The First Resurrection

[rockytopva]

I was brought up Charles Stanley type Baptist and Pentecostal Holiness. They both believed in a rapture. Whatever you may call it... I will take the first resurrection thank you!

Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. - Revelation 2:6

 

[rockytopva]

I consider myself Pentecostal Holiness / Baptist. In which there is a great many in my parts. I thought that every Christian believed in the rapture before posting on web sites. I would say that most Christians don't take much thought on the hereafter. The average Christian's church experience...

Hatched - Some were baptized infants
Latched - When they marry
Dispatched - Whey they leave this earth

Considering it good to get in a "Hail Mary!" or a last minute prayer before they go! I consider it a good thing to anticipate some kind of meeting with God as the effects are good...

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. - 1 John 3:2-3

 

[rockytopva]

I would call the first resurrection as pre-trib...

36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
37 But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. - Matthew 24

Noting... "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." If we had anything else it would be rather well announced. It would be nice to have had something like....

2053 AD - PreTrib Rapture
2060 AD - Return with Christ

But it wasn't God's intentions of us being that good. If I had to go with date picking I would call Isaac Newton as the closest...

And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half. -Daniel 12:7

From a folio cataloged as Yahuda MS 7.3g, f. 13v:

"So then the time times & half a time are 42 months or 1260 days or three years & an half, reckoning twelve months to a year & 30 days to a month as was done in the Calendar of the primitive year. And the days of short lived Beasts being put for the years of lived kingdoms, the period of 1260 days, if dated from the complete conquest of the three kings A.C. 800, will end A.C. 2060." - Isaac Newton

As Charlemagne was crowned king on December 25, 800 by Pope Leo the III so the day of Christ's coming may be on Christmas Day, 2060. If the rapture of the saints (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17) occurs seven years before the time of Christ's coming the date of the rapture 12.25 2053. However Isaac Newton notes...

"It may end later, but I see no reason for its ending sooner. This I mention not to assert when the time of the end shall be, but to put a stop to the rash conjectures of fancifull men who are frequently predicting the time of the end, & by doing so bring the sacred prophesies into discredit as often as their predictions fail. Christ comes as a thief in the night, & it is not for us to know the times & seasons which God hath put into his own breast." - Isaac Newton

 

[rockytopva]

Hoping always to maintain the possibilities of being wrong here.... "It may end later, but I see no reason for its ending sooner. This I mention not to assert when the time of the end shall be, but to put a stop to the rash conjectures of fancifull men who are frequently predicting the time of the end, & by doing so bring the sacred prophesies into discredit as often as their predictions fail. Christ comes as a thief in the night, & it is not for us to know the times & seasons which God hath put into his own breast." - Isaac Newton

 

[Armchair Apologist]

I was brought up Charles Stanley type Baptist and Pentecostal Holiness. They both believed in a rapture. Whatever you may call it... I will take the first resurrection thank you!

Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. - Revelation 2:6

Whatever your position on the "rapture," I believe it important that we make the observation that a "first resurrection" implies another that follows even though the GWT Judgment says "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God..."

Jn 5:29 says the "resurection of life" and the "resurrection of damnation" and some say that this is "One Resurrection" with two differing outcomes.

The "Catching Away" (harphazo) is this "First Resurrection" and I believe that Christ's "appearing" for his elect is distinct from Jesus's return in flaming fire and vengeance towards those who know not God.