Yep. You read that correctly. Two resurrections!
Revelation 20:4-6(NKJV)
And I saw thrones,
and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been
beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not
worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on
their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand
years.
But the rest of the dead did not
live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Blessed and
holy is he who has part in the
first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God
and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.
I know I had always
envisioned one resurrection, everybody rising together. As you can see from the Scripture above; not
true. There will be two resurrections. The first one when Christ returns and the
second one a little more than 1,000 years later.
Here is the other
thing I noticed. It confirms something I
have written about before. We are saved
by faith but our rewards in Heaven are based on service to God. Here we see that those who rise in the first
resurrection are those who suffered for God.
Those who refused the mark of the beast.
They rise before the
rest. The other special treatment they
get is this.
Revelation 20:6(NKJV)
Blessed and
holy is he who has part in the
first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of
God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.
Those in the first
resurrection will be priests of God and Christ and will reign with them in the
Thousand Year Reign. Those who rise in
the second resurrection will not receive that honor. So as I said, not all will be treated equally
in Heaven.
Some might say that
isn't fair but to my way of thinking, saying it isn't fair is the same as
accusing God of being unjust. How many
really want to make that claim? Hmm? :)
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