Bible Reading: Zechariah 10-12; Revelation 20.
Memory Verse: “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first 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.” Revelation 20:6 (KJV)
The Bible says that all those who lived a life of holiness ( that is those who were matyred for Christ (Revelation 20:4) and all those who pleased God till death and so died in Christ ( 1 Thessalonians 4:16) shall all resurrect at the second coming of Christ and will live for a thousand years with Christ without any torment from the devil because it would have been cast into a bottomless pit. This is the first resurrection. The Bible says in Revelation 20:6 (KJV), “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first 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.”
But those who do not have Christ in their lives or those who backslided after accepting Jesus will not be part of the first resurrection. They will be part of the second resurrection and will end up in the lake of fire! It is imperative to note that the Bible says Jesus is coming for a holy church. Ephesians 5:27 (KJV) says of Christ, “That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” The testimony of a late General Supretendent (GS) of a Pentecostal church in Nigeria who died in October 1980 but came back to life attested to this. He gave a testimony that after his death, he was asked to come back to the earth to apologise to another Christian who he felt offended him twenty eight years earlier. The GS had reprinted a tract earlier printed by the other Pentecostal church without any permission and used it for evangelism. When the other Pentecostal church leader found out, he collected all unused portion of the reprinted tract and burnt it in the public glare and in the presence of the GS. This annoyed the GS since the tract was being used for the same purpose of evangelism. He felt, the other church should have used the tract if they would not allow him to do so. But when he got to heaven, he was asked to come back and apologise to that Pentecostal church leader which he did promptly after coming back to life. Thereafter he lived for another few weeks before he finally died in November of the same year.
Now if anger on account of evangelism can stop a man from making heaven, what other sin can be overlooked? It is necessary that you re-examine yourself and repent of any sin that is still present in your life so that you are not hampered from being part of the first resurrection!
And if you are not born again, delay is dangerous, you need to repent now and accept Jesus into your life so as to avoid being a candidate of the lake of fire. You will end well in Jesus name.
Prayer point:
Father, please purge me of everything that will prevent me from being part of the first resurrection.
Bro. Biodun Oyapero