Category Archives: Truth About the Deceased

Death and Resurrection, Truth About the Deceased, What is God Like?

WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM!

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There she was, lying in a hospital bed with crisp white sheets and monitors beeping all around.   Just a few weeks ago, she was up and doing her normal routine.  Today, she was lying on her back with an oxygen mask forcing her to breathe.  Icema Pappas, my Greek Mom, never liked anything over her face.  Like me, she was claustrophobic.

Mom was an attractive woman.  Some said she looked like Elizabeth Taylor when she was younger.  But what made her special was her kind, quiet spirit.  Everyone who ever met her liked her immediately because she liked people.  She was a praying woman like her mother before her. Even though I was in my Godless decade, having shaken my fist at God, telling Him to go away, I could feel His Spirit coming through her. I had not prayed in 10 years, but I felt moved to comfort her in some way through the God she loved.

My beautiful mom had been fervently praying for me for the last ten years, but I could not find a prayer within me.

They had done everything they could.  She was dying before my eyes.  My heart was breaking for her.  The air seemed to be leaving the room. I asked the doctors and nurses to make her comfortable.  She settled down as the morphine took over.

One by one, the family was called in to say their goodbyes.  She was only 73 years old. 

My parents divorced when I was six and my brother was two.  She had to return to work as the switchboard operator at a trucking company. My Mom, Ronnie, and I lived with my grandmother in a small one-bedroom apartment in a section of the house.  Two very loving women of God raised me.  Both were good Baptists but followers of Christ first. 

When I became a follower of Jesus some twenty-eight years earlier, after studying the Bible to prove my newly baptized Christian wife wrong about the whole religious thing, I shared some of the things I had learned from the Bible with my sweet mom and grandmother.  The passages on the state of the dead, the second coming, and the resurrection were fresh and new to them. 

They listened closely and asked questions.  They found comfort in the return of Jesus, the comparison of sleep with death, and the resurrection, just as Paul instructed in 1 Thess 4: 18 (Comfort one another with these words). They, indeed, found comfort in God’s word.      With a hopeful voice, I described going to sleep in death, but, in a flash, our next view would be of Jesus coming in the clouds; then we would rise above the earth with all the others who loved Him to meet Him there before going to where He promised to take us.

It was my turn to say goodbye to my beautiful, sweet mom, whose brown eyes glowed when she talked to me.  That is what I remember about her.  Her eyes.  Sometimes, it was like Jesus conversed with me…even joking around and laughing with me through those eyes! They were closed now.

I was not sure she could hear me because of the morphine.  She was quiet and not moving as I listened to the heart monitor, beginning to slow.

I took her hand like the young people shake hands by wrapping my fingers around her thumb.  I felt the soft flesh of her hands, which had brushed the hair back from my eyes and wiped the tears away from my face when I was young.    I leaned in to make sure she heard the last words she would hear from me.  “Mom, I love you.  I will see you resurrection morning.”  Suddenly, I felt those sweet fingers squeeze three times.  She had heard me!  Her spirit was saying playfully…”  “You better be there!”

As the heart monitor went silent, so did those in the room.  I looked out to watch the beautiful sun setting in the west.

I had made a promise to her to be there on resurrection morning.  The only way I could keep it is for God to have mercy on His prodigal son.  I was dead in sin.  But, praise God, I was resurrected a few weeks later. 

It is a spiritual truth that we can’t feel our sinfulness until we ask God to take over.  We are like a dead person that feels nothing.  When the Spirit of God convicts us at the request of sweet moms, dads, grandmothers, grandfathers, friends, or strangers. We come alive to our situation, our fate of eternal death; then we die to ourselves, pleading for God’s forgiveness.  Then Jesus comes into our hearts and mind, and the Spirit gives us a new birth, a new way of thinking and feeling.  We are changed miraculously.   

As Mary said in the series The Chosen, “I was one way…now I am completely different, and the thing that happened in between was Him.”

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Even though my mother and grandmother were Baptist, They believed what I am about to bring you from God’s word.

The resurrection from the dead is the most important promised event in our spiritual lives! Without the resurrection of Jesus, you and I have no resurrection, and our faith is worthless.  I didn’t say it, Paul did.

1 Corinthians 15:14, 18-19

And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty, and your faith is also empty… And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.

Let’s consider the event that turns us from mortal to immortal, from death to life.

I’ve heard many accounts of heaven, but what will we look like? What will our bodies be like?  Will we be just a wispy spirit floating on a cloud and plucking a harp? Will we be an angel?    

We Will Be Like Him

“…we know that when He is revealed, WE WILL BE LIKE HIM, for we shall see Him as He is.” 1 John 3:2

What was He like physically?

The disciples, who were eyewitnesses of Jesus’ post-resurrected body.  They tell us their account of a real Jesus, not a spirit.  When the disciples thought Jesus was a ghost, He said,

“Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a SPIRIT DOES NOT HAVE FLESH AND BONES as you see I have.”  Luke 24:39

Will we have flesh and bones? Yes! A real person! Then he asked for something to eat!

“But while they still did not believe for joy and marveled, He said to them, “Have you any food here?” So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. And He took it and ate in their presence. Luke 24: 41-43

Will we eat in our glorified bodies?  We will have an appetite!

Jesus had flesh and bones (unlike a spirit), and He ate fish and honey in His glorified body (post-resurrection).  We, too, will have a glorified body with flesh, bones, and an appetite.  We will get a signal from our body that it is time to eat.

The third time Jesus appeared to the disciples (after His resurrection), he returned the favor and cooked them fish and bread!

“Then, as soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish which you have just caught…This is now the third time Jesus showed Himself to His disciples after He was raised from the dead.”  John 21: 9-10, 14

Movement by Thought

Our bodies will be like His… Our mode of travel will be walking because we will have legs, but we will be able to think our bodies somewhere, as did Jesus in a room behind locked doors. This is the spiritual side of us.

Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to you.” Luke 24:36

Even though we will have real bodies, it will be fashioned after Jesus, not Adam.

The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. 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.  1 Corinthians 15: 47-49

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When Do We Get Real Bodies?

We will get real bodies, but when does this happen?

Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

We are changed at the last trumpet, which is the second coming of Christ. Continuing with Paul’s description of the second coming, he says,

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

“O Death, where is your sting?

O Hades, where is your victory?” 1 Corinthians 15: 51-55

Where I am!

 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.  In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so,  I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. John 14: 1-3

So when He comes, he takes us to where He is now!  The City of Heaven, the mansions,-The New Jerusalem.  Streets of God, the river that flows from God., and the Tree of Life on both sides of the River.

But we don’t stay there forever after 1,000 years.  The redeemed of all ages return to this earth.  We will get to watch God recreate this earth. (See 1,000 years for more detail.)

Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Revelation 21:2

New Heavens and a New Earth

Isaiah, Peter, and John describe the abode of the redeemed. 

…we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 2 Peter 3:13

After Jesus makes a new earth, the meek will finally inherit the earth.  We will have active lives and live forever!  We will continue to have worship services!

They shall build houses and inhabit them;

They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit …And My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

They shall not labor in vain, Isaiah 66: 21-23

After working for six days, we will attend worship, not as different denominations, but as those who belong to Christ.

“For as the new heavens and the new earth

Which I will make shall remain before Me,” says the Lord,…And it shall come to pass, that from one New Moon to another,

And from one Sabbath to another, All flesh shall come to worship before Me,” says the Lord.”  Isaiah 66: 22: 23

Can you see it?  Time will still be measured in 7 days.  On the 7th (Sabbath), people will come to the throne of God in the city, and our hearts will be filled with joy to sing and worship the one who made all this possible!

Brothers and sisters, we will be like Him but retain our different personalities and features.  We will have real bodies with flesh and bones; We will enjoy eating and drinking the wine Jesus said he would not drink again until we see Him in the Kingdom (Matthew 26:29).  We will have a city home (Mansions) and a country home (Earth), where we will work and enjoy the work of our hands.  Once a month and weekly, we will travel worldwide by thought and attend worship services as one body of believers.

Yes! Eternity is real! But even all that is disclosed in scripture it is just the beginning of what God has prepared!

“The eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9

I want to be there!  Don’t you?

Do you love Him? 

HE Loves you!  He doesn’t want any to perish but all to come to repentance. This is the whole gospel in three words.  God is love!

To say “God is love” is to say the whole truth all at once. Everything after that is exposition. Everything contrary to that is heresy. Ty Gibson

It is because of His love that he comes back for us.

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore, comfort one another with these words.

1 Thess 4: 16-18

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Yes, one day, I will keep my promise to my Mom at resurrection morning, but I can’t do it myself.  I must trust Him alone!  Not my work, not anything I have done or will do.  I will meet my Mom and Dad in the air as the power of Christ draws us to Him.  The redeemed of all ages will gather together and go to where Jesus is simultaneously.  What a day that will be! What a family reunion!

Will you be there too?  How can you know for sure?

First, you must acknowledge that only He can get you there!

if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.  Romans 10:9

 While you were yet a sinner, he came running after you.  You can’t get there by your parents’ experience with Christ; You must have your own experience.  You can’t get there by church membership, not your education, or anything but Christ.  It is only through Jesus.  Jesus does not save groups or denominations; He saves people as individuals.

There is no other name among men whereby we are saved.

Jesus tells us we must be born again.  Reborn of the Spirit.  Have you been reborn?  You will know by your love for others and the peace of knowing Jesus personally.

Salvation in Christ is about letting go to the pull (drawing) and convicting power of the Spirit to acknowledge your sins and shortcomings and let Him be your all and all.  It is about asking Him to take over your life.  It is about trusting Him every day.

The enemy will try to make you selfish and unbelieving, but stay close to Him, and no man can pluck you out of His Hand.

Won’t you talk to God today and receive eternal life?  Will you be like Him?

And after my skin is destroyed, this I know,
That in my flesh I shall see God,
Whom I shall see for myself,
And my eyes shall behold, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me! Job 19: 26-27

Hell, Rapture, The Soon Return of Jesus, The Truth About The Fate of The Lost, Truth About the Deceased

FINAL FATE OF ALL ON PLANET EARTH

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God will not allow us to destroy the earth. He will destroy the planet while we are nearing self-annihilation.

And should destroy those who destroy the earth.” Revelation 11:18 b

The preceding verses here in Revelation 11:18 describe the earth’s condition when we are near destroying ourselves through atomic weapons. John had to write this verse in faith because he could probably not imagine such power man would possess to literally destroy the entire earth. But we have arrived just in one generation.

The nations are angry, and so is God!

The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come,  Revelation 11: 18

God has reserved the destruction of the earth for Himself.

But the heavens and the earth, which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition (destruction) of ungodly men. 2 Peter 3:7

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Before we move along, let’s review a key component of this coming destruction. It begins with the return of Christ.

In the last article, we clearly answered the following question from the Bible, “Doesn’t Matthew 24:37-41 Say One Is Taken (Raptured) and the Other Left Behind?”

God’s word precisely describes the following about the second coming when Jesus appears in the sky and “every eye shall see Him.” Note: I am not addressing the tribulation in this article. That topic will be for another time.

The Literal Return of Christ Summary:


1.) It is not a quiet or secret event. It is a powerful rescue of God’s people! Every person alive (whether lost or saved) sees Him coming (Rev. 1:7)

2.) It is a destructive event. God destroys the earth and its contents by fire. (2 Peter 3: 10-13)

3.) There are two different responses to the second coming: The response of God’s people and the response of the wicked. The wicked run and hide (Revelation 6:16). The redeemed rejoice! (Isaiah 25:9)

4.) All can hear it! He descends with a shout and a loud trumpet. (1 Thess 4:16)

5.) Jesus’ literal return is the keeping of a promise He made and is the hope of His followers. I go and prepare a place…I will return again. His rescue is not in two parts. (John 14: 1-3)

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To this point in this review, we have primarily shown that when Christ returns, there are two classes of saved people:

1.) The saved alive who will not see death.

2.) The saved of all ages who are “dead in Christ.”

Both classes are given immortality here and rise from the earth to meet the Lord in the air. It is here that eternity begins. There are two very clear verses that support this clearly:

 For the Lord, Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus, we shall always be with the Lord. *Therefore comfort one another with these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18

Notice the key statements:

1.) Lord Himself comes down with a shout, voice, and a trumpet (you can hear it). So can the lost, as we will see.

2.) The “dead in Christ” rise first. Graves open up, and out come the saved of all ages.

3.) Then those who are alive who were protected by the Lord during the tribulation rise to meet those who were resurrected and the Lord in the air. Notice the word “remain.” Some translations use the word “left.” This alludes to the fact that they were left or remained after the plagues that hit the earth. An example: If a house burns down that has a full library. There might be some books that were destroyed and some that were in a safe which were “left” or untouched by the fire.

4.) From this point forward, the redeemed will spend eternity with the Lord

*These are the words (as described in 1 Thess 4: 16-18) where we are to find comfort. Why is this verse hardly ever mentioned at funerals? Instead, the pagan idea of the bodiless soul going immediately to heaven is described, yet there is no biblical evidence of this. That falsehood contradicts both 1 Thess 4: 16-18 that we just read and Paul’s further details found in the 15th Chapter of 1 Corinthians:

Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 1 Corinthians 15: 51-54

Again, notice the key statements:

1.) Not all will sleep (die)

2.) The saved are “changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.” Note: it is the change that is very fast…not the second coming.”

3.) The dead (in Christ) are raised incorruptible (No longer subject to decay)

4.) God gives (puts on) the redeemed incorruption and immortality to their resurrected bodies in a flash.

5.) When this change to our bodies is made, it is then that the saying “Death is swallowed up in victory.” can be made. It cannot be made at the grave site or at a funeral. It is only when Jesus returns.

Somehow, we have made dying the gateway to immortality, but without the return of Christ and our resurrection, we are all lost. We might as well live it up, for tomorrow, we die forever.

For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen.  And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!  Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable…If the dead do not rise, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”

1 Corinthians 15: 16-19, 32b

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What Happens to the Lost at the Return of Christ?

We have already seen “that every eye” will see the return. The wicked cannot stand to see Jesus when He comes. They run anywhere to hide from the face of the Lamb:

They Can’t Stand the Sight of His Coming

 And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave, and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” Revelation 6: 15-17

The key points are:

1.) Every person who does not love Jesus’ appearing on the earth, (regardless of their economic status) cannot stand the sight and try to flee to dark places. They ask a question that is answered in the next chapter of Revelation: “Who is able to stand?”

a.) The sealed of Israel. This is not literal Jews, but those who are “in Christ. A study for another time.

b.) The vast multitude of those who are alive and survived the great tribulation through the power of God. “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Rev. 7: 14

Some have suggested that the 144,000 and the vast multitude are the same group of people. Another study for another time.

They Are Destroyed By The Brightness of His Coming:

As far back as the Old Testament, the fate of the lost has been described. Here is a clear example:

“For behold, the day is coming,
Burning like an oven,
And all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble.
And the day which is coming shall burn them up,”
Says the Lord of hosts,
“That will leave them neither root nor branch.…You shall trample the wicked,
For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet
On the day that I do this,”
Says the Lord of hosts. Malachi 4: 1,3

Key Points:

1.) That day will be like an oven

2.) All who do wickedly will be like stubble and will be burned up

3.) Burned up means nothing left (neither a root nor a branch left)

4.) They shall be turned to ashes

Paul describes the same event in 2 Thessalonians:

 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders,  and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 2 Thessalonians 2: 8-11

Key Point

1.) As shown earlier, Christ’s return is destructive. God destroys the “lawless one” (aka Antichrist) and those who perish with “him” because they did not love the truth. They chose the convenience and selfishness of a lie.

What are the Second Death and the Second Resurrection?

Both Jesus and John talk of two resurrections:

Jesus clearly states that all who are in the graves will be resurrected. But the resurrections have two different results: life or condemnation.

 Do not marvel at this; for 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, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. John 5: 28-30

John, who recorded Jesus’ statement above, adds more detail about the timing of the two resurrections. They are separated by 1,000 years:

And they (the saved) lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 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. Revelation 20: 4-6

Key Points as we compare with previous verses:

1.) When Christ returns, those in the grave are resurrected. They are in the “first resurrection.”

2.) Those in the first resurrection (along with those who were alive at the return of Christ) live and reign with Christ for 1,000 years. A lot of our questions are answered during this time.

3.) The second death has no power over those who are reigning with Christ for this 1,000 years.

4.) Those who were wicked and dead when Christ returned were not resurrected until the end of the 1,000 years. Those who were wicked and alive were destroyed by the brightness of the Lord’s return. Both the wicked dead and the wicked destroyed are raised at the second resurrection at the end of 1,000 years.

5.) The wicked at the return of Christ die twice! One on earth and again for eternity after their judgment. The second death is forever with no hope. Fire comes down and devours them. “And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.” Revelation 20:9

6.) The ultimate fate of the unbelievers is “perishing,” as John described in that famous verse John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Notice the fate of the lost: “Perish.” It is contrasted with the believers’ gift of everlasting life. The lost do not have everlasting life in a burning place.

For more on hell, see these two articles:

1.) Hell-Let Us Reason Together

2.) Lord Teach Me About Hell Part 1

3.) Did Jesus Really Teach More About Hell Than Heaven?

Christian, Do you really want to believe in a God who so loved the world that He would burn the lost or quad trillions of years without mercy? This is a horrible picture of burning people in some corner of the universe. Do you really know Jesus if you believe this pagan picture?

At the end of the 1,000 years, John describes (in the next Chapter 21) the “New Jerusalem” coming down out of heaven. It is at this point that God creates a new heaven and a new earth. The saved of all ages spend eternity with sin and death destroyed forever. God dwells with His people in the new dwelling place of God…with His people who have been redeemed

 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, 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 heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21: 1-4

Key Points

1.) Like John, the redeemed will be witnesses to God creating a new heaven and a new earth! Praise God! What a sight!

2.) The New Jerusalem, currently residing in heaven, will come to this new earth!

3.) God will reside with us here on the new earth!

4.) All tears, sorrow, crying, and pain will be eliminated…gone forever. Praise our Holy God!!

One last picture. Each month and each week, we will be worshiping together. Congregating will be continued on the new earth!

“For as the new heavens and the new earth
Which I will make shall remain before Me,” says the Lord,
“So shall your descendants and your name remain.
23 And it shall come to pass
From one New Moon to another,
And from one Sabbath to another,
All flesh shall come to worship before Me,” says the Lord. Isaiah 66:22-23

Just as the Sabbath of the 10 commandments commemorated the creation of the earth, this “new” Sabbath will honor the new earth…a new creation. And as on the first earth, we will work six days and then worship on the seventh day.

They shall build houses and inhabit them;
They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
They shall not build and another inhabit;
They shall not plant and another eat;
For as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people,
And My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. Isaiah 65: 21-22

Heaven, as we call it, will be a real place on a real earth.

Summary of the Fate of all People

In this simple chart, we see the fate of everyone who has ever lived on this planet. There are only two places: eternal life on a new planet or eternal death. You can have the promise of eternity today through Jesus. Will you repent of your sins and turn to Him? He will gladly save you from yourself and the wiles of the enemy.

RedeemedLost
Both dead and alive, go where Jesus is now at His second coming.Destroyed by the brightness of His coming
Spend 1,000 years in New Jerusalem-A Honey Moon of sortsLay in the grave for 1,000 years
At the end of the 1,000 years, the redeemed come down in the New Jerusalem with JesusAre resurrected in the resurrection of the condemnation.
Resurrected and then try to attack the New Jerusalem. God sends fire down from heaven. This is the second death for the wicked. They died once on earth and once at the end of the 1,000 years. They perish for eternity.
The redeemed enjoy eternity without any more pain or death. They build houses and plant vineyards and enjoy the work of their hands in immortal bodies. They worship on the Sabbath.Like Satan, never shall they be anymore. Ezekiel 28: 18-19
Hell, Truth About the Deceased, What is God Like?

Halloween and Evil: Are the Wicked Given Eternal Life in Hell?

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“A young mother discovered that her little boy had lied to her. Utterly shocked and desperate to correct his wayward behavior, she sat him down and said to him, ‘Listen-you can’t lie to Mommy! If you do that again, a big tall man with red eyes and horns (will) come and take you away. He’ll make you work for a hundred years in the coal mines just for telling one little lie!’ The look on the boy’s face told the mother that he was listening carefully. Encouraged that she was getting through to him, she said, ‘Now you’ll never lie to Mommy again, will you.’

He thought for a moment, then blurted out, ‘No ma’am, I wouldn’t dare-’cause you tell them better than id do!”-From the book, Draining the Styx-Boonstra p. 90

Many churches and pastors have taken the scare-tactic to “soul-winning.” Like this mother, they picture a place so bad that people will accept Jesus out of fear rather than repentance and love. This place is called hell, where the fallen and wicked will be tortured in flames for eternity.

Life Eternal is for the Saved Only

Eternity for the saved begins when Jesus returns. Perhaps the clearest single passage in the Bible to confirm this is found in Paul’s writing in 1 Thessalonians 4: 16-18

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.

We are to comfort ourselves about those who have died in Christ this way: Jesus will return, and those who are alive then and those who died “in Christ” will gather around Jesus in the air for the first time. Here is where eternity begins for the saved. What a reunion day that will be!

Jesus confirmed the importance of His return in the following words. His words, like Paul’s, give comfort to those who fear death or have lost loved ones to the enemy of death.

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

John 14: 1-3

Notice what these verses do not say. They do not say that eternity for the saved begins at death. It begins at the return of Christ. It is because He has the keys to the grave and death (Rev. 1: 18) that we can be resurrected from decayed bodies, perhaps that are dust, to receive immortality and new bodies. Paul describes the importance of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:

So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption. 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. 

1 Corinthians 15: 41-44

Without our resurrection, there is no immortality; there is no heaven. All those who have “fallen asleep” are lost, and we have no hope or comfort for those who have died and for ourselves. Paul described it this way:

But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. …For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have allen asleep in Christ have perished.

1 Corinthians 15: 13-14, 17-18

The resureection of Christ demonstrates God’s plan to resurrect the saved for eternity. While death is an enemy, Jesus and the Bible describe this period between the grave and the second coming of Christ as a unconscience sleep. When He returns after a nano-second nap, the saved of all ages will meet Jesus in the air after receiving immortal incorruptuible bodies. Eternity will begin for His people.

Author-Eddie Armstrong

But What About the Lost?

Did you notice in the passages above that there is no mention of the resurrection of the wicked and the lost? What happens to them? Modern theology has these people burning in hell after they die or at a later time, e.g., after the White Throne Judgement. But is that what the Bible teaches?

Unfortunately, traditions absorbed from pagan philosophers have created a God that is sadistic that His anger against the wicked is so great that it is never satisfied. A God of mercy and love who loses it and shows absolutely no mercy for those screaming for death to escape the licks of flames on their flesh.

“…Consider a nineteenth-century account of the fate of the wicked, which a children’s author named John Furniss (no pun intended-that was his name!) wrote to scare children into behaving.

Come into this room. You see it is very small. But see, in the midst of it, there is a girl, perhaps about eighteen years old. What a terrible dress she has on–On her head, she wears a bonnet of fire. It is pressed down close all over her head; it burns into the skin; it scorches the bone of the skull and makes it smoke. The red hot fiery heat goes into the brain and melts it…There she will stand forever, burning and scorched! She counts with her fingers the moments as they pass away slowly, for each moment seems to her like a hundred years. As she counts the moments, she remembers that she will have to count them forever and ever.

Look into this little prison. In the middle of it, there is a boy, a young man. He is silent; despair is on him. He stands straight up. His eyes are burning like two burning coals. Two long flames come out of his ears. His breathing is difficult. Sometimes he opens his mouth, and a breath of blazing fire rolls out of it. But listen! There is a sound just like that of a kettle boiling! It is really a kettle boiling? No; then what is it? The blood is boiling in the scalded veins of that boy. The brain is boiling and bubbling in the head. The marrow is boiling in these bones. Ask him why he is thus tormented. His answer is that when he was alive, his blood boiled to do very wicked things.” Rev. J. Furnis, Tracts for Spiritual Reading (New York – P.J Kenedy, 1877, page 19

Draining the Styx-Boonstra p. 91 and 92

This tract by Rev. Furniss is often quoted by atheists as an argument for throwing out Christianity. When I was 8 years old, attending Vacation Bible School along with other children, an elder of the church described hell in this same manner to all of us boys and girls. He was prepping us for the Sunday Service. He wanted us to come forward at the altar call and be baptized…trophies for him and the vacation Bible School program. This was the beginning of my atheistic beliefs. But, praise God, I discovered the love, mercy, and compassion of the God who loved me so much that He sent His Son to die for me so I could have eternal life. For my testimony, start here:

The Biblical Fate of the Lost

There is no story in the Bible like Rev. Furniss’s. Some will point to the Rich Man and Lazarus as proof that the lost are tortured in a place that burns forever, But in this parable, Jesus takes the pagan beliefs that had infiltrated Jewish theology to make his point which is at the end of the parable. The point of the parable was about the resurrection and belief in Jesus. It was not a description of a place of torture. To learn more about this parable, click on this link regarding the Rich Man and Lazarus: Lord Teach Me About Hell-Part 1 (Rich Man & Lazarus) – Answers From Scripture – A Jesus Journey (answersfromscriptureonline.com)

The fate of the lost has always been eternal death. In that famous verse that everyone can quote, Jesus tells us that the fate of the lost is that they “perish” If their fate were eternal life in burning flames, we would have to rewrite it:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not live for eternity in hell- a burning place of firey torture

The operative word here is “perish.” It is different from the death that all must experience. It is eternal.

The Lost Have A Resurrection Too!

Jesus taught there were two resurrections:

Do not marvel at this; for 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, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.

John 5: 28-29

These two resurrections are confirmed by the Apostle John in Revelation. John also gives more detail about the vision given to him of the end times:

“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 a 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.”

Revelation 20: 5-6

It is very easy to see from these passages the two resurrections are separated by one thousand years. The first resurrection occurs when Jesus comes. This was described above in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 and 1 Corinthians 15: 50-55. This is the starting point for the one thousand years of the honeymoon of the bride (church) and the groom (Jesus). But the rest of the dead don’t come alive until one thousand years have passed.

The lost are resurrected. Satan gathers them together to attack the Holy City coming down out of heaven. This Holy City was where Jesus and the saints were in heaven for one thousand years. The lost of all ages are convinced by Satan to attack the heavenly city, and then God sends fire out of heaven, and this fire devours them.

Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. 

Revelation 20: 7-9

Thus all the enemies of God are forever turned to ashes. Nothing left of them, they are devoured! And never shall they ever be any more. This is the way a merciful God deals with those who want no part of Him. Their reward was living on earth and enjoying their 70 or so years. They don’t receive eternal life, as do the saved.

For behold, the day is coming,
Burning like an oven,
And all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble.
And the day which is coming shall burn them up,”
Says the Lord of hosts,
“That will leave them neither root nor branch. Malachi 4: 1

Satan shares the same fate after watching his people destroyed. He is saved for last:

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.

Revelation 20:14


“You (Satan) defiled your sanctuaries By the multitude of your iniquities, By the iniquity of your trading; Therefore I brought fire from your midst; It devoured you, And I turned you to ashes upon the earth In the sight of all who saw you. Ezekiel 28:18 (See entire chapter for context)

If you want more information on confusing passages that seem to support eternal life in hell for the lost vs. what the Bible teaches about eternal death, click here for more information: The Fate of The Lost-Difficult Verses.

The Fate of The Lost (Part 3)-Difficult Verses – Answers From Scripture – A Jesus Journey (answersfromscriptureonline.com)

My friends, let us lift up Jesus as the only source of eternal life and pray for those in our circle of friends and family who can be saved from eternal death. This is scary enough.

Truth About the Deceased

The Loss of a Loved One…and Comforting Words…

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Sympathy Bible Verses for Funerals and Condolences | LoveToKnow

How do you deal with the death of a loved one?  Where does your comfort come from?  If you are an unbeliever of Jesus and the Bible, your comfort is likely to come from within yourself, earthly philosophies, prescribed medication, empathy from close friends and family, or self-medication (illegal drugs or alcohol). Your worldview is likely: you die, return to dust, and that is the end forever.  So the lifestyle motto is, “Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die.” 1 Corinthians 15:32


However, if you are a follower of Christ and a student of the Bible, you will not “grieve as do others who have no hope.” 1 Thessalonians 4:13.  Did you know the Bible is extremely clear on where we are to find our comfort? In fact, regarding death, Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 4: 18 we are “to comfort one another with these words.” What words?  Words like: “They are in a better place.” “They are finally reunited with their spouse.”  “They are with Jesus and the angels now.” ”That they are in heaven hunting with their favorite dog.” 


No! Those words are not to be given as comfort and should never be used.  They are not Biblical!  These are words made up by the imagination only. They are false words of comfort.  As someone once said, “The Bible may make you uncomfortable with the truth, but it will never comfort you with lies.”
Here are the words from the Bible that tells the follower of Jesus how they are to obtain peace of mind and comfort for someone close who has died “in Christ”: 


“For the Lord, himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. WHEREFORE COMFORT ONE ANOTHER WITH THESE WORDS!”

Did you catch that?  Our comfort comes from knowing and believing two things:
1.) When the Lord returns (“descend(s) from heaven”), it will be a loud event (“Trumpet of God” and the “voice from the archangel”)

2.) When the Lord returns, there will be a lot of activity on earth, particularly at graveyards or wherever the followers of Christ were buried/cremated.  Those that “died in Christ” will be resurrected.  And if we are alive to escape death, we will all meet up in the air to meet Jesus and eternity will begin (“so shall we ever be with the Lord.”)
These are the words that are to bring comfort: not our imaginations or made up stories of the dead “looking down on us.” 
Over and over, God’s word points us to the return of Christ and the resurrection, not the death bed as the point where we meet Jesus.


Here is a well-known verse.  Jesus’ own words:  


“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also”. John 14: 1-3


Please note:  Our comfort is in the fact that when He comes again, He will then receive us and we will go to “where He is now”. We will be there with Him! Where is Jesus now? He is with the Father! “…I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.”  John 20:17  


What joy!  Christ can resurrect a body that has turned to dust.  He will then breathe into the newly formed nostrils and create a living, immortal soul. Then the “dead in Christ” along with those alive in Christ will return with Him to the Father in heaven! Even Job understood this.  Listen to the hope of Job about his own death:


“\For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, Job 19: 25-26

Job had the confidence that his Redeemer lives and even though his skin will be destroyed, he will see God when He stands on the earth!  How clear is that? Does he see God at death? No!  When the Redeemer comes to the earth!


Daniel also understood the same thing!


“And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt. Daniel 12:2


Did you know that the Bible never says we have an immortal soul?  But, we receive immortality when we are changed at Christ’s return.  Hear the words of Paul who wants to clear up the mystery about death:


“Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this Mortal must put on IMMORTALITY.So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this MORTAL shall have put on IMMORTALITY, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 1 Corinthians 15: 51-55


When the Lord returns, some will not sleep (die). They are alive in Christ. Both the alive in Christ and those who “died in Christ,” will be “changed” immediately (“twinkling of an eye”) at the sound of “the last loud trumpet”.  It is then, and only then, that “the mortal will put on immortality.”  It is at the return of Christ we become immortal, not at death!


Note the last question in 1 Corinthians 15: 55.

Please read in the context. This rhetorical question cannot be asked until the Lord returns.

Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 

I have heard it asked at funerals about the deceased without mention of the second coming.  To do so is to take it out of its beautiful context of Jesus’ return.


All of these clear passages plus many more are overruled and explained away by a few unclear and out of context verses like:“Absent from the body and present from the Lord.”


How beautiful is God’s words about the death of those who die! “He gives His beloved, sleep.” Psalm 127:2  It is like a sweet, dreamless, unconscious sleep where a long time is reduced to a microsecond.  The Christian falls asleep like they would in surgery where the passage of time is not felt.  They awake to the sights and sounds of the return of Jesus with all the holy angels.  They come from the graves with new bodies and are made immortal.  The families of the earth are reunited in the air and then taken to heaven by Jesus and the multitude of angels. Jesus then takes us to where he is now…the home of the Father…New Jerusalem.


One day (after 1,000 years), the New Jerusalem comes back to earth with the redeemed.  God will make a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness dwells and where there is no more pain or death!  All tears will be wiped away!   Earth will be the home of the redeemed where we will enjoy the works of our hands by building houses and planting vineyards.  “From one Sabbath to another and from one new moon to another we shall come to worship.”

See: Revelation 21:2, 2 Peter 3:13, Revelation 21:4, Revelation 7:17, Isaiah 65:21, Isaiah 66:23.

These are the words that give me comfort! They are Biblical and make sense to those who know Jesus. God’s own words are much better than our imagination!

Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.

1 Corinthians 2:9