The Dead Will Rise First — Part 3

This is the third and final post that I am republishing to prepare for a discussion of Paul’s “rapture passage” (1 Thess 4:13–5:11), especially his words, “And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thess 4:16–17). The following post first appeared as A Delayed Millennium? — Part 3 on March 6, 2018.

Some prophetic models teach the “thousand years” of Revelation 20 is in our future. They say this coming “millennium” will be the kingdom age in which Christ will reign for a literal thousand years.

Inmillennialism maintains the “thousand years” of Revelation 20 is figurative: it represents the entire messianic age. Christ established this age during his life on earth; he will end it by defeating his last enemy, death, in the bodily resurrection.

Our current series of posts shows how we concluded this. We interpret Revelation 20 by using less symbolic passages, allowing the clear passages to interpret the unclear.

Our last post brought us to John 5. Before continuing, let’s do a quick review.

Review

Here are some leading features of the millennium in Revelation 20:

1. Christ has bound Satan such that he cannot continue his deception of the nations (Rev 20:1–3).
2. A resurrection of persons faithful to Christ occurs at its beginning (Rev 20:4-5).
3. The souls of the faithful reign with Christ in his kingdom (Rev 20:4, 6).
4. The second death has no power over those who take part in the first resurrection (Rev 20:6).
5. God looses Satan at the end and allows him to lead a rebellion against the kingdom (Rev 20:7–9).
6. God then defeats Satan and judges him (Rev 20:9–10).
7. After a second resurrection, God conducts the final judgment (Rev 20:11–15).

The Millennium in 1 Cor 15

We looked for less figurative passages to help us interpret Revelation 20 and establish its timing. First Corinthians 15 provided a basic outline¹ and other passages supplied needed details:

1. Christ’s bodily resurrection occurred at the start of the kingdom age (1 Cor 15:20).
2. His resurrection saved those who believe the gospel (1 Cor 15:1–11). 
3. The elect—those who believe the gospel—took part in Christ’s resurrection (Eph 2:4–7). They will never die in the most important sense of that term (John 8:51). Their souls will live with the Lord after their bodily death (2 Cor 5:8).
4. Christ reigns in his kingdom until he defeats all his enemies (1 Cor 15:25).
5. Christ overcomes his last enemy—physical death—in the resurrection at the end of the Messianic Age (1 Cor 15:26, 35–50).

Paul’s scheme matches Revelation 20 to a remarkable degree: a “first resurrection” at the start of the kingdom age; Christ reigning in his kingdom; the souls of Christians with him after their physical death; a “second resurrection” at the end of the kingdom age.

The Millennium in John 4

In our last post (here), we looked at two other non-symbolic passages. They combine to serve as a second witness to the millennium as a present reality.

The first passage is John 4:19–30. We made the following observations:

1. Jesus saw the kingdom through an “hour that comes—hour that comes, and now is” framework (John 4:21–23).
2. Events during a short period—an “hour”—would soon bring an age change: the Mosaic age would end, the messianic age (i.e., the millennium) would continue. 
3. The coming age would bring a profound change in worship. During the Mosaic Age, the Temple in Jerusalem served as the focal point of worship. Soon, men would worship “in spirit and truth” without regard to geographic location or a physical building (John 4:23–24).
4. The effects of the messianic age were present in Jesus’ generation: men were worshipping God like they would in the new age.

The Millennium in John 5

I now want to make a few more observations about the second passage: John 5:17–30. Here, Jesus used the same kingdom (i.e., millennial) framework. Referring to the pivotal age-transition period, he said, “the hour is coming and now is … the hour is coming” (John 5:25, 28). 

This slight change is significant because it accommodates a new subject—resurrection. Jesus said the first resurrection was already happening: “As the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will” (John 5:21). The verb “gives life” is in the present tense; Jesus was “making alive”² the spiritually dead—this resurrection was already underway when Jesus spoke. That explains his “the hour is coming and now is” framework.

This first resurrection is a spiritual resurrection based on Christ’s resurrection. All saints rose with Christ their representative when he left the tomb (Eph 2:4–7). But God’s people participate in Christ’s resurrection life through their own individual spiritual resurrection. God gives life to each one of them (John 5:21); Christians “are alive from the dead” (Rom 6:13).

The apostles viewed believers this way. They provided the identifying marks of resurrection by which “we know that we have passed from death unto life” (1 John 3:14). 

These individual spiritual resurrections will continue throughout the messianic age so that all the saints can have a “part in the first resurrection” (Rev 20:6).

Jesus also spoke of a second, physical resurrection “in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice” (John 5:28). Some people will experience it as “the resurrection of life,” others as “the resurrection of condemnation” (John 5:29).

Jesus did not say the hour for this resurrection “now is,” but that its “hour is coming.” It was not a present reality in Jesus’ generation. As we have seen in other passages, it will occur at the end of the kingdom age (cf. 1 Cor 15:26, 35–50).

Conclusion

The Apostle John described a resurrection-millennium-resurrection sequence in two places in his gospel. Inmillennialism uses his non-figurative accounts in John 4–5 to interpret Revelation 20.

According to John, Jesus said that certain effects of the kingdom age (e.g., spiritual resurrection and worship) were already present in his generation. But, a coming “hour” would fully inaugurate the new age and bring a significant change in the public worship of God. The resurrection and worship of which he spoke would continue throughout the messianic age (i.e., millennium).

The coming age was bringing resurrection of two kinds: spiritual resurrection already underway, and bodily resurrection. The hour for the latter had not arrived; it would occur at the end of the messianic age.

Both resurrections would depend on the bodily resurrection of Christ. Paul connects our individual spiritual resurrection to Christ’s physical resurrection: “Knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.… Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 6:9, 11). Our present resurrection-status springs from Christ’s resurrection.

Paul also links the coming physical resurrection to Christ’s bodily resurrection: “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Rom 8:11).

This resurrection sequence permeates the New Testament. As we have seen, Paul’s non-figurative account in 1 Corinthians 15 confirms this perspective. In another place, Paul says, “We should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises [lit., “who is raising”³] the dead.” He uses three tenses to describe this resurrection-work. In the past, God “delivered us from so great a death” by the resurrection of Christ. In the present, he “does deliver us” through individual resurrection. In the future, “He will still deliver us” in the bodily resurrection at the end of the messianic age (2 Cor 1:9–10).

This is the same resurrection-millennium-resurrection sequence of John 4–5 and Revelation 20. The first resurrection is not an event in our future at the start of a literal thousand-year period; it is the resurrection of Christ at the start of the kingdom age, and from which our individual spiritual resurrections flow. 

The millennium of Revelation 20 is a present, ongoing, and glorious reality; it is the age of spiritual and bodily resurrection.

1. See A Delayed Millennium? — Part 1.
2. Archibald Thomas Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, 6 vols. (Nashville: Broadman, 1930–33), 5:85.
3. Per Young’s Literal Translation.