This will be our last discourse in studies on the second Beatitude in the Revelation. It is declared:
And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them. KJV Revelation 14:13
Previously, we established the following from Scripture:
- The blessing declared in the second beatitude of the Revelation includes a resurrection of all who have died in faith in Christ Jesus from a specific time.
- We saw the time declared in the beatitude to be the time when the hour of God’s judgment came, which is parallel to the ending of the 2300 days of Daniel 8:14 was on 22nd October, 1844.
In this discourse, we will seek to identify which resurrection is contained in the Beatitude. We will do well to ask a few questions:
If at all the blessing declared upon the righteous in Revelation 14:13 is the same as that of Revelation 20:6, why does God specify the time in one? Is it just possible that the resurrection in the second Beatitude isdifferent from the first resurrection? Do we find in the word of God a resurrection other than the first and the second resurrection? Let us run to and fro and seek out of the Book.
In Daniel 12:1 and 2, we see a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked, that deserves our attention. Before we read the passage in Daniel 12:1-2, I would like us to make a few points clear about the first resurrection and the second resurrection.
As we saw earlier, the first resurrection is mentioned in Revelation 20:6. Here, we are told in verse 5 of the same chapter, “But the rest of the dead (All the Wicked) lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.” From this, we see that the second resurrection takes place after the thousand years. It is the resurrection of all the wicked who are “the rest of the dead” according to the verse meaning all the righteous came up in the first resurrection. So the resurrection of the righteous and wicked dead is separated by the thousand years, the millennium. Now we turn to read Daniel 12:1,2 and here I’d like us to note a few things:
And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time; and at that time (the time of trouble) thy people shall be delivered, everyone that shall be found written in the book. And (connected to the time of trouble) many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. KJV Daniel 12;1,2.
Notice, above is brought to view a resurrection whereby one, both the righteous and the wicked resurrect. Two, not all, but some of the righteous resurrect to everlasting life and three, not all the wicked but some of the wicked resurrect to shame and everlasting contempt. This must be a special resurrection, for truly, it is neither the first nor the second resurrection. Since it’s not the first nor the second, yet we see the righteous come up in it, it must take place before the second coming of Jesus Christ. This is just what is seen in examining the passage of Daniel 12;1. We see that the resurrection takes place at the time of trouble, which is a time before the second coming of Christ when God will pour out the seven last plagues, Revelation 16.
The question we then need to ask is, in which of the seven last plagues do we see a resurrection implied or expected to take place? Notice, for a resurrection to take place, it takes the voice of God. For God is “the resurrection and the life” and so said Jesus, “all that are in the grave shall hear his voice, and shall come forth”. KJV John 11:25; John 5:28, 29. Of the seven last plagues, where do we see the voice of God? Let us read Revelation chapter 16 and verse 17. It is in the opening of the seventh plague that we find the voice of God. It is written, “And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne saying, It is done.”
Notice, after the great voice from the throne is heard, we are told in verse 18, “And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth (same words used to describe the time of trouble in Daniel 12:1), so mighty an earthquake, and so great.” It must be under this great earthquake that the resurrection takes place. Why say so? When Jesus died on the cross, after uttering His last words, “It is finished:” KJV John 19:30, we are told “the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection,” KJV Matthew 27:51-53.
Note the sequence in Matthew, the voice of God, that is Jesus, is heard saying “It is finished” then the earth quakes followed by opening of graves and the bodies of the saints who are dead arise, that is, the resurrection. This is the same thing that will happen in the end, after God’s voice is heard from heaven saying “It is done”, the earth quakes greatly and then the graves of all who died in Christ and in faith of the threefold message from 22nd October, 1844 will come out of their graves, the resurrection of the second beatitude. This shows the resurrection at the time when Christ arose to be a type of the Special resurrection in these last days.
The blessing declared to all who die in Christ believing the threefold message of Revelation 14 from 22nd October, 1844 is a promise of a Special Resurrection. May it be your burden my dear brother, my dear sister, to seek to understand this message -The Three Angels’ Message, the everlasting gospel- and in the spirit of the first beatitude of the Revelation (Revelation 1:3), not just to read and understand, but to keep it. We read again, this most precious promise, but now with more insight, the Second Beatitude of the Revelation:
And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them. KJV Revelation 14:13
Yours in faith of Jesus Christ, Alonzo Jones.
Shall We Dance?