There are two kinds of resurrection, the First and the Second. Of course, there must be the death before the resurrection. So, it is easily understood that after the first death, the first resurrection comes and after the second death, the second resurrection.
Before the Resurrection of Jesus, after death, the hell always follows it (Revelation 6:8):
8. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
So, all human beings dead before the Resurrection of Jesus could not help being taken into the hell by two devils. Sensing this, David the King eagerly wished. “Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption” (Acts 2:25~27):
25. For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:
26. Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:
27. Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
The hell is just the world under the reigning of Satan. Paul the Apostle said that Satan is the prince of the power of the air. And, also, Jesus told to his disciples. “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” Just this heaven or the air means the hell, the spiritual world under the reigning of Satan (Ephesians 2:2, Luke 10:18):
Ephesians 2:2. Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Luke 10:18. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
Thus, there are three heavens. This universe with the earth is the first one, the hell is the second, and finally, the third heaven that Paul the Apostle confessed his being caught up to. It is the world where God and Jesus are staying (2 Corinthians 12:2):
2. I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.
Indeed, since the expulsion from Eden, Satan has been interfering with the communication between the man and God. All human beings could not but be taken into the hell – the second heaven – by two devils. It comes from the power of death handed over to Satan, after Adam and Eve’s eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3:6):
6. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Therefore, even the saints – dead before the Resurrection of Jesus – could not help being taken to the hell. After the Resurrection, Jesus had the keys of hell and of death(Revelation 1:18):
18. I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
With this key of hell, Jesus saved the saints from the hell, eventually getting into the holy city in the third heaven. This holy scene was shown to Matthew the Apostle in his dream(Matthew 27:52~53):
52. And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
53. And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
This means the first resurrection. It is written, in the Revelation 20:6, like this: “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection.” It’s due to the fact that they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years (Revelation 20:6):
6. 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.
P.S. Here, the KJV Bible is used.
Seokchul Baek, Ph.D.
under the Second Olive Tree:
E-mail: 4overcomer86@gmail.com
Seoul, Korea
Two Olive Trees 