What will happen when Christ comes back? (part 2)

He will resurrect all the dead

Even this guy

Everyone who ever lived in history will be bodily resurrected and will ultimately fall into one of two classes. Christ made this crystal clear when He told His disciples “the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his [the Son of Man’s] voice, 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: 28, 29).

Remember the “shout” Paul wrote about when Christ descends? It immediately preceded the dead rising. Christ is here talking about the same event: the dead will hear His voice and come forth. How many of the dead does He say are resurrected? “All.” He then immediately divides “all” into two classes. Notice, too, that Christ says this happens at the same time—the same hour.

Paul makes reference to the same thing in a speech to Governor Felix: “…there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust” (Acts 24: 15).

There’s no ambiguity about who is raised up: both the just and the unjust. And how many resurrections will it take to achieve this? “A” resurrection (singular). The plain meaning of the sentence limits this to a single event.

In another passage, Christ tells His followers, “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6: 40).

How many who believed will be raised up? “Every one.” And when will “every one” be raised up? “At the last day”; not centuries before the last day. Here Christ is addressing the topic of believers only, but as the previous verses make clear, the “just and unjust” are resurrected simultaneously.

In Revelation we get another vision of the resurrection: “I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God… the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them” (20: 12, 13). Are only some of the dead raised up? No. The phrase “great and small” implies everyone from the least to the greatest. Homeless beggars will stand next to pharaohs. Nameless slaves will stand next to presidents and kings. Are any of the dead left out? No. Even those buried at the bottom of the sea are not forgotten. The passage goes on to explain that this resurrection immediately precedes the judgment and the destruction of earth: “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea” (20: 15; 21: 1).

All of the above passages, taken as a whole, suggest that there will be one general resurrection of all bodies at the last day.