The Fifth Aspect of the First Resurrection
Another aspect of the resurrection of the saints is the concept of the resurrection of the righteous . It is the concept of reaping, of harvesting. This aspect is expressed in the parable of the wheat and the tares.
Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. (Matthew 13:30)
The reaping aspect of the first resurrection has to do with removing all that is offensive and lawless from the Kingdom of God and gathering to God the Father what He has planted, which is Christ in us.
As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. (Matthew 13:40-43)
Two different resurrections are described in Revelation, Chapter Fourteen: first of the righteous, then of the unrighteous.
First, the righteous:
And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. (Rev14:16)
Then, the unrighteous:
And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great wine-press of the wrath of God. (Revelation 14:19)
The aspect of reaping has some of the common factors we look for in the descriptions of the resurrection from the dead: the white cloud; and especially the descent of the Lord Jesus from Heaven to the region of the clouds. We know the Lord will descend from Heaven in order to resurrect us.
And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. (Revelation 14:14)
The resurrection from the dead is a reaping of what God has planted. What has been sown indeed will be reaped. We will reap the first resurrection, the resurrection of the saints, the resurrection of the authority and power of righteousness and eternal life, if we continue to press forward in the Spirit all the days of our pilgrimage on the earth.
We know from the Scriptures that the resurrection from the dead includes the resurrection of the righteous and the resurrection of the wicked.
Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. (John 5:28-29)
The question of the resurrection is one of doing good or doing evil. It is of the utmost importance that the Christian realize in his very bones that Paul's doctrine of grace does not interfere with this fundamental premise of God's dealings with men. Those who do good will be raised to life. Those who do evil will be raised to judgement. "Accepting Christ" does not change this simple, unchangeable fact.
The whole purpose of receiving Christ is that we may repent and begin to do good, thus qualifying ourselves for the resurrection of the righteous.
Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities. (Acts 3:26)
But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance (appropriate to repentance). (Acts 26:20)
"And do works appropriate to repentance." "Do works "!
In the Day of Resurrection the Apostle Paul will be the first to condemn those who have wrested his doctrine of grace to mean a Christian can continue in his sins, not doing works appropriate to repentance, not turning from his iniquities, and still claim the covering of the blood of Jesus. It is a gross error.
It is being taught today that if I commit adultery God sees Christ instead of the adultery. If I lie God sees Christ instead of the lie. We have made Christ the excuse for our sins. Can any person, Christian or otherwise, truly believe that while we are committing adultery God is seeing Christ instead of our wickedness? Is this not a satanic wresting of Paul's doctrine of grace?
Notice (John 5:28,29 above) that all persons who have ever lived on the earth will be raised from the dead; their bodies once again will stand on the earth. It is not the fact of being raised that is significant, for all will be raised. Rather, it is what happens to our body after it is raised that is so terribly important.
Our body will be clothed with incorruptible life only if we have sown to the Holy Spirit during the years of our discipleship. But if we have not done the Lord's will we will be beaten with lashes. If we have lived a wicked life on the earth we will be cast into the lake burning with fire and sulphur.
It is not the resurrection, it is what takes place after the resurrection that is so vital to our eternal destiny.
Paul's teaching concerning imputation (ascribed righteousness), the attaining of righteousness by believing what God has stated, should not be interpreted to mean that belief in Christ's atonement waives the Kingdom law of sowing and reaping. No type or amount of professions of belief can alter the fact that we will receive in the resurrection the consequences of our behaviour on the earth.
It is written that he who believes and is baptised will be saved from the wrath of God. This means that if we truly believe in the Lord Jesus, and if our baptism in water signifies a sincere turning away from the world and the beginning of a life of loving and serving Jesus, God will save us in the Day of Wrath.
When we appear before Christ in the Day of Judgement we shall receive the good we have practiced, and also the evil we have practiced unless we truly have repented of the evil and have turned completely away from it. We shall answer for our conduct in the Day of Christ.
We surely have misunderstood the Apostle Paul in this respect. Paul himself lived a righteous, holy, and obedient life. Paul achieved such righteousness of conduct, not by adhering to the Law of Moses but by adhering to the Spirit of God.
Paul taught that the grace of God in Christ accomplishes what the Law of Moses never can accomplish: it releases us from the guilt and dominion of sin so we now are free to walk after the Spirit in righteousness, holiness, and obedience to God. The Spirit of God always leads us into actual righteousness and holiness of behaviour. When we are led by the Spirit we do not fulfil the lusts of our flesh (Galatians 5:16).
When Christians are raised from the dead they will receive what they have practiced in their bodies on the earth, as is true of everyone else. They will give an account to Christ for their behaviour in the world.
Any teaching other than this leaves both the teacher and his students open to dreadful punishments in the Day of Christ.
God cannot be mocked. What an individual sows he or she most assuredly shall reap.
The Scriptures are stern when speaking about the future state of those who continue in sin, whether or not they make a profession of faith in Christ (Rev 2:23; Rev 21:8).
The Word of Christ will stand forever. Those who have practiced righteousness and holiness and have been obedient to God's will shall reap eternal life (Romans 2:7).
Those who have practiced unrighteousness and uncleanness and have been disobedient to God's will for their lives shall come forth to the resurrection of wrath and indignation (Romans 2:8).
Look carefully at what the Lord Jesus stated: ". . . they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." (John 5:29)
"Have done good; have done evil." This is what the Lord Jesus said. Dare any person deny it?
When a sinner comes to God through Christ he is forgiven all his sins. He is washed clean in the blood of the Lamb.
But after the initial experience of salvation he is to choose through the Holy Spirit to practice godly behaviour. If he does not but continues in his worldly ways, he will be resurrected to destruction. The Scriptures certainly teach this clearly.
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify (put to death) the deeds of the body, ye shall live. (Romans 8:13)
But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. (Hebrews 6:8)
For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. (2 Peter 2:20-21)
Those who participate in the first resurrection are "blessed and holy."