First Resurrection

Is Christ the First Resurrection? If so, how are we to understand the language of those who rise FIRST?

THE RESURRECTION: CHRIST HIMSELF?

Joh 11:24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he (Lazarus) shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

Joh 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection <386>, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:

Lu 20:36 Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection <386>.

Heb 11:35 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection <386>:

Lu 20:27 Then came to him certain of the Sadducees, which deny that there is any resurrection <386>; and they asked him,

2Pe 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

Ac 17:32 And when they heard of the resurrection <386> of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.

Ps 35:16 With hypocritical mockers in feasts, they gnashed upon me with their teeth.

Ge 21:9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.

FIRST RESURRECTION: CHRIST THE FIRSTBORN, FIRST TO RISE?

Ac 26:23 That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first <4413> that should rise <386> from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles.

Col 2:12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall ALL be made alive.

1Co 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.

Re 22:13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

Re 2:5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

Re 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

Ex 23:19 The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk.

Ex 4:22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:

Ex 13:15 And it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the LORD slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of beast: therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all that openeth the matrix, being males; but all the firstborn of my children I redeem.

Mr 10:31 But many that are first <4413> shall be last; and the last first <4413>.

HAVING PART IN THE FIRST RESURRECTION: REDEMPTION OF THE BODY?

Re 20:2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,

Re 20:3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

Re 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

Re 20:5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first <4413> resurrection <386>.

1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

Re 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first <4413> resurrection <386>: 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.

Ac 26:23 That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first <4413> that should rise <386> from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles.

UNITY OF THE FAITH: TWO GROUPS RISING WITH CHRIST - PRIOR BELIEVERS AND THOSE BEING CAUGHT UP?

Eph 4:13 Till we ALL come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

Heb 11:40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

1Co 13:10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

Jude 1:14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,

Mt 12:41 The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.

1Co 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall ALL be changed,

1Co 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

1Th 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

1Th 4:15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

1Th 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Mt 24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Re 11:12 And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.

Joh 5:28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which ALL that are in the graves shall hear his voice, (ONE resurrection in Christ?)

SUMMARY CONCLUSION

The first resurrection seems to point to Christ Himself. He is First and the Last as well as the resurrection. So those who rise first or who take part in the first resurrection appears to be pointing to the redemption of the body. Even though God makes a distinction between those who previously died and those that are gathered, both groups would be taking part in the first resurrection as they rise to life with Christ.