When Jesus was born into the world at the first Christmas, the beginning of the prophecy of hope was fulfilled, Isaiah 9:6, “For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Now did you know that our greatest hope now as believers is really in the final judgment that he brings upon the earth? Why do I say that? Because the eternal life we have in Jesus is going to be lived on the earth, when the new heaven and earth are introduced after the first have passed away. In other words God is going to recreate something like the original heaven and earth that existed before sin and the flood and all of that. The one we were originally created for. Somehow when we die before he comes again we will be in his presence spiritually, but we will be waiting for this new physical creation.
But if we look at Revelation 20, there are two resurrections. The first resurrection is for believers and occurs during the millennial reign of Christ and is not a physical resurrection but a spiritual one. How do we know this? Because there is no physical place for us to live with Christ until the New Jerusalem is brought down to the new earth in Revelation 21, after the battle of Armageddon.
That is where we will dwell physically with Jesus in our resurrection bodies and there will be no death, or pain, or tears and so on. The Word says that those who participate in the first resurrection, which would include what we consider the rapture, will not experience the second death, which happens when the second resurrection takes place at Jesus second coming.
The second resurrection is strictly for unbelievers and only takes place so that the unbelieving people can be judged and experience the second death, which is being thrown into the lake of fire with Satan. Whether that’s literal or not. It is a place of torment separated from God.
So, Jesus Christ is the final authority and that is what we base our hope on (vv 19-21)
Verse 21 says that the Father raises the dead and gives them life, and the son gives life to those whom he will, the Son is equal to the Father. That relates to the first resurrection, because the second resurrection does not give life. It also says the Father has given all judgement to the Son, so when Jesus returns:
Grace ends and Judgment begins (22-24). Remember a few chapters ahead in John 12 Jesus says I have not come (this first time), to judge the world, but to save it. So Jesus does not seem to have the authority to bring judgment until he has been resurrected.
But here in verse 22 it says the Father has given all judgment to the Son that all may honor both the Son and the Father. He has the authority to judge when he comes the first time, but not to deliver the ultimate judgment upon the earth. The first time is to save, the second is to execute the judgment.
And what is the criteria for this judgment? Is it our deeds? No, it says right there in verse 24 with emphasis, “truly I say to you, anyone who hears my words, and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment (the second death), but has passed from death to life”.
So who falls under the judgment? Who does not have hope? The ones who hear the word but don’t believe the Father who sent Jesus. That’s very important. It doesn’t say believe in God, even Satan believes in God. It says they must believe the word including the fact that the Father sent Jesus. Remember always that the word believe in the New Testament means to put faith in or entrust oneself to. Who are those who are saved, those who hear or accept that Gospel and believe, trust it, trust having the idea of submission, especially the words about Jesus.
And eventually,
He will Give the Final wake up call (25-29)
Now verse 25 is very interesting, again with emphasis he says an hour is coming and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the son of God and those who hear or accept his words, will live.
What is the hour that is coming, well it’s the time when Jesus descends into Hades at the time of his death and speaks the gospel to all who are in the grave. 1 Peter 3:18-20, Ephesians 4:8-10 mention this. The hour that is here now is speaking about those who are dead in sin but still physically alive. Now this doesn’t mean that those who die since Jesus death have a chance to believe after they die. This applies to those who died before Jesus death, who never got to hear or experience the gospel of Jesus death and resurrection. It probably also includes all people since Jesus time that did not have the opportunity to hear the Gospel. But those who hear about Jesus and reject Him in life do not get a second chance after they die.
People often ask about how those who died before Jesus came are able to be saved. Well this is how. Some of the characters from the Old Testament who believed, seem to have been raised spiritually to be with God right away. But in essence what this says is that those who died before Jesus came, and those who have never heard about Jesus since then, had a chance while in the grave to hear Jesus tell them about himself and decide whether or not they believed. If they do they are immediately raised spiritually in the first resurrection. If not they wait in Hades for the second death.
He reiterates this through verses 26 to 28. In verse 28 he again says there will be an hour when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out. Now does verse 29 suggest that salvation will be based on a person’s deeds when it says, “those who have done good will be raised to life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment?”
Fortunately we don’t have to guess about it because scripture itself answers this. In John’s first letter chapter 1 he says that “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And his word, the truth, will be in us. Very similar to what he says in verse 24 of our text in John’s gospel today.
So in that context what does doing good and doing evil mean? Well good means something of benefit. Evil means foul or harmful. This is not talking about our actual everyday behaviours and sins, but it is about whether we reject the Son, or accept the Son. The beneficial, good act is accepting Jesus, the harmful or evil act is rejecting Jesus. So if you deny the truth about Jesus you receive judgment. If you accept the truth about Jesus, you receive eternal life. In the next chapter John 6:29 Jesus says this is the work of God – that you believe the one he sent, Jesus. The work of God would be considered good work.
Now you might be thinking, pastor what does this have to do with Christmas. Well, Christmas is about Jesus first coming right? As we celebrate the birth of Jesus into the world, what did that birth do for mankind? Well, really it didn’t do anything in and of itself. It was his life, death, and resurrection that caused all the good things to happen. Of course we celebrate his birth because without that, the rest wouldn’t have been possible. So his birth is obviously important. But in some ways I wonder if we have made Christmas an idol.
I think as Christians when we make Christmas - Jesus birth, and Easter - his death and resurrection, our main focal points, we sometimes neglect what is going to be the most important part of Jesus ministry. The second coming and the judgment, because without that if you really think about it, the hope that we have is quite limited. Maybe we don’t celebrate or acknowledge it because we don’t have a date or holiday for it, because it’s in the future.
Otherwise when we died we would become these spirit beings that get to be with the Spirit God in this invisible realm. Basically a bunch of spirit’s gathered in the air or what we call heaven. But how many of you like living on earth and enjoying what physical reality has to offer? Do you like to eat, be touched, play, even work? That can only happen in the physical realm. We are saved (which is very important) to exist eternally in this new physical reality with Jesus. And right from the beginning this was God’s desire to have a physical existence with His creation on earth. But right now all we can have is a spiritual relationship in an ethereal heaven.
Jesus second coming inaugurates the new, forever perfect physical existence. That is really the heaven we are awaiting, and those of us who are not super excited about having Jesus come back and putting an end to this life as we know it, can at least have hope that one day we will be able to have physical relationships with our saved loved ones again.
Now the Bible doesn’t tell us much about the nature of these relationships. It does say there will not be marriage. We will all be the bride of Christ. But that doesn’t mean that that will bother us. Because scripture says there will be no sorrow or pain or anything like that. Whatever this new life is, it will be so much better than even what we have now, that anything you think you might miss from this life, won’t matter to you then. Apparently even if your loved ones are not saved, you will not have sorrow or tears. Don’t ask me how that’s possible, we have to just believe it.
Here’s my point. As we look toward Christmas, the giving and receiving of gifts, the turkey dinners, being together with family and so on. We are emphasizing the miraculous birth, God literally coming out of heaven to be a human in a fallen world, to be the Son of Man. We should celebrate that wholeheartedly.
But what if this Christmas was his coming back? Would we be celebrating, would we be looking forward to it? I don’t think we look forward to that final stage of Jesus ministry very often. We celebrate the things he has already done like being born and dying for our sins and being resurrected. But in all honesty, the thing we should be looking forward to the most is to be with Him again for eternity.
I’m not saying it’s wrong to celebrate Christmas and Easter, but when you think about our love for Jesus, wouldn’t it make sense that we should be longing to see him again, in fact for the first time? If we haven’t seen a loved one for many years wouldn’t we be looking forward to them coming to spend Christmas with us? Do we feel that way about Jesus? Or are we desiring more to have a long full life here, satisfying our desires, enjoying Christmas, and then go to be with him in paradise after we have enjoyed our time here?
Remember what Paul said in Philippians, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain… I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.” Do we have any of that attitude? That this life is a necessity for doing God’s will, but we would rather be with Christ?
Does the way we celebrate the past things he has done for us reflect the consumer nature of our love for Jesus. Do we really want Him to come back, to reign, to judge and destroy the world as we know it? To spend eternity with him serving and worshipping him?
Remember we will be coming back with Him to earth, so it’s not like we will be floating around just singing songs to him constantly for the rest of eternity. No, I see it as being kind of a replay of how it was supposed to go in the first place when God put Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden.
This time we will not turn from him and we will experience an eternal life on the new earth with him. This new world will be perfect with none of the negative stuff of this current world. We will get to see and experience forever a world in which all people live according to his will and perfect design, creating a utopian world that will never end.
Yes there are many good things about this life, unfortunately it will end. In the meantime many good things, and many bad things could happen. So I understand wanting to make the most of this life and not being really eager for it to end. But consider what we have awaiting us when Jesus comes back.
My questions for you today are the same as the ones the Lord gave me as I was preparing this sermon. Do you really have faith that what is coming is better than what is? Is your love for Christ so intense that you can’t wait for His return in glory? Or is your love for him more about the past than the future? Are you glad you’re saved because you can’t wait to meet Jesus, or is it more because you are relieved that you aren’t going to hell when this life is over?
His love for us is so great that he left heaven, came to earth, and died for us. The whole reason being so that he could live with us for eternity, that is his greatest desire. Is it ours? Can we not wait for Him to come back so we can be with Him? Do we want to do what we can to hasten his return? Does that hope give you more joy than anything you can think of even when the joys of this life are compared to it? In a couple weeks we’ll talk about joy.
But for today, let me just say that if this message is not bringing you hope and joy and excitement, if there is more a feeling of guilt and dread, you may want to look at your relationship with Jesus today. Do you really love Him the way he desires and loves you? Do you know him enough to love Him like that, or is your love for the things in this life still greater than your love and desire for Him?
I wonder if you would join me as we take communion this morning, to really seek communion with Him. To remember that he said he is looking forward to eating and drinking with us again in His Kingdom. That it’s not just about his death and sacrifice, but also about being with Him again and enjoying what I believe will be the greatest event in our entire eternal lives, the wedding supper of the Lamb.
Let’s prepare for communion this week by reading together the celebration in heaven at the time of the marriage supper of the Lamb from Revelation 19. And pay special attention to what they are celebrating in the first part that we will read before we take the bread.
