The second part of the general resurrection will be the resurrection of the dead as recorded in Revelation 20:11-15. Strictly speaking, this cannot be a resurrection since a resurrection can only be to life, and God does not use this word in these verses. The essence of life is a positive consciousness. These dead will be totally dead, and therefore, can possess only a negative consciousness. Positive consciousness can get no idea of what a negative consciousness can be except that it is totally evil. II Thessalonians 2:7. God will call out these totally dead from one of three different places where they have been consigned by the judgment of Christ immediately following their physical deaths. Hebrews 9:27. Christ will cast whole humans into one of these three places, but the living and good parts of them will have already been resurrected before this Great White Throne Judgment of the dead. God will judge these totally dead and cast them into the lake of fire forever. God will also destroy the places called death and hell by casting them into the lake of fire, also called the second death. The lake of fire cannot be a continuation of hell. This judgment records the very event when God will destroy death itself as He promised in I Corinthians 15:26. For this reason, the lake of fire is called the second death because it puts an end to the first death. Since God will destroy death, He will have no more use for hell, and so it too will be destroyed. God will also eliminate the place called the sea by a means not specified. Revelation 21:1. The lake of fire will be a place where only total evil will be consumed forever. Revelation 21:8. In the first part of the general resurrection, God must recover and recreate all life that He has ever created to last forever, or His promise to destroy death cannot be fulfilled. God's Word cannot fail. I Corinthians 15:22; Matthew 24;35.
Jesus Himself taught about this general resurrection of the living and the dead in John 5:28-29. When Jesus taught this, He already knew about the three resurrections of all His saints saved by grace. This means His phrase "...all that are in the graves shall hear His voice...," can only refer to a general resurrection of all living persons not saved by grace. All humans have done some good works, and God will restore this living part of all humans from being held down by a temporary death. God will recover their lives from the realms of the dead by dissolving each individual system by His use of His consuming fire in order to separate and recover the good and living elements of each individual from their totally evil and dead elements. I Corinthians 3:12-15. God can only reward a living person for his good works, and so He must raise to life all humans who have been sullied by sin and death. Revelation 22:11-12. According to such passages as Numbers 23:19; Ecclesiastes 3:14; Luke 20:38; Romans 8:18-23; Romans 11:36; I Corinthians 3:12-15; I Corinthians 15:22; Colossians 1:15-20; Revelation 21:1-5; Revelation 22:11-12, (as well as many other verses) God must recover and recreate absolutely everything He has ever created from its temporary subjection to sin and death. God has created absolutely every positive creation, visible and invisible. Colossians 1:16; Revelation 4:11. God must destroy all of the Devil's attempts to permanently ruin some of God's creations in the Devil's attempts to sully God's Word with sin and death and thus kill God. All of God's creations come from His Word. Genesis 1:3. God will prove to the Devil and His creations that His Love cannot fail. I Corinthians 13:8.
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