Paul Tatham
tatham47@hotmail.com
Eschatology is the branch of Bible prophecy that deals with “end-times” events, most of which have yet to be fulfilled.
Eschatology covers a myriad of details, some of which are rather vague and leave students of the Word scratching their heads. In that regard, it is akin to the gifts of the Holy Spirit, another topic that scholars have debated for centuries.
Most Christians can agree on the main events and general timeline of eschatology, but the Bible leaves the door ajar for differences of opinion regarding the details. For that reason we cannot be overly dogmatic.
Below is my view, but yours may differ. None of us has all the answers. I have intentionally omitted numerous details, only because I wanted to present merely the setting for each resurrection.
One aspect of eschatology over which there is confusion has to do with the various resurrections. They are listed below. All but the last resurrection is for believers, not unbelievers.
Biblical resurrections always refer to physical dead bodies, not disembodied spirits.
Resurrected bodies will be somewhat different from our earthly bodies, but they are not ethereal ghosts. Furthermore, biblical resurrections never refer to the soul as being resurrected; it’s always just a person’s dead body.
The souls of believers who die go directly to Heaven--at least those who die in the Church Age—but the physical bodies of believers remain in the ground until a resurrection takes them to Heaven.
The souls of unbelievers who die now go directly to Hell, while their bodies remain in the ground until a future resurrection in which both their body and soul will be cast into the Lake of Fire (Rev 20).
The bodies of all saints will need to be resurrected and refurbished, at some point, to make them suitable for Heaven. Paul makes it clear that flesh and blood, which is mortal and susceptible to decay, cannot inherit the kingdom of God. That eternal kingdom is inhabitable only by those with resurrected, glorified bodies (I Cor 15).
Resurrection #1
The first resurrection takes place at the Rapture--an archaic, albeit extra-biblical term, that means “a carrying off” (I Thess 4; I Cor 15).
This event could take place at any moment. Christ will come to the sky (not the earth), the dead in Christ (those who had accepted Christ during the Church Age, which began at Pentecost) will be resurrected from their graves, and the rest of us will follow. We’ll all be “beamed up” into Heaven!
In that resurrection, the “dead in Christ,” plus those alive at His return, will be given refurbished bodies, likely akin to Christ’s resurrection body, which was physical but possessed special properties (I Jn 3:2; Phil 3:20-21). It could be recognized, touched, able to eat, able to appear and disappear, etc.
When Jesus appeared to His followers on the evening of Easter Sunday, He told them that a “spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have” (Lk 24). I John 3 assures us that “we shall be like Him.” Our old physical body will not be totally abandoned, nor is it totally retained. It’ll be a hybrid, perfectly suited for the glories of Heaven (I Cor 15:49; Phil 3:2021).
When our bodies are refurbished for Heaven, this is called “glorification.”
Justification—we were saved from the penalty of sin
Sanctification—we are being saved from the power of sin
Glorification—we will be saved from the presence of sin
Resurrection #2
After the Rapture, the next event on the prophetic calendar is the Tribulation.
This will be seven years of “Hell on Earth,” quite literally, and involve a cast of nefarious characters and nasty goings-on. This is when the Antichrist, and similar evildoers, come into play. It’s sometimes referred to as “Daniel’s 70th Week” and described in detail in the book of Revelation.
Personally, I do not think that Christians living at this time will have to go through the Tribulation, having been beamed home at the Rapture before the fireworks begin. There are good Christians, however, who believe Scripture teaches that they will have to endure at least some of the Tribulation before the Lord rescues them.
At the end of the Tribulation, the Lord will return to Earth (the Mt. of Olives, to be exact) accompanied by the saints He had taken home to Heaven earlier at the Rapture. At the Rapture the Lord returns For His saints; seven years later He returns With His saints.
Technically, this end-of-Tribulation return is called the “Second Coming,” although some refer to the Rapture by the same name. Perhaps we can think of the Second Coming in two phases—one at the beginning of the Tribulation and one at the end.
Early in the Tribulation, there will be 144,000 Jews who will come to the realization that the Man they mistakenly rejected was the Son of God. They will repent and accept Jesus Christ as their Savior.
They will then evangelize worldwide and win a vast number of gentiles to the Lord. Those who do respond to the gospel message of the 144,000, by the way, will likely be those who have never heard the gospel before.
Many of those who accept Christ during the Tribulation will be martyred by the Antichrist for their faith. Some will be beheaded. Their dead bodies will be resurrected at the end of the Tribulation (Rev 20:4).
When Christ, along with His heavenly saints, returns to Earth at the end of the Tribulation, He will establish His millennial kingdom. We saints will be joined by the resurrected Tribulation martyrs, as well as those saints who physically survive the Tribulation, to reign with the Lord on Earth for 1,000 years.
Although it is difficult to be dogmatic on this point, the resurrection of the dead that takes place at Christ’s Second Coming--at the end of the Tribulation--will likely also include all pre-Pentecost dead believers, including all the Old-Testament saints (Job 19:25-27; Is 26:19; Daniel 12:12; Hosea 13:14).
Resurrection #3
After the Tribulation, the next event on the prophetic calendar is the Millennium. This will be 1,000 years of “Heaven on Earth”--just the opposite of the Tribulation--in which the world will revert to its utopian Edenic state. It will be blissful.
As stated earlier, the millennial kingdom will be initially populated by the Tribulation saints who survive horrific persecution. They will live to enter the Millennium, have offspring, and live to be a ripe old age (Is 65:20). Some will live the entire 1,000 years; some won’t.
Millennial believers who die before the end of the Millennium will need a resurrection body that is ready for a pristine existence throughout the eternal state that follows. There must be some kind of resurrection for them at the end of the Millennium. Such a resurrection, however, is only implied in Scripture, not explicitly stated.
Millennium believers who do not die during the Millennium will, nonetheless, need a body suitable for the Eternal State. Presumably, God will miraculously refurbish their bodies. These believers will be given resurrection bodies without having to die, just like those living believers taken up at the Rapture.
All those who enter the Millennial will have survived the Tribulation. In the Millennium, they will have children born to them during the 1,000 years.
Those children will need to “get saved” if they want to spend eternity in Heaven. Possessing freewill, some of those children will reject the Lord, just as people do in our age, and will be dealt with at the Great White Throne Judgment along with the rest of lost humanity of all ages.
Resurrection #4
After the Millennium, the entire universe, including the Earth, will be destroyed with fire (II Pet 3). This is necessary to purge God’s creation of its endemic evil and decay brought about by man’s sin. In its place God will create a New Heaven, a New Earth, and a New Jerusalem (II Pet 3; Rev 21), the latter of which will be the eternal abode for all saints of all ages.
After that will be the final resurrection. It is designated for unbelievers of all ages, unlike all previous resurrections that were meant for believers. They will stand before God at the Great White Throne Judgment (Rev. 20).
Anyone whose name is not recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life—and not one name will be found—will be cast from the presence of God to spend eternity in the Lake of Fire, which will replace Hell. This is described as a dreadful place where there is “weeping and gnashing of teeth” and where “the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched.”
Summing up . . .
Resurrection When Who
#1 - At Rapture (beginning of Tribulation). Church Age dead believers.
#2 - At Second Coming (end of Tribulation). Believing Tribulation martyrs plus, likely, pre-Pentecost dead believers.
#3 - At end of Millennium. Believers who die during the Millennium.
#4 - At end of Millennium. Unbelievers of all ages, raised to appear at the Great White Throne Judgment.
