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.
Verse 29 describes two resurrections, one for the lost and one for the believer. The first occurs before the millennial reign of Christ and the other at the end of the Millennium.
29 and come forth—
Those who are bodily dead will come out of their graves, and their bodies will once again be joined to their souls.
those who have done good [excellent],
The idea here is not that one has to do good to go to heaven. The “good” here is the by-product of salvation. The word “good” means excellent. It is the good that springs from faith. These words do not teach salvation by good works. The entire argument of the gospel of John asserts that a person is saved by what he or she believes (Jn 20:31).
to the resurrection of life,
For those who believe, there will be a future bodily resurrection unto eternal life. The resurrection to life will occur in stages. First, the Lord will rapture the church. Then He will resurrect the Tribulation saints at His Second Coming.
and those who have done evil [worthless things],
The words “done good” and “done evil” do not imply salvation by works or loss of salvation by evil deeds. The word for “evil” here is not moral evil but something worthless. It is an “evil” or worthless life to not trust in Christ for salvation.
to the resurrection of condemnation.
The resurrection of condemnation will occur at the end of the Millennium (Re 20:11-15). The lives of these people attest to their state of being lost eternally.
PRINCIPLE:
There are two resurrections: to life and to judgment.
APPLICATION:
There is only one reason why people are lost eternally—they reject the sacrifice of God’s Son for their salvation (Jn 3:36).
The dead will be raised in sequence (1 Co 15:22-24). There is an “order” to the resurrection of people. There will be a resurrection, and then “after that” another resurrection. First, believers will be raised at the Rapture (1 Th 4:16) and then the Old Testament and Tribulation saints at the end of the Tribulation (Re 20:4).
Revelation 20 indicates that there will be 1,000 years between the Rapture and the Great White Throne judgment. The first resurrection is of those who believed in Christ. The second resurrection includes anyone who died as an unbeliever.
God completely bypasses judgment for the believer because Jesus took our penalty for sin. He paid the price for our sin. There is no charge against the believer whereby he can be judged (Ro 8:33-34).
