Three Types of Resurrections

1. Reawakening – This is a resurrection from the dead whereby the person who has been restored to life continues with their original corruptible (decaying) flesh-and-blood body.

2. Revitalization – A resurrection of a person who at death possessed a corruptible (decaying) flesh-and-blood body but when brought back to life is transformed so as to have a mortal, incorruptible (nondecaying), ruach (spirit)-type flesh-and-blood body.

In this resurrection one will obtain a body like the one Yahushua the Messiah had while he was a man on the earth.

This type of resurrection is scheduled for all humans, except for the Messiah, and will occur only twice—at the First Resurrection and at the Second (General) Resurrection.

•  The First Resurrection is the resurrection of the just (those declared righteous, justified to receive the Eternal Inheritance), more specifically the 24 Elders (Abraham, Isaak, Jacob, the twelve apostles, etc.) and the 144,000 Elect of Israel.

These people will be brought back to life at the second coming of the Messiah. They are the Elect of Yahweh and will rule with the Messiah during the great Millennial Sabbath Day (the 7th millennial day) and during the Millennial Judgment Day (the 8th millennial day) that follows.

Those who attain to the First Resurrection are blessed, for the second death in the Gehenna Fire, which occurs at the end of the Millennial Judgment Day, will have no authority over them.

Instead, their mortal, incorruptible bodies will be quickened into eternal life shortly after their resurrection or revitalization at the First Resurrection.

•  The Second Resurrection is a resurrection (revitalization) of both the just and the unjust. This resurrection will return to life every human being, including all of the remaining Israelites, who have ever lived on the earth, with only the exception of the Messiah and those who took part in the First Resurrection.

In their revitalized but mortal form, those of the Second Resurrection will experience the Millennial Judgment Day. If at the end of that period they are found unworthy, they shall suffer the Second Death and perish for eternity. On the other hand, those found to be worthy will be quickened and inherit eternal life.

3. Reactivation – Finally, there is a resurrection back to life of those having a mortal, incorruptible (nondecaying) body. This class of resurrection has two examples.

•  The first was Yahushua the Messiah, who as a human had a mortal, incorruptible flesh-and-blood ruach-type body. For this reason, the Messiah is defined as the “deity (eloahi) who was manifested in the flesh.”¹

Yahushua died with this type of body and was subsequently resurrected back to life with this form. After he was raised, Yahushua was immediately quickened into a higher ruach form.

•  The second example of this type of resurrection or reactivation has not yet occurred. It finds its place after the Second Resurrection at the beginning of the Millennial Judgment Day.

At that time, most people, despite the fact that they have an incorruptible flesh-and-blood ruach-type body, will still be mortal and some, as a result, can and will be murdered.² It will then be necessary to bring the innocent victims back to life.

Since these people already have an incorruptible body, defined as a body like the one Messiah had while he was a fleshly man,³ they will continue with this same type of body after their reactivation.

Yet unlike the Messiah, they and all others from the Second Resurrection will not be quickened into eternal life until the end of the Millennial Judgment Day.

A more detailed discussion of three types of resurrections is as follows:

Reawakening

The first class of resurrections can be described properly as a reawakening—i.e., the person resurrected is brought back to life and retains their original fleshly, corruptible (decaying) form.

This type of resurrection can occur to anyone, whether good or bad, just or unjust. There are numerous instances of this class of resurrection in Scriptures. In the Old Testament we have the following examples:

•  At the request of the prophet Elijah, Yahweh raised the son of a widow who was living at Zarephath, Zidon.⁴

•  The prophet Elisha later prayed to Yahweh and raised the son of a Shunammith woman.⁵

•  After the death of Elisha, who had been given a double portion of the sacred ruach,⁶ some Israelites were burying a man when they saw a band of Moabi coming into their country. In a panic “they threw the (dead) man into the grave of Elisha; and the (dead) man touched the bones of Elisha and came alive, and rose upon his feet.”⁷

Yahushua the Messiah also raised the dead back to their original form. For example, early in his ministry Yahushua had sent word to John the Baptist that “the dead are raised” as one of the signs that he was the Messiah.⁸

•  Yahushua brought back to life the daughter of Jarius, a ruler of the synagogue at Capernaum.⁹

•  He raised the son of a widow who lived in the city of Nain.¹⁰

•  Yahushua also raised his friend Lazarus, who had been dead and in his tomb until the fourth day.¹¹

•  During his ministry, Yahushua sent out his twelve disciples ordering them, among other things, to “awaken the dead.”¹² The apostles continued to raise the dead even after the death and resurrection of the Messiah.

•  For instance, Keph (Peter) raised the disciple Tabitha, a woman who had died in Joppa during the period after Yahushua had been resurrected.¹³

•  Many of the saints were also reawakened at the moment that Yahushua was resurrected. The text of Matthew records:

And the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep awoke, and having gone forth out of the tombs after his (Yahushua’s) resurrection, entered into the sacred city (Jerusalem) and appeared to many. (Matt., 27:52-53)

Nevertheless, none of these resurrections belong to the great event scripturally defined as “the Resurrection of the Dead,” a category wherein those who return to life have incorruptible (nondecaying) bodies.¹⁴ This misinterpretation cropped up among some of the faithful as early as the 1st century C.E., no doubt as a result of the reawakening of the saints at the death of the Messiah. The book of 2 Timothy reports:

Yet stand aloof from profane, empty babblings, for only more will they advance impiousness, and their word will be as a gangrene growth; of whom are Hymenaios and Philetos; who missed the mark concerning the truth, asserting that the resurrection of the dead has already taken place; and are overthrowing some of the trust. (2 Tim. 2:16-18)

In support of this understanding, the book of Hebrews speaks of the women who had already “received their dead from out of a resurrection,” yet had not “obtain the promises” of the resurrection and eternal life.¹⁵ These reawakenings merely returned the individual back to his previous decaying form. These reawakenings served an important purpose.

As the apostle John informs us, the resurrection of Lazarus by Yahushua was also “a sign.”¹⁶ It was not just a sign that Yahushua was the Messiah, although this is certainly part of it, but it was a sign that there would be a resurrection of the dead by means of the power given to the Messiah—both of the justified and of the unjustified.¹⁷

Revitalization

The second type of resurrection, which is a revitalization, brings back to life all those who originally had a corruptible (decaying) body but at their resurrection are given an incorruptible (nondecaying) body.

We shall discuss the nature of a nondecaying body in a later discussion.¹⁸ For now we will point out that this class of resurrection encompasses every human being that has ever existed (except for the Messiah), both the pious and the wicked alike, as well as those who had previously been reawakened back into a decaying body.

This type of resurrection is divided into two events: the First Resurrection and the Second Resurrection. These two Resurrections are first indicated in the Covenants of Promise given to Abraham.¹⁹

•  On the one hand, Abraham was promised that “kings will come out of you,”²⁰ further described not only as “you” but along with the plural “seed” with whom Yahweh will make a covenant.²¹ Since they “come out of you,” it is clear that these particular kings are the fleshly descendants of Abraham.

This Covenant made with Abraham and his plural seed is in part defined later by Jeremiah as an Eternal Covenant that will be made with the House of Israel and the House of Judah.²² The fact that they are kings further indicates that they will govern over others, clearly connecting them with the Elect of the First Resurrection.

These Elect of the First Resurrection are composed of the 24 Elders (Abraham, Isaak, Jacob, Moses, David, Elijah, Elisha, the two witnesses, the 12 apostles, and a few others) and the 144,000 from the twelve tribes of Israel, who are chosen from the period of the Great Tribulation. Together, these will rule with the Messiah during the Millennial Sabbath Day before the Second Resurrection, which takes place at the beginning of the Millennial Judgment Day.²³

•  Then in another part of the Abrahamic Covenants, Yahweh promised Abraham that he would be the “father of many nations.”²⁴ In the New Testament, this fatherhood is defined as a patriarchy over all the nations of the earth.²⁵

This fatherhood is not bestowed by fleshly descent from Abraham. Rather, it comes by means of our adoption by Yahushua the Messiah, the son (descendant) of Abraham.²⁶ The adoption of all nations cannot take place until all the nations are restored to life, indicating those of the Second Resurrection.

Next, Daniel reports that, following the time of the destruction of the anti-Messiah,²⁷ the following will occur:

And there will be a time of distress such as has not been from the existence of a nation until that time. And at that time your people (the Israelites) will be delivered, everyone that will be found written in the book (of life).²⁸ AND the abundance of those who sleep in the ‘aphar of the ground will awake, these to a world-age lasting life and these to reproaches, to a world-age lasting abhorrence. (Dan. 12:2)

The First Resurrection, as we have said, consists of the Elect of Yahweh, i.e., the 24 Elders along with the 144,000 who come from the families of the House of Israel and the House of Judah during the time of the Great Tribulation.

This resurrection will occur “at the time your people (the Israelites) will be delivered,” their names having been written in the Book of Life.

This event occurs at the second coming of Yahushua the Messiah and when the remnants of the families of Israel are delivered from the nations where they have been scattered in the time of Jacob’s Trouble.

The Second Resurrection, which will return the rest of mankind back to life, takes place over a thousand years later and only a short time after the beginning of the Millennial Judgment Day.

Reactivation

The third type of resurrection is the reactivation of a person who has an incorruptible, ruach-type flesh-and-blood body yet has been murdered or accidentally killed. There is only one such instance so far—the resurrection of Yahushua the Messiah.

From his mother’s lineage, Yahushua was the fleshly descendant of Abraham, via the line of King David of Judah.²⁹ Not only was Yahweh his father,³⁰ Yahushua the Messiah had preexisted as an eloah being,³¹ i.e., the angel Yahweh of the Old Testament.³²

The preexistent Messiah underwent a transformation in order to become the human named Yahushua. Philippians informs us that Yahushua, who had been:

. . . subsisting in the form of deity, did not esteem it a thing to be grasped to be equal with the deity (father Yahweh), but he emptied himself, having taken a bondman’s form, having become in the likeness of men. And having been found in form as a man, he humbled himself, having become obedient unto death, even a death on a torture-stake. (Phillip. 2:5-8)

As the book of Hebrews, citing Psalms, notes:

But in a certain place one saying, What is ἄνθρωπος (anthropos, a human) that you (father Yahweh) are mindful of him? or the son of ἀνθρώπου (anthropou, a human) that you visit him? You did make him (the preexistent Yahushua) a little lower than angels; with glory and honor you did crown him, and did set him over the works of your hands; all things you did subject under his feet. (Heb. 2:5-8)

These comments show that the preexistent Messiah “emptied himself,” i.e., his ruach form as a deity was transformed into a flesh-and-blood human form of an adam or man, taking on his earthly name Yahushua, which was slanged into Aramaic as Yeshua, into Greek as Iesous, and into English as Jesus.

Yet unlike corruptible man, Yahushua was of an incorruptible form, which was capable of inheriting eternal life. This transformation was accomplished as part of his miraculous joining with the seed of his human mother, Mariam.

He was thereby made “lower than eloahim (angels),” because he gave up his immortal condition for that of a mortal man, now being capable of death despite the fact that he never sinned.

Due to his being a human, the Messiah is often referred to as “the son of man (adam).” Nevertheless, since he was also the divine preexistent son of father Yahweh, he is also called “the son of the most high deity.”³³

Although Yahushua was a human with incorruptible flesh, in that form he was still mortal, proven by the fact that he died. He was also resurrected or revitalized in that form.

This detail is important for those of the Millennial Judgment Day. Saul points out that those of the resurrection will not have a corruptible-type body but an incorruptible-type body.³⁴ He defines this composition of this resurrected body by stating:

The first man (Adam) came out of the land, made of dust; the second man, the sovereign (Yahushua the Messiah), CAME OUT OF THE HEAVENS. Such as he made of dust, such also are those made of dust, AND SUCH AS THE HEAVENLY ONE, SUCH ALSO THE HEAVENLY ONES. And according as we bore the image of the one made of dust, WE WILL ALSO BEAR THE IMAGE OF THE HEAVENLY ONE. (1 Cor. 15:47-49)

This passage does not say that we will bear the image of Yahushua while he preexisted in the heavens. Rather, Saul states that we will bear the image of Yahushua as he was when he “came out of the heavens,” i.e., while he was a fleshly man.

This incorruptible form is also defined by the apostle Saul as a pneumatikovu (pneumatikou; ruach-type) body. Nevertheless, this ruach-type body is still mortal (i.e., subject to death) unless quickened into a higher form. At the same time, after Yahushua was quickened into a higher form, he went into the third heavens by returning to his former glory,³⁵ now as an eternal, ruach being.

We are also told that during the Millennial Judgment Day there will still be murderers who will be destroyed in the Gehenna Fire or Lake of Fire.³⁶ If innocent people are murdered (a fact implied by the statement that there will be murderers during this millennial period), they will go to sheol, for sheol still exists until the Second Death of the Lake of Fire.³⁷

That sheol remains a receptacle for the dead (both good and evil) during the Millennial Judgment Day is implied by its continued existence until the end of this period. Indeed, if sheol was no longer required, it would be eliminated immediately after the Second Resurrection.

The innocent victims who will die during the Millennial Judgment Day must have a place to go in order for their incorruptible bodies to once again be raised from the dead or reactivated, just as Yahushua the Messiah was capable of being raised.

On the other hand, those who are wicked and commit criminal offenses worthy of immediate death, will never again be raised from the dead. Instead, after their execution, they will remain in sheol until the coming of father Yahweh.

At that time, sheol itself will be destroyed in the Gehenna Fire along with all those remaining within its realm. All the wicked will perish for eternity.

Chronological Order

The best way to examine the two Resurrections labeled “Reawakening” and “Revitalization” is first to establish their chronological order, as demonstrated in the Book of Revelation.

•  In Revelation, we are given the prophecy of the Messiah’s future return and his conquest of the beast (anti-Messiah)³⁸ empire, which is inspired by Satan and the false prophet who promotes the anti-Messiah.³⁹ Chapter 20 follows this episode by stating:

And I saw an angel descending out of the heavens, having the key of the abyss, and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and the satan, and bound him a 1,000 years, and cast him down into the abyss (i.e., tartaros, the angel prison),⁴⁰ and shut him up and sealed him over, so that he should not mislead the nations any longer, until were completed the 1,000 years; and after these things he must be loosed a short time. (Rev. 20:1-3)

One day in Scriptures parabolically stands for a period approximately 1,000 years long.⁴¹ Keph, for example, states, “one day with Yahweh is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day,”⁴² while the book of Psalms makes the statement, “For a thousand years in your eyes are as yesterday when it passes.”⁴³

At the same time, we find that parallel to the 1,000-year imprisonment of Satan is the establishment of the great Millennial Sabbath Day reign of the Messiah. At the end of one thousand years Satan is released from Tartaros (the angel prison).⁴⁴

•  Next, the Elect of the First Resurrection will also rule alongside the Messiah during the Millennial Sabbath Day (reigning as kings) and the following Millennial Judgment Day (sitting as judges).

Revelation points out:

And I saw THRONES; and they (the Elect) sat upon them, AND JUDGMENT WAS GIVEN TO THEM; and the psuchas (nephesh) of those beheaded because of the testimony of Yahushua, and because of the word of the deity, and those who did not do homage to the beast (anti-Messiah king), nor its image, and did not receive the mark upon their foreheads, and their hand; AND THEY LIVED AND REIGNED WITH MESSIAH THE 1,000 YEARS—but the rest of the dead did not live again until had been completed the 1,000 years. THIS IS THE FIRST RESURRECTION. Blessed and sacred is he who has part in the First Resurrection: over these the second death has no authority; but THEY WILL BE PRIESTS OF THE DEITY (father Yahweh) AND OF THE MESSIAH (Yahushua), AND WILL REIGN WITH HIM (the Messiah) 1,000 YEARS. And when will have been completed the 1,000 years, the satan will be let loose. (Rev. 20:4-6)

Those of the First Resurrection, therefore, sit upon thrones, for they will reign as priest-kings along with the Messiah. They are also “given” judgment at some point after obtaining their thrones (implying reception of this authority at the beginning of the Millennial Judgment Day), or as The Amplified Bible translates this verse, “Then I saw thrones, and sitting on them were those to whom authority to act as judges and pass sentence was entrusted.”

This authority will be granted to them during the Millennial Judgment Day. Keph, for example, specifically defines this approximate 1000-year day both as “the day of the sovereign (Yahweh)” and “the day of the deity.”⁴⁵ At the end of this period father Yahweh arrives.⁴⁶

Therefore, it is also “a day of judgment and destruction of wicked men,” a day when “fire” will destroy the wicked and dissolve the elements of the earth, and a time when a “renewed heavens and renewed land” will be established and seas will disappear.⁴⁷

The Elect, accordingly, reign with the Messiah as “kings” for 1,000 years until Satan is released from prison. Seven years after the defeat of Satan,⁴⁸ at the beginning of the next approximate 1,000-year period, i.e., the Millennial Judgment Day, the Elect will be additionally occupied with their role as “judges.”

The Early Ante-Nicaean Writers

The early ante-Nicaean writers held to a belief that there was a 1,000-year Sabbath day reign of the Messiah and the Elect prior to the Millennial Judgment Day.

Papias (late 1st century C.E.), who personally knew John the Divine,⁴⁹ the author of Revelation, reports “that there will be a millennium after the resurrection of the dead, when the kingdom of the Messiah will be set up in material form on this earth.”⁵⁰

Justin Martyr (mid-2nd century C.E.), speaking of the First Resurrection, argues that, “there will be a resurrection of the flesh, and also a thousand years in a Jerusalem built up and adorned and enlarged.”⁵¹

Noting also that a day with Yahweh is as a 1,000 years, he adds that “our Messiah will spend a thousand years in Jerusalem, and that afterward the universal, and, in one word, eternal resurrection of all at one time, will take place, and then the Judgment.”⁵²

Justin’s statement reveals his firm belief that the thousand-year Sabbath reign of the Messiah was to be followed by the Second Resurrection and the Judgment Day.

Hippolytus (c.220 C.E.), as another example, writes:

And 6,000 years is required to be accomplished in order that the Sabbath will come, the rest, the sacred day on which the deity rested from all his works. For the Sabbath is a type and emblem of the future kingdom of the saints, when they will reign with the Messiah, when he comes from the heavens, as John says in his Apocalypse: for a day is with the sovereign as a thousand years.⁵³

Irenaeus refers to “the Sabbath of the deity, that is, the kingdom,”⁵⁴ showing that it lasts 1,000 years and will follow the six 1,000-year periods (days) of our present condition since Adam.⁵⁵

The concept that a prophetic day is 1,000 years long also stands behind the words of Commodianus (c.240 C.E.). By his time the doctrine of the 24 Elders and Elect of Israel were replaced with one that argued that all saved Christians will participate in the First Resurrection.

Nevertheless, the millennial kingdom of the Messiah was still being taught. He writes that we should, “Trust in one deity, so that when dead you will live, and will rise in his kingdom, when there will be the resurrection to the justified.”⁵⁶

Commodianus then adds, “We will be immortal when 6,000 years are accomplished.”⁵⁷

Regarding Commodianus, Robert Ernest Wallis states:

His Millenarianism reflects the views of a very primitive age, and that without the corrupt Chiliasm⁵⁸ of a later period, which brought about a practical repudiation of the whole system.⁵⁹

The Interregnum

The Millennial Sabbath Day is a period during which Satan remains imprisoned while the Messiah and the Elect of the First Resurrection reign unopposed.

At the end of 1,000 years, and lasting for a μικρόν χρόνον (mikron khronon; very small period of time),⁶⁰ Satan will be let loose from Tartaros.⁶¹ This short interregnum period is defined in the book of Revelation as follows:

And when the 1,000 years (of imprisonment) has been completed, Satan will be let loose out of his prison, and he will go out to mislead the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together into war, of whom the number is as the sand of the sea.

And they went up upon the breadth of the land, and encircled the camp of the sacred ones (the Elect), and the beloved city (Jerusalem): and came down fire from the deity out of the heavens and devoured them.

And the diabolos (devil) who misleads them was cast into the lake of fire and of brimstone, where (had been cast) the beast and the false prophet; and they will be basanisqhvsontai (basanisthesontai; tested for genuineness),⁶² day and night; into the world-age of the world-ages. (Rev., 20:7–10)

The story of Gog—king of the land of Magog and the prince of the nations of Rosh, Mesheck, and Tubal—and his great invasion against the Elect of Israel living in Jerusalem is explained in great detail in the book of Ezekiel.⁶³

After the destruction of Gog’s great army, the people of Israel, the Elect of the First Resurrection as well as the descendants of those remnants of Israel who returned 1,000 years earlier, will be burying the dead for seven months in order to cleanse the land.⁶⁴

Ezekiel adds:

And they that dwell in the cities of Israel will go forth, and will set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they will burn them with fire for SEVEN YEARS. (Ezek. 39:9)

As proven by the above passage from Revelation, this great event takes place AFTER the first 1,000 years of the reign of the Messiah and his Elect, not before as so many popular interpretations wrongly conclude.

The judgment rendered against Satan and the cleansing of the land of dead bodies and weapons is our first indication that we are now ready to enter the Millennial Judgment Day.

Therefore, the evidence shows that toward the end of the Millennial Sabbath Day, Satan will lead another great rebellion and will try to capture the city of Jerusalem in an effort to destroy the Elect of Yahweh. Instead, both he and his army will come to their end. As we shall demonstrate, a seven-year period follows.

Satan Not Tormented

Furthermore, Satan is not “tormented,” as the KJV and other translations would have us believe, but like gold he is “βασανισθήσονται (basanisthesontai; tested for genuineness)” in the fire which determines his purity.

The expression “Lake of Fire” is a reference to the Gehenna Fire and is also a parabolic phrase meaning “a permanent judgment.”

For example, “death and sheol” are cast into this Lake of Fire as are the beast (anti-Messiah) and his false prophet.⁶⁵ The anti-Messiah is a demon who has come up from out of the abyss.⁶⁶

Also, “the devil that deceived them was cast into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone, where (had been cast) the beast and false prophet.”⁶⁷

Death and sheol, meanwhile, are abstract concepts, while the anti-Messiah and the devil are living beings.

Therefore, since both abstract concepts relating to death and the demons find their end as a state of being in the same lake of fire, this destruction of the demons only refer to their permanent end.

At the same time, the finality of death and sheol cannot occur until the end of the Millennial Judgment Day, when the wicked are destroyed. Similarly, “whoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the Lake of Fire.”⁶⁸

We are also told that the wicked will be cast into “the lake which burns with fire and brimstone; which is the second death,”⁶⁹ for wicked humans are thrown into the same fire as Satan and his angels.⁷⁰

In the case of Satan, who is an archangel,⁷¹ and the other ruach angels, in their present form they are ruach in substance and incapable of death.⁷² Fire, as such, would have no effect upon these beings unless they are changed into a mortal form.⁷³

Satan and His Angels Judged

Indeed, this future alteration of sinning angels into a mortal form is confirmed in Isaiah.⁷⁴ Satan and his angels will be judged, for the Elect will judge angels.⁷⁵ Found wanting, Satan and his wicked angels will receive a judgment of death within the fire of the sacred ruach.

After becoming mortal, they will themselves enter the state of death in sheol, and will later eternally perish at the end of the Millennial Judgment Day when sheol is cast into the Gehenna Fire.

We examine this process in another discussion.⁷⁶ For now we need only point out that this judgment will last for eternity, into the world-age of the world-ages, and Satan will perish.⁷⁷

It should be noted that there is a μικρόν χρόνον (mikron khronon; very small period of time) following the end of the first 1,000 years of the reign of the Messiah and his Elect, yet before the death of those allied with Gog of Magog when they come against the Messiah and the city of Jerusalem.

This proves that each millennial day, being “as a thousand years,” lasts several more years than an exact figure of 1,000 years.⁷⁸

For example, as mentioned above, the 1,000 years of imprisonment for Satan was followed by the war of Gog and Magog, then seven months of burying the dead within seven years of burning the enemy’s weapons.⁷⁹

The First & Second Deaths

In Scriptures we read that those who “overcome will in no way be injured by the second death,”⁸⁰ that “the second death has no authority” over those of “the First Resurrection,”⁸¹ and that at the end of the world-age the wicked will suffer “the second death.”⁸²

Indeed, Jude 1:12, parabolically describes the wicked who come to know Yahweh but subsequently turn back to evil as “autumnal trees, without fruit, twice dead, rooted up.” These statements clearly indicate that there is a “first death” for both the just and unjust. As the book of Hebrews points out, “it is apportioned to men to die once, and AFTER THIS, judgment.”⁸³

In addition, John the Divine points out that “the rest of the dead,” i.e., all the remaining population of humankind (those having our present form of decaying bodies), “will not live again until the 1,000 years were completed,”⁸⁴ i.e., after the 1,000-year Sabbath millennial reign of the Messiah.

Said another way, the Millennial Judgment Day has not yet begun and the remaining of mankind, with their corruptible body form, must now be destroyed so that everyone can be resurrected or revitalized into an incorruptible body. Nevertheless, this new incorruptible body will allow them to either inherit eternal life or experience their final judgment.

Furthermore, with the death of the armies associated with Gog during their invasion of the Promised Land and their assault upon Jerusalem (being those deceived by Satan into attacking the Elect and the Messiah in a vain attempt to forestall his own judgment), there will come a period wherein the people remaining alive will help the Elect cleanse the earth of the dead enemy and their weapons.⁸⁵

As demonstrated above, Ezekiel points out that this cleansing period will last seven years, which we must add to the short interval during which Satan will be released from Tartaros until he attacks Jerusalem. This seven-year-plus interregnum, in turn, must itself follow the first 1,000 years of the Sabbath Day Reign of the Messiah.

Subsequently, during this interregnum the remaining children of Adam, all those who were not part of the First Resurrection, will have experienced their first death so that they can be resurrected at the beginning of the Millennial Judgment Day—the Second Resurrection.

The key to the sequence of events is that the final judgment occurs at the end of the Millennial Judgment Day, and does not start when the Judgment Day itself begins. Rather, judgment occurs within the Judgment Day, after the events of Gog and Magog, and after all remaining corruptible flesh-and-blood humans have died.

At this point Satan has been removed from the leadership of his second rebellion. Only after this event can the Second or General Resurrection of all remaining humans occur. The people raised or revitalized in the Second Resurrection, having an incorruptible body, will now become subject to a possible “second death.”

First Death After Gog and Magog

Therefore, after the “first death” of the last remaining humans having decaying bodies (great numbers dying at the end of the Gog and Magog rebellion),⁸⁶ the Second Resurrection will take place. In this General Resurrection all of the children of Adam, everyone who has ever lived and were not part of the First Resurrection, will be brought back to life. Entering into the time of Judgment, they will have to choose life or death.

This resurrection is referred to by Martha when she told Yahushua the Messiah that she knew that her dead brother, Lazarus, would “rise again in the last day.”⁸⁷ The last day, of course, is the Millennial Judgment Day.⁸⁸ As foreshadowed by the sin of Adam and Eve, if anyone, having knowledge of the truth, sins during this period, he will die in that day.⁸⁹

Accordingly, if someone who has come to the knowledge of the truth of Yahweh subsequently murders someone, he himself will be executed and remain in sheol or state of death until the end of the Millennial Judgment Day, at which time sheol is cast into the Lake of Fire. The wicked who continue until the end will also be cast into the Lake of Fire.

Second Death When Father Yahweh Arrives

The final act of Judgment occurs when father Yahweh arrives to the earth and all those who are not found in the Book of Life are cast into the Lake of Fire (i.e., Gehenna Fire), suffering the second death. John the Divine states in a prophecy regarding this great event:

And I saw a great white throne and him (father Yahweh) who sits upon it, FROM WHOSE FACE THE LAND AND THE HEAVENS FLED, AND A PLACE WAS NOT FOUND FOR THEM. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before the deity, and books were opened; and another book was opened, that which is of life. And the dead were judged out of the things written in the books according to their works (i.e., good or bad works).

AND THE SEA HAD GIVEN UP THE DEAD IN IT, AND DEATH AND SHEOL HAD GIVEN UP THE DEAD IN THEM; AND THEY (THE DEAD) WERE JUDGED, EACH ACCORDING TO THEIR WORKS. And death and sheol were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And if anyone is not found written in the book of life, he is cast into the Lake of Fire. (Rev. 20:11-13)

The present land and heavens will flee from the face of father Yahweh upon his arrival at the end of the Millennial Judgment Day—i.e., the earth will be consumed and melted with the fire of the sacred ruach.⁹⁰

At that time, we will be given a renewed heavens and a renewed earth to take us into eternity.⁹¹ Also, as we shall demonstrate in another discussion that examines the Millennial Judgment Day, those things written in the books regarding the works of mankind will be written during that very millennial period.

Upon the first death, the wages of sin have been paid and we will no longer be subject to the penalties of the laws and covenants of this life.⁹² Each individual will no longer be liable for their past sins. They begin their new life during the Millennial Judgment Day with a “legal” clean slate.

Yet, we still retain the nature we had developed during our first life. Therefore, as Keph writes, the Judgment Day is a as thousand years so that those resurrected will have a chance to acquire the divine nature.

This long period should not be considered a delay of handing out the promises of the Eternal Inheritance,⁹³ or a delay in the coming of father Yahweh, for he adds:

Yahweh does not delay the promise, as some esteem delay, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing anyone to perish, but all to come to repentance.⁹⁴

With our present discussion, we recognize that those of the Second Resurrection are brought into Judgment and, unlike those of the First Resurrection, are subject to a second death in the Gehenna Fire.

The “Lake of Fire” is equivalent to the Gehenna Fire, and all those found unworthy, whether wicked ruach beings or humans, will perish in that fiery death.

Sheol Will Cease to Exist

At that time, for humans, the abstract concepts, i.e., the state of death and sheol, will cease to exist. For wicked humans, this is their second and final death, their descent into eternal nonexistence.

Saul writes that for those who do not obey the good news and do not know father Yahweh, i.e., trust him and keep his commandments, they become those who:

. . . will suffer the penalty, ETERNAL DESTRUCTION away from the presence of Yahweh, and from the glory of his strength, when he will have come to be glorified in his pious ones and to be wondered at in all them that trust—because our testimony to you was trusted—in that day. (2 Thess., 1:9-10)

As already noted, at the end of the Millennial Judgment Day, “the land and the heavens” of our present world-age are made to flee from the one sitting on the great white throne. The phrase “renewed heavens and renewed land” is an expression meaning “a new mantle covering the earth,” one without oceans.

In Revelation, for example, John reports:

And I saw a renewed heavens and a renewed land; for the first heavens and the first land were passed away, and the sea is no longer. (Rev. 21:1)

At the same time he saw Renewed Jerusalem coming to the earth with father Yahweh residing inside the city. At that time, those saved will be able to see the face of father Yahweh and live.⁹⁵

Sequence of Events

The chronological order of the events during the two Great Resurrections are as follows:

•  The First Resurrection takes place. After the Great Tribulation and the time of Jacob’s troubles, the Messiah will return and gather his Elect of the First Resurrection. Satan is then bound and held in tartaros (the abyss) for 1,000 years.

•  The Elect of the First Resurrection will be placed upon thrones to reign as kings with the Messiah during the Millennial Sabbath Day.

•  After 1,000 years are completed, Satan is let loose and deceives the nations into attacking the Elect at Jerusalem. The armies of the nations are subsequently destroyed. For seven years the dead are buried and the earth is cleansed. During this period, those remaining alive among mankind will also die, leaving only the Messiah and the Elect of the First Resurrection, because all must die once and then Judgment (which occurs during the Millennial Judgment Day).

•  After the completion of the Millennial Sabbath Day, the Millennial Judgment Day begins.

•  The Second Resurrection occurs. All humans who have ever lived (except for the Messiah and his Elect and Elders of the First Resurrection) are returned to life (revitalized) and will have incorruptible, mortal bodies. These will undergo the great white throne Judgment. Those who qualify will be changed into immortal beings. The wicked will remain mortal and will eternally perish in the Gehenna Fire, i.e., the Second Death.

Conclusion

What the Scriptures teach us is that there are different kinds of resurrections.

1. There is a reawakening or resurrection of humans back to their present corruptible, flesh-and-blood bodies.

2. There is also a revitalization or resurrection from the dead where we are transformed so as to have incorruptible, ruach-type bodies, a form capable of inheriting eternal life. This type of resurrection is divided into two groups:

•  The First Resurrection which occurs at the beginning of the Millennial Sabbath Day when the second coming of the Messiah occurs, consisting of the 24 Elders and the 144,000 Elect from the twelve tribes of Israel.

•  The Second Resurrection, both of the just and the unjust, which occurs at the beginning of the Millennial Judgment Day.

3. Finally, there is the reactivation or resurrection of those who have already attained an incorruptible body, such as occurred when the Messiah was resurrected and as shall happen when any of the righteous are killed during the Millennial Judgment Day.

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