Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture has a new video in which he thinks he is correcting the misunderstanding of Revelation chapter 20. The alleged misunderstanding is that there is no second resurrection or resurrection for the wicked despite the Bible saying that very thing in at least three verses. This video is based on an article Tim published in September 2025. That article will be discussed first and then whatever is to be noted from the video shall be commented upon.
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| https://thegodculturephilippines.com/first-resurrection-vs.-second-death-a-clear-teaching-guide/ |
First Resurrection vs. Second Death: A Clear Teaching Guide
Understanding Revelation 20 in Context
📖 Two Distinct Groups in Revelation 20
2 Distinct Groups
🛡️ Believers
Those in Messiah; martyrs who refused the beast
Partake in the First Resurrection and reign with Messiah. No Second Resurrection is mentioned.
⚖️Unbelievers
The rest of the dead (those outside the Book of Life)
Remain dead until Judgment, then face the Second Death. Disappear before the 1,000 years.
📚 Key Terms Defined
Term Meaning Who It Applies To
First Resurrection (Rev. 20:5–6): Resurrection to eternal life and reigning with Messiah – Believers only
Second Death (Rev. 20:14–15): Final, spiritual destruction in the lake of fire – Unbelievers only
The bolded section gives away Tim's major assumption. As I have shown in multiple reviews on this blog Tim teaches annihilationism. That is the doctrine the wicked will not suffer eternal punishment in hell but will be annihilated and no longer exist. The Bible absolutely does not teach that doctrine. It does in fact teach a resurrection to life and a resurrection to damnation. Both states are eternal.
Daniel 12:1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
John 5:28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
Never forget the foundational principle that scripture interprets scripture. Simply because Revelation 20 does not have the exact phrase "Second resurrection" is no reason to discard that teaching because Jesus himself clearly taught it.
🧠 What Revelation 20 Doesn't Say
❌ Messiah does not only reign for 1,000 years — His reign is eternal (Rev. 11:15). The 1,000 years is the bondage period for Satan and a Sabbath repose for believers. There is no such thing as a “Millennial Reign” as he rules forever from the Day of Judgment.
There are a lot of wrong assumptions in this section. First of all Tim is limiting resurrection to meaning reigning. The resurrected saints will reign with Christ. He then says that the wicked will be "consumed on 1 day in scripture on the Day of Judgement." This is wrong. They are cast into the Lake of Fire. Tim stops at verse 9
And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
And neglects verses 11-15 which clearly say the wicked will be cast into the lake of fire.
11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
And what happens in the lake of fire? The wicked are tormented forever and ever.
Here is Tim's timeline of events in Revelation 20.
🧾 Revelation 20 Timeline Simplified
1 Martyrs resurrected — First Resurrection Rev. 20:4–5
2 Reign with Messiah — 1,000-year rest Rev. 20:4, 6
3 Satan released briefly, judged and gone Rev. 20:7–10
4 Final Judgment of the wicked Rev. 20:11–15
5 Second Death for the wicked Rev. 20:14–15
The real timeline is this:
Satan is bound – 1,000 years begin
Martyrs reign with Christ – First resurrection
Satan is loosed – Gathers nations for rebellion
Final battle – God destroys the enemies
Satan is cast into the lake of fire
Final judgment – All dead judged; Book of Life opened
Death and Hell cast into the lake of fire
Anyone not in the Book of Life is cast into the lake of fire
Tim is missing a lot of steps here. Most crucially Tim is missing the last step in the timeline which is the wicked are cast into the lake of fire. They are not annihilated.
Next, Tim goes through a lot of Bible verses as well as verses from apocryphal texts to prove his point. Here is his conclusion.
🔥 Conclusion: There Is One Day of Judgment — Not Many
There is one First Resurrection (for the righteous)
There is one Day of Judgment (for all)
There is no “second resurrection”
There is a Second Death — for the ungodly, after judgment occurring at the same time
👉 This harmonizes Yahusha’s words, the prophets, apostolic writings, and respected Hebrew apocalyptic texts. This is the manner in which Biblical exegesis should be executed attempting to reconcile the scriptures rather than a sound bite out of context.
Tim is correct that "Biblical exegesis should be executed attempting to reconcile the scriptures." Where he goes wrong is bringing in apocryphal books like Enoch and Jubilees to bolster his false assumptions. Again, that false assumption is the wicked will be annihilated rather than spend eternity in the lake of fire.
Now, let's examine the video and see if it contains anything worth mentioning.
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| The First Resurrection & The Second Death: Revelation 20 Fully Explained | The God Culture |
15:01 Now, many English Bibles add the word again, lived not again, but it's not there. The Greek verb "anazao" appears only once in the sentence not twice and this is doctrinal insertion into the translation which really is never necessary, uh, and a poor practice for a translator.
This is reference to verse 5 of chapter 20:
But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
It's interesting that in this video Tim does not provide a slide proving his case from the Greek as he has done in the past. Instead, it's AI slop all they way through. A look at the Greek disproves Tim's claim that the word "anazao" does not appear twice in the verse. It most certainly does.
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| https://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/rev/20/1/t_conc_1187005 |
For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.
The rest of the dead not lived again until shall have been completed the thousand years. This the resurrection first.
Hopefully it can be seen why words are "added" to the text and word order is changed when translated into English. It is for better comprehension. Note that there are arrows on the page. These indicate several things which can be read about here.
“Today, a regular person can go to resources like Blue Letter Bible and become a sort of Hebrew expert legitimately.”
New International Version
(The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection.
New Living Translation
This is the first resurrection. (The rest of the dead did not come back to life until the thousand years had ended.)
English Standard Version
The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection.
Berean Standard Bible
The rest of the dead did not come back to life until the thousand years were complete. This is the first resurrection.
Berean Literal Bible
The rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years shall have been completed. This is the first resurrection.
King James Bible
But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
New King James Version
But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
As ever, Tim's linguistic argument can and should be outright dismissed. The word "again" appears in the text and to say otherwise is to lie.
The other place worth mentioning is what Tim says about resurrection bodies. This ties into his annihilistic assumptions. You see, the physical bodies of believers will not be raised.
18:40 In Hebrews 9:27 is very clear that men die once and then comes judgment. Some have asked about Enoch for instance and Elijah who remain alive according to all of scripture, especially Hebrews is very clear about that. Um, you know, the the thing is is that they're still going to die, right? But they're going to die. Their bodies are going to shed their bodies. Their spirits are going to meet Yahusha in the air. And that's the way that it works. And then comes judgment, which they will fare very well, of course. However, they will die. All men die. And there's nothing there that says otherwise.
Now, this is very telling because if all men die once, well, there cannot be this resurrection of bodies on the day of judgment. See, that that is really misunderstood because really, you know, your body would be resurrected only to die again when you receive your new uh heavenly body, which is the way that it works. Uh we don't need the old one. It's supposed to return to dust. It says that since Adam, I mean, we know that through scripture throughout, uh, that we return to dust, uh, our bodies and our spirit lives on, awaiting the one and only day of judgment in all of scripture.
There are two errors here. One is that Enoch and Elijah, who were both translated into heaven, will return to earth, die and receive spiritual bodies. I have covered this before and you can read about it here. The second error is the denial that our physical bodies will rise. Take note that Tim does not even begin to describe what a heavenly body is. Is it something ethereal and non-corporeal?
The fact is the Bible does say our physical bodies will rise. Jesus Christ is our example and he rose with the same body he laid down. That same body is now in heaven and will remain for all eternity. This is the principle Paul is referring to in 1 Corinthians 15.
42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
Our physical bodies shall be raised and transformed but they will be the same physical bodies we had in this life. That is what resurrection means. Tim's explanation for this resurrection, which is not in this video or article, is the doctrine of soul sleep. When a man dies his spirit goes to sleep in one of three chambers inside the earth.
41:50 He places them in His chambers. That's where He set aside space for such in 3 categories we know from Enoch. They are not evil, yes there is one for sinners, but the chamber is not evil. It's not hell. Within the earth. Enoch said that there are 3. 1 for righteous, 1 for sinners, and 1 for martyrs who still cry out and He hears them.
This is totally wrong because, as Paul notes, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. The spirit is alive and does not need resurrecting.
Being given a new heavenly body is not a resurrection, it is an act of new creation. In essence Tim is denying the resurrection when he says our original bodies will not rise. This is anti-christian heresy beyond the pale of anything even remotely Biblical.
Even Job affirmed the resurrection:
Job 19:25 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:
27 Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.
Job says in no uncertain terms he will see God in his flesh. That is the very same flesh which worms had destroyed after his death.
This is a brief examination of Tim's latest video concerning Revelation 20. He says he published it because the Feast of Tabernacles is upcoming and the resurrection is foreshadowed by the Feast of Tabernacles. This is false as well because it really foreshadows the incarnation. You can read about that here. The fact is Tim teaches the heretical doctrine of annihilationism and ultimately denies there is any resurrection when he says our bodies will not rise. All in all it's another brick in the wall of bad theology being built by Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture.
