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To: xzins
The second resurrection, if there is a second resurrection has been a question for me for quite some time now. God referred to a first resurrection, and then was silent as to a second. I must admit that I never really thought of Christ in relation to the second resurrection until I was reading this thread. Somewhere around post 1000, I wish I could find it, somebody was talking about the resurrection in relation to Christ, and I wondered if there was something very different about Christ’s resurrection. I have been fascinated over the years by the structure of scripture, and I liked the thought of Christ being the second resurrection because it meets certain criteria that I have not found in any other interpretation that I have heard.
In order for something to be true, it must always be true. Therefore it is always easier to disprove something, just find a case where it is false, whereas to prove something is true, it must meet all criteria. In this case as in all cases of Doctrine, there is no list of criteria. I have been blindsided by arguments on doctrine many times, and I don’t expect this subject to be any different. Sometimes crazy arguments sometimes lies sometimes verses from scripture. I have already made some statements that will bring opposition. That having been said lets take the “sword of spirit” and swing it around a bit. Nobody ever got skillful with a sword without practice, and sometime in the future we will be called on to use that skill. A word of caution to those who treat the sword carelessly, you might cut yourself.
First as to the structure of Scripture, as I said before, the order is Birth Death, and Resurrection. This is a trinity and corresponds respectively to The Trinity. The father always comes first, the son always comes second, the spirit third. The most common parallel we have in the natural world is Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The order is always the same. In fact Birth Death, and Resurrection correspond to the meaning of 1,2,and 3 if you are interested in studying the meaning of the numbers.
There is one illustration that may show what the importance of the order. Consider Gen 1:1 …God created the heavens and the earth, in the second verse the earth was void, in the third verse he began creating again with light. Here we have creation, destruction, and recreation. (A plug for the gap theory, I know what’s coming on this one) It‘s the same lesson. Light is also a trinity with the visible section, the rainbow, Christ in the middle. It seems a small argument to make, but the strength is in the numbers, and remember, it is God, who sees the end from the beginning, who put this on the very first page. I hope you can at least understand why I cringe when people put spiritual death before spiritual birth.
Just a quick note here, some say that it is easy to see The Father and Son, in Abraham and Isaac but how does Jacob represent the spirit? I think it has something to do with Proverbs 25:2 which I a re-thinking.

Second let us look at the spiritual death.

Rev 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

Is the second death the lake of fire? Maybe the lake of fire is just a symbol, like the thousand years. Maybe, and this is my vote, the second death is separation From God. Could this happen to Christ? Heb 9:27 “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:” Does this apply to Christ? I remind you of Christ’s own words “ Why hast thou forsaken me?” That sounds benign, but I believe that was the second death. “It is a fearful thing to fall onto the hands of the living God.” Don’t think for one minute that God’s wrath was mitigated because Christ was his son. God’s wrath was poured out without mixture, just as it would have been poured out on me. I submit that however bad you think it might have been. It was worse, compounded by his holiness.
If you think I’m wrong let me know. I did not state my question well at all. I am only trying to clear up my own opposition to these thoughts.
2,499 posted on 12/15/2002 10:37:51 PM PST by Seven_0
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To: Seven_0
1. I understand your first question to be "what is the order and the nature of the various resurrections?"

2. I understand your 2nd question to be "what is the 2nd death?"

Correct me if I'm wrong.
2,501 posted on 12/15/2002 10:44:22 PM PST by xzins
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