Read Introduction to Daniel

 

“And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,

Some to everlasting life,

Some to shame and everlasting contempt.”

 

And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,

Some to everlasting life,

Some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Notice that the angel says “many” and not “all.” The alternatives are mutually exclusive. The Jews who died in the Tribulation go to either everlasting life or everlasting contempt. Those are the only two options (Re 20:4-6).

This resurrection is both a spiritual and physical resurrection, for they will rise from the “dust of the earth.” This passage does not say that the resurrection of the lost will occur at the end of the Tribulation. This is the first mention in the Old Testament of a dual resurrection for the saved and the lost.

Jn 5:28-29, “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice ²⁹ “and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.”

The normative way the Old Testament depicts resurrection is by sleep and waking (2 Kg 4:31; 13:21; Is 26:19; Je 51:39,57; Job 14:12). The Bible never presents the idea of the soul sleeping but always of the body sleeping.

The word “everlasting” conveys the idea of endlessness. This is the first occurrence of the term “everlasting” in the Old Testament. The Old Testament uses this term of God Himself that He is everlasting. If hell is not eternal, then neither is God eternal (Re 4:10; 20:10; 21:8).

The word “shame” means reproaches. These are those who do not believe. God will bring reproach on them after the Tribulation. However, this passage does not indicate this specific time frame. The word “many” indicates that not all will rise to shame. There is no general resurrection here.

God will raise both “righteous” Jew and Gentile Tribulation saints (Re 7:9-17; 20:4-6) plus Old Testament saints.

PRINCIPLE:

God has a plan for our resurrection.

APPLICATION:

There are two resurrections and two phases of the first resurrection. There is a resurrection of the just and the unjust. There are two resurrections of the just: the Rapture and the Second Coming. God does not raise Old Testament saints at the Rapture. The Rapture occurs seven years before the Second Coming. The Tribulation is between the two resurrections. God will raise Old Testament saints to place them into the Millennium.

Job 14:14, “If a man dies, shall he live again?

All the days of my hard service I will wait,

Till my change comes.”

Job 19:25-27, “For I know that my Redeemer lives,

And He shall stand at last on the earth;

²⁶ And after my skin is destroyed, this I know,

That in my flesh I shall see God,

²⁷ Whom I shall see for myself,

And my eyes shall behold, and not another.

How my heart yearns within me!”

Ps 16:9-10, “Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;

My flesh also will rest in hope.

¹⁰ For You will not leave my soul in Sheol,

Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.”

Ps 49:15, “But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave,

For He shall receive me. Selah”

Is 25:8, “He will swallow up death forever,

And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces;

The rebuke of His people

He will take away from all the earth;

For the Lord has spoken.”

Is 26:19, “Your dead shall live;

Together with my dead body they shall arise.

Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust;

For your dew is like the dew of herbs,

And the earth shall cast out the dead.”

Ho 13:14, “I will ransom them from the power of the grave;

I will redeem them from death.

O Death, I will be your plagues!

O Grave, I will be your destruction!

Pity is hidden from My eyes.”

The sequence of resurrections:

Christ rose and a token resurrection of saints, Mt 27:52-53

Resurrection of New Testament believers at the Rapture (1 Th 4:13-18) and Israel at the beginning of the Millennium, Re 20:12-14 and Da 12

Resurrection of unbelievers at the end of the Millennium, Re 20:12-14

Note the order of resurrection:

1 Co 15:23, “But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.”

The word “order” signifies that arranged in order. It was especially a military term, denoting a company. 1 Corinthians 15:23 uses it metaphorically of the various classes of those who have part in the first resurrection. God stands in review as various companies pass before Him.

First, there is “A” company – Jesus is the first to rise from the dead.

Next is the “C” company, the church raptured before the Tribulation.

Third, Baker Company is Israel, Old Testament saints, and tribulation saints. This resurrection occurs after the Tribulation.