Tagged: return of Jesus
Glory in Restoration
This is another in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon.
The glorified body of Jesus easily navigates a world still under the curse of sin. After his emergence from the tomb, Jesus eats, travels, speaks with befuddled eyewitnesses of his resurrection, passes through closed doors, transports himself instantly from one location to another, and finally launches from the Mount of Olives into heaven.
Our resurrected bodies will have many of these same capabilities. Yet the redemptive work of God isn’t finished at our resurrection. The world in which we now live was not always cursed, nor will it always be cursed. A day is coming when our sovereign Lord makes all things new (Rev. 21:5).
We’ll explore the new heavens and earth in future columns. For now, let’s survey three New Testament passages that address the restoration of our bodies.
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The Glorification of the Saints
This is another in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon.com.
Memphis Belle is one of the most celebrated aircraft of World War II. Named after the girlfriend of chief pilot Robert Morgan, the lumbering B-17F Flying Fortress carried the first U.S. crew to complete twenty-five combat missions over Europe before returning to America.
Based in England, Belle coursed through flak-filled skies over France and Germany in 1942-43. The 10-man crew battled Nazi fighter planes and delivered its payload before returning to base through the same menacing skies. The crew’s survival through more than two dozen missions was rare indeed. The Army Air Forces lost 30,000 airmen in battles against Nazi Germany. During the heaviest fighting, U.S. bomber-crew airmen had a one-in-four chance of survival.
For a time after the war, however, Memphis Belle sat outdoors, neglected, until an ambitious restoration project began, requiring more than 100 workers and thousands of hours to scrape paint, bend metal, and fabricate parts. In 2018, on the 75th anniversary of Belle’s historic 25th mission, the fully restored legend was reintroduced to the public at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.
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The Unbeliever’s Resurrection
This is the 22nd in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon.com.
There’s less in Scripture about the resurrection of the wicked than there is about the glorification of the just. Nevertheless, the Bible gives us enough information to know that those who reject Christ are physically resurrected one day and separated forever from God.
Daniel gives us the clearest Old Testament glimpse of the resurrection of the wicked, and their everlasting destiny: “Many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to eternal life, and some to disgrace and eternal contempt” (Dan. 12:2). Job and Isaiah also offer insights into future resurrection (Job 19:25-27; Isa. 26:19).
In the New Testament, Jesus tells us a day of reckoning is coming for all people, an event that begins with resurrection (John 5:28-29). The New Testament writers confirm final judgment of the wicked in numerous places, a judgment that presupposes resurrection.
It is reasonable, but by no means certain, to conclude that the wicked of all ages are the last to be resurrected, depending on how one interprets Revelation 20. John writes, “The rest of the dead did not come to life until the 1,000 years were completed” (Rev. 20:5). These dead, great and small, stand before a great white throne and are judged according to their works (Rev. 20:11-13).
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The Believer’s Resurrection
This is the 21st in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon.com.
It’s comforting to keep in mind that when Christ died, he redeemed our bodies, souls, and spirits. Our salvation doesn’t stop with the forgiveness of sins, the declaration of our right standing with God in Christ, and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, although these are unfathomable gifts of grace.
Rather, the redemptive work of Christ finds its ultimate fulfillment in future resurrection and glorification, when the effects of sin are completely removed, and believers are fully conformed to the image of Christ.
Equally comforting is the Lord’s promise that neither death nor hades threatens his children again. John, who hears Christ assure him that Jesus holds the keys of death and hades, later bears witness to the fact that these enemies are thrown into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:14).
In our glorified bodies, we no longer sin, nor are we drawn to rebellion against God. As a resulting benefit, we have no reason to fear death, for it is but a distant memory God banishes from the realm of possibility.
Continue reading All Who Are in the Graves
This is the 20th in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon.com.
No matter how people consider death, we can’t escape the truth that one day we breathe our last. But what then? Everyone who’s thought seriously about this question has an answer – or at least an opinion.
Those who embrace a naturalistic worldview say death is the end of our existence. We may live on in the memories of loved ones. Meanwhile, our contributions to mankind – or our crimes against humanity – may outlive us, but our consciousness ends permanently and irreversibly once we stop breathing.
Tibetan Buddhists believe the spirits of the departed embark on a journey lasting 49 days and divided into three stages. At the conclusion of the third stage, a person either enters nirvana – a place of liberation from the cravings that cause suffering – or returns to earth for rebirth.
Jehovah’s Witnesses believe most of the departed (except for the 144,000 of the anointed class) go into a state of soul sleep until a future date with destiny. At that time, many of the dead are resurrected and given an opportunity to prove themselves worthy to enter an eternal paradise on earth.
But Scripture paints a different picture. At physical death, the immaterial part of human beings – that is, our souls and spirits – enter an intermediate state, either with Jesus in heaven or in torment in hades. Meanwhile, our lifeless bodies await future resurrection, at which time our souls and spirits reunite with our resurrected bodies so we may stand before Jesus in final judgment.
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