27:52-54

The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people. When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, "Surely he was the Son of God!"

Humm!!
When Jesus was resurrected from the tomb by the power of God he brought back to life those holy people who still had mortal bodies. Jesus' soul went to hades, to Abraham's bosom, and brought God's people out of Hades and as proof of this(they who were dead before) showed themselves to the people of Jerusalem as a sign of God's power but eventually they too would died again as their bodies were still mortal.

REVELATION 11:11-13

But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here." And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on. At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

Humm!!
This is a future resurrection of the two witnesses who are killed because they have troubled the people of the earth, to get their attention, so that these people would listen to their testimony of the coming wrath of the last part of the tribulation and to turn to God. When Jesus went to heaven he took the souls of God's people who were dead with him(except for those people that were brought back to life in Jerusalem as a testimonial to what had happened). As Jesus was taken to heaven in His physical body,I believe, so too will the two witnesses who are brought back to life also be called up to heaven in their physical bodies. These two witnesses are the first fruits of the first fruits and the beginning of the first resurrection

REVELATION 7:13-14

Then one of the elders asked me, "These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?" I answered, "Sir, you know." And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Humm!!
Just before the tribulation saints are taken to heaven and the wrath of Christ occurs on those that destroyed the earth, the 144 000 people from all the tribe of Israel are sealed on the foreheads as servants of God to witness to the people that are left during the last part of the tribulation, before the 1000 year reign of Christ.

REVELATION 20:7-10
When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth- Gog and Magog- to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God's people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

Satan has been locked up for a thousand years and is let loose at the end of Christ's 1000 year reign and even though people were living in ideal circumstances, with Satan's influence on mankind's sinful nature, rebellion re-occurs against God's perfect way of doing things. Satan and all those that rebel against God have only one place to go which is the lake of burning sulfur.

1 THESSALONIANS 4:16-17

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

REVELATION 20:11-15

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Humm!!
All the dead are resurrected to immortal bodies to face God's judgment and those not found in the book of life are found "guilty". Everything that isn't a part of the kingdom of God is thrown into the lake of fire including death(the process of destroying man's physical body to dust) and Hades(the holding place of now body-less souls that rejected God). When death and Hades gave up the dead, then a man's body is resurrected from the dust of the earth to be rejoined with their soul to face judgment.

MATTHEW 10:28

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

1 CORINTHIANS 15:50-57

I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed- in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true:

"Death has been swallowed up in victory."
"Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?"

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Humm!!
Everybody is resurrected to immortality at judgment day, some to eternity with God and others to an eternity without God.

Ezekiel 37:1-10

The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.”
So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.
New Revised Standard Version. 1996, c1989 (Eze 37:1-10). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

JOHN 11: 25-26

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"


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