Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Commentary 

The End Never Comes

Preacher Johnson

Last week’s column ended with the battle of Armageddon and the Second Coming of Christ. Most people believe Armageddon is the end of the world, but that is not the case. This universe we now live in will melt with fervent heat a little more than a thousand years after Armageddon (2 Peter 3:10-13). But even after that, life lives on. God creates a new heaven and new earth, but far more important, every person conceived will live for eternity. It is only our place of residence that is in question.

When Christ returns at Armageddon, His feet do not touch the ground until He travels down the valley to the Mount of Olives outside Jerusalem. When He lands, the mount will split from north to south. Jesus will walk into the Temple at Jerusalem, sit down in the holy of holies, and take His place as King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Zechariah 14:4). Christ begins His one-thousand-year reign, also known as the millennium.

The wolf lives with the sheep during Christ’s reign, and the lion eats straw. (Isaiah 11).

There is a famous verse on the wall of the UN about the world beating their swords into plowshares. It is a splendid goal but only attainable once Christ is on the throne. He is the Prince of Peace, and true peace, whether on a global or personal scale, does not come without Him. The plowshares verse starts with Christ, but the UN leaves Him out of it. Isaiah 2:4, “And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: (the UN wall quote begins here) and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”

For one thousand years, the world will have the utopia it has always desired, but it can only come when the Righteous King rules.

When Christ returns, He will cast Satan into a pit for the duration of His kingdom. At the end of the millennium, Christ releases Satan. The old Devil quickly raises resistance. Christ quells the rebellion instantly by sending fire down from heaven. Satan is again captured and placed in his eternal home – the lake of fire (Revelation 20:7-10).

Once Satan is taken out of the way, everything tarnished by Satan meets its end. This event is the elements melting with fervent heat and is also described as the “earth and the heaven fled away…”

Next is the final human judgment. Revelation 20:11-15 describes the final judgment in detail. The passage says that all the dead are there. Many people read this and come up with the misnomer that this judgment includes everyone who ever lived. The problem with this thought is that all of the saved are still alive. The resurrection of the Old Testament Saints occurs at the crucifixion of Christ (Matthew 27:50-53). The church-age saints receive their resurrected bodies at the rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18; 1 Corinthians 15:50-58). Everyone saved after the rapture receives their glorified bodies at the end of the millennium (Revelation 20:4-5). Therefore, all the dead at this judgment are the unsaved from all of history.

The human race receives salvation through the blood of Christ. He was the sacrifice for our sins. Eternal life comes no other way (John 14:6). When someone hears the Word of God and trusts in what Jesus did to wash their sins away, God then grants salvation by His grace. Our good deeds and the works we accomplish on this earth do not bring eternal life. Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Twice in the five-verse description of the final judgment, we are told those there are judged “according to their works.” Considering the previous passage from Ephesians, we can see that no one at this judgment will pass the test. No one is saved by their works.

The final verdict – they are cast into the lake of fire.

God issues in a new heaven and a new earth, and Jesus wipes the tears from our eyes. We all will shed tears; after all, we just witnessed loved ones cast into the lake of fire.

Revelation 21-22 contains the most detailed description of eternity. However, the best description comes from 1 Corinthians 2:9, “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”

All of us will exist forever, either in the lake of fire or in the presence of God. Where you will reside after your few decades here is up to you.