By Dudley Ross Spears
Paul preached a resurrection of both the wicked and righteous. He said, “having hope in God, which these men cherish themselves, that there shall certainly be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked” (Acts 24:15). The millennialists have a puzzle here to solve. They want to take Revelation literal. Revelation 20:5 reads, “The rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years should be finished. This is the first resurrection.”
Here is the puzzle. Jesus spoke of the resurrection like this: “Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgement.” The puzzle is how to get a thousand years between the resurrection of the righteous and the wicked, when Jesus said “the hour cometh.” The premillennialists want to take the Bible literally. So, there is to be an hour, a period of sixty minutes, in which all, both good and bad, come forth -that is, if we take this literally. They want to take the 1,000 years literally, but not the “hour.” Why not? Can they solve the puzzle? We will see.
Guardian of Truth XXVII: 8, p. 234
April 21, 1983