Deaths, Resurrections & Judgments - Revelation 20:4-10
Revelation 20:4-10 · Vern Peterman · Nov 22, 2009
Revelation (2009), No. 47
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926148173420

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

One of the things that is on the front of your package here is a supplemental handout, about a four pager, on what about the various rapture bees. Anybody heard of a mid-trip rapture? Ever heard of that? Well, there's about five of them I talk about in here. Because there isn't a mid-trip rapture bee, there's at least There's probably more, but these are the ones I addressed. And then a post-trib, we talked about that as well. That's a supplement from last week. It's real interesting.

I grew up in a church where they didn't teach any particular view. As a matter of fact, they tried not to talk about it. And then I was an elder. I was an elder in a church where they also didn't like to talk about it, and then I was an elder in another church after that, and they also didn't like to talk about it.

Well, after studying it very carefully, you've probably figured out I like to talk about it. I believe unequivocally that scripture teaches a pre-tribulation rapture. interested in squabbling with anyone about it, but glad to talk with anyone about it. At any rate, some introductory information on that. What we want to address now is something that the Bible talks a lot about.

People have a hard time because there are, in fact, a great number of details. People have a hard time keeping it straight. And what about all these different judgments and resurrections and who gets resurrected when? And it can be wow. But the truth is that while there are a lot of details that one could get lost in, and I've got enough detail in the handout and on the overheads that yeah, you could get lost. Some people like the detail.

I will come back to a way of simplifying it if that's what is better for you to keep it straight. We're in. You've got this handout for three weeks, right? Plus supplements. So I'd like you to page through here for the one that's dated today and that is It is number 47 and it is only three pages. Now, that's the good news.

The second page looks like a wiring diagram for the space shuttle. It's about in the middle of your pack. There's a color printout that looks kind of like this. And that is page two of today's handout. The first page looks like this, which is very much like what you see on the screen. Is everybody with me? Does everybody need more time finding it? You're there? The big picture is this.

What you see here is this chart here shows the coming judgments and resurrections. There is the church age, that's what we're living in now. Everyone who became a believer from the time that's marked by Acts chapter 2 up until the time of the rapture, that's the church age. The time when the church is physically on the earth, even though we're seated in the heavenlies already. That's the church age. Then there is shown the time of the rapture. You have the up arrows. Now let's ask a question. Will everybody in the church be raptured? Yes or no? How many say no? How many say yes? Okay.

Here is where the distinction frequently gets lost. People often times think of rapture only as those who are taken alive when the Lord comes to bring the church home. However, Who is going to be taken first ahead of those who are alive? Those who have died in Christ.

And in fact, when we use this term rapture, which by the way, that's our Latin source term. The original word in the Greek is harpazo. It means to be taken up. When we use that term, the truth is it applies both to those who have fallen asleep in the Lord, as Paul puts it, or who have died physically, as well as those who are alive. It happens basically in an instant.

Although those who have died, Paul puts it, go to be with the Lord first. I'm not sure that it's a matter of sitting there looking at the clock and saying, okay, let's wait five seconds. But the reality is the rapture involves everybody who is a believer during this church age from way back in New Testament times all the way up until the time that the Lord takes those alive who were alive at the time, to be with him.

The first apostle who is described in Acts chapter 12, James, was killed with the sword. He is the first apostle martyred. Interesting, his brother John is the last one who, as far as we can tell, died a natural death. But here James, who died as recorded in Acts chapter 12, he will be taken up then, at the time of the rapture. He will be included in that. So those who have died and those who are alive at the time the Lord comes. Then at the end of the tribulation will also be a number taken up as well.

Basically, that whole sweep of time, all the resurrections, for all that time, the Church Age, Tribulation, that's all called the First Resurrection. It's not a singular event, but it's a group of resurrections, if you will. That's called the First Resurrection. So, during the tribulation, the believer, he dies. Now, does he wait until the end or does he go up?

What scripture reveals, because we hear in the middle of the tribulation period from what's described as the spirits of those who have died. They are given a new body here at the end of the tribulation period. Yes, right. Yes, they did. Yes, spiritually, but they are given new bodies. When we say resurrection, that's what we're talking about. Given new bodies. Right, for them. But what about the other ones, they have the new body already?

Yeah, the Apostle James, okay, he has already died, and when we, whether we fall asleep in the Lord, whether we die, or whether we've taken, while we're still living, we will have resurrection bodies at the beginning and at the start of the tribulation period. Yes, given a new body, right. So there is a band of time that's called the first resurrection. Now, Revelation 20 verse 6 says, blessed and holy is the one who has part in the first resurrection, over these the second death has no power.

How are we going to know what the word second death means? How are we going to know? Are we going to guess? Maybe we should have a theological argument and vote and have everybody debate over it. for centuries. Is that the way we ought to do things? How about if we have the Bible tell us what the second death is?

Revelation 2.11, where the church is promised no second death, and 20 verse 14, which we'll be looking at next week, and 21.8 are the places that talk about the second death. But guess what?

Revelation 21.8 says, the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

So remember one of the things we said right at the beginning of our study of Revelation? We had about a half dozen different things that were reasons why I said Revelation is a piece of cake. And this is one of them. Because you can fill about two typed pages full of references where it says things like this. The Revelation defines this.

So we don't need to argue for centuries. We don't need to have five different groups. You ever seen those books, you know, four different views on this and five views on that? You ever see those? Don't do one on the second death. Because you don't need to. The Bible tells you what it is. It's the lake of fire. Right? That's it. It's clear. No argument about the second death.

Wow, that's nice, isn't it? Here is the one that's very colorful, maybe even sort of attractive for all its colorful character, but it's also the one that looks like the wiring diagram for the space shuttle. That's on your second page of your handout. All of you have color copies of that? By the way, Tristan, do you have this? You'll want to get it. This is the handout from last week. We're about in the middle of the pack. Here's what this looks like. Here's what we're going to do. We're going to start off in the upper left corner and we're going to step through it a little bit at a time. so that when you're all done, shazam, it will make sense.

First thing is, we have on the top here the third heaven color-coded in the light blue, the second heaven in white, and in a tan color, the earth. There are three heavens in Scripture. First, second, and third heaven in Scripture. And you hear about the seventh heaven or seven heavens or something like that? That's Islamic. And so you've got this TV show, Seventh Heaven. Here's a guy who's supposed to be a Christian pastor and they name it after the Islamic idea of heaven. Anyway, so there's the third heaven.

The highest heaven is the heavenly throne room. This is what we see about 150 verses about. in the book of Revelation. The second heaven is outer space, stars, solar system, and then first or mid-heaven is the earth's atmosphere. The earth is at the bottom part. Let me give you some other illustrations that will help. The earth's atmosphere is that first heaven.

The solar system and outer space is the second heaven and the third heaven is where God dwells. It's that simple. You don't even need a seven-fingered hand to count it all. It's just three. That's it. There's the earth and the atmosphere around it. What we're standing right now, you're breathing in the first heaven. Tonight, if you look up at the stars, or if you go out now, and please don't look at the sun for very long, that's in the second heaven, solar system and outer space. The third heaven, we can't see with these eyeballs yet, but there will be a day. And that's where the Lord dwells. How are we doing so far? Yeah? Very interesting.

Does God feel that the earth is the center of the universe? What's very interesting is He describes things and made things so that it is our center, but is this earth going to last forever? No. Ultimately, God Himself is the center of the universe. Yes, if you get the picture biblically, when he goes from creating light and all that, immediately goes to the earth, it takes a few days of creation before God gets to all the other stuff. Very interesting, huh? Yeah, good question.

One of the things that you see right below that is at the top band here, and it's on the left hand side in the middle, is Abraham's bosom. Luke 16 is the particular book that gives us these distinctions. Abraham's bosom, which appears to be the place of the dead for those who are saved, in Old Testament times up to the time of Christ's crucifixion. It's called Abraham's bosom and that is in Luke 16.

This is Lazarus and the rich man. Some people call it a parable. I'm not so sure it is. Because a parable is an illustration to demonstrate by somewhat of an analogy what is spiritually true. This, I believe, is not an analogy. I think it's a description. So a parable is not quite the right term.

There is also this place of torments. Remember, the rich man, he's not doing so good. He's saying, send somebody to go warn my brothers. It's bad down here. By the way, that's not hell yet. There is a chasm. See that gray band? There is a chasm between them. Below that, we have the Abyss or Tartarus. We talked about that previously.

The Abyss is the place where the angels were held, excuse me, fallen angels were held that were released for five months and allowed to take the form of a scorpion. during the Tribulation period. It is a place where Satan will be chained and bound for a thousand years. The Abyss or Tartarus is the holding place for Satan and his angels. It is not the place where they will spend eternity. Remember, Satan goes in for a thousand years, chained, and then gets released for a short period of time. Neither the torments of the unsaved nor this abyss or Tartarus are the ultimate hell. And notice something else. Satan and his demons are not in charge. They can only do what God allows them to do and nothing else. And they also don't seem to be mixed up with those who are unsaved. It seems to be an entirely different place.

Then there is hell, the lake of fire, that is prepared in the past for Satan and his angels. Jesus, when he said it was prepared, said it was already prepared in the past and just waiting. So right now, one of the subjects we cover, I'm going to ask it again just to make sure. Who is in hell, the lake of fire, now? Nobody, right? It's empty. It has already been prepared, but it is empty.

The first occupants are those who come out of the tribulation period of the unsaved. Ultimately, the unsaved and Satan and his fallen angels will inhabit and they're not getting out. It's a lake of fire or hell. Yes, that's right. It is already in existence, but completely empty up until this time and continues to be up until the future events that we've been looking at take place. Unbelievers that die, it is a temporary holding place. They have not been judged yet. at what we'll see is the White Throne Judgment.

So the two thieves, one went to Paradise and the other one went to this place. Well, let's talk about this because one of the points I make here, there appears to have been a change in character from Abraham's bosom pre-Cross Saints to Paradise post-Cross Saints. Why do I say that? And that is because here is the thief on the cross, and Christ says to that thief on the cross, just one of them, not the other one, today you will be with me, where?

In paradise. That word paradise is used three times in the New Testament. It is used where Jesus says today you'll be with me in paradise. It's used by the Apostle Paul, and we'll encounter this as we continue our study through 1st and 2nd Corinthians. where he says, you know, I know a man who was taken up to Paradise, right? And the third place is at the end of Revelation, we haven't finished our study of Revelation, but in Revelation. So those three places are where Paradise is mentioned. But the guy that didn't go to Paradise, he still was have ceased to have thoughts. He went to some place and realized that he wasn't going to make it.

Yeah, isn't this interesting? Jesus tells the account, again I think parable is not quite the right term, the account of Lazarus and the rich man, and he describes this guy who is unsaved. He did fine on earth, I mean hey, he was the rich man, right? But he dies, and even though he's not been sentenced to hell yet, he's not liking what he's experiencing. And he's saying, you know, send somebody, you know?

And Abraham says, hey, if they won't listen to Moses and the prophets, they won't listen even if someone were to come back from the dead. Right? And so, by the way, who are some people that came back from the dead? just after that, Jesus told that account. Who came back from the dead? Lazarus was one that we have record of about a week before Christ himself was resurrected. So here's Lazarus come back and of course when the Jewish leaders heard that Lazarus had been resurrected, they're ready to repent and be saved, right? No, they want to do him in. They don't get it. If you won't listen to Moses and the prophets, you won't listen if somebody comes back from the dead. Here's Lazarus, and instead of responding as they ought to, they say, we just got to get rid of him.

They don't get it. in his book, Footsteps of the Messiah, he was saying that anybody who would ever be resurrected after the third day of death would be the Messiah, because supposedly the soul left the body on the third day or whatever. So this was not only a great miracle, but it was a messianic miracle. The Jews should have recognized and most likely was the Messiah. They should have, shouldn't they? Yeah. They did. But fleshly, they refused to accept him. This doesn't fit in with our paradigm, with our way of thinking.

So there appears to have been a change in character from Abraham's bosom pre-Cross Saints to Paradise, post-Cross Saints. Abraham's bosom from the day that Christ was resurrected is never mentioned, but Paradise continues not a great number of times, but from the day Christ was crucified, from the writing of Paul, and from the writing of John and Revelation. The lake of fire was prepared perfect temps for the devil and his angels prior to Matthew 25, 41 statement by Christ. At that point Jesus says it's already been prepared, it's waiting. Yes. Okay, let's cover that.

Sheol and Hades are equivalent terms. Sheol is the Hebrew or Old Testament term, and Hades is the New Testament term. Those words, both of them, simply mean the place of the dead. By itself, it does not distinguish between Is this the place of the dead for those who are saved or those who are unsafe? By itself it doesn't distinguish between those. It simply means the place of the dead. I'm glad you asked that because that helps clarify. It is in some context used for both.

In some context it's used for one and some for the other. is what? The asterisk up there you're saying is only the Abraham's bosom, but you're saying sometimes... Well, I have an asterisk by torments of the unsaved and Abraham's bosom both. In other words, it can be Sheol or Hades can be for those who are saved and for those who are unsaved. You will see the word in there in both cases.

Did you say that Hades is a word that Both. And that's what the asterisk says and that's what you'll see translated. Sometimes they mistakenly translate it hell, which is I think confusing. Even Abyss or Tartarus gets translated hell. But the word Sheol and the word Hades by themselves only mean place of the dead. It doesn't say which one.

And one of Jesus' points is you don't have people crossing back and forth. Which, by the way, what does that say about the idea that is there a chance that you might get saved after you die? Is there a chance of that? Yeah, what this does is it says there's no crossing over. So you're saying it's a cat and it's not purgatory? That's right. Yeah, the Bible nowhere describes purgatory. Purgatory is out of Egyptian religion.

You had money being paid. Getting back up to this, and this includes the upper left part of your chart, and then goes on to this understanding. We have Christ in His first coming, shown there with the blue downward arrow. Then there's the cross and the resurrection. And then from that time forward, you have paradise and Abraham's bosom ending. Okay. You with me so far? Alright.

Then we kind of expand it a little bit to look at the church age again and then up to the time of the rapture and the beginning of the tribulation. One of the things you'll notice is we have an arrow, see, hang on a sec, let me use this thing. Right over here where it says unsaved and saved, the church saints will be all those saved at the time prior to the tribulation that we call the rapture. So at that moment what's real interesting is all the saved on earth are taken up. You will have at that moment only unsaved people on earth and only unsaved people entering the tribulation period. Right? Only unsaved. So you'll have a moment there where you'll have the unsaved all taken out and only the unsaved remaining and only the unsaved then entering that tribulation period.

And then people begin to be saved in some cases rather quickly. Why would the rapture bring about a number of people deciding, I'd better believe? What would cause them to suddenly decide, I'd better believe? So probably on the edge of believing, and they saw the evidence of their believing friends. Yeah, they said, whoa, this guy told me this might happen, and lo and behold, it did. Yeah, that would be one of the things that would cause them to believe, right? Bumper stickers. What's that? Bumper stickers? Yeah. During the New Testament times, I wonder if they had donkey stickers, you know? Anyway. Yeah, I think that'll be one thing.

Very quickly after the Tribulation starts, remember Revelation chapter 7, where here's 144,000. 144,000 single Jewish males and it gives you the number in each of the tribes. And it appears fairly shortly afterwards. So I think that's the other thing is you start to look at this at a minimum, and I think it is a minimum because there are others who are sure to respond. This 144,000 Jewish men, they're responding and the Lord puts a seal on them.

Everybody else is going through a terrible time. And not that these guys are going through an easy time, but nothing seems to take them out. Nothing seems to take them out. Yes. the world is going to turn against them in the process of the One World Order. So even though they have 144,000, there's going to be probably a lot of people that are going to say, oh, those are just Jewish people. That's not really going to affect us. They'll have this kind of spiritual insanity. They won't see it.

All those church-age saints are with Christ in glorified bodies in heaven during the tribulation period on earth. So that's the next picture. Now we go to a slightly larger picture, putting this together. Notice here we're showing the Lake of Fire, which is, that's actually hell. Other places get mistakenly translated as hell. But the Lake of Fire, that is hell. Okay? That is hell. And notice out of the tribulation period, who goes to be the first inhabitants of the lake of fire, which is hell? What do you have in that kind of white band in the middle there?

Unsaved. The unsaved who take the mark of the beast, and the beast and the false prophet go straight to hell. They do not pass go. They don't collect anything. Okay? So the first inhabitants are those who take the mark of the beast during the tribulation period, and the beast and the false prophets. Those are the first inhabitants of hell, which is at this moment empty. The first inhabitants of the lake of fire, which is at this moment empty.

The next thing you see on the chart, see in the upper right, let me point these here, Who is coming back with Christ? You have Christ, the church saints, that's us. You have tribulation saints, Old Testament saints, and angels. How many angels are there? A great many.

I think Hebrews says countless. John describes what he sees as myriads of myriads. Well, how many of you have seen a myriad? A myriad is 10,000. And in the Greek system of counting, that was as high as their counting went. So the way John described it is 10,000s of 10,000s. So, I think his concept, if 10,000 is as high as the number system goes, 10,000s of 10,000s meant way beyond counting.

So that's just the angels. Then you have all the saints of the church of all time and all the other saints of all time up to and including the tribulation period coming back with the Lord. That's the second coming. At the beginning of that time, when Christ comes again, Satan is bound. And one of the things we talked about previously, how tough a time does the angel have binding Satan and throwing him in the prison?

He doesn't have a tough time. And does he have to keep being rebound? I mean, if you've heard Christians say, I bind Satan, you know, and he keeps getting loose, I don't know who lets him loose, but he keeps getting loose, This angel comes with a great chain. He's not even a strong angel. He binds Satan, and it doesn't describe he has any difficulty doing so. He binds him for a thousand years. He puts him in the abyss, or Tartaros. That's also on your chart there. And he stays there.

And there's not the slightest evidence that Satan wiggles loose, or leaks out, or does a prison break, or anything like that. And he just plain and simple doesn't get out at all. There's not even an indication that he tries to. Or that it's even possible. The angel does not go, oops, and neither does God. And so Satan is bound.

This is right here on your chart here. Alright, now, there's something else, and none of this harvest ideas in your handout, but you may want to make note of it. The Jews in the Old Testament, according to the Law of Moses, were given these harvest festivals.

And we hear about them not only in the Old Testament, but even in the Gospels, and sometimes after that. There was the idea of the first fruits, that is the very first things that you had. There was the main harvest and then the gleanings. The first fruits, what's the first stuff that's ripe? Okay, let's grab that. Then there's the main harvest and then the gleanings was what?

The leftovers. The Jews were not allowed to go and take their corners, harvest the corners. and they weren't allowed to go after a second time in the field to pick up anything left over. Why? They were to leave it for the poor. And so you had the first fruits was a small initial harvest, the main harvest, and then the gleanings left over for the poor who could go at the corners which were fully you know, developed and fertilized and crops ready to pick, and anything else left out in the field.

Because the Jews were not allowed to go back in to clean it up and get any of the left. So, pardon? Well, that's very interesting because the Bible doesn't describe it. But you know what? The Jews didn't like to have things not described and defined, right? So they ended up having all these traditions about what's a corner, and it's fairly complex. But nonetheless, yes, they had definitions for it, because the rabbis didn't like the idea of that not being defined.

Now, here's this first fruit mentioned in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, multiple passages there for these first fruits. Now who is described as the firstfruits? Jesus is the initial firstfruits. That's the first part of the resurrection. It's Christ himself. So this Old Testament harvest terminology was applied to the resurrection.

Would it be best if I made another handout for this? Say, haven't you copied all done? Because I've got more to go to. Okay? Would that be better? I think I'll do that. If you can stand another handout. Okay. Christ, the firstfruits. And you're correct. Here is 1 Corinthians 15 that we'll be getting to here next year. But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who are asleep. Okay? It doesn't mean sleeping.

Everybody in the church is drowsy. No, he used it as a euphemism for those who have died. Why does he say that? Why doesn't he just say they died? Why doesn't he just say died? Yeah? Because death is seen as being eternal and of no return. Or sleep, you can be awoken. Yeah, yeah. The word death implies a kind of a permanence and an irreversibility. Yeah? Yes, that's right.

And that's the thing, if you look at it, he uses this gentle term, sleep, in order for us to have the right perspective on what death is. And it's interesting, if you look up in a concordance, he's fairly consistent in the way he uses that term for believers who have died physically. Christ the firstfruits is again in verse 23. After that, those who are Christ's at His coming. After the main harvest, the gleanings.

We have these passages here in Leviticus 19.23. So here is the way it's represented. If you take the colored chart, and these gleanings are not on your chart, the resurrection of Christ is the first fruits. The rapture of the church is the main harvest, and the Old Testament and Tribulation Saints are the gleanings of that first resurrection.

When you put the biblical terminology together, that's the way it works out. So isn't it interesting here how all these things would be given to Moses 3,400 years ago, And now that we're here on the scene, it all begins to be applied. Very interesting. The Lord has things laid out very nicely, doesn't he? Okay. So here is this illustration. And now we go to the new heavens and new earth. That's the part of the diagram we haven't looked at yet. And new heavens and new earth. And by the way, we're going to find out real interesting, John describes This present heavens and earth, his way of describing it is real interesting.

At the White Throne Judgment, he said, heaven and earth fled away. And I've had people ask me about that. They say, that sounds kind of puzzling. But you can imagine, the special effects would be phenomenal. Here's everything here and it just rushes out off the scene. Gone. So this is then the New Heavens and New Earth. What you find is there is this place between the White Throne Judgment. We're going to look at that next week. You already have the handout in your hand, if you have the handout there. Revelation 20, 11-15 describes the White Throne Judgment. Very curiously, the White Throne Judgment is for who?

It's only for non-believers. Is it all non-believers of all time? Remember, we already have some from the tribulation period who are already in the lake of fire. This is, with the exception of those, all the rest of the human race, aside from those during the tribulation period who already are in the lake of fire, who are showing up before the Lord for a final review.

We'll talk about those verses next week. What is very interesting is, as we'll show at the end, that's one topic that the Bible does not directly address. Isn't that interesting? It does not, I've looked far and wide, read all sorts of things. It does not directly address it.

The only thing that you could say is that the Lord also resurrecting and taking people to the white throne of judgment, that that would be consistent with the way the Lord does things. Certainly we know what salvation is. Salvation is by faith. That's true. Yes. You have all the same issues. And so it's very interesting. The Bible does not address that directly. It is only by presumption. Now let's ask one question. Why would the Lord not have that issue addressed in the Bible? Can you think of a reason why? Did the Lord just forget? Why would it not be addressed? One is, we don't really know. But let's ask another question. Those people you're talking about lived during the millennium, right? Who will be on the earth reigning during the millennium? If they've got any questions, do they have somebody who can answer their questions? Yes. This is during the reign of Christ.

He can answer their questions about that. I think it's consistent with Scripture that there'll be salvation by faith, just like we have it, and those who, as you pointed out, who will spend eternity with the Lord, and those who will not. But very interestingly, that's the one group that we don't have a direct answer for. You know, I think the truth is they do need to know. But Christ himself will be there to answer their questions and to address those things. Yes?

Why is it the Old Testament saints are going to be considered the gleaned saints? Because they're going to be the us when we come down from Christ. What is interesting is resurrected bodies for those, for that particular group, does not show up until the end of the tribulation period. Oh. Yeah. I would think that those, that we need to see the unsaved, the saved in the tribulation because they were the last ones. Those also are included. Oh. Yeah. The saved in the tribulation and the Old Testament saints. Those are resurrected at the end. Yeah, those are given bodies. They're eternal bodies at the end. There will be then the unsaved cast into the lake of fire. Satan and his angels also cast into the lake of fire at the very end.

We, however, and as we'll study in Revelation, will be in the new heavens and the new earth. Right now, remember we talked about the heavens having three levels? What's interesting is in, as we'll see in the last couple of chapters of Revelation, in that portion of Scripture it describes heaven coming down to earth and no longer this separation. Real interesting. Right now there's a real separation between heaven and earth. In the new heavens and new earth, heaven come down to earth. No longer a separation. Which is why there is no longer a need for a sun.

Yes? So if the Old Heaven and the Old Earth have passed away, and as Peter said, it's rolled up like a scroll, so that you can see then we have to make one of two assumptions. Either the new heaven and the new earth are already created and we can't see it, just like the third heaven, or it's going to be created at the same instantaneous time that the other one has gone away from us, right? Yeah, and that's one of those things that's real interesting. We don't have a lot of revelation on it. However, Let's put forth this possibility.

When Christ was resurrected, when Christ was resurrected, could it be that that is the beginning of the new creation? That that is when it started. And, since we were identified with Christ in that resurrection, That's why, as we'll see in 2 Corinthians, and as we saw in Galatians, in those two books, it says you are a new creation. So very interesting. The beginning of the new creation, I believe, has already begun.

It began with Christ. So could you be saying then that Christ actually, since he's part of the new creation, could be in or on or upon the new earth? Now, I think that I couldn't go that far because we don't have that evidence. But could it be that the Lord says, I'm going to create a new heavens and a new earth and I'm going to start with Christ?

This issue, whether or not the Scripture It says a new creation or a new creature. How does that enter into it? Well, I believe it does, although I would have to admit that it's not abundantly clear on that point. And that's why you might notice I'm not making bold statements. I'm more proposing something as a possibility. The Lord will make evident what's the actual case.

So does that mean a new species? Yeah, completely new in kind. Because here is Christ being resurrected, and Christ of that same kind and body. This new man, he is precisely the one who will go into the new heavens and new earth. And we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. First John.

In a sense that would make sense, because if you have to have a new body, and sin cannot, a body of flesh, which is sin, cannot enter into the new heaven and the new earth. You have to have a new body, because that's the only one that works in the transporter. And by the way, that's why we have a sin nature attached to this body. The Lord will have to get us out of this one and into a new one to get the sin nature out of the picture. So was Adam in a glorified body before he sinned? No. Because he was in a body of this creation, unfallen.

Okay, now we need to move on. Vern's almost done with his chart. You have a chart that goes like this. It is full of immense detail, but let me give you the quick outline. This table shows all the different judgments, some of which are judgments that take place now or should take place now.

For example, What we saw here in chapter 11 of 1 Corinthians, Paul says, you guys are being judged by God in your taking of the Lord's table because you're coming in just being a bunch of drunken gluttons. And so Paul says, if you would judge yourself, so that's one kind of judgment, then God would not have to judge you. So those are some of the judgments that are included. Then it goes on. There are additional judgments and resurrections of a sort on through the list.

Think of those people who are at the White Throne judgment. And by the way, you don't want to be there. I think my understanding is the Masons have their little recitations and one of them talks about, you know, when they're at the White Throne judgment, that's very bad. You don't want to be there. It is only for the unsaved. None of them have their names written in the Book of Life at the White Throne Judgment. None. So that's a dismal... Once you're there, it's like, you know, there's no... Where's the exit? Well, there's only one exit and it's not a good way to go. So anyway, you go through there.

Are those people who go to the White Throne Judgment, are they resurrected? Yes, they are in a resurrection of sorts. It won't be a, oh boy, I'm glad I got a new body. It won't be that kind. Remember, we will be like Him because we will see Christ as He is. Those at the White Throne Judgment don't get to say that. They will see Christ, but they don't get to say that. Anyway, this has lots of information. We've gone past the second buzzer here. I'll let you study it and take a look at it to the extent that you're interested.

Let me simplify one final thing, and that is that with the exception of the question you asked about those at the end of the millennium, the big picture is this. We get a resurrected body and go to see the Lord at the time of the rapture, whether we're alive or asleep in the Lord, and all the others, up to the time of the end of the tribulation period, all the others get resurrected then. It's that simple. Up to the time of the Lord's second coming.

That's it. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for what you've laid out. You have certainly not answered every question we might ask, but you've answered a great many. And what it boils down to is, Lord, we have a certain hope. We have a marvelous hope. And Lord, we look forward to the day, and I hope it's today, that we see you face to face. We just pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.