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Resurrection Regeneration
By Joel Joseph
Researched by Pastor Gary Boyd
Conclusion by Pastor Boyd

When our Lord rode into Jerusalem, the people cried, “Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” Those same people, shortly afterwards, cried, “Crucify Him, give us Barabbas!” This name means “son of the father.” He was a murderer.

The masses cried, “Give us Hitler.” They thought he would bring them victory, but he was an antichrist mass murderer, blinded by pride.

Very soon the world will cry, “Give us the new world leader and his mark.”

They will be deceived into thinking that the arch mass murderer - the antichrist, will save them and bring them peace.

But what is it that causes people, even some Christians, to be so gullible?

There is a huge difference between Yeshua the man of Nazareth and Yeshua the risen King of kings and Lord of lords, the God of the universe.

After our Lord’s resurrection, the disciples were invincible, to the point of willingly giving their lives, literally, for their belief.

What turned Peter, the three times denier into the willing martyr?

The Bible speaks of the “power of the resurrection.” (Philippians 3:10) But this power is exclusive. It’s only available to the true Christian. Yeshua only appeared to His own after the resurrection.

Consider this incredible verse:
2 Peter 1:16-19 “We did not follow cunning devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty...Such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am pleased’, and we heard this voice when we were on the mountain (Transfiguration). We have the prophetic word made more sure, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the mourning star arises in your hearts.”

Note well that this implies there is something even more important than being “eyewitnesses” and “hearing a voice.” It is the prophetic word! And note that it shines in the dark!

The risen Lord is Someone beyond the laws of nature, and beyond our imagination. Yet this is who we are to look to, and where we are to set our sights. Yeshua of Nazareth while on earth was still the God of love. The risen Lord is the God of love also, but on a collision course, the collision of all collisions with the world and all sin and rebellion.

Seeing and understanding this risen Lord gives you the power to live right.

You can’t separate our Lord and His kingdom from holiness. But the unsaved can’t even see the kingdom of God (John 3:3.) That means true holiness is mystery to them.

In many ways, sin is a mystery too. People can’t see it as such, because they have no spiritual insight or solid frame of reference like the law. They therefore can’t hear their own conscience which they have seared. Talk about being in a death-trap!

God speaks into the heart, but what good is your conscience when you don’t even listen to it?

Because sin, like government approved mass murder of the unborn has become common, old hat and blasé, does not mean that it is any less sin than for example the mass murder of six million Jews in the Holocaust!
As the end-time drama begins to play out both sin and righteousness will increase. The world will get far worse and the righteousness of the believer will shine more brightly. (Revelation 22:11)

The shofar is blowing, calling for repentance and calling for the available power of the resurrection after cross-bearing, to be taken up.

Only when you encounter the miraculous, supernatural Messiah are you forever changed, set free and on course for glory. But resurrection life is only available through the cross.

Only an encounter with the living risen Lord truly breaks you. Raises you up and inspires you with newness of life, holiness and good fruit.

Unbeliever, your life is at risk and in grave danger from the God of love.

True love includes protecting and preserving true holiness, which is all part of love.

When Peter the fisherman saw the miracle of the fishes, he fell before Yeshua and said, “depart from me I’m full of sin” Our Lord said to him, “don’t be afraid, follow Me,” Peter said, “I will.”

We could personalize these magnificent words in a prayer to our Lord like this: “I’m full of sin.” And the Lord will say, “Don’t be afraid; set your heart to follow Me.”

You must say to the Lord. “I will follow you.” You must say to the god of this world – “Let me go.”
Remember it was Moses who said to Pharaoh, a type of the world leader, “Let my people go.” You must destroy the reins the world has over you, so that you reign with our Lord when the time comes.

In fact you can become a victorious champion of the Kingdom by setting your sail against the winds of the world. (Watchman Nee.)

An unsaved friend of mine recently said that we should not see this virus as judgement from God. She said it will soon just go away, so we can carry on as normal. It doesn’t matter what or from whom the source is.

What a tragedy to miss the great opportunity for repentance and to line up with God, be it judgement from God or not.

If the tribulation period is the judgement and wrath of God upon a sin-filled, Christ-rejecting world in rebellion to Him, then be sure that the forerunners and birth pangs are for the same reason.

Sin in the world is bad now, even though it has an invisible restraint to it, which is the presence of the Spirit-filled church. But soon that will be gone, leaving sin to fully flourish.

2 Thessalonians 2:7-8 “The mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then, shall the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume...”

Here are some interesting word meanings from the verse above:
“Taken out”: Strong’s G1096: “Ginomai.” Meanings: “Arise, appear, of a miracle, be married to.”
“And then:” Strong’s G5119 “Tote.” Meanings: “At that time, immediately.”
“Revealed:” Strong’s G601: “Apocalypto” Meanings: “uncover, unveil, make manifest, disclose.”

Dear believer in our risen Lord, your future is glorious. For you benefit here is a collection of meanings of the various original words in Greek and Hebrew from Strong’s concordance of the word “glory:”

Glory: Honor, abundance, riches, splendor, brightness, reverence, dignity, beauty, adorn, belonging to God.
✡† Shalom...Joel -

Conclusion by Pastor Boyd

Are There More Resurrections to Come? What Are They? How will the world be affected? Will the saved enter the eternal state at the rapture?

The Bible talks about the resurrection of Jesus Christ being the first and preparing the way for future resurrections of those that died in Christ who will be transformed at the rapture. What are these resurrections?

The word resurrection means rising from the dead—coming back to life. When people talk about “the Resurrection,” usually they mean the raising of the crucified Jesus Christ to eternal life. In the chapter often called the resurrection chapter, the apostle Paul shows that Christ’s resurrection was essential for anyone to have hope of eternal life (1 Corinthians 15:14-18). Christ’s death and resurrection made possible the forgiveness of our sins and the gifts of the Holy Spirit and eternal life.

Paul then mentions there is a time order of resurrections: “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the first fruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His 2nd coming. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death” (1 Corinthians 15:22-26).

The First Resurrection
The apostle John gives more details and actually uses the phrase “first resurrection” to describe the resurrection of those who are followers of Christ—who have His Spirit in them.

Revelation 20 gives the time order of major events after Jesus Christ’s return to the earth. After Satan is bound and prevented from deceiving people for a thousand years, John says, “Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years” (verse 4).

This resurrection of the saints—true Christians—is to eternal life: “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years” (verse 6).

The Second Resurrection
Calling something a “first” resurrection clearly implies there are more resurrections. John refers to another time of resurrection, 1,000 years later, in Revelation 20:5: “But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished.”

In the second resurrection, the dead are described as standing before a “great white throne” (verse 11). “And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books” (verse 12).

Jesus Christ described this day of judgment as a time when people of different nations and time periods would rise together, and He said that it would be more tolerable for those who had not heard His message or seen His signs (Matthew 11:21-24; 12:41-42). He said those hearing Him were more accountable even than the people of wicked Sodom: “For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you” (Matthew 11:23-24).

What did He mean, “more tolerable”? If this time of judgment was only a time of sentencing, and all receive the same penalty as sinners—eternal death (Romans 6:23)—then “more tolerable” doesn’t make sense. But the concept of judgment in the Bible is broader than just condemnation. In fact, Christians are being judged now (1 Peter 4:17), so it is a process and it can have a positive outcome. And every human being will be judged (Hebrews 9:27). So being judged doesn’t always refer to being condemned.

Our God is a God of justice and mercy (Micah 6:8; Matthew 23:23). He tells us He wants everyone to come to the knowledge of the truth, repent and be saved (1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9). But how does that work when billions have lived and died and never known God’s truth—and many through history never even heard the only “name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12)?

The Dry Bones
Another prophecy of the second resurrection sheds light on this dilemma. Ezekiel recorded a prophecy of a time when God will resurrect the dry bones of the dead and breathe physical life into them. Not only will He allow them to live again in their own land, but He says, “I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live” (Ezekiel 37:14).

So, just as God is offering His Spirit and a process of judgment and mercy to His Church today, He will make His Spirit available to those who have never had the chance before. The books of the Bible will be opened to their understanding, and the Book of Life will be opened to allow those who repent and accept Jesus Christ as their Savior to be added (Revelation 20:12).

A third Resurrection
If the saints are raised in the first resurrection, and the rest of the dead who had never had an opportunity for salvation are raised in the second, is there anyone left to resurrect? What must happen before Christ can deliver the kingdom to the Father and destroy the last enemy—death (1 Corinthians 15:24-26)?

John’s description at the end of Revelation 20 describes a third resurrection of the incorrigibly wicked—those who will not repent. “Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire” (verses 14-15).

Those who are in this resurrection are not those who sin in ignorance or stumble, but the ones who willingly and consciously reject Jesus Christ and choose to go their own way. This can also include those who neglected to actively choose God’s way—who failed to take their opportunity for salvation seriously.

For those who will not repent, “there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation” (Hebrews 10:26-27).

As mentioned earlier, God’s judgment is a process. It starts when God gives each person an opportunity to live His way of life and to actively choose His way until He adds the person to His family at the first resurrection or after the second resurrection. For God’s people, this process has already begun (1 Peter 4:17). But for those who choose to reject God (2 Peter 2:20-22), the final step of the judgment process is to be condemnation and the second death.

This second death is not an eternal torture, but a swift, merciful death from which there are no more resurrections. God says the sinners will burn up and become ashes (Malachi 4:1-3). The second death is “perdition” or the total destruction of the ungodly (2 Peter 3:7).

From that time forward, “There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).