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The three resurrections: when will the dead become

alive?

Tradition and religion tell us that when somebody dies he

either lives with God in heaven or he goes to hell. But that’s not
what the Word of God says. What the Word of God says is that the
dead are dead now. They are not living. However they will become
alive with the resurrection of the dead. Our purpose in this article is
to examine the matter and the timing of the resurrection of the dead,
as these detailed in the Scriptures. There are three future
resurrections spoken about in the Bible, one in Paul’s epistles and
the other two in Revelation. Let’s look at them, starting from the
first one.

1. The first resurrection

The first resurrection relates to the Christians. Starting from I

Thessalonians we read concerning it:

I Thessalonians 4:13-18
“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those
who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have
no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so
God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For
this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive

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and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who
have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven
with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of
God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive
and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to
meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.
Therefore comfort one another with these words.”

We will also find references to this resurrection in I

Corinthians 15. I will just give one small part here.

I Corinthians 15:51-52
“Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be
changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet;
for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable,
and we will be changed.”

As I Thessalonians, tell us the Lord will come and then 2

things will happen: “The dead in Christ will rise first”. See that this
is only about the dead in Christ i.e. everybody that has died and who
was a genuine Christian1. There is no mentioning of any judgement
here that could send these people to “hell”. The reason is simple:
though as II Corinthians 5.10 says: “we must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for

1
By genuine Christian I don’t mean people that just profess that are Christians but people that have
believed in their hearts, in the most inner being, that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead and that He
is the Son of God, the Messiah, and out of this belief they confess Him as their Lord. Wherever in this
magazine we mention the word “Christian” this should be understood as including only the genuine
Christians.

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his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good
or bad”, this is not a judgement that will decide between eternal life
and death. At the current age and because of the death and
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, eternal life is a gift given to
anyone that genuinely believes (believes in his heart, in his most
inner being) that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead and
confesses Him as Lord. Romans 10:9-10 together with many other
Scriptures makes this more than clear:

Romans 10:9-10
“That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe
in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will
be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and
with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

That’s why there is no judgement to life or death here, and

there is no such judgement to take place when we will appear before
the judgement seat of Christ. As also the Lord made clear in John
5:23-24:

“He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent
Him. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and
believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not
come into judgment, but has passed from death into life”.

When somebody becomes a Christian, he is passing at the

same time from death to life. There will be no more judgement that

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will decide between eternal life and eternal torturing for him, though
he will stand – as every Christian – before the judgement seat of
Christ “so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the
body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad”. But as
we said this is not a judgment to decide salvation but a judgment to
decide “recompensation” of those that are already saved.
Back to the first resurrection: the dead Christians, “the dead in
Christ”, will rise first. Then after this all those Christians that will be
alive at that time will be changed in the twinkling of an eye and will
be transformed, getting a body like Jesus’ resurrected body i.e. a
spiritual body. As I Corinthians 15:42-53 tells us:

I Corinthians 15:42-53
“So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in
corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, 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. And so it is written, "The first
man Adam became a living being." The last Adam became a life–
giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and
afterward the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, made of dust;
the second Man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so
also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so
also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image
of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly
Man. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption.

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Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all
be changed–– in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last
trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised
incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible
must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on
immortality.”

The above is the first – cardinally and timely – resurrection.

Together with this resurrection also all Christians that will be living
at that time will be transformed and will be caught up together with
the raised ones in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. As the I
Thessalonians says: “and SO we shall always be with the Lord”.
When a Christian dies we so frequently hear people saying “he went
to be with Lord”. Now if he went to be with the Lord when he died I
wonder why Paul didn’t comfort with such words the believers and
instead he choose to comfort them with the truth of the resurrection?
If dead Christians go immediately to be with the Lord after they die
and now supposingly see us with the Lord from somewhere in
heaven, I wonder why the word of God tells us:

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with
the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the
dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will
be caught up together with them [together with the dead Christians
that will have in the meantime be raised from the dead] in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air, and SO we SHALL always be with the
Lord.”

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How will we always be with the Lord and when will this
happen? When the Lord will come the dead in Christ will be raised
and those Christians that are alive will be transformed. Both
(Christians raised from the dead and Christians that will be alive at
that time) will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
See that the dead did not come with the Lord. They will meet the
Lord when they will be raised from the dead which in turn means
that they are NOT with the Lord now. See also that the Word of God
tells us: “And so we shall always be with the Lord.” See this “and
so”, which means “in this way”, “by these means” we will always be
with the Lord. What are these means? They are the resurrection for
the dead Christians and the transformation of the body for those that
will be living at that time. Finally see also the “shall” there which
defines the time in the future. None of the dead in Christ is now with
the Lord, but all SHALL be with the Lord. When? When “the Lord
Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will
rise first”, the Word of God says.

2. The second and third resurrections

The above is the first resurrection and as we saw it relates to

Christians. But what happens with all other dead i.e. with those that
have died before the sacrifice and resurrection of the Lord as well as

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with the non-Christians that died in the present age of grace. Also
what about those that will die after the coming of the Lord described
in I Thessalonians and during the coming tribulation? This is where
Revelation gives the answer. And as it tells us there are two
additional resurrections that will happen: the first is given in
Revelation 20:4. Who is included in this resurrection? Here is the
answer:

“those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus

and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped
the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their
forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with
Christ for a thousand years.”

These martyrs should not be confused with the “dead in

Christ” of I Thessalonians. The “dead in Christ” includes all
Christians of the present age of grace. Obviously the martyrs spoken
here martyred, after the resurrection mentioned in I Thessalonians.
These are martyrs of the times and tribulation of the Revelation
times: “those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of
Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not
worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark
on their forehead and on their hand”. The beast, his image and his
mark are things still future. Nobody will force you today to receive
any mark on your forehead or on your hand and nobody will murder
you because you didn’t worship “the image of the beast”. But there
will be a time that this will happen. As Revelation 13:15-18 tells us:

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Revelation 13:11, 15-18

“Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had
two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon…. He was granted
power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the
beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship
the image of the beast to be killed. He causes all, both small and
great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their
right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell
except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the
number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has
understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number
of a man: His number is 666.”

There will be a time where standing for your faith will be

equal to death. But this is not the end! The martyrs that will be killed
in this period will be raised again and will live and reign with Christ
for 1000 years. This is the first resurrection of the book of
Revelation and the second resurrection in total. As John tells us:
“The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years
were completed” Who is this rest? Those that were dead but not in
Christ (non-Christians and people that died before the sacrifice and
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ), as well as those of the
Revelation times that were not included in this martyrs of 20:4-6.
Example? Those that died having the mark of the beast. What will
happen with them? They will be resurrected too. This is the third and
the last resurrection and the 2nd resurrection mentioned in the book
of Revelation. We find the related record again in Revelation 20:

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Revelation 20:11-15
“Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from
whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found
for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing
before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was
opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the
things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.
And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades
gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every
one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were
thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he
was thrown into the lake of fire.”

Many, confusing the resurrections, think that the dead in Christ

i.e. the dead Christians of the present age of grace are part of this
resurrection here. But this is a serious error. We saw previously what
the Word of God says about the dead in Christ. We didn’t see there
Paul speaking about a great white throne and about judgment
“according to their deeds”, as Revelation tells us here. In contrast it
speaks about resurrection of the dead Christians, transformation of
the bodies of the living Christians and immediate meeting of both
with the Lord in the air. Furthermore what we read in Revelation 20
about these dead is the following: “and the dead were judged from
the things which were written in the books, according to their
deeds”. Whoever genuinely believes in the Lord Jesus Christ and in
his resurrection will be saved. As Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us: “For by

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grace you have been saved through faith …. not of works.” The
dead Christians are in the first resurrection, not here! Here are all
those that are not in the first resurrection (the resurrection of the
genuine Christians) or in the second resurrection (the resurrection of
the Revelation martyrs). Here are the people that lived in the Old
Testament times (Jews and Gentiles) and here are also the New
Testament unbelievers. Here are the persecutors of Christians and
the Pharisees. Here are those that received the mark of the beast. All
these will stand before the great white throne to be judged according
to their works. None of those in the first or second resurrection will
be thrown to the lake of fire. But for those here things are different.
As Revelation 20:14-15 tells us:

“This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was
not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of
fire”

and here are some further references about this terrible place and
those who will be there:

Revelation 20:10
“And the devil … was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone,
where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be
tormented day and night forever and ever.”

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Revelation 21:8
“the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually
immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the
lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second
death."

This is the third and the last resurrection. After it, there will be
no dead any longer. Every dead will have been raised to either live
with the Lord eternally or to be thrown into the lake of fire.

Conclusion
Tradition tells us the following: “when somebody dies, if he is
Christian (and also has enough good deeds according to some
denominations) he goes immediately to heaven where he (or “his
soul”) lives in great peace together with God and Christ. On the
other hand if he is not a Christian (or if his deeds are not enough,
according to some denominations) then he is going, immediately to
hell”. However, it is more than obvious from the Scripture that such
a view, though it is very popular is blatantly unbiblical. For the Bible
things are very clear: when somebody dies he goes neither to heaven
nor to hell. He is in the grave, in Hades, “sleeping”. He does not live.
This can only be changed – and will be changed – by one thing:
RESURRECTION! And there are 3 of them:

i) the resurrection of the dead in Christ. It includes all the dead

that were genuine believers in the Lord Jesus Christ and

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lived in the age of grace that commenced when He paid the

price for our redemption. This age carries on today too.
ii) The resurrection of the martyrs of Revelation that were
beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and the Word of
God and because they didn’t worship the beast and his image
and they denied to receive his mark.
iii) Finally: the resurrection of all the rest i.e. of the unbelievers
of the age of grace, the people that lived in the times of the
Old testament (Jews and Gentiles) as well as those that lived
in the Revelation times but were not among those included
in category ii) (i.e. they received the mark of the beast,
worshiped the beast etc.).

No dead is living with God now and none is in the lake of fire
now. The reason is simple: none of these three resurrection has
happened. BUT THEY WILL HAPPEN! As sure as the sun raises in
the sky today they WILL HAPPEN. None of those in the first or
second categories will be thrown into the lake of fire. But from the
third category, those whose works are not enough and they have not
made it to the book of life will end up there.

A note for the present and future reader

I would normally finish the article here but I need to say

something more. I need to say that the above is not something only
for the future and for somebody else. Now that I’m writing this

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article Christ has not yet come to receive His people. The age of
grace is still present. And in this age because He paid the needed
price, it is available to be saved through grace, by faith and not by
works. I will again repeat Romans 10:9-10:

Romans 10:9-10
“That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in
your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the
mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

Those that are Christians - and I always mean genuine

Christians – will be in resurrection number 1. Whoever believes or
will believe in his heart that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead
and confesses Him as Lord will be there. But this will not be
available forever: if He has come back and you are still reading this
article this is only because you didn’t, for whatever reason, believe
the above. The options for you now are different. The book of
Revelation is written mainly for you. Today that I’m writing this
article, in the country I live they do not kill people for their faith
though in some other parts of the world they do. But this is very
small relative to what is coming. If you read this article and you live
in the times of Revelation there is only one option for you: to be a
MARTYR. Do not take the mark of the Beast and do not accept to
worship the beast. Deliver your soul to the Lord Jesus Christ and the
first death will have no dominion against you. You will be
resurrected, you will reign with Christ for 1000 years and you will

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live forever. This is the only true option you have and the only
option you should follow.

Tassos Kioulachoglou

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