Will There Be a Resurrection of the Wicked?

       In the earlier stages the resurrection doctrine was evidently taught as a hope which applied to righteous Israelites, and it was afterward extended by degrees to others, including the Gentiles. In Luke 14: 14 a distinction seems to be made between the resurrection of the righteous and that of the wicked, and in Luke 20: 35, 36, those who are accounted worthy to attain the resurrection from the dead are spoken of as "the sons of God" - the inference drawn by some commentators on this point being that the resurrection of the righteous is to be separate from that of the wicked (see John 5 : 29 and Acts 24: 15 ; also I Thess. 4: 16; I Cor. 15 : 23, 24) . Compare also John 6:40, in which the resurrection of the righteous is represented as an act of grace, as also in John 5: 21; and in John 6: 44, 54 Jesus says: "And I will raise him up at the last day." Paul also, in Rom. 8:11, teaches a resurrection of the righteous. With regard to the second resurrection, whether it will be simultaneous with the first, or after an interval, commentators differ. Rev. 20: 4-6 has been held to imply an interval of a thousand years, but this is merely conjecture. There has been a great deal of discussion concerning the two resurrections, and many books have been written on the subject.