SCRIPTURE tells us that there are to be two resurrections—a resurrection of the lust, and a resurrection of the unjust. In this article I want to speak to you about the resurrection of the just, or the righteous.
This resurrection will take place when Jesus comes to take away His saints who are living on the earth. This may take place any day; we do not know how soon. But I want you to notice that when Jesus comes to take away His living saints, He will not leave the dead saints behind. We are told in 1 Thess. 4, that He will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God. It will not be the living saints only who will hear that shout of the. Lord Jesus. All the dead saints will hear it, and will come forth from their graves.
Perhaps you remember when Lazarus was dead, Jesus called to him with a loud voice, “Lazarus come forth.” You or I could not make a dead man hear us; but Lazarus heard the voice of Jesus. Jesus had power to make him hear. And Lazarus came forth from the sepulcher. So also there is a day coming when the voice of Jesus will be heard in every grave. He will descend from heaven into the air with a shout. He will call to His dead saints, and they will hear, and will all come forth from their graves.
What a wonderful throng of people that will be! All the people of God who have died will be there. Abel, and Enoch, and Noah, and all the believers of their day, will be there. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will be there. Moses, and Joshua, and Caleb, will be there. Samuel, and all the prophets, and all the people of ancient days, who feared God, and believed His word, will be there. The apostles and saints of the New Testament will be there, and all the millions who have died in faith since Christianity began. Thousands who have died as martyrs will be there—men whose bodies have been burnt to ashes at the stake, and men who have been eaten by wild beasts—all, all will be there. God has watched over their precious dust, and by His power their bodies will be formed again in resurrection.
Notice too, that this will be a resurrection from the dead. It will not only be a resurrection of dead people, but a resurrection from among dead people. The bad and the good lie side by side in the graves now, but at the resurrection of the righteous, a separation will take place. The righteous dead will be brought out from among the wicked dead, when the shout of Jesus is heard. They will come forth from their graves, as Lazarus did, and will leave the wicked behind, to be raised a thousand years later. So the resurrection of the righteous is called the resurrection from among the dead. See Mark 9:9, 109And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead. 10And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean. (Mark 9:9‑10); Luke 20:3535But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: (Luke 20:35).
In the world the righteous and the wicked live on together; and when they die, their bodies may lie side by side; but after the righteous are raised, the two classes will never be together again. Even now God would have His people separate in spirit, and in their ways, from the wicked.
I trust, dear reader, you are a believer. And if you are, I know that if you die, you will be in the resurrection of the just.
In our next we hope to tell you something more about the condition of the righteous after they are raised.
ML 11/15/1903