Eschatology is the study of what Scripture teaches regarding the end times. It is a study of the afterlife and includes various topics that lead up to the end of the age. Topics such as death, the second coming of Jesus, hell, sin, eternity, heaven, the intermediate state, the tribulation period, the general resurrection, judgment, salvation, glorification, and many, many more are dealt with. There are generally four different views of biblical eschatology, namely, post-millennialism, historic and dispensational pre-millennialism, and amillennialism.
Throughout biblical history, there has been disagreement regarding the resurrection of the dead. Amongst the Jews, the Pharisees believed in the spiritual resurrection of the righteous dead but believed in the annihilation of the wicked dead. The Sadducees did not believe in resurrection (Matt. 22:23; Acts 23:8). Neither did the Greeks, who made fun of Paul when he asserted the bodily resurrection of the dead (Acts 17:32). Today’s pre-millenarians believe in the bodily resurrection of the dead but they disagree with the amillenarians regarding the timing and number of resurrections as well as the timing and number of judgments.
Most dispensational pre-millenarian’s believe in a resurrection of the righteous seven years before the second coming of Christ at what they term the “secret rapture,” a modern theological invention of the mid-nineteenth century. They believe this will be followed by a resurrection of the “tribulation saints” on the Day of the Lord, at Christ’s second coming, followed one thousand years later by the resurrection of the “millennial saints” and the wicked and final judgment for the wicked. Dispensational premillennialism came to prominence in the mid-nineteenth century during the liberal movement in Christianity largely on the back of the Scofield Study Bible, which promoted a form of dispensationalism and the relatively new “doctrine” of the rapture popularized by John Nelson Darby about AD 1830. Amillennial advocates hold that the pre-millennial views are unsupported by Scripture.
The sixteenth century Reformers like most Reformed and Lutheran theologians today hold to the amillennial eschatological view which does not believe in a literal earthly millennial age beginning at Christ’s second coming. Dr. Kim Riddlebarger has aptly described amillennialism.
Amillenarians hold that the promises made to Israel, David, and Abraham in the Old Testament are fulfilled by Jesus Christ and his church during this present age… The millennium is the period of time between the two advents of our Lord, with the thousand years of Revelation 20 being symbolic of the entire interadvental age. At the first advent of Jesus Christ, Satan was bound by Christ’s victory over him at Calvary and the empty tomb. The effects of this victory continued because of the presence of the kingdom of God via the preaching of the gospel and were evidenced by Jesus’s miracles. Because of the spread of the gospel, Satan is no longer free to deceive the nations. Christ is presently reigning in heaven and will reign during the entire period between his first and second coming. At the end of the millennial age, Satan is released, a great apostasy breaks out, the general resurrection occurs, Jesus Christ returns in final judgment for all people, and he establishes a new heaven and earth.”[1]
The resurrection of Jesus was the first resurrection (I Cor. 15:20,23) and he is referred to as “the firstborn of the dead,” (Col. 1:18; Rev. 1:5). There is an easy implication from these verses that others will also be resurrected. The resurrection will be a bodily resurrection (1 Cor. 15:35-49) and it will be the very same body that was buried, not a new body. The proof is in the word “resurrection” which means to revive or renew or revitalize. Resurrection does not involve a creation or re-creation, it is a rejuvenation of that which was dead (1 Cor. 15:53; Rom. 8:11).
Though the Pharisees believed that there would be no resurrection for the wicked and that they would instead be annihilated, that belief is clearly contrary to Scripture (Dan. 12:2; John 5:28,29; Acts 24:15; Rev. 20:13-15). The resurrection of believers is God’s act of redemption but the resurrection of the wicked is God exercising his perfect justice (John 5:28,29).
Scripture is clear that there will be a general resurrection of believers and the wicked at the same time (Dan. 12:2; John 5:28,29; Acts 24:15; Rev. 20:13-15), which general resurrection will occur at the second coming of Christ and the end of the world. These verses eliminate the pre-tribulation rapture taught by dispensational pre-millennialists. The only resurrection of believers occurs at the second coming of Christ on the Day of Judgment, the Day of the Lord. This general resurrection of all human beings will occur just before the final judgment of the wicked. These verses prove that the resurrection will be a general resurrection and a single event involving the righteous and the wicked contemporaneously. II Thess. 1:7-10 speaks of the judgment of the wicked at the second coming and Scripture clearly states that the resurrection of believers will be contemporaneous with the second coming of Jesus (I Cor. 15:23; Phil. 3:20,21; and I Thess. 4:16) and that this will occur at the end of the world (John 6:39,40,44,54).
A proper understanding of Scripture reveals only two resurrections and only one judgment, all of which will occur contemporaneously at the second coming of Christ. There will be no pre-tribulation rapture as there is no scriptural support for this liberal concept. There will be no thousand-year reign of Christ on earth after the return of Christ — the thousand- year reign is, the present age, the interadvental period between the first and second advent of Christ; we are now living in the thousand-year reign with Christ in heaven as prophet, priest, and king of the kingdom of God.
Jesus Christ was the first resurrection. Christ’s resurrection marked the initial resurrection with the whole group of believers to follow.[2] All other human beings who have ever lived and who will ever live, believers and non-believers, will be resurrected at the same time at the second coming of Christ on the Day of Judgment. This is the second resurrection, the general resurrection. Christ will return with the heavenly hosts, the general resurrection of all human beings will occur, the wicked human beings, Satan, and his minions (i.e., fallen angels) will be judged and sentenced to eternal death, and the end of the world will occur with the believing saints being saved (i.e., salvation is consummated) from God’s eternal, condemning wrath and escorted into the new heaven and new earth to their glorified states and eternal life with God.
[1] Kim Riddlebarger, A Case for Amillennialism: Understanding The End Times (Baker Books, 2013), 40.
[2] Riddlebarger, 130.
