Chapter 53

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DEATH AND
THE INTERMEDIATE STATE

With this chapter, we begin our study of the subdivision of systematic

theology called “eschatology.” This term comes from the Greek word
eschaton, which refers to so-called last things. One of the initial aspects of
eschatology is the afterlife and that dreaded event that takes us there—death.
Death is the greatest problem human beings encounter. We may try to tuck
thoughts of it away in a far corner of our minds, but we cannot completely
erase our awareness of our mortality. We know that the specter of death
awaits us.

THE ORIGIN OF DEATH

The Apostle Paul writes: “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through
one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all
sinned—for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is
not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses”
(Rom. 5:12–14). We see that there was sin even before the law was given
through Moses, and this is shown by the fact that death occurred before the
law was given. The fact of death proves the presence of sin, and the fact of
sin proves the presence of law, which has been revealed inwardly to human
beings from the beginning. So, death came into the world as a direct result of
sin.
The secular world views death as part of the natural order, whereas the
Christian sees death as part of the fallen order; it was not the original state of
man. Death came as God’s judgment for sin. From the beginning, all sin was
a capital offense. God said to Adam and Eve, “You may surely eat of every
tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall
not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:16–17).
The death God warned about was not only spiritual but also physical. Adam
and Eve did not die physically the day they sinned; God granted them grace
to live for some time before exacting the penalty. Nevertheless, they
eventually perished from the earth.

HOPE IN DEATH
Every human being is a sinner and therefore has been sentenced to death. We
are all waiting for the sentence to be carried out. However, for Christians,
the penalty has been paid by Christ. Christians see death as the moment of
transition from this world to the next. Paul was in prison when he wrote:

I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of
Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my
eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but
that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in
my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ,
and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful
labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard
pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with
Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more
necessary on your account. (Phil. 1:19–24)

Many of us are staggered by Paul’s words in this text. Although we

rejoice in Christ’s victory over the grave, we nevertheless fear death. To the
best of my knowledge, I am not afraid of death, but I tend to be afraid of the
dying process. Christians are not guaranteed exemption from a painful death;
our guarantee is the presence of God with us in the midst of it and where we
will go when we die. In the face of that, Paul wrote, “For to me to live is
Christ, and to die is gain.” He lived an extraordinary life, and he was able to
endure great suffering because he was passionately convinced of the truth of
his eternal life. He gladly risked life and limb because every minute of his
life was about Christ. Life on this earth was a means to serve Christ, and
death was the means to be with Christ. Death for the Christian falls on the
positive side of the ledger.
Paul reinforces his conviction about life and death: “I am hard pressed
between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far
better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.” Paul
desired to continue his earthly ministry, but his heart was in heaven. He
loved those to whom he ministered, but he was eager to go home, “to depart
and be with Christ, for that is far better.”
We have a tendency to view the difference between life and death as the
difference between good and bad, but that was not how the Apostle viewed
it. He saw the difference as between good and better. Living is good. Yes,
there is much pain in life, and some are reduced to such a level of suffering
that they long to die; but most of us, despite the pains, heartbreaks, and
disappointments, want to live. There is joy in living, so we hold on to life
with a passion. Yet for Christians, death is even better, because we go
immediately to be with Christ, a hope verified by Christ’s resurrection.
The Bible teaches that there is both death and a final resurrection. When
we recite the Apostles’ Creed and say, “I believe in the resurrection of the
body,” we are expressing our confidence that our bodies will be raised.
Someday our bones will rise again, just as Christ came out of the tomb with
the same body with which He went into the tomb, although His body had
been dramatically altered. Jesus’ body had been glorified, changed from
mortal to immortal. Paul writes:

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of
those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a
man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam
all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his
own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who
belong to Christ. (1 Cor. 15:20–23)

We do not know what we will look like in heaven, but there will be
recognition. We will have recognizable bodies. The best state in the future is
the glorified body. Living in the body here on earth is good, but the best is yet
to come.

BETWEEN NOW AND THEN

Theologians refer to “the intermediate state,” by which they mean the time
between our deaths and the final resurrection. When we die, our bodies will
go into the grave, but our souls will go directly to heaven and be immediately
in the presence of Jesus Christ. In the intermediate state, each of us will have
a soul without a body, but the best of all possible situations will occur later,
in the consummation of the kingdom of Christ, when our souls will take on
imperishable and glorified bodies.
Upon death, we do not, as some heretics have taught, enter into some kind
of soul sleep, existing in a state of personal unconsciousness and separated
from Christ. The biblical view is that we experience an unbroken continuity
of personal, conscious existence such that immediately upon death we are
actively in the presence of Christ and of God. We are often unaware of the
physical aging going on in our bodies, because we actually live inside
ourselves—in our minds, spirits, and our souls. It is that personal continuity
of consciousness that will continue, only in a much greater state because we
will be living in the presence of Christ.
Paul’s dilemma was answered with the victory of his death, at which
time he went home to experience the gain of being with Christ.
 Chapter 54
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THE RESURRECTION

The Greek word that we translate as “resurrection,” anastasia, literally

means “to stand again” or “to rise again.” We often tend to think of our future
resurrection as simply the continuity of personal existence, of the soul
continuing in a conscious state in the presence of God in heaven while the
body disintegrates in the grave. However, the resurrection is really about the
physical body, which experiences decay in the grave before rising up to life
anew.

THE FIRSTFRUITS
Since the first century, the church has affirmed the resurrection of the body,
the resurrectionis carnis, which includes the bodily resurrection not only of
Christ but also of His people. This truth is treated in numerous places in the
Scriptures. Paul wrote:

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the
Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the
Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you,
although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life
because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus
from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from
the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his
Spirit who dwells in you. (Rom. 8:9–11)

Some say this text refers only to the renewal or regeneration of our inner
man, of being raised from spiritual death to spiritual life. That concept is
certainly included in Paul’s thinking, but he adds that the same Spirit who
raised Jesus’ mortal body from the dead will also raise our mortal bodies
from the dead. Paul teaches this principle repeatedly, particularly when he
makes a contrast between Adam and Christ, the last Adam. As death came
into the world through the first Adam, so triumph over death comes as a
result of the ministry of the last Adam. Paul sees Christ’s physical
resurrection from the dead not as a single event but as the first of many to
come. Christ became the firstfruits of those who are raised from the dead (1
Cor. 15:20).
Scripture recounts the resurrections of several people before that of
Christ, including the son of the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:17–24) in
the Old Testament and the son of the widow of Nain (Luke 7:11–15), Jairus’
daughter (Luke 8:41–42, 49–56), and Lazarus (John 11:1–44) in the New
Testament; however, each of those resurrected people later died again. Jesus’
resurrection was distinct from those examples. The resurrection of Christ
was more than simply a return to life; it also involved a significant
transformation of His body. There was continuity between the body laid to
rest in the tomb and the body that came forth from the tomb; the same body
that was buried was also raised. That was also true of the earlier
resurrections. However, in Jesus’ resurrection, there was also an element of
discontinuity. His body experienced a dramatic change. He was the same
person with the same body, but His body had been glorified.

AN ESSENTIAL DOCTRINE
In his first epistle to the Corinthians, Paul gives a lengthy explanation and
defense of the resurrection of Christ. He addresses those who are skeptical
about resurrection in general by means of a reductio ad absurdum argument,
which, as we noted earlier, is the technique of taking the premise of one’s
opponent to its logical conclusion in order to prove its absurdity. In this
epistle, Paul reasons from the premise that there is no resurrection, and he
concludes that if there is no resurrection, then Christ was not raised (1 Cor.
15:13). Where there is a universal negative, there can be no particular
affirmative.
Paul then goes on to say that if Christ was not raised, we are still in our
sin (v. 17). So there is no Christian faith without resurrection. The concept of
resurrection is absolutely essential to the whole of the Apostolic faith.
A host of contemporary theologians have come to the conclusion that we
can have a vibrant Christianity without the supernatural aspects that attend it,
such as the death and resurrection of Christ. Rudolf Bultmann, for example,
who gave a precise and insightful exegesis of 1 Corinthians 15, set forth
clearly what the Apostle said, but then he claimed Paul got it wrong.
Bultmann concluded, along with many in the contemporary church, that the
Apostolic testimony of the central significance of the resurrection is false.
People can have a religion without believing in the resurrection, and they
can even call it a Christian religion, but it has nothing to do with the biblical
message of Christ and the original Christian faith. Paul said that there is no
Christian faith apart from the resurrection, and if there is no resurrection,
Christians are of all people the most to be pitied for placing their hope in
what is false (v. 19).
That being said, Paul does not rest his case for the truth of Christ’s
resurrection on these negative implications. He points to the manifold
witnesses of the resurrection—to the testimony of the Apostles, including his
own, and the five hundred people who saw Christ after He was raised (vv.
3–8).
Paul goes on to say that Christ was raised and given a glorified body, and
what God has done for Him, He has promised to do for all Christians: “For
as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his
own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to
Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father
after destroying every rule and every authority and power” (vv. 22–24).

RESURRECTION BODIES
Then Paul addresses the nature of our resurrection bodies: “But someone
will ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?’”
(v. 35). In other words, what will our resurrected bodies look like? Will we
look as we did at the time of death? Here is how Paul answers: “You foolish
person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you
sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of
some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind
of seed its own body” (vv. 36–38). Paul appeals to nature for an analogy,
using an argument of Plato’s. In order to grow fruit, a seed must first be
planted, and before the seed can bring forth life, it has to undergo a certain
decay. When the fruit finally comes forth, it does not look anything like the
seed. In terms of the resurrection, the body that goes to the grave is like the
seed; we have to die. Yet in death, the body is transformed. There will be
continuity, just as there is continuity between the seed and the fruit, but there
will also be significant discontinuity between the seed of our earthly bodies
and our glorified bodies.
Our resurrection bodies will be human and recognizable. Mysterious
things occurred at the appearances of Jesus in His resurrected body. He was
not always immediately recognized; we see that in the example of those who
encountered Him on the Emmaus road (Luke 24:13–31). We do not know
whether their failure to recognize Jesus was due to changes in Jesus or to
God’s hiding Jesus’ identity from them. Likewise, Mary Magdalene did not
recognize Jesus until Jesus addressed her (John 20:11–16). Yet when He
appeared to the disciples in the upper room, they recognized Him instantly.
So there will be changes, but we do not know what will be the extent of those
changes. In fact, we do not know whether the body in which Jesus appeared
in the upper room was in its final state of glorification or whether changes
were still occurring. He had said to Mary, “Do not cling to me, for I have not
yet ascended to the Father” (John 20:17), which some see as an indication
that Jesus was still in the process of being reconstituted in His glorified
body. That is only speculation, however.
In terms of our resurrected bodies, we can assume that our basic human
faculties will be present; we will still have minds, wills, and affections. The
basic difference will be that the new body will not be capable of dying; we
are sown mortal and will be raised immortal (1 Cor. 15:53), but not because
we will be inherently immortal. The Greeks believed that souls are eternal
and therefore incapable of destruction, whereas Christians believe that souls
are created, not eternal. We will live forever in heaven, not because we will
have an inherently indestructible existence but because we will be rendered
immortal by the decree of God. God will not allow us to perish. What
guarantees our immortality is the preserving grace and love of God.
In his treatise on the resurrection, Paul makes analogies from nature:

For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans,
another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.
There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of
the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of
another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the
moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in
glory. (vv. 39–41)
 Paul is telling us to look around and observe life in its variety of forms
that we might realize that there is much more to come:

So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is

perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in
dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised
in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is
written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last
Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that
is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was
from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As
was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and
as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.
(vv. 42–48)

Paul then makes his key point: “Just as we have borne the image of the
man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven” (v. 49). That
is the hope of the final resurrection—we will be like Christ, for He will
grant to us the same glory of resurrection that He received.
 Chapter 55
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THE KINGDOM OF GOD

When Jesus’ disciples asked Him to teach them to pray, He gave them a
model prayer, the Lord’s Prayer (Matt. 6:9–13). As part of that prayer, He
instructed them to request, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth
as it is in heaven” (v. 10). Jesus here established a priority for the people of
God to pray for the coming of the kingdom.
The question is whether the kingdom for which we pray is already being
made manifest or is yet to be revealed. This is a matter of debate in the
Christian community, and it is important because of the central importance in
Scripture of the concept of the kingdom. In his book The Kingdom of God,
Old Testament scholar John Bright said that the kingdom is the theme that ties
the Old Testament to the New Testament. Early in the Old Testament, God
began to promise a future realm where His sovereignty would be universal
and eternal. This promise, however, was not a denial of God’s sovereign
reign over the universe now. God has reigned from the moment He created.
Instead, the promise has to do with the voluntary submission of all creatures
to the lordship of God. At present, the kingdom of this world, over which
God has reigned from the moment of creation, is fundamentally in rebellion
against its King.
So the promise in the Old Testament was of a universal, eternal kingdom.
It is universal not in the sense that all will be redeemed but that all will obey.
Some will obey willingly; they will bow the knee in sincere devotion. Others
will be forced into submission. A day will come when people of all nations
will submit to God’s anointed King, the Messiah.
The New Testament writers refer to both the kingdom of God and the
kingdom of heaven. The phrase “kingdom of heaven” is found in Matthew’s
gospel, whereas the other gospel writers, particularly Luke, refer to “the
kingdom of God.” The difference is due to the fact that Matthew was writing
as a Jew to a Jewish audience. The Jews were protective of the sacred name
of God and therefore used periphrasis, which is the use of a roundabout form
of expression to paraphrase. As we noted in an earlier chapter, Jews in the
Old Testament used the title Adonai (“Lord”) as a substitute or periphrastic
reference to God. Matthew does the same thing in his references to the
kingdom; “heaven” was simply a Jewish substitute for “God.”

ALREADY AND NOT YET

Many professing evangelicals today believe the kingdom of God is strictly in
the future, although there is no biblical foundation for that. This view robs the
church of important teachings concerning the kingdom that are clearly set
forth in the New Testament. In fact, the New Testament opens with John the
Baptist’s announcement of the kingdom: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand” (Matt. 3:2). The Old Testament prophets spoke of the kingdom to
come at some point in the future, but at the time of John the Baptist, it was
about to burst onto the scene. It was “at hand.” If we examine John’s message
carefully, we see that his announcement of the kingdom contained urgent
warnings: “Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees” (Matt. 3:10) and
“His winnowing fork is in his hand” (Luke 3:17). Time was running out, and
people were not ready.
Christ came on the scene just a short time later with the same message:
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe
in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). However, there were differences between the
behavior of John the Baptist and that of Jesus. John was an ascetic; he lived a
life of radical self-denial. He ate locusts and wild honey, and dressed like
the Old Testament prophets. Jesus, on the other hand, was accused of being
“a glutton and a drunkard” (Matt. 11:19). He went to the wedding feast at
Cana and ate at a banquet with tax collectors, which caused some of John’s
disciples to ask Him, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples
do not fast?” (Matt. 9:14). Jesus replied, “Can the wedding guests mourn as
long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the
bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast” (v. 15).
Another time the Pharisees asked Him when the kingdom of God would
come, and Jesus replied, “Behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you”
(Luke 17:21). The kingdom was in their midst became the King was there.
On another occasion, He said, “But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out
demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Luke 11:20).
So John came first with his warning of the radical nearness of the
kingdom. Then Jesus came announcing the presence of the kingdom. This was
followed by the acme of His redemptive work in the ascension, when He left
earth to go to His coronation, where God declared Him King. As Jesus stood
on the Mount of Olives, ready to depart, His disciples asked him, “Lord, will
you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). They had been
waiting for Jesus to make His move, to drive out the Romans and establish
the kingdom, but Jesus replied, “It is not for you to know times or seasons
that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power
when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in
Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (vv. 7–
8).
In answer to their question about the kingdom, Jesus gave the fundamental
mission of the church. Men would be blind to His kingship, so His disciples
were given the task of making it visible. The fundamental task of the church
is to bear witness to the kingdom of God. Our King reigns now, so for us to
put the kingdom of God entirely in the future is to miss one of the most
significant points of the New Testament. Our King has come and has
inaugurated the kingdom of God. The future aspect of the kingdom is its final
consummation.

KINGDOM PARABLES
Jesus taught frequently through parables, and the primary theme of those
parables was the kingdom of God. Many of the parables begin, “The kingdom
of God is like…” The parables make clear that the kingdom has a
progressive character. The kingdom started small, but over time it began to
expand, and it will continue to grow until it encompasses all things. Jesus
said that the kingdom is like a mustard seed, the smallest of seeds (Matt.
13:31–32; Mark 4:30–32; Luke 13:18–19). He also likened it to leaven,
which spreads through the dough so that the lump enlarges (Matt. 13:33; Luke
13:20–21). The Old Testament foretold that the kingdom would be a stone cut
without hands, which would become a great mountain (Dan. 2:35).
Jesus also made clear that we, as His disciples, are to pursue the
kingdom. He said, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
and all these things will be added to you” (Matt. 6:33). The priority of the
Christian life, according to Jesus, is seeking the kingdom. The Greek word
translated as “first” here is prōtos. The word means more than first in a
series; it means first in order of importance. According to Jesus, seeking the
kingdom is the most important task of the Christian life.

CHRIST REIGNS
Christ reigns now as the Lamb who is worthy to receive the kingdom of God.
That kingdom has begun and is growing, but it will not be consummated until
Christ comes at the end of human history to subdue all kingdoms. At that time,
the kingdom, which is now invisible, will become visible. But although the
kingdom is now invisible, it is not unreal. At the consummation, there will be
a complete renovation of the created order as we know it, and Christ will
establish His kingdom in its full glory forever.
 Chapter 56
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THE MILLENNIUM

The concept of the millennium is a highly debated aspect of eschatology

because of the nature of eschatological literature. The first reference to the
millennium, a period of time that extends for one thousand years, occurs in
Revelation 20, and there it is mentioned with respect to the binding of Satan:

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his

hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he
seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and
Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into
the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not
deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were
ended. After that he must be released for a little while.
Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom
the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of
those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for
the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or
its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or
their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a
thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the
thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection.
Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection!
Over such the second death has no power, but they will be
priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a
thousand years.
And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be
released from his prison and will come out to deceive the
nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog,
to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea.
(Rev. 20:1–8)
INTERPRETING ESCHATOLOGICAL
LITERATURE
When considering the millennium, theologians are concerned with its nature
and its chronological relationship to the consummation of the kingdom of
God. The way in which those concerns are answered determines whether one
holds to premillennialism, amillennialism, postmillennialism, or another end-
times view. The prefixes in the names of those views reflect what their
adherents believe in terms of when the millennium occurs.
Revelation 20 is the only place in the Scriptures where the millennium is
mentioned. The fact of this solitary reference does not detract from its
importance, but what makes it problematic is that it occurs in a book of the
Bible that is highly symbolic. Literature of this genre necessitates rules of
interpretation that differ from those used to interpret other types of literature.
The basic principle of biblical interpretation established by the
Reformers was literal interpretation, sensus literalis, which means that
responsible interpreters of Scripture always interpret the Bible in the sense
in which it was written. Poetic literature should be interpreted as poetry,
didactic literature should be interpreted as didactic, and so on. A verb
remains a verb, a noun remains a noun, a simile is a simile, and a metaphor is
a metaphor.
Conversely, the style of interpretation called “literalism” involves
applying a wooden interpretation, which does not work well for poetic
literature. For example, when the psalmist says that the rivers clap their
hands (98:8), we do not take that to mean that rivers somehow grow hands
and begin clapping. We do not interpret such poetic images in an overly
literalistic way.
When it comes to interpreting prophetic literature, the question is whether
the language is figurative or ordinary prose, and there is widespread
disagreement about that. Some believe that we must interpret the prophecies
of the future literally in order to be faithful to the Bible, but that can lead us
in circles.

MILLENNIAL POSITIONS
Let us look briefly at the main features of the various millennial positions.*
Premillennialism
Premillennialism teaches that before Christ returns there will be a literal,
earthly millennial kingdom. The prefix here, pre-, indicates the conviction
that Christ will return before the millennium is established. There are two
popular forms of premillennialism today: dispensational premillennialism
and historic premillennialism.
Dispensational theology is a complete system of doctrine. It is most noted
for its particular scheme of understanding the prophecies of the Bible.
Dispensational premillennialists believe that the prophecies of the kingdom
given to Israel in the Old Testament will be literally fulfilled in the
contemporary Jewish state. They look for a literal rebuilding of the temple
and a reinstitution of the sacrificial system.
Foundational to the eschatological position of dispensationalists is the
belief that God has two separate plans of redemption, one for Israel and one
for the church. Traditional dispensational premillennialism teaches that
Christ offered the Jews the kingdom of David, but the Jews rejected it, so the
coming of David’s kingdom, a Jewish kingdom, was postponed until
sometime in the future. They also believe that the church as we know it exists
in “the church age,” one of several major periods or dispensations of biblical
history. The church age is a parenthesis between the advent of Christ and the
future coming of the kingdom. Dispensational premillennialists believe that
the church ultimately will lose influence in the world and become apostate
toward the end of the church age, and will not be restored until after the
return of Christ. Finally, Christ will return to rapture His saints before the
great tribulation.
This return of Christ to rapture His people is seen as the first of His two
returns. Upon His first return, He will translate His people up into the
clouds, thereby delivering them from the pain and persecution of the
tribulation. Then Christ will come back again to establish His kingdom. He
will administer a Jewish political kingdom that will be headquartered in
Jerusalem, and that kingdom will last for exactly one thousand years. During
that time, Satan will be bound, the temple will be rebuilt, and the sacrificial
system of the Old Testament will be reinstituted. Near the end of the
millennium, Satan will be released, and Christ and His followers will be
attacked at Jerusalem. At this point, Christ will call down judgment from
heaven and destroy His enemies, judgment of the wicked will occur, and the
final eternal order will be initiated.
 This version of dispensational premillennialism, where the church is
raptured before the tribulation, is the most popular version among
evangelicals. There are other versions that place the rapture at other times
relative to the tribulation while keeping the rest of the system essentially the
same. But while the pretribulation rapture is popular because it provides
Christians with hope of avoiding the great tribulation at the end of the age, I
find not a shred of evidence in Scripture to support it.
Historic premillennialism is a bit different. It teaches that the church is
the initial phase of Christ’s kingdom, as prophesied by the Old Testament
prophets. The church gains occasional victories in history but ultimately will
fail in its mission. It will lose influence and become corrupt as worldwide
evil increases toward the end of the church age. The church will eventually
pass through an unprecedented worldwide time of travail known as “the great
tribulation,” which will mark the end of history as we know it. At the end of
the tribulation, Christ will return to rapture His church, to resurrect deceased
saints, and to conduct the judgment of the righteous, all in the twinkling of an
eye. Christ will then descend to earth with His glorified saints, fight the
battle of Armageddon, bind Satan, and establish a worldwide political
kingdom, in which Christ will reign from Jerusalem for a thousand years. At
the end of the millennium, Satan will be loosed, and a massive rebellion
against Christ’s kingdom will occur. Finally, God will intervene with fiery
judgment to rescue Jesus and the saints, which will be followed by the
resurrection and judgment of the wicked.

Amillennialism
The amillennial position, which holds some points in common with both of
the premillennial positions, believes that the church age is the kingdom age
prophesied in the Old Testament. The New Testament church has become the
Israel of God. Amillennialists believe that the binding of Satan took place
during Jesus’ earthly ministry; Satan was restrained while the gospel was
preached to the world, and this restraint continues today. Insofar as Christ
presently rules in the hearts of believers, they have some influence in the
culture in which they live, but they will not transform the culture. Toward the
end, the growth of evil will accelerate, resulting in the great tribulation and a
personal Antichrist. Christ will return to end history, resurrect and judge all
men, and establish the eternal order. In eternity, the redeemed may be either
in heaven or in a totally renovated earth.
Postmillennialism
Postmillennialism has several distinctive features. First, it holds that the
messianic kingdom of Christ was founded on earth during His early ministry
in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy—the church is Israel. Second, the
kingdom is essentially redemptive and spiritual rather than political and
physical. Third, the kingdom will exercise a transformational influence in
history, a belief that some have called the most distinctive characteristic of
postmillennial eschatology. It is optimistic that the influence of the church of
Jesus Christ will have a positive, redeeming influence on culture and on the
world over time. Despite times of weakness and corruption, the church will
ultimately triumph over the wickedness of this world, such that the kingdom
will gradually expand on earth. This will be accomplished with Christ’s
kingly power but without His physical presence on earth. Finally,
postmillennialists believe that the Great Commission will succeed. What
distinguishes postmillennialists from amillennialists and premillennialists is
the belief that Scripture teaches the success of the Great Commission in the
age of the church.
There are differences among postmillennialists, just as there are among
those of the other convictions. There is also a debate over a view known as
preterism, which occurs in both full-preterist and partial-preterist forms.

Preterism
Partial preterism holds that many of the prophecies of the future were
fulfilled in the first century—chiefly in the events surrounding the destruction
of Jerusalem in AD 70. Most partial preterists say that the first twenty
chapters of Revelation have taken place while the last two chapters have yet
to be fulfilled. Partial preterists tend to be postmillennial in their thinking,
holding that the millennium (not a literal one thousand years) began with the
first advent of Christ.
By contrast, full preterism teaches that all the prophecies regarding the
coming of Christ—including the millennium and the last judgment—were
fulfilled in the first century. Full preterism is regarded as heretical, as it
denies an essential truth of Scripture: the return of the King.
Whichever eschatological view we hold, we must hold it humbly because
we do not know the future. We can all look backward, but we do not know
God’s agenda for what’s to come. We must be humble and acknowledge that
our eschatological view might not be accurate. At the same time, much of the
doctrinal teaching in the New Testament has to do with future things, so how
we understand God’s promises about the future has a dramatic impact on our
personal confidence and involvement in the mission Christ gave to the
church.

* For a fuller treatment, see R.C. Sproul, The Last Days according to Jesus:
When Did Jesus Say He Would Return? (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker,
2000).
 Chapter 57
_____

THE RETURN OF CHRIST

After the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, many Christians began to
follow the advice of the Swiss theologian Karl Barth to hold a Bible in one
hand and a newspaper in the other. The restoration of the Jewish state and the
Jews’ recovery of Jerusalem in 1967 provoked heightened interest in the end
times and especially the return of Jesus. The reason for this lies in Jesus’
prediction in the Olivet Discourse of the destruction of the temple and the
city of Jerusalem, which He concluded this way: “Jerusalem will be
trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are
fulfilled” (Luke 21:24).

THE TEACHING OF SCRIPTURE

That text is the only place in the Gospels where we find the phrase “the times
of the Gentiles.” However, a similar phrase in Paul’s epistle to the Romans
piques great interest in future things: “A partial hardening has come upon
Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in” (Rom. 11:25). Here
Paul is writing about Jewish people who have rejected the Messiah and
about Gentiles being grafted in to the holy root that is Israel. He goes on to
say that God has not cast off the Jews forever but will do a future work
among them when the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
In light of these biblical texts, the events in the Middle East in 1948 and
1967 led many to conclude that we are on the threshold of the final days of
redemptive history and that the return of Christ is near. Compounding the
speculation was the approach of the new millennium. Expectation of Jesus’
return reached a fever pitch then, and His coming continues to be a subject of
intense interest today.
We observed earlier that much of the doctrinal material in the New
Testament relates to future aspects of the kingdom of God, and there is no
element of prophecy more important to the people of God than the return of
Jesus. The Lord’s promised return is the Christian’s blessed hope, yet the
time of Jesus’ return and the manner in which He will come are highly
debated issues.
At the beginning of Acts, we read of Jesus’ departure from this world:

And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he
was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while
they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood
by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you
stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from
you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go
into heaven.” (Acts 1:9–11)

There are many predictions in the New Testament of the return of Jesus,
and there are particular elements that accompany these predictions. First, we
are assured that the return of Christ will be personal; in other words, He will
return in person. Second, His return will be visible. Third, His return will be
in glory; it will be attended by majestic fanfare. We see all three elements
here in Acts 1. Verse 11 affirms that “this Jesus”—the very one whose
departure the Apostles had witnessed—would come again “in the same
way.” In other words, the mode of Jesus’ return will parallel the mode of His
departure. His departure was visible, and He ascended on clouds of glory;
therefore, His return at the end of the age will be just as visible and just as
glorious.

THEORIES OF CHRIST’S RETURN

However, despite these clear prophecies, the subject of Christ’s personal,
visible, glorious return is a topic of controversy, which is due most
especially to the influence of higher criticism. In my book The Last Days
according to Jesus, I provide a summary of the critical theories that have
emerged along with the unprecedented assault against the reliability of the
New Testament documents and the teaching of Jesus.* For example, Albert
Schweitzer, in his quest for the historical Jesus, claimed that Jesus expected
the consummation of the kingdom to occur during His lifetime, which is why
He sent the seventy disciples on their mission (Luke 10), and was
disappointed when it did not happen. According to Schweitzer, in Jesus’
mind, the pivotal moment for the coming of the kingdom was likely to be His
entry into Jerusalem, and when the kingdom did not arrive, Jesus allowed
Himself to be taken to the cross. His subsequent cry, “My God, my God, why
have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46), indicates Jesus’ disillusionment.
Other scholars have argued that the New Testament writers and Jesus
Himself expected and taught Jesus’ personal return within the lifetime of the
first generation of Christians. Because it did not happen, they say, we can
safely discard the New Testament documents as unreliable and understand
Jesus as merely a model of love. In response to this critical theory, C.H.
Dodd spoke of “realized eschatology,” meaning that all the New Testament
prophecies about the future and Christ’s return were in fact fulfilled in the
first century. Concerning certain remarks made by Jesus, such as “There are
some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man
coming in his kingdom” (Matt. 16:28), Dodd said that Jesus was referring not
to a future return but to the visible manifestations of His glory that took place
at the transfiguration, the resurrection, and the ascension.
The most contested text is found in the Olivet Discourse, particularly the
rendering in Matthew’s gospel, in which Jesus describes future events,
including the destruction of the temple and of Jerusalem, as well as His
return. Jesus’ disciples asked him: “Tell us, when will these things be, and
what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” (Matt. 24:3).
In direct response to the disciples’ inquiry, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you,
this generation will not pass away until all these things take place” (v. 34).
Christ seems to have been saying clearly that these things would take place
within the span of a single human generation, which, in Jewish terms, was
approximately forty years. If Christ’s crucifixion took place sometime around
AD 30, one would expect fulfillment of that prophecy around AD 70, which
happens to be the date of the destruction of the temple and the fall of the city
of Jerusalem to the Romans.
Critics argue that although the temple was destroyed and the city was
captured, Jesus did not come back, which renders Him a false prophet. Yet
nothing more clearly proves the identity and integrity of Jesus Christ than
these specific prophecies. The events He predicted were utterly unthinkable
to Jewish people, who assumed that the temple and the holy city of God were
indestructible. Yet Jesus specifically predicted these events before they took
place. It is ironic that the very text that should function as irrefutable proof of
the trustworthiness of Christ and the biblical documents has become the one
critics have used to repudiate the trustworthiness of the New Testament and
of the integrity of Jesus.
Concerning this text, evangelicals say that generation in the Olivet
Discourse does not refer to a life span or to a particular time frame but to a
type of people. In other words, generation in this context means that the same
kind of people who were living in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus would still
be around at the time of all these future events. That is a possible
interpretation of the text but an unlikely one, because the term generation is
used consistently throughout the Gospels with specific reference to a
particular group of people.
Others argue that “all these things” included only the first two elements,
the destruction of the temple and of Jerusalem. Full preterism teaches that
Jesus did return in AD 70, and all the future prophecies concerning the
coming of Christ took place invisibly when He executed His judgment on
Jerusalem. Full preterists argue that the biblical language of prophecy makes
frequent use of catastrophic imagery. In the Old Testament, for example, the
prophets describe God’s visiting His justice on wicked cities in terms of the
moon turning to blood (Joel 2:31), and the same type of language is used with
respect to the return of Jesus (Matt. 24:2). Full preterists believe that Jesus
came in judgment on the Jewish nation in AD 70, and that was the end of
Judaism. That was the last judgment. It was the end not of history but of the
Jewish age, but it was the beginning of the age of the Gentiles.
The problem for full preterism is that there are other texts in the New
Testament that indicate we have every reason to hope for a future, personal,
visible return of Jesus. However, I do think that partial preterism has to be
taken seriously—that a significant event did take place in AD 70. I am
convinced that in the Olivet Discourse, Jesus was, in fact, speaking of His
judgment coming upon Israel, but I do not think He was referring to the final
consummation of His kingdom.
In the final analysis, no one knows for sure when Jesus is going to come.
Nevertheless, we, as the people of God, have a blessed hope and every
reason to believe in the integrity of Jesus’ word. His promises are without
fail, and we look forward to His personal, visible, and glorious return.

* R.C. Sproul, The Last Days according to Jesus: When Did Jesus Say He
Would Return? (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, 2000).
 Chapter 58
_____

THE FINAL JUDGMENT

In the nineteenth century, the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche

announced the death of God. When he did so, an unprecedented spirit of
optimism emerged in the intellectual world, which had a tremendous impact
on European and American culture. Many people welcomed Nietzsche’s
announcement. The news heralded a major victory for humanism, freeing
mankind—so it was thought—from reliance upon a supernatural deity and
allowing reliance upon technology and education instead. People anticipated
ridding the world of disease, warfare, ignorance, and all the things that
plague human civilization.
Auguste Comte, the nineteenth-century French philosopher, said that
history is divided into three stages: infancy, adolescence, and adulthood. In
describing the development of Western civilization, he said that in its infancy,
people defined their lives in terms of religion, but as civilization grew into
adolescence, they replaced religion with metaphysical philosophy.
Adulthood did not begin, he said, until the age of science, and it was the
optimistic anticipation of what science would produce that provoked such
joy in people. World War I was seen as a tremendous stumbling block to this
evolutionary optimism, but even those disappointed by the onset of war held
on to their man-centered hopes, declaring the conflict to be “the war to end
all wars.” Of course, they did not anticipate the Holocaust of World War II or
the pessimistic philosophies of atheistic existentialism in the writings of
Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, and others. At the heart of nineteenth-century
optimism was the perceived good news that since God does not exist, there
is no need to fear a final judgment, and since there is no judgment, there is no
moral accountability.

A SCORNFUL AGE
When we consider the pessimism of our day, we recognize that there has
been a radical shift away from the optimism of the nineteenth century. Man is
now seen as a cosmic accident moving inexorably to the bottomless pit of
nothingness. The thinking of today’s nihilistic existentialist is that if man is
not ultimately accountable for his life, that can only mean that ultimately his
life does not count. The optimism has turned to bitter gloom, so the culture
has turned to drugs and other means of escape to avoid the horrible idea that
our lives are an exercise in futility.
Over against all this is the clear teaching of the New Testament and of
Jesus that our lives do count and that we are accountable—truths that every
human being knows apart from philosophical investigation and reflection.
People have a sense of God within their hearts. They were given consciences
by their Creator and know they will be held accountable for how they live
their lives. There will come a day when God will judge every man and
woman by the standards of His sacred law.
While in Athens, the Apostle Paul noticed that a temple had been erected
to an unknown god, so, in the presence of the philosophers of his day, he
said, “What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.…The
times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people
everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:23, 30). Paul’s command was universal in
scope. God had long been patient with man’s manifold disobedience, but a
critical moment in redemptive history had taken place, and the need for
repentance was urgent. Paul continued, “He has fixed a day on which he will
judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of
this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead” (v. 31).
This was the response to Paul’s words: “Now when they heard of the
resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, ‘We will hear you
again about this.’ So Paul went out from their midst. But some men joined
him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a
woman named Damaris and others with them” (vv. 32–34).
Things have not changed. When we tell people that God has appointed a
day on which He will judge the world in righteousness, people laugh. There
in Athens, only a few took Paul seriously, and few believe today.
Integral to this Apostolic testimony was the declaration that God has
appointed a day of judgment. Such a day was not initiated by the Apostles; in
fact, it was not initiated even by Jesus, although Jesus spoke about it
frequently. It has its roots deep in the Old Testament, which warned people
of the day when the Judge of heaven and earth would bring all things into
account.
 Year ago, while I was teaching philosophy at a university, I lectured on
Immanuel Kant’s critique of the traditional arguments for the existence of
God alongside his substitute argument, which was based on Kant’s
understanding of “the categorical imperative.” Kant said that every human
being has a sense of “oughtness” built into his conscience, which is what
drives ethics. Kant raised the question as to whether this sense of oughtness
is meaningless. If there is no foundation for a moral sense of oughtness, then
any attempt to construct a meaningful ethic perishes, and without a
meaningful ethic, civilization cannot be preserved. In order for this sense of
right and wrong to be meaningful, Kant said, there has to be justice; in other
words, righteousness must be rewarded and wickedness must be punished.
However, it is clear that justice does not always prevail, which led Kant to
ask why the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer. He concluded that since
justice does not occur in this life, there must be some kind of survival beyond
the grave so that justice can be distributed. To my surprise, I later learned
that one of the students in the class was converted to Christianity just by
listening to Kant’s speculation about a last judgment.
For Jesus, however, the last judgment was not a matter of speculation but
of divine declaration, and He warned people regularly about this certain
reality, saying, for example, “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will
give account for every careless word they speak” (Matt. 12:36). That brings
to mind the prophet Isaiah, who, when confronted with the holiness of God,
was immediately overwhelmed by his unworthiness and said, “Woe is me!
For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a
people of unclean lips” (Isa. 6:5). If our idle words will be brought into
judgment, how much more our every intentional word?
Years later, I ran into a student who had been in that class I had taught and
who had gone on to study neuroscience. During our encounter, he recalled the
lecture I had given on Kant and the last judgment. He went on to tell me from
a scientific viewpoint how the brain functions. He explained that every
experience we have is recorded in the brain. In fact, he said, it would take a
computer the size of a building to be able to hold all the data that can be
recorded in a single human brain. He then tied his scientific understanding to
the last judgment, saying that he pictures God on judgment day replaying all
the experiences recorded in each human brain—every thought, word, and
deed—such that the clarity of the evidence will render man incapable of
argument. The point of my former student’s metaphor is that, whether we
have a conscious brain record or not, God is aware of everything we have
ever thought, said, and done.

JESUS’ TEACHING
Most sermons are constructed with a climactic point, and that is true of
Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. At the end of that sermon, Jesus said:

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing

but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by
their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from
thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased
tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can
a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear
good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will
recognize them by their fruits. (Matt. 7:15–20)

Many evangelicals are unaware that Jesus spoke of the final judgment,
but He clearly did, and He said that every person will be judged according to
his works. We press hard on the biblical doctrine of justification by faith
alone, but sometimes our excitement over redemption by faith rather than by
works leads us to think that works do not matter to God. Yet here we read
that judgment will be according to works. The rewards that God will
distribute to His people at the last judgment will be according to works. We
are encouraged as Christians that rewards will be distributed according to
our degree of obedience. So works are extremely important, both good and
bad, because they will all be brought into the judgment.
Jesus went on to say:

Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the
kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father
who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, “Lord, Lord,
did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your
name, and do many mighty works in your name?” And then will I
declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from me, you
workers of lawlessness.” (vv. 21–23)
 On the day of judgment, people will claim to know Jesus, emphatically
addressing Him as “Lord.” They will claim to have performed good works
and engaged in church activities, yet Jesus will state categorically that He
never knew them.
Later in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus tells a parable about the kingdom of
heaven:

Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took
their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were
foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their
lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil
with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all
became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry,
“Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.” Then all those
virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the
wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.”
But the wise answered, saying, “Since there will not be enough
for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for
yourselves.” And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom
came, and those who were ready went in with him to the
marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other
virgins came also, saying, “Lord, lord, open to us.” But he
answered, “Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.” Watch
therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. (Matt.
25:1–13)

Our Lord gives to us and to the world these sober warnings. God has
appointed a day, and He has appointed a Judge, and the Judge is the Lord
Himself. When we stand before that judgment, we had better be ready.
 Chapter 59
_____

ETERNAL PUNISHMENT

In the previous chapter, we examined the last judgment as it is set forth in

the New Testament, specifically from the lips of Jesus Himself. The last
judgment will be no casual evaluation of people; rather, it will be in the
context of a heavenly courtroom, where the Judge of all will take into
account everything we have done. At the end of the trial, there will be a
verdict of “guilty” or “not guilty” that will hinge on whether the one on trial
is covered by the righteousness of Christ. For those who belong to Christ,
there will be reward, but for those who do not, there will be punishment.
The last judgment will be administered by a perfectly just and righteous
Judge, so there will be nothing arbitrary or unjust about it. We will face the
judgment of God either on the basis of our works or on the basis of Christ’s
work. If we have committed even one sin, one offense against the holiness of
God—which we all certainly have—then we desperately need Christ. As the
psalmist prayed so many centuries ago, “If you, O Lord, should mark
iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?” (Ps. 130:3). The answer is obvious:
no one. The bad news is that the Lord does mark iniquities. The blessed
person is the one to whom the Lord does not impute guilt. This is the core of
the gospel.

ACCORDING TO REVELATION
Since the judgment will be perfectly just, the Scriptures make clear that it
will be rendered according to the light we have. What happens, then, to the
innocent person who has never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ? The answer
is that God never punishes innocent people. Those who are innocent have no
need to worry about the judgment of God. Yet according to the New
Testament, there are no innocent people. No one can come before the
judgment seat of God and say, “I had no light of revelation”; that is the
significance of Romans 1. There, Paul writes of God’s wrath being poured
out against evildoers because they have suppressed the knowledge of God
that is clear through nature. They have turned away and refused to honor God
as God. Therefore, no one can stand at the judgment seat of God and claim he
did not know that there was a God.
In the last judgment, people who have never heard of Jesus will not be
punished for rejecting Jesus. God judges according to the light that each one
has, and it would be unjust for Him to hold people responsible for rejecting
Jesus if they have never heard of Him. That being said, Jesus came to people
who were already under God’s indictment—not for rejecting Jesus, whom
they did not know, but for rejecting the Father, whom they did know by the
revelation that He had given in nature. Even if we did not have the Bible, the
heavens declare God’s glory (Ps. 19:1; Rom. 1:20). Indeed, our very
consciences bear witness that we know who God is and that we have
violated His law (Rom. 2:15).
The destiny to which we will be subject at the last judgment is
unalterable. Many hope for a second chance after death, even if it is a
mythical purgatory where they can pay off their debts and then enter heaven,
yet nothing in Scripture gives the slightest hope of that. The Bible tells us that
“it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Heb.
9:27).

HELL
That which makes us most squeamish about the last judgment is the doctrine
of hell. When I was in seminary, another student once asked our professor,
John Gerstner, how we will be able to rejoice in heaven if we get there only
to find that some of our loved ones are in hell. Dr. Gerstner replied that we
will not be sad about that but instead will rejoice, for it will bring glory to
God and vindicate His holiness. There was a collective gasp from the
students, but as I reflected upon his words, I understood what he was saying.
While we are in our mortal flesh, even though we have some affection for
Christ, our basic affections are rooted in this world. We care more about the
well-being of our family members and friends than about the vindication of
the righteousness of God, but that will not be the case when we arrive in
heaven in our glorified state.
If we were to picture Jesus standing on one side of a room, representing
utter righteousness, and Adolf Hitler standing on the other, representing utter
evil, where on that scale would we place a friend we consider righteous? We
would have to place our friend right next to Hitler, as far away from Christ as
possible; in fact, in this illustration, the room would have to be infinitely
large. Because Jesus is sinless, the gulf between Christ and sinners is
immeasurable. Given our fallen frame of reference, we can understand
Hitler, but Jesus baffles our imagination by His perfect righteousness. That is
why we have trouble considering that God, in the execution of His justice,
would send our loved ones to hell.
The New Testament speaks of hell as darkness, as a lake of fire, and as a
prison. For instance:

They marched up over the broad plain of the earth and

surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire
came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who
had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur
where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be
tormented day and night forever and ever.
Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on
it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was
found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing
before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book
was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were
judged by what was written in the books, according to what they
had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death
and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were
judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then
Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the
second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not
found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of
fire. (Rev. 20:9–15)

I doubt that hell is a literal lake of fire, but whatever it is, those who are
there would give everything they had and do everything they could not to be
there. A symbol is always exceeded in intensity by the reality to which it
points, and because of that we can take no comfort in the idea that the New
Testament language about hell is symbolic. If it is symbolic, then the reality
must be worse than the symbol.
 We hear people say, “My life is a hell on earth,” but that is mere
hyperbole, because as terrible as one’s life might be, it is not close to being
as bad as hell. Someone in a most abysmal state of suffering still enjoys many
benefits of the common grace of almighty God, which are removed entirely
from those in hell. Hell is separation from God in a certain sense but not in
an absolute sense. It is separation from the grace, care, and love of God, but
not from God Himself. The biggest problem for those in hell is not the devil;
it is God. God is in hell, actively punishing the wicked. When we are saved,
we are saved from God. We are saved from exposure to His fierce wrath and
punishment.
The New Testament also teaches that there are degrees of punishment in
hell, just as degrees of reward are distributed to people in heaven. Someone
once said that in heaven everyone will have a full cup, but not everyone will
have a cup of the same size. Jesus made a frequent distinction between those
whose reward will be great and those whose reward will be small.
When a murderer is sentenced to multiple life sentences, we find that
redundant. After all, people have only one life. In terms of the law, however,
each count is a separate offense and therefore worthy of a separate
punishment, and that principle applies eternally. We may not be able to
punish criminals seven times for seven murders, but God can, and the person
who murders one person will receive a punishment seven times less than the
person who murders seven. God’s punitive, retributive justice will be
perfect, such that the punishment will always fit the crime, which is why Paul
warns us against storing up wrath on the day of wrath (Rom. 2:5). Jesus calls
us to store up treasures in heaven; in contrast, Paul says that people who are
not storing up heavenly treasure are storing up punishments in hell,
compounding the degree of judgment they will receive.
In recent years, there has been a revival within evangelical circles of the
heretical doctrine called annihilationism, which holds that at the last
judgment believers are raised from the dead and rewarded, whereas the
wicked are merely annihilated. In other words, they cease to exist, and that is
their punishment—the loss of life. Historically, Christians have believed that,
according to Scripture, the punishment of hell is conscious and unending.
Sinners in hell yearn to be annihilated, to pass out of existence, because
anything is better than standing daily before the punishment of God.
In the final analysis, we do not know the details of hell, and if we are
honest, we must admit that we do not want to know. However, if we take the
words of Jesus and the Apostles seriously, we need to take hell seriously. If
we really believed the biblical testimony about hell, it would change not only
the way we live but the way we work in terms of the mission of the church.
 Chapter 60
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HEAVEN AND EARTH

MADE NEW

Many today doubt that there is life after death. They scorn those who
believe in eternal life, saying that our hope of heaven is merely the projection
of our desires. They question the basis for our confidence that the next world
will be better than this one.
Our answer as Christians is the testimony of Christ, both that of His
resurrection and of His teaching. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the
life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live” (John 11:25).
In the Upper Room Discourse, on the night of His betrayal, Jesus said, “Let
not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me” (John 14:1).
He began the discourse with an imperative: “Let not…” An imperative
implies an obligation. We are commanded not to have troubled hearts
regarding our future in heaven. Jesus also said:

In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I

have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go
and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you
to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the
way to where I am going.” (vv. 2–4)

Jesus was with His disciples but was about to be removed from their
midst, and they were anxious. Jesus offered them comfort, backing up His
reassurances with these words: “If it were not so, would I have told you that
I go to prepare a place for you?” In other words, if heaven were a false hope
to which the disciples were clinging, Jesus would have corrected their error.
However, it is all true, and Jesus was going ahead of them to prepare their
place there. That is the promise of Christ to His people: for everyone who
trusts in Christ, a place in His Father’s house is prepared. Therefore, we
have every reason to be confident of heaven’s reality.
PROMISED JOY
In John’s first epistle, we are given some insight into our future state:

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should
be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the
world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we
are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet
appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like
him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus
hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. (1 John 3:1–3)

This is one of the most important, if not the most important,

eschatological texts in the New Testament. It promises believers that we will
enjoy the zenith of felicity in heaven, “the beatific vision” or the visio Dei.
The word beatific comes from the same root word from which we get the
word beatitude. The beatitudes are the sayings of Jesus from His Sermon on
the Mount, in which Jesus pronounces oracles of blessing (Matt. 5:3–12).
They are promises of blessedness, a degree of happiness that transcends any
earthly pleasure or happiness. When God gives blessedness to the soul, it is
a supreme joy and fulfillment. That blessedness is in view here in 1 John in
the beatific vision. It is so wonderful that the vision itself brings with it the
fullness of the blessing.
The beatific vision is the vision of God. John states that we do not know
yet what we are going to be in heaven, but one thing we do know is that we
will be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. We will see Him as He is in
Himself. We are going to be able to see not merely an indirect manifestation
of God—a burning bush or a pillar of cloud and fire—but His unveiled
being. Moses was allowed a glimpse of God’s passing glory, but he could
not see God’s face (Ex. 34:5–7). An intimate, face-to-face look at God is
absolutely forbidden to every mortal in this world. We are called to dedicate
ourselves in holiness to a God we have never seen. We serve a Master who
is invisible to us. Yet we are promised that someday we will see Him. In the
Beatitudes, it is not the merciful, the poor, or the peacemakers who are
promised the sight of God. Instead, Jesus says, “Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God” (Matt. 5:8). The reason we cannot see God has
nothing to do with our eyes. It has to do with our hearts. Yet when we enter
into glory and receive the fullness of our sanctification, the barrier to a direct
and immediate perception of God will be removed.
When I watch a basketball game on television, am I really watching the
basketball game? I am not present at the event; the game is taking place miles
away. I am watching an electronic broadcast, a reproduction. There is a
medium between the game and me so that I am made aware of the plays of the
game through the medium. A medium is an intermediary; in this case, it
communicates images of something from one place to another. When I watch
the game on television, I see only pictures of the game. If I were actually at
the game, the light of the arena would communicate those images to my eyes.
Yet even if I had perfect vision, if I were locked in a room without any light,
I would see nothing. We need both light and images to be able to see.
Even our present sight is mediated. Jonathan Edwards said that in glory
our souls will have a direct apprehension of the invisible God. How that will
occur we do not know, but we do know by means of God’s Word that the
delight of our souls in heaven will be seeing Him as He is.

THE NATURE OF HEAVEN

In the book of Revelation, the Apostle John records the vision he received on
the island of Patmos. In that vision, Christ showed John many things,
including the new heaven and the new earth:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven
and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of
heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the
dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them,
and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them
as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and
death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor
crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed
away.” (Rev. 21:1–4)

We read that in heaven there will be no sea, which, if taken literally,

might disappoint beach lovers. However, for the Hebrew, the sea was a
symbol of violence. The seacoast in Israel was rocky and rough. Moreover, it
was an entry point for attacking marauders, and violent weather came in off
the Mediterranean. In all of Hebrew poetry, the sea is a negative symbol; the
river, the fountain, and the well serve as positive images. So we understand
John’s vision as indicating that there will be no more violent natural
catastrophes.
Tears will also be absent in heaven. We associate tears with sorrow and
grief. Many of us recall how, when we were children, our mothers comforted
us when we were sad, wiping away our tears with her apron. We usually
were brought to tears again the next day, and needed comfort all over again.
However, when God wipes away our tears, they will never come back,
because the things that now make us cry will be removed. There will be no
more death, sorrow, or pain. These former things will have passed away.
As John continues his description, we encounter some startling
dimensions of what heaven will be like and what it will not be like (vv. 18–
21). We are told what will be there and what will not be there. We find
streets of gold that is so fine and pure that it is translucent. We are told of
gates constructed of magnificent pearls and a foundation adorned with
precious jewels. Apocalyptic literature is imaginative, so we assume that
these are symbolic representations of heaven, but I would not put it past God
to construct a city just like the one described here.
John tells us more: “And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the
Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or
moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the
Lamb” (vv. 22–23). There will be no temple, sun, or moon. On this earth, a
temple, or church, is the visible symbol of the presence of God, but in heaven
there will be no need for a temple, because we will be in God’s actual
presence. There will also be no need for created sources of light—sun,
moon, or stars. The radiance of the glory of God and of the Lamb will
illumine the whole city, and there will never be night because the glowing,
brilliant, radiant glory of God never stops. Heaven will be aglow with the
unvarnished, unveiled radiance of God.
What do we live for? By way of illustration, Jonathan Edwards
described someone who saves money for years in order to go on a vacation.
To get to his destination, he must travel, so the first night he stays at a
wayside inn. However, the next day, instead of continuing on the journey to
his desired destination, he decides to forgo it all and stay at the inn. We live
our lives just that way. We hold on tenaciously to life in this world because
we are not really convinced of the glory that the Father has established in
heaven for His people. Every hope and joy that we look forward to—and
then some—will abound in this wonderful place. Our greatest moment will
be when we walk through the door and leave this world of tears and sorrow,
this valley of death, and enter into the presence of the Lamb.