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I want to understand What is the meaning of first resurrection and second resurrection.

Revelation 20:5 KJV

But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

Revelation 2:11 KJV

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

Revelation 20:12-13 KJV

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

How is the first resurrection different from the second one?

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    Thanks for asking the question. I'm sure that different Christian denominations have different ideas - so much so that it would be quite a task to list them all! Perhaps there's a specific denomination, or group of them, that you'd like to target. If so, please consider editing your question to help us give a more concise, cogent answer. Welcome to the site! Jun 26, 2014 at 16:00
  • Echoing Matt, welcome! Please take the tour and check out What makes a good focused question? Jun 26, 2014 at 16:04
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  • Please also see: Types of questions. Those are the types of questions that the community here is willing to accept. This one does not fit well into any of those types.
    – user3961
    Jun 26, 2014 at 17:10
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    I'll note in a few (very important) cases, the KJV translators collapsed multiple Greek words into one English word. The English hell comes from the Anglo-Saxon word for the underworld in the pagan mythology of that culture, and was used as a translation for each of the Greek words άδοu, τάρταρος, and γέεννα. When considering questions about "hell," one should defer to the original Greek source texts.
    – Andrew
    Jun 27, 2014 at 18:57

1 Answer 1

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The two events only differ on two points:

  1. Who is raised.
  2. When they are raised.

Both parties are actually judged equally, and we assume the method of the raising is the same.

The First Resurrection takes place at Christ's coming and consists of the Righteous Christians only.

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
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 Thessalonian 4:16-17

The First and Second Resurrection and the Final Judgement of all souls is detailed further in Rev. 20.

4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. [This is who takes part in the First Resurrection. They are those that are in Christ; they are Christians; they are the righteous]
5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. [If there is a 1st resurrection there must be at least a second]

It will be 1000 years after the resurrection of the righteous that the remaining souls, the wicked, will be resurrected for Judgement.

12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God [This is the only place that makes sense for the second resurrection, and we already know from verse 5 that it is 1000 years after the First Resurrection]; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. [After being raised they are judged]

13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. [Every dead person will be raised at some point]

These verses (the whole book, even) are very poetical, but these verses together show that the wicked dead are indeed resurrected, just as the righteous 1000 years earlier.

Summary

The First Resurrection consists of the Righteous Christians, which will be raised at the end of days upon Christ's coming (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

The Second Resurrection will follow 1000 years later (which may be a non-literal 1000 years) and will consist of all the remaining dead (the wicked) (Revelation 20:5).

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  • One thing that is worth noting, but not emphasized in your answer is the fact that the righteous (saved) are resurrected at the beginning of Christ's reign and live in God's presence throughout eternity, while the unrighteous are raised just prior to Judgment and are cast immediately after judgment in the lake of fire for eternal torture.
    – BYE
    Jun 28, 2014 at 18:09

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