The Aaron Papers  www.the-aaron-papers.net 

Part six     A REFORMED REVIEW

An Eschatology of Victory  by J. Marcellus Kik

p.230 - Geerhardus Vos in his article on the Eschatology of the New Testament in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia refers the first resurrection to “the state of glorified life enjoyed with Christ in heaven by the martyrs during the intermediate period preceding the parousia.”

The above view forgets the meaning of the word resurrection.  It is: “a rising again from the dead.”  When the Christian soul leaves the body to dwell in heaven, it is not a resurrection.  The soul in the Christian is alive; it is not in a dead state.  Its removal from the body into heaven could be better termed an ascension or translation.  To state that the translation of the soul into heaven is a resurrection is to contradict directly the teaching of Christ that “whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” 

Mister Kik is absolutely correct in his comments concerning Mister Vos.  If our soul presence in heaven were interpreted as the first resurrection, then with the Revelation twenty passages, we would have to say that we are the first resurrection.  But before we can make this interpretation, we must give close attention to these very next lines: Because we are plainly told here, that, with our presence in heaven, we are only partakers, or sharers, in the first resurrection (Rev.20:6).  So then we find that there are only two options for the presence of our soul essence in Heaven: Either we represent the first resurrection, or we are only sharers in the first resurrection.  The answer is, that we are only sharers in the first resurrection.  The mistake being made here has been the removal of Christ from His primary place of preeminence.  This whole descriptive picture that we have here in Rev.20:4-6, is about Christ’s own resurrection and His own reign in Heaven.  It is only because of His glorious resurrection and ascension into Heaven, that His elect are now able to participate in this process.  In our Spiritually resurrected soul state, whether we are awake or asleep, we now live and reign with Christ.  We are blessed and holy, because we already have a part in His blessed resurrection.

p.231

Mister Kik writes, “In the New Testament there are a number of passages which speak of the dead becoming alive in reference to their conversion.  For instance, it is stated in Colossians 2:12, 13: ‘Having been buried with him in baptism, wherein you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.  And you, being dead through your trespasses, and uncircumcision of your flesh, you, I say, did he make alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses.’  Here the regeneration of the human soul is compared to the resurrection of Christ.  They who were dead were made alive.  This is the first resurrection.  And John states in his epistle: ‘We know that we have passed from death unto life.’  ‘Surely this is the first resurrection of which the Scriptures speak.”

Now just because the Bible frequently speaks about our coming to life (zao) with respect to our conversion, this could not ever justify the displacement of Jesus from rightfully representing the first resurrection.

Mister Kik has plainly stated this “the regeneration of the human soul is compared to the resurrection of Christ.”  So then why, with the evident knowledge of the first resurrection as Christ’s own resurrection, would we ever attempt to assign the first resurrection to the regenerated souls?  Now if these regenerated souls are being associated in Christ’s resurrection by their participation, then Christ’s resurrection would by necessity be the first resurrection.  Their interpretation of these souls as the first resurrection, has robbed them of the clearest and simplest meaning from these passages.

But if we do allow Christ’s resurrection to be the first resurrection, then the true meaning of this Scripture will become clear to our understanding:

1. If Christ’s resurrection is the first resurrection, then we can understand the fulfillment of Rev.12:5.  Besides the twenty-four elders who sit upon their thrones Ref. Rev.4:4, we must also see Christ’s throne at the head of this Heavenly Tribunal. Ref. Rev.4:2-3; Rev.20:4a location.

2. If Christ’s resurrection is the first resurrection, then the reign of Christ is firmly established.  This is necessary for the fulfillment of these passages from Revelation.  Christ must be reigning if these regenerated souls are to “live and reign with Christ for a thousand years.” Ref. Rev.20:4b

3. If Christ’s resurrection is the first resurrection, then these regenerated souls, instead of being the first resurrection, properly become partakers in this first resurrection. Ref. Rev.20:6

4. If Christ’s resurrection is the first resurrection, then the bodily resurrection of the invisible priesthood; the resurrection of all of those who are secretly elected during this dispensation of grace, would collectively become the full manifestation of the first resurrection: Collectively, they become the glorified body of Christ.  It is not until after the pre-Armageddon gathering /or rapture of the invisible elect priesthood (Rev.11:15; 1Cor.15; 1Thes.4; Mat.24; Mk.13) that these regenerated souls, then merged with their glorified bodies, become the full manifestation of the first resurrection: The glorified body of Christ—The Kingdom of God.

This is a very difficult teaching!

More then Conquerors, by William Hendriksen

Mister Hendriksen, in his book More that Conquerors pp.192-193, writes: “The first resurrection is the translation of the soul from this sinful earth to God’s holy heaven.  It is followed at Christ’s second coming by the second resurrection when the body, too, will be glorified.

Our final question is, who participates in this reign?  The answer is simple and easy. 

First of all, all the souls of the martyrs, ‘those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus’. 

Secondly, all other believers who died in their faith, ‘such as worshipped not the beast’, etc. 

The rest of the dead, that is, all other men who died, the unbelieving dead, lived not until the thousand years are finished.  When that period is finished, then there is a change.  Then they enter ‘the second death’.  In other words, they receive everlasting punishment: not only as for the soul but also for the body.  The change is not for better but for the worse. 

On the other hand, those who have part in the first resurrection are blessed and holy.  Over them the second death has no power.  Not only shall they reign with Christ, but they shall also worship God in Christ as priests throughout the thousand years (Rev.1:6; 5:10)”

Mister Hendriksen, like Mister Kik, not fully recognizing the first resurrection as simply the resurrection of Christ, makes some similar mistakes by interpreting the first resurrection as the resurrection of the souls of the departed saints.  But the following conclusion that he reached for the priestly reign of these regenerated souls is substantially correct.

But then for Mister Hendriksen to identify “the rest of the dead” of Rev.20:5 as the unrighteous dead, would not be correct at all.  He has completely missed the necessary complex characteristics that are involved when identifying God’s peoples.

p.178

I. The marriage of the Lamb (19:1-10)

“We now hear the hallelujahs of heaven when Christ has come in glory to take for Himself His bride, the Church (19:7).” 

This is a true statement. 

“Heaven celebrates God’s victory over the harlot, Babylon.  John hears first a great sound of a great multitude.” 

Mister Hendriksen then goes on to define this great multitude:

“The hosts of angels ascribe salvation and glory and power to God.  They declare that in judging the great harlot God has perfected the salvation of His people.  Thus the glory of His attributes has become manifest, and His power has been revealed.  It is God, and He alone, who has wrought salvation (Rev.12:10).”

Here, Mister Hendriksen has mistakenly interpreted the invisible elect Church in heaven—the resurrected elect priesthood now in their glorified bodies, as being angels.  The key to understanding this simple interpretation is in our understanding and interpreting the symbols as they are given in Revelation. 

We are told (Rev.19:6) that this “great multitude, as the sound of many waters”.  Which is defined for us in (Rev.17:15) “The waters... are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues.” (Ref. Rev.5:9-10; 7:9)  So we must conclude that this great multitude that is pictured here is not angels at all, but it is in fact a Heavenly picture of the glorified priesthood who are at home in heaven.

Then a similar interpretation from Mister Hendriksen is found on p.182:

“At His second coming the armies of heaven, that is, the holy angels, accompany Him (Mt.25:31).  Because they are holy angels, they are clothed in fine linen, which is white and pure.” 

It is true that Christ will come with His holy angels: When, at the last judgment, He will sit upon the throne of His glory. (Mat.25:31)  But nowhere in this passage, nor in any other New Testament passage, do we ever see angels specifically ‘clothed in fine linen, which is white and pure’.  To get this understanding, Mister Hendriksen has combined the Mat.25: picture with the Rev.19: picture.  This sort of amalgamation of the Scriptures is wholly improper, and can result in nothing but confusion within the Church.  These Heavenly white robes, or garments, are an important identification characteristic for the elect priests of God and of Christ.  So then following the marriage of the Lamb, we see the bride of Christ clothed in fine linen, white and pure.  Then these same saints, in their glorified bodies; which is the full manifestation of the body of Christ, collectively make-up the armies of Heaven. (Ref. Rev.3:5, 18; 4:4; 6:11; 7:9, 14; 19:8, 14) 

p.179

“Next, the twenty-four elders, symbolizing the entire Church”... 

Now if these twenty-four elders symbolize the entire Church, who, or what, do all of these souls represent?  These elders are exactly what the Scriptures tell us they are: They are the twenty-four elders.  Since the task of judgment was given unto them, we must see them as an integral part of the Heavenly Tribunal (see Calvin’s commentary on Corinthians - vol.ii - pp.215-227). When any one of these disembodied souls (Rev.20:4) enters into Heaven, they would immediately come before this Heavenly Tribunal; The judgment-bar of Christ, consisting of the judgment-seat of Christ (Rev.4:2-3) and the twenty-four elders (Rev.4:4).  These crowned elders that are sitting upon these thrones, are surely the elders of the Heavenly Church of the Firstborn. (Ref. Heb.12:23)

pp.195, 196

4. The great white throne (20:11-15)

“Christ’s coming in judgment is vividly described.  John sees a great white throne.  Upon it is seated the Christ (Mt.25:31; Rev.14:14).  From His face the earth and the heaven flee away.  Not the destruction of annihilation but the renovation of the universe is indicated here.  It will be a dissolution of the elements with great heat (2Pe.3:10); a regeneration (Mt.19:28); a restoration of all things (Acts.3:21); and a deliverance from the bondage of corruption (Rom.8:21).  No longer will this universe be subject to ‘vanity’.  John sees the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne.  All individuals who have ever lived on earth are seen before the throne.  The books are opened and the records of the life of every person consulted (Dan.7:10).  Also the book of life, containing the names of all believers is opened (Rev.3:5; 13:8).  The dead are judged in accordance with their works (Mt.25:31; Rom.14:10; 2Cor.5:10).  The sea gives up its dead; so do Death and Hades.  Here is the one, general resurrection of all the dead.  The entire Bible teaches but one, general resurrection (read Jn.5:28).  This one and only and general resurrection takes place at the last day (Jn.6:39, 44, 54).  Nowhere in the entire Bible do we read of a resurrection of the bodies of believers, followed, after a thousand years, by a resurrection of the bodies of the unbelievers.  All arise at the same time.  Death, the separation of the soul and body, and Hades, the state of separation, now cease.  Neither in the new heaven nor upon the new earth nor even in hell will there ever be a separation between body and soul after Christ’s second coming for judgment.  Therefore, symbolically speaking, Death and Hades—now personified—are hurled into the lake of fire.  And anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was also flung into the fiery lake.”

We now come to the bottom line, so to speak.  We come to see that the driving force of this whole eschatology that we have been examining, continues to be the one general resurrection: Which is the general teaching that is learned and taught in a very large segment of today’s Church.  And even now, at this point in our study, it is extremely difficult to conceive how the clear teachings of the Scriptures can become so discombobulated.  Though the answer here is really quite simple, yet for us to achieve this clear understanding we must accept the Scriptures at their face value.  They say what they mean, and they mean what they say. 

First, the answer is as simple as the living and the dead.  No matter what commentary we look at, each and every one of them has recognized the life existence that the elect believers have in Christ.  That is, each and every one of the invisible elect, when they heard the voice of Jesus (Jn.5:25), when they were regenerated; when they were born again; they immediately passed from death unto life.  Then Jesus tells us this: “I am the resurrection, and the life: (1) he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live (Rev.20:4-6): And (2) whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (Jn.11:25-26)  Could this passage from John eleven be describing two distinctly different groups?  The first group would be those who have died within the covenant of grace; they were the believers from Godly covenant families, who, after they have passed on from this world, are residing/ or resting in Abraham’s bosom (Lu.16:22); the place of the dead of Rev.20.  The second group would represent those who were brought into a living relationship with Christ; when they heard the voice of Jesus, they came alive (Jn.5:25 zao); they were regenerated into the invisible mystical priestly Messianic line (1Pe.2:9; Rev.1:6; 5:10).  In passing on from this world, the promise to them is explained as their continuing to live on in their soul state; that is, they will actually have a living existence with their Lord in Heaven: They are to be in Heaven, participating in the reign of Christ and His resurrection (Rev.20:4-6).  We must remember this one certainty: No matter what our physical condition may be, in life or in death, our lives are hidden in Christ.  I would like to repeat this important fact: It is because of this life existence that all of the invisible elect priests receive at the time of regeneration that absolutely precludes their presence at the general resurrection scene: Every individual that has been resurrected there in the general resurrection is dead!!! (Jn.5:28-29; Mat.25:34; Rev.20)

Secondly, in those primary passages that define the general resurrection (Jn.5:28-29; Mat.25:31-46; Rev.20:11-15; Acts.24:15), there is no mention being made of anyone being alive or being translated at the time of this great event. 

This situation is being discussed in detail, so as to expose the huge problem that these folk have with regard to the gathering of Christ’s Church.  They have, without any real success, attempted to force the Scriptures that define the gathering of the invisible priesthood; the gathering of only the elect priests (Mat.24:31; Mk.13:27; Lu.21:25, 26; 1Cor.15.23-26; 1Thes.4:15-17) into defining the general resurrection time frame.  The particular problem that they encounter here is the continued presence of living peoples upon the earth at the time that these elect priests are being gathered up for their journey into Heaven.  This is clearly the case from the 1Thes.4:13-17 passage: “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep (died) in Jesus will God bring with him.  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming (parousia) of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep (dead).”  “the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be (translated) caught up together with them in the clouds”. 

And then added to that major problem, is the fact that all of these who are being resurrected and translated in this pre-Armageddon gathering, are being gathered up into the clouds—to meet their Lord in the air.  Consequently, as we more closely examine the primary general resurrection passages, Mat.25:; Rev.20:; Jn.5:, we find absolutely no mention at all being made there concerning these two described conditions; that is, some being alive at the time of this event and their being gathered up into the clouds.

To understand this need for a separate resurrection for the invisible elect priesthood, we must be able to see the two distinct stages in our Lord’s Second Advent.  The same two stages that we find most evident in the gospel of Matthew. 

The first stage that we might identify as the pre-Armageddon resurrection /or the rapture of the elect priesthood, is seen in Mat.24:31; Mk.13:27: Where our Lord is pictured as coming (the 1Cor.15:23; 1Thes.4:15 Parousia) in the clouds.  Then from this high position, He sends His angels to gather together all of His elect priests from the four winds of Heaven and of earth.  It is also in these same clouds that the elect will all meet with their Lord.  It is at that time that they will forever be in their Lord’s presence.  This event occurs at the transition between the end of “the year of Jehovah’s favor” and the beginning of “the day of vengeance of our God” (Isa.61:1, 2; Rev.11:15; 1Cor.15:23, 24).  Then from this high gathering place in the clouds, the resurrected priesthood /or the completed Kingdom is then taken into the very Heavens themselves.  This ordered event is absolutely necessary for the ultimate fulfillment of the marriage of the Lamb that is to take place up in heaven, (Rev.19:6-9) and the subsequent Battle of Armageddon.

The second stage, or the post-Armageddon resurrection, is seen in Mat.25:31-46; Rev.20:11-15; Jn.5:28, 29.  This is the time of the general resurrection and judgment, when the Lord is surely coming to sit as the judge of all.  All nations will be gathered before Him; All of the dead, the great and the small; this includes even the dead from the sea; these would represent all of God’s institutional corporate peoples who have died from the beginning of time to its end: All those who belong to Abraham’s covenants and who presently reside in Abraham’s bosom. 

Then all of those from Death and Hell will be there at the general resurrection as well.  This event is to occur at the very end of “the day of vengeance of our God”; “the day of the Lord”.

Now many commentators have mistakenly concluded that besides the “believers”, that is, besides the members of the elect Congregation of God, all of the rest of the dead must be the unrighteous dead.  This is not the case at all. 

First, we must understand that the true peoples of God, the invisible elect saints of God, make-up only God’s royal priesthood. Ex.19:6; Rev.6:9, 10 and 1Pe.2:9; Rev.20:4-6 

Amen.