God’s plan of salvation looks forward to the fulfillment of what the Eighth Day pictures, which is the eternal reign of God and Jesus Christ, and the new heaven and the new earth. Those who have died not knowing what to expect will come up in the resurrection of the Great White Throne Judgment and have their first chance to know God and His way of life. Lost loved ones will meet again and there will be no more sadness, pain or mourning (Revelation 21:4).
Revelation 20:4-5 mentions this resurrection of “the rest of the dead [who] did not live again until the thousand years were finished” after describing the previous resurrection of those who had obeyed God and rise to meet the returning Christ in the air in what John called “the first resurrection.” This first resurrection is also described in I Thessalonians 4:16-17.
In verses 12-15 of Revelation 20 John goes on to give more detail about this later resurrection of all those who have ever lived who still remain in their graves. It will involve God bringing many millions of people back to physical, perishable life, and is graphically depicted in Ezekiel 37:1-12. In this resurrection, according to Jesus, the dead of all past ages—people such as the Queen of the South (or Sheba) from Solomon’s time, the inhabitants of the ancient Assyrian stronghold of Nineveh from Jonah’s time and the people of Christ’s time—will all be resurrected (Matthew 12:41-42).
This judgment period will take place over time as these people hear and learn God’s truth for the first time. Those who rise in this resurrection and repent—and the Scriptures indicate that most of them will repent—will receive God’s Spirit. “Then you … will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live … Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD” (Ezekiel 37:13-14, NIV). In this resurrection our loving God will give everyone who has ever lived their opportunity for salvation—an opportunity they never had before.
Finally, this time of judgment will conclude when the incorrigibly wicked—those who, after receiving their opportunity to repent, still refuse to accept God’s ways—are cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14-15).
