We have now covered everything that is and everything that should be in the life of a believer. We now look forward with grand expectation to what will be, the consummation of the Kingdom of Christ; the return of Christ to sit in authority on his throne, the resurrection of the dead when we will attain the fullness of Christ, and Heaven, the eternal comfortable presence of God.
We will start today by looking at the return of Christ as Lord, both in this life and the life to come, and how we ought to respond to that authority. Again, everything that we have looked at until now is the past or the present, this is the future. There have been many debates in the history of the church over questions regarding the future. These debates led to a great deal of study of the “Last Things,” or “Eschatology.” Eschatology comes from the Greek eschatos (which means last) and is therefore the study of last things.
I. The Return of Christ
Jesus told the disciples that he would return to earth a second time in John 14:3, “I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”
While it is clear from this and a host of other passages, like Acts 1:11, 1 Thess. 4:16, Hebrews 9:28, 2 Peter 3:10, 1 John 3:2, that Jesus himself will return, these passages also make it clear, as Mark 13:32 does, that “no one knows” the exact time of that return, for “the son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect,” according to Matthew 24:44. Although no one can know the time or day of Christ return, we can respond as John did in Revelation 22:20 when he heard Christ say, “Surely I am coming soon.” John’s appropriate response was “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”
II. The Events of the Return
Much of the disagreement within the church regarding Jesus’ return deals directly with the interpretation of one Bible passage in Revelation 20:1-10;
"Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.
Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.
And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever."
Now I am no expert in these things. I have not studied Revelation significantly, and I think there is a lot of stuff in the “what is” and “what should be” categories that I have to get right before I dwell on “what is to be.” However, it is important for us to have some understanding of the issues in order to be able to give an account for the hope we have in Christ, for it is a future hope! The specific disagreement has to do with the thousand years that John mentions. Many Christians term this thousand years stage “the millennium,” and they usually take one of three views.
A. Premillennial View says the millennium will come suddenly, and Jesus will return before the millennium.
B. Amillennial View says the millennium is now, that we are within the thousand years, and when it ends, Jesus will return.
C. Postmillenial View says the millennium will come gradually, and Jesus will return after the millennium.
It is perhaps not surprising that Christians have differences over their views of the future. The future can be somewhat unclear to us since by definition, it has not yet happened! However there are several things about the coming of Christ that all Christians have agreed upon.
1. All Christians believe that the final victory of Christ over Satan (described in verses 7-10) will occur in the future.
2. They believe Satan will be released from his prison to gather together for battle those whom he has deceived.
3. At that final battle, Jesus will defeat Satan and his army once and for all.
4. At the end of the battle, Satan will be thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where he will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
These are things upon which we can agree and take great hope in because Jesus told John in Revelation 22:6 that his words “are trustworthy and true.”
III. The Affects of Christ Return
While we can not know when Christ will return, and there is some debate about some of the details of his return, we can be sure of the affects of Christ’s return. Jesus said in Revelation 22:12, “I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay everyone for what he has done.” After a thousand year reign of Christ, and after the final defeat of Satan and his army, Jesus will judge all mankind from his great white throne according to Revelation 20:11-15.
"Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 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. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."
Jesus “will judge the world in righteousness” as Acts 17 says. He “is the one appointed by God to be the judge of the living and the dead” (Acts 10:42). His “authority to execute judgment” was given to him by God (John 5:27). Revelation 11:18 makes clear that this “time for the dead to be judged” will be a time for rewarding God’s servants, and a time for “destroying the destroyers of the earth.”
Therefore, this will be a time when both those who believe in Jesus and those who do not believe will be judged. Paul says in Romans 2:6-10, He will render to each one according to his works: "to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek."
Let’s be clear, this is not talking about salvation, this is the judgment of unbelievers for punishment and the judgment of believers for reward!
A. The Judgment of the Unbelievers - For those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There was an assurance in the Old Testament, in Ecclesiastes 12:14, that “God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.” Those who have not looked to Jesus, by grace through faith alone, for their salvation will be judged according to what they have done.
God will be fair. The degree of punishment will vary according to what each person has done, for Luke 20:47 says “some will receive the greater condemnation.”
According to Jesus himself, when teaching on the difference between eh servant who knew his master’s will and the one who did not, in Luke 12:47-48, the punishment will also vary according to how much knowledge people had of God’s requirements. They will all be punished severely and eternally, but according to their works.
B. The Judgment of the Believer - This is what Bro. Otis always called the end of life performance review. In fact, Romans 14:10-12 says, “Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.’
So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. There will be eternal life for every believer, and glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good. This final judgment will not be one of punishment, but of reward. We will be brought under great conviction as God reveals to us who he created us to be and who he called us to be in Christ, and we become painfully aware of how far short we have fallen. We will be overwhelmed with the greatness of his mercy and grace towards us. And then he will wipe away every tear . . . for Romans 1:8 declares, “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ.”
Therefore, this judgment should not be one of fear for the believer, but one of encouragement. It should motivate us beyond all things to make it our aim as 2 Corinthians 5:9-10 says, “So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.”
Although there will be degrees of reward in heaven, everyone’s joy will be complete, because our awareness of grace will be acute, and our joy will not come from what we possess, or our status, but from our relationship with God. As it should be in this life! In Heaven, as we will see in a couple of weeks, our joy in fully delighting in God, our joy in being able to be in his presence and fall down before his throne to worship him, will be greater than the joy found in any reward! Instead of jealousy or a spirit of competition, the fact that we will receive a reward for what we have done should spur us on to “consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near,” as Hebrews 10:24-25 says.
The rewards to be had are not finite. If I get one that does not mean there is one less for you to get. We are all in this together and should be cheering each other on to please God and receive the blessing of God both in this life and the life to come!
C. The Purpose of Final Judgment - This final judgment does not take place so that God can determine the condition of each person’s heart. The final judgment will take place so that God can display his glory to all mankind by demonstrating his justice and mercy simultaneously, just as he did at the cross.
The final judgment will be so entirely fair that each person, whether destined for eternal glory or condemnation, will be dealt with more fairly than at any previous time. So much so, even those who suffer the punishment of hell will find the judgment against them as just, as every knee will bow! 1 Peter 1:17 says God will, “judge impartially according to each one’s deeds, for Romans 2:11 says, “God shows no partiality.” James 2:1 says that we should follow this example of the impartiality of Christ, “My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.” We should see people the way God sees them, particularly not according to their wealth!
God will be so glorified in his final judgment that Revelation 19:1-2 says we will shout with a great multitude "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants."
D. The Application of the Final Judgment - Because there is a final judgment, we can have great hope in several assurances, without which there would be no hope in faith in Christ at all.
1. In the Final Judgment we are assured that God’s universe is fair. It satisfies our need for justice in the world.
2. In the Final Judgment we are assured that God is in control; no matter what happens, he will eventually bring about a right end to every situation.
3. In the Final Judgment we are assured that every believer should be able to forgive one another freely. For in it, we know that all accounts will be settled on that day and all wrongs will be made right.
4. In the Final Judgment we are assured that we are free from the spirit of revenge. Christians should never seek to avenge themselves, but instead “leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord,” as Romans 12:19 reminds us. When we are wronged, we can take the desire for justice to God, asking the he work it out on our behalf. We can be sure that he is just and Christ died for sin so that we do not have to. Punishment will either fall on the shoulders of Christ or on the shoulders of the offender for all eternity. We must then demonstrate mercy to others as Christ does to us, and display grace to others as Christ does to us. We must, as Jesus teaches, ask God to forgive us our sins in the same measure that we forgive those who sin against us. We must follow the example of Christ, for “when he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly,” as 1 Peter 2:23 reminds us.
Because there is a final judgment, we can also have great motivation to live each day in obedience to God and thus to “lay up treasures in heaven,” as Matthew 6:20 tells us. Even though these treasures do not earn us our salvation, they do reward us for the good we have done. More than any earthly reward or treasure ever could.
Because there is a final judgment, we have an encouragement to tell others about the good news of Jesus. God “does not wish that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance,” (2 Peter 3:9). Therefore, those who believe in Jesus should share the good news of what they believe with others.
The Bible’s clear warnings of final judgment should encourage us as believers to turn from their sin and turn to Christ alone for their salvation, by grace alone through faith alone. Finally, because of the final judgment, those who have rejected Jesus and his message will go to a place of eternal punishment the Bible calls hell. The Bible’s descriptions of hell are difficult to read, and they should be deeply disturbing to us. While we who truly believe in Christ should have no fear of hell, we should still think of it only with great solemnity and sadness.
Even God himself says, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked.” Still, the wicked must perish. As hard as it is to think about, the doctrine of hell is so clearly taught is Scripture that there is no way to escape it and remain true to God’s word. In a universe like ours where there is deep and profound evil that calls forth the just wrath of a righteous, holy God, evil can not simply go unpunished. All of God’s judgments are just and right, because “the Lord is upright . . . there is no unrighteousness in him.”
And so we say, with loud and often desperate voices, “Come, Lord Jesus come!” And in the while, let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, cheering each other on to please God and receive the blessings of God both in this life and the life to come!
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