The Walking Dead Series (4 of 4)
“The Dead Will Rise . . . God Said So!”
October 27, 2013 Chester FBC Chester, IL Dr. Mike Fogerson
Introduction:
A From O.T. times till today, humankind has tried to solve the riddle of death & the afterlife.
1 The O.T. gives us several statements about the dead coming back to life.
a When Abraham was about to offer Isaac as a sacrifice on the top of Moriah he believed God would resurrect the boy should he be slain
Hebrews 11:19 (NASB) 19 He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.
aa Isaiah 26:19 (NASB) 19 Your dead will live; Their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, For your dew is as the dew of the dawn, And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits.
bb Daniel 12:2 (NASB) 2 "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.
a resurrection of the righteous & unrighteous.
cc The Psalmist wrote of resurrection
Psalm 49:15 (NASB) 15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, For He will receive me. Selah.
b The N.T. view of resurrection revealed answers to the mystery surrounding death & resurrection through the teachings of Jesus and the writers of the N.T. (His Word on the afterlife was gradual & progressive & climaxed at the coming of Christ )
2 Timothy 1:10 (NASB) 10 but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,
aa John 5:25, 28-29 (NASB) 25 "Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 28 "Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, 29 and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.
John 6:39-40, 44, 54 (NASB) 39 "This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. 40 "For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day." 44 "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.54 "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
bb Lazarus resurrection
John 11:24-25 (NASB) 24 Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." 25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,
2 Paul gives more clues about a future resurrection.
a Romans 8:22-23 (NASB) 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. 23 And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.
1 Corinthians 6:12-20 (NASB) 12 All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. 13 Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. 14 Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be! 16 Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, "THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH." 17 But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.18 Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
b Our bodies will be resurrected because . . .
aa Our bodies are members of Christ (v.15)
bb Our bodies are Temples of the Holy Spirit (v.19)
cc v.13,14 So glorify God with your body (v.20)
B We have all felt the cruel separation & loneliness that death causes; mourned the loss of a loved one who has died. (It’s Scriptural per Phil. 2.27.)
Philippians 2:27 (NASB) 27 For indeed he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow.
1 Jesus wept for Lazarus, Rom. 12.15 tells us to weep with those who weep. (Separation, loss hurts.)
Romans 12:15 (NASB) 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.
a The Bible defines death as “ . . .the body without the spirit is dead . . .”
James 2:26 (NASB) 26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
b At death the spirit/soul leaves the body, the body goes to “sleep/no longer functions.” My Body sleeps but my soul LIVES!!!
aa The spirit/soul of The Walking Dead (dead yet are alive; lost) will immediately go to hell
Luke 16:22-23 (NASB)22 "Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. 23 "In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom.
bb A lost person has every reason to fear/dread death.
2 IF you are saved & your departed loved is saved there is no need for sorrow/grieving like lost people should feel.
a Physical death is temporary in nature for the Christian
1 Corinthians 7:39 (NASB) 39 A wife is bound as long as her husband lives; but if her husband is dead, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.
1 Corinthians 11:30 (NASB) 30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.
1 Corinthians 15:6 (NASB) 6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep;
1 Corinthians 15:18 (NASB) 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
1 Corinthians 15:20 (NASB) 20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.
1 Corinthians 15:51 (NASB) 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,
John 11:11 (NASB) 11 This He said, and after that He said to them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him out of sleep."
b Christians are PROMISED a bodily resurrection.
c Paul didn’t see a Christians death as an interruption of relationship while their bodies are in the grave.
3 When a Christian dies their spirit goes immediately into conscious fellowship with the Lord
2 Corinthians 5:8 (NASB) 8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
Philippians 1:23 (NASB) 23 But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better;
a Jesus told the thief “TODAY”
Luke 23:43 (NASB) 43 And He said to him, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise."
aa Moses soul didn’t sleep
Matthew 17:3 (NASB) 3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.
bb Martyrs from the Tribulation didn’t sleep: They are awake, able to speak to God.
Revelation 6:9-11 (NASB) 9 When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; 10 and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" 11 And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.
b A Christians spirit goes to God while their body sleeps in their grave awaiting Rapture
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (NASB) 13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
c At Rapture, the body will be reunited with the soul
1 Corinthians 15:35-57 (NASB) 35 But someone will say, "How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?" 36 You fool! That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies; 37 and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own.39 All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish. 40 There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. 42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; 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 So also it is written, "The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. 47 The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. 48 As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly. 50 Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. 55 "O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?" 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; 57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:1-9 (NASB) 1 For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, 3 inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. 4 For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. 5 Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. 6 Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight— 8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. 9 Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.
I Our death & resurrection is connected to Jesus’ death & resurrection.
A Our text today is I Thess. 4.13-18, & v.15 says, “For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.”
1 Today, people study NDE (Near Death Experiences), dabble in the occult (mediums, seance, Ouija boards, paranormal investigators, ghost hunters); Christians have found the answer to the riddle/mystery of death/afterlife because we have a word of revelation from God’s Word.
a Who better to give us this Word than Jesus Himself who swallowed the grave & death up in victory.
b v.14, Paul didn’t say Jesus “slept”, but rather Jesus “died.”
aa The Christians who had died are “sleeping.”
bb Because Jesus died He experienced the full fury of death in all its dimensions as “He bore our sins in His body, so that we might die to sin & live in righteousness.” (1 Peter 2.24.)
2 His death satisfied the demands of God’s righteousness, holiness & justice by paying the full penalty for believer’s sins.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NASB) 21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
a His death transformed death into sleep for Christians.
b Jesus not only died . . . He rose again!!!
B Jesus is the “first fruit” resurrection (Spring harvest), that is a foreshadowing to the fall harvest (Bigger.)
1 1 Corinthians 15:20-21 (NASB) 20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. 21 For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.
a The Rapture is the sequel to Easter!
b Our resurrection is linked to Jesus’ resurrection.
aa 1 John 5:19 (NASB) 19 We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
1 Corinthians 15:23 (NASB) 23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming,
1 Corinthians 6:14 (NASB) 14 Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power.
2 Corinthians 4:14 (NASB) 14 knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you.
bb God will treat people who died trusting Jesus the same way He treated Jesus Himself, namely by resurrecting the.
2 We believers will not every really “die,” our bodies will only “sleep” until Rapture.
a Your loved ones who died trusting in the Lord, we’ve been separated from them by death . . . we will meet them again.
b This very moment they are with Him in heaven per v. 14.
aa IL. A man was talking to his friend who was recently widowed, “I’m sorry you lost your wife.” He replied, “No, I didn’t lose her. You can’t lose something when you know where it is . . . and I know where she is!”
bb There is coming a day where “good-bye” will be deleted from our vocabulary.
c The key to understanding “when” that day will be is unlocked in an event called The Rapture.
II Understanding The Rapture Step-by-Step
A In vv.16,17 there are seven key facts about the rapture that every Christian should be aware of.
1 “The Lord Himself . . .” v.16
a He’s not sending an angel or some other heavenly messenger.
b It will be the bridegroom Himself who comes to call His children.
2 “ . . . will descend from heaven . . .” v.16
a In Acts, the last time we see Jesus He’s ascending to heaven, Hebrews 1.3 tells us He’s seated at the right hand of the Father . . . today.
Hebrews 1:3 (NASB) 3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
b At Stephan stood trial before the Sanhedrin he cried out, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7.56.)
3 “ . . .with a shout . . .” v.16
a This is the shout a commander calling with AUTHORITY His exceedingly great army to fall in!; Similar to Jesus saying, “Lazarus, come forth” (John 11.43)
b John 5:25 (NASB) 25 "Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
4 “ . . .with the voice of the archangel . . .” v.16
a Perhaps it’s Michael (Jude 9), we don’t know which one but he’s the only one named in Scripture. (Jewish trad. teaches there are 7.)
b Irregardless, the voice of the lead angel is added to the Lord’s shout of command.
5 “ . . . and with the trumpet of God;” v.16
a Trumpets were used for many reasons in Scripture (Sabbath, feasts, convocations, celebrations, go to war, make an announcement)
b Any time you needed to draw a crowd, assemble the people.
6 “and the dead in Christ shall rise first.” v.16
a Resurrection is not reconstruction.
aa A misconception I had for years is that God reconstructs/reassembles the bodies of the dead for resurrection.
bb Paul doesn’t illustrate the resurrection of the dead with a puzzle (Putting all my parts, tissues, organs, atoms back together.)
Philippians 3:20-21 (NASB) 20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; 21 who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.
b Phil. 3.20-21, there is a change in our bodies at resurrection when the rapture occurs.
aa Our earthly bodies are subject to this “humble state” (lit., body of humiliation, corruption) and are not equipped to live/move in heaven. (IL. You wouldn’t take a 2014 Jaguar off-road, you’d take a 4x4 because it is built for off-road conditions.)
bb We will receive a glorified (supped up) body not unlike the body Christ had after His own resurrection.
cc He could move at the speed of thought
Luke 24:31, 36 (NASB)31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight.36 While they were telling these things, He Himself stood in their midst and *said to them, "Peace be to you."
dd Move through matter
John 20:26 (NASB) 26 After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus *came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you."
ee We will need bodies that were built to “go off-road.”
c Paul doesn’t compare resurrection a jigsaw puzzle, but rather to a seed of wheat that is buried, dies, only to bloom into a new plant. (1 Cor. 15.35-38; 42-50)
35 But someone will say, "How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?" 36 You fool! That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies; 37 and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own. 42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; 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 So also it is written, "The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. 47 The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. 48 As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly. 50 Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
aa When a seed (corn, wheat, soy bean, etc.) is planted, the seed disintegrates/dissolution/decay/death . . . yet it produce a new plant.
bb Once the corn has grown it’s impossible for us to locate the “seed” that it grew from—the seed made the corn stalk not unlike the seed that was planted.
d When our natural body dies, at rapture, they will bloom in the twinkling of an eye into a new spiritual body.
aa vv.44, they are real PHYSICAL bodies that are resurrected. (Natural & spiritual are “adjectives”, the word “body” is a noun) Built for heaven!
bb They will not be identical to the body we had but it will be like the body we had. (They will be changed.)
“There is a utilization of the old body, but a transformation of it in the process. This new body has some connection or point of identity with the old body, but is differently constituted.” -Millerd Erickson, Christian Theology, pg. 1198
d IL. Petrified wood still looks like wood, (contours, markings, appearance), but the composition is entirely different.
aa 1 Corinthians 15:51-54 (NASB) 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory.
bb Although we will be changed, we will still be recognizable; Peter, James & John recognized Elijah, Moses & a post-resurrection Jesus.
cc You will know your loved ones and they will know you!
dd Our earthly bodies will be changed into something far better, imperfections will disappear; our everlasting bodies will know no pain, illness, or death.
7 “Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.” v. 17
a Paul expected to be alive when the Lord came (Imminent)
aa We’re not waiting for the Temple to rebuilt, fall of Damascus, Jews to get saved, NWO (These events can take place in the twinkling of an eye . . . He could come back at any moment.)
bb Whether we Christians are alive or dead, we have nothing to fear because Jesus will come with us or for us.
b This event is mentioned cryptically by Jesus
John 14:1-3 (NASB) 1 "Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 "In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
aa Less than a full-second after the dead are raised, those of us who are alive will undergo an immediate change
1 Corinthians 15:52-53 (NASB) 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.
bb They will ascend, enshrouded in the clouds of the sky & meet the Lord in the interspace between heaven & earth. (Jesus welcomes us into Heaven, Abba’s House)
c “Caught up” in the original language means “snatched away, seize by force, when a wolf carries off a sheep: it is a strong, irresistible, violent act.” (He’s coming to get all of His children & rescue them from the grasp of Satan, flesh, evil, world system, and the wrath of God that will poured on the earth during the 7 year tribulation.)
d “with them” (Who, the dead who have went on before!)
aa He can’t bring them with Him unless they’re with Him right now!
bb By the authority of the Word of God, one day Jesus will return one day and bring His people with Him.
e “in the air”
aa During the message, “Life from the Dead,” I preached on Ephesians 2. “
Ephesians 2:1-2 (NASB) And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
bb The air is a space that is dominanted by Satan.
cc In October 1962, the Cuban Missle Crisis was as close to DATANET that the world has ever seen.
*Russian missiles were 90 miles off the coast of Florida in Cuba.
*As we tetered on the verge of thermal nuclear war over these missles, Kennedy ordered F-4 Phantom jets to circle Russia just under their radar systems. (F-4 was a fighter jet/bomber, made in St. Louis by McDonnell Douglas, their purpose was to take out military installations, took off from air craft carriers in the Atlantic Ocean & Mediterranean sea.
*The F-4's would climb at the exact time and trigger Soviet radar systems, sending off sirens/alerts/warnings that their air space is being invaded, attack was imminent.
*For 24 hours this went on . . . until Khrushchev blinked, and agreed to remove the missiles from Cuba.
dd In my minds eye I can see on some distant Rosh Hashanah, at just the right moment, Lighting shots across the sky, followed by a mighty shout from heaven, followed immediately with another shout, followed by a blast from a Shofar that can heard clear across eternity (graves open, urns bust, mausoleums walls are blown out . . .)
ee The alarms & warning systems in hell are ringing, War Room in Hell is given the message, “He’s in our air space, the invasion has begun, and He’s calling His troops in to formation!”
f What Jesus started in me in August 1978 will come to fruition at Rapture!
B In Scripture there are two resurrections of the dead: 1) resurrection of life 2) Resurrection of Judgement
1 Resurrection of Life is what we’ve just heard about, Rapture!
a At the end of time, just before Christ ushers in a new heaven/earth, there is another resurrection, the second resurrection/resurrection of judgement.
aa I believe this resurrection will happen at the end of Jesus Millenial reign
Revelation 20:11-15 (NASB)11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
bb This second resurrection is for the unbeliever only, called The Great White Throne Judgement.
b Christians will never stand before Jesus to beg for mercy, heaven
Romans 5:9 (NASB) 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
1 Thessalonians 1:10 (NASB)10 and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.
aa We will stand before Him not for salvation, but for rewards for service.
bb Romans 14:10 (NASB) 10 But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.
2 Corinthians 5:10 (NASB) 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
(Judgement Seat in Gk. is Bema)
cc The “Bema” was where Olympic judges awarded crowns to the winners (Our works will be rewarded & judged.)
2 The Judgement Seat of Christ MUST NOT be confused with the Great White Throne Judgement.
a Judgment Seat of Christ Great White Throne Judg.
*Only for believers *Only for unbelievers
*Immed. after Rapture *After Millennial Reign
*Determines rewards for *Determines amount of
service. judgement.
b The dead will rise, the Word of God says it.
Conclusion:
A The benefit of understanding the Rapture is not to fill in one’s eschatalogical maps/graphs.
1 The reality of rapture is to give us comfort (v.18.)
a One day soon, Christ is returning for His own.
aa Saints that have went on before . . .their natural body has been sown here on earth will join with the Saints who are alive at the rapture.
bb We will be changed, transformed.
b Our faith will become our sight.
aa We will have a new body, glorified body, “Super heros.”
bb We will be reunited with our loved ones who have went on before . . . but this is not even the best part!
2 v.17, “and thus we shall always be with the Lord.”
a We will forever see Jesus, live with Him, and enjoy Him forever.
b “Christ’s first ascension to heaven soon after His resurrection was very glorious. But this His second ascension, with His mystical body, His whole church, shall be far more glorious.” -Jonathan Edwards.
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Respectfully,
Mike Fogerson
