The Clear Word Analyzed
I’ve been revisiting your podcast series on the Clear Word. It’s so good! I’m wondering if Steve Pitcher has finished putting his work into book form. I’d love to purchase a copy.
—VIA EMAIL
Response: Steve’s book is free as an online book. You can access it here:
He doesn’t have it in print form at this time.
Need Help With the Resurrections
I’ve been out of the church for a little over a year and am still unpacking all the theology from being Adventist for so long. I’ve been listening to your Former Adventist Podcast series on Revelation, as well as a few other sermons on Revelation in the last few months. I’m just having a hard time understanding all the pieces of the millennium as they fit together.
I guess I’m wondering why the tribulation saints won’t get resurrected bodies? I’m also wondering why God would let them die at some point in the millennium. Are they resurrected again at a later date with new bodies? Also why will they be marrying and having kids and the resurrected saints won’t be? I just can’t seem to understand the process.
I’m now understanding the need for the millennium for everyone to be able to choose Jesus, but I guess I’m just not understanding the process. Could you walk me through step-by-step the rapture, the second coming, the millennium, the great white throne judgement with all the different resurrections and how it’s going to work? I would just like to understand and get clarity on all of this. Thanks so much.
—VIA EMAIL
Response: First, it’s important to just acknowledged that there are details that are not fully explained. We do the best we can with the words we have, but some aspects of the fulfillment of these prophecies will remain a mystery until the Lord reveals them specifically when He comes.
I have come to see that the millennial kingdom is clearly portrayed as a kingdom ON EARTH with the Lord Jesus reigning over the nations. Revelation 20 and OT prophets such as Zechariah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and more foretell this kingdom. This kingdom was foretold as far back as when the Lord covenanted with Abraham and promised that his seed would inhabit the land He was giving him. Interestingly, Ezekiel contains a distribution of the land among the tribes that is unique in the Bible; it is a different distribution than the one given when the tribes entered Canaan.
All to say, the final inheritance of the land by Abraham’s descendants has never happened up to now. Yet for God’s unconditional promises to be realized, the millennial kingdom will happen. Even the millennial kingdom is for the purpose of demonstrating the faithfulness of God’s promises; He will give the land to the physical AND spiritual descendants of Abraham, and He will have the Son of David ruling on David’s throne in Jerusalem—just as He promised. Plus, He will bring about this fulfillment in a setting in which Satan is bound. The reality of human nature all on its own will be clearly revealed. They can’t “be good” apart from trusting the Lord Jesus.
We can’t answer all the “why” questions with specific clarity because we are not told. Yet we can put details together to get a more accurate understanding. First, understanding the “new body” vs “mortal body” phenomenon, we have to say first of all that the church, the body of Christ that was birthed at Pentecost, is a completely NEW creation. The saints in the OT did not receive new spirits and the indwelling Holy Spirit. They WERE given faith by God to believe Him—Abraham is our classic example of this (Gen. 15:6). But the new birth is strictly a new covenant phenomenon because it depends upon Jesus having fulfilled the law by shedding His blood and breaking the curse of death. Our new birth is the direct consequence of the sufficient sacrifice having been offered and opening the door to heaven for everyone on the basis of His blood.
The church is NEW, and our job was new: to carry the presence of God via the indwelling Holy Spirit into the nations. Where Israel was a nation among whom God placed His presence, we are individuals scattered among the nations, and God places His presence IN US instead of in a temple within a nation. So the body of Christ is unique with a unique purpose, and we are those whom He gathers to Himself to return with Him to earth at the end of the tribulation when He comes in on a white horse with the sword in His mouth (Rev. 19). We are glorified when He gathers us (as per 1 Thess. 4:14-15) to Himself. In Rev. 20:4, it says that thrones are set up for those who are appointed to rule. Jesus had told His disciples that they would rule over the 12 tribes of Israel (Mt. 19:28; Lk. 22:30). He also told some of the churches in His letters to the seven churches (Rev. 1–3) that to those who overcome, He would share His throne with them as He shares His Father’s throne. So those thrones that are set up are apparently for new covenant believers.
The “first resurrection” mentioned in Rev 20:4 includes believers who died in the tribulation. It also seems that it likely includes “the redeemed” mentioned in Rev. 5:9-10 when living creatures and elders praise God for purchasing “every tribe and tongue and people and nation” and says they will be priests of God and reign on the earth. So these redeemed people seem, in context, to include believers from all OT ages. They are in heaven, like the souls under the altar in chapter 6 are in heaven, and they will come to life with the tribulation believers and reign with Christ also.
Now, I can’t point to a specific spot that says the OT saints are resurrected in the “first resurrection” of 20:4, but the rapture of the church is described as an event that is separate from the resurrection of the OT saints.
So, to summarize:
The tribulation period is seven years long.
The thousand years are ushered in at end of tribulation.
At the beginning of the tribulation, Jesus descends from heaven with a shout, and the dead in Christ are raised to be with Him. At that point you have the rapture/resurrection described in 1 Thessalonians 4 and 1 Cor 15:51, 52.
All we’re told is that we are caught up to be with the Lord. Then the Lord descends to earth. We read the description of His return to earth in Zachariah 14: He stands on the Mt of Olives. He will rule and reign. Upon his return to destroy His enemies at the end of the tribulation, the antichrist and false prophet are thrown into the Lake of Fire (Rev. 19:20–21); Satan is bound in whatever the abyss is (Rev. 20:1, 2).
Then the raptured new covenant believers are set up to reign, and thrones are set up for those appointed to sit in them.
The next event is the “first resurrection” which includes the tribulation martyrs and likely the OT believers. They also will reign with Christ during the millennium.
At this period of time Christ rules for 1,000 years. The earth is populated with the people who came to faith during the tribulation but did not die: Jews and gentiles. They are people who have been born again and have come to life spiritually. There is no indication that these people are raptured or given new bodies. They are on the earth, and the Lord Jesus becomes their ruler and reigns. Thus the people entering the kingdom are born again as you and I are born again by trusting and believing in Jesus, but they have not been glorified physically. They will go on living “normal” human lives as we do (see Isaiah 65, 66), but the conditions on earth will be vastly improved.
The resurrected/glorified, however, do not marry. Jesus said, “For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven” (Mark 12:25). This unmarried, glorified state is not described further—we have no idea exactly what that all will mean, but we do know that God is not a God who removes His gifts but redeems and glorifies them. So whatever that means, we can know God is not depriving us of good things from Him. We also know that all new covenant believers comprise the bride of Christ—and again, we don’t know what that actually means tangibly.
We know from the Lord Jesus’s presence among His disciples after His resurrection that glorified bodies can exist and live among those who are not yet glorified, just as the born again are currently living with and among those who are spiritually dead. In other words, there can be two different states of life and death coexisting together.
At the end of this time, Satan is released; revolt occurs among humanity. The Lord (He’s present on the earth) crushes revolt. Then come the New Heavens and New earth. It seems that the faithful from the kingdom period will be glorified at the time the Lord destroys the earth and heavens and brings in the new heavens and earth. They will certainly be present with all the other believers in the New Jerusalem when it descends onto the New Earth.
Of course, I cannot be dogmatic about all the details; this is the best understanding I have at the moment. †
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Is the any indication what happens to the people being ruled over during the millennium when they die? This has always been a mystery to me and the Bible does not appear to indicate so best guess? Thank you!
Lona, like you, I have no absolute answer. My best guess is that whoever has not been resurrected yet will be brought to life at the Great White Throne. It seems possible that the resurrection there could deal with those who may have died during the millennium, just based on the description of that judgment. There definitely are some mysteries for the Lord to reveal still!