The Multiple
Resurrections and Judgments
Premillennialists
believe that Jesus Christ will return to resurrect the saints prior to the
millennium. This is followed by the earthly reign of Christ from Jerusalem
If this
sequence of events appears complex, the dispensational eschaton is by far the most complicated of all eschatological
schemes. Jesus does not only return just before the millennium; He returns
secretly before the Great Tribulation to rapture the saints. According to
Pretribulationism, Jesus comes secretly for
His saints before the Great Tribulation, and He comes gloriously with His saints after the tribulation to
usher in the millennium.
Between the
pretribulation rapture and the glorious, visible return of Christ, a judgment
of the saints takes place in the heavenly realms. In his essay on the Judgment
Seat of Christ, Dr Jack Sin writes:
“The Judgement Seat of Christ is not
the Judgement of the Great White Throne (Rev 20:1-15). The latter is meant only
for the unregenerate who “are condemned already because they have not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3: 18). That is the final
judgement which will take place after the millennium (Rev 20:6). Believers, on
the other hand, will appear before the Judgement Seat of Christ. The privilege
of standing before the Judgement Seat of Christ comes from being born again. .
. . When will the Judgement Seat of Christ take place? According to Scriptures,
the Judgement Seat of Christ will take place between the Rapture and the return
of Christ to earth.”[1]
So according
to Bible Presbyterians, a separate judgment of the saints - the Judgment Seat
of Christ – occurs prior to Christ’s Second Coming (apokalupsis). The
wicked, however, are not judged until the end of the earthly millennium. In
dispensational jargon, this judgment of the wicked dead is called the Great
White Throne Judgment. John Walvoord explains,
“The final judgment of the human
race is recorded in Revelation 20:11-15. This judgment will occur when the
present earth and heavens have fled away (20:11; 21:1). Before the Great White
Throne, on which Christ will be seated, will be gathered the remaining dead,
the unsaved of all ages, who will be resurrected for this judgment, a judgment that
will result in all being cast into the lake of fire.”[2]
Bible
Presbyterian scholar, Dr Quek Suan Yew, concurs with Dr Walvoord:
“The Great White Throne Judgement
is the final place of judgement for all unbelievers. Great not only points
to its size but also its majestic authority and significance, it being the
final throne scene. White as usual symbolizes purity, holiness and perfect
justice. . . . All the unbelievers who had died and sent to Hell will be
delivered from Hell and forced to stand before God for judgement.”[3]
But another
judgment must take place especially for the millennial saints. The millennial
saints are Christians who are living on earth at the end of the Millennium or
those who have died in the Millennium. These saints cannot be judged at the
Great White Throne because, according to dispensational thinking, the Great
White Throne Judgment is only for the wicked. In his book End Times: Understanding Today’s World Events in Biblical Prophecy,
Dr Walvoord explains the dispensational understanding of the judgment for
millennial saints:
“The Scriptures are silent on how
God will deal with saints living on earth at the end of the Millennium or
saints who have died in the Millennium. . . . It is probable that the righteous
who die in the Millennium will be resurrected, much as the church will be at
the Rapture, and that living saints will be given bodies suited for eternity
like those living church saints will receive. It is clear that the millennial
saints will not be involved in the judgment of the Great White Throne, however,
because this judgment relates to the wicked dead.”[4]
Therefore,
the Reformed understanding of a general resurrection and a judgment of both the
righteous and the wicked is replaced with a sequence of multiple resurrections
and judgments. According to the dispensational eschaton, there is one resurrection before the tribulation
at Christ’s parousia, one after the tribulation for “tribulation
saints” after Christ’s apokalupsis, at least one separate resurrection for
those saved during the millennium, and a resurrection of the wicked at the
Great White Throne judgment after the millennium.[5] John
Walvoord, in fact, finds a series of seven resurrections in New Testament
teachings. Walvoord writes, “Seen in their chronological order, the seven
resurrections are proof that there will be not just one final resurrection and
judgment in the future, but rather a series of judgments and resurrections.”[6]
Likewise,
there are at least three separate judgments according to Dispensationalism and
Bible Presbyterianism: the Judgment Seat of Christ, the Great White Throne
Judgment, and the judgment of the millennial saints.[7] The Bible
Presbyterians have apparently adopted the Dispensationalist’s eschatological
schema as biblical truth, together with the multiple resurrections and
judgments.
The General
Resurrection and Final Judgment in Reformed Confessions
Have the
Reformed churches ever taught a complex series of resurrections of the dead?
According to the Reformed Confessions of Faith - the Westminster Confession of
Faith, Chapter XXXII sections II and III, and the Belgic Confession Article 37
- the resurrection of the just and the unjust will be a single event. During
this general resurrection, both the wicked dead and the righteous dead will be
resurrected together.
Paragraphs 2
and 3 of the Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter XXXII state:
At the last day, such as are found
alive shall not die, but be changed: and all the dead shall be raised up, with
the self-same bodies, and none other (although with different qualities), which
shall be united again to their souls for ever.
The bodies of the unjust shall, by
the power of Christ, be raised to dishonour: the bodies of the just, by His
Spirit, unto honour; and be made conformable to His own glorious body.
The second
paragraph of the Confession, Chapter XXXII, begins with the phrase “at the last
day.” It asserts that “all the dead shall be raised up,” and this general
resurrection occurs “at the last day.” “All the dead” obviously refers to all of the dead, both elect and
reprobates. The Confession explains that “the bodies of the unjust shall, by
the power of Christ, be raised to dishonour: the bodies of the just, by His
Spirit, unto honour; and be made conformable to His own glorious body.” The
Confession incontrovertibly describes a general resurrection of both the just
and the unjust. There is no mention of any time gap between the resurrection of
the wicked and the saints.
In Paragraph
1 of the Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter XXXIII, it is stated that:
God hath appointed a day, wherein He
will judge the world, in righteousness, by Jesus Christ. To whom all power and
judgment is given of the Father. In which day, not only the apostate angels
shall be judged, but likewise all persons that have lived upon earth shall
appear before the tribunal of Christ, to give an account of their thoughts,
words, and deeds; and to receive according to what they have done in the body,
whether good or evil.
With regard
to the time frame, the phrase “God hath appointed a day” makes it clear that
the Confession does not have in mind two different judgments: one for the
saints and another for the reprobates, which are separated by at least one
thousand years. That it will be a general judgment of both the just and the
unjust is ascertained by the statement, “In which day, not only the apostate
angels shall be judged, but likewise all persons that have lived upon earth
shall appear before the tribunal of Christ.” “All persons,” that is, the saved
and the damned, shall appear before the glorious Christ “at the last day.”
The Belgic
Confession, Article 37, similarly describes a general resurrection and a single
judgment at the last day.
Finally, we believe, according to
the Word of God, that when the time, ordained by the Lord but unknown to all
creatures, has come and the number of the elect is complete, our Lord Jesus
Christ will come from heaven, bodily and visibly, as He ascended, with great
glory and majesty. He will declare Himself Judge of the living and the dead and
set this old world afire in order to purge it. Then all people, men, women, and
children, who ever lived, from the beginning of the world to the end, will
appear in person before this great Judge. They will be summoned with the archangel’s
call and with the sound of the trumpet of God.
Those who will have died before that
time will arise out of the earth, as their spirits are once again united with
their own bodies in which they lived. Those who will then be still alive will
not die as the others but will be changed in the twinkling of an eye from
perishable to imperishable. Then the books will be opened and the dead will be
judged according to what they have done in this world, whether good or evil.
Indeed, all people will render account for every careless word they utter,
which the world regards as mere jest and amusement.
The Belgic
Confession teaches that at Christ’s Second Coming, which shall be “bodily and
visibly,” “all people, men, women,
and children, who ever lived, from the beginning of the world to the end, will
appear in person before this great Judge.” The final judgment is obviously a
general judgment. The Belgic Confession does not mention a secret coming of
Christ prior to the Great Tribulation, and a subsequent rewarding of the saints
at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Both the saints and the wicked will be judged
at the same time at Christ’s Parousia.
Furthermore,
the phrase “those who will have died” refers to the dead in general, and makes
no reference to either the saved or the damned. Both Confessions are consistent
with the explicit teachings of Scripture, particularly Daniel 12:2, John
5:28-29, and Acts 24:15. The obvious teaching of these passages is a general
resurrection of both the just and the unjust. There is no mention of a one
thousand years or, according to pretribulationists, a one thousand and seven
years gap between the resurrection of the saints and the resurrection of the
wicked.
The
Scripture and Reformed Confessions agree that there will only be one general
resurrection of the dead, and one Second Coming of Christ, not a complex series
of resurrections separated by time gaps, or multiple “second” comings of
Christ. Also, it is clear that the Reformed Confessions teach a general, final
judgment. The notion that Christ will come secretly to rapture and resurrect
the saints prior to the Great Tribulation is foreign to the Reformed
Confessions of Faith.
Premillennialism demands two separate resurrections:
the resurrection of the just at Christ’s Parousia,
and the resurrection of the wicked at the end of the millennium. The Reformed
Confessions, unfortunately, do not allow the intercalation of a millennium
between two separate resurrections. Consequentially, the eschatological schema
of dispensational premillennialism contradicts the Reformed Confessions’
doctrine of a general resurrection and judgment.
References
[1] Jack Sin, “The Judgement Seat of Christ,” The Burning Bush 6, no. 2 (2000):302, 314.
[2] John F. Walvoord, End
Times: Understanding Today’s World Events in Biblical Prophecy (Nashville,
Tennessee: Word Publishing, 1998), 177.
[3] See Quek Suan Yew, DAY FIVE: Revelation
19-22 (Singapore
; Internet;
accessed 29 October 2016.
[4] Walvoord, End Times: Understanding Today’s World Events in Biblical Prophecy,
178
[5] See ibid., 153-165 for the
dispensationalist’s order of resurrections.
[6] Ibid., 165.
[7] See ibid., 167-184 for the
dispensationalist’s order of judgments.
No comments:
Post a Comment