The resurrection in John 5:28-29 has both the resurrection of life and the resurrection of damnation. If you have that resurrection taking place prior to the millennium along with every eye seeing Him at that time, then what is your view on who the rest of the dead are that live not again till the thousand years are finished in Revelation 20:5?
In order to understand about the "
dead" of Revelation 20:5 it requires remembering previous Bible study about the resurrection by Apostle Paul, and the examples that Jesus gave about the idea of 'spiritual death' vs. being "
born again."
Rev 20:5
5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
KJV
The first phrase above that draws attention is that term,
"the dead". Either what Jesus said is true per John 5:28-29 that ALL... those in the graves are resurrected on the day of His coming, or Lord Jesus lied about it and it is not true, and instead the above Rev.20:5 verse is true that some are still literally in graves waiting to be resurrected after His coming. So which is it, because thinking of the two verses in that way definitely causes a conflict of Bible Scripture. And what I am especially amazed at with many brethren is how easy they will disregard what Lord Jesus said in John 5:28-29 in favor of believing Rev.20:5 means dead are still in the ground.
Yet I am not simply trying to persuade using logic, what I am pointing to is the lack of Biblical understanding of the Scriptures many have.
1 Cor 15:51-54
51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
It is assumed by the majority in the Church that Paul was speaking only about those in Christ going through that 'change' on the day of Christ's future return. Paul was actually including
ALL... the dead, not just the saints that are asleep metaphorically. The next verse points this out, but in the Greek with
4 different Greek words with 4 different meanings...
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
The above change is about TWO separate changes that must happen, not just one change.
1. FIRST CHANGE:
change from our flesh corruptible body to the body of incorruption, a "
spiritual body", which is the
"image of the heavenly."
All... the angels have that image of the heavenly. So will the resurrection of damnation have that image of the heavenly also. So that state is NOT CHRIST'S SALVATION TO ETERNAL LIFE.
It is only a change from the body type of this present world, which is a flesh body, to the body type of the world to come, a spirit body. Per Paul in 2 Cor.5, everyone born in the flesh already has that spirit body dwelling inside their flesh body. This was even shown in Eccl.12:5-7 and even about the idea of a "
silver cord" that connects our spirit (spirit body) with our flesh body.
2. SECOND CHANGE:
change of the mortal soul with putting on immortality through Faith on Jesus Christ, i.e., being "
born again".
That is the 2nd required change that must happen in order to have Eternal Life through Jesus Christ. Do those of the
"resurrection of damnation" have that change? No, not if they still reject Lord Jesus. Lord Jesus revealed this distinction when He compared the blind Pharisees like dead men walking, because of rejecting Him, and thus were not
"born again" (which means born from above by The Spirit). They were 'spiritually dead', not literally dead in graves yet. Their souls are still mortal and in a 'liable to die' condition, meaning liable to the "
second death" which is the casting into the future "
lake of fire" after the thousand years. And that is what that Greek word for
"this mortal" means, still in a 'liable to die' state.
Only those born again in Christ Jesus on that day will go through BOTH CONDITIONS, and have ETERNAL LIFE through Lord Jesus Christ. The rest of the dead, the
"resurrection of damnation" that are also raised on the day of Jesus' return, will still have MORTAL liable to perish souls all throughout Christ's Millennial reign.
54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory."
KJV
In the Greek of Revelation 20:5, that
"lived not again" phrase doesn't have the word '
again' in it. It simply says those "
dead" did not live until the end of the thousand years, and that agrees with what Apostle Paul showed about the unsaved dead in 1 Corinthians 15:53-54 per the Greek.
Thus when Jesus returns, on that day ALL... in the graves will be resurrected, like He said in John 5:28-29. But the 'spiritually dead', those unsaved not
"born again", will still have mortal liable to perish souls. And that's the
"resurrection of damnation", AND also ANY soul without Christ that was still alive on earth when Jesus comes and is 'changed' like the alive saints will be. What that points to is that all... peoples will be in the resurrected type body, which Paul taught is the
"spiritual body", or a spirit body, and that includes the unsaved nations also.
Confusion on this comes easy when looking at that idea of "
lived not again until" phrase in the flesh body sense. Once Lord Jesus returns, the land of the LIVING will only mean those
"born again" in Christ. This is why Lord Jesus said God is not the God of the dead, but of the LIVING, that all LIVE unto Him, and Jesus was pointing to the Heavenly with that (Luke 20:37-38). That doesn't mean the 'spiritually dead' are not still alive in the spirit, but only that they are not... in Christ because of not being
"born again", and thus cannot belong to those of the land of the Living represented by the 1st resurrection. Thus one must be careful how they understand that idea of 'living' for that future world time.
Thus for THAT FUTURE TIME after the resurrection on the day of Christ's return, those "
dead" of Rev.20:5 are just 'spiritually' dead souls still liable to perish, meaning they DO NOT LIVE...
UNTO CHRIST, UNTIL they believe on Lord Jesus Christ, and thus are SAVED during that thousand years reign. Then those spiritually dead will LIVE UNTO CHRIST AND BE GIVEN IMMORTAL SOULS, and be joined with those of the 1st resurrection unto Christ. That is why the Book of Life is opened one final time after the thousand years, to see if there are any more names found in it. There will be. There will be new converts to Christ Jesus during that thousand years.
Obviously, this is quite a lot for most to take in from the Scriptures, but it is what God's Word is pointing to. And Paul was pulling from Isaiah 25 about that idea of Death swallowed in Victory which is shown will apply to ALL peoples and ALL nations.