Peace to you Checkpoint!
Checkpoint wrote:
The immediate context is this passage from 1 Thessalonians 4.
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep 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 not precede those who have fallen asleep.
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.
18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
So, how do you read, what do you understand, is the intended meaning of the words in bold above?
To help us along, tell us whether you see them as primarily referring to verses 13 and 14, or to verses 15 to 17.
Please note however, this thread is not about other issues you may view as being related, such as the details of prophecy.
It is about the fact of the second coming and the resurrection that then occurs.
Okay, so there are two resurrections.
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 about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its 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 share 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.
So the first resurrection is for those who will reign with Christ for a thousand years. This resurrection is for the Bride. The New Jerusalem. The Body of Christ.
When Paul is writing to the thesselonians, he is speaking about this first resurrection. The dead in Christ (whose spirits Christ received - as Stephen asked Christ to receive his spirit when he was stoned and so died/fell asleep) are sleeping/waiting 'under the altar'. (Revelation 6:9) When Christ returns to gather us up to Him (to be married), He brings with Him those of us who belong to Him, who have died and are awaiting the first resurrection "under the altar".
It sounds like Paul might have been responding to a concern that some may have had, thinking that those who had died would have to wait to be resurrected.
**
The
second resurrection occurs at the END of the thousand years, AFTER Armageddon/after gog and magog have been devoured.
Continuing from the above passage:
When the thousand years are complete, 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 assemble them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the seashore. And they marched across the broad expanse of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. But fire came down from heaven and consumed them.
Then comes the resurrection of the dead (the second resurrection). Remember that all those who are in Christ have already been resurrected in the first resurrection and have been reigning with Him for a thousand years. This resurrection is for everyone else (some few exceptions). Some of these are resurrected to life and some are resurrected to judgment and the second death.
And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, into which the beast and the false prophet had already been thrown. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Then I saw a great white throne and the One who sat on it. The earth and the heavens fled from His presence, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne. And there were open books, and one of them was the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their deeds, as recorded in the books. The sea gave up its dead, and Death and Hades gave up their dead, and each one was judged according to his deeds."
Death and hades (sheol/hades/hell - the world of the dead) gave up the dead in them. That is the second resurrection, for all those NOT in Christ (with exception to the 'elders' who were already seen seated around the throne).
So... there are two resurrections. The first is for those in Christ and that is the resurrection that Paul is speaking about. Both those who have died and those who are still alive - who belong to Christ - are resurrected in the first resurrection.
Peace to you,
your servant and a slave of Christ,
tammy
