YOU HAVE JUST DIED!
Your thoughts begin racing back and forth over your life, over the circumstances surrounding your death, and over all the things you thought you would do–everything you left unfinished. You think of the possessions you had, the plans you made, and the people you left behind. Strangely, however, none of that seems important right now. At this point in time, at this transitional moment, you know there is but one thing that matters, and that is God. You are so thankful you know Him and so grateful you have walked with Him.
As your thoughts continue racing, you suddenly find yourself in the presence of God’s holy angels, staring at the most incredible sight that could ever be. There before you seated upon a magnificent, pure-sapphire throne is a sight so awesome, so incredible, so breathtakingly beautiful that words could never describe it. There before you, in all of His glory, arrayed with all majesty and honor, and surrounded by the brilliance of a rainbow, sits Almighty God, creator, ruler and judge of the entire universe. You stare in total amazement, overcome by awe at the sight before you. Then as the Lord rises, you, almost trembling, yet filled with joy and excitement, quickly and reverently bow before Him, proclaiming that He (Jesus Christ) is your Lord.
The Lord then turns to face a group of angels who are gathered around an enormous book. After a moment of searching, one of them turns, and upon bowing very low before the throne, joyfully announces that your name is there your name is recorded in the Book of Life. A shout of joy literally erupts around the throne as the whole room breaks forth into a celebration of rejoicing and praising God. One of the angels, who has been standing behind you, now gets your attention and, with an enormous smile, congratulates you, welcomes you, and commends you for your decision to accept Jesus.
As the celebration continues, you turn once again to face the Lord, and this time you really see Him. As you look past all the excitement and past all the grandeur, you truly see the Lord your God–the Lord your Father. You look directly into the eyes of the One who loves you, the eyes that though seeing your every weakness, your every failure, even your earlier rebellion, continually and compassionately watched over you with love. You see the hands that have guided you, provided for you, protected you, and were nailed to the cross for your sins. And in His smile, you see His heart, the heart of a Father who has been longing for this moment, when He could be with you perfectly. Then, with the voice that both gave you life and called you to salvation, He speaks the words, “Welcome home my child, I love you.”
After a most wonderful time of fellowship, the angel who first congratulated you begins moving toward a door at the side of the room and motions for you to follow. You look questioningly at the Lord, and He tells you, “Go and see. Go and look at your inheritance.” As you follow the angel out of the room, you become instantly and wonderfully aware of the continued presence of the Lord. You feel His presence infinitely more than you had ever experienced on earth. You just stop and smile, feeling totally immersed in the love of God and knowing that it will be like this forever.
As you stand there just enjoying the feeling, you suddenly begin to notice your surroundings. You are in a city, an incredible city, a city beyond all cities. It’s magnificent- bigger, brighter, and more beautiful than any place you have ever imagined. It stretches farther, reaches higher, and spreads out wider than any city that man has ever dreamed of. It’s impeccably clean, incredibly pure, and it sparkles. The whole city sparkles! As you take a closer look, you realize it’s gold! The city is made of gold, even the streets! And there are jewels–gems and crystals–everywhere. Millions of them! Billions of them! Emeralds and sapphires, amethyst, topaz, jasper, jacinth, and many others- all reflecting the beautiful light into every color in the spectrum. There is also a dazzling wall of jasper surrounding the city with enormous pearl gates.
As you continue looking around, observing that it is the same in every direction, you begin to notice something else. There are no shadows. It’s as if the light comes from every direction. As you look up to find the position of the sun, you amazingly can’t find it. The sun is not there! You look at the angel (undoubtedly with a very bewildered look on your face), and he smiles and says, “We don’t need it here; heaven is lighted by the glory of God.” Your next question is naturally about night (is there such a thing?), and he tells you, “You will never experience darkness again.” Somehow you understand that he is not only talking about physical darkness, but spiritual darkness as well. Here, there is no sin, nor any of it’s results, no sickness, sadness, death, pain, loneliness, or heartache. You also see a beautiful river as clear as crystal flowing out from the Lord’s throne and directly down the middle of the main street of the city. Also, on each side of the river is a tree, a strange and beautiful tree, bearing wonderful crops of fruit on every limb. The angel explains that this “tree of life” had originally been in the Garden of Eden, but after Adam and Eve sinned, the Lord had to keep them away from it. If they had eaten its fruit at that time (after they had sinned), they would have had to live forever separated from Him.
The angel once again starts walking and tells you, “Come on, there are some people waiting to see you.” After a few steps, you begin to see some people off in the distance. As you get closer, you begin to recognize them. They are the people whom you knew on earth–the ones who had accepted Jesus and were able to come to this blessed place before you. You see friends, family members, and other acquaintances, many of whom you have not seen in a very long time. As they come to greet you, you feel for them a pure, undefiled, Christ like (all is forgiven) love, and you know they feel the same for you. They come with hugs and kisses, hand shakes, and joyous “welcome-home” smiles on their faces.
Your friends and loved ones then begin to tell you all about the wonderful life here in heaven and how, even with the lack of marriage (the lack of individual families), your relationships are all such a blessing. (You get to spend all of eternity with your forgiven loved ones, but there is no separation from the love of others.) They also tell you about the wonderful things that God is planning to do–both here and on earth–and that someday, this whole glorious city is going to descend to rest upon a brand-new earth. You question, “So heaven is going to be on earth?” The angel quickly reiterates, “Not on earth; upon the ‘new earth,’ a whole new and glorious planet.” He explains that the new one will be very much different from the one which now exists and far more beautiful. It will have no deserts, no seas, and just as it is in this city, the new earth will have no sun. It too will be lighted by the glory of God. Man shall never again suffer the heat of the sun, the freezing cold of winter, or anything else which would make him uncomfortable. He then explains that before that time, over a thousand years from now, there are many more things which must first take place. God is even now preparing to remove the rest of His children from the earth, and is then going to pour out His wrath on the remaining inhabitants (all the people who have rejected Him). The earth is about to experience what the Bible calls the “tribulation”–seven years of the most horrible judgment it ever has, or ever will see. The last half is actually referred to as the “great tribulation,” as it is going to be far more severe than the first half. This judgment (just one part of which is another world war) is going to be so severe that most of the people left on earth will die. (One of God’s major forms of judgment has always been to let humanity destroy itself through war.) Near the end, it is going to be so horrible that many of the rebellious people who are left are going to want to die, but they will not be able to- for a time.
At the end of this time, however, just before all remaining life on earth is about to be destroyed, Jesus will return and stop it. He will then set up an earthly kingdom and physically rule the world–from Jerusalem–for a thousand years (a millennium). Jesus will be the World Ruler, and for the first time since the beginning of sin, there really will be peace on earth. Even the animals will live in peace. One of your loved ones then excitedly says, “And we get to be there too! We get to go back with Him–in our new glorified bodies–to help Him rule.” (The more we serve God in this life, the more authority we will have in the next.) The angel then tells you that unfortunately, in order to make this blessed time possible, God is going to put to death every person left who refuses to accept Him during this time of judgment. He is going to do it instantaneously upon His return. The only people who are going to enter into these thousand years of peace–in their earthly bodies–are the ones who accept salvation during the tribulation and survive until the end. Unfortunately, this is not going to be easy. Becoming a Christian during the tribulation will most likely get people killed, as the world ruler during this time will be personally controlled by Satan. (He’s going to make Hitler look like a bad kid.) The Bible refers to this man in many ways–the “anti Christ,” the “beast,” the “abomination that causes desolation,” and the “man of lawlessness”–and he is going to kill every Christian (and every Jew) that God allows.
At the end of this time of judgment, Satan will be confined to keep him from influencing the world throughout the thousand years of peace. Consequently, the only sin problems people will face will be their own fallen natures. There will still be sin, and many who will be born during these thousand years are going to reject God; but between Jesus ruling the world, the absence of Satan, and God’s glorified children being there to help fight evil, this time will indeed be blessed.
At the end of this thousand year period, Satan will again be released for a short period of time. He will provide the people on earth with a final opportunity to choose between following him and their own sinful natures or following God. There will be one final war and then it will all end. God will throw Satan and the rest of the demons into the lake of fire–where they will be tormented day and night forever–God will then create the new heavens and the new earth and set His throne upon it–when this glorious city descends. His blessed, perfect, and eternal kingdom will at last be established and we will be there with Him living and loving and reigning forever.
forever!
Forever!
Forever!
Forever!