THE THREE RESURRECTIONS

The Bible is clear on the resurrection of the dead. But not all humans who have ever lived will be resurrected at the same time . For there is an order of the resurrection, as the Apostle Paul states in 1 Cor 15:22-23, ' For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming'. Those who are Christ's - meaning those true disciples who have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit  (Rom 8:11) - will be in the First Resurrection (Rev 20:5) as the firstfruits of the salvation. The rest of humanity will have to await the Second Resurrection towards the end of the Millennial Age - 'But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished (Rev 20:5)'.

The Apostle Paul describes the First Resurrection clearly in 1 Cor 15:51-53 thus, ' 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.' Those raised at the First Resurrection will reign with Christ for a thousand years (Rev 20:5-6). Those in the First Resurrection will never die again - they are born again as spirit beings and immortal (Rev 20:6)! This is a 'better resurrection (Hebrews 11:35) as they will bear the likeness of Christ (1 John 3:2), the image of the heavenly Man (1 Cor 15:48).

The rest of the dead (Rev 20:5) are all who died but never truly knowing Christ (though many claimed otherwise  -Matthew 7:21-23) including all those who rejected Him as their personal Saviour are two different groups of people facing different destinies. Those who never rejected Christ but yet do not have the real truth will be offered salvation at the second resurrection at the great white throne judgement recorded in Revelation 20: 11-12. The prophet Ezekiel prophesied of all the dead Israelites coming back to life as their graves were opened to become flesh and blood human beings again (Ezekiel 37:1-10). A merciful God will not allowed any to perish without first letting them know the truth.

Millions wrongly assume the Great White Throne Judgment as condemnation for all mankind who never knew Christ. But this is inconsistent with Christ's teaching in Matthew chapter 11. Jesus clearly teaches that all who are in the graves (all the dead) will hear His voice (John 5:28). Christ warns in Matthew 11:21-22, 'Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you.'  What Christ is teaching here is about a future judgment when people of His day and age will be judge alongside those who lived centuries earlier.  And all these people will be judged according to their works. They will given ample opportunities to repent of their sins and receive salvation after the second resurrection!

Going down in Matthew 11:23-24 , Christ was comparing Capernaun and Sodom. Even though the people of Sodom sinned greatly some 2,000 years before the time of Christ, they would had repented had Christ done a similar work among them as He did to Capernaum! But all will be given opportunity to repent after the judgment by Christ and offered salvation for those willing to truly repent of their sins as the blood of Christ is available for all people of all ages. Even more astonishing teaching came from Christ in Matthew 12:41 where Christ states that the men of Ninevah will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented in the preaching of Jonah and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. Similarly, the queen of the South (Queen of Sheba)  too will be resurrected in a future judgment to condemn the state of unbelief during the times of Christ, when that generation lived some one thousand years earlier than the times of Christ (Matt 12:42). Since there is no indication that the queen was saved, she could not have arisen to condem the spiritual state of another age during the time of judgment if she is 'burning in hell'.

Paul affirmed the similar truth in Romans 11:26 when he states that the whole house of Israel will be saved . How can this be since most are non believers and were already dead long time ago? For there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just (first resurrection) and the unjust (second resurrection)- Acts 24:15. Why is this so? Because blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles has all come in - Rom 11: 25. God's MasterPlan has a timeline for everything under the sun, but only those who are called fully understand the truth (Proverbs 25:2; Matt 13:11).

A perfect and merciful God has to be just. Those who knowingly and wilfully defy God will be judged in the final and third resurrection for which there is no possibility of resurrection - the second death - in the lake of fire (Rev 20:14-15). The wages of sin is death and not eternal life in hell. God in His mercy will annihilate them in the lake of fire (Malachi 4:1) as if they have never been born, to put an end to their misery.

WHY ALL THE HUMAN SUFFERINGS?

The issue of human sufferings has been debated for millennia and will continue so till Christ returns to set up the kingdom of God on earth. As long as life exists on earth, sufferings in whatever form looks set to continue and will get increasingly worse as this church age draws to a close. The problem of sin is real, but most have no clue what sin or sins are involved that cause all the tragedies, with many incidents befalling on innocent lives. However tragic these sufferings were and are, a time is coming when all the sufferings will be history, and that is the good news the world is ignorant about.

Everyday, newswire is flooded with events of disaster and seemingly hopelessness of one kind after another. Diseases, natural disasters like volcanic eruption, tsunami, flooding, drought, poverty, conflicts and wars within and without borders  are happening at double quick time all over the world. The governments and power that be are powerless to address these problems, and will never be able to do so. The big question in the minds of most believers is why isn't God doing something, if He is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient as the Bible claims Him to be so.

While it is true that sin can bring sufferings, it is not the only cause of it. In fact, many innocent people suffer tremendously in this life and died without knowing why. But all the sufferings in this world is not in vain and certainly not without God's knowledge. God is not intervening to prevent it from happening because suffering is part of God's Master Plan for mankind to develop character of Christ-likeness. In Galatians 5:22, longsuffering  - which is to suffer long - is mentioned as one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. One of the reasons Christ suffered was so that He could learn obedience to God the Father (Hebrews 5:8).

I remembered as a kid watching the workers from my dad's hardware shop hammering out a piece of molten red hot iron into the desired shape they intended to form. My dad told me that the more times the malleable red hot iron is cooled in cold water after each shaping, the harder the tool implement will turn out to be. Such lessons on character formation and development had left an indelible mark on me. Little did I know then, that whatever I had seen and experienced as a child have great implications and applications for Christian living later on in my life!

Those who are called in this church age will suffer trials and tribulations in order to qualify as sons  of God to rule and reign with Christ in His coming kingdom (Acts:14:22; 2 Tim 2: 12). All others who are not called in this church age suffer as a consequences of sin of this fallen world whom Satan is currently in control (2 Cor 4:4).  Sometimes, good people faced tragedy or disaster simply because they were at the wrong place at the wrong time. They may have done nothing sinful or evil to cause their death.

The Good News of the Gospel of the kingdom of God is that when Christ returns to establish the kingdom of God on earth, there will be peace and prosperity on all the earth. War and suffering will be history and all peoples on earth will learn the ways of God (Isaiah 2; 2-4). Even the animal kingdom will be reconciled to one another (Isa 11: 6-8), for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (v9). But till then, things will get worse before it gets better as the world marches towards the Great Tribulation with cataclysmic events of sufferings such as it had never seen or experienced!

The world has to undergo sufferings so that mortal humans will learn the lessons  of sins and disobedience to God's holy laws. Those who eventually learned and accept God's ways in exchange for lasting character will be born again into spirit being of immortality in the world to come and into eternity. They have great work ahead to develop the whole of the universe! All these are part of God's Master Plan for man in this present mortal life to be made perfect through sufferings (Hebrews 2:10). Those who are not called in this present church age will have the opportunity to learn the whole truth come the millennial age.