1. Introduction: The Thrilling, Dif­ficult and Neglected Subject⤒🔗

Nowhere does the immeasurable difference that our Lord and His gospel create between believer and unbeliever come out more clearly than when we look ahead at the fu­ture. See the difference between a Christian and non-Christian funeral. Regrettably, the Bible teaching about the future is far too generally neglected, except at funerals. We easily become so immersed in the present that we don't think of the fu­ture. Then threatening develop­ments worry us, and cults exploit that worry with cocksure perversions of Bible prophecy. Especially of the future, we now "know" only "in part" (1 Corinthians 13:9, like children trying to imagine things beyond their reach). That tempts us to neglect this important area of Bible teach­ing. Let's try to give it a brief over­view.

2. From Death to Eternal Life←⤒🔗

"The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23), Paul wrote. And Peter at the beginning of his first letter wrote of how "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ... has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and un­defiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."

The fact is revealed in the dramatic story of the raising of Lazarus in John 11, after the Lord had told Martha,

I am the resurrec­tion and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.John 11:25, 26

This He came, especially by His death and resurrection, to bring about. "Through death," He would "destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Hebrews 2:14, 15).

Death is indeed something to fear. It is not merely the end, as people may think. No one spoke more clear­ly about that than Christ, who spoke repeatedly of "hell," where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:43-48). (The word used, "Gehenna," recalled the valley of Hinnom, the place of hideous pagan sacrifices that seems to have become the city dump.) And the Lord used the words ("Eternal") in speaking of eternal life as He did of eternal damnation that follows the death of the lost. Both are eternal. Christ delivers us from "so great a death" to grant us eternal life.

The Apostle Paul did not want the Philippian believers to worry about him, the prisoner threatened with death, because for him "to live is Christ, and to die is gain ... to depart and be with Christ, which is far bet­ter" (Philippians 1:21-23). As he saw the ravages of a career of hardship and persecution on his body, which was like a tent wearing out, he was not depressed, for he knew that it would soon be replaced by something far better, "a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." Then "mortality may be swallowed up by life" (2 Corinthians 5:1-10), and "we shall all be changed — in a moment, in the twin­kling of an eye," so that "Death is swallowed up in victory" (1 Corinthians 15:52-54).

Accordingly, Paul could en­courage the Thessalonians in his first letter (4:13), that they should not worry about believers who had died "lest you sorrow as others who have not hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus." When He comes in tri­umph, "the dead in Christ shall rise first," to be reunited with those who are still here, as they together meet their returning Lord to spend eter­nity with Him.

3. The Judgment Day←⤒🔗

Echoing many such Bible promises, the Christian church con­fesses that the Lord "shall come to judge the living and the dead." He said (John 5:28), "The hour is com­ing in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth — those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation."

As Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:10,

We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

Some have fancied that there must be a number of judgments with a great deal of time in between, but the Bible doesn't seem to leave room for that. The Lord speaks of these in the same "hour," and 2 Thessalonians 1:7, 10 promise deliverance to persecuted believers WHEN the Lord returns to condemn those who reject His Gospel. Other questions also arise about that judgment. If we are saved only by faith in Christ and not "by our works," how can we be judged by our works? To answer that, we only need to notice that our actions or works show whether or not we really believe in Him (Matthew 7:20-23). We notice that there are degrees of punishment for the unbelieving wicked, depending on what people did and how much they knew (Luke 12:46-48; Matthew 11:20-24). Similarly, there are degrees of rewards for those who are saved by faith in Christ to serve Him (Luke 19:13-19; Matthew 25:14ff.; 1 Corinthians 3:1-15), depending on their degrees of faithfulness.

4. Our Lord's Eternal Kingdom←⤒🔗

The Bible teaches us to anticipate and live our lives with a view to Christ's return, giving us a glimpse of the festal welcome "into the everlast­ing kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1:11). The Lord mentioned "signs" that will point ahead to that coming event (Matthew 24:3-14). There will be false teachers, wars, famines, epidemics, earthquakes, persecutions and lawlessness, as the gospel is preached to all the nations.

Many evangelical Christians have come to expect a Millennium (thousand year) period of blessing under Christ's rule before the judg­ment, often with special privilege for the Jews (God's earthly people, in contrast with His church). The Mil­lennial thinking appeals especially to Revelation 20 which mentions;

1. the devil being bound so as not to deceive nations as he had done, and

2. the martyred saints living and reigning with Christ.

We ought to ob­serve that our Lord also spoke of His having bound Satan so that He could be releasing his prisoners (Matthew 12:29) and that reigning saints of John's vision had died and were evidently in heaven, not in Jeru­salem. As to the Jews having a spe­cial, privileged future, note that the gospel had broken down the wall be­tween Jew and Gentile in the Church (Ephesians 2:14; Galatians 3:28; Romans 1:17, 26), "and SO," as believers in Christ, all were to be saved.

We must not think of Christ's com­ing only in connection with our per­sonal futures, but as part of our Lord's saving work in restoring the whole fallen creation, "because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God."

We, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.2 Peter 3:13

The book of Revelation, and especially its concluding chapters, are full of the visions of that great restoration and triumph of our returning Lord. The passing troubles of the present fall into insignificance compared with that event. They are "not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Thus we are to be encouraged in the faith, confes­sion, life and struggles of the Gospel by "looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:14).

Questions:←⤒🔗

1. How does the gospel of Christ transform the believer's death? (Philippians 1:19-25, John 11:21-26.)

2. What does the Bible teach about hell? (Mark 9:43-48.)

3. In God's judgment, are there different degrees of punishment and reward? (Luke 12:46-48; 1 Corinthians 3:11-­15.)

4. If we are saved only by grace, how can we be judged by works? (2 Corinthians 5:10.)

5. What are the "signs" of Christ's return? (Matthew 24:3-14.)

6. Is there a special, privileged fu­ture for the Jews? (Romans 11:25-29.)

7. What is the Millennium? (Revelation 20; Matthew 12:24)

8. How does our expecting Christ's return revolutionize our view of today's life and world? (2 Peter 3.)