The First Resurrection

From: Collected Writings By: Frederick George Patterson

• 3 min. read • grade level: 10

I had difficulties as to the passage of which you write (Rev. 20:4⁴And 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. (Revelation 20:4)). Comparing it with other passages, such as 1 Corinthians 15:54⁵⁴So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. (1 Corinthians 15:54), &c., which disappeared in seeing that “the first resurrection does not describe a period of lime, but a class of persons having this characteristic name.

In the passage (Rev. 20:4⁴And 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. (Revelation 20:4)), you will find three divisions named;

1. “I saw thrones, and they sat upon them and judgment was given to them.”

2. “And the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God.”

3. “And those (οιτινες) which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark in their foreheads, or in their hands.”

The first division is general, embracing all who reign with Christ, taken up at the Rapture. He sees not only thrones, (as Dan. 7:9⁹I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. (Daniel 7:9); where for “ cast down,” read “ set”) but sitters on them; they are now occupied.

The second class are those slain under the fifth Seal. See Revelation 6:9, 10, 11⁹And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: ¹⁰And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? ¹¹And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. (Revelation 6:9‑11).

The third class are martyr victors under the full power of the beast. See Revelation 15:2²And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. (Revelation 15:2).

The two latter classes who seem to have lost the earthly blessings of the kingdom by death, are specially named as having gained by death a place in the heavenly glory, with those who then reign with Christ.

The first of these — the sitters on the thrones — have been raised or changed at the rapture; and the last two are said, in company with them, to ‘‘live and reign with Christ a thousand years”; and are all then named “the first resurrection.”

My chief difficulty was, how that Isaiah (25:8) used the words, “He will swallow up death in victory” — referring to the resurrection at the end of the tribulation and deliverance of the remnant of Judah. While Paul uses the same passage, quoting it in 1 Corinthians 15:54⁵⁴So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. (1 Corinthians 15:54), with reference to those caught up before it begins, and when Christ comes, whether raised or changed. I may here remark that Isaiah 24:21²¹And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. (Isaiah 24:21) gives the judgment of the hosts of the high ones on high — Satan’s power (Rev. 12), and the Kings of the earth upon the earth (Rev. 19). Then, after that, in Isaiah 25, in the details of the deliverance to the remnant of the Jews, and the removal of the vail of idolatry from the nations, he uses this passage: — “He will swallow up death in victory,” with reference to what happens at the end of the tribulation.

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul quotes and applies it to those who are taken up — raised or changed —before the tribulation. This seemed strange. But the moment you understand that the “first resurrection” is a class of persons running all through the crisis, or time of judgment, from the rapture of the saints, till Christ’s appearing, it is readily seen how the prophet and apostle legitimately use the same words, having a similar class before them, which are split up into sections, as I may say, in Revelation 20:4⁴And 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. (Revelation 20:4), and are technically named “the first resurrection,” though not raised and taken to heaven at the same moment of time.

Words of Truth 4:186, 187.

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