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Life, Death, and Resurrection
Revelation 20:5-6; 20:11-15
Skip Heitzig

Revelation 20 (NKJV™)
5 But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.

New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved.

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66 Revelation - History's Last Chapter - 1996

The book of Revelation exalts Jesus Christ as the soon-coming Lord over the earth. Skip Heitzig explains the amazing and mysterious prophecies that form God's final word to mankind.

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I've found that finding a book that is really kind of comprehensive about Revelation is difficult. It's more difficult to find a church that will take a congregation through the book of Revelation---that's very, very rare indeed. And yet there are so many questions about it and about the last time, the last things, the last judgment, what will it be like, what will judgment be like. There are still many Christians who suffer under the idea that there's one final judgment where every single person, saved and unsaved, stands before God at one time, when in effect, we find in the book of Revelation that the judgments are separated by a thousand years. The righteous are redeemed and resurrected. The thousand year millennium comes and then comes the resurrection of the unjust. Today we're gonna look at a few verses in Revelation chapter 20, verses 5 and 6 and then 11 through 15 about the resurrection.

We come really to one of the great questions in life and it's a question about death. What happens after death? Where do we go? Do we cease to exist, are we conscious, is there a real heaven, is there a real hell? Or is death simply a warm tunnel and a bright light for everybody, saved and unsaved? What will happen? Time Magazine had an interesting cover story recently. It was called "Does Heaven Exist?" I mentioned it to you a couple weeks ago. They asked people this question: do you believe in the existence of heaven, where people live forever after they die? The answer they got back: 81% said yes and only 13% said no. Then they asked this question: do you believe in hell, where people are punished forever after they die? 63% said yes and 30% said no. So all in all there seems to be an underlying belief in life after death, heaven and hell. At the same time, there's a hunger to know more about it. When Rutgers University in New Jersey decided to start its class that they called "Death and the Afterlife", they had to limit the enrollment to 100 people when over 400 people signed up almost immediately. There's a growing interest. Even Hollywood is getting into the act with its series "Touched by an Angel" that is explicitly religious in nature and its spinoff show called "Promised Land". Questions of the afterlife are showing up in shows such as "The X Files" and "Chicago Hope" questioning about spirituality, about beliefs, about heaven and hell. Even feature films are brushing up with eternity, especially the bad side of it. For instance, "Jason Goes to Hell". How's that for a movie title? I wanna go see "Jason Goes to Hell"! It's called "The Final Friday". It grossed 15.3 million dollars in ticket sales. The computer industry has a CD-ROM out, a game called "Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller". It's a PC game. It's for your computer and it suggests a relationship between hell and Washington, D.C. I didn't make that up!

For the most part, hell among most Americans is simply a laughing matter. It's just an expletive in a sentence. It's not even thought about much except just as a fill word. John Brown wrote this, it's very up front but I think you'll get the idea. He said, "It's not unlikely that within the last 24 hours, you've heard someone say 'what the hell are you doing?' or 'I sure as hell will' or 'who in the hell do you think you are?' That word hell has become a conversational byword in our day. Good friends even dare to say playfully to one another, 'go to hell.' They surely don't mean go to the place of punishment for the wicked after death, though that is how the dictionary defines the word hell. But why use the word hell? Why not instead say 'what the jail are you doing?' or 'I sure as school will' And why not say 'go to Chicago'? If hell is really the place for eternal punishment of the wicked after death, how come it is used so lightly millions and millions of times each day? Why is there an apparent lack of seriousness about this word? Why is a word so heavy with meaning used so indifferently? Why do people pretend the place doesn't even exist?"

Here's our approach to these verses today and this is the reason I didn't even put an outline in your bulletin because this outline is so easy you don't need to even write it down. Here's the outline: we all live, we all die, we'll all be resurrected. Simple enough? We can all remember that outline. That's the approach we're gonna take. The word live life, the word dying death, second death, the word resurrection, all of these words are used in these verses. We all live, we all die, we'll all be resurrected. Let's look at these verses together beginning in verse 5: "But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years." Verse 11: "Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire."

We all live, we all die, we'll all be resurrected. But not everybody lives the same way. Not everybody dies the same way. And not everyone will be resurrected in the same way or capacity. Let's think of that first one: we all live. I know that sounds obvious. So obvious, you think, you don't even need to make a point of this. But we do because, though we all live, not everyone who has life lives the same way. You see, the Bible speaks about life three entirely different ways. There are three words that the Bible uses for life. The first word is bios. We get the term biology or biosphere from it. It means the material world that is around us, standard of living, possessions. It focuses on the externals. And the New Testament rarely uses this word when it mentions life. It's used, but rarely, and almost always negatively. For instance, Jesus said there was the seed that fell among thorns. It was choked up by the pleasures of this life. The biological life choked up the spiritual life. Then John used it when he said the pride of life. All that is of the world is not of the Father and he mentioned the pride of life. Now this is where most people spend almost all of their thinking and energy. Though in terms of the New Testament, it's not as important as other forms of life. This is where most of us spend all of our thinking and energy is on biological, physical life. In one poll, people were asked, if you could change one thing about yourself, and about your life, what would it be? Almost universally people spoke about their appearance. They didn't say their personality, their character, as much as their appearance. They mentioned they'd like to change their weight, their body type, their hair, their face, and their age. And the book concluded, after writing this poll, basically Americans want to be thinner and live longer. That's where almost all of the focus of people is---biological life.

But the Bible uses another word. It's the word pseuche. It means your conscious life, your inner person, your personality. Jesus said whoever wants to save his life, pseuche, must surrender it, must lose it. Then there's a third usage and this is probably the most prominent. It's the word zoie which is really a theological term. It shifts the focus from earth to heaven. It's life in the eternal sense. Down in verse 12 it mentions life in this term, the Book of Life. The books were opened and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. Zoie. It is often used with the word eternal or everlasting. Everlasting life, eternal life. It means age abiding life. And it doesn't just mean forever and ever and ever unending. It means a quality of life that begins now. It's not; I hope I have eternal life after I die. If you're a believer you have it now. It's a quality of life. It's a quality of existence that will continue for all of eternity. That's why Jesus said he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life. It begins now. it just lasts forever.

How do we get this kind of life? Everybody has biological life. Everybody has that mental conscious life. What about the life that is eternal life? You get that by a new birth. Just like you were born once physically to get biological life. Jesus said unless you are born again you will never see the kingdom of God. It comes by the new birth---being born spiritually from above. Also, I want you to look down at verse 5 because this word is used of unbelievers as well, interestingly enough. It says, "But the rest of the dead did not live again". It's the same root word, zoie. "Did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection." Who are the rest of the dead? Well we know that the saints of the New Testament have been resurrected, we saw last week, the Old Testament saints have been resurrected, and the tribulation saints have been resurrected. They're already in their new bodies. So this has to be the rest of the dead---the unbelieving dead who will be raised, as we see at the end of the thousand years, when they're finished, they're raised in resurrected bodies and they are judged. Here's the point: when we talk about eternal life, we mean it as a Christian, biblical concept. We're talking about the spiritual life that we have in Christ. At the same time, we realize every single person has eternal life. Not the same kind. The question is not do I have eternal life; the question is where will I spend my eternal life? Everybody will live forever. The human soul goes on and on and on. There are two things that live forever: the Word of God and the soul of man. It will never cease, it will never end, there will always be a consciousness.

Somebody said if your best days are behind you, then you're lost. If your best days are ahead of you, then you're saved. What that means is if your whole life is simply what I'm doing now and I look back and go I remember the days, oh that's what I'm living for is the past memories and that's it, if you've got nothing to look forward to in terms of the kingdom and glory, there's a good chance that you're lost. But if the best is ahead, there's a good chance that you are not lost but saved. So we all live, but we also live differently. Some have spiritual life because they're born again. Some just have biological life. That's all they live for. Second point to be made is we all die. And again, I know this sounds elementary but you'd be surprised how many people forget that. They go through life thinking they're immortal until a funeral of their friend or family member and it's all of sudden like, oh yeah, this is part of it. People live and die. I remember watching a television program called "Eternal Life: the Battle Against Aging". Basically about people that don't want to face up to the fact there is such a thing as aging and death. It was everything from plastic surgery to liposuction to cryonics, freezing your brain or your body until they can figure out a way to thaw it out successfully. There were even three people who were interviewed on the show who swore that they were immortal, that they would never die physically, they would just go on living. They actually believed that in this present state they were immortal. Death seems so unreal especially to us who are Americans because we watch people die all the time in movies or on television. Oh yeah, he died. Oh yeah, he died. Well, five people died in that show. Or people who have really died live on---on the silver screen. We can still see John Wayne and Marilyn Monroe, though they're long gone, they are still living in their films. Or people's music. They've died. Roy Orbison, John Lennon, Jim Morrison, and others. Their music lives on.

But death is real. It is a part of life. One person said and we've told before that the statistics of death are pretty remarkable. Every one out of one dies. That's been the going rate for some time. Death is mentioned 394 times in the Bible simply because it's a fact. One of the most famous Scriptures of all is in Ecclesiastes: "To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven, there is a time to be born and there is a time to die." Hebrews underscores that whole issue with a little more seriousness when it says in Hebrews 9:27: it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes the judgment. So from the beginning of the Bible to the end, the death knell sounds. It's part of life. That is one appointment all of you will keep---your appointment with death, whenever that is. However, here's the dividing line. Most people like living, think only about physical death, just like they think about physical life. That's it. Physical life, physical death, death ends it all. But everyone doesn't die the same. It's mentioned a couple of times here: the second death. In verse 6 and also the end of chapter 20 verse 14 and then also look at chapter 21 for just a moment verse 8: "But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

So there is death physically but there's also something called a second death, something worse than physically dying. Death simply means separation when you die physically. Your soul or spirit is separated from your body but there's a further separation called the second death. That's the separation from the presence of God forever. It's a lot worse. You've heard the old saying there are two things in life that are inevitable. What are they? Death and taxes. One person commenting on this said, death and taxes may be inevitable but death doesn't get worse every time Congress meets---taxes do. But death can get worse. When you stand before God and you are unprepared, it can get a lot worse. Back in the Garden when man fell, before that God said now in the day that you eat of this fruit, you will surely die. And that death was not just, you're gonna kick the bucket and decay in the earth, but they brought death and corruption upon the human race and ever since that people have died physically but many have died spiritually as well. So it's not just a simple passing away, as we like to call it, oh he passed away, you pass on to something else, you pass through to something else. That's the reason why we ought to make choices while we live physically and we think about spiritual matters and the idea of death ahead of us, which is inevitable, and about the possibility of a second death.

The great British historian and philosopher Arnold Toynbee said man alone has foreknowledge of his coming death and possessing this foreknowledge, he has a chance if he chooses to take it, of pondering over the strangeness of his destiny. He has at least a possibility of coping with it since he is endowed with the capacity to think about it in advance, to face it, to deal with it in some way that is worthy of human dignity. So we all live but then there's another kind of life---spiritual life. We all die but there's a second death that's mentioned here. And thirdly, more to our point, we'll all be resurrected. The first resurrection we see is in verses 4 through 6. We read that last week but we sort of skipped over this part. That happens before the thousand year reign of Christ on the earth. After the thousand years, Satan is released, there's a rebellion, and Jesus ends it all. And after those thousand years is another resurrection. It's the resurrection of all the lost, all the unsaved, all the ungodly from the fall of man onward. That's mentioned in verses 11 through 14.

Now I gotta say that there are a lot of religions that promise their followers a resurrection. A lot of Christians don't know that. They don't have a leader who rose from the dead but many religions will promise a resurrection of sorts. Here's the big difference. It's always a spiritual resurrection---never physical. They'll promise that the body will decay but the inner person, the higher self, or whatever they call it, will live on but the body decays never to live again. That's the difference. Jesus said, however, this: 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 those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation. Did you know that the word resurrection is used about 40 times in the New Testament? It's the word anastasis and it invariably means a rising of a corpse from the grave. Not a spiritual metaphor of renewal---something literal. When Jesus said Lazarus, come forth, it wasn't come forth in a sense. He got up! A physical, literal rising from the dead. And so when they bury us in the ground, we'll be back. The question is when? And the question is where? Will it be before that thousand year reign where we'll rule and reign with Christ in glorified bodies for a thousand years or will it be at the end of those thousand years when the books are opened and those who stand there will be consigned to judgment? I've been at funerals of people who frankly have no interest in spiritual things. They don't care about God at all. You could see it in the way they lived and yet, at the funeral, all of a sudden people get spiritual at funerals. And they go, uh-oh, death. Better get spiritual. And so the minister will even get up and eulogize this person saying, he's gone to his eternal reward! And I wince when I hear that. I'm thinking what reward did he go to? It may be very, very different from what the minister had in mind.

When a person dies, any person, saved, unsaved, the soul leaves the body. The body's left to decay but the soul, the real you, continues in a conscious state. If you're a believer, you're with the Lord. If you're an unbeliever, you're separated from Him and we'll see that in just a minute. It all depends on what that person did when they were faced with the gospel of Jesus Christ as the provision for their sin. If the person said yes I will receive Christ or no I will not is the determining factor of heaven and hell. Now in the Old Testament, the word for hell is often the Hebrew word Sheol. In the New Testament it is Hades. Two different words, usually describe the same thing. It is the abode of the dead and a lot of people think that Hades is where all the bad people go. In effect, Hades in the New Testament, Sheol in the Old Testament, is the place of all departed spirits, good or bad. Before the resurrection that place was divided into two areas, two arenas, two compartments. One was called Paradise or Abraham's bosom, Luke 16. The other was called just generically Hades or torments. Remember the story Jesus gave, it wasn't a parable by the way, it was a story, about a rich man and a guy named Lazarus and the rich man fared sumptuously and didn't think about God or anything else and he died and the poor man Lazarus also died and Jesus said the rich man went to Hades and was tormented. He was in torments. Lazarus, the poor guy who begged at the table every day, he went to Abraham's bosom where he was being comforted. And it says being in torment, in Hades, the rich man cried out Father Abraham, get me out of here and send somebody to talk to my brothers! You've heard the story. You know the story. He said there's a great gulf fixed. I can't go over there and nobody can go over there to where you're at and nobody over there where you're at can come over here. It was a place where there was a fixed gulf, there was no escape, there was consciousness, there was torment, there was recognition, there was communication, and that was the place called Hades.

Now when Jesus rose from the dead, He took with Him all of the souls that were in Paradise and took them with Him to heaven in the presence of God. So now when a believer dies, though the body decays, the person is immediately in the presence of God. You don't just die and fall asleep in your soul for a thousand years. You're immediately in the presence of God. Paul said for me to live is Christ, to die is gain. I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better. He said to the Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 5, to be absent from my body is to be present with the Lord. As soon as this body dies and there's a separation of the soul and the spirit, I will immediately be with the Lord. So right now we're waiting. We're waiting for the first resurrection. You might say our part, the Rapture of the church, when we are conformed instantly, translated the dead in Christ rise first, we're translated, then the Old Testament saints, Daniel 12:2, and the tribulation saints, the first part of Revelation 20, receive their resurrected bodies at the end of the tribulation period, right before the millennium. But as the kingdom starts, all of the Old, New Testament saints, all of the tribulation saints, are in glorified bodies. However, for the unbeliever that's not so. The unbeliever is kept in torments, that side of Hades, until after the millennium. Beginning in verse 11 comes that resurrection which is a resurrection to judgment.

Now let's talk briefly just about what we read in verses 5 and 6. "But the rest of the dead did not live again," we'll get to that in verse 11. "This is the first resurrection," that is speaking about what we read last week in verse 4 about being raised up to reign with Christ for a thousand years. "Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years." If you were to die today, God forbid, but if you were to die and, you know, maybe not God forbid, maybe, you know, God has His time, you have an appointment but, whenever you die, your body will immediately begin to decay. But you will be in the presence of God and your body goes into the grave awaiting the resurrection. Jesus told the two women, Mary and Martha, the grieving sisters of Lazarus, your brother shall rise again. She said I know he'll rise again. The resurrection, the last day. Three times in John 6, Jesus said whoever believes in the Son of Man has everlasting life and I will raise him up on that last day.

What does that mean? What will that be like? What will we look like? Well Paul said in Philippians 3, He will transform, and listen how he describes our flesh, our bodies, and our lowly bodies. He'll transform our lowly bodies so they will be like His glorious bodies. That's the reason, folks, that when a Christian dies, in the Bible it's called sleep. And Christian death is called those who sleep in Christ. It's not like well you die and you just go into unconscious state until He comes. No. The reason it's called sleep is because, as sleep is followed by an awakening, death is followed by a resurrection. It's temporary. You're gonna get up again. You'll be back again. Taking a nap is no terror. Of course when you're a kid, taking a nap is seen like a punishment, isn't it? What did I do wrong? When you get older and you say you have to take a nap, it's really? That'd be great! You have no more to fear of death than you do of taking a nap if you are a believer. You will wake up and it will be a resurrection, the first resurrection, of righteousness. You'll be rewarded and you'll rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years. I'm looking forward to the resurrection. I've thought about it often. This model, this body, has been great but think of the new one coming. And some of you, though you do try to fight the wrinkles and the age and the pains, you know, go for it, but you know you'll lose that battle. You can postpone certain things but it's a losing battle.

Paul said that our body is like a tent. It's a great metaphor. Our body is a tent! We're gonna cash it in one day for a permanent dwelling place. That's the difference. The tent and the permanent dwelling place. Camping is cool but it gets old. After awhile if you're in a tent for a long time, you'll start groaning a little bit---complaining. I wanna get out of here. I wanna have a home again. That's why Paul said we groan in our bodies. My father, the older he got, I would go home and visit him, especially in his later years, and I remember I could hear him get up. He'd groan. When he'd go to sit in his chair out in the dining room---he'd groan again. And get up and groan. The other day I was picking up a piece of paper off the floor and guess what. I caught myself doing it. And then I thought, it's ok, it's Scriptural. We groan. Someone asked an old Christian man, how old are you? He said I'm on the right side of seventy. And thinking he meant under seventy, they found out he was 75. What do you mean? You said you were on the right side of seventy. He said, the side closest to heaven is the right side because of what's ahead.

Well what will it be like, what will our bodies be like in the resurrection? Turn briefly, quickly, to 1 Corinthians 15. It is a question that has been asked even from the early church. Verse 35: "But someone will say, "How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?" Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain---perhaps wheat or some other grain." In other words, the resurrection, our bodies will be so different that, though a seed is connected to the flower that produces it, you know, there's really no comparison, right? The seed that goes into the ground, though connected, though related, will look nothing like what is going to come out of the ground. It's going to be an amazing transformation. Verse 38: "But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body." So there'll be some changes that are radical, but it continues as the same life form. A wheat seed doesn't become barley, flax, doesn't become corn. It's still related but it looks very, very different. So our resurrected bodies will have some kind of continuity with these bodies but be radically different in appearance. Verse 39: "All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies," in other words, heavenly realms and of the earth, "but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory." In other words, there's a difference between a mountain and a star, a rock and a comet. Verse 42: "So also is the resurrection of the dead."

Our resurrection bodies will be so radically different from these physical bodies we have now just as an earthly body and a heavenly body are different. A rock and a comet. What are those differences? Let me give you four in these verses. There will be a difference in durability. Now I can't give you a picture of what you're going to look like but I'll tell you what the Scripture says. There will be a difference in durability. Verse 42. We're sown in corruption, or decay, we are raised in incorruption. As soon as a baby is born, he's on the march toward death and even the healthiest body deteriorates before death. And once you die, you'll deteriorate very rapidly after death. Remember when Jesus came to Lazarus' tomb and said roll away the stone? You know, Martha figured this out. She said, Lord, he's been in there four days and by now he stinketh! That's the King James. Only four days and his body was so decayed even elaborate Egyptian mummification cannot stop the decay process. So different in durability.

Second, there will be a difference in potential. It says right after that: "It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory." Let me give you a better translation. Our bodies now disappoint us, but they will be raised in glory. Ever since the fall, the body and the mind have been reduced in the capacity of doing the will of God. That will be over. So a difference in durability, potential, three, there will be a difference in power. Notice: "It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power." Right now, bones still break. Right now, diseases can still be caught. Right now, even germs of a common cold can stop an adult dead in their tracks. But not then. There will be a difference in form. It says "it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body." We have a natural body right now and it works well on earth within certain parameters, certain temperature parameters, and so forth. It's made for this environment. It's adapted for this environment. It's not made for a heavenly environment. The Scripture says flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Remember when Moses said God, I just want to see You, that's the only request I have. Just let me look at You. God said, Moses if you do that in your flesh, you'll die. You need a whole different body and a whole different ability to do that and this flesh and blood that's not possible.

Verse 48: "As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption." So we'll have a heavenly body instead of a spirit just inhabiting a body of flesh, it'll be a heavenly body somehow connected, in relation to, our previous body but it's going to be different. Somebody said, well how will we look? Better. Right? Just having a new body's gotta be an improvement. Durable, potential, a raised, resurrected body. I'm also asked the question, will we recognize each other in heaven? And Spurgeon answered that by saying well do you think we'll be dumber in heaven than we are here? I mean, if you can do it now, don't you think you'll be able to do it then? In a glorified state?

Finally we'll close with this: the resurrection of the ungodly. We go back to Revelation 20. This is the resurrection after the millennium. The saints have already been raised. The New Testament, Old Testament, tribulation saints have already had their glorified bodies for a thousand years, reigning with Christ, and now comes a judgment. The white throne judgment. Not that of the believer but the unbeliever. Verse 11: "Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it," it just sounds ominous from the start, "from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books." This is the most serious, the most sobering, setting I think in the entire Bible. The final judgment of unbelievers. The language, notice, is plain, straightforward, there's no embellishing, there's no gory details, you'd think that you could write a lot more gory details than this---it's not. It's just simple, straightforward, the facts. It is a courtroom scene but it's unlike any earthly court scene. For instance, there will be no debate about guilt or innocence. There will be a prosecutor. There will be no defender. At this courtroom scene, there will be a judge but no jury. There will be a sentence without appeal, there will be punishment without parole, there will be jail without escape. You say, are you sure this is all biblical? Well we just read it but listen to what Jesus said. He called it, in John chapter 5, there will be a resurrection of condemnation, or damnation. Daniel called it the awakening to shame and everlasting contempt.

You say, why do you say this is only non-believers and not believers? Because the first resurrection takes place before the millennium. We're already in glorified bodies, already ruling and reigning with Christ, and Jesus said this: he who believes in Me is not judged but He who does not believe in Me is condemned, or judged, already because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

Also Jesus said, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life and shall not come into judgment but passes from death to life. Now folks, you know as well as I do that ever since the beginning of history, Satan has deceived people into believing that this will never happen. That there will never be a judgment, that there will never be a final accounting, never a day of reckoning, the philosophies of man, this post-Christian era, all of the ideologies of men, including the theory of evolution that we came from a mass of protoplasm and God didn't make us, there is no God, there is no Judge, there is no judgment, which means you can live any way you like and just pass into oblivion. He's done a great job in deceiving people that there will never be a judgment---but there will be. He's even done it in churches. There are many so-called religious or spiritual people that believe in what I would term the Oprah Winfrey god. The benign grandfather who sits in the sky and is just sentimental and everybody come on in no matter what. That is the idea that many people have concocted of God. Here it's very different. It's sobering but it says the dead are there, verse 12, the dead, small and great, standing before God. The somebody and the nobody. The rich and the famous, the poor and the obscure, all in a terrible fellowship together. A final judgment. All unredeemed people. That's what this is. Unredeemed people standing before God apart from Jesus Christ. The kind of people who said I don't need Jesus. I'm good enough. I'll stand in my own works, my own record. Really? Well, the books are opened. Everything you've ever thought, said, or done---perfect record. You'll be judged accordingly. You're either judged in Christ or you're judged apart from Christ with your own record.

So they're standing sort of like a court. Will the prisoner please rise and approach the bench? And now we understand what it means in Hebrews 10 when it says it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God. This is a fearful sight. The books are opened, probably the Law, perhaps the book of works of people, the records, but also it says, notice, the Book of Life is opened. The implication is they're looking for names to see if they're in the Book of Life and they're not. And everyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. In the ancient times, there was not only a record of wrongs in the courtrooms; there was another book of loyal citizens. And so the books are opened. And imagine the scene: Jesus even talked about it. There's Jesus with His nail-scarred hands looking through the books, trying to find the names. It's not that He doesn't know they're not there. This is that final demonstration of those who say I'll stand in my own works. Jesus said He will say to them, depart from Me, you cursed! This is Jesus, the Savior, the loving One. He said I will say to them, depart from Me you cursed ones into eternal fire prepared for the devil and His angels. No doubt, a person would tremble at that and Jesus said they will say to Me in that day, now wait a minute, Lord! You know, we prophesied in Your name. We've done wonderful deeds in Your name. We've gone to church in Your name. We've supported this work. And they'll go through their little litany. Jesus will say, but I never knew you. Depart.

Oh how those words must ring forever and ever in the ears of those conscious, resurrected ungodly. I never knew you. I never knew you. I never knew you. Forever. Perhaps the reason that believers will not be present at this scene is that we wouldn't be able to hear. We wouldn't be able to bear hearing somebody we know turning to us and saying, why didn't you tell me about this judgment? Why didn't you tell me there was forgiveness for my sins in Christ? Why didn't you have the guts to let me know? But this is the judgment of the unbelieving, of the condemned. The great point to be made is simply we all live, we all die, we'll all be resurrected but there's a big difference in how. We all have life but not everybody's been born again to spiritual life. We all die but you don't have to face the second death. We'll all be resurrected but Jesus said some will be raised to life; some will be raised to condemnation. A simple axiom that I have remembered that helps me in this is this: if you're born once, you'll die twice; if you're born twice, you'll die once. You're born, obviously, here you are. But if you're born twice, born again, John 3, you'll only die physically---die once. But never spiritually, never the second death. You'll be resurrected into life. So if you're born twice, you'll only die once. But if you're only born once, you are here, you are present, you have biological life, but you're never born again, you'll die twice. Born once, die twice. Born twice, die once. There will be a resurrection of everyone. The state, the consciousness, will be eternal and what's the hope of the Christian in all this? We read about it. A new body---a resurrected body. The hope of the Christian is expressed in the epitaph that is on Benjamin Franklin's grave in Philadelphia. He wrote it himself. The body of Benjamin Franklin, printer, like the cover of an old book, its contents worn out, stripped of its lettering and gilding, lies here food for worms. But the work will not be lost for it will appear once more in a new and more elegant edition revised and corrected by the Author. A new book. A new turning point. Always hope for the believer. Spread the hope to those who are hopeless, who don't know Christ.


Additional Messages in this Series

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6/9/1996
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Good News from a Bad Place
Revelation 1:1-8
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6/16/1996
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Catapulted into the Future
Revelation 1:9-20
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6/23/1996
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When Love Grows Cold
Revelation 2:1-7
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6/30/1996
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Postcard to Those in Pain
Revelation 2:8-11
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7/7/1996
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The Curse of Compromise
Revelation 2:12-17
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7/14/1996
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Corruption without Discernment
Revelation 2:18-29
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7/21/1996
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Church of the Living Dead
Revelation 3:1-6
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7/28/1996
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Body Building - God's Way
Revelation 3:7-13
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The human body has become the obsession of our modern culture. Much like the ancient Greeks, people are madly trying to fit the contemporary ideal of what is an acceptable shape and size. The church is metaphorically called the "Body of Christ" and His desire is to see it built up spiritually. The church of Philadelphia is a good model of a healthy, faithful church. Their example provides for us a template to follow in building up the Body - God's Way!
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8/19/1996
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Taking Your Spiritual Temperature
Revelation 3:14-22
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Ever since we were kids our moms stuck thermometers in our mouths whenever she suspected that we were sick. If our body temperature of 98.6 had climbed up just a few notches, it was always a good indication that an unhealthy condition was present. There is also a spiritual temperature that reveals the condition of our souls, and when the thermometer reads Lukewarm it indicates that something is wrong; it indicates the presence of danger. Let's see how Jesus, the Great Physician, treats his patient with this malady.
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8/25/1996
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Peeking into the Portals of Heaven
Revelation 4
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9/1/1996
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History's Greatest Real Estate Deal
Revelation 5:1-7
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9/8/1996
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Worship His Majesty - Part 1
Revelation 5:8-10
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In heaven there won’t be just three services in the morning and one at night with a midweek tacked on. There will be no need to be sensitive to time so we can go to lunch. Words will not have to be printed nor projected. Worship leaders will have no need prompting people to sing. It will be an all-consuming experience that will involve our total cooperation and enthusiasm.
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9/15/1996
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Worship His Majesty - Part 2
Revelation 5:11-14
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9/29/1996
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Four Riders with Bad News
Revelation 6:1-8
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10/6/1996
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The Cries of Heaven and Earth
Revelation 6:9-17
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10/13/1996
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A Blessed Interruption in a Tough Time
Revelation 7
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10/20/1996
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Trumpets of Doom
Revelation 8
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10/27/1996
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When All Hell Breaks Loose
Revelation 9:1-12
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11/3/1996
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Angels of Mass Destruction
Revelation 9:13-21
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11/10/1996
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A Big Angel with a Little Book
Revelation 10
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11/17/1996
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Two Powerful Preachers
Revelation 11:1-14
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11/24/1996
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Light at the End of the Tunnel
Revelation 11:15-19
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12/1/1996
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The Panorama of Spiritual Warfare - Part 1
Revelation 12:1-6
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12/8/1996
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The Panorama of Spiritual Warfare - Part 2
Revelation 12:7-17
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There aren't many people who like to fight. Confrontation is something most would like to avoid. But in the spiritual realm it's unavoidable. The question isn't, "Will I engage in spiritual warfare?" Rather, the question is, "How well will I fight?" As we saw last week, the war in the heavens makes its way to the theater of the earth. Let's see what else it entails.
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12/15/1996
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The Coming Global Leader
Revelation 13:1-10
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12/22/1996
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Evil's Right-Hand-Man
Revelation 13:11-18
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12/29/1996
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The Lamb Who Shepherds His People
Revelation 14:1-5
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After all that john has seen in his apocalyptic vision, seeing the docility of a lamb standing with his overcoming sheep is a welcomed sight. Although the dragon pursues god's people relentlessly, although the beasts are bent on ruling the earth, the ultimate winner will be the lamb and his followers.
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1/5/1997
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Angels Set The Record Straight
Revelation 14:6-13
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1/12/1997
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It's Harvest Time!
Revelation 14:14-20
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One of the most common ways to make a living in ancient times was to "work the land." The early rains of October/November and the soft latter rains produced the wheat and barley harvest later on. Also, when vintage season began, almost the whole village could be found in the fields harvesting the crop. Such images would also provide a poignant way of depicting the final judgment of the earth, as in this section.
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1/17/1997
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Getting Ready for the Grand Finale
Revelation 15:1-8
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1/26/1997
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What's in the Bowl? - Part 1
Revelation 16:1-11
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We now come to the "seven last plagues" of God in the Great Tribulation that is coming upon planet earth. These judgments come in the form of "bowls" being poured out swiftly and completely-the judgment will be swift and thorough. Yet through all the mercy as Well as wrath of this awesome era, people will persist in having a hardened heart. Open your heart 'right now to these truths.
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2/2/1997
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What's in the Bowl? - Part 2
Revelation 16:12-21
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What will the end of the world be like? What are the final events just before Jesus returns and takes over to set up His millennial reign? That's what this section tells us. There will be increased warfare activity in the Middle East, massive deception, and unheard of destructive cataclysms on earth. In the midst of foretelling these events, Jesus has a word of encouragement.
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2/9/1997
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The Coming World Religion
Revelation 17
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It was Karl Marx who stated, no doubt cynically, that religion was the opiate of the masses. The fact is, he was right-it is! People are driven to worship something or someone. This desire will be exploited to the hilt in the Tribulation period and will be under the umbrella of the world dictator-the Antichrist. What are its roots and how does it end?
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2/16/1997
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Get out of Babylon!
Revelation 18
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Someone once said, "Money can't buy you friends but your enemies treat you a little better." Though meant to be tongue-in­cheek, that won't happen when the entire world economy collapses. God's shakedown of the earth will include everything that the Antichrist's kingdom will embody, from the sacred to the secular.
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3/2/1997
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Marriage Made in Heaven
Revelation 19:1-10
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3/9/1997
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The Return of Jesus Christ - Part 1
Revelation 19
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Even in the dome of our capitol in Washington there is an inscription which seems to point to the return of Jesus Christ. It says: "One far-off divine event toward which the whole creation moves." It is that event which we will be studying in the next two weeks. This is what all Christians of all ages have looked forward to - His return and reign of His creation.
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3/16/1997
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The Return of Jesus Christ - Part 2
Revelation 19
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Even in the dome of the capitol in Washington there is an inscription which seems to point to the return of Jesus Christ. It says: "one far-off divine event toward which the whole creation moves." it is that event, that Christians of all ages have looked forward to-his return and reign of his creation. We will conclude our study of the return of Jesus Christ, today.
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4/6/1997
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Paradise Regained
Revelation 20:1-3
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4/13/1997
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The Devil's Last Stand
Revelation 20:1-10
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A typical question is, "Will evil ever get its reward?" What ever happened to ethics and justice? Well, we see here that God will not turn His back on this issue. He will deal with the source of all evil (the devil himself) and then judge those who revel in it. This section gives tremendous hope to anyone concerned about injustice in our world.
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5/4/1997
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All Things New - Part 1
Revelation 21:1-3
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5/11/1997
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All Things New - Part 2
Revelation 21:4-8
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"It's like nothing you've ever seen or experienced before." That's how John describes the emotional experience of heaven. So that we can relate, he tells us that all of the pain, sorrow, and moaning we've endured here won't be there. By the way, only those who want to go there will go there. Heaven is not a destination by default, reservations are made here and now!
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5/18/1997
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The City of the Future
Revelation 21:9-22:5
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There is no architect or builder like God himself. Even the patriarch Abraham "was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God." (Heb. 11:10) he didn't find it in his lifetime. "You won't find you're "happily ever after" here either, but the New Jerusalem will be God's answer for man's longing to live in a perpetually peaceful stare.
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5/25/1997
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He's Coming - Now What!?
Revelation 22:6-21
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There are 43 additional messages in this series.
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