The Best is Yet to Come
As Christians there are a lot of things that we can enjoy about being saved right now. But I’m here to tell you – the BEST part of our salvation is yet to come. And so that is what I have entitled our lesson this morning – “The Best Is Yet to Come.”
What happens when Christians die? What are the things you are told at Christian funerals? “They are with the Lord.” Who is? The person in the casket. Oh, but I see them lying in the casket all the time. What do you mean, “They are with the Lord”? Their spirit has gone to be with Him. OK. Good. I wanted to get you thinking a little bit. We say, “We go to be with the Lord,” right? That’s the expression we use – “He went to be with the Lord.” What happens is our physical body remains behind here on earth while our soul or spirit (however you want to say it), our spiritual self, is immediately transported to heaven. We believe that, right?
Paul is talking in Second Corinthians Chapter 5 and he says this: “So we are always of good courage.” We Christians, we are optimistic. “We know that while we are at home in the body” – right here while we are alive – “that we are away from the Lord…” We are away from Him in the sense that we are not there physically with Him. And he says, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” So, our whole experience is believing that Jesus is real because we do not see Him physically. But we believe all that by faith. But then he goes on to say, “Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:6-8).
We as human beings are both physical and spiritual beings. So, while we remain alive, our physical bodies and our spirits are together. We are united. But when we die that union is severed. Our spirit leaves our body and goes to be with Jesus. That is what Paul says. We Christians fundamentally believe this to be true. However, that being said, most Christians think that this is the way it’s going to be from now on – we die and then we exist forever with the Lord in spirit form in a spiritual paradise called Heaven forever and ever and ever. And that is just the way it is. End of story. The only problem is that is not what the Bible teaches.
I have identified six future events that we Christians will experience one day. [The Rapture of the Saints, The Second Coming of Christ (the return of Jesus to the earth), The Marriage Supper of the Lamb, The Millennial Kingdom, The Judgment Seat of Christ, and a New Heaven and New Earth].
By faith (I have no evidence other than what the Bible says) I trust that these things WILL happen. As of today’s date, June 5, 2022, they have not happened yet. Jesus has not come back. Now, He promised that He would, right? He told His disciples, “I go to prepare a place for you” and “I am going to come back for you” (reference John 14:2-3) and all that. Of course, those are promises for us too, right? Didn’t He promise that? So, we believe what Jesus said and that He is going to come back for us. But 2000+ years after He said that, Jesus still has not come for us. And when you read writers of the New Testament, they believed He could come back in their lifetime. That was First Century and He still has not come back. We are still waiting eagerly for His return. But, when He finally does return, these chain-of-events will begin to take place – whenever that is.
So, here we go…
The first event (we talked about this last time), the Rapture of the Saints. This is going to occur in conjunction with the resurrection of the dead in Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17). It is going to be a physical resurrection. At the Rapture our bodies will be transformed into imperishable, eternal, glorified bodies. It doesn’t matter what form or condition our earthly bodies are in (when Jesus comes back for us). Listen, you don’t have to help God out. “I’m going to preserve my body in a casket, so when He comes back for me, He doesn’t have to work too hard.” You don’t have to do that. If He can form man out of the dust of the ground (Genesis 2:7), He can do this.
The second event is the return of Jesus to the earth. This takes place after the 7-year Tribulation period. Jesus will assemble together those of us who were raptured. We will then return to earth with Jesus in our resurrected bodies (Revelation 19:11-16). This is sometimes referred to as The Second Coming of Christ. The Rapture of First Thessalonians 4 and the Return of Jesus with the saints to earth in Revelation 19 are different events. The descriptions given in Scripture of them are completely different.
The next event, The Marriage Supper of the Lamb (sometimes called the Wedding Supper of the Lamb or the Wedding Feast). This is when all of us saints will gather together and we will enjoy a great banquet feast with our Lord. The only description of it actually comes in Revelation 19, before Jesus returns, in v 6-9. This is the invitation going out for it. When and where it takes place, we are never told. It could take place any time between the Rapture of the saints and the end of the Millennial Kingdom. Now, my personal view that I hold to is that it is an actual banquet held on the earth with real food – a literal wedding feast and not just a spiritual one. Everybody wants to “spiritualize” everything in Revelation. I don’t see it that way. John is seeing something in a vision even though we cannot explain what it all means. He is seeing something that is physical. It is not just all spiritual. In the book of Revelation I take a fairly literal approach to the events that John is being shown. I am not one to just spiritualize or allegorize its contents like a lot of people do. So, that is just my view.
Now we are going get to the next event, The Millennial Kingdom. This is described in Revelation 20:2-6. What happens is Satan (that old serpent from the Garden) is bound for a period of 1000 years. The Tribulation saints – all those who got saved after the Rapture, including many martyrs – they are resurrected and receive their eternal bodies. There are a lot of Christians who do not believe in a literal reign of Christ on the earth. This is the Amillennial viewpoint. I see this as literal, physical reign myself. The 1000-year reign of Christ. Some people don’t believe in a literal 1000 years. Some people believe it is just a long period of time, that 1000 is just a number meaning a lot of years. The only problem I have with that is the word “thousand” is actually mentioned 6 times in this passage, from v 2-7. So, there has got to be something to 1000 years.
Rather than give you my opinion I am going to call upon the Old Testament prophets who had a lot to say about the future reign of the coming Messiah, the One that we now know to be Jesus – Psalm 2, Isaiah 11:6-12, Joel 3:9-21, Amos 9:8-15, Micah 4:1-8 – I could have given you about 100 other scriptures, but I decided to stick with these. If you read those passages, did these Old Testament prophets believe that the future reign of their Messiah would be a physical reign on earth or a spiritual reign in heaven? What did THEY think? They believed that this would be a physical reign on the earth. These prophets of old were a whole lot smarter than any Bible scholar I know; plus, they were inspired by God to write what they wrote. So, I am going to go along with their view. King Jesus will ascend to His throne in Jerusalem where He will reign as King over the earth for a long period of time – 1000 years probably. Those of us who are the resurrected and raptured saints will rule with Him on the earth. I suppose that we will all have certain duties to perform in His administration and that He will assign those to us. But I don’t know. This is going to be a time of peace and prosperity on the earth, with Jesus reigning. We are going to be somehow involved.
At the start of the Millennial Kingdom there are still going to be some humans in their physical bodies that remain on the earth. A lot of people have been wiped out (the battle of Armageddon), but there are still some humans who left on earth, but who have not died yet (some believers, some unbelievers). So, you are going to have a whole bunch of raptured saints at the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom mixed with some people who have not died yet (glorified saints who have returned with Christ and mortal humans who have not died yet). Those who are still in their physical bodies, they continue to have children and they continue to age and they eventually die. This continues to happen for 1000 years. That is a lot of generations. Satan is bound, though. They are not under the influence of Satan. Only Jesus. Jesus is ruling and reigning. That is the influence they all have. And what a great influence that is, to have the perfect Lord as the ruler!
Now, eventually the 1000-year reign, the Millennial Kingdom comes to an end. It says in Revelation 20 that Satan is released from the prison. Why would God do that? Why wouldn’t He do like He did with the false prophet (Revelation 19:20) and just throw him into the lake of fire? Instead, He binds Satan for 1000 years and then releases him. Why would God do that? Well, there is a reason. It says here that he will come out “to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth…to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea.” (Revelation 20:8). We are not talking about Satan deceiving a few people. The people he is going to deceive are like the sand of the sea – all of a sudden there is this mass revolt against Jesus because of Satan’s influence. It has been underlying the whole time, but without Satan to deceive them they just sort of “buckled under.” But now Satan deceives them and there is this mass rebellion against Jesus. The result is about the same as it was at the battle of Armageddon. It doesn’t last very long. Fire comes down from heaven and consumes them. The devil is then thrown into the lake of fire. And all the people who rebelled are also destroyed.
The next event, Judgment. If you are a believer, judgment should not scare you. Revelation Chapter 20 describes the upcoming judgment for unbelievers. This is Revelation 20:11-12: “Then I saw a great white throne and Him [Jesus] who was seated on it. From His presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.” There was no place for them to hide. “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.”
After the Millennial Kingdom, after Satan’s final defeat, all the unbelievers will be resurrected, raised for final judgment. They will be judged for their sins, which includes their rejection of Jesus. After that they will be sent off to their eternal punishment described as “the lake of fire.” This is the “day of judgment” that Jesus talked about in Matthew Chapters 10, 11 and 12. It is the day of wrath that God has stored up “when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed” (Romans 2:5). Who is going to be the Judge? Romans 2:16 says Jesus Himself will be the Judge. Revelation 20:11-15 is God’s judgment on all those who reject Jesus. What is this judgment called? The “great white throne” judgment.
Now, there is also going to be a judgment for believers as well. Did you know that? This is described by Paul in Second Corinthians 5:10. Paul is writing to Christians here. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that…” We will be judged for our sins? NO!! “… each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” Now, to clarify this, I draw your attention to this other verse – First Corinthians Chapter 3, v 11-14. It is talking about rewards. This is where we get our rewards – the crowns and the other things that are talked about in the Bible. This is when that happens. We are not going to be judged for our sins. All of our sins have been dealt with by Jesus at the cross and we have been forgiven. By grace we have been saved through faith. We are now clothed in the righteousness of Christ. The judgment seat of Christ is where we receive our rewards. Rewards for what? If you read some of those parables about the kingdom of God, those people were rewarded for how they invested what they were given. And so, it is the same with us. What did we do for Christ? Did we waste our time and our resources or did we use them wisely for Him, for His kingdom?
In the timeline of events, when does the judgment seat of Christ take place? We have no idea because the Bible doesn’t say. It is one of those mysteries. We don’t know for sure. It could take place any time after the Rapture. But beyond that we don’t know. It doesn’t really matter when this happens because we are with the Lord. That is what you need to focus on.
Now the last event, The New Heaven and The New Earth, the last two chapters of Revelation. We finally have the creation of the new heaven and a new earth mentioned from Revelation 21:1 thru 22:5. That is where we see a holy city called the New Jerusalem. That is where we see a river of life flowing through the middle of the city.
“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His servants will worship Him. They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever” (Revelation 22:1-5).
What did we see back in the Garden of Eden that we see now? The tree of life. That shows up again. That is significant because that tree of life that was in the Garden of Eden back in Genesis Chapter 2, was it a physical tree or was it a spiritual tree? It was a physical tree! So then, what do you think it is here (in Revelation 22)? A physical tree! And it is yielding fruit. And there is a river. This is all physical stuff. Now, this is a new heaven and a new earth. Was the old earth physical? Yes. Is the new earth going to be physical? Yes.
This is a quote from R.A. Torrey, the great preacher of old. He says, “We will not be disembodied spirits in the world to come, but redeemed spirits, in redeemed bodies, in a redeemed universe” [Alcorn, “Heaven,” p 112]. That is a lot different than what a lot of Christians think, right?
Then Randy Alcorn ends with this thought: “For our glorification will certainly involve a dramatic and marvelous transformation. But, in my experience, the great majority of Christians have underemphasized continuity. They end up thinking of our transformed selves as no longer being ourselves, and the transformed Earth as no longer being the earth.”
“Inside your body, even if it is failing, is the blueprint for your resurrection body. You may not be satisfied with your current body or mind – but you’ll be thrilled with your resurrection upgrades. With them you’ll be better able to serve and glorify God and enjoy an eternity of wonders He has prepared for you.” [Alcorn, “Heaven,” p 124].
I don’t care what is going on in your life – the best is yet to come.
[In class I showed a picture of two people grieving at a funeral] You all have been to a bunch of Christian funerals, haven’t you? You hear all those verses about the resurrection; all of our hope that we have in Christ. This photo was at my Aunt Leda’s funeral. That is my dad on the right. And that is my Aunt Darlene on the left. Their sister had just died. They loved their sister. She was a Christian. They’re both Christians. But this picture captures them in a moment of deep sorrow. They are consoling each other. They are deeply grieved at having lost their sister. You all have been through similar experiences, haven’t you? Well, now they are both with her – in their spirits. He died [my dad] in January. She [Aunt Darlene] died a few years ago. They are all reunited again in spirit. But, you know what, even for THEM, the best is still yet to come!
So, the next time you attend a Christian funeral and you hear all those familiar scriptures that speak about the hope of a future resurrection, I want you to contemplate the very real promises that we have to look forward to. Get in the Bible and explore some of these. My friend, exciting news! Our best days are yet to come.