Hey again Clare73,
As for the Matthew 27:52-53 resurrected "First-fruits" saints, they did NOT ascend to heaven along with Christ in Acts 1. We know this, because Revelation 15:8 says that no man could enter the temple in heaven until the 7 plagues were fulfilled. Any resurrected saints such as the Matthew 27 ones remained on earth to serve in the early church as the "gifts" that Christ gave to men. These resurrected saints from that "multitude of captives" were identified as being apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, or teachers, as Ephesians 4:11 enumerated them.
We know that these "First-fruits" resurrected saints stayed on earth for a time to serve in the church, because the apostle Paul gave testimony in Romans 8:23 that "ourselves also, which HAVE THE FIRSTFRUITS of the Spirit..." This is NOT the same as having the "fruit of the Spirit", such as love, joy, peace, longsuffering, etc. This was the church having the "FIRST-fruits" among them, which is something entirely different.
Romans 8:23 said that even the already-resurrected "Firstfruits" of the Spirit's work of redemption were eagerly waiting for the redemption of the physical body for the rest of the saints, since that is when they would all be raptured together to meet the Lord in the air (which happened in AD 70 on that 1,33th day, fulfilling the I Thess. 4 "rapture" text). The "rapture" event took all those saints who had ALREADY been made "alive" by resurrection but who had "remained" on earth, and then gathered them together with those who were newly-resurrected at Christ's second coming in AD 70. These all were taken to heaven then, according to Jesus's promise to "come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also." None but resurrected saints participated in that rapture. A "translation" type of change for living believers in the "rapture" was never promised in scripture anywhere. ALL are appointed to die the one time before their body is changed into an incorruptible state.
Yes, we do have scripture describing the saints in various phases of this process as the "body of Christ" being in heaven and on earth at the same time. Ephesians 1:10 is one such passage. The mystery made known to the church was "That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might GATHER TOGETHER IN ONE all things in Christ, BOTH WHICH ARE *IN HEAVEN* AND WHICH ARE *ON EARTH*; even in him:" This meant that those like the resurrected Matthew 27 saints that were then still "on earth" would be gathered together with the saints' spirits who were then waiting "in heaven" to be given their glorified, resurrected bodies when the dead in Christ would rise (in the second, AD 70 resurrection).
It is NOT "extra-biblical" to have another additional judgment. This is very simple to prove. We are told that "we must ALL stand before the judgment seat of Christ", so if it can be proved (and it can) that a first-century resurrection and judgment took place, then we, too, must have our "day in court" as well - only in a future event.
A simple way to determine a THIRD resurrection event for us in the future is to read the way the "Great Tribulation" is described in Matthew 24:21-30. Christ said that this particular "great tribulation" period would be "such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no NOR EVER *SHALL BE*." This means time would go marching forward, even AFTER the Great Tribulation, with various ordinary periods of tribulation for the saints, but with none in history that would ever be of the same kind as that which had taken place long before during the "Great Tribulation" period. (Christ's promised seven-fold demonic oppression of that generation of Israel in its "last state" was the main reason for the unprecedented, unduplicated "Great Tribulation" period. After that, God rid the world of the demonic and Satanic realm in AD 70, which can never again descend en masse on any city or nation again. Any evil at present in the world is humanity's own doing.)
We also read that "*IMMEDIATELY* AFTER THE TRIBULATION OF THOSE DAYS", that Christ would come in the clouds of heaven with great glory. Now, if Christ was to "IMMEDIATELY" return after the "Great Tribulation", and history would keep marching forward in time AFTER He had returned, then there simply MUST BE another bodily resurrection and judgment scheduled for the rest of us saints to participate in.
These THREE resurrection group events were timed to fall on the calendar at the same time of year that the three required OT harvest feasts were celebrated: at Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles. These three OT Mosaic feasts provided a living picture of how God as the "husbandman" would harvest the "precious fruit of the earth" by raising the bodies of his children out of the dust of the grave on those three separate occasions. We already know the Matthew 27:52-53 saints along with Christ fulfilled the Passover resurrection as the "First-fruits" raised from the dead. Since the 1,335th day with its prophesied resurrection fell on a Pentecost feast day in AD 70, that leaves the Feast of Tabernacles time of year that provided a type for the final third resurrection event in our future. Even a very young child can understand the symbolism of seeds being planted and a crop being harvested, compared to a harvest of dead saints coming to life again in glorified bodies out of the dust of the grave in a resurrection event.
James 5:7-8 makes this identical comparison. "Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the EARLY and LATTER rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." The "early" and "latter rain" (with which Israel's harvests were tightly linked) provided the schedule for the 3 required harvest feast celebrations, since the rain falls at very predictable times for the crops in that region of the world. James was encouraging the saints to hang on patiently, because Christ as a judge was then "at the door", and His "latter rain" time of return in those "last days" had already drawn near as James was writing.
Oh, and the New Jerusalem is not in a physical location per se. It's as Isaiah described it in Isaiah 60, with its walls called "Salvation", and its gates called "Praise". The New Jerusalem is a spiritual city whose builder and maker is God, as Abraham understood it.
