Rowland
May 1st 2009, 09:57 PM
" 'A nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return (Luke 19:12).' " We Christians are waiting for his return, but what has he been doing these past centuries? I believe that Jesus has been ruling a kingdom, the Kingdom of Heaven.
I should begin at the beginning in Genesis chapter one: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." "And God called the expanse, heaven." "And God said, 'Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night.' " "And God said, ' .... Let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.' " And in 2 Corinthians 12:2, "I know a man... who... was caught up to the third heaven-whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise...."
These verses remind the believer of truths that are easily overlooked. Heaven is not outside of this physical universe. It is not some ethereal dimension outside of God's creation of planets and stars. Before God created He did not live in heaven as there were no heavens before He created. And even if the heavens existed prior to the creation, the heavens could never hold God: "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house I have built (1 Kings 8:27)." But God chose and continues to choose to make His throne within the created universe. And God's heavenly throne is in an actual physical place just as His earthly throne was in a specific, physical place: the holy of holies in the Temple in Jerusalem.
Jesus made a point of placing God the Father in an actual place when he taught us what is known as the "Lord's Prayer": "Our Father in heaven...(Matthew 6:9)." And Psalm 103:19, "Yahweh has established his throne in the heavens." But, if heaven is a part of the creation, what is it and where is it? Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 12:2 that he actually visited this place and was possibly physically there; that this visit may have been more than just a vision. He referred to it by two names: "the third heaven" and "paradise".
I believe that Paul's description of his visit to heaven answers the what and where questions. It is a paradise, or garden type place. In other words, it must be an earth like planet somewhere in outer space. The first heaven is what we moderns call the earth's atmosphere, the sky where the birds fly and the cloudsfloat. It is the earth's atmosphere that John is referring to when he tells us, "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away... (Rev. 21:1)." The earth's atmosphere is now loaded with toxic gasses and must be recreated along with the earth.
The second heaven is the heaven that separates the waters above from the waters below and is the heaven where the two great lights are. We moderns call this heaven, space. The waters above do not represent the storehouse of rain as most commentators believe. These waters above are the frozen waters spread throughout intergalactic space. These waters had been in one place at the beginning of the creation and had to be pulled away to make room for the earth, sun and moon. The waters below are, of course, the oceans and seas of the earth. (A gigantic cloud of chunks of ice moving out of these waters above swept through the solar system at the time of Noah and fell as rain on the earth and possibly on the other planets as well.) The second heaven is space where the sun and moon and stars reside.
The third heaven is a special part of outer space where God has taken up residence. It may be only a few light years away or a million light years away. We don't know. I would suspect that it is comparatively nearby.
So, somewhere among the stars, God has established an actual physical place for Histhrone-room. We know it must be a physical place that can support human life because it is to this place that Jesus ascended forty days after his resurrection. Jesus has a resurrected body that is immortal and is, therefore, different from our clay bodies. Nevertheless, Jesus' body is a flesh and bone body as Jesus made clear to his disciples: "As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, 'Peace to you!' But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, 'Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.' And when he had said this he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, 'Have you anything here to eat?' They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took and ate before them (Luke 23:36-43)." T
There is something about the physical universe, about time and place vis a vis God or human spirituality that is repugnant to human beings-hence the attraction of gnosticism. Many Christians feel good about a nebulous God of their imagination as they sit quietly in meditation not thinking of anything in particular. These same Christians are uncomfortable with a God who acts in human history, with a God who in a particular year in human history killed a large number of Egyptians in order to force a particularPharaohto release His people from slavery. Some Christians that I have known are uncomfortable with Jesus' physical miracles, like the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. They prefer to think of Jesus as a worker of spiritual miracles such as healing people of their sinful habits. I'm not really sure why this is so. Why this abhorrence of the physical and particular as opposed to the spiritual and general. Christians will be aghast at hearing my claim that heaven is a particular planet circling an actual star. But this is what the Bible seems to be telling me.
Now, what is going on in this heaven, on this planet? This is where- at this moment in time- the Kingdom of God is. The Kingdom of God, or as Matthew calls it, the Kingdom of Heaven (because it is in heaven now?) was inaugurated by Jesus' ministry on earth. Jesus preached that in him the Kingdom had come. But Jesus did not actually enter into his Kingdom until he sat at the right hand of the Father in the Father's throne room. Jesus was brought to this planet after his death and resurrection and after spending forty days on earth testifying to the truth of his resurrection.
In regard to this coming into his Kingdom we have the words of Jesus that have been the source of much scholarly debate: " 'Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming into his kingdom (Matthew 16:28).' " The key to understanding these words is how we interpret the words, "taste death". Why didn't Jesus simply say, "There are some here who will not die...."? Is there any difference between dying and tasting death? I believe there is. I believe that when a faithful disciple of Jesus dies he does not taste death because when he dies he is immediately resurrected with his new resurrected body. He then enters the throne room of God where he sees Jesus sitting at the right hand of God. Now some among the large crowd listening to Jesus' words would die and be resurrected within the time between when Jesus spoke these words and when Jesus ascended into heaven. These believers in Jesus would be waiting for him in heaven-on this far-away planet where God has His throne room.
This first resurrection is described by John in Revelation 20:4-6. I will quote a small part of this passage: "They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. This thousand year period began during Jesus' public ministry. Jesus told Pilate that he (Jesus) was indeed a king but that his Kingdom was not of this world or earth. If Jesus was already a king then his Kingdom must have been in existence when he spoke these words to Pilate. The term "a thousand years" is symbolic for the period from the time of Jesus' public ministry till the end of this age.
Where do things stand at this moment? Again we return to the so called "Lord's Prayer": "Our Father, you who reside with us in our universe, in the third heaven, holy is your name. Your kingdom come to our poor suffering earth. Your will be done on this earth as it is now being done on the planet where your throne room is, where Jesus now resides as your co-ruler along with the first fruits of the resurrection. May this kingdom be brought down to us in our fallen world." So then, the Kingdom of God is both now present in our physical universe and will be present on this earth sometime in the future. The Kingdom is now fully operational but simply not here in this world. We look forward to the Kingdom coming to this world where those who have died in Christ will continue to rule and those who are in Christ at his coming will begin to rule with these faithful servants of Christ.
When Jesus with his saints comes in glory to our world the rest of the dead will rise from the graves. And they will be judged according to their works. "For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done (Matthew 16:27)." These who are judged according to their works were not Christian believers in their earthly lives. Christians are not judged by their works. The same is true for Matthew 25:31-46. "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations...." When the Bible speaks of the nations it has the unbelievers in view. Believers are never referred to as being members of "the nations". These passages in Matthew are misunderstood because of an erroneous theology which states that unbelievers have only one destination: eternal damnation either in hell or byannihilation. As Matthew says in both 16:27 and in 25:31 ff, this theology is wrong. Those unbelievers who have given food to or have sheltered God's little ones, the followers of his son, or given so much as a cup of water to a Christian will not lose their reward, that is, admission into the Kingdom. " 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Matthew 25:34).' " Do these unbelievers deserve to inherit the kingdom by their good works. Of course not. But even we Christians do not deserve to inherit the kingdom through our faith in Christ. Salvation is a gift to both those who have done good and to those who have believed. Those who have done evil or have neglected to give aid to Jesus' suffering followers will also be judged and will experience the second death. They will experience an age of shame and condemnation. Christians who have had a share in the first resurrection will not be threatened by the second death per Revelation 20:6. Believers who are alive at the coming of Jesus at the end of this age will beinstantaneouslychanged into their glorified state and will be collected from the four corners of the world. Even though this resurrection of the believers comes just before the resurrection of the rest of mankind it still is part of the first resurrection.
Those of the second resurrection, all those who for one reason or another did not place their trust in Jesus for their salvation, those who never heard the gospel, the wicked etc., etc.) come immediately to the Great White Throne Judgement. I say again, faithful Christians share in the first resurrection and over these the second death has no power. The Great White Throne Judgement is about separating the unbelievers who have done good works from those unbelievers who have done evil. The threat hanging over these unbelievers before they are judged is precisely the second death.
In the Gospel of John we find a unique phrase repeated 4 times in chapter 6: "I will raise him up on the last day." First of all, who is this person whom Christ will raise on the last day? It is the Christian believer only. In all four instances in John, chapter 6 where this promise is given, the believer alone is meant. John 6 shows that Jesus promises to raise believers and believers only on the last day. The general resurrection at the end of this age is for non-Christians only, some of whom will not lose their reward and some of whom will experience the second death. We see Jesus talking about the resurrection of the just-those non-Christians who will not lose their reward-in Luke 14:12-14 where Jesus promises a ruler of the Pharisees, who had invited him to feast with him, that if he would invite to some future banquet the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind and others who could not repay him he would in fact be repaid at the resurrection of the just. Again, Jesus is not assuming that this man will become a follower of his.
But what is this "last day"? Interestingly, the phrase, "the last day" is found only here in John 6 (and it's found 4 times here) and in John 11:24. The promise, "I will raise him up on the last day" can only refer to the last day of the earthly life of the individual who meets the criterion for the first resurrection. Martha, Lazarus' sister, tells Jesus that she knows that her brother will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. Martha believes that at some time in the distant future there will be a resurrection during which her brother will be raised. Jesus corrects her: " 'I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?' (John 11:24-26)." I do. I believe that Jesus is saying that the moment Lazarus dies at the end of his life he will be instantaneously resurrected and brought into the Kingdom of God. Jesus will have set up this Kingdom after having ascended into the heavens and arrived at the planet prepared for him. It will be as though Lazarus had never died. This will be the case for all who will have died in Christ.
John is the Apostle of the Resurrection. He records more information about the resurrection than any other writer in the Bible. We now go to John 13:33-37; 14:1-7,12,18-20 and 16:4b-24,28 to discover more about the first resurrection. Jesus' final discourse starts from John 12:23: " 'The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.' " And ends with John 17:26: " 'I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.' " Note that Jesus begins his discourse by pointing, not to his coming crucifixion, but to his being taken up into heaven to sit at the right hand of God-his glorification. This must be kept in mind when we look at the passages discussing his disciples' resurrection and ascension into heaven at the time of their individual deaths. "Simon Peter said to him, 'Lord, where are you going?" Jesus answered him, 'Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow me afterward (John 13:36).' " Jesus is talking about his journey to a far country, to the beautiful planet prepared for him to rule as he sits at the right hand of the Father. Jesus is not talking about his immanent trip to the grave. He is talking about his ascension which is 40 some days away. " 'And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you will be also (John 14:3).' " Jesus is not here talking about his second coming at the end of the age. He is talking about taking his disciples away from the earth to the place where he will be during this age before he returns at the end of the age. " 'Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live you also will live (John 14:19).' " What is this "little while". This is the 43 days from the time of these words to his ascension into heaven. He is not talking about the three days he will spend in the grave. " 'But now I am going to him who sent me...' " " 'A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me (John 16:16)' " Again, Jesus has in mind his return to the Father shortly before Pentecost, not his time in the grave. But what is this little time that will pass before the disciples see him again? This little time is not the time that Jesus lies in his tomb. This is the little time that will pass between Jesus' ascension into heaven and the disciples' own death, resurrection and ascension into heaven. Their resurrection will occur on the day each of them dies. For some this little time may have been just weeks or months. For others it was several decades. In any event, this little time was not envisioned as 2,000 plus years ending with the Second Coming and the so called general resurrection. The so called general resurrection is actually what the Bible calls the Second Resurrection which is followed by the final judgement of unbelievers in which some are judged to have been just. Jesus disciples will be blessed to be raised in the first resurrection at which time they will go to the far country where their Lord is ruling as king.
" '... May the Lord make you increase and abound in love, for one another and for all... so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints (1 Thessalonians 3:12-13).' " Jesus will be coming with his saints. With those who were raised at the first resurrections. (I've put the word "resurrection" in the plural because in reality there will be many first resurrections although the Bible uses the singular.) What makes these verses a little confusing is the fact that Paul in these verses is expressing his expectation of an early Second Coming. As Paul says elsewhere, and as I have quoted above, believers who are alive at Jesus' Second Coming will be changed in an instant, will experience their first resurrection at the moment of his coming without having to "fall asleep" (die) beforehand. Paul is not talking about the so called general resurrection (the Second Resurrection) of unbelievers who will have died previous to the Second Coming. The question that I cannot answer is: What about the unbelievers at the Second Coming? Will all the unbelievers have died in the pouring out of God's wrath so that all unbelievers will have to be raised from the dead in the Second Resurrection? Or will some be alive to receive their resurrected bodies in an instant along with the living believers? No matter, all unbelievers will be ushered into God's throne room for the Final Judgment.
The unbelieving, unjust, wicked will be judged and thrown into the Lake of Fire where they will experience the Second Death. Nothing unholy will be allowed into the New Jerusalem. This New Jerusalem will also descend from heaven onto the earth with Jesus and his saints. " '... Their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death (Revelation 21:8b).' " It is my belief, after searching the Scriptures, that this terrible suffering in this Lake of Fire is the Great Tribulation that the Bible speaks of. After experiencing this second death, this great multitude which no man can number, come out of the Lake of Fire, out of the Great Tribulation where there is weeping and the grinding of teeth. It is the damned who will weep, not the saved. So it is the tears of the damned that will need to be wiped away. But these damned will cry out with a loud voice (with love in their hearts): " 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb (Revelation 7:10).' " Their sins of wickedness and unbelief will have been washed away by the blood of the Lamb. God's work of salvation in Jesus, the Messiah, does not end at the grave. The Lamb will guide these poor damned souls, now saved, to springs of living water. " 'For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes (Revelation 7:17).' " These people were not believers on this side of the grave. If they had been they would not have needed someone to guide them to the springs of living water. In fact, had they been believers on this side of the grave, they themselves would have had living water flowing from them: " 'Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life (John 4:14).' " " Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst (John 6:35).' " And yet this great multitude had been hungry, had been thirsty during their Great Tribulation. The elder is telling John that only after they have come out of the Great Tribulation will they henceforth never thirst again. Nor will they ever again experience any scorching heat. Who but the damned need to be assured that they will never again suffer from scorching heat? (See Revelation 16:8) " 'They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat (Revelation 7:16).' "
John's audience for his Book of Revelation believed that all would be eventually saved. For this very reason, John does not want his audience to misunderstand God's saving grace. So he emphasizes that the wicked will not be welcomed into the Kingdom as is. No one who is cowardly, faithless, detestable, a murderer, sexually immoral, a sorcerer, an idolater, a liar will be allowed to enter the New Jerusalem. Their portion will be in the Lake of Fire where they will be refined as gold is refined in a furnace. But the Lake of Fire does not save them. They are saved by the blood of the Lamb, just like Christian sinners are. And we Christians, just like those thrown into the Lake of Fire, must experience a death to ourselves, we must take up our cross and die daily. We no longer live but are alive in Christ.
It could be that the springs of living water that the Lamb will guide this great multitude to will be none other than Christian believers who Christ promised would be the source of living water. Our work will not be finished on the other side of the grave. We will be teaching the lost the truths that each of us has learned in our walk of faith in Jesus. But this work will not be wearisome and unproductive as it often is on this side of the grave. The work will be easy and refreshing.
"He who testifies to these things says, 'Surely I am coming soon (Revelation 22:20).' " This promise raises the eschatological question that I have up till now avoided. We Christians have been waiting for 2,000 years now. Or have we? All Christians (true Christians) that have died are already with Jesus in his Kingdom. So we who are still alive are the only ones waiting. And none of us has really waited all that long. So whenever Jesus comes back to our world it will be soon for the Christians then still living in this world. This promise is for every generation of Christians. And it has been kept for every generation of Christians. Jesus comes immediately when each Christian dies to give life to him or her and to bring him or her to heaven. I believe, after searching the Scriptures, that our generation will be the one to see the Second Coming. Jesus is indeed coming soon.
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. (Revelation 22:21)
Rowland
I should begin at the beginning in Genesis chapter one: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." "And God called the expanse, heaven." "And God said, 'Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night.' " "And God said, ' .... Let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.' " And in 2 Corinthians 12:2, "I know a man... who... was caught up to the third heaven-whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise...."
These verses remind the believer of truths that are easily overlooked. Heaven is not outside of this physical universe. It is not some ethereal dimension outside of God's creation of planets and stars. Before God created He did not live in heaven as there were no heavens before He created. And even if the heavens existed prior to the creation, the heavens could never hold God: "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house I have built (1 Kings 8:27)." But God chose and continues to choose to make His throne within the created universe. And God's heavenly throne is in an actual physical place just as His earthly throne was in a specific, physical place: the holy of holies in the Temple in Jerusalem.
Jesus made a point of placing God the Father in an actual place when he taught us what is known as the "Lord's Prayer": "Our Father in heaven...(Matthew 6:9)." And Psalm 103:19, "Yahweh has established his throne in the heavens." But, if heaven is a part of the creation, what is it and where is it? Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 12:2 that he actually visited this place and was possibly physically there; that this visit may have been more than just a vision. He referred to it by two names: "the third heaven" and "paradise".
I believe that Paul's description of his visit to heaven answers the what and where questions. It is a paradise, or garden type place. In other words, it must be an earth like planet somewhere in outer space. The first heaven is what we moderns call the earth's atmosphere, the sky where the birds fly and the cloudsfloat. It is the earth's atmosphere that John is referring to when he tells us, "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away... (Rev. 21:1)." The earth's atmosphere is now loaded with toxic gasses and must be recreated along with the earth.
The second heaven is the heaven that separates the waters above from the waters below and is the heaven where the two great lights are. We moderns call this heaven, space. The waters above do not represent the storehouse of rain as most commentators believe. These waters above are the frozen waters spread throughout intergalactic space. These waters had been in one place at the beginning of the creation and had to be pulled away to make room for the earth, sun and moon. The waters below are, of course, the oceans and seas of the earth. (A gigantic cloud of chunks of ice moving out of these waters above swept through the solar system at the time of Noah and fell as rain on the earth and possibly on the other planets as well.) The second heaven is space where the sun and moon and stars reside.
The third heaven is a special part of outer space where God has taken up residence. It may be only a few light years away or a million light years away. We don't know. I would suspect that it is comparatively nearby.
So, somewhere among the stars, God has established an actual physical place for Histhrone-room. We know it must be a physical place that can support human life because it is to this place that Jesus ascended forty days after his resurrection. Jesus has a resurrected body that is immortal and is, therefore, different from our clay bodies. Nevertheless, Jesus' body is a flesh and bone body as Jesus made clear to his disciples: "As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, 'Peace to you!' But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, 'Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.' And when he had said this he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, 'Have you anything here to eat?' They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took and ate before them (Luke 23:36-43)." T
There is something about the physical universe, about time and place vis a vis God or human spirituality that is repugnant to human beings-hence the attraction of gnosticism. Many Christians feel good about a nebulous God of their imagination as they sit quietly in meditation not thinking of anything in particular. These same Christians are uncomfortable with a God who acts in human history, with a God who in a particular year in human history killed a large number of Egyptians in order to force a particularPharaohto release His people from slavery. Some Christians that I have known are uncomfortable with Jesus' physical miracles, like the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. They prefer to think of Jesus as a worker of spiritual miracles such as healing people of their sinful habits. I'm not really sure why this is so. Why this abhorrence of the physical and particular as opposed to the spiritual and general. Christians will be aghast at hearing my claim that heaven is a particular planet circling an actual star. But this is what the Bible seems to be telling me.
Now, what is going on in this heaven, on this planet? This is where- at this moment in time- the Kingdom of God is. The Kingdom of God, or as Matthew calls it, the Kingdom of Heaven (because it is in heaven now?) was inaugurated by Jesus' ministry on earth. Jesus preached that in him the Kingdom had come. But Jesus did not actually enter into his Kingdom until he sat at the right hand of the Father in the Father's throne room. Jesus was brought to this planet after his death and resurrection and after spending forty days on earth testifying to the truth of his resurrection.
In regard to this coming into his Kingdom we have the words of Jesus that have been the source of much scholarly debate: " 'Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming into his kingdom (Matthew 16:28).' " The key to understanding these words is how we interpret the words, "taste death". Why didn't Jesus simply say, "There are some here who will not die...."? Is there any difference between dying and tasting death? I believe there is. I believe that when a faithful disciple of Jesus dies he does not taste death because when he dies he is immediately resurrected with his new resurrected body. He then enters the throne room of God where he sees Jesus sitting at the right hand of God. Now some among the large crowd listening to Jesus' words would die and be resurrected within the time between when Jesus spoke these words and when Jesus ascended into heaven. These believers in Jesus would be waiting for him in heaven-on this far-away planet where God has His throne room.
This first resurrection is described by John in Revelation 20:4-6. I will quote a small part of this passage: "They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. This thousand year period began during Jesus' public ministry. Jesus told Pilate that he (Jesus) was indeed a king but that his Kingdom was not of this world or earth. If Jesus was already a king then his Kingdom must have been in existence when he spoke these words to Pilate. The term "a thousand years" is symbolic for the period from the time of Jesus' public ministry till the end of this age.
Where do things stand at this moment? Again we return to the so called "Lord's Prayer": "Our Father, you who reside with us in our universe, in the third heaven, holy is your name. Your kingdom come to our poor suffering earth. Your will be done on this earth as it is now being done on the planet where your throne room is, where Jesus now resides as your co-ruler along with the first fruits of the resurrection. May this kingdom be brought down to us in our fallen world." So then, the Kingdom of God is both now present in our physical universe and will be present on this earth sometime in the future. The Kingdom is now fully operational but simply not here in this world. We look forward to the Kingdom coming to this world where those who have died in Christ will continue to rule and those who are in Christ at his coming will begin to rule with these faithful servants of Christ.
When Jesus with his saints comes in glory to our world the rest of the dead will rise from the graves. And they will be judged according to their works. "For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done (Matthew 16:27)." These who are judged according to their works were not Christian believers in their earthly lives. Christians are not judged by their works. The same is true for Matthew 25:31-46. "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations...." When the Bible speaks of the nations it has the unbelievers in view. Believers are never referred to as being members of "the nations". These passages in Matthew are misunderstood because of an erroneous theology which states that unbelievers have only one destination: eternal damnation either in hell or byannihilation. As Matthew says in both 16:27 and in 25:31 ff, this theology is wrong. Those unbelievers who have given food to or have sheltered God's little ones, the followers of his son, or given so much as a cup of water to a Christian will not lose their reward, that is, admission into the Kingdom. " 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Matthew 25:34).' " Do these unbelievers deserve to inherit the kingdom by their good works. Of course not. But even we Christians do not deserve to inherit the kingdom through our faith in Christ. Salvation is a gift to both those who have done good and to those who have believed. Those who have done evil or have neglected to give aid to Jesus' suffering followers will also be judged and will experience the second death. They will experience an age of shame and condemnation. Christians who have had a share in the first resurrection will not be threatened by the second death per Revelation 20:6. Believers who are alive at the coming of Jesus at the end of this age will beinstantaneouslychanged into their glorified state and will be collected from the four corners of the world. Even though this resurrection of the believers comes just before the resurrection of the rest of mankind it still is part of the first resurrection.
Those of the second resurrection, all those who for one reason or another did not place their trust in Jesus for their salvation, those who never heard the gospel, the wicked etc., etc.) come immediately to the Great White Throne Judgement. I say again, faithful Christians share in the first resurrection and over these the second death has no power. The Great White Throne Judgement is about separating the unbelievers who have done good works from those unbelievers who have done evil. The threat hanging over these unbelievers before they are judged is precisely the second death.
In the Gospel of John we find a unique phrase repeated 4 times in chapter 6: "I will raise him up on the last day." First of all, who is this person whom Christ will raise on the last day? It is the Christian believer only. In all four instances in John, chapter 6 where this promise is given, the believer alone is meant. John 6 shows that Jesus promises to raise believers and believers only on the last day. The general resurrection at the end of this age is for non-Christians only, some of whom will not lose their reward and some of whom will experience the second death. We see Jesus talking about the resurrection of the just-those non-Christians who will not lose their reward-in Luke 14:12-14 where Jesus promises a ruler of the Pharisees, who had invited him to feast with him, that if he would invite to some future banquet the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind and others who could not repay him he would in fact be repaid at the resurrection of the just. Again, Jesus is not assuming that this man will become a follower of his.
But what is this "last day"? Interestingly, the phrase, "the last day" is found only here in John 6 (and it's found 4 times here) and in John 11:24. The promise, "I will raise him up on the last day" can only refer to the last day of the earthly life of the individual who meets the criterion for the first resurrection. Martha, Lazarus' sister, tells Jesus that she knows that her brother will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. Martha believes that at some time in the distant future there will be a resurrection during which her brother will be raised. Jesus corrects her: " 'I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?' (John 11:24-26)." I do. I believe that Jesus is saying that the moment Lazarus dies at the end of his life he will be instantaneously resurrected and brought into the Kingdom of God. Jesus will have set up this Kingdom after having ascended into the heavens and arrived at the planet prepared for him. It will be as though Lazarus had never died. This will be the case for all who will have died in Christ.
John is the Apostle of the Resurrection. He records more information about the resurrection than any other writer in the Bible. We now go to John 13:33-37; 14:1-7,12,18-20 and 16:4b-24,28 to discover more about the first resurrection. Jesus' final discourse starts from John 12:23: " 'The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.' " And ends with John 17:26: " 'I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.' " Note that Jesus begins his discourse by pointing, not to his coming crucifixion, but to his being taken up into heaven to sit at the right hand of God-his glorification. This must be kept in mind when we look at the passages discussing his disciples' resurrection and ascension into heaven at the time of their individual deaths. "Simon Peter said to him, 'Lord, where are you going?" Jesus answered him, 'Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow me afterward (John 13:36).' " Jesus is talking about his journey to a far country, to the beautiful planet prepared for him to rule as he sits at the right hand of the Father. Jesus is not talking about his immanent trip to the grave. He is talking about his ascension which is 40 some days away. " 'And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you will be also (John 14:3).' " Jesus is not here talking about his second coming at the end of the age. He is talking about taking his disciples away from the earth to the place where he will be during this age before he returns at the end of the age. " 'Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live you also will live (John 14:19).' " What is this "little while". This is the 43 days from the time of these words to his ascension into heaven. He is not talking about the three days he will spend in the grave. " 'But now I am going to him who sent me...' " " 'A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me (John 16:16)' " Again, Jesus has in mind his return to the Father shortly before Pentecost, not his time in the grave. But what is this little time that will pass before the disciples see him again? This little time is not the time that Jesus lies in his tomb. This is the little time that will pass between Jesus' ascension into heaven and the disciples' own death, resurrection and ascension into heaven. Their resurrection will occur on the day each of them dies. For some this little time may have been just weeks or months. For others it was several decades. In any event, this little time was not envisioned as 2,000 plus years ending with the Second Coming and the so called general resurrection. The so called general resurrection is actually what the Bible calls the Second Resurrection which is followed by the final judgement of unbelievers in which some are judged to have been just. Jesus disciples will be blessed to be raised in the first resurrection at which time they will go to the far country where their Lord is ruling as king.
" '... May the Lord make you increase and abound in love, for one another and for all... so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints (1 Thessalonians 3:12-13).' " Jesus will be coming with his saints. With those who were raised at the first resurrections. (I've put the word "resurrection" in the plural because in reality there will be many first resurrections although the Bible uses the singular.) What makes these verses a little confusing is the fact that Paul in these verses is expressing his expectation of an early Second Coming. As Paul says elsewhere, and as I have quoted above, believers who are alive at Jesus' Second Coming will be changed in an instant, will experience their first resurrection at the moment of his coming without having to "fall asleep" (die) beforehand. Paul is not talking about the so called general resurrection (the Second Resurrection) of unbelievers who will have died previous to the Second Coming. The question that I cannot answer is: What about the unbelievers at the Second Coming? Will all the unbelievers have died in the pouring out of God's wrath so that all unbelievers will have to be raised from the dead in the Second Resurrection? Or will some be alive to receive their resurrected bodies in an instant along with the living believers? No matter, all unbelievers will be ushered into God's throne room for the Final Judgment.
The unbelieving, unjust, wicked will be judged and thrown into the Lake of Fire where they will experience the Second Death. Nothing unholy will be allowed into the New Jerusalem. This New Jerusalem will also descend from heaven onto the earth with Jesus and his saints. " '... Their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death (Revelation 21:8b).' " It is my belief, after searching the Scriptures, that this terrible suffering in this Lake of Fire is the Great Tribulation that the Bible speaks of. After experiencing this second death, this great multitude which no man can number, come out of the Lake of Fire, out of the Great Tribulation where there is weeping and the grinding of teeth. It is the damned who will weep, not the saved. So it is the tears of the damned that will need to be wiped away. But these damned will cry out with a loud voice (with love in their hearts): " 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb (Revelation 7:10).' " Their sins of wickedness and unbelief will have been washed away by the blood of the Lamb. God's work of salvation in Jesus, the Messiah, does not end at the grave. The Lamb will guide these poor damned souls, now saved, to springs of living water. " 'For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes (Revelation 7:17).' " These people were not believers on this side of the grave. If they had been they would not have needed someone to guide them to the springs of living water. In fact, had they been believers on this side of the grave, they themselves would have had living water flowing from them: " 'Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life (John 4:14).' " " Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst (John 6:35).' " And yet this great multitude had been hungry, had been thirsty during their Great Tribulation. The elder is telling John that only after they have come out of the Great Tribulation will they henceforth never thirst again. Nor will they ever again experience any scorching heat. Who but the damned need to be assured that they will never again suffer from scorching heat? (See Revelation 16:8) " 'They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat (Revelation 7:16).' "
John's audience for his Book of Revelation believed that all would be eventually saved. For this very reason, John does not want his audience to misunderstand God's saving grace. So he emphasizes that the wicked will not be welcomed into the Kingdom as is. No one who is cowardly, faithless, detestable, a murderer, sexually immoral, a sorcerer, an idolater, a liar will be allowed to enter the New Jerusalem. Their portion will be in the Lake of Fire where they will be refined as gold is refined in a furnace. But the Lake of Fire does not save them. They are saved by the blood of the Lamb, just like Christian sinners are. And we Christians, just like those thrown into the Lake of Fire, must experience a death to ourselves, we must take up our cross and die daily. We no longer live but are alive in Christ.
It could be that the springs of living water that the Lamb will guide this great multitude to will be none other than Christian believers who Christ promised would be the source of living water. Our work will not be finished on the other side of the grave. We will be teaching the lost the truths that each of us has learned in our walk of faith in Jesus. But this work will not be wearisome and unproductive as it often is on this side of the grave. The work will be easy and refreshing.
"He who testifies to these things says, 'Surely I am coming soon (Revelation 22:20).' " This promise raises the eschatological question that I have up till now avoided. We Christians have been waiting for 2,000 years now. Or have we? All Christians (true Christians) that have died are already with Jesus in his Kingdom. So we who are still alive are the only ones waiting. And none of us has really waited all that long. So whenever Jesus comes back to our world it will be soon for the Christians then still living in this world. This promise is for every generation of Christians. And it has been kept for every generation of Christians. Jesus comes immediately when each Christian dies to give life to him or her and to bring him or her to heaven. I believe, after searching the Scriptures, that our generation will be the one to see the Second Coming. Jesus is indeed coming soon.
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. (Revelation 22:21)
Rowland