Are the resurrection of believers and the resurrection of unbelievers the same event in Daniel 12:2?
No. Daniel 12:2 may appear to place believing and unbelieving resurrections in the same event, but other Scriptures show they are not. According to Daniel 12, only the believer element is in view; unbelievers are not yet resurrected. The believing Old Testament resurrection is totally separate from the resurrection of unbelievers.
Les teaches that Daniel 12:2 can seem to bring the two resurrections into one event: “many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Yet he explains from other Scriptures that they are not the same event. Daniel is speaking of a resurrection of only the believer element; none of the unbelievers are yet resurrected according to Daniel 12. The resurrection of the believing Old Testament will be totally separate from the resurrection of the unbelievers, which he says will be picked up later. He also notes that Jesus, in John chapter 5, did not divide them, saying only that at the last day there would be a resurrection of the just and the unjust, without putting a time frame around either. Verse 3 calls the wise those wise in faith, and Les emphasizes that eternal life has always been by faith.
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.
More Questions
What happens to the unbelieving dead after the resurrection of believers in Daniel 12:2?
In Daniel 12:2, after the believing element is resurrected, the rest will go to shame and everlasting contempt.