There are two resurrections in John chapter 5.
The "first resurrection" in John chapter 5 is where we are spiritually passed from death to life. John 5:24
The second resurrection in John chapter 5 is the simultaneous bodily resurrection and judgement of all the dead.
John 5:27-30.
Revelation 11:18
He will reign literally over us in our real resurrection bodies in the real New Heavens and the New Earth, where all of the curse is removed.
He defeated sin and death at the Cross.
Based on various passages it may be something similar to the Garden of Eden, with the curse removed, but goes beyond anything we can now understand.
The whole Bible is about Him. It is a Him book. He wrote every yot and every tittle. John 1:1
He reigns literally forever. Revelation 11:15
.
So you don't believe believe Jesus will reign on
this earth at all! I don't know if you realize this, but I doubt many share your views.
Revelation 20 clearly describes this 1,000 year reign (with Satan bound) and then after that the Gog/Magog rebellion after Satan is released. Only after that, the heavens and earth having passed away, souls are before God at the Great White Throne Judgment. And after THAT will be the new heavens and the new earth, with the new Jerusalem (Revelation 21).
Revelation 20:4
And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands.
And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but
they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.
According to Revelation 20, the first (physical) resurrection (of the Church) happens before the thousand years, and the second resurrection happens after the thousand years.
Did you read Isaiah 2, 11, 65? If not, I have pasted a few passages here.
Isaiah 2:1-5
The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw
concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 Now it shall come to pass in the latter days
That the mountain of the Lord’s house
Shall be established on the top of the mountains,
And shall be exalted above the hills;
And all nations shall flow to it.
3 Many people shall come and say,
“Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
He will teach us His ways,
And we shall walk in His paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4
He shall judge between the nations,
And rebuke many people;
They shall beat their swords into plowshares,
And their spears into pruning hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
Neither shall they learn war anymore.
(There will be true world peace!)
Isaiah 11:6-9
6 “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
The leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
The calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
And a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze;
Their young ones shall lie down together;
And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The
nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole,
And the
weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den.
9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,
For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
As the waters cover the sea.
(Animals will go back to their Eden diet and disposition.)
Isaiah 65:20-25
20 “
No more shall an infant from there live but a few days,
Nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days;
For the child shall die one hundred years old,
But the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed.
21 They shall build houses and inhabit them;
They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 They shall not build and another inhabit;
They shall not plant and another eat;
For as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people,
And My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
23
They shall not labor in vain,
Nor bring forth children for trouble;
For they shall be the descendants of the blessed of the Lord,
And their offspring with them.
24 “It shall come to pass
That before they call, I will answer;
And while they are still speaking, I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
The lion shall eat straw like the ox,
And dust shall be the serpent’s food.
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,”
Says the Lord.
(The pain of childbirth will be removed, and lifespans will be increased as they were before the flood.)
Psalm 87:5-6
5 And of Zion it will be said,
“
This one and that one were born in her;
And the Most High Himself shall establish her.”
6 The Lord will record,
When He registers the peoples:
“
This one was born there.”
Selah
Now, by this point you might be wondering why I have highlighted all the babies in these passages.
Check this out:
Matthew 22:23-32
23 The same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, 24 saying: “Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. 25 Now there were with us seven brothers. The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother. 26 Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh. 27 Last of all the woman died also. 28 Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her.”
29 Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. 30
For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven. 31 But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”
Since in the resurrection, there is no marriage, how then were these babies born? The babies can't be born in the New Jerusalem (heavenly)... they must be born in the millennial, earthly reign of Jesus. And the removal of the pain of childbirth--that must also be in the earthly reign of Jesus, since no children are born in the new heavens and the new earth.
Consider also what it says in Ezekiel 47:
47 Then he brought me back to the door of the temple; and there was water, flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the front of the temple faced east; the water was flowing from under the right side of the temple, south of the altar. 2 He brought me out by way of the north gate, and led me around on the outside to the outer gateway that faces east; and there was water, running out on the right side.
3 And when the man went out to the east with the line in his hand, he measured one thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the water came up to my ankles. 4 Again he measured one thousand and brought me through the waters; the water came up to my knees. Again he measured one thousand and brought me through; the water came up to my waist. 5 Again he measured one thousand, and it was a river that I could not cross; for the water was too deep, water in which one must swim, a river that could not be crossed. 6 He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?” Then he brought me and returned me to the bank of the river.
7 When I returned, there, along the bank of the river, were very many trees on one side and the other. 8 Then he said to me: “This water flows toward the eastern region, goes down into the valley, and enters the sea. When it reaches the sea, its waters are healed. 9 And it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters go there; for they will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river goes. 10 It shall be that fishermen will stand by it from En Gedi to En Eglaim; they will be places for spreading their nets. Their fish will be of the same kinds as the fish of the Great Sea, exceedingly many. 11 But its swamps and marshes will not be healed; they will be given over to salt. 12 Along the bank of the river, on this side and that, will grow all kinds of trees used for food; their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. They will bear fruit every month, because their water flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for medicine.”
13 Thus says the Lord God: “These are the borders by which you shall divide the land as an inheritance among the twelve tribes of Israel. Joseph shall have two portions. 14 You shall inherit it equally with one another; for I raised My hand in an oath to give it to your fathers, and this land shall fall to you as your inheritance.
15 “This shall be the border of the land on the north: from the Great Sea, by the road to Hethlon, as one goes to Zedad, 16 Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim (which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath), to Hazar Hatticon (which is on the border of Hauran). 17 Thus the boundary shall be from the Sea to Hazar Enan, the border of Damascus; and as for the north, northward, it is the border of Hamath. This is the north side.
18 “On the east side you shall mark out the border from between Hauran and Damascus, and between Gilead and the land of Israel, along the Jordan, and along the eastern side of the sea. This is the east side.
19 “The south side, toward the South, shall be from Tamar to the waters of Meribah by Kadesh, along the brook to the Great Sea. This is the south side, toward the South.
20 “The west side shall be the Great Sea, from the southern boundary until one comes to a point opposite Hamath. This is the west side.
21 “Thus you shall divide this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel. 22 It shall be that you will divide it by lot as an inheritance for yourselves, and for the strangers who dwell among you and who bear children among you. They shall be to you as native-born among the children of Israel; they shall have an inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel. 23 And it shall be that in whatever tribe the stranger dwells, there you shall give him his inheritance,” says the Lord God.
Do you realize it's saying there will be a river flowing out of the temple foundation to the east, and into the Dead Sea, and it will no longer be dead, but be teeming with fish? Do you realize the Lord gives tribe allotments for His land?
You see, God speaks CLEARLY of His physical reign on
this earth (before His reign in the new heavens and the new earth.) If you choose not to believe it, that's your choice, but you would have to spiritualize everything and take out the references to the babies.
I came across this commentary on 2 Timothy 2:18 and I thought I'd share it with you. It is different than what you are saying but there's some good points.
The New American Commentary: 1, 2 Timothy, Titus, Lea, Thomas D., Griffin, Hayne P., Jr., on 2 Timothy 2:17-18:
[2 Timothy 2:17-18
17 And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort, 18 who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some.]
2:18 Paul asserted that these two ringleaders had “wandered away from the truth.” The term “wander away” suggests that they had missed the mark. Paul had also used the term in 1 Tim 1:6; 6:21.
Paul identified the nature of the heresy.
The two heretics had asserted that the general resurrection had “already taken place.” Greeks often showed a contempt for the concept of physical resurrection. Because they viewed the body as evil, they eschewed the concept of a future bodily resurrection. For such people a spiritualized or sacramental view of resurrection was more congenial. Paul had taught the concept of spiritual resurrection (see Eph 2:6; Rom 6:3–4), but he had also asserted the reality of a future resurrection (1 Cor 15; Phil 3:21). The Ephesian teaching concerning the resurrection may have denied a future bodily resurrection. It probably asserted that the resurrection had already occurred in the spiritual renewal of the believer by regeneration.
For Paul the result of such heresy was to “destroy the faith of some.” In asserting that the resurrection had already occurred, the false teachers could deny both the past resurrection of Christ and the future resurrection of believers. They could depreciate the body and promote asceticism. Both emphases can lead to moral indifference. D. Guthrie says, “Christianity without a resurrection ceases to be a living faith.” For Paul the resurrection hope was foundational in Christianity. In 1 Cor 15 Paul had shown that a denial of the possibility of resurrection jettisoned the gospel (15:3–11), brought the credibility of the apostles into question (15:14–15), and robbed believers of an incentive for sacrifice and service (15:29–34). Paul did not specify in this passage all the negative results he expected from an affirmation that the resurrection had already occurred, but he clearly viewed it as an unacceptable perversion and as a threat to all spiritual progress.
I am not going to go back and forth with you any longer on this subject.
God bless.
