The Best is Yet to Come
For those of us who believe in Jesus, the best is yet to come. That is what I want to talk about. I had a little help with this lesson. My old buddy – actually I’ve never met this guy, but I would like to. His name is Randy Alcorn and he wrote this book called “Heaven.” I’m going to read a few excerpts from it. I am also going to be reading a lot of scripture verses because that is where you have to start. You have to study the scriptures. But Mr. Alcorn offers some interesting insights and he gives a unique perspective. Not everybody agrees with him, but he gives you something to think about. Some people would say, “It’s all just a mystery. We will never know!” But Mr. Alcorn actually makes an attempt (based on what the Bible says) to tie some of these things together. I found his book very helpful in preparing this lesson.
We start with the death of Jesus. You have to start there. Jesus physically died on a Roman cross. His lifeless body was taken down from the cross. It was wrapped in linen and buried in Joseph’s tomb. The tomb was sealed and guards were posted there. What happened next? What is the next part of the story? Somebody moved the rock. What happened to Jesus? What do we believe, based on scripture?
The resurrection! Easter! The angel said, “He is not here, but has risen.” We have an empty tomb. So, in addition to all the other reasons that we have been talking about, why Jesus’s death was so important, why He had to die, a reason that you don’t think about right off the bat, but it makes sense is that if He didn’t die there would have been no resurrection. He had to die so that He could be resurrected. No death. No resurrection. It makes sense, right?
Is the resurrection really that big a deal? YES. And why is it important? Well, Paul tells us in First Corinthians Chapter 15, v 14-17. He tells us why the resurrection is so important and here it is: “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.” We are wasting our time. “We [Paul and the other apostles] are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that He raised Christ [read Paul’s epistles and the book of Acts], whom He did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised [we have been lying to you the whole time if He is not raised]. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and [this is the worst part] you are still in your sins.”
The resurrection is pretty important. It is everything. It is the foundation upon which our faith is built and stands. So, the death is important. The resurrection is critical. Of course you don’t have the resurrection without His death.
Now, Paul goes on to make an interesting statement in Romans 4:25. He is talking about Jesus’s resurrection. He says that the resurrection is the proof – I am paraphrasing here – that God accepted the sacrifice of His Son and justified us. Jesus physically died and then He came back to life, right? He had a physical bodily resurrection.
This is what Mr. Alcorn says: “The empty tomb is the ultimate proof that Christ’s resurrection body was the same body that died on the cross. If resurrection meant the creation of a new body, Christ’s original body would have remained in the tomb" [Alcorn, “Heaven,” p 115]. Well, that makes sense. Why would He have to bring the body out of the tomb if He was just going to create a new body?
He goes on to talk about Luke Chapter 24 when Jesus appeared to His disciples and said, “It is I. Here, this is Me.” He is the same Person in spirit and body that had gone to the cross. He talks about that in Luke 24:39. It says, “His disciples saw the marks of His crucifixion, unmistakable evidence that this was the same body” [Alcorn, “Heaven,” p 116]. That is important. I want you to file all this away. So, the same body that died on the cross was raised back to life. There is a point to all of that. I am going to make it a little bit later.
After the resurrection, what happened to Jesus? He hangs around for a few more weeks. He’s making lots of appearances to a lot of different people, including huge crowds and the disciples several times. He gives the great Commission. He teaches a whole bunch of stuff. He talks about the Holy Spirit is going to come. He had already talked about that in the upper room and now He is reminding them – “Go back to Jerusalem and wait.” All that happens and then what? Jesus ascends back to heaven.
Luke gives us the details about what happens. Jesus tells them to go back to the city of Jerusalem and wait “until you are clothed with power from on high” (talking about the coming of the Holy Spirit). “So, you go back and wait.” This is how the whole Gospel of Luke ends, beginning in Luke Chapter 24, v 50: “And He led them out as far as Bethany” [just outside Jerusalem up on the Mount of Olives] “and lifting up His hands He blessed them. While He blessed them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven.” Jesus ascended. “And they [the disciples] worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem [Jesus had told them to go there and wait] with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God.” They are excited.
But then, Acts Chapter 1 picks up right there. The same author (Luke) writing to the same guy (Theopolis). He continues the story. Actually, did you know that Acts is the continuation of the Gospel of Luke? They go together. So, Acts Chapter 1, v 9 picks up at this very same scene. “And when He had said these things [Jesus talking to His disciples], as they were looking on, He was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.” They are actually watching this. You can just imagine the scene. They are straining to look to the last minute. All of a sudden Jesus disappears into the clouds. “And while they were gazing into heaven as He went, behold, two men… [almost every commentary believes these are angels; but they were certainly messengers of God]. These two men “stood by them in white robes, and said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:9-11).
So, we’re told that Jesus is coming back the same way that He left, right? And we have been looking for Him ever since. If you read all the First Century writings from the disciples and the First Century Christians, they all believe Jesus was coming back soon in their lifetimes. They believed He was coming back at any time. Well, 2000 years has gone by. We have the whole church age all the way, 2000 years of church history. A lot of bad, some good – The Reformation, The Inquisition, a lot of persecution, the New Testament being written into all these different languages, all these different denominations and Christian religions that have formed; all of this stuff, people doubting whether our Bible is true, all these heresies that had to be refuted, church councils, and on and on and on and on.
Two thousand years goes by. Has Jesus come back? We’ve been waiting for Him all these years. Has He come back yet? No. Do we believe that He will come back? Yes. Why? Why do we believe that? Because He said He would. Pretty good reason, right? Jesus promised in John 14: “I go to prepare a place for you. I am going to come back and get you.” We are eagerly awaiting His return, even today. All these years later, we are still waiting for Him to return.
Question 5 on your sheet lists the whole bunch of things. I want you to follow it. We are going to talk about these things. Every one of these is yet future. They haven’t happened yet. They are talked about in the Bible. Some are talked about quite a bit. Some are talked about just a little. We are going to talk about them, where they all fit in. These are all future things for us to look forward to. I am going to talk about some things that we will not be a part of, just to give you some context. But these are the things that we can look forward to.
So, the first one on the list is what? The Rapture of the Saints. This is the first event on the eschatological calendar – things that have not happened yet. This is the order of events that’s going to take place. The Rapture. Jesus returns for His church. That is US, right? The saints, believers, followers of Jesus. Jesus returns for us. He keeps the promise He made in John 14 to His original disciples. He is keeping His promise. He is coming back and getting us.
So, where is this in the Bible? Paul talks about it in 1 Thessalonians Chapter 4, in v 13-17. In v 13 he says, “I want to talk to you all about something that is going to happen. There is something that is going to happen to us Christians,” Paul says. “A lot of you have been grieving about your loved ones who have died. But we are not without hope,” he says. “We have something to look forward to. Jesus is coming back for us and here is how it’s going to happen.” And then he lays it out at the beginning in verse 14: “For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep [those who have died, the dead in Christ]. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive [when Jesus comes back for the saints], who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.” In other words, the dead in Christ will go first. “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17).
Paul calls this event, not the Rapture, but “the coming of the Lord.” What I want you to understand is that this is NOT the Second Coming of Christ. That happens in Revelation 19, which we will get to later. They are different events. That is what I want you to see. Something very significant happens here that Paul is focusing on and that is the resurrection of the dead; the resurrection of believers, the dead in Christ. As with Jesus’s resurrection – remember, He was resurrected; we read about that in the Gospels – there was a physical bodily resurrection of Jesus, right?
Let me read you what Mr. Alcorn talks about here: “Of Americans who believe in the resurrection of the dead, two-thirds believe they will not have bodies after the resurrection.” So, most people don’t believe – they believe all that is sort of spiritual. It is not really physical. Alcorn says, “But this is self-contradictory. A non-physical resurrection is like a sunless sunrise. There is no such thing. Resurrection means that we will have bodies. If we didn’t have bodies, we wouldn’t be resurrected!” [Alcorn, “Heaven,” p 112]. That makes sense, right? He is very logical. I like this guy.
What happens to our bodies when they are resurrected? It doesn’t really say here (in 1 Thessalonians), right? Well, we have to go to another scripture for that and Paul talks about in First Corinthians Chapter 15. He talks about the resurrection. And he talks about this, specifically, our bodily resurrection, in v 51. He is talking about the same event that he just talked about in 1 Thessalonians Chapter 4. The same writer (Paul) is talking about the same event: “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep…” Not all of us are going to die (physically). Some will still be alive when Jesus comes back. Most of us will die. But for the lucky few that are still alive when Jesus comes back, you won’t have to face death. That may not be for 100 years or more. So, we may not all sleep “…but we shall all be changed, 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 shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52).
Remember, they all thought Jesus was coming back any time. They didn’t know that it would be 2000-plus years.
“But our citizenship is in heaven,” Paul says in Philippians 3, “and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ…” We are awaiting His return, right? “…Who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body…” (Philippians 3:20-21). Remember, Jesus got resurrected into a glorious body, which we have talked about before. We are going to have the same experience. We are going to transformed also – a body like His. And to piggyback on this idea, First John Chapter 3: “Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we WILL be has not yet appeared…” There is something that is going to happen to us that has not happened yet. “But we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.” (1 John 3:2). So, we are going to be like HIM. We are going to have a resurrected body.
Our physical bodies, whatever form they are in, will get transformed into imperishable, eternal, glorified bodies (according to the scriptures we just read). You could have been in the casket for a few days, a few months, or you could have been there 300 years (and you are probably just dust) – or cremated, or blown up, or vaporized. You know, God doesn’t need your help to preserve your body. Listen, I don’t know how He’s going to do it, but He is going to take our bodies in whatever form they are – you think about the saints from the Old Testament who have been dead for thousands of years; there is nothing left of them probably (dust) – He is going to take whatever form you are in, take all the molecules, all the particles (you might be scattered to the four winds) and He is going to take those and form a new body.
In First Corinthians 15 it talks about this “transformation” that will take place when our physical bodies are raised back to life. And Paul uses the analogy of planting a seed. That seed goes into the ground. What happens to that seed? It basically dies, decomposes, and out of it comes new life. It all takes place underground. We don’t see it, but there’s a transformation that takes place with that seed in the ground. It is that same seed that got planted that becomes the new plant. Now, the new plant is similar to the first, but it is not exactly the same. Likewise, our resurrected bodies will be transformed. They will be similar to our first body, but they will be different in a lot of ways. Our earthly bodies wear down and eventually die. By contrast our new resurrected bodies will never decay. The old body contains a sin nature. The new body is without sin. The old body is prone to sickness and its strength diminishes over time. The new body is raised stronger and it is not susceptible to illness. Our earthly body is sown a natural body but raised a spiritual body.
I want to stop right there because some might be saying, “Uh! Spiritual body, it’s not physical!” This is where Mr. Alcorn helps us to better understand this concept. He says: “Judging from Christ’s resurrection body, a spiritual body appears most of the time to look and act like a regular physical body, with the exception that it may have (as it did in Christ case) some powers of a metaphysical nature; that is, beyond normal physical abilities” [Alcorn, “Heaven,” p 123].
Mr. Alcorn is not making the assumption that we are going to be able to do exactly the same things that Jesus did in His resurrection body. But maybe we will. Maybe we will be able to walk through walls and translate from over here to there, like He did. Remember, Jesus was on the Emmaus Road with those two guys and the next thing you know He is in Jerusalem talking with His disciples. There are some aspects of the resurrection body that appear like the physical body, but they can do different things. They are not limited like our physical bodies are. The only thing we have to go on is Jesus. The only example we have to go on is His (from the Gospels). That is what Randy Alcorn is saying – same body but completely transformed.
Why do we need a resurrected body? What is the point? First of all, we have a sin nature in this body, and flesh and blood cannot exist in heaven. It is going to rot out and die because of the fall. I think that maybe originally (a lot of people think this) Adam and Eve were made to live forever, but, because of the fall, their bodies began to decay (and eventually died). Our resurrected spiritual bodies will be perfect, incorruptible and glorious. Our normal bodies cannot exist there. We need THAT kind of body to be able to exist in the next life. A transformation by God Himself MUST take place.
Paul indicates that those who are still alive when the Rapture takes place (what he calls the “coming of the Lord” in 1 Thessalonians) – when that takes place, we who are still alive when Jesus returns (by the way, that could happen any time), those who are dead will be taken up first. And then those who remain, who are still alive, that are watching all this, are going to be taken up. He takes us up and, somehow, we are transformed mid-flight. I don’t know how.
At the Rapture the bodies of all the saints of all time are gathered, resurrected, transformed into glorified eternal bodies. It is something we don’t talk about much. It is “a mystery,” Paul says. I don’t understand how it happens. I don’t understand how God does it. I don’t know what it will look like. They are taken up into heaven and, get this, our physical bodies, resurrected, are reunited with our spirits, which are in heaven. There is a reunion!
Mr. Alcorn says this: “When we die, it isn’t that our real self goes to the present Heaven and our fake self goes to grave; it’s that part of us goes to the present Heaven (to be with the Lord) and part stays in the grave…” [whatever form we’re in when we die]. He says, “we await our bodily resurrection. We will never be all that God intends us to be until our body and spirit are again joined together in the resurrection” [Alcorn, “Heaven,” p 113]. God made us, intended us, to be both physical and spiritual beings. So, temporarily we are just spiritual when we die, right? Our body is left behind. At some point He brings it back together for what is going to happen for eternity.
If you read the book of Revelation, Chapter 6 picks up after the Rapture takes place. The only people left on the earth after the Rapture are unbelievers. The rest of us (believers) have been taken. We are now with the Lord in our resurrected bodies. We have been reunited with our spirits. We are all with the Lord during this time. So, all that stuff that takes place during the Tribulation (Revelation Chapters 6-18), we are going to be in heaven with Jesus.
My conviction is that we will not have to go through the Tribulation and it is based on a verse (one of the promises Jesus made) in Revelation Chapter 3. He is talking to the church at Philadelphia. This is what Jesus promises them. They are Christians. “Because you have kept My word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world…” Then from the chapters that follow He is going to talk about that extensively. “…To try those who dwell on the earth” (Revelation 3:10). Jesus says, “I’m going to keep you from that.” I believe that Jesus will be true to His word and He will keep us from that.
So, there is a 7-year Tribulation period. We are with Jesus during this time. And all that terrible stuff that happens in Revelation takes place – all those bowl judgments, antichrist, etc. There are a lot of people that are left on earth. They are all unbelievers when we get raptured out, but a lot of them start to realize, “Man, what they were saying was true!” All that stuff that Aunt so-and-so was telling me, my uncle and my father and all these people that…” They start putting two and two together. They have their Bibles still and they are looking through the Bibles. And they get convicted that they need to be saved and a lot of people get saved. It gets their attention. Don’t wait until then to get saved. That is a terrible time to get saved because then you have the antichrist coming and all these people getting killed because they won’t follow the antichrist. So, you don’t want to go through all that. Get saved now!
Then, after the 7-year Tribulation Period, if you read through Revelation, then you come to Revelation Chapter 19 and The Second Coming of Jesus. Now what Jesus does is He gathers all the saints together. That is what you have pictured in Revelation 19 when Jesus comes back with the saints. He comes all the way down to the earth and a lot of things happen.
This is a totally different description of events mentioned in Revelation 19 – totally different from what Paul describes in 1 Thessalonians Chapter 4. Here you have Jesus with eyes “like a flame of fire.” You have many crowns on His head. He is on a white horse. He is riding with all the armies of heaven arrayed in white linen. They (the saints) are on white horses. Out of His mouth comes a sharp sword which He is going “to strike down the nations” and “rule them with a rod of iron.” On His robe is written the name “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:12-16). A totally different description of The Second Coming here than what we see in 1 Thessalonians 4, The Rapture. They are different events.
The book of Revelation is not the only place that talks about the Second Coming of Christ. It is prophesied about in the Old Testament. They prophesied about His first coming and His second coming. They didn’t see them as two separate events. This is how the prophet Zechariah describes the Second Coming of Christ in Zechariah 14. He says, “Then the LORD will go to battle and fight against those nations, just as He fought battles in ancient days.” (Zechariah 14:3). That will happen at the Battle of Armageddon. “On that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives which lies to the east of Jerusalem…” – the same place He ascended from – “…and the Mount of Olives will be split in half from east to west, leaving a great valley. Half the mountain will move northward and the other half southward.” (Zechariah 14:4). “On that day living waters will flow out from Jerusalem” – Jerusalem is up on a hill, so, the waters will flow east to the to the Dead Sea and west to the Mediterranean Sea (reference Zechariah 14:8). That is how Zechariah describes the Second Coming. Revelation 19 does not mention all that. So, you have to put together all these different passages to get the gist of what is going to happen.
In Revelation 19 Jesus comes back to earth. He destroys His enemies (Battle of Armageddon). And then in Revelation 20 He binds Satan and He puts him in prison for 1000 years.
Then there is the resurrection of the rest of the believers (who came to faith in Christ after the Rapture, from the Tribulation Period). A lot of them were martyrs. Well, now they get resurrected. That happens in Revelation 20.
This is all followed by the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, where all the saints gather together and we enjoy a great banquet feast with our Lord. All believers of all time, all in their resurrected bodies, all together, one huge reunion, all gathered for a feast with Jesus. Isn’t that exciting? What is that going to look like? My parents will be there! Christians that you know, that you lost (those who died) will be there! Billy Graham, George Beverly Shea, the Apostle Paul, all the disciples. This is going to be pretty exciting! All those Old Testament saints like David and Abraham and Noah and all of those guys; all the people in Hebrews Chapter 11. This will be a “Who’s Who of Christianity.”
The Millennial Kingdom… the word “millennial” means 1000 – the 1000-year reign of Christ on earth. It is talked about in Revelation Chapter 20, v 4-6. The Millennial Kingdom really is not talked about much in the Bible. There are “amillennialist” who do NOT believe there is going to be a literal 1000-year reign of Christ on the earth. But that is what is going to happen next. King Jesus comes and ascends to His throne in Jerusalem where He reigns as King of the earth for 1000 years.
I will pick it up there next time with the Millennial Kingdom and wrap up these thoughts.