“And 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)

Two groups of resurrected people are referred to in this verse. They are those who shall awake to “everlasting life” and those who shall come forth to “shame and everlasting contempt.” Verse 1 of this same chapter refers to the great tribulation period and to a certain number of Daniel’s people who “shall be delivered,” because their names are found “written in the book.”

We need to remember that Daniel refers to two separate resurrections. One is the resurrection of the saved to everlasting life, and the other the resurrection of the unsaved to shame and everlasting contempt. Let us also keep in mind that some whose names shall be found written in the book will be delivered without dying. The Holy Spirit speaks through Hosea along this same line. We quote chapter 13, verse 14, “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from thine eyes.” In this verse we find those who shall be ransomed “from the power of the grave,” and we find those who shall be redeemed “from death.” The former group shall never go to the grave, the latter group shall be raised from the grave.

Now let us go to the conversation between Martha and Jesus, as recorded in John 11:21-26. “Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” It is plain that Martha and Jesus were talking about the resurrection which shall take place “at the last day.” This is the resurrection of prophecy. Daniel spoke of it and Hosea spoke of it in the above quotations. It is also evident that our Lord spoke, not only of a resurrection, but also of some who “shall never die.” In other words, at the last day those who have died believing in Jesus Christ shall live again, and those who are living at that time, and believe in Him, shall never die. The former group shall be raised, and the latter group shall be changed. Those who are raised and those who are changed shall be glorified together.

The apostle Paul picks up this Old Testament prophecy concerning the resurrection of dead saints and the changing of living saints in his letters to the Corinthians and to those of Thessalonica. We quote 1 Corinthians 15:51-55, “Behold, I shew 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 trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”

Dr. C.I. Scofield has pointed out, in the marginal reference of the Scofield Bible, that Paul’s statement “death is swallowed up in victory” is quoted from Isaiah 25:8, and “O death, where is thy sting, O grave, where is thy victory?” is quoted from Hosea 13:14. If this be true, and we believe it is, then this event wherein some will be raised and some will be changed is a prophesied event and cannot be limited to the body of Christ. While we believe that the body of Christ will be raptured, by the resurrection of those who have fallen asleep in Christ, and the changing of those saints who are alive on the earth when He comes for His body, we do not believe that the above quotation from 1 Corinthians 15, is to be limited to the rapture of the body. Since it is so definitely linked with the prophecies quoted above from Daniel and Hosea, and since these prophecies point so specifically to the last day, we believe that Paul’s message to the Corinthian believers concerning those that shall be raised and those that shall be changed has to do with the same event that Jesus spoke of when He said, “He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.”

In 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, Paul said, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” Here we have the dead in Christ raised and the living saints caught up. This is in keeping with the testimony of the prophets, the teachings of Jesus and the words of Paul to the Corinthians.

The First Resurrection

In Revelation, chapter 20, verse 5, we have the words, “This is the first resurrection.” A careful examination of the context of this verse proves that the Holy Spirit is speaking of the resurrection of tribulation saints, who “shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.” We believe this company of saints includes those whom John saw “under the altar” crying “with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” (Revelation 6:9-11) These are those who must die for their testimony during the tribulation period. However, tribulation saints are not the only saints who shall be raised at the first resurrection. Since it is clear that Daniel 12:1-2 points to a resurrection of saved people at the close of the tribulation, and since Revelation 20:4-6 points to the same resurrection, we must conclude that the first resurrection spoken of here includes both old and new testament saints. This resurrection will also include Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their heirs who “died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Hebrews 11:8-13). These dead ones shall be raised and shall “come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel” (Hebrews 12:22-24).

We need to remember that this “first resurrection” is unto “Jesus the mediator of the new covenant.” Those who are to be raised in this resurrection shall be raised unto the things promised on a basis of the “new covenant” which was promised according to Jeremiah 31:31-34. It is called the “first resurrection” because it shall come before the resurrection of the unsaved. It will include all the saved dead from Adam to the close of the tribulation period, except those who are members of the church which is Christ’s body. These body saints shall not be raised and changed according to prophecy, but according to that deposit of truth given through Paul and not made known to men of other ages (Colossians 1:24-27). As members of the body of Christ we look forward to the coming of our Saviour who shall raise the sleeping saints and change the living saints after the same fashion that Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians 15:51-54 and 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, but not at the same time of the first resurrection spoken of in Revelation 20:5. Our rapture may take place any moment and it will certainly take place before the tribulation period falls on the earth. The 70 weeks of Daniel 9:24 are determined upon Daniel’s people, Israel, and upon the holy city, Jerusalem, but no part of these 70 weeks are determined upon the body of Christ. Therefore, the 70th week which is yet future is determined upon Israel and the holy city, but not upon us.

The Last Resurrection

A period of one thousand years shall stand between the first resurrection and the last resurrection. The saved shall be raised immediately before the beginning of the millennium and the unsaved shall be raised after the thousand years are finished. We quote Revelation 20:5-6, “But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.”

This last resurrection, which is a resurrection of the unsaved unto “shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2), even a resurrection unto “damnation” (John 5:28), is vividly described in Revelation 20:11-15, “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”