It was taught to me that, upon death, people are immediately judged by Jesus. Is that teaching correct?
No. <
smile>
No... The first resurrection as NOTHING to do with physical resurrection.
Well, it does in the sense that the second ~ physical ~ resurrection, because of the occurrence of the first resurrection ~ and spiritual and physical (with Jesus in the New Heaven and New Earth)... exemption from the second death ~ is ensured and certain. <smile>
The first resurrection consists of all the elect, as they are all BORN AGAIN their spiritual dead inherited from Adam and Eve, having been raised up with Christ... any and ALL believers have a part in His First Resurrection.
Well, His resurrection. He is the firstborn, but in the sense not that He was actually physically born first, but that He is preeminent over all of creation, as Paul says in Colossians 1. Just as David was made the firstborn ~ and thus king ~ over Israel (Psalm 89:27).
First Death = Spiritual Death that applies to all men that no longer reconciled with God.
Not "no longer" in the sense that they were and now are not... We are all spiritually dead even from physical birth; this is the initial condition we are all in... because of Adam's sin in Genesis 3... until we who are in Christ are born again of the Spirit.
First Resurrection = Born again in Christ, made alive from spiritual death, applies to all men who are regenerated.
Indeed.
Second Resurrection = Resurrection for the spiritual dead to stand for judgment. All of them whether they have physically dead or alive by the time of Christ's return.
The second resurrection is general and all experience it, but what people are resurrected
to differs... either to eternal life (these are the ones who Jesus puts on His right... Matthew 25:31-40) or to judgment (these are the ones who Jesus puts on His left (Matthew 25:41-46).
Second Death = All those people who have not born again and their name not found in the Book of life will be thrown into the Lake of Fire.
Indeed. They will depart, will not enter into the New Heaven and New Earth but go to a place away from the One Who is life, Jesus, and will be immersed for eternity in the judgment of God... <shudder>
Yes you do have to be born again of the Holy Spirit to partake in the first resurrection.
Actually, being born again of the spirit... and "raised us up with Him and seated ...with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" is the first resurrection. And all of us who have experienced it are "blessed and holy..." (to have shared and are sharing) "...in..." (this) "...first resurrection...", as Revelation 20:6 says.
But Rev. 20 is talking about the physical resurrection of the dead in Christ.
There are two resurrections in view in Revelation 20, the first spiritual, in Revelation 20:4-6, and the second physical, after the close of the millennium and Jesus's final defeat of Satan, having just taken place when we get to Revelation 20:11-12.
When Paul says
the dead in Christ rise first, he is talking about
the physical body being
dead because the
Spirit is Life if you are
in Christ.
Romans 8:10
And if Christ be in you,
the body is dead because of sin; but
the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
What Paul is talking about here is that, for believers, there is not a physical death that has taken place, but that we have died unto ourselves and now live to God, in the same sense as he writes in the following two places:
- "For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God" (Romans 6:10).
- "For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God" (Galatians 2:19).
When someone receives the Holy Spirit it is not a done deal just yet...
Ohhhhh... yes it is... As Peter writes:
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Peter 1:3-5).
And Paul writes:
- "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus... we are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us... neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8).
- "...the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable" (Romans 11:29)
- "...He Who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ" (will, not might; Philippians 1:6)
...many were prophesied to fall away from the faith and extinguish the Holy Spirit.
Ah, but John says of those who do fall away,
"They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us" (1 John 2:19). So, those who fall away, while they may have participated with those in Christ and enjoyed fellowship for a time, were never actually in Christ.
This group is what I call (and scripture) the twice dead. Being they are now spiritually dead again.
Regarding this 'twice,' SOTM, we should understand that in the sense of
finality, not an actual second ~ in the sense of multiple occurrences ~ death, either physical or spiritual. To they are "twice dead" in the sense that they have made it outwardly evident, even to other people whom they have come in contact with and taught falsely.
So if the Holy Spirit departs then they are no longer among those who the “blessed and holy” who are of the first resurrection.
Well, again, they never truly had the Spirit; and they never experienced the first resurrection and thus are not sharing in it. And that has become apparent even to us, as John is saying in 1 John 2:19 (cited above).
All will be raised and judged, but not at the same time. The first judgment and resurrection of the dead begins at the house of God.
There is a sense in which we can agree on these things, but a different sense in which we will continue to disagree.
Agreement
Yes, the dead in Christ will be raised first, and then the rest of the dead, who are not in Christ. So in the sense that it is sequential, yes, not at the same time. The same is true of the final Judgment; we see in Matthew 25:31-40 that those on Jesus's right are judged first, and then those on Jesus's left (Matthew 25:42-46) and then depart.
Disagreement
This all takes place in very short order after Jesus's return and final defeat of Satan, and is portrayed (with symbolism, of course) in Revelation 20:11-15. So in that sense, it is one event, a once-and-for-all judgment. Think of it in the sense of a football game. The first and second halves are sequential, of course, and as such, there is a
sense ~ or can be anyway ~ in which the first and second halves are two different games, right? But really, it is still one football game, where, in the end, there is a winner and a loser of said game. :) Such is the case with the final Judgment. Yes, as Jesus says:
"an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment" (John 5:28-29; English Standard Version).
Yes, it will be sequential, as Jesus here indicates and is shown in many places in Scripture, but together
one event, as is also very clear; in this passage, what I have bolded above describes the one event, and the rest describes the two differing outcomes, the first for those who have done good and the second for those who have done evil.
Grace and peace to all.