11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them.This second resurrection is obviously the general physical resurrection of all men at the end of the age. The "sea" and "death and Hades" gave up all the dead. ("Hades" corresponds to OT Sheol, the abode of the dead. Hades and the lake of fire are not the same. But you probably know that.)
12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.
13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.
14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
The judgment and separation of the righteous from the unrighteous is found in v. 15, "And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire". The unrighteous, pictured as those who names are not in the book of life, are cast into the lake of fire. (Cf. Matthew 25:31ff.)
Beginning in verse 16 (you do have a verse 16) and continuing on we have the final blessing of those who names are written in the book of life.
The thousand years is spiritual, and represents the entire period of time between Christ's two advents. The first resurrection, of which the believers have a part, is Christ's resurrection of the firstfruits, "Then comes the end, ..." (cf. 1 Cor. 15:23,24). "The end" from 1 Cor. 15:24 corresponds to Rev. 20:11 and following.
There is no thousands years magically inserted between 1 Cor. 15 verses 23 and 24.
See how simple it is without all the dispensational mumbo jumbo.
Don't mean to steal Lee's thunder.
Don't mean to steal Lee's thunder.
[shrug]. So I decided I'd rather eat lunch than compose a reasoned response that would get ignored anyway. Thunder away.
Worth pointing out that the first and second deaths are in parallel (I think that's what they call chiastic parallel, but don't hold me to that) with the first and second resurrections. The first death is the one all flesh is subject to, if the Lord tarries. The second is distinct in kind, being not a death of the body but the torment of the resurrected sinner in the lake of fire.
There is a similar distinction in kind (not simply in temporal order) between the first and second resurrections. The first is spiritual, either conversion ("he has passed from death to life") or the passing of the soul of the believer to the presence of God upon death. Only believers get this one. The second, is the resurrection of the body, that everyone gets.
For those who have experience the first ressurection, the second death has no power. The ressurection of the body comes, as Jesus said, on the last day.
4 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
5 (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection.
6 Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.
"The judgment and separation of the righteous from the unrighteous is found in v. 15, "
"12 ...And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.
13 ....up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works."
Well, now isn't that swell. Now it looks like believers are not alive and present with God, but dead, waiting to find out if they are in the Book of Life and to be judged on their works, like unbelievers. Where in the scriptures are believers referred to as "the dead"?