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Hi Mike,

I hope all is well with you and yours. I have another question. Are the goats at the time of the first resurrection only the goats that are physically alive at the time of Christ’s return? The sheep are the chosen, the elect that will rule and reign with Christ. Am I seeing this right?

Sincerely,
G____

Hi G____,
Thank you for your question.
You ask:

Are the goats at the time of the first resurrection only the goats that are physically alive at the time of Christ’s return?

No, “the day of the Lord” extends all the way through the millennium and into and through the great white throne judgment and the lake of fire. Anyone not in that “blessed and holy first resurrection will be in the second resurrection and is therefore classified with those who are on Christ’s left hand. They all fit into the ‘goat’ category. Look again at this verse:

Rev 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.

“They shall be priests… and reign with Him a thousand years” is only true of the “sheep on His right hand”. Being in this resurrection is the highest honor that can be bestowed upon any human being. It is not adding to or taking away from scripture to say that anyone not in this resurrection will not rule with Christ during the thousand years, and the second death will have power over all who are not in this blessed and holy first resurrection. I will quote again the verse that helps us to put this all in perspective:

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23  But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
1Co 15:24  Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
1Co 15:25  For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
1Co 15:26  The last enemy [ that] shall be destroyed [ is] death.

“Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.” Christ and those that “are Christ’s at His coming,” are both called “firstfruits.”

Exo 23:16  And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.

“The end” of Exo 23:16 is the same “the end” of 1Co 15:24. “The harvest of the firstfruits” and the harvest “of ingathering, which is in the end of the year” are the two, and only two, resurrections in which mankind participates, other than the resurrection of Christ, as the first of “the firstfruits of them that slept.”

Rom 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
1Co 15:20  But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

Christ is given the preeminence in all things. Nevertheless, those who are Christ’s, being “like Him”, are also designated as “a kind of firstfruits.”

Jas 1:18  Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

Rev 14:1  And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.
Rev 14:2  And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:
Rev 14:3  And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
Rev 14:4  These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.
Col 1:18  And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

“They are virgins” in Rev 14:4 is a spiritual and not a literal statement.

2Co 11:2  For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

This 144,000 is the symbol of all who will be in that “blessed and holy first resurrection… being firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.”
Those who are Christ’s and who are still on the earth at the time of Christ’s return, will be “changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” into spiritual bodies at that blessed and holy first resurrection which occurs at the beginning of the millennium.

1Co 15:51  Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
1Co 15:52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Those who are on the earth at the time of Christ’s return and are not changed “in the twinkling of an eye” will live during the millennium, will die and will come up in the “great white throne” judgment, as those who are on Christ’s left hand. This is also true of all who lived in the Old Testament.

1Pe 1:9  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
1Pe 1:10  Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
1Pe 1:11  Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
1Pe 1:12  Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

There is no time line given in Mat 25. That is given elsewhere.

I hope this helps you to see that there are only two resurrections. The first resurrection is at the beginning of the thousand year reign of Christ and those that are Christ’s. The second resurrection is after the “short season” which follows the millennium and is the same as the “great white throne” judgment.

Rev 20:1  And I saw an angel come down from heaven [ at the beginning of the millennium], having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit [ read What And Where Is The Bottomless Pit? http:// www. iswasandwillbe. com/ What_ And_ Where_ Is_ The_ Bottomless_ Pit. php], and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom [ is] as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet [ are], and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 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.
Rev 20:13  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

It it those who are in the first resurrection, and only those who are in the first resurrection, who are “not hurt of the second death. All others are “hurt of the second death” in the sense that they are not the kings and priests who rule with Christ during the thousand years and are then used of Christ as the flames and burning which restore “every man” to God “as by fire, in that great work of grace better known as a “lake of fire.”

Isa 33:14  The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
Isa 33:15  He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;

Our God is a consuming fire.

Heb 12:29  For our God is a consuming fire.

We will be like Him.

1Jn 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
1Jn 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

So, according to Isa 33:14-15, We are the “devouring fire, [ and the] everlasting burnings” which will be used of our Lord to show mercy to all mankind in this great work of grace known as the lake of fire. It is not a ‘sea of fire’ because “many are called, but few are chosen” to be in that blessed and holy first resurrection to be used by God to “fill Him who fills all in all” and to show mercy to all of the rest of mankind in the oncoming ages.

Eph 2:7  That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in [ his] kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

This is only seven verses after this statement:

Eph 1:18  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
Eph 1:19  And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us- ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
Eph 1:20  Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set [ him] at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
Eph 1:21  Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
Eph 1:22  And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him [ to be] the head over all [ things] to the church,
Eph 1:23  Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

It is “the church which is His body, [ which is] the fulness of Him [ Christ] that fills all in all [ the Father].” And it is that same church which is His body, which is “a kind of firstfruits,” which “in the ages to come”, the ages of the millennium and the great white throne judgment, will be used by Christ to “show the exceeding riches of His chastening grace.
Read The Scriptural Definition and Function of Grace in the paper about the Law of Moses Versus The Law of The Spirit http:// www. iswasandwillbe. com/ freefromlaw. php. That subhead is about 1/4 of the way down the scroll bar in that article.
 
Also read How Is The Lake of Fire Administered?
http:// www. iswasandwillbe. com/ How_ Is_ The_ Lake_ Of_ Fire_ Administered. php
After reading these articles, if you still have questions, then please feel free to get back to me.
Your brother in Christ,
Mike