Welcome back for our last lesson focused on the Son of the Godhead. If this is your first time here you may want to start back an earlier lesson, but as always welcome. The interesting thing about this Christ-centric lesson is that it is a little more focused on us than the past lessons. Today we'll look at what our future has in store for us.
So what happens when a person dies? The Bible has a few instances that tell us what to expect when we die. Ecclesiastes 12:7 says exactly what happens. “and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” A little explanation, back in our earlier lessons we learned that God created Adam from the dust of the ground, meaning that when a person dies their body returns to the Earth, but the soul leaves the body. And what a comforting verse it is as Christians, 'the spirit returns to God' but it doesn't tell the whole story. In Luke chapter 16 Jesus gives another parable. This parable is one of the most unique parables in that it speaks of what happens after death.
“19"There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.' 25"But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.'”
Here we see Jesus give a no nonsense depiction of what happens to a nonbeliever when they depart this Earth. He thirsts, he is agony because of the fire for eternity. You'll also notice that it happens immediately. The angels carry Lazerus to Heaven and the rich man is cast down. It's happening moments after his lifetime as he wishes to inform his brothers about their future. Later in Luke we see Jesus while on the cross and one of the criminals with Him comes to believe, Jesus says to him, “23:43b "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."” It's important as Christians that we teach and preach that Heaven and Hell are real places.
When we die, we aren't quite done yet, there is a time coming that Christ is returning for one final time to our planet. This will be our final judgement by Christ when all believers will be taken home to be with Christ and the nonbelievers to be eternally separated from us with God's fallen angels. John chapter 5 says:
24"I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. 25I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. 27And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. 28"Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29and come out--those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.
Something important to understand is that the dead have already been judged. In the case of the rich man it could be argued that he is a believer now, but unfortunately, on the last day, when he is called from the grave, nothing will have changed for him. All believers who died in Christ will be caught up with the living at God's right hand and the unbelievers will be cast into the fire.
Christ is in Heaven right now. He is coming back to Earth a second time, not as a baby, but in the full glory of his Godhood. From the few verses above and a couple more throughout the Bible, Christian death is referred to as a rest, but eternity is talked about as something that yet to happen, when we hear of our eternal home usually we hear about the new earth our God is preparing for us right now, the one that will replace this one.
So what is going to happen, how is this going to work? I can tell you without a doubt that God is coming and he is coming soon. When is this going to happen? The Bible has a fascinating answer for that. In Matthew 24 Christ says, “36"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. 42"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
So the answer is we don't know. But as Christians living today, we can take a lot away from these few verses. Think about how many times we've heard the world is going to end. Well we now know that December 21 2012 was not the end of the world. But according to this verse we always knew in that Christ is coming when we least expect Him. We also know that He does this because if we had a date in which to expect Him, then every action we performed would be in regards to leading up to that date. Instead we should live as though that date is within the next minute. One other interesting thing we see here is that Jesus admits Himself that not even He knows the date, but understand this is Jesus full man with His godliness set aside. Now Jesus with His returned Godliness does know and He is preparing our new home. But we are not left completely in the dark. Earlier in the chapter Jesus lets His disciples in on some end time events.
“3As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" 4Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. 5For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ, ' and will deceive many. 6You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8All these are the beginning of birth pains. 9"Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
The more we draw near to the end of this Earth, the Bible lets us know that people will become more and more ungodly. In society we will have wars and rumors of wars. In nature there will be earthquakes and famines. The church will have false christs, there will be persecutions and the gospel will be easily spread to people. Jesus preached this to His disciples, and it probably didn't sound too strange to them. Nor did it sound too strange to the Christian Church a hundred years later, because Roman roads had made spreading the word extremely easy. It also probably didn't sound to strange to our relatives about a hundred years ago when the world was constantly in what were called world wars. Nor does it sound too strange to us with internet which has made knowledge extremely accessible and rumors of war between this country and that. Not to mention all of the people from cults who claim to be God or do “miracles” in the name of science. Not much has changed as far as end time prophecy since Jesus' time. Just different names. Which really drives home the point that we should live each minute as if it is our last because it is so easy for us and previous generations to point at things and say without a doubt that we are living in the end times.
We also know how it will happen. Matthew and Acts reveal that after Christ ascended into Heaven, angels appeared and gave them this message. Acts chapter 1, “They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11"Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."” Matthew 25:31, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory.” The Bible tells us to keep an eye on the sky, because when Jesus comes again, we will see Him coming down from Heaven in glory with all of His holy angels. Revelation 1:7 says, “Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.” We have no need to worry about missing it either. Revelation goes on to say that a loud trumpet will sound.
Everyone will see it, be it in Michigan or China, and everyone will understand what is happening. Christians will know it's their heavenly Father and nonbelievers will know it's the God they rejected. When it happens Acts 17:31 lets us know that He will prove His holiness by raising the dead, “For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.” All of the dead, those who believed and those who didn't will be raised from the dead. Then all of mankind, the living and the dead will be judged. Matthew 25, from above goes on to say,
“"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' 37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' 40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' 41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' 44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' 45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' 46"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."”
The saved will will be called up to be with Jesus and the nonbelievers will be sent away from Him. But we won't be going back to Heaven with Jesus. The world in its current form will be destroyed with fire. 2 Peter 3:10 says, "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare." It goes on to say in verse 13, "But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness." After the world is destroyed God will give believers a perfect new Heaven and new Earth. In Phillippians chapter 3 we are told that believers will be given perfect, glorified bodies that will be similar to Christ's after His resurrection, "20But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body."
Revelation is kind of a scary book, dragons, demons, fiery swords. Death is scary, even if we know we're going to Heaven. Countless movies, tv shows and books have all told the tale of some hero trying to stop the apocalypse. The last day sounds scary. But in reality Judgement Day will be a joyous day for believers. As read before we are told we are to be given perfect bodies, meaning without sin. We will finally be free from the effects of sin. No more aging, hunger, diseases. We will be with the Lord forever and we will be eternally happy in His presence and we proclaim His praises forever. In 1 John chapter 3, John writes, "1How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure."
In a sinful world, the idea of the last day and judgement is scary. But to the believer, it is something to look forward to. If you find yourself afraid, ask yourself, Am I ready? Repent of your sins, live a Christian life. In whom do I trust? And for whom do I live? Jesus. As always I hope this was educational and also reached you so that you may look forward to a new eternal life. Look forward to our next lesson when we start our study on the Holy Spirit godhead. God bless you.
No comments:
Post a Comment