Two Resurrections, Two Judgments,
Two “Deaths” (for some people)
Where will you be in all this?
By Joyce Webb 2025
In Hebrews 9:27—”It is appointed unto men—once to die—but after this—the judgment.”
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Some religions teach “reincarnation”. A person dies, but he can come back “alive” again in another body.
He may have been a rich important person in life—but he was not a good person—and so when he died and came alive again—being “reincarnated”—he came back as a poor servant.
Or maybe, the other way around—he was a servant, and then came back as a rich person.
Or maybe—he would come back as an animal.
This “reincarnation” —goes on and on, the person keeps dying and coming back is some kind of “body”—human or otherwise.
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The Bible says that this is not true. A person dies one time.
After that death—he stands before God to be judged as to what he believed about Jesus.
If the person believed in Jesus and believed that Jesus died on the cross for his sins. And he asked Jesus to forgive him of his sins.
Then that person stands before God—clean of all sin—and is allowed to stay in heaven and live forever with God.
If that person did not believe in Jesus. If he ignored Him. If they never asked forgiveness of the sins. Then they stand before God with all their sin.
They will not be allowed to stay in heaven. They will be sent to hades—a waiting place away from God—to wait for the final punishment—when they will be sent to hell.
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The judgment of those forgiven—is not about their sin.
They have already asked forgiveness for their sin. They stand “clean” before God.
Their “judgment” has to do with how they lived the Christian life and what they did to tell others about Jesus and his teachings.
Rewards—prizes, gifts, honors—-will be given.
For those who have done much for God—their honor will be greater. They will be given a place in God’s kingdom of honor and responsibility to help “rule” –”run”–the 1,000 year kingdom that God will set up on earth.
For those people who did little or nothing to help others know Jesus or to do “good works”—-their place in the new kingdom will be a lower place—like maybe be a “clerk” and not a leader in charge.
The “judgment” of the “forgiven”—will be about what “rewards” they will receive —-because of how they lived the Christian life.
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The “judgment” of those not forgiven—will be about their unforgiven sin.
Those are the 2 “judgments”.
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The 2 “resurrections “—-
Resurrection—when a dead body comes to life again.
The first “resurrection” happens to those who are “believers, the forgiven ones”.
The Bible tells of a “rapture”. Meaning a “catching up of” people into the heavens.
Paul speaks of it—I Corinthians 15:52-55—”In a moment, in a twinkling of an eye—-at the last trump—for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised—incorruptible—and we shall be changed.
For this corruptible must put on incorruption—-and this mortal must put on immortality.”
Corruptible means that something goes bad, rots, —-like when you bury something in the ground—and a long time later you dig it up—and it has completely turned into dirt.
Mortal and immortal–means—mortal—life is for a certain time and it ends—-immortal means—life goes on and on—no end.
Paul is saying—that when God decides it is time—He will blow a trumpet. This will be a signal. The believers, forgiven ones—will hear this trumpet sound —and they will be caught up into the heavens.
They will leave the earth and float up right into heaven—this will happen very quickly —like in a blink of an eye.
In Thessalonians–Paul explains more—I Thessalonians 4:15-17—
“…….we which are alive—and remain (on the earth)—unto the coming of the Lord—-shall not prevent (stop) them which are asleep (dead).
For the Lord himself shall descend (come down) from heaven with a shout,—with the voice of the archangel—with the trump of God:
And the dead in Christ shall rise first.
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together—with them—in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
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Those “believers” who have died and are buried—-when the trump sounds—-they will rise up first toward the clouds. Then the believers who are alive and living—will be caught up to join them in the clouds.
And we will all be together—forever—with Jesus.
This is the “first resurrection” of the dead—-the believers.
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The “second resurrection” is at the end of the 1,000 years of Christ’s ruling as king over the earth.
At that time all people who are not believers —will be called before God to stand in judgment.
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Romans 14: 11 “For it is written, As I live, saith (says) the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God,
So then, everyone of us shall give account of himself to God.
(For believers – forgiven ones—this will not be a problem. They have already “bowed” before God and confessed to Him.
For those who have not confessed to God or believed in Him—they will bow and they will confess to Him.
That means each an every person who has ever lived—-will bow before God.)
Revelation 20
Vs. 11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it—–
Vs. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God;
And the books were opened and another book was opened;
Which is the book of life;
and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
And the sea gave up its dead which were in it;
and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them;
and they were judged every man according to their works.
And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire;
this is the second death.
And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
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This is called the “second death”.
When Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden—God told them that if they ate from that one tree—they would die.
Their body did not die immediately—though it began to grow old.
Their “soul”–”spirit” died.
Eternal life that God had planned for them —stopped—it died—when they sinned—disobeyed.
That is true for every person who has sinned. The Bible says we all have sinned.
When we sinned—our soul–spirit—died—eternal life stopped.
Because of God’s great love of people—He made a way for the soul-spirit to be made “alive” again.
That way —was for Jesus to be willing to pay people’s “death punishment” for them.
Jesus did that by dying on the cross.
Jesus never sinned. He was pure and innocent. But he died instead of us.
We have to come to Jesus and say that we believe in Him. Confess that we have sinned. Ask for forgiveness.
If we do that, God has said he will forgive us. Then our soul-spirit is “healed” and made alive again, and can live forever.
For those people who do not ask for forgiveness—their sin remains with them—their soul-spirit is still “dead”.
So they can not stay in heaven. They will be cast into the lake of fire.
The lake of fire—was made for Satan.
But people who have not come to Jesus for forgiveness —they still have sin—and will end up in Satan’s lake of fire.
They died “once” when they sinned and the soul-spirit died,
their body died,
and in the end they will not have eternal life—they will have eternal “death”. This is the “second death”.
This seems somewhat “opposite” of death. We think of dead as knowing nothing.
But the Bible tells of a rich man in hell— asking for a bit of water. The man remembers everything and is in great pain.
Luke 16:19-31
People will be in the lake of fire —knowing, thinking, feeling, remembering—-forever– and in terrible pain . There will be no end forever and ever and ever.
Many people think —-everything stops—no thoughts—nothing. All be silent—gone—nothing.
But according to the story Jesus told about the rich man in Luke—-thoughts, memory, etc. goes on and on.
It is hard to imagine being in a lake of fire forever—- with no stopping—-memories—–pain—- for millions and millions of years –no end.
This is the second death.
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We choose —if we want to live eternally in heaven with Jesus.
We have to make that decision—choice—before our bodies die.
Once our bodies die—our soul-spirit—goes —either to be with Jesus—— or to hades—a waiting place for hell—some say we go directly to hell. The rich man appeared to be in hell.
Once your body dies—judgment will happen.
When you are standing before God in judgment—it is too late to decide you want God to forgive you.
Some people think that — if their “good works” are more than the bad things they have done— God will see that and all will be okay.
The Bible does not teach that.
Our “good works” has nothing to do with forgiveness of our sins.
If we could be “good” enough—Jesus would not have had to pay our death punishment for us.
Our sin—means there is a “death punishment” that has to be paid.
If we accept Jesus’ payment of it—-we do not have to pay it ourselves.
If we do not come to Jesus and accept his payment of our death punishment—-then we have to pay it ourselves—-meaning “death” in hell.
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You need to think about these things. You must make a choice before your body dies.