The Return of Jesus THE RETURN OF CHRIST AND THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD by Bob Marcaurelle Copyright 2009 by Bob Marcaurelle freesermons@homeorchurchbiblestudy.com We eagerly wait for a Savior from there (Heaven), the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power than enables Him to bring everything under His control; will transform our lowly bodies, so they will be like His glorious body. (Philippians 3:21) When Christians die they go to heaven to be, absent from the body and present with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:8) The unsaved are kept under punishment until the day of Judgment. (2 Peter 2:9) This is not the final heaven or hell which will come after the return of Christ, the resurrection and the Judgment. Though they do not have their final, resurrection bodies, most believe they have some kind of recognizable form (2 Corinthians 5:1-8) capable of enjoying pleasures with the Lord and His people, or experiencing punishment in hell. Today we look at the resurrection of the bodies of the lost and the saved, which takes place at the return. A. The Return and the Resurrection Daniel 12:2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will wake up; some to everlasting life, and some to everlasting shame and contempt. John 6:25, 29 A time is coming/when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God/and come outthose who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of damnation. Revelation 20:11-15 Fire came down from heaven and devoured them/and I saw the Great White Throne/And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the Throne and books were opened/another book was opened which was the Book of Life/The dead were judged according to what they had done. The New Testament associates the resurrection with the return of Jesus. The term resurrection applies to the body. These physical bodies will rise up to clothe our spirits for all eternity. The Greeks taught the immortality of the soul but not the resurrection of the body. That is why the philosophers in Acts listened to Paul, and then laughed when he talked about the resurrection. (Acts 17) Problems and Questions Paul asks, Why do you think it is incredible that God can raise the dead? (Acts 26:8) People compare the resurrection with the coming of spring; but there is no comparison because trees do not die in winter. To make a comparison, take a tree and make from it 200,000 toothpicks and sell them all over the world. Let them be discarded, burned or rotted. Then sound a trumpet and watch them come up and come together and give us that tree back. That is the resurrection. Many questions come to mind. We ask, How can God reclaim all these particles,
some of which have been scattered to the ends of the earth? I don t want to sicken anyone, but people have been eaten by fish and other people have eaten the fish. In our universe are billions upon billions of flaming suns, compared in Scripture to grains of sand on the seashore. Some of those suns are more than 90 million miles in diameter, and beyond them are quasars that are one thousand times more brilliant than the stars. The One who brought them into existence out of nothing and hurled them into space, can surely call back the particles of our bodies. B. The Return and the Saved 1. Christians Will Return with Jesus 1 Thessalonians 4:14 We believe that God will bring with Jesus, those who have fallen asleep in Him. One day God will announce in heaven that time on earth is over, and Jesus will come back to this earth. He will come in the glory of the Father, and His holy angels (Luke 9:26). Revelation 17 pictures it as millions upon millions of angels, and all the saved of all the ages, riding the white horses of victory. 2. Christian Bodies Will Rise First The first to rise are the bodies of the Christians who are returning with the Lord. In the air with Jesus, they will see the very particles of their bodies come out of the grave and clothe their spirits. 1 Thessalonians 4:15-16 We who are still alive and left (on earth) till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep (died). For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise (their bodies) first. 3. Christians on Earth Will Be Changed and Caught Up Christians on earth at this time will experience a wonderful change in their bodies; and will be caught up in the air to meet us and Jesus. Changed We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead (bodies) will be raised incorruptible and we will be changed, because this perishable must put on the imperishable. -1 Corinthians 15:51-52 Caught Up We who are still alive and left (on earth when Jesus comes) will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words - 1 Thessalonians 4:17-18 4. Our Body Will Be Like That of Jesus Philippians 3:21 We eagerly wait for a Savior from there (Heaven), the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control; will transform our lowly bodies, so they will be like His glorious body. Our salvation includes our bodies, and we all want to ask what it will be like? Paul tells us we are fools (1 Corinthians 15:35-36) if we think we can know this. He says comparing our present body to our future body is like comparing an acorn to an oak
tree (1 Corinthians 15:37-38). But he gives us a glimpse when he says: 1 Corinthians 15:42-44 The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. I like the way the Today s English Version puts it: When buried it is ugly and weak; when raised it is beautiful and strong. The Scars of Jesus A strange thing about the body of Jesus is that it still has the scars of the cross (John 20). This does not mean our defects will remain. Jesus scars are the only manmade things in Heaven; and they remind us throughout eternity that Jesus paid it all. They tell us daily that we are not there because we deserve it, but because the Son of God died in our place. 5. The New Body is Our Wonderful Hope Paul tells us that if our earthly tent is torn down we have a building which God has provided a house not made with hands, an eternal house in the heavens (2 Corinthians 5). He compares our body to a tent. How weak a tent is. A knife can slash it. A match can burn it. Time can rot it. Our bodies are the same. Lou Gehrig was called The Iron Horse of baseball. He played in over 2,100 consecutive games. He played with broken bones, cuts, pulled muscles and burning fever. One day he slipped and fell in spring practice. His coordination worsened and he went to the doctor. He had a rare disease that slowly erodes the muscles. The Iron Horse became like jello with the disease that now bears his name. Look in your hymnal and read the hymns of Fanny Crosby. In almost every one you will find the word see. Why? Because Fanny Crosby was born blind. The Special Blessing God never made two faces, two bodies, two personalities, two people, alike. We are all special. The loved ones we lose have a special walk, a special voice, and a special smile. None of this will be lost. You will still be you, and I will still be me. Mary, in the garden, did not recognize the risen Jesus until He said, Mary. No one could say it like He could. (John 20) 6. Not Drastically Different from This Earthly Life At the risk of being a fool according to Paul, I do not believe we should make the resurrection body extremely different than it is now. We know it will be different, for Jesus said in heaven there will be no marriage because we will be like the angels. (Mark 12:25) But Jesus also said after His resurrection, Touch me and see that I am flesh and bone, and even asked for something to eat. (Luke 24:39/41) Also, the new earth being part of heaven, points to the similarity between this age and the next. C. The Return and the Unsaved Lost people are left behind like the people in the flood when Noah left and will: 1. Perish in the Flames of God s Wrath Note: A view of the return of Christ that dates back to 1832 teaches that when we Christians are caught up to be with Jesus
(the rapture) the lost on earth,will have seven more years on earth after the church is raptured. Some of my best friends believe this and we never make it important enough to spoil our friendship. It is hard for me to see this because of the passage below. The Rapture Passage Itself (1 Thess. 4:17-5:9 The chapter divisions are not part of the inspired Bible, but were put in by the church scholars to help us break the Bible down into manageable sections. Chapter five is part of the same subject that began in 4:17 1 Thessalonians 4:17 5:4 and 5:9 We who are still alive and left will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And we will be with the Lord forever. Encourage one another with these words (4:17-end). Now brothers, there is no need to write you about times and dates, for you know very well that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, peace and safety destruction will come on them suddenly like labor pains on a woman and they will not escape. But you brothers are not in darkness so that day will surprise you like a thief (5:1-4). For God has not appointed us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation (5:9). The next chapter written to this church says: 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9 God will repay those who trouble you/when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on those/who do not obey the gospel/these shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord The rapture (catching up) in chapter four saves us from the horrible day of the Lord, destruction and wrath of God in chapter five. Peter describes the Day of the Lord 2 Peter 3:10/12 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. But according to His promise we look for a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness lives. Other Passages Revelation 1:7 Look, He is coming with the clouds and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of Him. Revelation 6:14-17 The sky receded like a scroll rolling up; and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, every slave, and every free man hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the rocks and the mountains, 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 their wrath has come, and who can stand? Revelation 14:19-20 The angel swung his sickle on earth and gathered the grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God s wrath. They were trampled in the winepress outside the city
and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses bridle for a distance of 1600 stadia (App. 180 Miles). Revelation 19:11-16 Then I saw heaven standing open and before me was a white horse whose Rider was called Faithful and True/The armies of heaven were following Him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean/he treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty/Come gather for the supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and mighty men, and horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, small and great. Matthew 13:41/49-50 The Son of Man will send out His angels and they will weed out of His kingdom everything that causes sin This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace where there will be weeping and wailing. Like the experience of Noah and Lot Jesus compared Christians being caught up to escape God s wrath on earth to the escape of Noah and Lot. Matthew 24:37, 39, 40, 42, 43 As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be at the coming of the Son of Man...the flood came and took them all away. This is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left...therefore keep watch. If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch... Once the church is removed like Noah and Lots families (Matthew 24/Luke 17), the lost of the earth will all see Jesus and weep (Revelation 1:7); be gripped by unspeakable terror (Revelation 14); and will burn to death in God s wrath. (2 Peter 3:10/ Revelation 16/19) This is a scene of universal slaughter. The lost will be destroyed (1 Thessalonians 5:3). They will be punished with everlasting destruction (2 Thessalonians 1:9) after they are resurrected and judged (Revelation 20:11-15). It will be like the days of Noah (Matthew 24:37) when Jesus says, Matthew 24:39 the flood came and took them all away. This is how it will be, at the coming of the Son of Man The thing that troubles me about placing a seven year period of tribulation on earth after Jesus comes for us (His church) is that it gives people seven more years to be saved. In the light passages like this I am afraid to tell anyone that they will have any more time to accept Christ. The people in Noah s day and in Sodom and Gomorrah didn t. 2. Are Resurrected to Face the Judgment The Bible always connects the return of Jesus not only with the resurrection of all people, but with the Judgment of all people. When the flames of wrath subside, the bodies of the lost of all the ages will come out of the charred remains and clothe the spirits. God gives us the new earth (2 Peter 3:12) and the Judgment begins. Revelation 20:9-15 Fire came down from heaven and devoured them the dead were judged in accordance with what they had done..the sea gave up
the dead who were in it and death and hades gave up the dead who were in it and each person was judged. Daniel 12:2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will wake up; some to everlasting life and some to everlasting shame and contempt. John 6:25, 29 A time is coming/when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God/and come outthose who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of damnation. Matthew 25:31-46 When the Son of man will come in His glory, with all His holy angels with Him, He will sit on the throne of heavenly glory. Before Him, He will gather all the nations** and He will separate them like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will set the sheep on His right and the goats on His left/to those on His right hand He will say, inherit the kingdom prepared for you /To those on His left he will say, Go away from me to everlasting fire. This week a golf ball hit from a tee went through the two foot opening between my granddaughter s head and my wife s. Had it hit them they probably would not have survived. Two things can happen to you and me right now. We can die, unexpectedly and Jesus could return unexpectedly. If either happens to you and you have not accepted Christ, I believe you will have had your last chance. Give Jesus your sins to forgive and your life to change and control so you will be ready.