The Two Resurrections (No. 143D)

Introduction

Many people seem to think that it does not matter which resurrection that they are in as in either case they will be there.

Why is the difference so important? Why did so many in past times endure so much, if it is not important? Why did so many face, and endure, so much by faith.

Hebrews 11:26-40 He considered abuse suffered for the Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he looked to the reward. ²⁷By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king; for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. ²⁸By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the first-born might not touch them. ²⁹By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as if on dry land; but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. ³⁰By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. ³¹By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given friendly welcome to the spies. ³²And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— ³³who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, received promises, stopped the mouths of lions, ³⁴quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. ³⁵Women received their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, that they might rise again to a better life. ³⁶Others suffered mocking and scourging, and even chains and imprisonment. ³⁷They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, ill-treated— ³⁸of whom the world was not worthy—wandering over deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. ³⁹And all these, though well attested by their faith, did not receive what was promised, ⁴⁰since God had foreseen something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

They were all chosen to rise again to a better life which was to be shared together with the others at a latter stage. This was referred to in Ecclesiastes in Chs. 6,7,12 (F021; F021ii) So also they saw something intangible that was a guarantee of a better life.

Hebrews 11:35 Women received their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, that they might rise again to a better life.

It is the First Resurrection (No. 143A) that guarantees an advantage as we see from this text:

Revelation 20:6 Blessed and holy is he who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and they shall reign with him a thousand years.

The First Resurrection guarantees those taking part in it a freedom from The Second Death (No. 143C).

That would be so because they have been under Judgment during their lives and have been committed to the faith under the Laws of God and the Testimony of Jesus Christ (Rev. 12:17; 14:12).

Judgment

1Peter 4:12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which comes upon you to prove you, as though something strange were happening to you ¹³But rejoice in so far as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.¹⁴If you are reproached for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.¹⁵But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or a wrongdoer, or a mischief-maker; ¹⁶yet if one suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but under that name let him glorify God. ¹⁷For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? ¹⁸And "If the righteous man is scarcely saved, where will the impious and sinner appear?" ¹⁹Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will do right and entrust their souls to a faithful Creator.

Judgment on False Teachers

Jude 1:3 Beloved, being very eager to write to you of our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. ⁴For admission has been secretly gained by some who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly persons who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. ⁵Now I desire to remind you, though you were once for all fully informed, that he who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. ⁶And the angels that did not keep their own position but left their proper dwelling have been kept by him in eternal chains in the nether gloom until the judgment of the great day; ⁷just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise acted immorally and indulged in unnatural lust, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. ⁸Yet in like manner these men in their dreamings defile the flesh, reject authority, and revile the glorious ones. ⁹But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, disputed about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a reviling judgment upon him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you." ¹⁰But these men revile whatever they do not understand, and by those things that they know by instinct as irrational animals do, they are destroyed. ¹¹Woe to them! For they walk in the way of Cain, and abandon themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error, and perish in Korah's rebellion. ¹²These are blemishes on your love feasts, as they boldly carouse together, looking after themselves; waterless clouds, carried along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; ¹³wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars for whom the nether gloom of darkness has been reserved for ever. ¹⁴It was of these also that Enoch in the seventh generation from Adam prophesied, saying, "Behold, the Lord came with his holy myriads, ¹⁵to execute judgment on all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness which they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." ¹⁶These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own passions, loud-mouthed boasters, flattering people to gain advantage.

It is from this text that we see also that the Angelic Host are to come under judgment. Paul said that it was the elect that were to judge them (1Cor. 6:3). How much more then is it to be the world that they are concerned with regulating. The Fallen Host are the angels that are concerned with the judgment by the elect who will take part in the Great White Throne Judgment of the Second Resurrection (No. 143B). So also that will involve the Judgment of the Demons (No. 080).

A Call to Persevere

Jude 1:17 But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; ¹⁸they said to you, "In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions." ¹⁹It is these who set up divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. ²⁰But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; ²¹keep yourselves in the love of God; wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. ²²And convince some, who doubt; ²³save some, by snatching them out of the fire; on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.

Commentary on Jude (No. F065)

Look also at the parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins. From the Messiah’s own words, we must understand that once we enter into the New Covenant Temple system through him, we are not at liberty to establish our own ways independently from God’s Word and His divine Laws in our priestly service and commitment to God. This is obvious from the Messiah’s parable of the 10 virgins in Matthew 25. We must comprehend what is the process and commitment to become “Born Again” (No. 172), and we must come to grips with the reality that only 5 of the 10 virgins were wise and acceptable to the Messiah.

Matthew 25:1-13 "Then the kingdom of heaven shall be compared to ten maidens who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. ²Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. ³For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; ⁴but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. ⁵As the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. ⁶But at midnight there was a cry, 'Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.' ⁷Then all those maidens rose and trimmed their lamps. ⁸And the foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' ⁹But the wise replied, 'Perhaps there will not be enough for us and for you; go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.' ¹⁰And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast; and the door was shut. ¹¹Afterward the other maidens came also, saying, 'Lord, lord, open to us.' ¹²But he replied, 'Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.' ¹³Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. (RSV)

This parable relates to the First Resurrection and entering the millennial system with the Messiah. All ten virgins started out in the beginning from their baptism with the Holy Spirit. They all had oil in their lamps. But as time progressed, the five foolish virgins ran low of oil, that is, they were losing the Holy Spirit. When they realize their spiritual condition, they attempted to enter into the wedding supper on the coattails of the five wise virgins. But salvation doesn’t work that way. They have become disconnected from the Messiah and God through their indolence, and consequently the Messiah tells them that he never knew them. They became disconnected from their covenant relationship with God and His Temple. How did they become so disconnected from the Messiah?

If we wait too long before we understand that the Law and the Testimony must be kept fully together with the Calendar that flows from the law, we will find the door of the First Resurrection is closed on us.

In Matthew 7:21 quoted above, Christ deals with those who call him Lord, Lord, but who are workers of lawlessness. It is for this reason that he states that he never knew the five foolish virgins because of their lawlessness. When you break the Law of God in one point, it is as though you break it in all points (James 2:10). It gives meaning to the Scripture: many are called (to the 1st Resurrection), but few are chosen. The vast majority of the WCG system will end up in the Second Resurrection because of a failure to grasp the commitment to conversion and being born again into the Temple of the Living God through the Messiah.

There is an example of lawlessness of the five foolish virgins within the offshoots of the Churches of God today. A number of their ministers understand, and a few have even admitted, that New Moons should be observed as Sabbaths, yet they fail to keep New Moons and fail to teach their congregations to keep New Moons. Some have even falsified the translations of the historical text to conceal with fact that the New Moons were kept by the Churches of God up to the end of the Nineteenth Century. The Sardis ministry under Herbert Armstrong understood that the 4th Commandment of God consisted of a system of Sabbaths, and they used Col. 2:16 as proof that the Sabbath and Holy Days are to be observed. Yet, these ministers have conveniently ignored New Moons. They will have to answer to Christ for this lawlessness, and for teaching others to disobey God by using the Hillel calendar with its non-biblical postponement rules. They refuse to observe God’s Temple calendar, and there will be gnashing of teeth as they realize they have missed out on the wedding supper and the First Resurrection when they are resurrected in the Second or General Resurrection (see the paper Great White Throne Judgment and the Second Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143B).

The Five Wise Virgins will be doing today what they will be teaching others in the Millennium under the Messiah.

Rev 20:6 (God’s Word Translation)

"Blessed and holy are those who are included the first time that people come back to life. The second death has no power over them. They will continue to be priests of God and Christ. They will rule with him for 1,000 years."

The virgin Shulamite woman/Church will continue on into the Millennium teaching others to observe New Moons (Isa. 66:23-24) as she does today (Col. 2:16).

Church of God conflict at the time of the end

Revelation chapter 3 displays a serious problem at the time of the end in the Latter Days. Chapter 2 shows the four eras of the early Church up until the time of the Last Days (see also the Cox/Kohn, Sabbatarians in Transylvania, CCG Publishing 1998, and also below) that functioned with minor problems, but in general showed that they were eligible for the First Resurrection at the Return of the Messiah in the Last Days. This was not so with the last three eras and two of the final three failed as entire churches for the First Resurrection (No. 143A) and were consigned to the Second Resurrection at the end of the Millennium (see No. 143B).

Sardis

Revelation 3:1 "And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: 'The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. "'I know your works; you have the name of being alive, and you are dead.

No Church of God in history has taken the name Living Church of God until the offshoots of the Global system under Roderick Meredith took the name Living Church of God (LCG) in the US in 1998 before the Passover. This displayed an appalling degree of self-righteousness. So also the other church that came from the Global system took the name the Restored Church of God (RCG) as though the Churches of God somehow had failed to continue over the years and somehow the RCG under Pack, which had failed under Global, and refused to restore the New Moons, which had been kept under the Churches of God over the period to the end of the Nineteenth Century but failed completely in the US over the last three centuries to keep the Temple Calendar and the Laws of God, from which the calendar was derived.

Another church came out of that LCG system but is Binitarian and has incorrect theology.

Laodicea

Revelation 3:14-16 "And to the angel of the church in La-odicea write: 'The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation. ¹⁵"'I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! ¹⁶So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth.

Philadelphia

Revelation 3:7 "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: 'The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one shall shut, who shuts and no one opens. ⁸"'I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut; I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. ⁹Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and learn that I have loved you. ¹⁰Because you have kept my word of patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial which is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell upon the earth. ¹¹I am coming soon; hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. ¹²He who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God; never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. ¹³He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'

The very fact that the failure of these two churches of Sardis and Laodicea saw them judged and removed from the Churches of God and treated as the foolish virgins of the Gospels should ring warning bells in the minds of all the people of the Latter Days. What does that mean for these two eras? From where did they originate and what made them fail? What does that involve in the consequences of their failure?

The Sardis and Laodicean systems are reasonably easy to detect. The structure of the churches came out of the English-speaking system and penetrated that system and into other areas of the world from their influence.

The Sardis system was damaged by the Trinitarian systems in the UK, and also in Europe. The Trinitarians had failed completely in the UK with the false doctrines that the Law of God had been done away and that the NT had somehow replaced the OT. This fiction was established in spite of the Reformation declarations of the various Protestant Confessions as we see from the texts contained in Distinction in the Law (No. 096). This heresy spread to the US due to the importation of the Satanic systems there in witchcraft and the importation of the Pagan systems and the Calendar based on the Days of Human Sacrifice which was imported and implemented to stop the Temple Calendar being implemented and used by those purporting to be Christians (see Satan's Days of Worship (No. CB023)). Also the Bible translations had been altered and texts forged in the KJV such that the Trinity was established and reinforced through the forgeries in the KJV (see Nos. 164F and 164G).

The actual history of the Churches of God had been concealed through the poor scholarship and the forgeries and false teachings of the Trinitarians in the Americas and elsewhere.

These fake ministers began to establish churches through false prophecy in both the Sardis and Laodicean systems, from there around the world. The Trinitarian false systems had been established in Europe from Rome and that was to continue there and through the corrupt Orthodox system also in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. These Trinitarian systems were never considered by the Sabbath-keeping Churches to be actual Christian Churches either in Europe or the UK or around the world. They understood that they were all consigned to the Second Resurrection (No. 143B).

The distinctions between the systems are covered in the text Distribution of the Sabbath-keeping Churches (No. 122) and the Establishment of the Church under the Seventy (No. 122D). The persecutions of the Churches of God by the Trinitarian systems is covered in the text Role of the Fourth Commandment in the Sabbath-keeping Churches of God (No. 170) and also in the text Pillars of Philadelphia (No. 283).

In the First and Second and subsequent Centuries of the Churches of God the test was simply if someone said that they were Christian and that when they died they went to heaven you knew that they were not to be believed and that they were not Christians (Justin Martyr (Dialogue with Trypho LXXX). These people were false Christians, and they were Baal Worshipping Antinomian fakes of the Sun and Mystery Cults. By the Second to the Fourth Century, they had penetrated the Roman Church system such that the priests of Attis were complaining that the Roman Christians had stolen all their doctrines, and they had in fact done that, at Rome, and in Greece, and the Orthodox system. This false church then set about persecuting the genuine Sabbath-keeping Christian Churches around the world (see Nos 122, 170 (F066iv, v) and Q001). The Edict of the Faith of the Inquisition displayed what was in fact done in Spain (see Edict of the Faith by Andres de Palacio, Inquisitor to Valencia (No. 170)).

They gradually took over the Christian system by subterfuge from the Sun and Mystery Cults and forced the true Church into a minority position by persecution and force of arms. That position was to extend to the position that the Churches of God began to become corrupted in Doctrine. Firstly, in Britain in 664 CE, (see No. 266) and then over the last two eras from the Eighteenth to the Twenty-First Centuries from the Americas. The reality is that the majority of the Sardis and Laodicean eras are totally corrupt, and under a false ministry that lies about its history and doctrines. A good example was that of the WCG and the UCG that had the German text of Kohn's Sabbatarians in Transylvania (Die Sabbatarier in Siebenburgen etc) translated into English but deliberately omitted the facts that the system kept the New Moons and the Hymns for the New Moons. That was, presumably, because the WCG and offshoots including UCG did not keep the New Moons under Armstrong and subsequently. Only CCG keeps them as per the Temple Calendar. They all withhold the truth in unrighteousness, to this day in Sardis, as does Laodicea. They also created a fictitious Third Resurrection by misrepresenting Revelation 20:13 and telling their people that if they left WCG and the offshoots they would be resurrected simply to be thrown into the Lake of Fire alive, as though God has such a perverted mind (see No. 166). Such a thought process is a gross imputation against the Nature of God. That mindset cannot, and will not, be allowed in the First Resurrection. The fact that this is accepted by the brethren of that system and groups shows just how spiritually dead they really are.

First or Second Resurrection?

So the question becomes: First or Second Resurrection. Why does it matter?

Why did early Christians who understood the two resurrections endure so much simply to be in the First Resurrection?

Why did the uninformed invite death by striking magistrates as some did? It must have been immensely important to them.

The First Resurrection

We can get an idea of the importance by looking at the tasks set before the elect of the First Resurrection.

They are under judgment now from their baptism in this life.
The second Death does not hold any power over them.
They are appointed and resurrected as Elohim (Jn. 10:34-36).
They act as elohim over the millennial system under Messiah.
They act as teachers in that system for the Humans of that system, from Jerusalem and all over the world.
They act as teachers and judges in the Second Resurrection over both Humans and the Fallen Host (1Cor. 6:3).
The elohim are allocated to the twelve divisions under the apostles and those divisions go on to rule the Universe from the earth in the City of God (No. 180). Those of the Second Resurrection are allotted to them as fellow workers under the Morning Stars of the final system.

It is thus immediately obvious what the benefits are to be in the final phases of the creation and the new universe.

The Second Resurrection

The Second Resurrection is a lesser Resurrection because the people allocated to that resurrection have a lesser knowledge of the faith and have in some way been judged by time or circumstance not to be suitable for the First Resurrection because of some failure or other or due to the failure of education or an inability to Spiritually develop or by being misled by a False Prophet, especially in Sardis and Laodicea (No. 269) or by misfortune of birth, either before the Church was formed and the Holy Spirit (No. 117) was given to either a prophet, or the Church. These are those not chosen as a prophet or those called after the church was formed, and in Fallen National systems, or by miseducation of the Sun and Mystery Cults, and misdirected from the Laws of God and the Testimony of Messiah and the apostles and prophets, and also diverted from the Temple Calendar that flows from the Law of God (see No. 156).

This is why James 3:1 carried with it such condemnation of those seeking to lead as teachers in the Churches of God and why the ministry of Sardis and Laodicea and the corrupt of other eras are consigned to the Second Resurrection in protective custody in the Cities of Refuge to keep them alive until everyone is re-educated enough to forgive them.

This Resurrection contains those of the millennial system and all those who have ever lived, of the Adamic Creation, not in the First Resurrection.

These people are given to the teachers of the First Resurrection who are tasked with re-educating the entire Human host in order to get them fit to become elohim and given eternal life (Jn 17:3; No. 133).

It follows that all those in the Second Resurrection, including the Demons, will be retrained by the First Resurrection elohim and as they are retrained the Humans are allocated to the elohim, as Light Bearers or Morning stars, on translation as elohim, under the Twelve divisions and so they are looking at being part of that section of the families of heaven for eternity.

The Resurrections are therefore not simply a transitory arrangement. It is for that reason that there will be a great weeping and gnashing of teeth when the foolish virgins of Sardis and Laodicea realise that when the doors are shut on the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (see No. 136) and they are shut out; they are consigned to the millennial system and the Second Resurrection and they may face the very real prospect of the Second Death (No. 143C).

Those who are brought up in the millennial system and go into the Second Resurrection do have the opportunity of becoming translated as elohim and not being part of the resurrected humanoids, but can become part of the elohim for the judgments of the Second Resurrection.

PO Box 369, WODEN ACT 2606, AUSTRALIA