By Steven J. Hogan
~ A Saturday Morning Post #131 ~
I hope you aren’t sleeping. I pray you are wide awake, spiritually speaking, and know that this present age will soon and suddenly end, that Jesus Christ will rapture the Christians, pour out His wrath, redeem a remnant of Jews, and then reign over this earth. In other words, Christ is coming back to take up the saints, take out the enemy, and take over the world. In last week’s post, I focused on the millennial kingdom, when Christ will be reigning over this world, and you, being glorified, will be worshiping Him, serving Him and reigning with Him. But much more needs to be said:
* You will be serving God on a renovated earth, one much better than this sin-cursed world. Romans 8:21 says, “The creation itself will be set free from its corruption into the freedom of the glory of God’s children.” Acts 3:21 talks about the “period of restoration of all things.” Psalm 98:8 says, “Let the mountains sing together for joy.” Isaiah 65:25 tells us, “The wolf and the lamb will feed together.” Not only that, but non-glorified people will live a lot longer on this restored earth, for Isaiah 65:20 says, “The one who does not reach the age of one hundred will be thought accursed.” This means there will still be sin and death. Nevertheless, how wonderful it will be during this magnificent kingdom age, for we will serve God in a more glorified place, witness peace on earth, and hear great multitudes of people praising our King (Psalm 67:3-4). Then it will get even better, far better, for after this 1000-year kingdom age (Revelation 20:1-6) comes the eternal kingdom, a perfect and most glorious age, when there will be “a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth passed away.” Revelation 21:1
* You will be with your loved ones who knew the Lord. The Thessalonian believers were sad, for they feared they would never see deceased fellow believers again. But Paul told them not to grieve like the world (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14). Yes, you can be sad when a Christian friend or family member dies, but don’t be too sad. Whether by death or by rapture, you will soon see them again. You must understand that relationships continue from earth to heaven, from this age to the next age. Why would God place you with certain Christians on earth, but then never, or rarely ever, want you to see them in the coming ages? Your hope is that you will have heart-satisfying and God-glorifying fellowship with Christians you knew on earth, and a great number of others.
* You will have a home in your Father’s house. Jesus tells us that He will come again and receive us to Himself, and then take us to our heavenly home (John 14:1-3), one that will be infinitely better than any of our earthly homes. It will be perfect, immaculate, beautiful and relaxing, personally prepared for you, and ideally suited for worship and fellowship. You see, during the millennial kingdom age, we will be glorified and need no sleep. That being true, it may mean we will serve Christ on the earth during the daytime (being “in charge of many things” – Matthew 25:21), and then jet off to worship God and fellowship with saints in our heavenly home during the rest of that 24-hour day.
* You will be with newly saved Jewish believers during the millennial kingdom. With all that has been said about Christians being with Christ during the millennial kingdom, it must be remembered that a large remnant of Jewish people will be saved at the end of Daniel’s 70th week, and these believers, along with 144,000 more, will be with Christ in the city of Jerusalem, and in the nation of Israel (Romans 11:26-27, Revelation 7:4-8). Hundreds of Old Testament verses speak about the future of these Jewish people (Ezekiel 37:21-28). How all the glorified believers will interact and work with these Jewish believers during the millennial kingdom is not completely known. But it has to relate to the wonderful future God has for you, part of this described in Romans 15:10, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people (Jewish believers).”
The New Testament epistles are about the church, about our present and future lives. Ephesians 1:10-11 speaks about our future, “He made known to us the mystery of His will… with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and the earth. In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will.” Do you see this, that God has revealed to us the mystery of His will, that all things will be summed up in Christ, and that we will receive a glorious inheritance? Our future will be very, very good, incredibly and perfectly good.
Ephesians 1:20-21 tells us about the authority of Christ “in this age but also in the one to come.” Now this age to come is the millennial kingdom age. Then Ephesians 2:7 sums up our future by saying, “so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” “The ages to come” is referring to the millennial and eternal ages. What God has planned out for us is unbelievable, beyond comprehension. I hope you see that you are a very rich kid, blessed way beyond anything you could ever imagine. Our heavenly Father is so loving, so kind, and so generous. Be praying that “the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints” (Ephesians 1:18). And make sure you love Him and live for Him during this age, and be looking forward to worshiping and serving Him in the coming kingdom ages.
P.S. We are looking at our future, a most wonderful subject for each Christian to understand and be excited about. When you get time, read the article, “Being in Heaven with Jesus, and the Believers, and in a New Glorified Body”, and the post, “Unfinished Business.” You will find them very instructive and very encouraging.