JRS 91 THE FUTURE OF MAN 9/6/2026 SELECTED SCRIPTURES JESSE RANDOLPH We’ve made it to our tenth and final installment of SUMMER IN THE SYSTEMATICS 2026 edition. Tonight, we’re going to be covering the topic of THE FUTURE OF MAN. Now when we see those words THE FUTURE OF MAN, our minds will go right to the topic or to the thought of Eschatology, the future things. We will often think of what’s known as General Eschatology. Meaning the study of end-times events on a global, or worldwide, or universal scale. General Eschatology is the study of the series of end-times events which will come upon this world as God wraps up His church-age program and brings to its appointed end. He finishes out His predetermined plans for Israel, for the church, and for the world. General Eschatology would include things like study of the Rapture and the Tribulation, the Second Coming of Christ, and the Millennial Kingdom of Christ, and the Eternal State. We will eventually in this series Lord willing, get to a study of General Eschatology in this SUMMER IN THE SYSTEMATICS series. It’s actually on deck for year ten of this series which by my calculation would put us in the year 2031. I’m praying that study never happens of course because I’m praying that the Rapture will happen and we’ll be out of this place never to complete our study of Eschatology. But we’ll get to that topic perhaps in the year 2031. Again, a reminder that we’ll be starting a study of General Eschatology as we get back to our study of the book of Revelation, which will be happening two Sunday evenings from now, where we’re going to pick it up in Revelation chapter 14. But tonight, as we wrap up our summer-long study of Biblical Anthropology, the doctrine of man, we’re going to be focusing on matters not related to General Eschatology. Instead, we’ll be looking at a few key aspects of what is known as Individual Eschatology or Personal Eschatology. This is focused on how those who have died, how individuals who have died, will participate in the final events of the future. I’ll say that again. The focus of our study tonight is what God’s Word says about those who have died and how those who have died, will participate in future events. You have five blanks I believe on your worksheet. And we can go ahead and fill those in now. First, we’re going to look at THE DEATH OF MAN. Second, we’ll look at THE INTERMEDIATE STATE OF MAN. Third we’ll look at THE RESURRECTION OF MAN. Fourth will be THE JUDGMENT OF MAN. And then fifth and finally will be THE ETERNAL STATE OF MAN. We’ll start here with THE DEATH OF MAN. The sad reality is, and this traces back to our first message in this series, the sad reality is that after the Fall, death comes for every member of the human race. Hebrews 9:27 says “It is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment.” We all die. Here in the U.S, men live to be on average 76.5 years old before kicking the preverbal bucket. Women live to be 81.4 years old. But it lines up directly with the testimony of Scripture. Psalm 90:10 says, “As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, or if due to might, (strength) eighty years.” Now, when the Bible speaks of the death of a person in that Hebrews 9:27 sense, that’s referring to the physical death of their body not the death of their soul. Our bodies will eventually die but the immaterial part of us, our soul or if you’re a trichotomist, remember that term, your soul and spirit, that will go on. We see this idea picked up in Matthew 10:28, “And do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” The physical elements of our bodies, those return to the dust. Genesis 3:19, “For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” As we’ve seen in our earlier messages in this series, the physical death that all mankind experiences is on account of sin. Through the sin of Adam in the Garden, death spread we’ve seen to the entire human race. Romans 5:12, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.” And the wages we know, of sin is death. Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death.” But again, even though our bodies perish, the immaterial part of us, the immaterial part of mankind, the soul or the soul and spirit, those are immortal. Man, you could even say, is immortal. God alone is immortal in the ultimate sense. That’s I Timothy 6:15-16, “He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light.” But being made in God’s image, man is immortal as well, in the sense that his soul will go on forever. We see that play out, for instance in Luke chapter 16 which describes the ongoing existence of both Lazarus and the rich man after death. Now a few more observations about the death of man. First, the death of Believers is sometimes called sleep. I Corinthians 15:51, “Behold, I tell you a mystery: we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed.” Or in I Thessalonians 4:15, “For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.” Now these passages aren’t actually saying that the dead are in fact asleep after their physical bodies expire. The Bible doesn’t support such an interpretation. But rather, the term sleep here refers to the fact that it appears that the body that is dead, is sleeping. It describes the temporariness of that state. We see that same idea here in John 11:11 where Jesus said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him.” Here’s another brief matter as it relates to death. For those who are saved for those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ for the salvation from sin, when it comes time for them to die, they have absolutely no need to fear death. That is because they know from God’s Word that the Lord will lead them safely through that experience of death as He brings them to Himself, as we see here in Psalm 23:4, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me.” Another item to mention as eternity minded Believers who have no fear of death, what we’re actually hoping for as we navigate our way through this life is not death. It’s actually the Lord’s return for the Church. That’s what we pray for. That’s what we anticipate in these lives lived here on earth. The Lord is coming for us. Titus 2:13 says we’re “Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” I Thessalonians 5:6 says, “So then let us not sleep as others do but let us be awake and sober.” In the meantime, we’re called to occupy ourselves with faithful service to the Lord as we wait for Him to come. II Corinthians 5:9, “Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.” We’re called, as Believers who are waiting for that blessed hope, waiting for our Lord to come get us. We’re called to redeem the time making each day count for the Lord, abiding in Him, doing His will. John 15:4-5, “Abide in Me, (said Jesus) and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit from itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” So that’s our first heading. Just a brief review of the topic of the THE DEATH OF MAN. Now we’re going to consider THE INTERMEDIATE STATE OF MAN. By intermediate state we simply mean this. That condition between death and between the resurrection of both the saved and the lost. In other words, what happens to people who die in either a saved or an unsaved state before their final resurrection and before their final judgment. There are a number of different ways to skin this cat. I’m going to skin it this way. We’re going to consider this topic according to two very generic and very well recognized categories, that of heaven and hell. Those two destinations, two real places which are actual places. But actual places which go by a number of different terms in the Scriptures and I’m going to do my best here in this second heading to sort this all out for you. Let’s start with heaven. That word heaven, shamayim in Hebrew, ouranos in Greek, at its root it means high or lofty, that which is above. In Scripture this word heaven, it appears in at least three different senses, settings, scenarios. First, it’s used with reference to what I guess you can call the atmospheric heaven, or the atmosphere above us. The space surrounding the earth. The space that ranges around the earth, going up to about six miles from where we sit right now. It’s from this atmospheric heaven that the earth receives its dew and its frost and its rain and its snow. It’s from this atmospheric heaven that the clouds are up in the sky, residing. Psalm 147:8 says, “He is the One who covers the heavens with clouds.” That’s the sense of the term here. It’s through this atmospheric heaven that the birds fly. Genesis 1:20, “Let birds fly above the earth across the face of the expanse of the heavens.” So that’s one sense the atmospheric idea of the heavens. The second way we think of that term heavens is to think of the celestial heavens. Meaning the realm of the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and the planets. God created the universe. Psalm 33:6, “By the word of Yahweh the heavens were made.” And when He did so, we know that He put and placed certain lights in the heavens. Genesis 1:14, “Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years.’” So that would be the celestial idea of the heavens. Then there’s a third way that we think of heaven. And that’s how we’re going to focus our time for the rest of this section at least is heaven as the dwelling place of God. Heaven is the place where God dwells. Matthew 6:9, “Our Father who is in heaven.” It’s the place where God is enthroned. Psalm 2:4 says, “He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord mocks them.” Isaiah 66:1, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘Heaven is My throne, and the earth is the footstool of My feet.’” It’s from this place where God renders judgment. Genesis 19:24, the account of Sodom and Gomorrah. “Yahweh rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Yahweh out of heaven.” It is from this place that God showers His blessings. Exodus 16:4, “Then Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you.’” It’s from this place that God looks down upon His people. Deuteronomy 26:15, “Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the ground which You have given to us.” It is from this place that God hears the prayers of His people. Psalm 20:6, “Now I know that Yahweh saves His anointed; He will answer him from His holy heaven with the saving might of His right hand.” It is from this place that God’s sovereign plan is established. Psalm 119:89, “Forever, O Yahweh, Your word stands firm in heaven.” Heaven also has we know certain residents. People who live there. People who dwell there. That includes saints who lived before the death and Resurrection of Christ, Old Testament saints. But also, saints who lived after the death and Resurrection of Christ, and specifically after the ascension of Christ in Acts 1, after which in Acts 2, He sent His Spirit and established His church. We call those folks, post Acts 2 Church Age Saints. Now little is said about heaven per se, in the Old Testament. Rather what you see are expressions like these, speaking of Abraham here. Genesis 25:8, “And he was gathered to his people.” What this suggests is that Old Testament saints, meaning those who had faith. Those who like Abraham had faith in the living God and it was counted to them, Genesis 15:6, as righteousness. What this suggests is that they didn’t have to wait for Christ to come and Christ to die and Christ to rise and Christ to ascend to the Father before they entered God’s presence. Rather, they entered God’s presence in some form, when they died. He was gathered to His people. In fact, we got a glimpse of that this morning in our section in Luke 9 as we were working through the transfiguration scene. We saw Moses and Elijah, who it said in Luke 9:31, were appearing in glory at the moment that they arrived at that mountain were there with Jesus. They weren’t yet in glorified bodies, but they were in God’s presence. They had just come out of God’s presence as they were there at Mt. Herman in Abraham’s bosom as it said in Luke 16:22. Now, in the church age those who have been justified, those who have been regenerated, those who have been reconciled, those who have been forgiven. All those terms we looked at last Sunday night. Those who have been saved, Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, they immediately go into God’s presence in heaven at death. We see that truth comes out in passages like these. II Corinthians 5:8, “We are of good courage and prefer to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.” Philippians 1:23, “But I am hard-pressed between the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better,” Paul says. I Thessalonians 4:14, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.” I know it’s kind of a throwaway line and it’s even a book title of a very cheesy heaven tourism book from many years ago, but heaven is indeed, for real. You’ve probably heard people say that Jesus preached a lot more about hell than He did about heaven and that’s true. The Lord did have more to say about the place that the wicked did and unbelieving and unrighteous would end up, than He did about heaven. That same trend tracks when we take in the Scriptures as a whole and what the the Scriptures teach about hell, and more broadly speaking, eternal punishment. Let’s work through some terms here in this category of hell. There are several terms that we must consider both from the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament, which describe the punishment that will face the wicked and unbelieving in this world if they die in their sins. The terms can get confusing, and the subject can get confusing, so I’m hoping just to tease through a few of these and offer what I hope is some clarifying thoughts. One word that is seen frequently used in the Old Testament, 65 times to be exact, is Sheol. That word shows up just like this, Sheol, and it shows up in other translated words like grave or pit or hell. Here in Job 17:13-16, “If I hope for Sheol as my home, I make my bed in the darkness; if I call to the pit, ‘You are my father’; to the worm, ‘my mother and my sister’; where now is my hope? And who beholds my hope? Will it go down with me to Sheol? Shall we together go down into the dust?” But note, and this is important, in the Old Testament, Sheol isn’t used exclusively to describe the place where the damned dead go. It’s also a place where the saints of old, the faithful ones in Israel, where they would go as well. For instance, here’s Jacob, the patriarch of the twelve tribes of Israel. He says, or Moses says of him, Genesis 37:35, “Then all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, ‘Surely I will go down to Sheol in mourning for my son.’ So, his father wept for him.” You really actually have both in the Old Testament. You have the wicked going down to Sheol, like you have here. Psalm 9:17, “The wicked will return to Sheol.” Psalm 16:10, “For You will not forsake my soul to Sheol; You will not give Your Holy One over to see corruption.” Psalm 31:17, “O Yahweh, let me not be put to shame, for I call upon You; let the wicked be put to shame, let them be silent in Sheol.” Psalm 55:15, “Let death come deceitfully upon them; let them go down alive to Sheol, for evil is in their dwelling, in their midst.” Job 21:13, “They spend their days in prosperity, and suddenly they go down to Sheol.” Job 24:19, “Drought and heat seize the snow waters, so does Sheol for those who have sinned.” So, in these instances these are the wicked, the unregenerate, the unbelieving who are described as going here. But then you also have others, like we just looked at Jacob or Job who are speaking of Sheol as this place where the righteous end up when they face death. There are some additional truths we can trace out about Sheol. For instance, in the Old Testament, it’s portrayed as a place of darkness. Job 10:21-22, “Before I go and I shall not return to the land of darkness and shadow of death, the land of utter gloom as the thick darkness itself, of the shadow of death, without order, and which shines as the thick darkness.” It’s also described as a place of silence. Psalm 94:17, “If Yahweh had not been my help, my soul would soon have dwelt in the abode of silence.” It’s described as a place of separation from God. Psalm 6:5, “For there is no remembrance of You in death; in Sheol who will give You thanks?” And it’s also described as a place for those who are in it. They have no understanding of what’s happening on the earth. Ecclesiastes 9:5-6, “For the living know they will die; but the dead do not know anything, nor have they any longer a reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Indeed, their love, their hate, and their zeal have already perished, and they will never again have a portion in all that is done under the sun.” But even then, as we piece together these additional truths, bits of truth from the Old Testament, we see that alongside some of these more shadowy and gloomy depictions of Sheol; are passages which reveal that there is some sense in the Old Testament of a bright and even joyful life after death for the original chosen people of God, Israel. Like these. This is God speaking to Abram. Genesis 15:15, “As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age.” And we know that God made good on that promise. Genesis 25:8, “And Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of days; and he was gathered to his people.” Or look at this from Job 19:25-27, “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will rise up over the dust of this world. Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall behold God, whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes will see and not another.” That’s a Resurrection passage as we will get to later. Here’s David in Psalm 17:15. “As for me, I shall behold Your face in righteousness; I will be satisfied with Your likeness when I awake.” So Sheol can be thought of as a place of the dead for Old Testament times. But it can also be thought of as this place that must have had these different compartments. One compartment for some who had faith and they would therefore experience the blessing and favor of God like Abraham or David. While others, the wicked, would would be placed somewhere else within Sheol and this place would be a place where the wicked and the unregenerate, the unsaved would be consigned to darkness and gloom in a place that sounds very much like what we would think of as hell. Here’s another term. Hades. This is in a sense, the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew term Sheol. In fact, in the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the word Sheol is almost always translated with this Greek word, Hades. Sometimes the word Hades is used more broadly and it’s linked to death more generally like here, in John’s vision of Him in Revelation 1:18, Jesus said to John, “I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever and ever, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.” And then other times, that word Hades is used to describe a place of punishment for the wicked. Matthew 11:23, “And Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day.” Or here Luke 10:15, a parallel passage. “You, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades!” Then here, Luke 16:22-23. “Now it happened that the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom, and the rich man also died and was buried. And in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom.” In each of these cases, Hades refers to the dwelling, the abode of the unbeliever between his death and his eventual judgment at the Great White Throne judgment that we’ll get to eventually in Revelation 20. The lost in Hades are conscious as we see here in Luke 16:23-24. They are in torment as we see in this passage. “In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.” The place where this conscious torment is experienced is described with a number of different terms in Scripture. It’s described as the fiery furnace. Matthew 13:42, “The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and (He) will throw them into the fiery furnace.” It’s also described using the terms outer darkness. Matthew 22:13, “Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 25:30 “Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” But note that Hades is not the final destination of those who end up going there. Those who go to Hades who die and go to Hades, they’re eventually going to be resurrected unto judgment. John 5:28-29, “Do not marvel at this (says Jesus) for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.” More on that later. There’s also this. Those who are in Hades along with Hades itself actually, will ultimately be cast one day into the lake of fire which is the ultimate destination of all the wicked and the unbelieving in this world who die in an unrepentant state of sin. Revelation 20:13-14 says “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them, and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.” A lake which burns not only fire, but also with brimstone. Revelation 21:8, “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” Now I don’t know what everybody’s church background is here this evening. I know we have visitors with us tonight. But many will argue and some have argued that the whole idea of eternal punishment for sinners, doesn’t line up they’d say, with God being compassionate and merciful and loving. So, in their view, God must get to a place where He’s eventually going to show mercy to those who are in Hades, or later in the lake of fire. And He’s eventually going to just snuff out the wick of their existence and annihilate them completely, just putting them out of their misery. I don’t think so. Consider just some of these texts which speak to the eternal nature of the punishment that is going to be meted out by God, according to God Himself which is perfectly consistent with His perfect standards of perfect justice. Matthew 25:41, “Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.” Matthew 25:46, “These will go away into eternal punishment.” Or consider these passages which say the same things albeit with different words when they speak of the unquenchable fire in which unbelievers in hell will burn. Matthew 3:12, “He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Mark 9:43, “If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire.” Mark 9:47-48, “And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.” Just as heaven is for real, so too is hell. Those who reject Jesus Christ as Savior in this life, those who die in this life, who die in their sins, without accepting what He’s done for them and accepting His sacrifice, they will go to hell. And hell, as we’re seeing here is really just a layover, a stopping-off point, on their way to their eternal destination, which is actually the lake of fire, where they will live in torment for eternity. Louis Berkhof offers a helpful summary of the Bible’s teachings on hell. He says, “Positively it may be said to consist in (A), a total absence of the favor of God; (this is his comprehensive definition of hell) (B) an endless disturbance of life as a result of the complete domination of sin; (C) positive pains and sufferings in body and soul; and (D) such subjective punishments as pangs of conscience, anguish, despair, weeping, and gnashing of teeth.” A fearful, truly fearful place to end up. But a place that can be avoided entirely by placing one’s faith in Jesus Christ. If you’re here this evening as someone who has not put your faith in Jesus Christ, whether you’re here visiting the kids as they were singing these beautiful songs tonight or if you’re here as a long time attendee who has been deceived this entire time, if you only hear one passage tonight, I will recite it for you right now. If you hear one passage tonight it’s II Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some consider slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” The Lord is slow. He is long suffering. He’s patient. The fact that He’s given you time to make your way through this world though you reject Him and reject His Son, there is still time as long as you have breath in your lungs to give your life to Jesus Christ. To believe upon His death. To believe upon His Resurrection. To know that you can have your sins forgiven, the sin debt wiped away, cleared entirely. You can know that when you’re eyes close in death that you will be with the Lord forever, rather than facing this fearful horrible consequence for your sin. So, if you’ve yet to put your faith in Christ, my prayer for you, I beg of you, is that you would give your life to Him tonight and enjoy eternal life. We’ve considered THE DEATH OF MAN. We’ve considered THE INTERMEDIATE STATE OF MAN. Here’s our third one for tonight. THE RESURRECTION OF MAN. Now when you look at this topic, when you study the Resurrection of man, meaning the future resurrection of mankind, it always has to connect back to the return of Christ as we’re going to see in a moment because these two, the return of Christ and the Resurrection of man are inseparably joined. The teaching of Scripture though is clear. As sure as the Lord came a first time, Jesus came the first time, He’s going to come again. He came lowly the first time as a babe born in a manger in Bethlehem. But the second time He comes, He’s returning as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords as we saw this morning in full glory. Now how this whole sequence of events will take place, how they’ll unfold in terms of the timing of the Lord’s Second Coming and where the Rapture fits in with this whole phase of events, that again falls under the heading of General Eschatology which we’re not covering in detail tonight. Rather we’re leaving it tonight to Individual Eschatology, or Personal Eschatology. And studying it from that angle, the more generic understanding and the more generic belief is that just as Christ came literally one time, He will come again. He’ll come literally and physically and actually He’s going to return in the very same way His Disciples saw Him depart. Acts 1:11, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.” Of course, for His followers, the fact that Christ is coming back, is a source of great encouragement and joy and hope for every single one of us. The reality of the future coming of Christ, reminds us of many things. Like number one not to attach ourselves to this world since this world is not our home. Philippians 3:20-21, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly await for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by His working through which He is able to even subject all things to Himself.” The reality of the future coming of Christ reminds us even as we looked at this morning, that one day we’re going to behold the glory of our Savior. Titus 2:13, “We’re looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” I John 3:2, “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not been manifested as yet what we will be. We know that when He is manifested, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.” The reality of the future coming of Christ, His Second Coming, spurs us on to godly living for Him. I John 3:3, “And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” Peter even emphasized in II Peter 3:11, “What sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,” in light of the future events to come. And the reality of the future coming of Christ ought to be a comfort to the Believer. I Thessalonians 4:18, “Therefore comfort one another with these words.” So, Christ coming back for His church is not an event that the Believer fears or dreads. It’s the opposite. It’s a source of joy and delight and we say, Revelation 22:20, “Amen. Come Lord Jesus.” Well, the return of Christ is important as we consider our broader topic here, the Resurrection of Christ because again these two are connected. First, we remember that Jesus Himself was resurrected from the grave. I Corinthians 15:20, “But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” Two verses later, I Corinthians 15:22, “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.” And now look here, and here’s this connection. I Corinthians 15:23, “But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming.” In other words, Christ rose from the grave, He was resurrected, we celebrate the empty tomb certainly every Easter morning but really every Sunday morning. He is the first fruits, the forerunner, the trailblazer, for all who will, like Him, one day be raised. I Corinthians 15:23, those “who are Christ’s” it says will be raised, resurrected at His coming. Now this idea of the Resurrection as Paul taught on it in detail in I Corinthians 15, it wasn’t some novel teaching by Paul when he taught on this topic of the Resurrection of Believers. Jesus repeatedly spoke of the Resurrection during His earthy ministry. John 5:28-29, “An hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.” And then the Lord said this in John 6:39-40, “Now this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:54, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” Note that link continually between having eternal life culminating in being raised up, resurrected by Christ one day. After the raising of Lazarus, Jesus said this. John 11:25-26, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die, ever. Do you believe this?’” So, the Resurrection wasn’t new to Paul. It wasn’t something he even knew that Jesus introduced. It’s not like Jesus in being raised from the dead was the first time any Jew of the time had conceived of the idea of there being such a thing as a resurrection. It was all through the Old Testament. Like here, Isaiah 26:19, “Your dead will live; their corpses will rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and shout for joy, for your dew is as the dew of the dawn, and the earth will give birth to the departed spirits.” Or here, Daniel 12:2, “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to reproach and everlasting contempt.” That sounds a lot like Jesus in John 5:28-29. Job 19:25-27, “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will rise up over the dust of this world. Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall behold God (that’s Resurrection language) Whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes will see and not another.” Or here’s David who refers to some sort of awakening in God’s presence. Psalm 17:15, “As for me, I shall behold Your face in righteousness.” Or the sons of Korah, who expressed their hope in a rescue from the power of death, while being received into God’s presence. Psalm 49:15, “But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, for He will receive me.” Or here’s Asaph, who had faith that God would guide him through this life, and that when his life was over, the Lord would receive him into His presence. Psalm 73:24, “With Your counsel You will lead me, and afterward take me in glory.” The point is there’s quite a bit of Old Testament evidence, I haven’t even given you all of them, related to the reality of a future Resurrection of the dead. But even then, we know as we study the New Testament Gospels, that even in Jesus’ time as He interacted with different groups, the lawyers, and the scribes and the Pharisees and the Sadducees, that it wasn’t always obvious for every Jew of this time that man would in fact be raised from the dead. There were some who rejected the notion. We know as we read the Gospels and Acts, that the Pharisees accepted the idea of the resurrection, but the Sadducees did not. Acts 23:8, “For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor an angel, nor a spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.” Now whether or not the Sadducees accepted or rejected the idea of a Resurrection really is of no moments because the reality is Jesus did rise from the grave. He was resurrected and as we’ve seen He was the first fruits of those who had fallen asleep. I Corinthians 15:20, He was the first person who rose from the dead, never to die again. Acts 26:23, He’s “the first of the resurrection from the dead.” The Resurrection of Christ was to be at the heart of the preaching of His initial Apostles and followers. Acts 4:33, “And with great power the apostles were bearing witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.” And the Resurrection is to be remembered by His followers. II Timothy 2:8, “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead.” Again, the Resurrection of Christ, what it did was it paved the way, it served as the cornerstone of Christ’s raising both the righteous and the unrighteous on the last day. John 5:28-29, “An hour is coming, in which all those who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.” That’s echoed here in Acts 24:15, “There shall certainly be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.” Let’s start with the Resurrection of the righteous. That’s what it’s called here in Luke 14:14, “You will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for it will be repaid to you at the resurrection of the righteous.” A synonym is the Resurrection of Life, John 5:29. Now this Resurrection, the Resurrection of the righteous, this will occur first in connection with Christ coming for His church. I Thessalonians 4:16, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.” So, the dead in Christ, church-age saints, will rise first. The Lord will raise their bodies from the dead as He returns for the church and shuts down the current church age. Then the Lord is going to resurrect after this, saved people from other generations as He sets up His Kingdom on earth. That includes resurrecting the Old Testament saints and also resurrecting those who die during the Tribulation. They are known as the Tribulation martyrs. Now in terms of the mechanics of what’s going to happen in the Resurrection of the righteous, for some while they’re still living, and some it’s going to happen at the Rapture. For some it’s going to happen after their physical bodies have already perished. In all cases, the result will be the same. I Corinthians 15:51-52, “I tell you a mystery: we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.” In other words, our immaterial natures, our souls, at this point of the Resurrection, they will be reunited with a body but not the body that we lived in here on this earth. Rather with a new resurrected body. One that has been changed from corruptible to incorruptible. One that has been changed from decaying to restored. One that’s been changed from mortality to immortality. One that’s been changed from dishonor and weakness to glory and to power. As our Lord received a resurrected body, so too will we. Philippians 3:20-21, “Our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory.” Our bodies today resemble Adam’s body after he sinned. But our resurrected bodies are going to be like Jesus’ resurrected body, prepared to live forever in the eternal state. This is just going to be another way that we’re conformed to be more like Jesus. Romans 8:29, “Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son.” And in our new glorified bodies, we’re going to be able to express Christlikeness in ways that we weren’t about to in these physical bodies. How we think, the way we emote, the will that we demonstrate. I John 3:2, “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not been manifested as yet what we will be. We know that when He is manifested, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.” So that’s a little bit on the Resurrection of the righteous, the Resurrection unto life. What about the Resurrection of the unrighteous? Because Acts 24:15 says “there shall certainly be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.” There’ll be a Resurrection of both the justified and the unjust. And that Second Resurrection is known as the Resurrection of Judgment. John 5:29. We do know from Scripture that the Lord Jesus will raise the unsaved dead, after He reigns for a thousand years, as it’s laid out at the beginning of Revelation 20. And He’s going to unite the spirits of these unsaved dead which have up to this point been in torment in Hades, with Resurrection bodies in which they’re going to receive the judgment that’s due them to them on account of their wickedness and their sin. That takes us to the fourth point tonight, THE JUDGMENT OF MAN. The reality is and nobody likes to talk about this, certainly not with cheer or glee, but God is going to judge the world. He’s going to judge sin and He’s going to judge sinners. The sinners and the unregenerate and the mockers and the scoffers of today. They deny this will happen. They laugh at the notion that this will happen. But the reality is God is going to judge them. They may get through their 70 or 80 years of life and then their bodies go into the ground and then they go off to Hades. Then, as God prepares to bring things to their Eschatological conclusion, He’s not only going to raise the righteous, but He’s going to raise the unrighteous. He’s going to raise the unrighteous so that they might be judged. That’s how it’s going to happen. That’s how it’s going to go down. It is revealed here in Revelation 20:11-15, where we have the description of the Great White Throne Judgment. “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sits upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. Then I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them, and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” That is the ultimate judgment that the unbeliever will face one day. He will stand before God’s holy throne. He’ll have his whole life played for him and there will be no appeals, there will be no last-ditch efforts, there will be no hope. Instead, he’ll be rightly and justly judged according to his deeds. And then, he’ll be thrown into the lake of fire, where he’ll burn forever, for his unrepentant sin and rebellion. It won’t be only the unbeliever who is judged. We know from Scripture that Believers will be judged, too. Believers will be judged at the judgment seat of Christ. We have a reference here, II Corinthians 5:10, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” Here are a couple of other references that I’ll show you. I Corinthians 3:13-15, “Each man’s work will become evident, for the day will indicate it because it is revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” Also, Romans 14:10-12, “But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you view your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, ‘As I live, says the Lord, to Me every knee shall bow, and every tongues confess to God.’ So, then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.” These speak of that judgment seat of Christ for Believers, for Christians for deeds done within the body. Now note. This is not a judgment of damnation. As Believers we can cling to truths like these, I John 4:18, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment.” Rather, the Believers judgment, the judgment seat of Christ, that will involve a judgment of evaluation, an evaluation of our faithfulness. A judgment that can lead to loss, loss of eternal rewards but certainly cannot lead to a true believer being kicked out or left out of the family of God. But big picture. Even though God is reserving judgment on this planet and its occupants for a future day, as it says here II Peter 3:7, “But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.” Judgment will come. Christ will come. He’ll raise the dead, both the righteous and the unrighteous. Judgment will be meted out appropriately to both groups. Look at these words from Psalm 96:13 which picks up both. “Yahweh, for He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in His faithfulness.” Last point. THE ETERNAL STATE OF MAN. Let’s start here as we cover this last one with this truth. That if you put your faith in Jesus Christ, if He is the Savior and Lord of your life, you have eternal life right now. You have eternal life already. If you’re rightly related to God through His Son, you don’t have to wait for eternal life. It’s already been given to you. You have eternal life today. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have (present day) eternal life.” So eternal life exists right now for the follower of Christ. But in the end where will this eternal life be ultimately enjoyed? After Christ returns, after the resurrections, after the judgments, where are we going to spend eternity? Well again there’s two tracts here. For the unbeliever, the answer is simple. They will spend eternity again, in the lake of fire. Revelation 20:14-15, “This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” Now what about for the Believer? Well, going back to the days of the Old Testament, there was always an anticipation of a coming new heaven and earth as we see here. Isaiah 65:17, “For behold, I am creating a new heaven and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered or come upon the heart.” Isaiah 66:22, “For just as the new heavens and the new earth which I make will endure before Me,’ declares Yahweh, ‘so your seed and your name will endure.” Then when we get to the New Testament Peter said something similar, as he predicted a future day of judgment on the present day heavens and earth. II Peter 3:7, “But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.” II Peter 3:10, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be found out.” But then Peter prophesied further. II Peter 3:13, “But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.” Then we get to the book of Revelation. We’re told in Revelation 21:1 that the final eternal abode for Believers will be “a new heaven and a new earth,” where we’ll live in a place known as the New Jerusalem, a place that is brilliant in its beauty. Revelation 21:10-11, “And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like precious stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper.” This is a place that God has provided such detailed and rich description, including descriptions of the walls and the gates of this city, the New Jerusalem. Revelation 21:12-13, “It had a great and high wall. It had twelve gates and at those gates, twelve angels; and names have been written on those gates, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. There were three gates on the east and three gates on the north and three gates on the south and three gates on the west.” He describes the foundation stones of the city. Revelation 21:14, “And the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” We get the dimensions of this city. Revelation 21:15-18, “And the one who spoke with me had a gold measuring rod to measure the city and its gates and its wall. And the city is laid out as a square, and its length is as great as the width; and he measured the city with the rod, 12,000 stadia; its length and width and height are equal. And he measured its wall, 144 cubits, according to human measurements, which are also angelic measurements. And the material of the wall was jasper, and the city was pure gold, like glass.” Then he speaks of the adornment of this city that we’ll live in forever. This is not like living on a cloud folks. This is the New Jerusalem where we are going to spend eternity. Look at the description here. Revelation 21:19-21, “The foundation stones of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation stone was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was a single pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.” Then He describes the accessibility of the city, Revelation 21:22, “And I saw no sanctuary in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its sanctuary.” Then He describes its light, it’s illumination. Revelation 21:23, “And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.” And then He describes its purpose. Revelation 21:24, “And the nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.” Last, we’re given this description of this city’s parallel. Namely going all the way back to the Garden of Eden, where mankind’s problems all began as we saw back in week one of this study. Revelation 22:1-5, “Then he showed me a river of the water of life, bright as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His slaves will serve Him; and they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. And there will no longer be any night, and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them, and they will reign forever and ever.” That’s where we will one day be as those who have received eternal life, we will be there for all of eternity. Not in Lincoln, Nebraska, not at Indian Hills Community Church, but the New Jerusalem. Now I say, “Oh for that day. Come quickly Lord Jesus. Get us there.” That wraps up our summerlong study of anthropology. We have looked at, by way of review, THE ORIGIN OF MAN, THE IMAGE OF GOD IN MAN, THE CONSTITUTION OF MAN, THE DESIGN FOR MAN, THE INTRINSIC VALUE OF MAN, THE FALL OF MAN, THE DEPRAVITY OF MAN, THE CONSCIENCE OF MAN, THE NEED OF MAN, and tonight THE FUTURE OF MAN. If you can believe it, we’re actually halfway through the ten-year commitment I made quite a few years ago now, to take us through every summer, every conventional category of systematic theology. We had Theology Proper, year one. Bibliology year two. Christology year three. Pneumatology year four. Anthropology year five. That means, you folks have endured 50 hours of teaching in systematic theology. Next year, Lord willing in Year Six, we’re going to cover Hamartiology, the doctrine of sin. We’re going to spend the whole summer in the evenings studying sin. We are not tickling ears here at Indian Hills, are we?