Last week our discussion revolved around two points: (1) At death there is a separation of body and spirit, and the fact that (2) The spirit of man lives on in the realm of Hades. The story, or, the teaching of Scripture, and man’s existence do not end there.
THE DAY OF THE LORD & THE RESURRECTION
The Scripture teaches the second coming (or, appearance) of Christ. First, we should observe that no one knows when this day will occur. When Jesus was on the earth, He even said in Matthew 24:36, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” If Jesus didn’t know when that day was coming, neither does any man!
But we do know that all the graves will be emptied on that day. Jesus said in John 5:28-29, “Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” The good and evil will both be raised on that day.
We learn many details about what will occur from Paul in 1 Corinthians 15. At the second coming, body and soul will be reunited as the body is changed into a spiritual body (v. 44) fit for a spiritual dwelling place (v. 50). The child of God will receive a body that bears “the image of the man of heaven” (v. 49) and that is imperishable and immortal (vv. 52-53). Hades will be emptied at this time and death will hold no power over the faithful from this time onward! (vv. 54-55). Christ’s resurrection gives great assurance of the Christian’s resurrection (v. 20).
What about those who are alive at the coming of Christ? Paul says in the same chapter, “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed” (v. 52). Interestingly, the Christians at Thessalonica worried about their deceased loved one’s missing out on the great events of the second coming, but Paul comforts them by stating that they will be raised first before the living and meet them in the air (see 1 Thes. 4:16-17). (See other details in 1 Thes. 4.)
JUDGEMENT AND ETERNITY
At the second coming, the Lord will pronounce judgment upon every individual who ever lived. It is true that all of the dead will have an already sealed fate, but it seems the sentence will be pronounced similar to what we observe in Matthew 25. Every individual will either be blessed or cursed upon that day, in accord with their faithfulness or unfaithfulness to Christ (see vv. 34 and 41). It should also be observed that all of the living, presumably billions, will not have a sealed fate until that moment. A simple and yet important observation is that this place of heaven and hell are both described as being eternal (v. 46).
The realm of eternal punishment, typically referred to as hell, is a place God prepared for the wicked angels (see Mt. 25:41) to receive punishment. 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9 indicates that those who don’t know the Lord and don’t obey the Gospel will also go there. What a mission Christians have to share the Gospel! For the righteous, for those who obey and live in accord with the Gospel of Christ, the Lord has prepared the beautiful place called heaven (see John 14:1
You and I and every person that has ever lived, will be in one of these two places forever. What happens when we die? Well, that depends upon how we live. No matter how young or old we are, our existence is barely getting started! Let’s make sure we live with that understanding… that we always live with eternity in mind!
Daren Schroeder