God has an orderly plan for resurrection, not raising all the dead simultaneously, but in a succession of resurrections, each person in their own order. Regarding physical Israel, God Himself has kept them from understanding His truth, giving them a spirit of slumber to facilitate the salvation of the Gentiles. He has chosen to call only a limited number from Israel in this age, allowing the rest to remain blinded. With the rest of humanity, they will rise in the second resurrection and have their opportunity for salvation. This second resurrection, occurring after the Millennium during the Great White Throne Judgment, will provide the environment most conducive to salvation, where many, including Israel, will be raised to physical existence to learn the truth and have the chance to walk in it.

The Bible describes two main types of resurrection. One is the resurrection to immortal, spiritual life, exemplified by Jesus Christ's resurrection and anticipated by Christians as the First Resurrection. The other is a resurrection to mortal, physical, temporary life, detailed more extensively in scripture and referred to as the Second Resurrection. This physical resurrection will occur when billions who never had an opportunity for salvation are brought back to live a physical life with the prospect of eternal, spiritual life. Physical resurrections are not limited to the future Second Resurrection. Numerous instances are recorded in the Bible, including the remarkable event in AD 31 when many bodies of saints were raised after the graves opened in Jerusalem, as described in Matthew 27:52. These saints, appearing to many without any extraordinary description of their form, lived for an undetermined time, served their purpose, and then died again, with no record of eternal life following this event. In contrast, only Jesus Christ has been raised to eternal life as the first of God's firstfruits. The resurrection of the saints to eternal life is set to occur later, at Christ's return, a sequence underscored by a significant time gap between His resurrection and theirs. Those saints from AD 31, now once again at rest, await the sounding of the seventh trumpet for their ultimate resurrection when Jesus Christ returns.