I agree that to be resurrected means being raised to life again physically. But what does it mean when we read of those who are dead in trespasses and sins, but not physically dead being raised to life again? (Eph 2:5-6) Why doesn't John say the souls he saw in heaven after they physically died were 'resurrected' from the dead? John writes only that they "have lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years" and were faithful unto death.
There is no "have lived" in the sentence. You're already practicing eisegesis - adding words to the text, to read into the text a meaning that isn't there - in order to cause the text to agree with whatever you say afterward.
It does not say "
have lived a thousand years". That's what you have read into the text, and it's illegitimate for you to add words to a text like that.
How can John see souls alive after physical death who have not been physically resurrected?
He cannot. The word he used for "resurrection" (anastasis) only applies to the resurrection
of the body in scripture, as my OP shows. So scripture answers your question.
Isn't it because in life they had part in "the first resurrection" that is the physical resurrection of Christ?
No, because John is talking about the resurrection of the body, and applying it to the subject - those who had been beheaded for their refusal to worship the beast. Not to another subject or other subjects which you have read into the text.
You've already practiced eisegesis twice in the first few sentences of your post. My guess is you are going to base everything else you say upon the same illegitimate and eisegetic handling of the text.
Yes, mankind was created to live on earth in a body of flesh & bone, but man is made of more than mere flesh & bone. They also have breath of life that is our spirit, and according to Solomon when our flesh & bone dies our spirit returns to God who gave it. (Ecc 12:7) If we believe Christ, man who lives and believes in Him shall NEVER die. Christ says the life we have in Him shall never die knowing that human flesh & bone is destined to physically die. Clearly death of our flesh & bone is not death of our spirit that returns to God. Otherwise Christ would not have said that all who are in Him shall "never die." (Jo 11:26)
What does the above have to do with the text in Revelation 20:4-6, once it has been stripped of your eisegetic handling of the text?
none shall be physically resurrected before an hour coming (Jo 5:28-29) when the last trumpet sounds (1Cor 15:51-58)
The above is the only thing you've said so far that's true, but unfortunately you corrupt the text of Revelation 10:6 in the rest of what you began to say, which states:
"and swore by the one who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, and the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it,
"There will be no more delay!" (Netfree Version).
You have corrupted it to mean that time will no longer exist because the Greek words chrónos ou éti can be rendered "time no longer", and is rendered in this way in a number of translations. Yet the verse says that when the seventh angel
is about to sound - which implies not that time has come to an end, but that there will be no further delay.
Again, it's your own eisegesis caused by your own unproved and unprovable notion of a symbolic thousand years that began more than 2,000 years before it begins that causes you to interpret the words that way:
that time given this earth shall be no longer (Rev 10:5-7).
What are the souls John writes are alive after physical death if not the spiritual body of believers in heaven who lived and died in faith?
Again, you have read all of that and the rest that follows below on the same eisegesis that you base it on, into the text (eisegesis) because you ignore the fact that the resurrection (anastasis) John speaks about in Rev.20:5 is always talking about the resurrection of the body in scripture, and the subject John is linking that resurrection to is the subject contained in the text of Revelation 20:4-6 and not another subject which you have snatched out of a different time (the last 2,000 years) and pasted into Revelation 20:4-6.
They are spirits of just men made perfect (Heb 12:23), after physical death alive in heaven waiting for the spiritual Kingdom of God in heaven to be complete. Then the spiritual body of believers in heaven will return with the Lord (1Th 4:14) and give life to a new resurrected body changed from mortal to immortal and corruptible to incorruptible, fit for physical life on the new earth, because as you've said mankind was created to live in flesh & bone on earth.
The answer is really simple. The first resurrection speaks of having part in the physical resurrection of Christ SPIRITUALLY, not physically.
There is no such thing as a "spiritual" resurrection mentioned anywhere in the New Testament. Every single mention of
the resurrection in the New Testament speaks of the resurrection
of the body:
All New Testament verses talking about resurrection and the resurrection are quoted below this article. M ankind was created to live on t...
zaoislife.blogspot.com
This can only happen when man is born again through the Spirit of Christ within us. When man is born again of the Spirit of Christ, we possess eternal life through His Spirit and though our physical body will die, our spirit through the Spirit of Christ can NEVER die!
"And this is the record, that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that has the Son has life; and he that has not the Son of God has not life." -- 1 John 5:11-12.
Only in the Word is life. (John 1:4).
"And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in gehennah." (Mat.10:28)
-- He (Christ) alone possesses immortality and lives in unapproachable light,
whom no human has ever seen
or is able to see.
To him be honor and eternal power! Amen. --- 1 Timothy 6:15-16, NETfree version.
-- "For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has given to the Son to have life within Himself" -- John 5:26
He alone posseses the leys of death and of hades:
-- "I am the First and the Last, and the Living One, and I became dead, and behold, I am alive for ever and ever, Amen. And I have the keys of hades and of death." -- Revelation 1:17-18.
"If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered. And they gather and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done to you." -- John 15:6-7.
If we do not abide in the Word of God, then we will die. "You will not surely die" is a lie from the beginning. So instead of misrepresenting Jesus regarding what He said, let's see what He actually said:
"Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live [záō]:"
"And whosoever lives [záō] and believes in me shall never die. Believe you this?"
The list of ALL the New Testament verses using the Greek word záō (alive) is listed in the OP of this thread, which, though it's 100% true, you no doubt will continmue to ignore as long as it exposes your interpreation of the verses you are now talking about, as in error.
All New Testament verses using the Greek word záō (alive) are referring either to the living (záō) God, or in reference to being alive (záō) in human bodies:-
I've also listed them below:
Mankind was created to live on earth, in a body. We were not created to "go to heaven when we die and live forever in heaven". Below is a...
zaoislife.blogspot.com
And just for convenience sake, for the sake of all Christians who are able to hear biblical doctrine, I've also listed the context of each verse talking about quickening etc here:
"The Word was in the beginning with God. In Him was life [zōḗ], and the life [zōḗ] was the light of men." (John 1:2 & 4). "God has given...
zaoislife.blogspot.com
The subject of the resurrection mentioned in Rev.20:5 is in the text (those who had been martyred for their refusal to worship the beast). You have snatched a separate group out of another time, and inserted that group into the text (eisegesis), in order that you may change the meaning of the thousand years it's also talking about.
Your way of interpreting any text which might present a problem with any position you already hold, is a very unprofessional way of studying scripture, IMO.
