“I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after all my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes – I, and not another” Job 19:25-27.
Both the Old and New Testaments speak of how the world we know will end and that God is working out His purposes until then. When Jesus comes again, believers will be judged and then enjoy eternity with God in Heaven. Unbelievers will also be judged and then spend eternity in Hell.
The glorious and incontestable fact that Jesus is coming the second time is the Christian’s firm hope; but, the revealed details take some though and study. Jesus’ own description of His second coming cannot be surpassed. “I will come back and take you with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:3). “Immediately after the distress of those days… the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky… They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory” Matthew 24:29-30.
Dr. George Sweeting once estimated that “more than a fourth of the Bible is predictive prophecy...Both the Old and New Testaments are full of promises about the return of Jesus Christ. Over 1800 references appear in the O.T., and seventeen O.T. books give prominence to this theme. Of the 260 chapters in the N.T., there are more than 300 references to the Lord’s return-one out of every 30 verses. Twenty-three of the 27 N.T. books refer to this great event...For every prophecy on the first coming of Christ, there are eight on Christ’s second coming.” (Source: Today in the Word, MBI, December, 1989, p. 40.)
At His ascension into Heaven while the disciples stared heavenward, two men dressed in white stood beside them and said: “Men of Galilee… 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” Acts 1:10-11. Paul also emphasised it: “For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first” 1 Thessalonians 4:16.
The second coming of Christ is the great expectation of the church. As Christians we should, with Paul, love to look for “that blessed [and] glorious hope appearing of our great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ” Titus 2:13. The return of Jesus is an incentive for holy living: “And now, dear children, continue in Him, so that when He appears we may be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming” 1 John 2:28. “Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure” 1 John 3:3. Neither the prophets or the apostles mention the return of Christ for speculative purposes but always as a motive for practical daily holiness. We could summarise this doctrine with Peter’s words “What kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives” 2 Peter 3:11.
Extraordinary and momentous events will take place at the second coming of Jesus. The resurrection of the believing dead will occur, and believers who are still alive will be changed and “caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” 1 Thessalonians 4:17. The resurrection of the dead is emphasised in the New Testament, and also taught throughout the Bible. Job said: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after all my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes – I, and not another”
Job 19:25-27.
King David anticipated this resurrection: “Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.” Psalm 16:9-10.
Daniel mentions it: “At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.” Daniel 12:1-3.
Jesus taught it repeatedly and emphasised that it will include all people: “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.” John 5:28-29.
That the resurrection is a physical rather than a merely spiritual event is evidenced by the resurrection of Lazarus (John 11:44) and by that of Jesus himself (Luke 24:39). The resurrection of the body is part of our total redemption (Romans 8:23). The Apostle Paul refers to our resurrection bodies as “clothes with our heavenly dwelling” or “an eternal house” not built by human hands (2 Corinthians 5:2,4). Our resurrection bodies will not be identical to the ones we have now, but they will be closely related to them. The disciples for example recognised Jesus by the scars in His hands and side (John 20:27).
Believers will be resurrected at the coming of Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:16). This will be the first resurrection “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.’” John 5:28-29.
The Apostle Paul wrote “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Philippians 3:10-11. It is literally the resurrection “out of the dead” – the righteous will be raised from among the wicked. There is an indication of a time lapse between the resurrection of believers to glory and the resurrection of unbelievers to judgement. Though we cannot be exact about the length of this interval, at least a thousand years will separate the two resurrections (see Revelation 20:4-6).
The Bible is clear that the final destiny of the unbeliever is Hell. This terrible place is described in various ways. It is a place or state of everlasting fire (Mark 9:43, Matthew 25:41). It is spoken of as a lake of burning sulphur (Revelation 20:10). Hell is conceived as a place of outer darkness (Matthew 8:12). It is described as a place of eternal torment and punishment (Revelation 14:10-11). If figurative language is involved, it is obviously symbolic of something so awful no one in their right mind could be indifferent to avoiding it. One of the books on Systematic Theology describes Hell this way: “The loss of all good, whether physical or spiritual, and the misery of an evil conscience banished from God and the society of the holy and dwelling under God’s positive curse forever.” A.H. Strong.
Nowhere in the Bible is there any trace of the idea that Hell is a kind of debauched club, absence from which would cause us to miss our friends – this is a lie that Satan perpetrates to blind us to the true nature of Hell. Hell is the “blackest darkness… forever” (Jude 13) – utter aloneness. The writer C.S. Lewis defined one of the most awful aspects of hell as “nothing but yourself for all eternity”.
There is no biblical evidence for believing in the final restoration of the lost or in universal salvation of all people. Perhaps the clearest disproof of these notions, as well as of final annihilation, is the fact that the same word, eternal, is used to describe both punishment and life: “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life” Matthew 25:46. However we may try to qualify the word so that it means, “age-long” rather than “everlasting”, we must apply the same qualification to the destinies of the righteous and the wicked. We cannot consistently deny eternal punishment without also denying eternal life. And “eternal life” is everlasting life. Eternal certainly means “everlasting” when it is applied to God. Why should it mean anything else when it modifies “punishment”?
God in His love has done everything necessary to redeem mankind. His justice requires that He punish sin, but His love provides salvation freely for all who accept it. Those in Hell are there because they refused or ignored God’s love; they are there solely responsible for their condition. The realisation of this truth will surely be one of the most painful experiences of Hell.
The final destination of the believers is Heaven. Heaven is most simply defined as where God is. It is a place of rest (Hebrews 4:9), of glory (2 Corinthians 4:17) of purity (Revelation 21:27), of worship (Revelation 19:1), of fellowship with others (Hebrews 12:23_ and of being with God (Revelation 21:3). “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” Revelation 21:4.
The believer may receive one or more crowns the crown of life (James 1:12), the crown of glory (1 Peter 5:4) and the crown of righteousness (2 Timothy 4:8). Those who have been won for Christ through our witness become our crown of rejoicing (1 Thessalonians 2:19). Through all of this, the centre of Heaven will be God Himself, the Lord of Heaven.
Those around His throne are pictured as being in such awe that they cast their crowns before Him and say, “You are worthy, our Lord and god” (Revelation 4:11). Everything in Heaven will be new: “The earth and everything in it will be laid bare… But we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness” 2 Peter 3:10,13.
John reports: “I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God” Revelation 21:1-2. God’s kingdom will be established when “at the name of Jesus every knee should [shall] bow… and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” Philippians 2:10-11. The kingdoms of this world shall be the kingdoms of our Lord, and He shall reign forever and ever – His will done on earth as it is done in Heaven. Imagine this sight: “[I saw] someone “like a son of man,” dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet… His head and hair were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of rushing waters” Revelation 1:13-15.
Our hope for the future is to see with our resurrection eyes the Lord Jesus Christ, a sight that outstrips our human comprehension. Heaven could never be the boring experience of strumming a harp on a cloud as some so wrongly imagine it. Heaven will be the most dynamic, expanding, exhilarating experience conceivable. Our problem now is that, with our finite minds, we cannot imagine it. In the words of a classic hymn Amazing Grace by John Newton: “When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we’d first begun”
Jesus is our hope. Because of what Jesus did in the past, we can live in the present in His power, and we can know that we have a future with Jesus in Heaven.
