But God never intended to resurrect everyone in one fell swoop.
Sure, He did.
1 Corinthians 15:20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so
in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then,
when he comes, those who belong to him.
What this passage is saying is that all will be resurrected but there is an order to it. Christ Himself was the first to be resurrected unto bodily immortality, as other scripture indicates as well (Acts 26:23, Col 1:18, Rev 1:5). Next in order are all of those who belong to Him at His future coming. That's it. Paul said nothing else about any other time that believers will be resurrected. Keep in mind that the context here is being resurrected unto bodily immortality so the resurrection of Lazarus and others who were resurrected with their same mortal bodies doesn't apply here.
1 Corinthians 15:50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery:
We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 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. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality
This passage is speaking of the same mass resurrection of the dead in Christ that he alluded to earlier in 1 Cor 15 in verses 22 and 23. It will happen at the last trumpet and Paul made it clear that we will all be changed to have immortal bodies at that time. These passages are referring to the same event as Paul wrote about in 1 Thess 4:14-17 which clearly portrays the dead in Christ all being raised at the same time.
Jesus also made it quite clear that only one time was coming when all of the dead would be raised.
John 5:28 “Do not be amazed at this, for
a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.
Why do you not accept what these passages clearly teach?
He planned to execute the resurrection of His saints in three separate stages. The Matthew 27 resurrected saints were only a small fraction of the total - that "remnant of the dead" which came to life again that same day Christ arose.
There is no indication whatsoever that those people were resurrected and changed to have immortal bodies. If they were, then why did Paul not reference them in 1 Corinthians 15:22-23 when he spoke about the order of resurrections unto bodily immortality?
That's how the whole Hymeneus and Philetus heresy got started. Those men looked at (and/or heard of) this number of resurrected Jews, and presumed that this was the only resurrection event that would ever take place.
No, the heresy had to do with them claiming that the resurrection of the dead unto immortality had already taken place. It had not yet taken place at all because all of the dead in Christ will be resurrected unto immortality at the same time when Christ returns at the last trumpet.
Of course it wasn't. God intended to "harvest" all the bodies of His saints, but it would be in two more scheduled resurrection events. The AD 70 resurrection event (that almost all the NT books wrote about) is long past.
There was no AD 70 resurrection event. Where do you think that is mentioned?
But we too, will take part in the final resurrection event in our future. God is perfectly capable of having a judgment at more than one occasion.
Of course He's capable of doing anything, but we have to go by what scripture says He will do and scripture very clearly says that He will resurrect all of the dead in Christ at the same time which will be when Christ returns in the future at the last trumpet.
If you can acknowledge the past group of Matthew 27 resurrected saints, then you already can agree to at least two resurrections.
I don't acknowledge that they were resurrected unto bodily immortality because Paul did not mention them when giving the order of resurrections unto bodily immotality in 1 Corinthians 15:22-23.
Why not a third? Especially when Christ and the vast majority of the NT books taught that one of those resurrections would happen in that first-century generation.
That is simply not true. Tell me how you are coming to that conclusion.
As for the New Heavens and New Earth, this was NOT describing the afterlife experience. There are too many things Isaiah included in his description of the New Heavens and New Earth that can only be a feature of normal living conditions on earth for believers, and which could not possibly be taking place in their afterlife existence.
I don't know what you're talking about here. Can you elaborate? I believe the new heavens and new earth will be ushered in at a future time. At that point there will be no more death, crying, sorrow or pain, as John said (Revelation 21:4). That has clearly not happened yet. It will happen when Christ returns and burns up the heavens and earth and renews them, results in the new heavens and new earth where only righteousness will dwell (2 Peter 3:10-13).