resurrections, millenarians always quote with emphasis, “The dead in Christ shall rise first.” 1 Thes. 4:16.  In doing so they, either ignorantly or wilfully, wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction; for any one can see at a glance that no such thing as two resurrections is even hinted at.  Verses 15-17 simply teach this, that the righteous who are living on the earth at the time Christ appears will not ascend to heaven before the righteous dead are resurrected, but the dead will rise first, then they will all be caught up together at one and the same time.  The wicked are not mentioned in this connection; for, as stated, Paul was writing this only for the comfort and the edification of the church.  In the following chapter, however, their “sudden destruction” at the second coming of Christ is mentioned as a warning to the church.

It is evident that the first resurrection as applied in this connection specified particularly that phase of the church which, as symbolized by the man-child, was caught up to God through martyrdom and there “lived and reigned with Christ.”  The other phase of the church, symbolized by the woman, is not said to reign with Christ a thousand years, but, on the other hand, is represented as driven into the wilderness, her public reign on earth being ended by the holy city being trodden under foot of a profane multitude of apostate beast-worshipers; and the two witnesses, clothed in sackcloth, were prophesying only in a few isolated, individual hearts.

A careful study of this scripture, taken in connection with others in the Revelation applying to the same object, will show that all God’s people, both those here brought to view during the thousand years and those following that period, are spoken of as dead people resurrected and reigning.  They are considered under two phases—­those who, as symbolized by the man-child, were caught up to God through martyrdom and there lived and reigned with Christ; and those who, as symbolized by the woman, were deprived of their public reign on earth and were driven into the wilderness during the same period.  The first phase were “priests of God and of Christ” and reigned with him in Paradise (chap. 6:9-11); but “the rest,” the phase symbolized by the woman, did not live and enjoy their public reign again, as in the early days of Christianity, until the expiration of the thousand-year period.  It is true that individuals on earth received life from God and were thus spiritually resurrected during the thousand-year period; but the dominant beast-power martyred them by thousands, the two witnesses were then in their sack-cloth state, and thus the public triumphal reign of the saints on earth ceased.  The statement of verse five that “the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished” should be applied not in an individual, but in a general sense, the same as the reign above during the same period is considered.  There is also some doubt as to the authenticity of this sentence.