The Daily Word of Righteousness

Aspects of the Resurrection of the Saints, #11

Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. (Matthew 13:30)

We join with the Apostle Paul in laying aside all other considerations in order that we may concentrate every bit of energy and every moment of time on the supreme objective—attaining the first resurrection from the dead.

The Fifth Aspect of the First Resurrection. Another aspect of the resurrection of the saints is the concept of the resurrection of the righteous. It is the concept of reaping, of harvesting. This aspect is expressed in the parable of the wheat and the tares.

The reaping aspect of the first resurrection has to do with removing all that is offensive and lawless from the Kingdom of God and gathering to God the Father what He has planted, which is Christ in us.

As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. (Matthew 13:40-43)

Two different resurrections are described in Revelation, Chapter Fourteen: first of the righteous, then of the unrighteous.

First, the righteous:

And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. (Revelation 14:16)

Then, the unrighteous:

And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. (Revelation 14:19)

The aspect of reaping has some of the common factors we look for in the descriptions of the resurrection from the dead: the white cloud; and especially the descent of the Lord Jesus from Heaven to the region of the clouds. We know the Lord will descend from Heaven in order to resurrect us.

And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. (Revelation 14:14)

The resurrection from the dead is a reaping of what God has planted. What has been sown indeed shall be reaped. We will reap the first resurrection, the resurrection of the saints, the resurrection of the authority and power of righteousness and eternal life, if we continue to press forward in the Spirit all the days of our pilgrimage on the earth.

We know from the Scriptures that the resurrection from the dead includes the resurrection of the righteous and the resurrection of the wicked.

Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, 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. (John 5:28,29)

To be continued.