Major Bible Themes

Okay, we're going to talk about resurrections today. What is a resurrection? What is it? Back to life. Back to life? Okay. Okay, you're dead and you're... Like what Christ did, right? Okay. He died and came back. Body uniting with the spirit? The resurrection only pertains to the body, right? Am I right about that? Because when a human being dies, the cause of the death is the spirit and soul leaving the body. And so the body ceases to function and it goes in the grave. And that's a result of sin. God never intended for the soul and the spirit to be separated from the body, but because of sin, the consequences of sin is that we would be separated from God spiritually and we would physically die. So, if God's original intent was to have the soul, spirit and body united together for all eternity, then enter this issue of resurrection in which the body comes up and is reunited with the soul and spirit. Okay, that's basically right. Now, we're going to try to answer some questions today.

The first one is, how do the passages of the resurrection correlate? Because we're going to find out that Maybe I better ask, how many have read the chapter? Never any hands. We're going to try to correlate because there are some differences in events surrounding resurrections. What are the theological views of the resurrection? We're going to look at three. What are the distinctions between the resurrections? Are there resurrections in the future? And how can we summarize them? Hopefully we'll get all of that done today. Now let's look at some passages, maybe to do this quickly. Daniel 12, 1 and 2. John 5, 25. Craig, why don't you do 25, 28, 29. John what, 25? John 5. Acts 24, 15.

Wendy? What was the Daniel? It's right here. Daniel, twelve, one and two. OK. Matt, Hebrews, eleven, thirty five. Steve, Revelation, twenty four through six. Courtney, Revelation, twenty thirteen and fourteen. OK. Yeah, that was that. So. Talk. Let's read them. And I'll make a few small comments and then maybe we'll start core. They do. OK, go. OK. At that time, Michael, there are things he stands guard over. Your nation will rise. Then there will be a time of anguish greater than any since nations first came into existence.

At that time, every one of your people whose name is written in the book will be Many of those whose bodies lie dead and buried will rise up, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting disgrace. OK, John 25 and then 28-29. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and now is when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. Do not marvel at this for an hour is coming in which we're in the tombs. We'll hear his voice and we'll come forth.

And those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment. OK. Justice is with yourself. Just judgment. Are you doing that? I want to show you the computer. You want to use it? Sure. OK. Oh, that's kind of cool, isn't it? Okay, Acts 24, 15. And I have the same hope in God as these men, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. Okay, Hebrews 11, 35.

Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released so that they might gain a better resurrection. And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus or on their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until a thousand years were finished.

This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. thousand years. Okay, Revelation. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them. And they were judged, and every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. Okay, and all those verses, if you were paying attention, how many resurrections did they talk about? One. One? One. How about There's a first one, which means there's probably a second. Maybe four. Maybe four. Well, if we die, don't we get resurrected? Well, that's the point.

I mean, some of this, like back to Daniel, what kind of resurrection is he talking about right in here? There's a time of trouble. What's the time of trouble? Wouldn't you say that that's the tribulation? Okay. and such as never there was seen since the nation was a nation even to that same day and at that time that people shall be delivered everyone shall be found written in the book and many of them that sleep shall awake some to everlasting life some to contempt so there's an event that's going to take place that has to do with the focus on the Jewish nation And it's obviously somewhere around the tribulation, right?

John, the Lord talks about resurrection of life and resurrection of damnation right here. That's two, isn't it? I know what everybody thinks because I was raised the same way. We all live to this happy or this consequential end and everything stops. We all go in a general resurrection, some of us go to heaven, some of us go to hell, right? But that's not what the word of God teaches.

So, okay. Moving forward. There are the three views that I mentioned before, there's the amillennial, postmillennial and premillennial view of the end times. And here's kind of how it goes. If you look down here, here's the timeline. Israel is here. And these people say that Israel and the church are kind of the same thing. And when the church came along, all it was was an extension of Israel. Here comes Christ, the cross, death, burial, and resurrection, and then right in here, church and Israel from the time of the cross to the time of the end of the world.

They say God's kingdom is either working for good or Satan's kingdom is either working for evil. There is no millennium. There's none of that. Their attitude is that there will be no thousand year kingdom of God on the earth. Amillennialism. There are some that view this, have this view, but not a lot. And then at the end of their world, there will be a general resurrection and everybody will fit in one of these three categories. There will be a general judgment and then we'll either go to heaven or hell. That's what I was raised with, okay? Amillennialism.

So now, if I ever ask you in the future, what's amillennialism, you should be, no. And then there's postmillennial view. What's, ah, ah means, what's the word ah mean? Nothing. No, nothing. No millennial. Post, what's the word post mean? After. After, right. Okay, postmillennial view.

Israel and the church are the same. Christ shows up on the scene, death, burial and resurrection, Israel and the church are the same from the time of Christ to the end of the world. The great commission is to go out and evangelize and get the world morally squared away and when that happens, Christ will come again. Probably the biggest advocate of this viewpoint today is Hagee, the guy from San Antonio. This is his view. General resurrection, same kind of deal, general judgment, and everybody goes to heaven or those half go to hell.

But the whole focus of the post-millennial view is that there is going to be a thousand year reign, but it isn't going to happen until we Christians get busy and get the world moralized. And everybody gets lined up. It's an undefined period. The thousand years isn't literally a thousand years. Those are two views. And both of these views have what we call just a general resurrection at the end of the age.

Now, let's take a look at some issues. The word resurrection right up here just literally means the cause to stand up. And if you look at... Say that again, that last sentence. Right here? No, stand up, that sentence you just said. This word right here is a Greek word that literally means the cause to stand up. It's the Greek word for resurrection. Right here. Okay. Boy, do I like this thing. Why do I have a feeling I'm not going to get it back? Maybe not. It means the raising up of the physical body from physical death. Okay, that's what the word means.

Now, let's take a look at this timeline here. If you look in the Old Testament, down through all of these verses, here are some what we would call resurrections. Let's start with Lazarus. Was Lazarus resurrected? I don't think he was. I think he was restored. That's right, he was. Because what is the deal with Lazarus when he gets restored? He's going to die again. If I'm Lazarus and I'm thinking about it, this is not such a good deal for me. Because I'm going to have to do this again.

That's true with every one of these people. The widow's son in 1 Kings, all the way down to, now right here, We'll come back and talk about this because there's kind of an interesting issue here. Dorcas that was raised and the young man that Paul raised. The young man is the guy that Paul was having this Bible study that lasted through the night and this guy was sitting up in the window and fell asleep and fell out the window and Paul went down and raised him up or restored him to life.

So we have to distinguish between restoration to this existing life And what we mean by right here, Christ's resurrection. Because Christ was not restored to life, was he? No. What happened with Christ? What's the difference between Christ and Lazarus?

He could do all those kinds of things, which meant that he had a spiritual body. Lazarus had the same old body, probably had acne. You know? And it didn't go away. Firstborn of the new creation. What's that? Firstborn of the new creation. Yeah, there's a brand new creation with the resurrection of Christ. He's a new creature. New life in kind and quality. Brand new.

What happened to the guy that fell off the window? Did he then believe when he was restored? Oh, I don't know. I just think he was like half of my class, they fell asleep. But we never wake up. I could point this thing at you. It doesn't say. It just talks about the fact that he was listening for several hours and he fell asleep, fell out the window and died. Killed him.

And then Paul raised him back to life. Restored him back to life. So when you're looking at resurrections, you can't say that all of these were resurrections in a strict sense, can you? No, they're really restorations to life. And when you talk about these resurrections here, they raised a natural body and they raised an immortal body, that every one of these people had to die again. Now let's talk for a minute about this group right here. Does everybody understand what happened here? Saints after Christ's resurrection. Let's look at the verse.

Look at Matthew 27.50-53. And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook, and the rocks were split.

The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And coming out of the tombs, after this, his resurrection, they entered into the holy city and appeared to many. So when Christ dies, Around Jerusalem, lots of graves were opened and bodies were resurrected and they went into the city. Now, if you had read the chapter, Lewis Barry Chafer makes the point that these people were raised with new bodies and that at some point in the next days and weeks they just went to heaven. But if you take a good hard look at it and how differed with them and he said these people could not have been resurrected in newness of life in a new body. Why? Because Christ was still in the grave. He's the first one. Do you see that? So he says that these people rejoined their bodies and died again. Again, if I was one of them I wouldn't have been happy. Maybe they just went to sleep, I don't know. But I would have a tendency to agree with Hal about this, that these people were not like we're going to be when we're raised.

Well it also says many bodies of the saints, so it was not a new spiritual body, it was the old physical body. I think it was. And if it is the old physical body, I mean, the bodies of human beings, well, except for a few people, stay here, and your soul and spirit goes to be with the Lord, right? So, I can't imagine a sinful body showing up in the presence of Christ, can you?

Anyway, premillennial view. Here's the timeline right here and here's the time of Christ and the cross and resurrection. And back over this way is the nation of Israel. Christ shows up, has his ministry, he dies, he's buried, and he's resurrection. This is the first resurrection. First Corinthians, who's up next? Matt. First Corinthians 15. 20 through 23. And while he's looking that up, take a look at this timeline.

Starting at the resurrection of Christ, the next event that happens is Pentecost. And from Pentecost to the rapture is known as the Church Age. That's where we live today. In that, however long that's going to be, we're cooking about 2,000 years now. And how much longer it goes, only the Lord knows.

All right, Matt, you ready? But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits for those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ In his own words, Christ, the first fruits after that, those who are Christ at his coming. Okay. Everybody know what first fruits mean in the Jewish system? The first fruits from the crop every year were presented and they were indicative of what the whole harvest was going to be. So Christ is the first fruit of the new creation and resurrection.

And he's exactly like what we're going to be because we're the harvest, we're the crop. So he's the first one raised from the dead to newness of life. This is a brand new thing. Never been this kind of thing on the earth before. A brand new man with brand new life. He's the head of a new race and a new creation. Now, from this time, where we're somewhere in here, up to the end of this church age, what signals the end of this church age? Christ coming in the clouds, a rapture. What happens at the rapture?

First thing that happens is, when we look at 1 Thessalonians, that those that have already gone home to be with the Lord are reunited with their body, now a glorified body, and they meet Christ in the air. How about you guys who are still hanging around on the earth, what happens to you? We follow them, but that whole event happens that quick. So, they go first, we're with them, and we meet Christ in the air, and you show up with no sin nature, new body. Resurrection, just like Christ's resurrection. Now, it gets kind of tricky in here.

So the church has gone off of the earth, and now we have this seven year period. right? Which is known as the Tribulation. During that time there will be, well I don't want to read that passage, we don't have time, but right in here. Is that also known as the Day of the Lord, the Tribulation? I think the Day of the Lord is at the end of the Tribulation when he comes.

There are a couple of groups right in here. There's a group of saints who don't deny the Lord during the tribulation, who do not take the mark of the beast and who are murdered or decapitated because they do that. They are faithful. Then there are these two guys, these two witnesses who show up on the planet and they begin to preach the gospel and God protects them and nobody can kill them. And finally the Antichrist gets to them and kills them and their bodies lay in the street for three days and the whole world has a fiesta like you can't imagine because these two guys are finally dead. At the end of three days they get up and go to heaven. That made me a little nervous.

So these people here, there's another resurrection there and then at the end of the tribulation At the end of the tribulation, when Christ comes to rule and reign, more resurrections happen. All of the Old Testament saints are raised. Let's look at that first.

1 Corinthians 15.23. Who's up next? Nick.

1 Corinthians 15.23. but each in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, after that those who are Christ at his coming.

Okay, that has to do with us. Actually, what I'm looking for is a revelation. I think it's Revelation 24-6. Did we already read that? OK. Are you guys ready? Revelation. Isn't it great being in a class and all this electronics to pick this stuff up really fast? Revelation five. Revelation twenty four through six. Alan, if you've got it. Then I saw thrones and seated on them were those whom the authority to judge was committed. Also, I saw the souls of those who had been. He had it for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God.

And those who had not worshipped to these were saved, and had not received its mark in their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for 1,000 years. The rest of the dead did not come to Christ until the 1,000 years had ended.

This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection. Okay, very interesting. Right here, these tribulation saints that were beheaded, what does it say about them? That they're going to be raised and they're going to rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years.

Are they members of the body of Christ? No, they're not. They're not. But they're going to be here for a thousand years and it defines a little bit different role that they have than what we're going to have. But they're going to be ruling and reigning with Christ for a thousand years along with all these Old Testament guys. All the Old Testament saints are going to be around for a thousand years too.

Resurrected. So they're part of the new earth. Well the new earth isn't going to happen yet. Not yet. Notice it said that the Tribulation Saints resurrection was part of the first resurrection. I thought this was the first resurrection. Christ. Here's what happens. When you get to Revelation he starts to talk about a first and a second. And I think what he does is he lumps all of this into the first resurrection. Because it's all because of being in Christ.

Notice that verse also said that those that are raised right here, the bad guys are not raised, the ones that took the mark of the beast, the ones that didn't believe and they're still hanging out in the grave for another thousand years. So can you begin to see why there just isn't this general resurrection at the end of the age? Would that be the third resurrection that you're speaking of?

It would be. And then, at the end of the thousand years, all the unbelieving dead from all ages are raised, judged, and sent into the lake of fire. It's the final resurrection, the great white throne judgment. And then we do go into eternity. One more thing. If that's the final resurrection, then what happens about the remainder of the people that are still here? Yeah, that's a great question. The ones that are still alive at the end.

I think that what happens to them is the same thing that happens to us at the point of the Rapture. I don't think everybody dies in the Millennial Kingdom. There will be people here living on the Earth at the end of the Millennial Kingdom who haven't died. As far as you know, would they have a regular lifespan like we do at this point? No, because the word says that a man who's a hundred years old will still be considered a child. So I don't know if they'll live a thousand years, but they'll live a long time, hundreds of years. Is that when a child can put his hand in it? Yeah.

So at the end of that thousand years, there will be actual people on the earth who don't believe in Christ and they will be judged. There will be lots of people on the earth who do. Jews and Gentiles that believe he's the savior of the world or the messiah of Israel. Is that also the time when the kings of Europe will come in to Jerusalem to offer? That's during the millennial kingdom is when that happens.

Those are not part of the body. Say that again. Those are not part of the body of Christ. See, once the rapture happens, which is the next great event, it's the body of Christ that goes to the beam of judgment the place of rewards, the wedding feast of the Lamb takes place, and we're considered, we're the Bride of Christ. We have a unique, unalterable position for all eternity as the Bride of Christ. Well that doesn't mean that Christ isn't going to have, or God isn't going to have, like Millennial Kingdom saints raised at the time of the beginning of the Kingdom, who will also rule and reign.

But there's a difference between them and us. What's the difference? We're in Christ, we're family, is a good way to look at it. It's hard to describe that God rewards all those who believe him, but it's different in terms of who you are, in terms of your position.

Because when the wedding feast of the Lamb takes place, before the second coming of Christ, the people that, these people that died because they wouldn't take the mark of the beast and they were beheaded, the wedding feast of the Lamb is over. So we're not having another wedding. They're kind of like relatives here, aren't they? That's not a bad way to look at it. I've looked at it this way.

If you happen to live in England, and your last name was Windsor, who is mom? She's the queen. But who is she to you? Nothing. She's mom. If I happen to be in Christ, and I live in Jerusalem at the time of the Millennial Kingdom, who is Jesus to me? Who is he? He's the Messiah. He's what? He's the Messiah. Is he my Messiah? I'm not Jewish. Who is he? Well, if the wedding feast of the Lamb is taking place, who is he to me? He's our Savior. He's the groom. I'm the bride. There's an intimacy that I have with him that no other creature has. None. So how about these millennial kingdom saints that are ruling and reigning with him? Who is Christ to them? He's king, right? He's Messiah? He's wife? But he's not my husband. So we're lucky to be living now and when this all happens. Well, if luck had anything to do with it.

There's no question that we are the most graced people in the history of mankind. Then there will be layers of government then. I don't think so. I think it's going to be a theocratic government where there's a king. Administrators, maybe is the way to look at it. And I think the Jews, like those Jews that were faithful, these guys here, Tribulation Saints, I think their association will be more with Israel than the whole world. Although there will be Gentiles in that group too who didn't take the mark of the beast and who did believe that Christ was the Messiah and the Savior.

Sure. Okay. Is this confusing? I'm going to move ahead. Now, this is kind of an overview. How can the resurrections be summarized? Awesome. Right here, restorations we talked about. There's a physical dead raised to a previous state of decay. They had a mortal body, a natural body, and physical death again.

So the poster child for that is probably Lazarus. And all those that were raised back to life during the time of the apostles and before in the Old Testament. This line here is the timeline. Here's where Christ's death, burial and resurrection at Pentecost and there was some of that that happened after Pentecost right in here. Down here, Old Testament saints understood and are awaiting this last resurrection.

Now, first resurrection or a better resurrection physical death raised with an incorruptible body, an immortal body, a spiritual body to eternal life. And that are all these statements here. Resurrection to everlasting life in Daniel, resurrection to life in John, resurrection of the just and first resurrection of revelation fits all in here. You okay with that? At this point Christ comes with the saints, here's the millennial kingdom and then the last resurrection is right here.

The physically dead are raised from all ages with an immortal body that can't die but they're raised to eternal condemnation. So that's why when you see that verse, blessed are those who are partakers of the first resurrection. You better hope you were born to that team. Because if you don't, everybody, every human being will be resurrected at some point. It depends on what happens right after you're resurrected. If you are one of these guys, what's going to happen? You're going to go in the lake of fire.

It's a shame that they can't say, you know, they're probably sorry and why couldn't God let them? Oh, that's a great point. Do you really think they're sorry? No. See, I have it in my mind that if I was one of those guys that resurrected to condemnation, I'm going to have to go before the Great White Throne Judgment. And Christ is going to be in front of me in all of His glory. It's hard to imagine what that's going to be like. And all of you will be around Him in all of Christ's glory too. And I, being one of those condemned guys, am going to have the attitude of, well, I didn't want you then, I don't want you now, where's the door to hell? I'm out of here. You know why? Ever think about why that might be? Yeah, why?

In John chapter 4 or 5 it says that they love the darkness rather than the light. It's going to be so bright at the great white throne judgment that those that are condemned won't be able to stand it. They want darkness. It's kind of like it is today, you know, a certain amount of people, they will not, they absolutely will not accept the light. That's right. They prefer the darkness. And so, it isn't... I said it myself, you know, like... We've all been there. Some of these people would be the smartest people we've ever had on the planet.

But I mean, they don't get the Bible, they don't get it. Sure they do. These people have made a conscious decision not to believe. And at the Great White Throne Judgment, there is no option in terms of, I'll take plan B, there is no other option. It's the glory of God standing right in front of them, there is no other thought. You know, we were given that thing that the New York Times put out and they pretty much were pretty close to following the Bible.

They reject it. Sure they do. And not only did they reject it when they were here, but they will personally reject it at the Great White Throne. God isn't going to, you know, handcuff all of these people and kick them into hell. They're going to go right there willingly. They're going to want to be there because they do not want to be in the presence of Christ.

We can't, when you think about it, if you're not a believer, how comfortable are you around these really holy guys? Like your neighbor who's a Christian. You're not comfortable. Well, imagine if you take all of the veneer off and standing in front of you is the glorified Christ. He's right there and you're right in front of him and you're abject darkness and he's light.

How much longer, how much could you stand to be, actually I think hell's a blessing. You know I was just thinking about how after they've had so many and the power of this earth and the money and everything and all the adoration and all of a sudden they have to stand before the true power. Yeah. I just said that I think hell's a blessing, do you know why? Do you understand why I said that? No. Because God gave, gives them the opportunity for all eternity not to be in his presence. It would be worse if they had to stand in the light for all eternity. It would be real hell.

I'm reminded of the rich man and Lazarus. That story, that rich man looks across that divide And he clearly, it's interesting he asks Abraham to tell Lazarus to go up there. He still seems to have that rich man attitude. He clearly is wanting to look out for his brother. His torment. So would that rich man at the Great White Throne Judgment change his mind or say, you know, how about giving me another chance? Well, once they're in the fire, they wish they'd change their mind. Say that again? Once they're in the fire, I mean, holy hell. They would wish they had changed their mind.

I mean, there's no fun there. Yeah, you're right. No golf. I think the light exposes them. Yeah, it does. And they can't take it. That's a good point. And I think that's why, when you say, you know, living next to a Christian or something, You know, even on a job site or something, when you're not, you know, I'm on a drill site and I'm not participating in all the... but it makes them uncomfortable. And I think it's just a minor manifestation of that, you know, that light being exposed to the darkness. And I think they just can't stand the exposure of who they are. I had a friend who had a cocaine overdose, tried to kill himself. And he, you know, he was on cocaine, like more than enough, he should have killed him.

So I don't know how to quantify this story, but he felt like he was falling like Alice in Wonderland through this huge ugly pit. And it was like, I finally got you kind of thing. And the only thing he could remember was the Lord's Prayer, and he started praying that. And he'd kind of gone into this state, and ten minutes later he wakes up, he's totally sober, but he said there was no light, there was no love, there was no salvation army, there was no hope, it was just dark. He said he felt like his inside of a 55 gallon drum had sunk to the bottom of the ocean by himself. So, and he committed suicide. But all I'm saying is, I think there is a very dark side of hell.

You know, those on Wednesday night were studying 1 Corinthians, you remember that to be, I think chapter 3 or 2, where the fella is having an incestuous relationship with his stepmother and the Corinthians won't do anything about it and Paul says, you know, you guys, I'm going to do something about it, put this guy out, kick him out of your assembly.

For what reason? What did kicking him out, what was it going to accomplish? The destruction of the flesh. What's interesting about that is that they remove this guy from their church, assembly, whatever, put him out into the world for the purpose of destroying his flesh.

Does that only happen to Christians? The thing that you have to understand about that, I think, is that everybody in the world is in this environment of destruction. The world is designed to murder everybody, to kill them, to get rid of them. to destroy them. There's nothing in the world that will do anything other than destroy you.

So Paul realizes that, so he says, well put them out there for the destruction of the flesh, so the flesh, he won't rely on it anymore. And then in 2nd Corinthians, the job was done and he wanted to come back in and they wouldn't let him in. Paul had to tell them, let him in.

Mike, I have a question. As far as the judgment It looks like everyone there is in trouble. It separates the sheep from the goats. How does that work? Yeah, and I've been thinking about that all week and I really don't have an answer for it. Maybe you guys could help me. Right here, oops, I can't go back.

At the Great White Throne Judgment, there's this separation of the sheep from the goats. But everything that I read in all of these verses talked about that the resurrections are for condemnation. Now next week you're going to talk about condemnations and that kind of thing and you probably have the answer.

I hope so. You'll have it by next week. So I really don't know because everybody that is, and maybe it goes along with the question you asked, how about the people at the end of the 1,000 year that are faithful? so that they all show up there and the faithful ones get separated out from the ones that aren't? Yeah, probably. Yeah, I think that's right. Everybody else has already been resurrected. Everybody else, you know. So I think that's probably what happens because they all go to the, if you haven't died, and even if you if you did die, yeah, there has to be. There has to be a separating out.

But once the separating out is done, then the judgment starts. You know, maybe I'm doing something outside of our subject, but I'm curious about when the Jerusalem comes down, you know, the four square, when does that actually take place? Okay, good question. After the judgments, And after all those who are condemned are ushered into the lake of fire, then the new heavens and the new earth are created.

And the old creation blips out of existence. And your dad used to do a great thing on that from a chemical standpoint and a molecule standpoint, that you just change it a little bit and it goes away. It just goes away. All you have to do is change the laws that hold the earth together and the whole thing disappears. And then he recreates it in righteousness and it's hard for us to understand that in the new heavens and the new earth there is nothing but righteousness. There is no sin. No propensity to sin. No thought of sin. No remembering of sin. No sin for all eternity. That's kind of cool. It's kind of cool. So what awaits us in the future, which could be 15 minutes and seven years from right now, or maybe 14 minutes or seven seconds, it's incredible the cool stuff that's going to happen.

The next big event in the history of the world is the rapture. All this other stuff you read about in the paper is just back page stuff. The next big event is the rapture. And the world won't care that we're gone. They'd be glad that we're gone. I don't think they'll even take second thought about it. There will be an apostate church here. All those people that were involved in all the churches will still go to church on Sunday. There won't be an immediate travesty like the week of Daniel. It won't be until later on.

But it's going to be a pretty cool time. The first half of the tribulation is not quite lucky. Although there's a lot of fighting and wars and stuff that are happening. But there's a peace in the first half, and then everything hits the fan in the second half. Right. the Lord coming back ends that at the right time. Otherwise, it would be total destruction. Approaching the end of that seven years, if God didn't intervene, the whole earth, nobody would survive. Nobody would survive.

I was up in Seattle a few weeks ago, and if you've ever been to Seattle, if you take off in an airplane and that fog is sitting in there, When you get above the clouds, all you can see is the top of the mountains. And Mount Rainier and all these other ones, they're all volcanoes. And you look at that and you think, all he has to do is light those suckers off. And that's all you can see, the tops of those mountains, and every single one of them is a volcano. And imagine if you just went... And all over the world, these volcanoes are strategically placed. And if you hit the switch and they all went at one time, boy, your marijuana wouldn't grow very well, would it?

Okay, was that the second bill? No. We're past the second bill? It's coming up on the second. Any more questions on the resurrections? I would encourage you to read the chapter if you don't, if you're of a mind that, gee, I thought we were just all going to sail down to the end, get off the boat, everybody gets resurrected, we have a little judgment, and we go to this place called heaven. That's not what's happening. That's not what's happening.

You know, I'm curious about the new earth, the new heaven, the new earth. You know, when we give our lives to Christ, we're a new man, a new woman. You know, physically, we still are the same. Would the earth be the same except cleansed? No. Probably the most distinguishing feature about the new earth is there won't be any water on it.

Yeah, I know it messes you up being a ground water engineer. You'll be drilling dry holes. It will be very different. No more sea, I know, and that'll make me feel bad. Yeah, I like the ocean. But see, the earth itself won't be our home. It will be the home of the Jews and the Gentile saints through all time. And then we will be as the holy city. I don't know. I've read that several times. I have no idea how that all works out in terms of the New Jerusalem streets of gold and transparency and all of that. So, all right, let's close.

Father, how we thank you for your word and how we thank you that actually from a destiny standpoint, because we're in your son, what we have to look forward to is so glorious. Father, that we might all continue to grow in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus. We pray in his name. Amen.