Is there some reason why you can't give a straightforward answer to a straightforward question? I find you to be hard to follow sometimes. and this is one of those times.
It goes over your head and you need to ask God. You really
should ask God. Because only the Holy Spirit can explain it to you.
But you think you know it all already, before you even ask God.
That's why you scoff at what you regard as "not a straightforward answer". It's not a straightforward answer to you because it goes over your head. I can't explain this any better. You need to ask God, so that you don't end up scoffing at His Word.
No doubt they scoffed at Noah. They scoffed at Moses in the wilderness. They scoffed at the prophets, they scoffed at Christ, and they scoffed at His apostles.
But they were not scoffing at them. They were scoffing at the Word of God and against God Himself.
- and they were all members of the elect of God, the seed of Abraham, the church in the wilderness, and the church that had been brought into the promised land.
And I'm not even a prophet (not nearly, and not at all).
But it's no wonder you scoff, because the church is the daughter of Eve, who is the mother of all living, and she believes the lie:
"You will not sure die".
I'm not writing this for you benefit. I'm writing this for the benefit of the saved remnant at the close of the thousand years. Some of them are alive now.
Most of the sons and daughters of Eve believe this:
"God has given me eternal life" [zoe] (period). Instead of this:
God has given me eternal life [zoe]
in Christ, who alone has eternal life [zoe]
in Himself. When Christ,
who is my life [zoe] shall appear, then I will also appear with Him in glory.
Life [zoe] (eternal life) is in the Word of God
alone. That knowledge
should be your light. Adam believed the lie. So he died. The sons and daughters of Eve will end up dying a second death for believing the same lie.
Paul told you that this was a mystery before Christ came:
"Christ IN you, the hope of (your future) glory (in your resurrected body). When Christ,
who is your life [zoe] shall appear, then you will also appear with Him in glory.
Christ IN YOU = eternal life in you - the eternal life you have been given
in Christ who alone has eternal life
in Himself.
You are not, and will not be
like Christ in the way Satan told Eve she would be
like God: He
alone possesses His own immortality because He alone has eternal life
in Himself. He became
like you in every way (except without sin) so that He could die for your sin and rise again from death to deliver you from the first death.
Scoff again now, because the reason you do not understand why the second death does not come
before the new heavens and new earth but a thousand years
into the new heavens and new earth is because you are a son of Eve, the mother of all living. Her daughter is the church, and she still believes the lie:
"You will NOT surely die" (once you have risen from Adam's death that came upon all, and regained Adam's immortality).
The Theology of many main-stream Christian churches: It is impossible for those who are in Christ, who have been given eternal life in Christ, to die a second death following the resurrection of the body, because following the resurrection of the body, all will be immortal, "and it is impossible for immortals to die".
The Word of God:
(1) "He (Christ) alone possesses (His own) 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); and
(2) "For as
the Father hath life [zoe] in himself; so hath he
given to the Son to have life [zoe] in himself" (John 5:26).
(3) "God has given to us eternal life [zōḗ], and this life [zōḗ] is
in His Son. He
that has the Son has (eternal) life; and he that
has not the Son of God has not (eternal) life [zōḗ]." (1 John 5:11-12).
Note: If you believe that eternal life [zoe] is
in you because you believe that eternal life "has been given to you" (period), and that belief
is your light, then the light that is in you is darkness.
But if the life that is
in the Word of God alone is your light (John 1:4) because you
believe that eternal life is in the Word of God
alone and therefore among human beings
in Christ alone, then
the true light (which is your eternal life) is
in you, and
you will not believe the theology of the daughter of Eve regarding immortality (the immortality that you will experience after you have risen from the dead).
You said:
When the dead in Christ are resurrected at Christ's return their bodies will be changed to put on immortality and will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air (1 Cor 15:50-54, 1 Thess 4:14-17), so you can't be talking about them.
The resurrected saints - new Jerusalem -
will be living on the new earth, will they not?
So how long do you guess they will be hanging around in the air for?
You can carry on scoffing now, if you like. It will show that scoffing at the deep things of God becomes you.
This is why you believe Amillennial theology. So place your laugh down below now.