Not All Will Die

At this writing we are all part of the ultimate statistic. That is, as Mel Gibson's character in the movie "Braveheart", William Wallace put it, "all men die...". There is, however, a point in time, at the end of this current age, when not all will experience physical death. How so, you ask?

Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed- in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." (1 Cor 15:50-54)

And...

According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. (1 Thess 4:15-17)

But what of those who do not believe? What will become of them at the last day? First, let me define what a non-believer is: this is a person who has not believed on or put their trust in Jesus Christ as the author of their eternal salvation. More on this in a later post. Just like many believers, many non-believers will die physically at the hands of men. And many non-believers will die by Christ at His return. (see Rev 19:19-21)

Not all non-believers will physically die, however. Some, though not many, will survive the terrible tribulations of the last days. The survival of any non-believer will be purely by the grace of God.

Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. (Zech 14:16-17)

"I will set a sign among them, and I will send some of those who survive to the nations... (Isa 66:19) (Read Isaiah 66 in its entirety).

And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance,
as the LORD has said, among the survivors whom the LORD calls. (Joel 2:32)

The reason I call these survivors "non-believers" is because according to 1 Cor 15 and 1 Thess 4, quoted above, all believers, alive or asleep, will be raised or changed to receive resurrection bodies upon Christ's return at the end of the tribulation period. If all believers are changed then who would inhabit the Mellinial Kingdom of Christ for 1000 years?

There are several reasons we know some people will be in physical, natural bodies, as we now possess, in Christ's 1000 year Kingdom. The primary reason being the rebellion that Satan will raise against the Holy City at the end of the 1000 years. Saved, sealed, body-redeemed believers are not capable of rebellion!

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