Question

I have a question concerning the first and the second resurrection.  In Daniel 12:2 and in Revelation 20:4-5 we have descriptions of how many who are asleep will hear the voice of our Lord and be raised from the grave to an immortal body.  How do these statements harmonize with the statement of our Lord on the cross in Luke 23:43 when He says, "Truly, I will say to you, 'Today you shall be with Me in paradise.'"  And also, with the parable in Luke 16, where the rich man and the poor man both died and one found himself in the bosom of Abraham, and the other one was buried and found himself in Hades in torment.  Through the latter two statements one would be led to believe that you are risen immediately, whereas, in Daniel 12:2 and Revelation 20 we see "asleep" and then being risen for the first resurrection when our Lord calls?

Answer

Good question.  I think the question that you are asking is "What is the idea of this 'sleeping?'"  The best way to answer that is--I will add a couple other Scriptures, OK?  In Philippians, chapter one, Paul says, "Far better to depart, and to be with Christ."  That's instantaneous--"Depart, and to be with Christ."  In 2 Corinthians, isn't it in chapter 5, where he is discussing the anticipated hope, and he says, "Absent from the body, present with the Lord."  OK, so I am adding those to affirm the fact that when a believer dies or when an unbeliever dies they do not go into unconsciousness--they go immediately into the presence of the Lord, or immediately into the torment.  The distinction comes in the bodily aspect, in other words, the Old Testament Saints spirits, I believe, the spirits of the Saints went into the place of blessedness; the spirits of those who were not related to God, who had never put their trust in God went out of His presence into a place of punishment.  OK?  But the body remains in the grave until the final resurrection, so that the eternal state, the final state of the righteous and the wicked will be their spirits joined to a resurrected body yet to be resurrected.  OK?

Question ( continued)

OK, how do the second resurrection of the dead for the second death and the immediate judgment of an unbeliever when he dies fit together in harmony?

Answer ( continued)

Well the point is, when an unbeliever dies, I believe he goes out of the blessed presence of God.  He goes into a place of torment as happened to the rich man in the parable in Luke 16.  He says, "Dip your finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame."  So I believe that when an unbeliever dies he goes immediately into torment, but that torment is a spiritual one.  It is a dimension of torment that is not the same as the final dimension of torment when he has a resurrected body.  Revelation tells us that the bodies will rise, in fact, John 5, Jesus says, there is a resurrection to life and a resurrection to damnation.  So what you want separate is this--there is no resurrection of the spirit, because the spirit never goes out of existence.  When an unbeliever dies his spirit goes out of the presence of God into punishment.  When a believer dies his spirit goes into the presence of God, there is no resurrection of the spirit.  The resurrection is of the body to join that spirit for the final hell and the final heaven.