What is the first resurrection & who is it for?
According to the Bible, EVERYONE will be raised from the grave. However, as Daniel 12:2 describes, there are two groups raised. One group (believers/the saved) are raised to everlasting life. The other (unbelievers/the unsaved) are raised to everlasting condemnation. So, everyone is resurrected, but not everyone raised shares the same destiny! Furthermore, the New Testament adds the important detail that the resurrection of believers and unbelievers take place at different times.
The FIRST RESURRECTION is for believers, and takes place in various stages before the millennium.
The SECOND RESURRECTION is for unbelievers and it takes place after the millennium.
The FIRST RESURRECTION occurs in various stages. 1 Corinthians 15:23-24 mentions three stages that scholars sometimes call the first fruits, the harvest, and the gleanings.
1)First Fruits. Jesus, whose resurrection guarantees ours, is called “the first fruits” (in 1 Corinthians 15:20). In ancient Israel, when the harvest was beginning, the initial batch of ripened crops were called the first fruits, and they were the guarantee that the rest of the harvest was about to occur.
2)Harvest. When Jesus returns for his church, at the RAPTURE, all believers from the church age who have died will be resurrected, and those who are still alive will also be “changed” (transformed!) and given resurrected bodies.
This is described in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 and 1 Corinthians 15:51-52
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 – “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. 17 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.”
1 Corinthians 15:51-52 – “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 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.”
3) GLEANINGS. The final crop to be resurrected are the Old Testament saints (Daniel 12:1-2,13) and tribulation martyrs (Rev.20:4-6). Keep in mind, after the rapture, while the church is in heaven, there are seven years of tribulation on the earth, after which Jesus returns in power and glory to establish his millennial kingdom. Just prior to the start of the kingdom, Old Testament believers and tribulation martyrs will be resurrected.
Revelation 20:4-6 – 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. 5 (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. 6 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.
All those who take part in the FIRST RESURRECTION (not only tribulation martyrs, but also believers from the church age, and Old Testament saints) will not be subjected to the second death, in the lake of fire (see Revelation 20:14). They will rule and “reign with” Christ during the his thousand year kingdom. They will be saved from the second death. After the millennium is over, they will enter into the eternal state in the new earth (see Rev.21:1-4)
THE SECOND RESURRECTION is the resurrection for all the unsaved/unbelievers and according to Revelation 20:5 it takes place after the thousand year reign. It is further described in Revelation 20:11-15 – “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 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. 13 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 they had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.”
The second resurrection is only for the unsaved/unbelievers. It is sometimes called the “great white throne” (v.11) judgment. At it, everyone’s deeds will be examined, and since they didn’t trust in Jesus’ blood and Christ’s payment for their sins, their names are not “found written in the book of life” (v.15). Therefore, they will be sentenced to pay for their sin in “the lake of fire” (v.15). Hades (hell) is a temporary holding for all the unsaved/unbelievers who have died, until the second resurrection. At that point, t after which they will be sentenced to eternal punishment.
From all of this, we see that EVERYONE will be resurrected one day. There is only one way to avoid and escape the terrifying reality of the second death, and that is to trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, receiving the gift of eternal life he offers. That is the way to guarantee your participation in the FIRST RESURRECTION and have your name written in the book of life.
