The Dead Will Rise First — Part 1

The major challenge to my prophetic view (inmillennialism¹) in Paul’s “rapture passage” (1 Thess 4:13–5:11) is in the following statements:

The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. (1 Thess 4:16–17)

A recent blog post (here) shows that Paul speaks with the Lord’s Olivet Discourse in mind; it is “the word of the Lord” (1 Thess 4:15) to which he refers. If so, he thought the Lord’s coming “with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God” would occur when the temple fell in Jesus’ generation (cp. Matt 24:1–3, 30–31, 34).

Does this orientation suggest that Paul thought the bodily resurrection would occur in the first century, too? Is this his meaning when he says, “And the dead in Christ will rise”? 

I answer in the negative. Paul was referring to events in the lifetime of some in his generation (cp. Matt 16:27–28), but he was not asserting the bodily resurrection would occur then; this is not an example of apostolic error as many commentators—including conservative evangelical ones—assume.

To prepare for our discussion of Paul’s meaning in this passage, I want to republish a three-post series on the first and second resurrections and their relationship to the thousand-year reign of Christ. These first appeared almost three years ago, so I hope they will not seem redundant to some of our long-term subscribers. I think that “resurrecting” these posts will help us evaluate Paul’s meaning in 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17. 

This post² will consider the timing of the “thousand years,” or millennium,³ of Rev 20:2–7. It will discuss the millennium’s place in the sequence of major prophetic events. Also, it will set a calendar date for its occurrence. This will answer the question, Is the entire millennium in our future, or is it a present reality?

A note of unity to begin. Proponents of all prophetic frameworks consider the millennium to be the kingdom age. Ryrie, for example, says,

The millennium is called by different descriptive titles in the Scriptures.… It is called the kingdom of heaven (in real form, Matt. 6:10); the kingdom of God (in real form,⁴ Luke 19:11); [and] the kingdom of Christ (Rev. 11:15).…⁵

Most writers agree with Ryrie. This post will take advantage of this rare consensus.

The timing we assign to the millennium depends on the assumptions in our prophetic framework. Inmillennialism came from the assumption that clear passages of Scripture should interpret unclear ones. It rests on the “analogy of faith” principle.

Inmillennialism comes from two primary passages, the Olivet Discourse and 1 Corinthians 15. These passages contain few prophetic symbols.⁶ The former has a small number (e.g., Matt 24:28–31). The latter comprises unadorned prose with few (if any) prophetic symbols. Inmillennialism comes from clear, non-figurative Scriptures.

Other prophetic models⁷ make different assumptions. Historic premillennialism and dispensational premillennialism are examples. They get some of their major features from symbolic passages. Ladd, a historic premillennialist, makes this clear. He appeals to an outline he “discovered in the Revelation of John.”⁸

This is a risky method. Interpreting symbols is more difficult than interpreting declarative statements. Jesus said, “The time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father” (John 16:25). Unadorned language is easier to understand than symbols.

We considered a test case in our last post. It involved the nature of the millennium. The premillennial models assume “a thousand years” (Rev 20:2–7) means literal years. They base this opinion on Revelation 20 alone. The term occurs nowhere else in Scripture with this meaning. This feature of these models comes from a symbol-filled context.

Inmillennialism looks to clear passages—like Psalm 50:10—to learn that “a thousand” is almost always symbolic in Scripture. It considers the symbolic context of Revelation 20. Based on these observations, it assigns a symbolic meaning to “a thousand years” in Revelation 20:2–7. 

We are ready to consider a second test case. When does the millennium occur? Is it delayed? Let’s do some prophetic date-setting.

The Case for a Delayed Millennium

The premillennial systems determine the millennium’s timing from Revelation 20.⁹ Their logic is simple. They assume the “first resurrection” (Rev 20:5–6) is the physical resurrection of believers. It is “a literal and real resurrection, the same which is set forth in all the Scriptures as the great hope of all saints.”¹⁰

Revelation 20 puts this resurrection at the start of the millennium. The resurrection of “the rest of the dead” occurs after the millennium (Rev 20:5).

This gives premillennialists their scheme. The first resurrection, as they define it, has not occurred. Nobody denies this. It must be in our future. This makes the millennium and the second resurrection also occur in our future.

But, this sequence appears nowhere else in Scripture. No other passage shows two future physical resurrections separated by an entire age.

This should give us pause. Has something interrupted the kingdom Christ established (Matt 11:11–12; 12:28)? Is it postponed? Should we believe in such a delayed millennium because of a solitary passage in a book full of symbols?

The Case Against a Delayed Millennium

Inmillennialism teaches that there is a better approach to this question. It looks to clearer Scriptures for guidance. Is there another passage that teaches two resurrections separated by the kingdom age? The answer is a resounding, Yes!

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul says, 

Now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.… In Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His 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 Cor 15:20–26)

The following diagram places this sequence above the one from Revelation 20:

Let us compare the individual elements in each account.

The First Resurrection

Paul splits the bodily resurrection into two parts. Christ rose from the grave in his first resurrection. The apostle says, “Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept” (1 Co 15:20).

He taught elsewhere that the elect took part in this “first resurrection.” God “hath quickened us together with Christ … and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:4–6).

Here is a bodily resurrection in which all the faithful took part. It occurred at the beginning of the kingdom age (i.e., millennium). This meets all the requirements of John’s words in Revelation 20. This is his “first resurrection.”

There is no need to speculate about the timing of this event. Christ rose from the dead in AD 30.¹¹ This is part of our promised date-setting exercise.

This explanation of the “first resurrection” accounts for one of John’s key statements. He said, “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power” (Rev 20:6). This is true because Christ’s resurrection justified the elect (Acts 13:36–39). They will never come into condemnation (Rom 8:1). Those in Christ will never die (John 11:26). They have eternal life (John 10:28).

Paul’s first resurrection is Christ’s. All saints take part in it. This corresponds to John’s “first resurrection.”

The Millennium

The kingdom age occurs between Paul’s two resurrections. In it, our risen Lord reigns “till he hath put all enemies under his feet” (1 Cor 15:25). This is John’s millennial reign of “a thousand years” (Rev 20:4).

This view of the first resurrection and the millennium accounts for another key statement in Revelation 20. John “saw the souls of them that … lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years” (Rev 20:4; cp. Rev 6:9; emphasis added). The first resurrection—the bodily resurrection of Christ—resulted in the resurrection of the souls of the elect. The resurrection of their bodies does not occur until after the kingdom age.

During the kingdom age, the souls of the elect go to be with the Lord when their bodies die (2 Cor 5:6, 8). There, “they [live] and [reign] with Christ a thousand years” (Rev 20:4).

The millennium is also the time of the parousia of Christ. We will say more about this below.

Paul’s kingdom age follows Christ’s resurrection. This matches John’s millennium that follows the “first resurrection.” We know when it started (AD 30), but not when it will end. Our date-setting ends here!

The Second Resurrection

Paul’s second resurrection occurs at the end of the millennium. After Christ defeats all other enemies, he will defeat death (1 Cor 15:25–26).

This is a resurrection of the bodies of all men. Some writers call it the “general” resurrection. The saints will take part in this bodily resurrection. For them, this will be “the resurrection of life” (John 5:29) 

The wicked will also rise in this resurrection. For them, it is “the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:29). John speaks of them when he says, “The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.” They did not take part in “the first resurrection” (Rev 20:5). Therefore, they will suffer “the second death” (Rev 20:6).

This view of the second resurrection matches Jesus’s teachings (Matt 25:31–46). Paul and John are in perfect agreement with each other. And, both agree with their Lord on the second resurrection.

The Coming of Christ

Scriptures link the coming of Christ to the start of the millennium. Premillennialists, as their name implies, embrace this assertion. They believe John describes Christ’s coming in Revelation 19:11–21. He is the “Faithful and True” Warrior riding on a white horse. “And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses.” This is Christ, the “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Rev 19:16, ESV).

But this coming is not in our future. Considered as a point-in-time action, it occurred in Jesus’s generation. The Lord said, “They shall see the Son of man coming (Gk. erchomai)” (Matt 24:30). He also gave the broad timing of this event. He said, “This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled” (Matt 24:34).

Jesus spoke of his coming in relation to the kingdom in another context. He said, “Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming (Gk. erchomai) in his kingdom” (Matt 16:28).

This coming of Christ to start the millennium is not in our future.

Scriptures present another aspect of the coming of Christ. Considered as a state-of-being, the “coming” (or “presence”; Gk. parousia) of Christ began in the first century. The disciples linked it to the Temple’s destruction (Matt 24:3). Jesus reinforced this association (Matt 24:27, 37, 39). He fixed the timing for the start of his parousia. “This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled” (Matt 24:34). This “presence” of Christ with his church continues during the kingdom age. 

Scripture places the point-in-time coming (Gk. erchomai) of Christ at the start of the millennium; it occurred in Jesus’s generation. The presence (Gk. parousia) of Christ with his churches during the “millennium” began in Jesus’s generation.

The millennial delay teaching is an error.

Conclusion

We have seen that the binding of Satan occurred in Jesus’s lifetime. This agrees with our conclusions above about the timing of the millennium (Rev 20:1; cp. Matt 12:29).¹²

The fulfillment of John’s visions was in his near future (e.g., Rev 1:1).¹³ The position we have taken also agrees with this timing.

There is no millennial delay. Christ ascended to his throne after his resurrection (Acts 2:25–36; cp. Dan 7:13–14). His kingdom reign began at once. He is reigning now. The kingdom is a present reality. We are in the millennium.

We must keep this orientation in mind as we consider 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17.

1. For a full-length account of this prophetic model, see Rogers, Inmillennialism: Redefining the Last Days (Tullahoma, TN: McGahan Publishing House, 2020). It is available here. A PDF version of the book is available here. For a summary, see the free PDF here.
2. Originally published here.
3. For the definition of this word, see A Literal Millennium?
4. Dispensational premillennialism requires his use of “in real form” in these passages. An explanation for this is beyond our present purpose.
5. Ryrie, The Basis of the Premillennial Faith, 147. Ryrie adds “the regeneration (Matt. 19:28); the times of restitution (Acts 3:18–24); the times of refreshing (Acts 3:19); the fullness of times (Eph. 1:10); and the world to come (Heb. 2:5).”
6. I made this point in previous posts as we developed inmillennialism. See a list of those posts here.
7. See Comparison of Prophetic Models.
8. Ladd, The Gospel of the Kingdom, 44.
9. They make other arguments, too. One involves God’s land-promise to Israel after the flesh. (This is Paul’s term for ethnic Israel in 1 Corinthians 10:18) This has not happened, they say. God will, therefore, fulfill this promise in a future millennium.
10. Seiss, The Apocalypse, 461.
11. Archibald Thomas Robertson, A Harmony of the Gospels for Students of the Life of Christ (New York: Harper, 1922), 173. Robertson says “A.D. 30 (or 29).”
12. See The Seven Mystic Figures — Part 2: Exodus and The Great Whore — Part 1: Overview.
13. See The Bookends Of Revelation.