(tm) But he will be saved by fire!
Back to The First and Second Resurrection
Is the first resurrection from among the dead, the resurrection toward which Paul was pressing with total consecration, the resurrection of the blessed and holy, a salvation by fire?
This fruitless believer will be saved, according to the Scripture. Yet, it must be that he is saved at the second resurrection for it appears he is not eligible for the first resurrection.
To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. (I Corinthians 5:5)
The Day of the Lord Jesus includes the entire thousand-year Kingdom Age.
Was this man (in the above verse) a victorious saint, a resister of Antichrist?
It can be seen that the issue is not his going to Heaven. The issue of going to Heaven is not raised, as far as we know, when the Apostles are speaking of salvation. The issue is that of salvation in the Day of the Lord Jesus .
It must be kept in mind that the Day of the Lord includes the thousand-year period and that both resurrections are part of the Day of the Lord, the Day of Christ, the Day of God. It appears that the bulk of the work of the Judgment Seat of Christ will take place at the second resurrection.
Peter explains this clearly. He discusses the need for godly living on the part of the believers. Then he speaks of the coming of the Day of the Lord, the Day of Judgment. While doing so he bypasses the Millennial reign of Christ, proceeding immediately to the time of the second resurrection. It is as though the first resurrection does not exist.
Looking for and hasting unto [hastening] the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? (II Peter 3:12)
Note the following verse:
And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. (Jude 1:23)
Does the above category of believers, of whom there may be many, sound like a group of kings and priests?—like conquerors who will walk in the white of the royal priesthood because of the excellence of their works?
There are numerous weak believers. They are not capable of ruling over the nations of the earth but we do not think the Scriptures condemn them all to eternal torment in the Lake of Fire.
A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. (Isaiah 42:3)
Does God care for flax and reeds? Or is the Spirit of Christ in Isaiah teaching us that Christ at His coming will nourish the weak believers?
We are not suggesting that Christ at His coming will not punish lazy Christians severely. The Scripture declares He will. But there are believers who are weak and stunted for reasons beyond their control. Christ—Head and Body—will minister to these.
Because of the description of the participants given in Revelation 20:4-6, and because that description fits the victorious saints who, to this day, appear to be in the minority in the churches, and because the Scriptures state that nonvictorious saints can be saved, we are brought to the conclusion that the majority of those who are saved will stand before God in their bodies, not in the first resurrection from the dead but in the second resurrection from the dead.
Think about the words of Revelation 20:4-6. Try to sense the spirit of it, the flavor of it. Here are God’s kings and priests, His conquerors—those who will assist in the establishing of the Kingdom of God on the earth.
There is no judgment at this time because the royal priests were judged previously. The books are not opened. Nothing is said about being saved. Nothing is said about weak Christians being lifted up into Heaven so they can escape the threat of Antichrist.
The first resurrection is not the general resurrection of salvation. It is a special advance resurrection for the purpose of changing the occupants of the spiritual thrones that govern the earth from fallen angels to the Lord’s victorious saints. There is nothing in the passage that even suggests this is the resurrection of salvation or that it is the time when the eternal destinies of the members of mankind are decided.
The first resurrection will take place at the beginning of the thousand-year Kingdom Age, at the coming of Christ from Heaven. Its mission is to establish the Kingdom of God on the earth. The judgment of people and their entrance into life or into the second death will take place at the second resurrection.
The first resurrection, toward which the Apostle Paul was pressing to the end of his days on earth, is the resurrection of the victorious saints. It is the gathering of God’s kings and priests to Himself so they may descend with Jesus and work with Him in setting up the Kingdom of God on the earth.
To attain to the first resurrection from the dead requires an effort on our part. The sufferings we endure, as all we have and all we are pass through the process of death and resurrection in Christ, are not to be compared with the unimaginable glory that will be revealed to and through the sons of God.
This is what the Scripture teaches concerning the first resurrection from the dead. It is the gathering to Jesus of His "mighty men" (II Samuel 23:8-39) so they may be with Him and reign with Him forever. They are free from all the authority of the second death, which is the Lake of Fire.
Before we examine what the twentieth chapter of Revelation actually states concerning the second resurrection from the dead, let us think a bit more about the consequences of the belief that no person can be saved who is not in the first resurrection, that all who are raised after the thousand-year period are doomed to eternal torment in the Lake of Fire.
Let us keep in mind there are only two resurrections, the first and the second. The Scriptures do not speak of a third resurrection, with the exception of the Lord Jesus Christ and those who arose from their graves in Jerusalem just after Christ was resurrected (Matthew 27:52,53).
Enoch and Elijah were not resurrected prior to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus because Jesus is the Firstborn from the dead (Colossians 1:18).
If it is true that the opportunity for salvation ceases with the first resurrection:
Every person who is alive on the earth when Jesus comes, except those who are qualified to meet Him at His appearing, will spend eternity in the Lake of Fire.
Every person whom the Lord and His saints rule throughout the thousand-year Kingdom Age will spend eternity in the Lake of Fire.
Every nonovercoming Christian will spend eternity in the Lake of Fire.
Every person ever born on the earth who is not a member of the true Church, the Body of Christ, will spend eternity in the Lake of Fire.
Every person who has never heard the Gospel will spend eternity in the Lake of Fire.
It appears that many Christians believe the self-seeking members of the churches will ascend to live in glory with Christ, while those to whom they neglected to teach the Gospel will descend into a punishment beyond our powers of comprehension. The Christians will be playing games in Paradise with their friends while the overwhelming majority of earth’s peoples will be hurled into eternal torment in the blue, acrid flames of burning sulfur.