We're in agreement on two resurrection groups — the just, the unjust. Where we disagree is what "the first resurrection" means. You take it as ordinal — slot one in a numbered sequence, with a second one following later.
That's because that is what is shown in Rev 20. First ressurect also is linguistically related to the "dead in Christ RISE FIRST".
My argument is that it's a name. "The first resurrection" is a title for the resurrection of the just, the way "the resurrection of damnation" is a title for the unjust.
That's the position of Premill. Amill argues there is a single resurrection of all.
Neither one is a calendar position.
That's wrong. The just are always in the first group resurrection, in every passage that exist about it. You accept there are two resurrections so naturally the first group to resurrect is the first resurrection.
Now take the three passages you cited, because each one describes a single event:
You just described two events but now have reverted to one event. You were correct before but wrong now. Listen to yourself, "We're in agreement on
two resurrection groups — the just, the unjust. "
Acts 24:15 — "there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust." Singular. One resurrection containing two classes. Paul could have written "resurrections" and did not.
It can be written in the singular: There shall be a resurrection of the dead, Lazarus first and later Jesus. Two separate resurrections.
John 5:28–29 — "the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth." One hour. One voice. All the dead in the graves. Then, and only then, two destinations. The division Jesus draws is in where they go, not when they rise.
Every example has the just or righteous first. Only Rev 20 provides the time inbetween the two groups resurrecting. The very fact that one group resurrects before the other shows a gap of some amount. Believe one second separates the two resurrections if you wish. At least that is closer to the truth than this one event idea.
I also noticed you didn't quote John fully. Likely because he uses the word resurrection twice, one for each group:
Joh 5:29 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
Two resurrections. Is that why you didn't quote that part? It clearly disproves the one resurrection theory. T
his is one way to know if a doctrine is valid or not, by how it must ignore parts that don't fit.
Daniel 12:2 — "many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." One verb of awakening governing the whole group, then "some… some." Again: one event, two outcomes.
Two events, two groups, the just first, the unjust afterward.
That's the pattern in all three. The two-ness is never in the rising. It's always in what follows the rising — life or damnation, just or unjust. "Resurrection of life" and "resurrection of damnation" are names for outcomes, not slots on a calendar. And that's exactly how "the first resurrection" reads: a name for the company of the just, not the first entry in a numbered series.
So all three of the passages you brought forward cut against the reading you're putting on Revelation 20. You cited them as support for a two-stage sequence, but each one describes a single rising with two outcomes. Revelation 20 has to be read alongside them, not against them.
None show one rising with two outcomes. They show TWO RISINGS, with the righteous always first. None speak of what time happens between except Rev 20. All together, they show the just rising first (first resurrection) and over a thousand years later (the rest of the dead lived not until...) is the second resurrection of the unjust.
Luk 14:12 Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee.
Luk 14:13 But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:
Luk 14:14 And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at
the resurrection of the just.
He did not say the resurrection of the just and unjust. He said only the just. Again, this is evidence of two separate resurrections. The resurrection of the just
is only of the just, no one else.
What we learn from these verses is that there are two resurrections. One resurrection is to life and the other resurrection is to damnation and contempt.
Two resurrections! Never is there a single resurrection of both righteous and unrighteous at the same time.
We also see here that the
saved/righteous are resurrected first, and at some time later
the unsaved are resurrected and judged.
What these verses do not tell us is how much time is inbetween the two. For that we have to go to Revelation 20 where Christ tells John there is a thousand years inbetween. "the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished". There we have the dead separated into two groups. One who are saved and will be resurrected and judged first, like Dan 12:2 and Joh 5:29 show, and the other group that has to wait until the thousand years are finished before they are resurrected and judged.
This is Premill through and through.