The 1st Resurrection At The Last Trump
Does the Bible promise us a resurrection before the 2nd coming?
Doesn't the Bible preclude that our resurrection be before the 2nd coming because it says that the resurrection and changing of all Christians into their immortal bodies will occur at a single point in time, at the "last trump" (1 Corinthians 15:52), at the 2nd coming of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:23), and that "the first resurrection" will also include all of us Christians who will die in the tribulation (Revelation 20:4-5)?
Wouldn't the pre-trib resurrection doctrine require that 1 Corinthians 15:23, 52 on the one hand, and Revelation 20:4-5 on the other, be referring to two different bodies of Christians regarding two different comings of Christ, thus making the one body of Christ two bodies (Ephesians 4:4-5), the 2nd coming a 3rd coming (Hebrews 9:28), the last trumpet the 9th from last (1 Corinthians 15:52; Revelation 8:6; Matthew 24:31), and the 1st resurrection the 2nd (Revelation 20:4-6), so that it would not really make sense of scripture?
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The Last Trumpet Will Be At The 2nd Coming
I believe the sounding of the trumpet and our resurrection and gathering together in Matthew 24:29-31 will be the "last trump" in that it will be the last fulfillment of Numbers 10:7: "When the congregation is to be gathered together, ye shall blow," and it will also fulfill Isaiah 27:12-13: "Ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown," and Zechariah 9:14: "And the LORD shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning: and the LORD God shall blow the trumpet," and 1 Thessalonians 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," and Ezekiel 37:12: "O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel," and 1 Corinthians 15:22-23, 52: "Even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming... at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised."
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Last Trumpet Of The Church Age?
While I believe the church began in Acts 2, note that the Bible doesn't refer to a "Church Age," but instead says that the church will continue "throughout all ages, world without end" (Ephesians 3:21). Note that we Christians who will be in the tribulation are Christians after the cross and after Pentecost (i.e. not OT) who have washed our "robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (Revelation 7:14) and have "the faith of Jesus" (Revelation 14:12) and are "in the Lord" (Revelation 14:13), so we must be in his body (Ephesians 4:4-5), which body is the church (Ephesians 1:22-23) and the bride (Ephesians 5:30-32), and we must have the Spirit, for "if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his" (Romans 8:9).
How could the last trumpet (1 Corinthians 15:52) which will sound at Christ's coming (1 Corinthians 15:23) to gather us together (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17; 2 Thessalonians 2:1) be pre-trib or be the last trumpet of "the church age" when the Bible doesn't refer to a pre-trib coming of Christ to gather us together or to a "church age" or to any preceding "trumpets of the church age," and when the Bible says that the trumpet which will sound at Christ's coming to gather us together will sound after the tribulation (Matthew 24:29-31)?
I believe "the end of the church age" is a man-made doctrine invented to support another man-made doctrine, the pre-trib rapture, and that some teachers have unwittingly built up an entire wall with such untempered mortar, just as happened in the days of old (Ezekiel 13:1-16, 1 Corinthians 10:11).
"Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end" (Ephesians 3:21).
I believe Ephesians 3:21 means that both Christ and the church will be throughout "all" ages, for the church is the body of Christ: "The church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all" (Ephesians 1:22-23).
God will receive glory throughout all ages "in the church" (Ephesians 3:21).
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The Times Of The Gentiles?
Note that the times of the Gentiles can't be fulfilled before the tribulation because Jesus says "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" (Luke 21:24), and Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles during the tribulation, "for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months" (Revelation 11:2).
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The Fullness Of The Gentiles?
Note that the phrase "until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in" (Romans 11:25) may mean the same thing as the phrase "until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" (Luke 21:24), for "fulness" can refer to "the fulness of times" (Ephesians 1:10), "the fulness of the time" (Galatians 4:4).
Note that the fulness of the Gentiles is not described as coming in before the tribulation, but right before all Israel is saved at the 2nd coming: "The fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob" (Romans 11:25-26); "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced" (Zechariah 12:10); "In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness... And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends" (Zechariah 13:1, 6).
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The Grace Age?
Note that the Bible doesn't refer to a "grace age," or say that grace will end, but instead says "that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace" (Ephesians 2:7). I believe the covenant of grace (Hebrews 10:29) is the "everlasting covenant" (Hebrews 13:20), and the gospel of grace (Acts 20:24) is the "everlasting gospel" (Revelation 14:6). We Christians who will be in the tribulation who have washed our "robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (Revelation 7:14) and have "the faith of Jesus" (Revelation 14:12) and are "in the Lord" (Revelation 14:13) will be in his grace.
"Grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began" (2 Timothy 1:9).
And grace will continue even after the tribulation, for at the 2nd coming Jesus "will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced" (Zechariah 12:10).
God has always given grace: "Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD" (Genesis 6:8); "The LORD said unto Moses... thou hast found grace in my sight" (Exodus 33:17); "Found grace in the wilderness; even Israel" (Jeremiah 31:2); "Grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God" (Ezra 9:8); "He giveth grace" (Proverbs 3:34).
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The Feast Of Trumpets?
Do some claim that Paul's term "the last trump" (1 Corinthians 15:52) comes from the Jewish Feast of Trumpets? If so, can they quote from the ancient Jewish source which calls a trumpet blown at the Jewish Feast of Trumpets "the last trump"?
In the pre-trib dispensational view, is the Jewish dispensation regarding Mosaic feasts applicable to the church? Would "Jacob's trouble" then also be applicable to the church? If, in the pre-trib view, the last trump will sound on the Feast of Trumpets, how does that fit in with their doctrine of imminence? Are there any scriptures or ancient Jewish sources which say that "the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound" (1 Corinthians 15:52) and the "great sound of a trumpet" (Matthew 24:31) and "the trump of God" (1 Thessalonians 4:16) will sound on the Feast of Trumpets or will sound before the tribulation?
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Come Up Hither
Note that Revelation 4:1's "come up hither" was spoken only to John over 1900 years ago. This is why there's no coming of Christ or rapture and resurrection of the church found in Revelation 4:1, just as there isn't at the "come up hither" spoken only to the two witnesses in Revelation 11:12.
Note that Revelation 4:1 doesn't say that John's going up hither was a picture of the future, but rather that John would be shown the future once he went up hither. I don't believe that Revelation 4:1 is a picture of what it will be like at the rapture of the church because it doesn't show Jesus coming, it doesn't show anyone resurrecting, and it doesn't show John changing into an immortal body; also, it shows John entering into the 3rd heaven, and no verse shows the rapture taking anyone any higher than the clouds.
I believe the rapture trumpet in 1 Corinthians 15:52, Matthew 24:31, and 1 Thessalonians 4:16 will be a literal trumpet, as these verses don't say "as of a trumpet" or "as it were of a trumpet," as it is says of the voice in Revelation 1:10, 4:1.
Some ask why John was taken into heaven in Revelation 4:1. I believe it was to show John what was there.
Some say Jesus could just as easily have shown John what was in heaven without taking him up there. Indeed. Jesus could just as easily have given John the book of Revelation already written out on golden plates buried under a rock on Patmos without giving him any visions at all.
"Yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?" (John 21:23) Note that this doesn't require a coming of Christ before the 2nd coming; it only required Peter to not be jealous of John for not having to be martyred like Peter had just been told he would be (John 21:19). Jesus wasn't telling Peter that John would necessarily tarry until Jesus came, only that Peter should consider his reaction IF Jesus' willed that John never die while Peter would have to die a cruel death (by crucifixion upside down, as it turned out).
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Come Out Of Her, My People
I don't believe Revelation 18:4's "Come out of her, my people" requires a pre-trib rapture, just as I don't believe 2 Corinthians 6:17's "Come out from among them" requires a pre-trib rapture.
Regarding the woman Babylon, note that it says "her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her" (Revelation 18:8), and I believe this one day in which the Lord judgeth her is at the end of the tribulation, at the 7th vial of God's wrath: "And the seventh angel poured out his vial... and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath" (Revelation 16:17, 19).
Note that the Greek word translated "famine" in Revelation 18:8 can be translated simply as "hunger," as it is in 2 Corinthians 11:27, and people can suffer hunger in a single day.
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1st Resurrection Not For The Church?
I believe that "all" Christians will be resurrected and changed at the 2nd coming (1 Corinthians 15:23, 51) and they will all rule with Christ on the earth during his 1000 year reign (Revelation 5:10, 2:26-29).
"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" (Revelation 20:4). If only those beheaded by the Antichrist will be resurrected in the 1st resurrection, when will all of us Christians be resurrected who died in the tribulation by war, famine, plague, etc., before enforced Antichrist worship was instituted? If we say the verse applies to them as well, then why doesn't it apply to every Christian who has ever died?
Note that John's reference to "the souls of them that were beheaded" in his description of the 1st resurrection (Revelation 20:4-5) doesn't require that the rest of the church isn't also resurrected at the same time they are, just as his earlier reference to "them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God" (Revelation 15:2) in his description of heaven doesn't require that the rest of the church that died before or during the tribulation isn't also in heaven at the same time they are.
We believers who will die under the Antichrist for not taking the mark will have "the faith of Jesus" and be "in the Lord" (Revelation 14:12-13), and so we too will go to be with him when we die: "I saw...them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God" (Revelation 15:2). And so we too will return with him: "Even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him" (1 Thessalonians 4:14). And so, as part of "they that are Christ's at his coming" (1 Corinthians 15:23), we too will be resurrected when "the dead in Christ shall rise" (1 Thessalonians 4:16).
It's curious that some use John's references to the beast and the mark as proof that only believers who will die in the tribulation will be part of the resurrection described in Revelation 20:4-5, but when John uses those same references in Revelation 15:2 they suddenly refer to only those believers not in the tribulation. Can they explain why? Where will believers who die in the tribulation go if not into heaven?
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1st Resurrection After Armageddon?
Note that Revelation 20:4 doesn't say the 1st resurrection occurs after Armageddon. I believe the 1st resurrection, the resurrection of "they that are Christ's," will occur at the "coming" of Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:15-16, 1 Corinthians 15:23), and I don't believe there's a 3rd coming of Christ, or a resurrection of believers before the 1st one.
Note that it simply says "they lived and reigned with Christ" (Revelation 20:4). The tense in the Greek doesn't require that they didn't live until after Armageddon. The aorist tense is considered without regard for past, present, or future time.
Note that while "lived... again" in Revelation 20:5 is a translation of the Greek word "anazao," which means just that, to recover life, "they lived" in Revelation 20:4 is a translation of the Greek word "zao," which simply means to live; it in no way requires that those living in Revelation 20:4 weren't previously resurrected at the 2nd coming.
If we required that each verse in Revelation be describing an event which will take place after the events described in the verses before it, and before the events described in the verses after it, then does the judgment and rewarding of the saints described in Revelation 11:18 happen after the 7th trumpet in Revelation 11:15 and before the reign of the Antichrist in Revelation 13? Should we be mid-trib? And how should we understand the chronology of Revelation 20:12-13? In what way does verse 13 happen after verse 12?
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1st Resurrection "Souls"
Note that the Greek word translated "souls" in Revelation 20:4 (psuche) doesn't have to refer to disembodied spirits; it's the same word used in Acts 27:37, 14:22, 2:41, etc.
"And we were in all in the ship two hundred threescore and sixteen souls (psuche)" (Acts 27:37).
"Confirming the souls (psuche) of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22).
"Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls (psuche)" (Acts 2:41).
Note that the Apostle John used the same Greek word translated "soul" in Revelation 20:5 in connection with living men: see Revelation 18:13, Revelation 12:11 ("lives"), 1 John 3:16 ("life" and "lives") and 3 John 1:2; and to living creatures: see Revelation 8:9 ("life") and Revelation 16:3.
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1st Resurrection Thrones
I believe when Revelation 20:4 says "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them" that it is referring to the fulfillment of Jesus' words to his disciples in Matthew 19:28, "in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." I personally believe "judging" here refers not to a formal and one-time judgment but to a general and continued ruling over Israel during the entire millennial period, like the "judges" in the book of Judges ruled over Israel in the OT. Note that nothing in Revelation 20 requires that any believer was resurrected before the 2nd coming.
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More Than One Resurrection Of The Church?
Jesus said "I am THE resurrection" (John 11:25). The question for us is, when are we who believe in Jesus first resurrected?
I don't believe Matthew 27:52-53 was a resurrection into immortal bodies but a resuscitation of mortal bodies, like the resuscitation of the mortal bodies of Lazarus (John 12:1) and Tabitha (Acts 9:40).
I believe "they that are Christ's" will not be resurrected and changed into immortal bodies until the 2nd coming: "Every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming... We shall all be changed, 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" (1 Corinthians 15:23, 51-53), and Christ's 2nd coming hasn't happened yet.
Do some believe Lazarus (John 12:1) received an immortal body before Jesus did? Did the son of the widow of Nain (Luke 7:15) and Jairus' daughter (Luke 8:55) and all the others who were resuscitated back to life (Matthew 10:8) receive immortal bodies?
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3-Stage Resurrection?
Note that it says the firstfruits was already fulfilled in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:23), and that the firstfruits of the body are the 144,000 (Revelation 14:4), and they have to go through the tribulation at least until the 5th trumpet (Revelation 9:4, 7:3-4), sometime after which I believe they will die and be taken into heaven (Revelation 14:1-3).
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Rapture At Different Time Than Resurrection?
Note that the Bible says the rapture and resurrection will both occur at the coming (parousia) of Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17; 1 Corinthians 15:21-23), and the Bible doesn't teach a 3rd coming (parousia) of Christ.
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Daniel 12:2
"Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt" (Daniel 12:2). I believe this refers only to the 1st resurrection, so that the shame would be that of the wicked, lazy Christian servant: "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord..." (2 Corinthians 5:10-11); "Thou wicked and slothful servant... Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 25:26, 30); "And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear" (1 Peter 1:17).
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Isaiah 26
Note that in Isaiah 26:20 they're hiding themselves. There would be no need for us to hide from anything happening on the earth if we were already in our incorruptible bodies and in heaven. I believe Isaiah 26:20-21 is a command to those of us Christians still alive on the earth right before the 7 vials of God's wrath are poured out (Revelation 16). The vials aren't directed at us Christians, and if we have good shelters with fresh water, they need not affect us in any way.
I believe Isaiah 26:20-21 will actually happen before Isaiah 26:19, in the same way that Luke 3:21 happened before Luke 3:20, because Isaiah 26:19 comes after Isaiah 26:16-18, just as Isaiah 25:8-9 (compare 1 Corinthians 15:54) comes after Isaiah 25:2-7.
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Zephaniah 2:3
Regarding Zephaniah 2:3, note that there would be no need for us to be hidden from anything happening on the earth if we were already in our incorruptible bodies and in heaven. I believe Zephaniah 2:3 refers to the same hiding as Isaiah 26:20-21, which could be a command to those of us Christians still alive on the earth right before the 7 vials of God's wrath are poured out (Revelation 16). The 7 vials aren't directed at us Christians, so that our and our families' entering our "chambers" before the 7 vials and "shutting the doors" about us (Isaiah 26:20-21) could protect us in a way like Noah and his family's entering the ark before the flood and the "shutting" of "the door of the ark" protected them (Genesis 6:16, 7:16).
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Joel 2:16
Will the church be fasting for deliverance from its enemies at the 2nd coming (Joel 2:12-20)?
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Spiritual Bodies
At the resurrection at Christ's 2nd coming (1 Corinthians 15:23, 44-54), I believe we will receive new, literal bodies, spiritual in the sense of their immortality and their ability to appear and disappear and move about as spirits do, like Jesus' resurrection body did (Luke 24:31; John 20:19), yet also physical in that they won't be the bodies of ghosts, but will have flesh and bones that can be seen and handled, like Jesus' resurrection body (Luke 24:39).
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Former OT Saints Resurrected Into Mortal Bodies?
Note that Paul nowhere says the resurrection will involve physical bodies being raised back into the same mortal physical bodies. He says there is only one type of resurrection body: "So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body" (1 Corinthians 15:42-44). So how could the former OT (now NT) saints not be resurrected into incorruptible, glorified, spiritual bodies?
Corruptible "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Corinthians 15:50), and we know the former OT (now NT) saints do inherit it: "Ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out" (Luke 13:28). So how could the former OT (now NT) saints be resurrected into corruptible flesh and blood bodies?
Some say that Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 taught that the OT saints would be raised into terrestrial bodies, while the NT saints would be raised into celestial bodies. But I don't believe Paul said we will be resurrected into "celestial" bodies, but into "spiritual" bodies, for the celestial bodies are the sun, moon, and stars, which Paul simply used as an example of how the same type of body can have greatly differing degrees of glory, just as he says terrestrial bodies can be in the different forms of men, animals, fishes, or birds (1 Corinthians 15:39-41).
Paul does not say the OT saints will be earthy and we will not be, but says as we all "have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly" (1 Corinthians 15:49).
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Is "The End" in 1 Corinthians 15 The Tribulation?
"As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end..." (1 Corinthians 15:22-24).
Some say that here "the end" is the tribulation, so that Paul is teaching a pre-trib resurrection. But I believe that here "the end" is the end of the millennium and the battle of Gog and Magog: "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. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet" (1 Corinthians 15:24-25). Jesus will not have done any of these things before or during the tribulation, when the Antichrist will rule the world (Revelation 13:7), or before the battle of Gog and Magog after the millennium, when the nations will rebel against Christ's rule (Revelation 20:7-9).
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"The" Trumpet Not "A" Trumpet?
Some point out that it says "a" trumpet instead of "the" trumpet in Matthew 24:31, but isn't "the" of anything an "a" of anything? And the English translations can't really be used to distinguish between Matthew 24:31 on the one hand and 1 Thessalonians 4:16 and 1 Corinthians 15:52 on the other, because in the Greek neither 1 Thessalonians 4:16 nor Matthew 24:31 have a "the" before "trump" or "trumpet"; only 1 Corinthians 15:52 has a "the" before "trump," but there is no "the" before "trumpet shall sound."
Note that in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 "the trump" is salpigx, and in Matthew 24:31 "of a trumpet" is salpigx, and in 1 Corinthians 15:52 "trump" is salpigx. I believe they all refer to the same last salpigx. In 1 Corinthians 15:52 "trumpet shall sound" is the verb salpizo.
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2nd Resurrection
I believe that the people who will come to faith in Christ during the millennium (Isaiah 66:19-21) and die during the millennium will be resurrected in the 2nd resurrection. Note that Jesus' reference to "the resurrection of damnation" (John 5:29) and "the resurrection of the just" (Luke 14:14) doesn't require that the 2nd resurrection be only of the damned and the unjust, for at the 2nd resurrection it only says "whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:15). It doesn't say "they all were cast into the lake of fire." I believe those not cast into the lake of fire at the 2nd resurrection are those called blessed in Matthew 25:34. Note that in the 2nd resurrection, it shows them being judged "according to their works" (Revelation 20:12), just as it shows the sheep and goats being judged by what they did (Matthew 25:40, 45). Note that those in the 2nd resurrection being judged "according to their works" (Revelation 20:12) doesn't require that they not be saved, for we too will be judged according to our works: "And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear" (1 Peter 1:17). We all need good works in order to be saved, for "by works a man is justified, and not by faith only" (James 2:24).