Your teaching that people will receive a second chance for salvation after they are dead is totally wrong, un-scriptural and very dangerous. Please reply in the next issue or we will cancel our subscription.

There is nothing in the Scriptures to support anyone getting a second chance for salvation once they are dead.

We appreciate your concern and the opportunity you have given us to clarify. An important point to understand is that God is "the Judge of all" (Hebrews 12:23To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
See All...). It is He who decides the salvation of all men and women, and we can trust Him to do it with utmost justice and mercy.

Is there hope for a person who has already rejected God's calling and spurned His way of life? No, a person who has been given every opportunity but has knowingly refused God's calling will die in what the Bible calls the "second death"—ending his or her existence forever (Revelation 21:8But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
See All...; Hebrews 6:4-6 [4] For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
[5] And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
[6] If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

See All...; 10:26-29). The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
See All...)—not eternal life in hellfire. This death is the cessation of existence.

However, there is another type of unbeliever—one who never had the opportunity to choose or reject God's way of life.

What about the people who have lived out their lives without ever hearing the name of Christ or anything that He taught and therefore had no chance at salvation (Acts 4:12Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
See All...)?

Are people condemned because of geography or the timing of their birth? Billions of people, by no choice of their own, have been born, lived and died in regions or during eras in which the Word of God was never available to them. How could a just and loving God condemn people born into such a situation?

Would it be fair for God to destroy them forever when they never really had an opportunity to understand His truth? Indeed it would not be just or fair. That's why the Bible reveals that God's plan encompasses the billions of men, women and children who have lived and died under just those circumstances.

Many know that God will resurrect the saints at Christ's return (1 Corinthians 15:52In 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.
See All...), but most read right over Christ's teachings about a second resurrection.

He spoke of people from different eras of human history coming face-to-face in "the day of judgment" (Matthew 11:20-24 [20] Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not:
[21] Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
[22] But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.
[23] And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.
[24] But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.

See All...; 12:41-42; Luke 10:12-15 [12] But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for that city.
[13] Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.
[14] But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment, than for you.
[15] And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell.

See All...). Jesus said that God will bring back to life the people of ancient Sodom, Tyre, Sidon and Ninevah along with the Queen of Sheba in a physical resurrection at the same time as those people who heard Christ speak these words in the first century.

The only way for this to be possible—for people who lived many centuries apart to live again at the same time—is for God to resurrect all of them at the same time. Then, learning God's truth for the first time, they will be able to choose whether to follow Him or not—and be fairly judged for the first time.

The Scriptures are plain about the fact that all people have only one opportunity for salvation. It is not a "chance" at all but a matter of choice and God rewarding that choice.

A second life is not the same as a second opportunity for salvation. Coming to life again will enable those brought to life in the second resurrection to have their only real opportunity for salvation. Only a few out of the multiple billions who have ever lived have had this one and only opportunity in the present lifetime.

The apostle Paul referred to this second resurrection in his writings (Romans 11:26-27 [26] And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
[27] For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.

See All...), and in Revelation 20:5But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
See All..., 11-13 Christ again speaks of it as specifically as He did during His earthly ministry. These references are plainly not about the resurrection spoken of in 1 Corinthians 15:52In 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.
See All..., for God did not judge the people in the above references in terms of their eternity.

In Revelation 20:5But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
See All... the expression "This is the first resurrection" refers to the resurrection of the saints. We know from the above reference in 1 Corinthians that God raises them at the beginning of the thousand years, not at the end. The first part of the verse ("But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years are finished") is a parenthetical statement that speaks of dead people who will not live again until the thousand years are over.

Clearly, the first part of the verse, which says, "But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished," isn't speaking of the resurrection of the righteous dead, who have been judged in this life (1 Peter 4:17For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
See All...) and are raised at Christ's second coming, but rather of those who died without ever having had an opportunity for salvation.

Of those to be brought to life in the second resurrection, Jesus said it would be "more tolerable" for some than for others during this "day of judgment" (Matthew 10:15Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.
See All...).

If God resurrects these people only to sentence them to death, Christ's comments wouldn't make any sense. If all were to die, judgment would not be "more tolerable" for one than for another. But clearly, their judgment is incomplete, and hence, God brings them back to physical life. Judgment is a process rather than a one-time sentencing, and these people will be judged at this time.

Ezekiel 37:1-14 [1] The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,
[2] And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.
[3] And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.
[4] Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.
[5] Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:
[6] And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
[7] So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.
[8] And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.
[9] Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.
[10] So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.
[11] Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.
[12] Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
[13] And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
[14] And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.

See All... describes the second resurrection in colorful detail. This chapter shows how God will work with people of all nations, for Israel has no spiritual advantage over other people (Galatians 3:26-29 [26] For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
[27] For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
[28] There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
[29] And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

See All...).

Ezekiel 37 describes an entire nation that died without hope of eternal life and without the knowledge of God that could lead to the people's salvation. God promises them two things—renewed physical life in a resurrection and spiritual understanding (verses 10, 14). The gift of God's Holy Spirit will enable them to live the Christian way of life, and if they are faithful to the end of their future natural lifetime, they will then receive eternal life in the Kingdom of God.

Most people in the grave have never known the only name by which salvation is possible (again see Acts 4:12Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
See All...), yet God's clear desire is that all humankind have an opportunity for salvation (1 Timothy 2:4Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
See All...; 2 Peter 3:9The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
See All...). If there were no second resurrection, the majority of people down through history would suffer unfair condemnation to death in the lake of fire without ever having an opportunity for conversion and salvation.

We realize that this second resurrection is a shocking concept to most people because they have never heard anything like it in the churches they've attended. Yet the Bible's revelation is clear once we get past our preconceived notions and misunderstandings.

Interested readers can find more information on this important and often misunderstood subject in our free booklets What Happens After Death? and Heaven and Hell: What Does the Bible Really Teach?