Tuesday: The Resurrection and the Judgment
What we have studied so far could lead us to think that the resurrection will be for only a few. But Jesus affirmed that a time will come when all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth
(John 5:28-29, NKJV, emphasis added). Believers and unbelievers, righteous and sinners, saved and lost, all will be raised. As Paul declared, there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust
(Acts 24:15, NKJV).
Image © Justinen Creative from GoodSalt.com
Though all are, eventually, raised from the dead, all will face only one of two eternal fates. What are they? John 5:28-29.
The universality of the resurrection doesn’t mean that at the final day everybody will be ushered into a blissful and joyful eternal life. Those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt
(Dan. 12:2, NKJV).
The Bible teaches that God will judge the lives of every human being, deciding the eternal destiny of each person who ever lived (Eccles. 12:14, Rom. 2:1-11). The execution of the divine sentence, however, does not occur immediately after the death of each individual but only after his or her resurrection. Until then, both the saved and the lost sleep unconsciously in the dust. The resurrection, by itself, is neither a reward nor a punishment. It is the precondition to receiving eternal life or condemnation.
Speaking of the two resurrections, Jesus indicated that our destiny will be decided on the basis of the moral quality of our deeds (good or bad). This fact, however, doesn’t mean that works save us. On the contrary, Jesus clearly taught that our salvation depends exclusively on our faith in Him as our Savior (John 3:16). Why, then, are works taken into consideration? Because they show whether our faith in Christ and our surrender to Him are genuine or not (James 2:18). Our works demonstrate whether we are still dead in trespasses and sins
(Eph. 2:1, NKJV) or dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord
(Rom. 6:11, NKJV).
Dwell on the ultimate destiny that awaits each of us. If anything is standing between you and eternal life, why not, right now, choose to get rid of it? After all, what possibly could be worth losing eternity for?
(25)
In the old testament of the bible the prophet Jeremy recognized that God had known him from before the womb. This leaves one to recollect, that when all die (first death) we go back to where God had us stored, so to speak, before we were deposited into this earth bound flesh, bone, and blood, body. So in essence the physical form of us goes back to dust but our spirit/being /awareness goes back to some kind of hibernation (Jesus called it sleep) back to where God had us stored “before the womb”, until a more permanent situation shall arise, like the second death or eternal existence with a new incorruptible (celestial) flesh and bone body we be given.
Simply equating...those whom die or have died not under Gods saving grace when Christ shall return next time will not rise at that juncture? Only the dead in Christ will rise first from the grave then those of us whom are left alive in Christ covered inside His Robe will be caught up/ translated never to taste of the death brought into this fallen realm...
After a thousand years at and around the city of God in its heavenly location we will come back to this earth with the Holy City, Gods indwelling formless Presence, all the host of Holy Angels, Jesus and the Holy Ghost, we will witness one of the most magnificent and strange acts our Lord God will at last and never again perform. Sometime before this last arrival of Christ Jesus to earth, the remaining earth dead humans will be resurrected to be collected into an incredibly ridiculous rag tag sort of army lead by the one and only, Satan aka; Lucifer. After the city of God floats down onto this earth they will attack.
Christ will lay waste to these, His once most precious creation, our brothers and sisters of error. They will recognize Jesus as Lord and every knee of them will bow to the Supreme Lord and Master, to acknowledge His rightful reign. OK ...they have already died once, right? Now they get to die again, soon after there teaming acknowledgment... the brightness of Christ will lay them to waste. Back to dust they all fall down, now they have died twice never to rest in Gods soul storage place again, gone forever and eternity. Here it comes. The end ...the beginning.
Hello Chris. Thank you for our comments. I smiled at your first line. Do you have someone name JEREMY in your life or is that a modern nickname for the prophet JEREMIAH? 🙂
Wendell, I will have to check, but I think I have seen "Jeremy" in some Bible translations,not in Jeremiah but in other places referring to Jeremiah.
The Bible is crystal clear about the state of the dead. However, some unbiblical doctrines teach of dualism. If this phenomenon would have been upheld,what would be essence of resurrection and judgment?
Daniel 12:2, which is partly quoted in the lesson does not appear to be a reference to the final resurrection. The text actually says "and many of those who sleep..." (not all of those who sleep). This is consistent with a separate resurrection from the final one. In any case the resurrection of the righteous and that of the unrighteous are two separate events (1 Thessalonians 4:16; Revelation 20:1-14).
This would not be the first time God did something this unusual to make a statement. At Christ's resurrection there was a partial resurrection in which tokens of Grace were called forth. The tombs of the saints were opened by an earthquake. The saints rested on the Sabbath along with Jesus until after their Lord got up (Matthew 27:50-53). They were raised to everlasting life, like their Redeemer.
This was symbolic of the final resurrection of the righteous. It was a statement to the universe and to the human race - the resurrection is real and it is still on, just wait for it.
The partial resurrection very close to the end of time will not confuse the faithful. It will only be a confirmation of prophecy and a celebration of victory for the righteous. For the others they will behold the glorious appearing of the Son of God, whom they fought so hard to deny (Revelation 1:7).
We shall be judged on the basis of our love to God for how can we live together with a God Whom we don't love? This will be possible by looking at our relationship with the God-given commandment.
"For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous." 1 John 5:3 kjv.
Luckily these commandments have been written in our hearts therefore we have no excuse of not keeping them. Keeping them come as a result of our love to God and faith in Jesus Christ.
When referring to ancient Hebrew prophets, "Jeremy" is widely viewed as synonym for the Prophet Jeremiah. Questions arise when considering Matthew 27:9 which seems to be a quote from Zechariah. It could possibly a citation from an "attributed" or pseudographical book that existed at that time (See Jude 14 - the Prophet Enoch) or a general reference to the Prophets of whom Jeremiah was first and Zechariah was one.
Very good Nicholas. I would like to add that good works are a reflection of our relationship with Christ, our faith in Him, and our acceptance of His Grace(the Wedding Garment found in Matthew 22:11-14). Yes we need to put on the Wedding Garment given to us by Christ as further depicted in Zechariah 3:5. For it is his Grace, our faith in Him, and believing in Him, that we are able to keep the commandments of God, and thus have eternal life. Revelation 22:14 says, "Blessed are they that do His commandants."
God Bless You
Motivation has everything to do with our influence in this world. If we are overtly vain, it is felt by others. The sad thing is that it appears that saving our own skin and looking forward to the death of the wicked is what characterizes our witness. Moses, though he was willing to die for" his own people", never did what Jesus did, and that is, die for the ungodly and sinners. He killed them instead. We need to set the story strait before Christianity as a whole is going to attract the attention of the multitudes.
The question could be asked why is the judgment based on works rather than the intent of the heart. My answer would be that God is the judge and He doesn’t need to see the works of man in order to know what is in his heart. “But, O LORD of hosts, You who judge righteously, Testing the mind and the heart” (Jer 11:20 NKJV) or as Paul said, “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts” (1 Cor 4:5 NKJV). Daniel also told Nebuchadnezzar, “The secret which the king has demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers cannot declare to the king. But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets” (Dan 2:27-28 NKJV). We also know from what Jesus said that, “the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son” (Jn 5:22 NKJV). But then all of that raises some questions doesn’t it, for scripture also clearly states, “Do you not know that we shall judge angels?” (1 Cor 6:3 NKJV).
To me God is the ultimate judge who judges the heart, “For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Sam 16:7 NKJV). As a matter of God’s love for His creation He is graciously allowing His intelligent created beings to judge His judgment because they have some serious questions concerning us that need to be answered. His created beings can only judge the outward works so in their judgment that will be the basis upon which they will judge. Like it is in the US and other industrialized nations they are the jury that decides the ultimate fate of sinners while God presides as the judge in the court of Heaven. Even though He ultimately has the final say being the Lord over all; it is the unfallen creatures including angels that put their stamp of approval on the judgment that was made before time began and therefore it becomes the deciding vote.