The resurrection takes place at the coming of Christ.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 – “I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep (those who have died), so you don't sorrow, like others that have got no hope. If we believe Jesus died and rose again, even though them that sleep in Jesus God, will bring with Him. This we say to you by the word of God, that we which are alive, and remain to the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who are asleep”.
Here is the verse, Verse 16: “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout (a shout of victory), with the voice of the archangel and (here it is) with the trump of God”. (there's a trumpet blast, the trump - a single trump). “The dead in Christ shall rise first, and thee which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord”.
Verse 17 – “to be caught up together with them”, is a term used by many people in the church called ‘the rapture’. Like the First Resurrection teaching, most of the church has got the story wrong about the rapture as well; and so, understanding it, and knowing the basis of what the Bible does teach, you'll be better equipped then to talk into these things.
Notice there, he talks about how ‘the trump of God will sound’ and that's when the resurrection takes place. He is referring to a trumpet blast from heaven; but in the Bible, you'll find that many things which are fulfilled in the New Testament are prefigured through the Old Testament. What we see happening in the New appears in the Old Testament in a type, a pattern, a shadow – someone, something, some event, or some object, that prefigures all of this.
In the Old Testament, there was a feast called the Feast of Trumpets. There were three feasts of Israel… The first feast was the Feast of Passover; and it was held in the first month, on the 14th day. God re-ordered their calendar, and He said: this will be the beginning of your calendar from now on; so the Feast of Passover takes place in the first month, and this was fulfilled literally by Jesus Christ.
The Feast of Pentecost was the next feast, and it was held in the third month, 50 days after the first month feast; and this also is characterised by the coming of Christ - at the first coming of Christ, that feast was fulfilled.
Then there was the Feast of Harvest. So, Passover was at the beginning of their year; Pentecost then is the Feast of First Fruits; and then Tabernacles was the third feast, held in the seventh month - and that has not yet been fulfilled.
You'll find through the Bible, many references to the Feast of Tabernacles; the Feast of Trumpets was a part of that - the Day of Atonement. Yom Kippur was a part of that; and then the Year of Jubilee and so on. All of that, was a part of that feast. What we need to see is that two of those feasts were fulfilled exactly into the detail historically. These feasts have firstly a personal application, and then secondly, a prophetic application. Personal means: there's something about this feast for you to experience; prophetic means: there's something about it that foretells of events in history, the eternal plan of God.
These feasts of Israel, and what God put out in those books of the law, outline the whole story or the whole history of man, from one end to the other. As you go through it, it leads you to discover firstly, Jesus Christ; and secondly, the total plan of God. Most churches don't teach anything on this, so people don't understand why these things are important - why they celebrate the Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. There's no context or teaching for it, so we need to have that.
So firstly, the Feast of Passover, in Exodus 12. The people of Israel were in bondage in Egypt. They were in slavery to Egypt. There were 10 plagues, and on the eve of the last plague, they were all told that every family had to take a lamb, a spotless lamb. It was taken on the 14th day of the month, and it was slain. It was taken on the 10th day, and it was investigated for four days, to be found spotless. On the 14th day it was slain. They took the blood, and applied it to the lintels and the door posts, and then that night they stayed in there and ate the Passover Feast - the first Passover Feast, and that night the destroyer went through, and all the firstborn in the land were slain. Immediately, because of that, they were all able to escape Egypt; and they then became Israel, the nation entering their land.