The question is better phrased, “Why does God save everyone before they cross over?”
The simplest straightforward answer is probably that God is writing the greatest story ever told & we are all characters in it. We are created to have forever life, & the creation & humanity are all in our infancy compared to where we will be centuries upon centuries from now. In order for that story to unfold correctly the way the LORD wants it to, certain things must happen in a particular order. Each and every event has been meticulously timed. Therefore, some of us are saved prior to crossing over & others after.
Acts 24 clearly states that there is a resurrection of the Just and the Unjust.
Acts 24:14–15 (ESV): …I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets, 15 having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust.
We call this the General Resurrection.
Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15 are clear that we are in Adam as our federal representative in the Fall and in Christ as our federal representative in redemption.
Romans 5:15 (ESV): But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.
1 Corinthians 15:22–23 (ESV): For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:23, ESV)
I Corinthians 15 is clear that the General Resurrection is underwritten by Christ’s own redemptive work, esp. His resurrection.
1 Corinthians 15:20–22 (ESV): But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
There is therefore no resurrection for anyone without the resurrection of Christ, and all resurrection requires union with Christ in order to obtain.
Where does the Bible teach there is any sort of union with Adam that results in the resurrection of the Unjust? Nowhere!
Where does the Bible teach there is a union with Christ that is not salvific? Nowhere! Union with Christ results in eternal life, not death.
1 Cor. 15 employs the language of signs and seals.
1 Corinthians 15:42–49 (ESV): So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
Ephemeral bodies are dishonorable, corruptible/perishable, natural, earthly/terrestrial. Resurrection ontology is glorious, incorruptible, imperishable, spiritual, and heavenly, blessedly corporeal, not under the curse of sin and death, & neither incorporeal nor ghostly. Moreover, these seals describe the physical and moral ontology of the body and the soul.
Is this sort of Universalism the sort that obtains apart from union with Christ? No! Does it obtain via a theology of merit? No! The Bible teaches that we all must lay down our works righteousness, & it also the Doctrines of Grace. Because of what Christ has accomplished (Hebrews), God, having grounded (anchored) personal & cosmic redemption in real historical events (I Corinthians 15:3 - 11) deploys Redemption Accomplished as Redemption Applied.
God intends to resurrect us all. Our resurrection is a product of union with Christ. The Bible nowhere teaches that union with Christ is not salvific. The signs & seals God applies all indicate incorruptible life, raised to walk in newness of life. Therefore, contrary to Ecclesiastical Tradition, God will most certainly redeem us all into the image of Christ.
O LORD, Hear our prayer(s)!
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