
Originally Posted by
randyk
There is very little on the resurrection and its timing in the OT, but it is there. It seems to be an assumption, because God is regularly reaching out to Israel to make a way past the angels that guard the way to the tree of life.
So there is this idea of history progressing towards a time when Israel will be liberated from the oppression that separates God from His people. He will be "with them." Thus, the idea of an Age to Come, and a future Kingdom, evolves in the thinking of the Prophets. Perhaps this idea was there from the beginning?
Isaiah mentions that death will be overcome. And Daniel specifies an event at which both the righteous and the unrighteous are raised from the dead to be judged. Although this event may appear to take place simultaneously, I'm not sure this is so. It is an event that simply transcends the current age. It is simply stated that Israel, both good and bad, will be judged for how they behaved in the current age. This will take place *after* the current age, when the current age ends.
When Jesus, still under the Law of Moses, speaks of the resurrection, he retains this idea that the resurrection event is future and beyond the present age. It is on the "last day." And so, the resurrection of the righteous is made to be synonymous with the coming of Christ itself. But I'm not sure that Christ said the resurrection of the unrighteous is synonymous with this event--only that death is defeated on behalf of the righteous on this day.
So it is largely dependent on Rev 20 that we get the Millennial separation between the resurrection of the just and the unjust. The righteous alone are raised from the dead at Christ's coming, at the beginning of the Millennium. And the unjust, together with the righteous of the Millennial age, will be raised in a "2nd resurrection" at the end of the Millennium.
This is a natural evolution, because it may have appeared much simpler when the Scriptures were only dealing with the just and the unjust in Israel. But the People of God came to encompass not just Israel, but also the nations of the world. And so, the Millennium became an extension of issues beyond Israel's Diasora in the current age. The Millennium would bring about a resolution to both Israel and the nations, and mortal life would continue in the Millennial age.
This therefore implies that judgment extends beyond the last day of the current age to incorporate mankind in the Millennial age. It requires that judgment incorporate a "2nd resurrection" at the end of the Millennial age, to reward the righteous of that age, and to punish the unrighteous who live during that time.
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