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The First Ressurection

by Jerry Ousley  
2/10/2017 / Christian Living

            I love being the first to get out of bed in the morning.  Each day, and sometimes even on the weekend, I’ll set my alarm clock early enough to insure that I’m the first one up.  I’ve done it for so long that my whole day is unbalanced if someone else in the house would get up before I do.  At this point in my life, living alone, it doesn’t matter as much.  But it sure used to be the case.

 

            During the week I would up between 3:00 and 4:30 am.  I did this because my wife had to get up and get ready for work at 5:00 am.  She had to be at work at 6:30 am.  However I am self-employed so there was no set time that I had to be at work.  I could have stay in bed until daylight if I had wanted too.  But I’d grown so accustomed to being the first one up that I was compelled to do it.  I had become used to going through the house in the dark or dim night lights, getting the coffee started, getting ready for the day and doing a few chores before waking Deb.  I liked that.  As I said, it threw my whole day off if she got up before I did.  She knew that there were certain things that needed to be done in the morning and she would do some of them to help out.  I really appreciated her for doing that but folks, it threw my routine off.  I was so used to doing things in the order that I did them that if they were already done then I didn’t know what to do next!  Of course I figured it out and got through the day but it would have been better for me if she would have  just left those things undone and let me do them.  The point I am trying to make is that it was to my great advantage to be up first.

 

            This is a weak comparison I know.  But the subject for today is the First Resurrection or the first awakening of the dead.  I hope that the lesson for today and the next two weeks will bring you great freedom in your Christian experience.  So many good believers have been taught that one big judgment day is coming at the end of time during which all of us will stand before God and have our lives replayed before our eyes.  At the end of our time we will either be allowed into Heaven or doomed to eternal death in Hell.  Those who have been taught this believe that somehow their good works in life will win them entrance into Heaven.  But they basically live in fear not knowing what the judgment will hold for them.

 

            But we can know.  We can rest assured in where we are headed.  Of course we are all going to be judged but not at the same time.  We are plainly told in Revelation 20 just how this judgment is going to take place.

 

            First hear the words of Revelation 20:4-6:  “And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them.  Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands.  And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.  But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished.  This is the first resurrection.  Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection.  Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.”

 

            Those standing before the Lord in this setting are those who have been killed during the Tribulation period.  The rest of those who are God’s people were resurrected during what is called the Rapture – the Catching away of the saints of God.  Some believe this will take place before the Tribulation period begins while others believe it to take place in the middle of this terrible period.  For the sake of this article I’m not going into that discussion.  For now just know that at the time referred to in the scriptural reading all of those who were God’s people through the shed blood of Jesus Christ have been resurrected.  Notice that this passage talks about thrones and judgment but none actually takes place.  What we are told is that these who have been resurrected along with those who were resurrected in the Rapture will reign with Christ for a period of one thousand years.

 

            Let me say that it doesn’t matter how you believe about the topic of the Rapture.  If you have given your life to Jesus Christ and your sin has been covered by His blood, when it happens, regardless of who’s right, you will go to be with Him.  You will be a part of the first resurrection and you will live and reign with Christ Jesus our Lord.  That mean you’ll be among those who are up first!

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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