chapter five The Big Picture
Many years ago, I learned that in order to identify a counterfeit dollar bill we must first know what a real dollar bill looks like. We must know the truth in order to identify the counterfeit. This is a fundamental principal in what it is I have to share, and therefore I feel it’s important to take a moment to view part of God’s ‘big picture’.
Sadly, misunderstanding the state of the dead, and the acceptance of the false doctrine of ‘soul immortality’, has left Christians confused about God’s clear teachings of the first and second resurrections. Doctrines that the Apostle Paul refers to as “elementary teachings” (Heb 6:1,2).
As such, I feel it’s important to outline some main aspects that God’s Word teaches us about the eschatological order of events regarding those who have died, Christ’s return, the “first resurrection”, our millennial reign with Christ, the “resurrection of damnation”, the “lake of fire”, and our “new earth”.
At first glance we may not see the significance of understanding such things, but, as we discuss various aspects further in depth, I hope you’ll begin to identify their importance and how our lack of understanding some of these “elementary teachings” has opened the door to deception.
A Brief Eschatological Overview from Christ’s Return
As with the righteous who have died in Christ, those who have died in their sins, rejecting the salvation we have in Jesus, are also sleeping in death - knowing “nothing” and no longer playing “a part in anything here on earth” (Eccl 9:5,6).
At the second-coming of Jesus, those who died in Christ will be resurrected to eternal life, for “all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back” (1 Cor 15:23), and all those who are living in Christ when He returns will be “translated”, as Enoch was, not seeing death (Heb 11:5). And together, the resurrected and those who “are alive and remain” (who shall be translated), will “meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thess 4:17). - This is the “first resurrection”
Those who are Christ’s at His return meet Him “in the air”, for when Jesus comes the...
“...heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” 2 Peter 3:10 For, “the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” 2 Peter 3:7
With the earth laid barren, God having laid it to “waste” (Isa 24:1), God’s children ascend to Heaven with Jesus and “reign with him a thousand years.” (Rev 20:6) - This is our ‘millennial reign’ with Christ in Heaven and the fulfilment of Jesus’ words…
“In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” John 14:2,3
It is during our thousand-year reign “with” Christ in Heaven that Satan is trapped upon a desolate earth. With God’s children resurrected and in Heaven, the wicked sleeping in death until they are resurrected at the end of the thousand years (Rev 20:5), and no one left alive on earth to tempt, Satan is “bound” for a thousand years (Rev 20:2), having nothing to do but to contemplate all the pain and suffering that he’s inflicted upon the world and upon himself.
This prophetic truth is taught to us through the sacrificial service of Yom Kippur, or Day of Atonement, whereby the “live goat” is a representation of Satan, having had put upon him all the sins of God’s redeemed (those of the “first resurrection”) and left alive in the wilderness wasteland of an empty and desolate earth…
“And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.” Leviticus 16:21,22
When the thousand years “should be fulfilled”, God’s “holy city, new Jerusalem” will descend upon the “new earth… down from God out of heaven” (Rev 21:1,2).
With God’s recreation of a “new heavens and a new earth” (Isa 65:17), God’s children descend from heaven with God’s “holy city, the new Jerusalem” and witness Jesus’ almighty power as He resurrects the dammed (John 5:29)
“Gog and Magog”, symbolic of those that have turned their backs on God. The number of these resurrected people are “as the sand of the sea” (Rev 20:8), and for the first time in human history, in all its supernatural magnificence, every single human born throughout the entirety of human history will stand together upon the earth.
Within the gates of the “holy city”, the righteous, who have agreed in their judgement during their millennial “reign with Christ” (Rev 20:4), look out upon the lost, while the lost look back upon the glory and love God has bestowed upon His redeemed children and, in that moment of realisation, in that moment of truth… “every knee shall bow” (Rom 14:11).
Sadly, after spending a thousand years trapped on a desolate earth contemplating the error of his ways, Satan does not change. For with the resurrection of the wicked also comes Satan’s freedom to again deceive… “And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth...” Revelation 20:7,8
Through Satan’s final persuasive ploys, the resurrected wicked are gathered “together to battle” and surround God’s “beloved city” - But God finally puts an end to the battle as…
“...fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.” Revelation 20:9
This is the “eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” (Matt 25:41). This is “eternal fire” from our Eternal God, and just as Sodom and Gomorrah “...serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire” (Jude 1:7), the wicked will be consumed…
“Now will I rise, saith the LORD; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself. Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath, as fire, shall devour you. And the people shall be as the burnings of lime: as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire. Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; and, ye that are near, acknowledge my might.” Isaiah 33:10-13
With the wicked ceasing to exist, having “perished” (John 3:16), sin cast away for all eternity, and with a “new heaven and new earth” …
“God shall wipe away all tears from their [our] eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” Revelation 21:4
With the “former things” passed, what joy and wonder awaits God’s children, for the “earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea” (Isa 11:9). We shall “build houses and inhabit them… plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them” (Isa 65:21).
Though I often try to imagine what awaits us in life-eternal, I’m comforted in knowing the joy, peace and pure beauty of it all will far exceed any of our expectations, for…
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9
Thank You Lord - Praise be Your Name.✞------------------------------------
Sadly, misunderstanding the state of the dead, and the acceptance of the false doctrine of ‘soul immortality’, has left Christians confused about God’s clear teachings of the first and second resurrections. Doctrines that the Apostle Paul refers to as “elementary teachings” (Heb 6:1,2).
As such, I feel it’s important to outline some main aspects that God’s Word teaches us about the eschatological order of events regarding those who have died, Christ’s return, the “first resurrection”, our millennial reign with Christ, the “resurrection of damnation”, the “lake of fire”, and our “new earth”.
At first glance we may not see the significance of understanding such things, but, as we discuss various aspects further in depth, I hope you’ll begin to identify their importance and how our lack of understanding some of these “elementary teachings” has opened the door to deception.
A Brief Eschatological Overview from Christ’s Return
As with the righteous who have died in Christ, those who have died in their sins, rejecting the salvation we have in Jesus, are also sleeping in death - knowing “nothing” and no longer playing “a part in anything here on earth” (Eccl 9:5,6).
At the second-coming of Jesus, those who died in Christ will be resurrected to eternal life, for “all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back” (1 Cor 15:23), and all those who are living in Christ when He returns will be “translated”, as Enoch was, not seeing death (Heb 11:5). And together, the resurrected and those who “are alive and remain” (who shall be translated), will “meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thess 4:17). - This is the “first resurrection”
Those who are Christ’s at His return meet Him “in the air”, for when Jesus comes the...
“...heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” 2 Peter 3:10 For, “the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” 2 Peter 3:7
With the earth laid barren, God having laid it to “waste” (Isa 24:1), God’s children ascend to Heaven with Jesus and “reign with him a thousand years.” (Rev 20:6) - This is our ‘millennial reign’ with Christ in Heaven and the fulfilment of Jesus’ words…
“In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” John 14:2,3
It is during our thousand-year reign “with” Christ in Heaven that Satan is trapped upon a desolate earth. With God’s children resurrected and in Heaven, the wicked sleeping in death until they are resurrected at the end of the thousand years (Rev 20:5), and no one left alive on earth to tempt, Satan is “bound” for a thousand years (Rev 20:2), having nothing to do but to contemplate all the pain and suffering that he’s inflicted upon the world and upon himself.
This prophetic truth is taught to us through the sacrificial service of Yom Kippur, or Day of Atonement, whereby the “live goat” is a representation of Satan, having had put upon him all the sins of God’s redeemed (those of the “first resurrection”) and left alive in the wilderness wasteland of an empty and desolate earth…
“And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.” Leviticus 16:21,22
When the thousand years “should be fulfilled”, God’s “holy city, new Jerusalem” will descend upon the “new earth… down from God out of heaven” (Rev 21:1,2).
With God’s recreation of a “new heavens and a new earth” (Isa 65:17), God’s children descend from heaven with God’s “holy city, the new Jerusalem” and witness Jesus’ almighty power as He resurrects the dammed (John 5:29)
“Gog and Magog”, symbolic of those that have turned their backs on God. The number of these resurrected people are “as the sand of the sea” (Rev 20:8), and for the first time in human history, in all its supernatural magnificence, every single human born throughout the entirety of human history will stand together upon the earth.
Within the gates of the “holy city”, the righteous, who have agreed in their judgement during their millennial “reign with Christ” (Rev 20:4), look out upon the lost, while the lost look back upon the glory and love God has bestowed upon His redeemed children and, in that moment of realisation, in that moment of truth… “every knee shall bow” (Rom 14:11).
Sadly, after spending a thousand years trapped on a desolate earth contemplating the error of his ways, Satan does not change. For with the resurrection of the wicked also comes Satan’s freedom to again deceive… “And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth...” Revelation 20:7,8
Through Satan’s final persuasive ploys, the resurrected wicked are gathered “together to battle” and surround God’s “beloved city” - But God finally puts an end to the battle as…
“...fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.” Revelation 20:9
This is the “eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” (Matt 25:41). This is “eternal fire” from our Eternal God, and just as Sodom and Gomorrah “...serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire” (Jude 1:7), the wicked will be consumed…
“Now will I rise, saith the LORD; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself. Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath, as fire, shall devour you. And the people shall be as the burnings of lime: as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire. Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; and, ye that are near, acknowledge my might.” Isaiah 33:10-13
With the wicked ceasing to exist, having “perished” (John 3:16), sin cast away for all eternity, and with a “new heaven and new earth” …
“God shall wipe away all tears from their [our] eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” Revelation 21:4
With the “former things” passed, what joy and wonder awaits God’s children, for the “earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea” (Isa 11:9). We shall “build houses and inhabit them… plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them” (Isa 65:21).
Though I often try to imagine what awaits us in life-eternal, I’m comforted in knowing the joy, peace and pure beauty of it all will far exceed any of our expectations, for…
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9
Thank You Lord - Praise be Your Name.✞------------------------------------