Video Transcript: Lesson 11 The Future

Hi, welcome to Christian basics. Lesson 11 what the Bible says about the future. The writer of  this lesson is Dr. Ed Roels and I'm David Feddes, presenting that material and adding some  ideas and biblical content of my own introduction. In this present life, believers often  experienced persecution, difficulties, suffering and trials of various kinds. God never promised that it would be any different as long as we are on this earth. However, in the future, it will be  totally different. God has promised all true believers a glorious future of perfect joy and peace  that will never end. This does not mean that our present trials are insignificant. But our  knowledge of our wonderful future helps us during our times of trial to be patient and  courageous as we look forward to the time when we shall be with the Lord forever. Question  one, what happens to believers in Jesus when we die? Our earthly bodies die, but our spirits  or souls are taken immediately into the presence of Jesus. The Bible does not tell us in detail  what life is like for believers who die in the Lord. But it does give us the assurance that it is far better to be with the Lord, than to continue living on this earth. Some believers teach that  those who die as Christians will simply be asleep until the Day of Resurrection. According to  those who hold this position. The departed souls of believers will be free from sorrow, pain  and suffering, but they will not immediately experience the positive joy of being with the Lord.  Most believers, however, understand the Bible to teach that being with the Lord after they die  is a time of glory, and joy, and blessing. All believers are confident that being with the Lord is a greater blessing than anything they have ever experienced here on Earth. Scripture  references, Jesus, when he was dying, told the thief on the cross beside him, today, you will  be with Me in Paradise. He didn't just say, today you will be in this or that realm or that you'll  sleep for a while he said, you will be with me, in paradise, a place of the blessed. Luke 23:43.  II Corinthians 5 says, We know that if the tent, which is our earthly home is destroyed, here,  it's referring to the body, we have a building from God, a house, not made with hands, eternal  in the heavens. So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord. Leaving your body means you go to be at home with the  Lord. Paul wrote in Philippians 1:21, 23. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. My  desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. I don't think Paul was thinking of  soul sleep or just being unconscious between his death and the time of Jesus return. Rather,  he was saying, well to live is Christ, so that's good, but to die is to really be directly in Jesus  presence and free from all trouble, and consciously enjoying Christ and no more trouble so  that would be even better. Revelation 14:13, says, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord  from now on, that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds, follow them. Now, resting  doesn't mean they're sleeping. In fact, at some point, we read in Revelation that the souls are  communicating. So it's not necessarily that they're resting by sleeping, but they're resting by  not having to continue those difficult and burdensome toils and sufferings that they had in this  life. But instead, they're resting in the sense that we do and we're on vacation free of cares  free of problems free to do the things we love to do. Question two, what happens to our  bodies when we die, our bodies eventually decay and return to dust, they will not become  alive again until Christ returns, and all those who have died are resurrected. Though it is  possible possible to preserve a body in some form so that it does not decay. bodies that have  died will never return to their former state or condition. Death brings the end to a person's  existence on earth. It's true that a very small number of individuals have been revived after  being declared dead briefly, and a few have been raised back to life through the miraculous  power of God. But these people all die again, at some point you had people like Lazarus, and  a few other people that Jesus raised to life and some others who were raised to life by  prophets or apostles, and they were raised to life and given back to their friends and family for a while but then later on, they die. I'd again and that kind of being brought back to life is  different than the resurrection. We're going to be talking about, in a few moments, the 

resurrection to a body that is glorious and can never die again. Scripture references for our  bodies returning to dust, God told Adam by the sweat of your face, you shall eat bread until  you return to the ground. For out of it you were taken, for you are dust, and to dust you shall  return. Genesis 3:19. Ecclesiastes 12 says, Man is going to his eternal home and the dust  returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God, who gave it. Question three. When Christ returns to Earth, what will happen to our bodies. Everyone who died will be raised to  life again, some will rise to an eternal life of glory. But others will arise to shame and  everlasting punishment. Scripture references Acts 24:15, says there will be a resurrection of  both the just and the unjust. Jesus in John 5:28-29, says, All who are in the tombs, will hear  His voice and come out those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who  have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment. Daniel 12:2 says, Many of those who sleep in  the dust of the earth, shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and  everlasting contempt. So there's two kinds of coming out of the grave into a different body  some to life eternal and joy and glory, others to ruin and contempt. Question four what will the resurrected bodies of believers be like? The resurrected bodies of believers will be like the  glorious spiritual body of Jesus Christ, they will have physical dimension, they'll still be real  bodies and really physical, just as the body of Jesus is really physical, but they will be far  more glorious than their earthly bodies ever were. They will be immortal and imperishable,  and will never be subject to any of the diseases, weaknesses, or problems that are present  bodies, often how scripture references Philippians 3:20-21. The Lord Jesus Christ will  transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body. Think about that for a moment where  you can't imagine what all that might entail. But think about Jesus body, Jesus was able to  walk on water, and was not so limited by what we call the laws of physics, will that be true of  us? You might tell that's kind of a stretch. But don't forget, Jesus is not the only one who  walked on water. So did Peter for a little while until his faith failed him. Jesus says that when  he returns, the believers will rise up into the air to meet him just as Jesus Himself once  ascended into air. So we will be able to ascend in our glorified body. So there are going to be  things about our renewed glorious body that are like Jesus body, and will have capacities and  abilities that go beyond what we have. Now, whether that is walking on water, or being able to fly, perhaps it's having abilities that we don't currently have. Think for a moment of how you  would explain the colors of a rainbow to someone who had never had sight. You just wouldn't  be able to explain it, would you? We may have capacities in the future, where we'll be able to  perceive spiritual realities in ways we can't now where we can see, or we use the word  seeing, but our eyeballs don't do it angels, and even the Lord himself will be able to perceive  His nearness in ways we can't now with the bodies we have now. I Corinthians 15 is a  tremendous chapter about the resurrection of Jesus and our resurrection. And the Apostle  Paul says that the body that's going to be raised is going to be the body we have now in one  sense in the same way that a plant is the same as the seed that was planted, it originated  from that seed, but it's much more than that seed. It's that seed come to its fullness. And so  you really couldn't guess what a tulip flower looks like by just looking at a tulip bulb. You really couldn't guess what beans are like by looking at a bean seed. And you really can't guess the  fullness of what our human bodies are going to become just by looking at what they are now,  maybe they'll look very similar to what they do now, but they'll have powers that go beyond  what they have now. And of course there'll be indestructible. Paul emphasizes that in the  verses that I'm citing now what is sown or buried is perishable. What is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. as it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is  sown a natural body it is raised a spiritual body. Just as we have borne the image of the man  of dust Adam, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. Christ. What tremendous  statements bear in the image of the man of heaven, having our lowly body transformed to be 

like Jesus, glorious body, we can't understand all of that it's going to mean but just thinking  about it is exciting, and the reality is going to be far better. Question five, when will all this take place? The resurrection of believers will take place when Jesus comes to earth again, we do  not know when Jesus will return. But we look forward with great anticipation to this awesome  time, when Christ will be glorified and all who have longed for his appearing, will rejoice. In  John 6:40, Jesus said, For this is the will of my Father that everyone who looks on the sun  and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. Titus 2:13, says that we are waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. I Thessalonians 4:16, says, The Lord Himself will descend from heaven  with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of  God, and the dead in Christ will rise first when Jesus comes and when He appears, the dead  will come out of their graves, and we will receive those glorious transformed resurrection  bodies that Jesus promises us. Question six, who will see Jesus when He comes back to  earth again, everyone, though only a few people saw Jesus when he first came to earth as a  baby in Bethlehem. Every person who has ever lived will see him when he returns. Matthew  24:27, Jesus says, as lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be  the coming of the Son of Man. Matthew 24:30, then will appear in heaven, the sign of the Son  of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of  heaven with power and great glory. Revelation 1:7, Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and  every eye will see Him. And it goes on to say, even those who rejected him, or crucified Him  will see him and all the nations of the earth will mourn. Because of him, the sight of Jesus  coming is going to be the ultimate joy of those who longed for him, and the Ultimate Terror of  those who have hated and opposed to Jesus. Some people nowadays say, Well, I believe in  God, he would just show himself. But when Jesus shows himself, it's too late. He is so great  and so splendid, that if you do not learn to love him in his humility, and to accept Him by faith,  you will never be able to stand the sight of him coming in all of his glory, and power. So now is the time to get ready for that great day because he's coming again, and everybody will see  Him and His glory will either be the desire of our hearts, or the Ultimate Terror of our lives.  Question seven what will happen to the present universe when Jesus returns the universe as  we know it will be destroyed and will be replaced by a new heaven and a new earth. The  Heaven and Earth referred to here refers to the heaven on earth that God created at the  beginning of human history. We do not know how the present universe will be destroyed. Nor  do we know whether this destruction will take place in a moment of time, or through a longer  process of some kind. However, we do know that the destruction will be universal and  extremely dramatic. The means of destruction will be fire, just as the earlier destruction of the  world at the time of Noah took place through water. II Peter 3 says the heavens will pass  away with a roar and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. The  heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn. But  according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which  righteousness dwells. Romans 8:21 says the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay, and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. Revelation 21:1 says, Then  I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven, and the first earth had passed  away. Now, let's not misunderstand this. It's not just that this earth that we live on now, this  universe is garbage. It is that this is a world and universe it's still precious to God. And when it is destroyed, it's not as though it's completely destroyed. It's kind of Like our bodies, our  bodies die. But then they're brought alive again in a new and glorified manner. And in the  same way, when fire destroys the old heaven, and the old earth, and that whole universe, it  won't just be thrown away like garbage, but it will be raised again, in the glory of a new  heaven and a new earth that's been made perfect. So the things that we do in this world do 

matter, because this world is going to be raised again to life, if you will, and purified and made perfect. Question Eight, when will Jesus return? No one knows the exact time when Jesus will return in his human nature. During his time on Earth. Even Jesus himself said that he did not  

know the day or hour when he would come back. However, there have been a number of  people over the years who have predicted a specific time when Jesus would return. These  predictions have led many people astray, and have caused them to give away or sell their  possessions or do other unusual things as they prepared for Christ's return. Those who make  false predictions not only lead believers astray, but they also cause many unbelievers to scoff  at the idea that Jesus will return someday, people go to the Bible with their calculator with all  their ideas and think now they see what nobody before saw. And they have figured out the  time when Jesus is going to come back, and every time they've been wrong, and they've  been wrong, because Jesus said, nobody would know that day. Matthew 24:36, but  concerning that day and hour, no one knows that the father only Matthew 24:42, therefore  stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. Luke 12:40, you also must  be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour, you do not expect. Jesus said in Acts 1:7, it is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. Now I  know of one person who was insistent that he knew when Jesus was coming back, he was  quite well known and got a lot of publicity for a while. And if you said, Well, what about that  verse that says, nobody knows the day or the hour? He said, Well, yeah, nobody knows the  day or the hour, but it doesn't say you can't know the month or the year. Well, come on. That's basic bad Bible interpretation. And even if you are that bad at interpreting the Bible, just read  Acts 1:7, you also don't know the time or the season, only the Father knows. And so we have  to be aware of people who are overly eager to predict the coming of Jesus some have a good motive in the sense that they really longed for Jesus to return. But even a good motive  doesn't make it right to do what Jesus said cannot be done and that is predict the exact time  of His coming. Question Nine, will believers be completely surprised when Jesus returns? No. Though we don't know the exact time when Jesus will return the Bible gives us various signs  that will point to His coming. Those who read and believe what the Bible says will therefore be looking for and expecting Jesus returning will not be surprised when he comes. Among the  signs that point to Jesus return are some that seemed fairly common, such as wars, famines,  natural disasters, persecution of believers, false teachings, and an increase in disobedience  and lawlessness. There are also signs which will take place in the political and economic  world. Some believers focus primarily on special events that will take place in the land of  Israel and among the Jewish people before Jesus returns. Jesus himself pointed to one major sign that must be fulfilled before he returns the preaching of the gospel to the entire world. It's very interesting in this regard that the gospel is reaching more people today than ever before  in human history. In the light of all the things that have happened recently, or are happening in the world today, many Christians believe that the return of Christ could well happen in our  lifetime. However, whether Jesus returns soon or in the distant future, we should keep  spreading the gospel, and we should keep making sure that we are truly ready for his return.  Scripture references Matthew 24, that whole chapter is Jesus remarks about the times to  come. Jesus said many will come in My name saying I am the Christ and they will lead many  astray and you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. Nation will rise against nation, and there  will be famines and earthquakes in various places. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation,  and put you to death and you will be hated by all nations for my namesake. And then many  will fall away and betray one another and hate one another and many false prophets will arise and lead many astray, the love of many will grow cold, but the one who endures to the end  will be saved. Now, when Jesus spoke about many of these signs, he said, These things must happen, but the end is not yet. And then he said this, and this gospel of the kingdom will be 

proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations. And then the end will  come. Jesus says, later, in that great chapter, when you see all these things, you know that  he is near at the very gates. And so the more and more of this that we see the more and more we prepare ourselves and say, yes, he's coming. And I want to be ready. I Thessalonians 5:2,  4, For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. But you are not in darkness brothers for that day to surprise you like a thief. We know he's  coming. He even gives us these hints that we live in the last days. Now, in one sense, the last days is the entire period between Jesus first coming, and Jesus second coming. And there  are these signs of conflict and birth pangs, and painful things that happen as the gospel gives  birth to more and more believers. And as conflicts arise around the world and persecutions  arise. But many of these things are going to intensify near the very end. And along with that  will be the spread of the gospel to all nations. And in the last 100 years or so, more and more  nations that ever before have heard the gospel, the Bible has been translated into hundreds  and hundreds and hundreds more languages just in the last several decades than it had been in all the history of the world before that. And so that sign of the advance of the gospel is  especially intense and encouraging. And we ought to be on our tiptoes, ready for the world to  go on if the Lord's timing is not yet but also very much encouraged by that one great sign  Jesus gave the spread of the gospel to all nations. And as the day draws nigh, we shouldn't  be like people say, Oh, I didn't realize that was going to happen. If you're a Christian, you  need to know Jesus is coming back. And it's time to be prepared, it's always time to be  prepared. Question 10. How should we believers live as we wait for Jesus to return, we  should live holy lives, encourage one another, share the gospel with others, and look forward  to the day of Christ's coming. We should also, of course, be responsible. And I Thessalonians  is a letter that the apostle Paul wrote, in a situation where some people were kind of confused about the Second Coming of Jesus, the apostle wrote this, so they let us not sleep as others  do. And it doesn't mean that you don't go to bed every night or take naps. It doesn't mean that you're not spiritually asleep, we're not alert, let us not sleep as others do. But let us keep  awake and be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the  hope of salvation. Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up just as you're  doing. Now, in this very same chapter, the apostle Paul also warns people who had a really  bad misunderstanding. They were it's not that they were ignoring the coming of Jesus. They  believed he was coming. They believed he was coming soon. And they took stupid action.  They said, well, let's just quit our jobs. Let's just wait around because he could be here any  minute. And Paul said, Well, the one who doesn't work doesn't eat. You don't know exactly  when Jesus is coming. It could be a while. It could be soon. But in the meantime, you have to  live a responsible life where you earn a living, where you provide for your family. And at the  same time, of course, where you're always watching and living a godly life. II Peter 3, in  speaking of the return of Jesus says, Well, what sort of people want it to be in lives of  holiness and godliness, waiting for an hastening the coming of the day of God, but according  to his promise, we're waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells, therefore be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. If we're looking forward to our new home in the new creation, which is the home of righteousness, well, then  what should you be living like if you're looking forward to that? asking the Lord and pursuing  that life of righteousness now, so that you're more and more the kind of person who's at home in heaven. II Peter 3:9, the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise but is patient toward you, not  wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. If you wonder about the  long time that has passed since Jesus promised he would return, Peter reminds us that God's not slow. He's patient, and he is giving people an opportunity to repent while there is still time. Question 11 What will happen to believers who are still to living when Christ returns, they will 

instantly be changed and will receive glorious and imperishable new bodies. They will then go up along with resurrected believers to meet Christ in the air, and will live with Him forever in  glory on the New Earth. So people who have died before Jesus returns will receive  resurrection bodies, but even those who are still alive, when Jesus returns will instantly  undergo a tremendous transformation within their body, so that it becomes a very different  kind of body and a glorious one. I Corinthians 15:51-52 says, Behold, I tell you a mystery we  shall not all sleep that means we, not all Christians will be dead when Jesus returned, 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 imperishable, and we were living shall be changed. I  Thessalonians 4:16-17. For the Lord Himself would descend from heaven with a cry of  command, with a voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God, and the  dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together  with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord of the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. So dead people will be raised to life living people will be transformed, will all rise up in the air to  meet the Lord Jesus, to welcome him, the old Earth in the old heavens, the old universe that  is, will be destroyed and will be at home with the Lord in His new creation, forever. Question  12. What will Jesus do when he returns to earth, He will raise to life all those who have died  and will then judge everyone who has ever lived. This judgment is not to determine whether  or not a person is saved. But it will be a judgment of how people lived while on earth.  Salvation is always by grace, but the lives people lived will reveal whether or not they were  truly born again. God will graciously reward people for every good work they have done, even though he himself is the one who made it possible for them to perform these works. God was  the one who was working in us God is the one who prepared those good works in advance for us to do and yet God also rewards us for those good works. We've done if our lives had  nothing in them that evidenced that we were born again, we probably weren't. And Judgment  Day will show that as well. Jesus says in John 5:22, The Father has given all judgment to the  Son, Jude 14 and 15 says, Behold, the Lord came with 10,000s of His holy ones, to execute  judgment at speaking of Jesus coming with his vast armies of angels to judge the world.  Matthew 16:27 says, The Son of Man that's Jesus is going to come with his angels in the  glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. II  Corinthians 5:10, says, For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that  each one may receive what is due for him, due him for the things done in the body, whether  good or evil. So on this judgment, there is a judgment of works. And the works of unbelievers  will show that they were never born again and lived as enemies of God, and therefore they  will be punished. But even for believers, there will be an assessment of our works, and our  sins and the wrong things we did will be exposed for what they are, but they will be exposed  also as forgiven sins. And there will be other things about us and about our life, which will be  evidence that we were indeed God's children, that we did indeed, receive the new heart and  the new birth that he gives. And we aren't saved because of our works. But our works will be  evidence of that salvation on the last day. And so each of us must understand that we want to  appear before the Lord with things that were done in his power and for His glory, and not  things that grieved his heart. Even if we were saved. Do we really want to grieve our Father's  heart and see how much we can get away with? Oh, how foolish that will seem to us on that  last day, when we see in face to face? Question 13 What will happen to those who loved and  served Jesus in this life, they will receive the rewards which Jesus grants to those who loved  and served him. They will also be welcomed into God's kingdom of glory where they will  spend eternity with Jesus and all other believers in perfect love, joy, and peace. Scripture  References John 14:3, Jesus says, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and  we'll take you to myself that where I am, you also will be Matthew 25:34. Jesus returns and 

says, Come you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Matthew 13:23, Jesus says, Then the righteous will shine like the  sun, in the kingdom of their Father. I Peter 5:4 says, And when the chief Shepherd Jesus  appears, you will receive the unfading Crown of Glory. That's an emphasis again and again  throughout the Bible, the Crown reigning with Christ shining like the sun, some sort of  splendor doesn't probably just mean that we'll all light up like a light ball. But you know, who  knows? What it's really pointing to is just the beauty, the joy, the brightness, the wonder of  becoming more and more like, the God who is like, we don't know exactly what all this means  in literal terms, because it goes beyond anything we can understand but what beautiful  promises God has given. And what terrible warnings question 14 What will happen to those  who did not believe and trust in Jesus, they will also receive bodies of some kind? Well, their  bodies will be totally different from the spiritual perfect bodies of believers. These bodies will  be subjected to suffering and pain without relief, they will be cast into the fires of hell away  from the presence of God and His people. They will continue to exist under the judgment of  God and will be eternally lost. Matthew 13:41-42 Jesus says, The Son of Man will send his  angels and they will gather out of His kingdom all causes of sin, and all law breakers and  throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. In Matthew 25, Jesus warns that he will someday tell the unsaved Depart from me, you cursed,  into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, these will go away into eternal  punishment. There are some people, even some who claim to believe the Bible who say there is no hell, or that it does not last forever. Nobody spoke more clearly or more forcefully about  hell than Jesus himself. So we had better take Jesus words and his warnings about hell to  heart. Gee, Jesus said, if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It's better for you to enter the  kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, where their worm  does not die, and the fire is not quenched. Now Jesus is not literally telling us to blind  ourselves, but is saying if there's anything in your life, that is detracting from following God,  you've got to get rid of it. Because you're better off rid of it, then you are going into that  horrible reality of hell. II Thessalonians 1:9 says they will suffer the punishment of eternal  destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might notice eternal destruction. Notice Jesus words the fire is not quenched. It goes on forever. Revelation 20:13, and 15. 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.  And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of  fire. Hell is real. And people need to know about it before it's too late. We Christians must  grieve and sorrow for those who are on the road to destruction. But we must not deny where  that road to destruction leads it leads to the lake of fire, and we should not gloat that people  we don't like might end up going there. That is a totally wrong attitude. We must grieve over  them and pray to the Lord and speak to them even with broken hearts and tears, and call  them to the way of Christ while there is still time. Question 15 What will life be like in the new  heaven and earth for believers? Life will be glorious beyond anything we can now imagine or  describe it will be even better than the original Garden of Eden. God's people will delight in  the Lord enjoy fellowship with others, relish the delights of the new creation, and exercise  astonishing power and authority as we reign with Christ. The Bible itself does not give us  many details concerning this new life. But even the hints are amazing. The Bible also  emphasizes that in the new creation, there will be none of the things which often make our  present lives difficult or challenging, frustrating or sorrowful. For example, in the life to come  there'll be no suffering, no sadness, no sickness, no death, and no tears. There will be no  darkness, no failures, no weaknesses, no disappointments and no unmet needs. The curse  pronounced over the earth during the days of Adam will no longer exist, life will be perfect in 

every way. Nothing in our present life can even begin to compare with what our future life will  be like. We will live in joy and peace and glory with Jesus. In a life that will never end.  Scripture references I Corinthians 2:9 says, No eye has seen no ear heard, nor the heart of  man imagine what God has prepared for those who love Him. God gives us hints in terms that we can understand a little bit of now when he speaks of the most beautiful of music, or the  most splendid of clothing, or wonderful fruit trees, or a glorious city. And some of those things  may be literal, or they may be just God speaking to us in pictures we can understand now,  pointing to things that are beyond anything that we can grasp. Now, nobody has ever  imagined, but God has prepared for those who love Him. He took the Apostle Paul for a visit  to heaven once. And the Apostle said he saw things there that nobody is permitted to tell. But  having seen that he said that the glory to come far outweighs all the horrors of this world put  together. I Corinthians 6:2-3, says something quite astounding. The saints will judge the  world, we are the judge angels. It seems that we may be judging fallen angels, we may it may also be that we are simply promoted to positions of authority even above the wonderful and  holy and splendid angels of God. That may be hard to understand, hard to believe. But think  about it. The logic is explained in Hebrews chapter 2, Hebrews 2 says that it's not to angels  that he has submitted the world to come. Rather it says what is man that you're mindful of him or the Son of Man, that you care for him and God made him a little lower made made man a  little lower than the angels for a while, and then crowned him with glory and honor. And it  says, we don't yet see man, crown but we see Jesus. And because Jesus is crowned, all who  belong to Jesus will be crowned, and Jesus is greater than the angels. And those who Jesus  calls his brothers and sisters are royalty, and will also someday be greater even than the very  angels of God. That's what the Bible seems to be hinting at. Now, we wouldn't want to turn  that into too strict or, or firm a doctrine, there may still be surprises, but the hints that we're  going to have positions of authority over the world become and even over God's wonderful  angels. Revelation 3:21, Jesus first says, I stand at the door and knock if anyone hears My  voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him. And he with me, he's promising  fellowship to anyone who receives him. And he goes on to say, the one conquerors, I will  grant him to sit with Me on My throne. As I also conquered and sat down with my Father, on  his throne. Again, just think of that for a moment sitting down with Jesus, on his throne. Many  of us are just thinking, Boy, I'll just be glad if I get to heaven at all. But the promises of the  Bible are not only do you get there, if you belong to Jesus, but you are exalted in amazing  ways with him and given authority over various spheres. Man was originally when he was  created, meant to be the ruler of God's creation. And when humanity fell, the whole creation  got messed up. But when humanity is restored, above all, it's been restored through Christ.  But when the rest of us are also restored through him, and are put back on our throne, and  are able to rule well instead of wickedly, then the creation, the whole creation in the universe  flourishes under our rule as God rules through us humans. Revelation 21:3-4, 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, or crying, nor pain  anymore. for the former things have passed away. Some of the great things about having to  some of the things that won't be there, no need for hospitals, no funeral parlors, no jails, no.  cancer clinics have so many things that are on this earth that won't be there anymore, and  we're not going to miss them. By the way, there won't even be, in one sense any churches  there anymore, or people preaching sermons because we won't need them. God Himself will  be the temple. God Himself will be there sharing himself with us and we won't need other  people to tell us about him. And so what's missing in heaven won't be missed above all the  wicked things and the things that cause sorrow and grief, but even some of the good things in this life that give way to better things. The last chapter of the Bible Revelation 22 says, No 

longer will there be anything accursed. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face and his name will be on their foreheads  and night will be no more they will need no light of lamp or sun. For the Lord God will be their  light, and they will reign forever and ever. If you want to know the best thing about the new  creation is simply this. We will see his face, we will be in direct contact with the living God of  the universe. The Bible speaks of the face of God as a face that no one can see and live. And yet we will see Him and live forever, because we will be made exactly like His Son, our Lord  Jesus Christ, to reign with him to enjoy all the pleasures of heaven, all the pleasures of the  new creation, all the joys of reunion with believing loved ones, to enjoy all the glorious angels  of God with whom we can associate there are so many fantastic joys to look forward to in  God's new creation. But the best of them all will simply be our perfect union with love himself.