Q: I found your article about the "First Resurrection" to be absolutely
intriguing. So intriguing, I've read it 4 times, pretty much dissected it.
But I am still
having difficulty trying to put things into perspective, meaning some kind
of chronological order . Can you please help?
_________________________
A: I am sorry if I failed to present the information in the
article you mention in the clear and simple way I set out to do. That is probably
due to my taking for granted that "the truth is simple" and my having
already discussed some of these points in other parts on my site. Let me try to explain it more
simply by compiling this condensed version of the
sequence of events,
(chronological order)
as presented in the Scriptures, and as I was trying
to explain in the article "The
First Resurrection—and the Great Crowd."
This is how matters will proceed:
1.
The judgment starts with the house of
God. (1 Peter 4:17,18) The first thing that Jesus does upon his
return is to judge the members of God’s house, and settle accounts
with the slaves whom he had appointed to feed the domestics. This
will proof that Jesus is now present! (The judging of God's house
did not take place in 1919, as now acknowledged in The Watchtower, July
15, 2013, page 8.) It is at this time that Jesus will identify the true “faithful slave” and "rip away the
veils" of the wicked slave,
the man of lawlessness (the governing body) “whom the Lord
Jesus will do away with by the spirit of his mouth and bring to
nothing by the manifestation of his presence.” (Matt. 24:45-51;
25:14-30; 2 Thess. 2:3-10; Ezek. 13:21,22) The holy spirit will once again
guide and direct God's people in the congregations without opposition; and we may find it
necessary to meet in private homes as they did in the first century. (John
14:16,17, 26; Acts 1:2; 13:2-4; 20:28-30; Rom. 8:5-9; Gal. 5:16-18, 22,23; 1
Cor. 16:19; Col. 4:15)
The
judging of the sheep and the goats, of Jesus illustration, takes
place at this time, when "the Son of man arrives in his glory, and
all the angels with him, then he will sit down on his glorious
throne. . . and he will
separate people one from another, just as a shepherd separates the
sheep from the goats. And he will put the sheep on his right hand,
but the goats on his left." The judging will be based on how a
person treated Christ's brothers prior to his return, in connection with whom he will
shortly be glorified, as explained below. (Matt. 25:31-46; 7:21-23)
The many prophecies regarding the wicked being
removed from God’s house and the righteous ones “shining as brightly
as the sun in the kingdom of their Father,” will then find their
fulfillment. (Matt. 13:40-43, 49; Dan. 12:3, 9) Jehovah will
replace the wicked shepherds with faithful ones, and gather back his
lost and scattered sheep, many of whom had been expelled as apostate
because of refusing to put their trust in men. (Psalms 146:3-5)
Indeed, the entire 34th chapter of Ezekiel is devoted to
Jehovah’s lost sheep and his promise to bring
them back. He is already preparing for their return. Although they
were lost, they never ceased being his sheep. (Ezek. 34:15,16, 31;
14:23; compare Luke 15:4-7; 17-24)
2. After God’s
own house has been judged, “Babylon the Great, the mother of the
harlots and the disgusting things of the earth,” that is, all
religions of which Satan is the god, will experience God’s judgment
and be completely destroyed as by fire. This will happen suddenly,
as "in one day," "one hour." (Rev. 17:5, 15-17; 18:8, 10; 19:1-3; 1 Cor.
10:20,21; 2 Cor. 4:4)
The
vacuum resulting from the destruction of Babylon the Great will be filled by the setting up of “the
image to the wild beast,” which all persons will now be put under
compulsion to worship. In fact, "the image of the wild beast [will] both speak
and cause to be killed all those who [will] not in any way worship the image of
the wild beast." (Rev. 13:14-17) This reminds us of the image of gold that king
Nebuchadnezzar set up in the plain of Dura, which everyone was compelled to
worship under penalty of death for refusing to comply. (Dan. 3:1-7) The modern
day idolaters will receive a "mark in their right hand or upon their forehead"
as proof of their compliance (their physical/material support, or indirect
mental endorsement), without which no one will "be able to buy or sell," thus
being denied the necessities of life. (These are not literal marks, such as
the red dot on the forehead in the Hindu religion. But it will
clearly identify the individual as being a supporter of the worship
of the wild beast and its image. —Compare
1 Cor. 10:20-22)
Of course, Jehovah’s people will not share in
any of that, in spite of any hardship they might have to endure as a
consequence! We
are told: “If anyone worships the wild beast and its image, and
receives a mark on his forehead or upon his hand, he will also drink
of the wine of the anger of God that is poured out undiluted into
the cup of his wrath.” (Rev. 14:912; 15:2-4; 16:2; 19:19-21; 20:4)
In spite of intense persecution brought upon them, they will remain
faithful to Jehovah as were Daniel and his three companions, Shadrach, Meshach
and Abednego. (Dan. 3:12-28; 6:16)
3. The stage is
now set for Jehovah to
fight on behalf of his people as he comes to deliver them. (Zech.
2:8; 1 Cor. 3:17) This will be the foretold
war of Armageddon. The term “great tribulation” describes "the war
of the great day of God the Almighty," namely, Armageddon. (Rev. 16:13,14, 16) This
is how the prophet Zephaniah describes Jehovah's day: "That day is a day of
fury, a day of distress and of anguish, a day of storm and of desolation, a day
of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick gloom. And I will
cause distress to mankind, and they will certainly walk like blind men;
because it is against Jehovah that they have sinned. And their blood will
actually be poured out like dust, and their bowels like the dung. Neither their
silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of Jehovah’s fury;
but by the fire of his zeal the whole earth will be devoured, because he will
make an extermination, indeed a terrible one, of all the inhabitants of the
earth.” (Zeph. 1:15-18; Rev. 19:19-21; Ezek. 38:14-23) Jehovah’s day will be so terrible,
yes, so
severe, as Jesus said, that “unless those days were cut short no
flesh would be saved, but on account of the chosen ones those days
will be cut short.” (Matt. 24:21,22)
The apostle Paul
explains that this is when
the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven as he comes with his powerful angels to bring “vengeance upon those
who do not know God and those who do not obey the good news about
our Lord Jesus. These very ones will undergo the judicial
punishment of everlasting destruction from before the Lord and
from the glory of his strength.” (2 Thess.
1:6-10; Rev. 19:11-16) After the destruction of all the
inhabitants of the earth, only God’s people will remain over in it—the
"chosen ones” (on whose account the great
tribulation was cut short), and the “great crowd” who had “washed
their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb,” and who
had done good to Christ's brothers, the holy ones. (Rev.
7:14; 14:1, 3; Matt. 25:40, 45,46) Just as in the days of Noah, only those who heeded God's
warning will have escaped the global destruction. (Matt. 24:37-39; 2
Peter 2:5) Now, Jesus comes “to be glorified in connection with
his holy ones and to be regarded in that day with wonder in
connection with all those who exercised faith (the great
crowd), because the witness we gave met with faith among you.” (2
Thess. 1:10; Psalms 37:10,11, 34)
4. Jesus' glorification
"in connection with
his
holy ones" includes all his holy ones,
not just the few who survived to his presence. This means that the foretold
and long anticipated “first resurrection” will now take place, and "the dead in union with
the Lord" will rise and come back to life in order to join the holy ones who are
still living at this time. According to the apostle Paul, all of
the 144,000, all the “holy ones” will be
together as one group, and will
together
meet the Lord in the air
as he comes to receive them and take them with him to heaven, to his
Father. (1 Thess.
4:14-17; Rev. 14:1-3; Dan. 7:22; Matt. 24:31)
The great tribulation survivors will be present to witness this amazing
event, just as Jesus’ few disciples watched him ascend to heaven
forty days after his resurrection. (Acts 1:9-11) There will be some
sort of visible manifestation of the glorified Jesus’ presence, as
Paul explains, perhaps similar to his
experience when Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus.
(Acts 9:3-8; 26:12-18)
The time for the marriage of the Lamb has now
arrived. “Happy are those invited to the
evening meal of the Lamb’s marriage.” (Rev. 19:6-9) The great crowd
of true worshipers
will have good reason to be "happy," as they are blessed
by these events [as the Scriptures explain], and had the opportunity of personally meeting and
associating with the Lamb’s bride (including the
twelve apostles who return in the first resurrection), for the brief period of time that they
spent with them, while they were awaiting
the arrival of their Bridegroom. (Matt. 22:1-13) It is after the
holy ones ascend to heaven, and the marriage has taken place, that the thousand
year rule of God's kingdom begins. (Rev. 20:6)
5. It is shortly
after God's kingdom begins its 1,000 year rule that the “resurrection of both the righteous and the
unrighteous” takes place, just as Jesus promised and Paul preached.
(John 5:28,29; Acts 24:15) God’s many loyal servants of the past will
return to “a resurrection of life”; while the majority of mankind, who lived in
ignorance of God and his purpose, will return to “a resurrection of
judgment.” These ones will have the opportunity to learn about
God and avail themselves of his ransom provision for everlasting
life without interference from Satan and his perverted form of religions. (Rev.
20:1-3)
As we can well imagine, a tremendous teaching
work will open up for the Armageddon survivors, which will be
enhanced by being able to relate their own personal
experiences, by having survived that world destruction and
then having been eyewitnesses to Jesus’ return when he came to be
“glorified in connection with his holy ones.” (2 Thess. 1:10) We are
not told how soon after God’s kingdom begins its rule that this
resurrection will take place, but there is no reason to assume that
it will delay. (Rev. 20:6; Dan. 7:21,22, 27)
----------------------
I have now added the above sequence of events at the bottom of the article
of The First Resurrection. If any of this information still seems
unclear, please do not hesitate to ask further questions. Sometimes it becomes a
challenge to replace in our minds a previous understanding with one that
differs, although in harmony with the Scriptures, as most of us have come to
feel comfortable with something we have believed most of our lives. (Luke
5:36-39)
http://www.perimeno.ca/Index_A.htm