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Having Two Resurrections

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Hi R____,

Thank you for your reply. My purpose in directing your attention to the fact that there are two resurrections which are separated by a symbolic one thousand years, was to point out that while the number 1000 is indeed symbolic of how long God will take to bring all flesh to an end, so death can be “destroyed” and the aions can come to their predestined end, the destruction of death is not possible as long as flesh continues to be produced. It seems from what I am understanding of your teaching here…:

… that you did not grasp the significance of having two separate resurrections. So I want you to tell me, how do you account for the resurrection of “Sodom and Samaria”? How can people who died never having a chance to have “Christ in you the hope of glory” be given life if indeed as you say here:

The scriptures simply do not agree with you. Yes, Christ is being formed in His elect now, but that does not address this revelation:

Eze 16:55 When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate.

This verse does not give us a date so we can know exactly what length of time “a thousand years” signifies, but it does, just like the book of Revelation, give us the order of those events.

That order is:

1) the resurrection of those who are in Christ, “at his coming”. It is not “already past”, but is an event which is future to the time before the “thousand years”.

2) A thousand years, when the kingdoms of this world will be ruled by the overcomers of this age, and

3) a period of time “when the thousand years are finished” in which Satan will be released again and again permitted to deceive the nations in the four quarters of the earth, and cause them to “encompass the camp of the saints” who have been ruling them with a rod of iron for “a thousand years”, followed by

4) fire coming down from God out of heaven and devouring “the nations in the four quarters of the earth, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea”, followed by “a great white throne… judgment”, followed by

5) the destruction of death and the grave in the lake of fire. Contrary to what you are trying to tell us, this is what the apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the holy spirit, tells us:

1Th 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
1Th 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
1Th 4:15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
1Th 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
1Th 4:18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

The subject of these verses is “the dead in Christ”, and we are told that when “the Lord Himself descends from heaven with a shout, those who are “dead in Christ shall rise first” and that any who happen to still be in the flesh when that happens will be “changed… in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye”, and will ascend into the heavens to be with Christ.

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.
1Co 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1Co 15:54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
1Co 15:55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

These verses certainly include the changes we experience when we are converted and “know no man after the flesh, [ and] henceforth know… [ Christ] no longer after the flesh”. But these words tell us plainly that some of us will still be in bodies of flesh when Christ returns, before the thousand years begins, and they tell us plainly that those who are “dead in Christ” will be raised up from the dead at that time. The fact that we are to no longer “know Christ after the flesh” does not equate to having no future literal return of Christ to receive those overcomers who have died in His faith, to rule with Him a thousand years. Now we go to the second event which we are plainly told follows the resurrection of those who are “dead in Christ” and which follows the change that occurs in those who are in Christ but have not yet died.

Here is what we are told of those people:

Rev 2:26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: Rev 2:27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

This is not a reward given while we are “keeping His Words to the end” but afterward, when “Christ Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout… and we which are alive and remain are caught up to meet Him in the air, at the beginning of “a thousand years” of “ruling the nations with a rod of iron. That is the reward which is promised for “overcoming and keeping [ His] works unto the end”. That is not the reward given while keeping His works.

I could go through the period of time that follows that symbolic thousand year reign, when Satan is released to deceive the nations in the four quarters of the earth, I could ask you why Satan is released if Christ is in us and this is all being fulfilled only in us now and will not have a literal consummation, as you indicate. I could repeat that those nations “encompass the camp of the saints” giving God the “occasion” he is seeking to destroy all flesh, and thereby destroy death and the grave. I could ask you how “death and the grave can ever be destroyed, and how God can ever be “all in all” if flesh continues to be produced upon this earth, and that ever- present flesh continues to grow old and die?

It is in light of all of these truths which are plainly stated in Rev 20 that Paul informs us of these words:

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 [ harvest of “all in Adam”], 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.
1Co 15:27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
1Co 15:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

Christ reigns only “till He [ the Father] has put all things under His [ Christ’s] feet. After that, Christ “subjects Himself to Him [ the Father] who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.

So contrary to what you are trying to teach, there is a consummation of the ages, “Then comes the end”, when all men of all ages will be raised up from the dead, given to know Christ and be judged just as we are being judged in this age. The only difference is that they will be “raised a spiritual body” to be judged along with “the devil and His angels”.

Now let’s look again at your words:

Now let’s compare your words to our Lord’s inspired words:

Rev 2:26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
Rev 2:27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

If this is not literal carnal nations, then why is a “rod of iron” needed? If as you say, there is no period of time when those who overcome and keep Christ’s works to the end are rewarded with rulership over the nations for learning to rule the nations within themselves in this age, then why are we told that Christ’s reign is only until He has put all enemies under His feet? Your doctrine has no end to death or the grave in sight.

Again why are we told, symbolically, how long will they who “overcome and keep [ Christ’s works unto the end”, be ruling? Is that rule, as you are telling us, already present within us only, and with no end in sight? Or is there an order to both resurrections, and are they, as the scriptures plainly teach, divided by a certain symbolic period of time that symbolizes a period of time, and not something else? Here again is what the scriptures teach:

Rev 20:1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, 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, 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 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. [ Because they had “kept His works unto the end” [Rev 2:27].
Rev 20:5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
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.
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 [ the eons of the eons].
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.

So, if all of this is only here and now, and there is no thousand years and no ruling of the elect during that time as the scriptures plainly teach, then why are we given all of this order of the sequence of all of these events which lead to the destruction of death, and the judgment of “the dead small and great”, and of those who never knew Christ in past ages? Your doctrine completely ignores those multitudes. How does your doctrine bring salvation to Sodom, or for that matter to anyone before Christ? Doesn’t the lake of fire, which comes on the scene “when the thousand years are expired” and Satan has been released to deceive the nations, accomplish that goal? Here is why Satan is released:

Jdg 14:1 And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.
Jdg 14:2 And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife.
Jdg 14:3 Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.
Jdg 14:4 But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

The Philistines signify those who are in the promised land without benefit of circumcision. They signify our uncircumcised flesh. They signify “the nations in the four quarters of the earth” who “compass the camp of the saints” who have been ruling them with a rod of iron for a thousand years, and God is seeking an occasion against all flesh, to bring it to its predestined destruction. So we are plainly told that Satan’s release “when the thousand years are expired… was of the Lord”:

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.

This signifies the destruction of all flesh. This is the death of death and the destruction of the grave. Now all that is left is to save all men of all time from death, and the channel for that work is God’s elect who have fire in their mouths:

Jer 5:14 Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
Rev 11:4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
Rev 11:5 And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.

So what is the very next thing we are told:

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.

The destruction of all flesh is signified by the destruction of the sea out of which the beast arises in Rev 13:

Rev 13:1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
Rev 13:2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

And what is the very next verse of scripture, after we are told of the function of the lake of fire? It is this verse which informs us of a very interesting fact concerning the “new earth”.

Rev 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea [ no more flesh].

I hope this helps you to see that there is a Biblical order to when all of these things all happen, and I hope you can see that God’s elect, who “overcome and keep His works to the end” in this age, are the “blessed and holy” channel through which the rest of mankind will be brought to know God and His Son, “when the thousand years” of their reign “is expired”. They will do this as that “lake of fire” which will cleanse and purify the masses of unbelievers who have lived in this age and all the masses of humanity who have ever lived in all the ages before Christ.

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 [“He that overcometh and keepeth My works unto the end”], 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;

God’s elect are His channel for the salvation of all men of all time, but that will happen only “when the thousand years are finished” and we, as that “lake of fire”, are used of God to destroy all flesh, and to thus bring an end to all death and an end to the grave.

I will repeat these verses for your consideration:

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.
1Co 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1Co 15:54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
1Co 15:55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

You admit that there is a future “first resurrection”:

But you deny that there is a second resurrection which is separated from the first resurrection by a thousand years of the rulership of those who have “kept [ Christ’s] works unto the end” as their reward for doing so. In so doing you ignore the need for the salvation of all who lived before Christ came to live His life in us, and you don’t deal with the need for the salvation of all those who do not come to know Christ since His coming in a body of flesh and blood.

Please consider all these scriptures I have taken the time to share with you. If you still think as you have said: “Jesus the man (flesh or spirit) is going to return to earth… the planet … overthrow the earthy rulers … set up a benevolent ruler Kingdom with priest and kings as his ambassadors for a thousand years. That just isn’t true. Christ is being formed in US… the temple of God and we will be priest and Kings ruling over that Kingdom of our heavens”, then we will just have believe that our safety is revealed through God’s word in His multitude of counselors:

Pro 11:14 Where no counsel is, the people [ you and me] fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.
Pro 15:22 Without counsel purposes [ yours and mine] are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established.
Pro 24:6 For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war [ in the heavens of you and me]: and in multitude of counsellors there is safety.

That phrase “in the multitude of counselors” is in the scriptures three times, and it signifies how we are to judge our doctrines so they do not cause us to longer fall, or be disappointed when we are waging spiritual warfare. You say that I cannot offend you, and I am very pleased to hear that. But you said that immediately after quoting what I had pointed out about what we are given in this life being only “the earnest of the spirit” and not “the redemption of the purchased possession”. Your doctrine is telling us that what we have now is the redemption of the purchased possession, and the things which are promised to those who “keep [ Christ’s] works unto the end” are all here and now because Christ is in us here and now. That is simply not what “until the redemption of the purchased possession” means. I will quote those verses again, for your consideration:

Eph 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Your concerned, but loving brother in Christ,

Mike>

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