Matthew wrote, concerning the time when Jesus was raised up, saying, "Many of them that slept in the earth, (which was the graves) came forth." We stated, concerning those saints that arose when Jesus came forth, that they had to come forth in immortal bodies, to die no more. What good would it have done for a saint that had been dead 500 years to come forth in a mortal state with Jesus, and then just have to die again? That makes no sense whatsoever. We have to believe they were raised in an immortal state. They made their various appearances in the city of Jerusalem, to whoever God had chosen. This would be a vindication that, not only had Christ risen from the dead, but in the regions of hell where He had gone when He died, just as the scripture says, He had accomplished something. He had conquered death, hell, and the grave, by rising from the grave; and when He did, He took something with Him. When He ascended on high, according to Ephesians 4, He took those saints that had risen in an immortal state, with Him. For the sake of questions that may come to the mind of some, (because there are always some people that get so technical and say, Well Bro. Jackson, suppose there were some that did not rise from the dead when Jesus arose, what about them?) He took their spirits with Him to heaven. When He conquered hell and led captivity captive, that did away with paradise in the heart of the earth. That portion of hell was abolished forever. Religionists today, are so educated; and they learn all about the theology of the Bible; but when they are finished, all they have is theology. They still know nothing about the word of God from the standpoint of revelation; and they are unable to give you a picture of anything. What they have is merely an assumption. When the apostle Paul wrote the 1st Corinthian letter in 59 A.D., thirty some years after the birth of the Church, and the descent of the Holy Ghost; and also thirty some years past the advent of Christ and His ascension, God had dealt with him in a way that had given him an insight and revelation concerning His plan of redemption and restoration. He had a picture within him which God had gave him to relate to the Gentile Church; so let us go right back to the 15th chapter and look at a few more verses. We read the verses where he was speaking to the Gentile, Corinthian Church, upbraiding them, explaining to them what a resurrection would constitute, and why they must believe that Christ had risen from the dead, because if He had not, then they were still in their sins and without hope; for they were still lost sinners. In other words, If Christ had not risen from the dead, they could just go ahead and live like the rest of the Gentiles, in a hopeless future, having no hope beyond the grave. As I again read these verses, remember what Matthew 27:51-52, says about the resurrection of Jesus; to go along with it, because it is back to that point in time, the resurrection of Christ, where Paul picks up his picture. "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept." This is a plural word. That means there is a plurality of something in this picture. If it was only Christ that rose from the dead, you could not put it in the plural, because He was only one person. He would have just stated firstfruit and left it like that. However when he said the firstfruits, we have to realize, as we brought out already, the sheaf offering which the priest offers, (according to Leviticus, chapter 25, where we get the type) in that bundle of firstfruit, there are many stalks, many heads of grain. Therefore they are the firstfruits of the harvest. In other words, the farmer did not go out and cut down one little stalk. He could have done that to constitute the firstfruit; but the sheaf was the firstfruits. Therefore as Christ was raised, there were others raised with Him. We are not saying all from Abel's death until then raised in an immortal state; but the thing is, He was not the only one that came forth in an immortal body. There were others also. We do not necessarily need to know if all of the dead saints arose in immortality at that time. It would not alter the fact that we have the responsibility of believing what the Bible does say about these things; and the fact that we need to be very cautious about trying to go beyond what the Bible says. There are some common sense rules for looking at what is written, whereby we can determine certain things by the principle that God does things by; but that only goes so far; and we have to leave the rest alone. In other words, theories are not worth two cents to our spiritual makeup. Theories will never add one inch to your statural growth. Keep in mind, before the advent of Christ, the righteous did not die and go to heaven. They went to a place called paradise, which was a part of hell. The word hell, meant in prison. However within that realm of hell there was a place called Hades, a place of torment, as well as paradise where Lazarus was resting in Abraham's bosom. Hades, is where the rich man was while Lazarus was comforted in paradise. They were all (the dead of all ages) in hell. Well I do not understand, Bro. Jackson. I have to say, that is where people have been missing the mark, just going to church, but not really seeing a picture. Like a lot of kids go to school, they come home and cannot add two and two together and get an answer of four. I am going to speak some things pretty clear, not to hurt anyone's spiritual feelings, but to get the point home to you. We are too late in the day to fuss, well I just do not see it like that. We need to start counting our blessings, if we be in Christ; rather than bickering about our theories. When we can lay our personal theories and material things of this life aside, and begin to be concerned about the interior decorating of our soul, we will begin to understand some things in a much clearer light. We have scripture for the fact that Jesus conquered death, hell, and the grave, and moved paradise from the heart of the earth to heaven, leaving no saints in captivity in the heart of the earth; so let us leave that and go on to something else that we can say, "Thus saith the word of God," to.

We have already established the fact that Christ was the firstfruits from among the dead; and that takes you back to Matthew 27, where Jesus and other saints were raised. Now I want you to notice what the apostle Paul brings out next. (1Cor.15:21) "For since by man came death, (That takes you back to Adam.) by man came also the resurrection of the dead." Adam sinned, and that brought an imputed death penalty to every one of us. Because of his disobedience we all inherited death. We are all destined to die, unless we are redeemed from that death penalty. Like we said earlier, Before Calvary, all who died went to hell; but they did not all go to the Hades part of hell. Some went to Paradise, which was the other part of Hell. I like the last part of verse 21, because that is where our hope lies. "By man came also the resurrection of the dead." Well, if by man comes the resurrection of the dead, we have to look to one who did something that gives Him the power over death. Through Adam's disobedience, death fell on all of us; but through the obedience and death of Christ, all are going to be made alive somewhere in a proper place and time; but not all going to be made alive in righteousness. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." (Verse 23 is an important verse; because it begins to make us aware of an order to this event all Christians talk about.) "But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming." This word order simply means that for every individual that has ever been born on this planet, there will be some place and time where and when that person fits into a phase of what the Bible refers to as "The resurrection of the dead." It all depends on how he or she has lived his or her life here on this earth. We are going to find out through this study, that the first resurrection has three orders, or parts, to it. You may say, I didn't know that Bro. Jackson. None of us knew anything much about it, until we began to reach the end of time. It was then, that these things began to be revealed to the true saints of God. There was no need for any prior generation to know anything about the order of the resurrection. Scripturally speaking, the first resurrection is for the saints of God; and the second resurrection is for everything else; but as we examine the scriptures, we find that there are three different times that saints are raised from the dead to immortality; so we have to realize from that information, that there are three phases to the first resurrection. We realize, if there were some that came forth at the time of the resurrection of Christ, to constitute the firstfruits, that was the beginning of God setting His first resurrection in motion. That wasorder number one; and we are standing right at the threshold oforder number two; because that is what the rapture of the bride Church will incorporate: another phase of the first resurrection. All of the overcomers from the time of Christ's resurrection until that time when the Church is raptured, that have gone by the way of the grave, will be raised to immortality to go with Him. Hallelujah! What a day that will be! I believe we all understand already, that the Bible does not use the word rapture. Raptured, is a theological word used to speak of the translation of the saints. That is what the apostle Paul spoke of in his Epistle to the Thessalonians. When that happens, that will be the second order of the first resurrection. Whoever is involved in that, will make up what is generally referred to as the Gentile Bride of Christ; because this dispensation of time scripturally, has been for the Gentiles to have an opportunity to partake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We will just go ahead and read 1st Thessalonians 4:13-18, and get Paul's comforting words to those of that assembly in the message at this point.(13) "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. (14) For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. (15) For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. (16) For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: andthe dead in Christ shall rise first: (17) 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. (18) Wherefore comfort one another with these words."Yes saints, it is comforting to know, that when death strikes the physical body of flesh we are presently in, that is not the end of life for us. We merely enter into another realm of God's provision for those who love Him. Then when Jesus comes back to earth with those saints He has taken to heaven to be with Him during that little short period of time known as the tribulation period, He will execute the wrath of God upon wicked mankind that is still alive at that time. We have just covered all of that in another message; so I will not go into it at this time, except to say, Jesus will be back on earth to stay. His intercessory work will be over forever. He will be in His final office of the three He was ordained to fulfill. He will then be the KING of kings, and LORD of lords. He then takes His throne, to start a judgment of the existing mortal realm of mankind that is left alive, and that is when His immortal saints, His Bride, takes her throne positions as you read in Revelation 20:1-4. It is the latter part of verse 4, and verse 5, that fill in the remaining link of the three phases of the first resurrection. In the last part of verse 4, we see a mention of the souls of them that had been beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God, and had not worshipped the beast and received his mark, nor his number in their foreheads or in the palms of their hands, and we realize there has never before been a time in history that this description could fit, except the time that is just ahead right now. I am speaking of course, of the great tribulation that will glean the rest of God's saints from among wicked mankind, as they go down in martyrdom. We will read three verses here, so you can see thethird orderof the first resurrection established. Revelation 20:4 "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them:(This much of verse 4 pertains to the saints that will be raptured and then return with Jesus to rule and reign upon earth.)and I saw the souls of them that werebeheadedfor the witness of Jesus,(That will be the Gentile foolish virgins which are martyred during that time of great tribulation because of their faith in God, and because they will refuse the mark of the beast.)and for the word of God, (That will be Jews, that will accept martyrdom for the sake of the word of God; because they do not have the witness of Jesus.)and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands;(It is only during that time of great tribulation, that people will be faced with accepting or rejecting the mark of the beast; and those who refuse to accept it, will do so for spiritual reasons because of their faith in God, after hearing the everlasting gospel preached by the 144,000 servants of God, warning them not receive that mark.)and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.(5)But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.(6)Blessed and holy is he that hath part in thefirst resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years." Those verses show us the last group that will be a part of the first resurrection; and they are known as tribulation saints because they will have to go into that time of tribulation and accept martyrdom to seal their faith in God. Why? You may say. Simply because Jesus is only going to take those in the rapture, that are dressed in a revelation of the word of God and living clean. All the rest who may believe in God, yet have played around with one idea or the other and failed to put on a wedding garment, will be left here when Jesus takes those to the wedding supper who have prepared themselves. These tribulation saints are those that will make up the great multitude John saw, and recorded in Rev.7:9-17; and verse 4, of chapter 20, is what proves that to those who believe the Bible. Let us read it again."And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that werebeheadedfor thewitness of Jesus, and forthe word of God, and which hadnot worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands;and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years."That very description, is what reveals the time of their martyrdom. They could not possibly be martyred saints from the Dark Ages, for there has never been another time in history that people have been required to receive the mark of the beast in order to be able to buy and sell, except in that seventieth week of Daniel which is just ahead. It is the devil's bloodbath, followed by God's wrath. Then those martyred saints are resurrected right there and then, to live and reign with Christ a thousand years, which will be for the full duration of the Millennium. They are not a part of the Bride. They are raised in immortality from the dead, to exist in an immortal state, much like the Old Testament patriarchs which are referred to as saints, from back through the other ages of time. The main point is, that what happened in Matthew 27:51-52 when Christ rose from the dead, is what set the first resurrection in motion. God was starting His redeeming plan on the earth. As He took the spirits of all the righteous out of hell, that did away with this. (Bro. Jackson is pointing to the paradise part of the heart of the earth, illustrated on the little chart.) It took out of the crust of the earth many bodies; and moved paradise from hell to heaven, so to speak; so the earth no longer holds the spirits of the righteous that have died. When He resurrects the Church, the Church is thesecond order of the first resurrection, and the Church is the Bride, the foremost, the predominant object of attention. In fact, the Bride saints stand out in eternity far greater than the Old Testament saints. There is no greater calling in Christ, of God, than to be in the Bride of Christ. That is why they are portrayed in the 19th chapter of the book of Revelation as being clothed infine linen. All the other saints you read about in Revelation are clothed in white robes. God's language is not just carelessly thrown together; every term has some significance. When He let His prophet John write those things like that, He knew what to reflect through the terminology used. Those that are clothed in fine linen are only the bride people. That is the attire of a bride. Those that are clothed in white robes, are wearing the adornment as of guests, as those living in the royal King's domain. I hope you understand my illustration. To be in the bride of Christ is the highest calling of all; but there will be multitudes, when you consider all the others which are referred to as saints, that will be given eternal life, but will exist in a lower realm of glory than that of the bride.

Some people have such a hard time understanding, or maybe I should say reconciling the state of physical death with the termeternal life; and a lot of the trouble is because they fail to realize that the eternal life is given only to our inner being. The flesh of every living soul is still mortal (death doomed) unless Jesus comes and changes our body of flesh into immortality, before we keep our appointment with the grave. In other words, physical death in no way affects eternal life. The breath of natural life may go out of us; but if we have experienced that new birth Jesus spoke to Nicodemus about, the Spirit of God does not depart from our spirit when we go down in physical death. We are escorted into that heavenly paradise, to wait for the time when That same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, will call our physical remains back from the elements and give immortality to it. That is resurrection; and every soul that has ever gone by way of the grave will experience it at their appointed time. Some will be resurrected to endless life; and others will be resurrected only to stand before the great white throne judgment; and then die the second death, the death of the damned. That is the reason Revelation 20:6, says, "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection:(which is in three phases)on such the second death hath no power.I want to refer back to that verse in 1st Corinthians 15:23 "But every man inhis own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at His coming."Every man (or woman) in his (or her) own order, is what I want to call attention to again; for if you miss this, you may see the resurrection just like the Methodists, the Nazarenes, the Pilgrim Holiness and so many others. They all get side tracked because they miss the key to understanding what the Bible actually teaches. They see all the saints going to heaven with Jesus, when the rapture takes place; simply because they do not look at all of what is written concerning the resurrection. You can hear them say, God is going to burn the earth up. We are going to live in eternity, there with Jesus. That is what the Bible says; they will tell you. Well if you just take a few verses and put it together that way, that is the way it looks; but that is not the way the Bible is to be read by those who want to know the truth. A lot of people are afraid to read the book of revelation; but saints: If you do not read it, you will miss a lot of what the bride Church is supposed to know before she goes in the rapture. That is why the book of Revelation was put in there, it is God's love letter to the bride Church. When you read the book of Revelation, you see Jesus sitting on a white horse, but who else do you see sitting on white horses? His wife. How many want to be His wife? You cannot be His wife, and not want to come back here and rule with Him. You are not going to change the picture, so throw your theology in the ditch and let the Spirit of God reveal some things to you. You are going to live according to what it says here; if you have any hope of going with Jesus in the rapture. The bride of Christ will not be ignorant concerning the plan and purpose of God for these last days. I will never forget a Sunday School superintendent we had, in the Methodist Church years ago. You have heard me tell what he said to me one time, after I began to see some things in the Bible. He said, Bro. Jackson: We like your testimony, and we like the way you preach; but we believe we should not preach those things the church does not believe in. I thought, Just what are we supposed to believe in then, if we are not allowed to move on with God? Shame on any person who would look at the book of Revelation as something to be afraid of. We are not here to play church; we are doing our best to find out what God expects out of the Church in these last days. We are a part of the Church; and we have a God-given responsibility to keep ourselves open to the leading of the Holy Spirit, that God may do through the Church those things Jesus did personally, when He walked on earth in human flesh. That is what we are here for. I do not care what people say about me, just as long as I know I am doing what He (God) wants me to do. None of us enjoy having people say unfavorable things about us; but if we are going to follow the leading of the Lord, we have to expect that some will; because natural minded mankind will never understand the things of God. The Bible says the things of the Spirit of God are foolishness to the natural man. What natural mind can understand what Jesus did for us at Calvary? As I was reading in 1st Peter earlier, a certain thing stood out so very clear to me; so I just want to go back there for a few minutes to show you something. That is why we drew up this little chart. I think if I can go over this and touch again on what I said earlier, this will help to clarify the whole picture. In 1st Peter, 3rd chapter, Peter is reminding the believer how Christ suffered for our justification. Let us go to verse 18. "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, (one time)the just for the unjust,(Christ the just One suffered one time for all of the unjust ones that would ever believe the gospel.)that He might bring us(the unjust ones)to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened(made alive)by the Spirit." We know eternal life is what the very life of Jesus consisted of. He was not brought into existence with any sin or perverted nature about Him. He was sinless, perfect in every way; and the anointing, (which is the Holy Ghost, or the Spirit of God that was in Him in the fullness) was in Him to lead and direct Him in carrying out the plan of God that constitutes redemption for all lost mankind. In other words, The price He paid, was sufficient for the redemption of all that will ever believe and obey the gospel. That is why when He died on the cross, He died like the man He was; but when He rose from the dead, He rose from the dead like theGod that was in Him, never to die any more. Right there, is the thing we need to realize: that no matter what may happen to a believer to take his life, the Spirit of God that is in him or her never dies. He (Jesus) was quickened (made alive in a body of flesh again) by that Spirit which is called the Holy Spirit, which in reality is the same Spirit that created the world and all that is in it, the very Spirit that anointed Him at the Jordan River. In other words, God is a sovereign Spirit. He is not a person. We need to see Him as the Spirit He is; and realize that this same Spirit manifests Himself in three office works. It is not God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. That would make Him three. He is not three, He is ONE. The sovereign Spirit that created everything, became Father when He begat something that could call Him Father. Then, in process of time He created a cell of human life in a young virgin girl; and when that child was born into the world he was the onlybegottenSon of God. That child was as human as any of us; but his Father was SPIRIT, not human; and certainly not a person. God has never been a person, and never will be a person; but when His ONLY BEGOTTEN SON became 30 years of age and was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan river, this sovereign SPIRIT which was His Father entered into Him in the fullness of all of His attributes. From that time forth, that Son called Jesus was a God man, because the very SPIRIT which is GOD was in Him; but you still do not refer to Him as GOD the SON. Rather, it is GODinHIS SON. That shows GOD, this sovereign SPIRIT that created all things, in His second office work, that of the Son of God; but there is still justONE PERSONin the picture.The onlypersonin the Godhead is JESUS the SON.Now someone is sure to say, What about God the Holy Spirit? Well there again you do not properly use that terminology in referring to the Holy Spirit. A true revelation of the Godhead would cause one to refer to the HOLY SPIRIT (or Holy Ghost) as God (the same Spirit that created all things) in His third office work. Therefore it isGOD AS FATHER,GOD IN HIS SON, andGOD AS THE HOLY SPIRIT; but regardless of the office work,God is ONE, He is SPIRIT; and He is not a person. I hope this little explanation will help someone to understand the difference between the various references found in the Bible. When the apostle Paul said, (Eph 1:3) "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, it was the same as saying, Blessed be God, whichisthe Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,whichalso has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Does that not make his statement easier to understand? If you can see God in these three office works, it will keep you from trying to figure out how He could beONE GOD, and at the same time bethree persons. No one has ever yet been able to explain that three person God your Trinitarian people claim to believe in. Why? Simply because such a God does not exist. This sovereign Spirit which is God, has manifested Himself in various forms in Old Testament times for various reasons, but none of those forms were to be looked upon as the eternal God. None of those old Patriarchs ever went looking for God in the same form He may have appeared to them in; because they knew the God they served was SPIRIT, and not a man. Therefore when we say, The spirit of God never dies, that is the absolute truth. If the man called Jesus the Christ had been God, He could not have died on that old cross to pay our sin debt; because GOD cannot die. HE is eternal. GOD was in the man who died for us, to pay our sin debt; but GOD did not die. It was the Human, the man called Jesus, that died, not the GOD (SPIRIT) that was in Him. If you have the Holy Ghost, you can get sick with a raging fever, and in your physical state you can be in a terrible state of suffering; but the Holy Ghost, which is the Spirit of God, (that measure of the SPIRIT OF GOD given to you) does not get sick. Neither does He get tired, being in you while you are sick. He will be right there when you get well. He is not in you seeking shelter in your flesh. He, being Spirit, is blended in with your spirit, so that you and He become one. That is how you have to look at it. That only happens when one is truly born again by the Spirit of God. Therefore that will help you understand why one who is born again can never be lost again; because once the two spirits become one, being blended together, they cannot be separated again. Are you wondering what happens when a true Christian dies? Try to think of it like this, If He (the Spirit of God) is blended with your spirit, and you reach the hour of death, then in that state of sickness and suffering, after a while He (God) is going to let your spirit depart from your body; but God does not die. Let me read a few verses of scripture, and then I will show you something. In the 3rd chapter of John, we find Jesus saying, (14) "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: (15)That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but haveeternal life." Remember now, it is ETERNAL LIFE we are going to talk about. How can one have eternal life and still die? has always been a question in the mind's of some. Notice a couple more verses. John 6:54, says, "Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hatheternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day." That was Jesus talking, so notice, John 10:27-28, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto themeternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.(John 11:26)And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?" Well saints, here is what You need to see. Eternal life does not die; because the Spirit whichis God,is that eternal life we receive. Therefore as your life separates from your body, the Holy Ghost goes right with your spirit. It is only your body of flesh that dies. It is dead because the spirit of life has left it; but the spirit does not die. Do you understand that? That is why Jesus, even though he died physically, could go down into hell and preach to all the dead that were held in captivity by the devil. His spirit did not die; and neither did the Spirit of the Father leave His spirit. Therefore by the power of that sovereign Spirit that was merged with His spirit, He went down into hell and preached, while His body remained in that tomb where they had placed it. That is what Peter was explaining when he said, "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison; (He went down into hell, both in the part called paradise as well as the place of torment. Peter then explained what he was referring to.) Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water." I said earlier, that righteous Abel was the first man whose life was taken, in the beginning story of mankind. Cain slew him. He did not die a natural death. In other words, Abel was a very young man. He was the first one that went to hell; but he was in the paradise part of hell. He was certainly not in the torment part of it; he was in paradise along with a lot of others that had walked with God.