As per usual, I disagree Steve. Not everyone that ever lived since Adam is resurrected, only those deemed ‘responsible’ are subject to resurrection and judgement when Christ returns.
Q: What will Christ do first when he returns?
Answer: He will assemble all those who are responsible to judgment, living or dead. The dead he will bring from their graves; the living he will gather by his angels. They must all appear before his judgment seat, that they may receive through the body according to what they have done in this present life.
Proof:
I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; (2 Tim. 4:1).
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. (Dan. 12:2).
And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. (John 5:29).
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. (1 Cor. 15:50).
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thess. 4:17).
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. (2 Cor. 5:10).
But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. (Rom. 14:10).
So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. (Rom. 14:12).
Q: Who are responsible to judgment?
Answer: All who know the truth, whether they submit to it or refuse.
Proof:
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. (Mark 16:16).
For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? (2 Cor. 2:15-16).
But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. (Rom. 2:2).
But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; (Rom. 2:8-9).
In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. (Rom. 2:16).
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:19).
He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. (John 12:48).
Q: Are there some that are not responsible?
Answer: Yes, many. It is the light that makes responsible; but darkness covers the earth; and where there is darkness, sin is not imputed.
Proof:
Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth. (John 9:41).
Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish. (Psa. 49:20).
Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. (Rom. 4:15).
(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. (Rom. 5:13).
If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin. (John 15:22).
For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. (Isa. 60:2).
Q: What becomes of those who are not responsible?
Answer: They die and pass out of memory, as if they had never been.
Proof:
He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light. (Psa. 49:19).
And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts. (Jer. 51:57).
They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish. (Isa. 26:14).
Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand. (Psa. 88:5).
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (Rom. 5:12).
Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: (Eph. 4:18).
Q: What will those among the responsible receive, of whom the Lord approves?
Answer: Immortality of nature. Their mortal bodies will be changed in a moment by the power of the Spirit of God.
Proof:
Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Phil. 3:21).
For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. (1 Cor. 15:53).
For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: (2 Cor. 5:2).
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. (Rom. 8:11).
To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: (Rom. 2:7).
For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. (Gal. 6:8).
Q: What will become of those whom He rejects? Answer: They will depart from his presence with shame and vexation, to suffer according as the Judge shall think they deserve, and at last to be devoured by the second death.
Proof:
Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: (Matt. 25:41).
There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. (Luke 13:28).
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. (Dan. 12:2).
And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. (Luke 12:47-48).
And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Rev. 20:15).
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. (Rev. 21:8).
For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. (Gal. 6:8).
What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. (Rom. 6:21).
And while we’re on the subject and I have a little more time tonight, the bible does not teach that we have an invisible immortal soul that floats up to heaven when we die Steve! Think about it - if we had immortal souls that had gone to heaven when we died, why then raise the physical body on earth 100s if not 1000s years later to match with the immortal soul that was already living in heaven? It’s made up, mainstream nonsense and completely unscriptural. Confused with pagan beliefs and traditions of men. It’s the serpant’s lie, right back in Genesis ‘thou shalt not surely die’.
Q: What does the Bible reveal concerning man? Answer: The Bible reveals that man is a living soul or creature, originally made of the dust of the ground, in the image of God.
Proof:
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul (creature) (Gen. 2:7).
… in the image of God created he him; (Gen. 1:27).
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. (Gen. 3:19).
For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust. (Psa. 103:14).
… I (Abraham) have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes: (Gen. 18:27).
Is man an immortal being?
Answer: No; he is mortal. He dies and returns to the dust.
Proof:
But man dieth, and wasteth away: (Job 14:10).
Shall mortal man be more just than God? (Job 4:17).
For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; … all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. (Ecc. 3:19-20).
What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah. (Psa. 89:48).
Q: Has man an immortal part that lives in death, as held by nearly every religious system earth?
Answer: No: that doctrine is one of the many religious lies that have come to be regarded as truth. Man is wholly mortal. God only has immortality. Immortality is something a man has to seek for; it is a matter of promise and hope.
Proof:
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: (Gen. 3:4).
O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit. (Jer. 16:19).
Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen. (1 Tim. 6:16).
Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen. (1 Tim. 1:17).
To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: (Rom. 2:7).
But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel: (2 Tim. 1:10).
In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; (Titus 1:2).
And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life. (1 John 2:25).
Q: May not man’s life be immortal though his body is mortal?
Answer: Man’s life is not in himself. It is the power of God by which he lives, and which returns to God when man dies. If God were to gather it all to Himself, man would perish from the universe.
Proof:
For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light. (Psa. 36:9).
Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; (Acts 17:25).
In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind. (Job 12:10).
Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. (Ecc. 12:7).
If he set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath; (Job 34:14).
Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of? (Isa. 2:22).
Q: Has man, then, no conscious existence in death? Answer: Man has no existence of any kind in death. He is dead – entirely dead for the time being, and knows no more than if he had never been born.
Proof:
For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing… (Ecc. 9:5).
For in death there is no remembrance of thee: (Psa. 6:5).
… there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest. (Ecc. 9:10).
… His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. (Psa. 146:3-4).
For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth. (Isa. 38:18-19).
… Oh that I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me! I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave. (Job 10:18-19).
Why is man in his present mortal and evil state? Answer: Man is mortal because of sin. It is God’s law that sinners must die. Adam, our first father, sinned and was sentenced to death before he had any children. Death began with him, and came to us through him. We receive the nature that he had after he was condemned to die. We thus inherit his sentence of death. Besides this, we are all sinners ourselves.
Proof:
For the wages of sin is death; (Rom. 6:23).
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, (Rom. 5:12).
…Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. (Gen. 3:17-19).
For as in Adam all die. (1 Cor. 15:22).
Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; (Rom. 5:18).
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Rom. 3:23).
But we had the sentence of death in ourselves (2 Cor. 1:9).
Q: Does God intend that the human race shall always be subject to its present evil state?
Answer: No: he purposes to take away sin from the earth altogether, and to cause death to cease.
Proof:
I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes. (Hosea 13:14).
He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it. (Isa. 25:8).
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. (Rev. 21:4).
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. (1 Cor. 15:26).
The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. (John 1:29).
But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel: (2 Tim. 1:10).
Will God bring about this great change without any reference to whether men please Him or not?
Answer: No: the work will be thoroughly done in righteousness. As death came by sin, so life will come by obedience.
Proof:
For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. (Rom. 5:19).
But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: (Rom. 3:21-22).
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, (1 Cor. 6:9).
And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? (1 Peter 4:18).
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (Gal. 6:7).
For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. (Matt. 5:20).
Q: The Scriptures declare that “there is none righteous, no not one.” How then can salvation come, if it is to depend on righteousness?
Answer: The state of man, left to himself, is what the Scriptures describe. But God has not left man to himself. He has interposed in his affairs, and opened a way of righteousness in which He invites men to walk. God has brought righteousness near through Jesus Christ and asks men to lay hold of it by faith in him.
Proof:
And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him. (Isa. 59:16).
Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one (Jesus) the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. (Rom. 5:18).
But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: (1 Cor.1:30).
For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. (Rom. 10:3-4).
How can men who have been sinners lay hold on the righteousness of God in Christ?
Answer: Because God calls on them to repent, and offers to forgive their sins if they believe in Jesus and put on his name.
Proof:
And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: (Acts 17:30).
Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: (Acts 13:38).
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. (Isa. 55:7).
Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. (Acts 2:38).
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12).
Q: Are such saved by faith in Christ alone?
Answer: No. Faith justifies from all past sins, and ensures peace with God: but works are requisite to retain His favour and secure acceptance at the last.
Proof:
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: (Rom. 5:1).
Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. (1 Cor. 10:12).
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. (Rom. 8:13).
For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. (2 Peter 2:20).
Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. (James 2:24).
Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. (Rev. 2:5,23).
