A lot of times people have said to me either personally or in sermons that we were probably going to be surprised when we woke up in the kingdom at all the other people there; people that we never thought would make it. Perhaps people like Billy Graham and John Calvin, and that nice little old Methodist lady down the street who spent her declining years making clothes for the poor, and hundreds of thousands of others that we never expected to make it wind up in the first resurrection.

Now while I agree that we might well be surprised when we get there (IF we get there!) I rather picture the opposite happening; being surprised at who ISN’T there. You see, that Methodist lady just can’t be in the first resurrection. Yes, she was nice and she’ll get her just reward for all of her good deeds – it just won’t be the first resurrection. John Calvin did a great deal to break the bonds of the catholic church, but he won’t be there either. Neither will Billy Graham or probably anyone else you look up to and revere as a man of God.

There are two distinct ways to prove what I just said. The first one is simply the job description of what someone in the first resurrection will do. If you’re going to spend (for starters) a thousand years being a king and a priest, what does that mean you’ll be doing?

2 Samuel 23:3 The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.

The first condition is that those kings and priests must be just and rule in the fear of God. But it could be argued that those people fulfilled this condition. While we don’t have many ways of telling if someone is “just” or not, especially after centuries have passed and we know them only through the pages of history, we do have another criteria that we can use…

Malachi 2:7 For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.

The second condition deals with your job as a priest. While the king’s job is to enforce it, the priest’s job is to teach the law to the people, and by so doing teaching them how to love God. If you haven’t done either, if you haven’t kept the law or loved God yourself, then you really can’t be qualified to teach others to do it, now can you?

So to prove that those people won’t be qualified to do that, we need only find that they didn’t keep the law. The sabbath for instance, was not kept by any of them. Of course, by keeping the law I mean the whole Bible, but to make this argument easy to prove, I’m just going to settle for keeping the Ten Commandments for now.

For the rest of this paper, I’m going to use John Calvin as my central example because we have quite a bit of information available about him. John Calvin, like many good protestants, was a very good person by all accounts (I never met him)… but he didn’t keep the Sabbath. And there lies the crux of the matter. As we know well, all of the Ten Commandments must be kept.

And when I’ve brought this up to people (in the church) who think that Calvin will be in the first resurrection, they counter with things like “But, he was faithful to all he knew! God just never opened his mind to the sabbath, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t obey everything he could!”… “After all,” they go on, waxing eloquent, “none of us has ALL the truth 100% right! But as long as we’re faithful to ALL WE KNOW, God overlooks the rest through grace and is able to save us!”

At this point they sit back, pleased with themselves, thinking they’ve backed me into a corner. This is a true story by the way – this argument actually happened. Anyway, I smiled, leaned across the table and responded with this scripture…

Romans 8:9 ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

“Now,” I said, “we’re agreed that if John Calvin was going to be saved, he had to have the spirit of God, right?” “Why yes, of course!” they exclaimed. Then I pointed out this next scripture.

John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

“So,” I asked, “if the spirit was IN John Calvin, then it had to lead him into ALL truth!” At this point, somewhat flustered, they responded with “But… that doesn’t mean he had to know EVERY bit of truth in the universe!” “Ah,” I said, as I delivered the coup de grace, “but what it DOES mean is that the spirit would have lead John Calvin into understanding ALL OF THE LAW! Because THAT’S WHAT THE LAW IS!

Psalms 119:142, 151 Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and THY LAW IS THE TRUTH… Thou art near, O LORD; and ALL THY COMMANDMENTS ARE TRUTH.

If John Calvin had had the spirit of God, then that spirit WOULD HAVE LED HIM into understanding ALL TEN points of the law, all ten points of TRUTH! It HAD NO CHOICE, that’s what the spirit does! And so we are left with one of two conclusions. Either John Calvin didn’t ever have the spirit… or the spirit led him to the sabbath, and HE REJECTED IT! This means that he WASN’T obedient to all he knew, and therefore was NOT faithful, OR SAVED! Either way, no “good Protestant” will be in the first resurrection without faithful obedience to ALL TEN COMMANDMENTS!

Philippians 3:15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in ANY THING ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

And since John, Billy, and the nice Methodist lady were not perfect by any definition, since they didn’t keep the sabbath, God promised to reveal that to them as well. Since they died not keeping it, then either they weren’t Christ’s (Romans 8:9), in which case they won’t be there, or God did reveal it and they rejected it. And if they did that, then they can’t be there either, for they would no longer have a sacrifice…

Hebrews 10:26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,

None of this means they have to die forever; they’ll have their chance at life with the rest of the world. And God is not unrighteous to forget any of their good deeds when that time comes around. But they lost any opportunity they might have had to be a part of the first resurrection, and be kings and priests with Christ for all eternity. Take care that you don’t follow their example too closely.