The Hope of the Gospel (Future: The End of the World)

Over the last several articles, we have been looking at issues of eschatology. In particular, in a previous article, we talked about the resurrection--that at the rapture, the bodies of Christians who have died will be returned to life, to a new, glorified life. This is something that is taught throughout the Bible. But it is not taught in isolation. We have this prophecy in Daniel: “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” (Daniel 12:2) This is echoed in the words of Jesus concerning Himself: “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” (John 5:28-29) Finally, we have the testimony of Paul regarding his beliefs: “And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.” (Acts 24:15)

All of this is to say that there is a second resurrection, a resurrection of shame or damnation which is for those who are not in Christ, those who are not part of the rapture/resurrection. Assumably, most of what we said regarding the resurrection body of the saint will not apply here. Even to call this a return to life seems wrong; the picture is more of a conscious, existent death than life. The dead will be raised to a new existence; and if there are wicked people still left alive by this point, they will assumably clothed in new bodies capable of eternal existence, just as the living saints are.

I think the reason for this resurrection is what I said before; to be a human means to have a spirit and a body. The spirit without the body is not complete any more than the body without the spirit. And therefore it is in this state—the state of a body and spirit—that both the righteous and the unrighteous will face eternity.

When does this resurrection happen? If you are a post-tribulational post-millennialist, then you would see this resurrection as being simultaneous with the rapture and the resurrection of the righteous. If you are a pre-tribulational pre-millennialist, then you would see this resurrection as coming after the tribulation and the millennium, and so separated from the resurrection of the righteous by 1007 years. But in either case, this is the end of this world and the beginning of the next.

However, before we move forward to the future, we need to touch on something. For many Christians (and perhaps for some of the wicked) there will be an immediate transition from this life to the next. But many of both will (and have already) died before any of this eschatological stuff happens. So what happens in the meantime?

The general belief of Christianity is something called the intermediate state. The intermediate state is the mode of existence for the human spirit during the time between the body's death and its resurrection. The general understanding is that the soul of the Christian experiences blessedness in the presence of God and the soul of the wicked experiences torment during this state. When we speak of someone dying and going to Heaven or Hell, we are referring to this intermediate state. If this belief is correct, this state ends with the resurrection(s), when both the righteous and the wicked, reclothed in flesh, will face their final home.

And now we reach one of the most pivotal and solemn moments in the Bible. “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27) “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.” (Revelation 20:12) 

Here we have a description of the judgment. In this world, there is sometimes justice. Sometimes good is rewarded and evil is punished. But it is often not the case; often the reverse is true. But the Bible makes it clear that this is not the whole picture. In the end, everyone will be held accountable for their actions. 

There are three views regarding the timing of the judgment. First, some—especially those who believe in a pre-tribulation rapture—think there are two separate judgments; one for the Christian at the rapture, and another for the wicked following the millennium. Second, some believe in a single, universal judgment of all men at the end of time. Third, some believe that each soul is judged individually at the point of death.

Regarding the belief that there are two judgments, one for the Christian and another for the sinner, this is usually founded on the belief that the Christians will be judged by the Son and the world will be judged by the Father. However, look at Acts 17:31: “Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” Or, again, John 5:22: “For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.”

Furthermore, nearly every picture of the judgment in the Bible pictures a single judgment, a point of division. Take for example this parable: “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.” (Matthew 13:47-48) This is only a picture, but it does seem to picture a single, universal judgment.

However, the timing of the judgment is not very important. What is important is that is coming. There will be judgment and it will be just. This judgment will be by God, and this is what the writer of Hebrews says about God: “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” (Hebrews 4:13) There will be no deceit and no cover-ups in this court. 

Paul shows the absolute justice of this judgment in Romans 2:6-8: “Who will render to every man according to his deeds: to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: but unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath.”

Given the harsh, absolute nature of this judgment, the obvious question is: how can anyone survive it? Can anyone actually stand and be declared innocent before this court? The answer is found in Romans 1:16-17: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.”

The only hope anyone has in the day of judgment is faith in the atonement provided by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Nicholas von Zinzindorf wrote: “Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness/my beauty are, my glorious dress;/'midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed,/with joy shall I lift up my head./Bold shall I stand in Thy great day,/for who aught to my charge shall lay?/Fully absolved through these I am,/from sin and fear, from guilt and shame.” Our life now, our faith and the trying of that faith, is all in preparation for that.

C. S. Lewis wrote: “In the end that Face which is the delight or the terror of the universe must be turned upon each of us either with one expression or the other... It is written that we shall “stand before” Him, shall appear, shall be inspected. The promise of glory is the promise, almost incredible and only possible by the work of Christ, that some of us, that any of us who really chooses, shall actually survive that examination, shall find approval, shall please God. To please God... to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in a son—it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is.” (The Weight of Glory, 13)

The judgment is nearly always pictured in binary terms; some will be taken and others left. It is an inescapable either/or. There is no halfway point between being saved and being lost. However, it does appear as if there will be degrees of punishment and reward among those who are saved or lost. Jesus told a parable in which He compared His return to a master returning and taking account of how his servant had acted in his absence. And He gives this addendum to the parable: “And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.” (Luke 12:47-48) 

On the other side, we have the words of Paul. Paul speaks of Christian workers as builders, building upon the foundation of Christ. He warns such builders to be careful and that there are good and bad building materials. He ends with these words: “If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.” (1 Corinthians 3:14-15) The implication seems to be that there will be a difference in reward for Christ's followers by how they have followed. Their work will be judged as well as their soul.

And after the judgment and all these other events, in whatever order they occur, we have the end of all things.

This is what Peter had to say about eschatology: “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” (2 Peter 3:10) We have again the warning we have seen several times that Christ's return will be unexpected, like a thief in the night. But what I want to highlight is that Peter also describes a complete destruction of this world—the earth, the heavens, and the elements. Elements may mean the composite parts of a thing—as we say that the elements are the basic atoms that comprise everything in the world. In that sense, Peter may be picturing even the atoms of this world falling apart. On the other hand, the Greek word is sometimes used to refer to stars and planets. The NET Bible translates this passage: “The heavens will disappear with a horrific noise, and the celestial bodies will melt away in a blaze, and the earth and every deed done on it will be laid bare.”

In either case, what is pictured here is a complete destruction of the universe. This is in a strict and exact sense, “The end of the world.” This comes at the end of the tribulation and the millennium in whatever order you put those, but probably before the judgment. However, I bring it up here to make a point. The end of the world is not really the end. Look at what John told his readers: “And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” (1 John 2:17)

We as human beings will outlast this world and will exist forever. This universe will pass away and we will remain. But remember what we have previously established. Before we reach this point, we have already seen the resurrection. Both the righteous and the wicked will be reclothed in bodies which, whatever their differences to each other or to our present bodies, will at least be capable of eternal existence. And if there are bodies there must be somewhere for them to be.

Speaking of the resurrection, C. S. Lewis wrote:  “It is the picture of a new human nature, and a new Nature in general, being brought into existence. We must, indeed, believe the risen body to be extremely different from the mortal body: but the existence, in that new state, of anything that could in any sense be described as 'body' at all, involves some sort of spatial relations and in the long run a whole new universe. That is the picture—not of unmaking but of remaking.” (Miracles, 244) We see this in Revelation 21:1: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.”

This world is in a constant state of decay. In Romans, Paul describes the world groaning in pain because of its futility, its broken, deteriorating state. But someday there will be a new world that will stand forever. 

The first thing to note about this eternal state is that, just like the resurrection, it is divided. There are, so to speak, two eternities or two eternal states, two places where men will spend eternity. We usually refer to these two states or places as “heaven” and “hell.” But people also use these terms to refer to the intermediate state so it becomes a little complicated, especially as the Bible doesn't usually use its language nearly as precisely as theologians wish it did. For convenience's sake, we will use these terms here.

In the middle of speaking of the world of the righteous, John adds this ominous aside: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8) Jesus pictures the same thing in Mark 9:43-44: “And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”

Hell is a place or state of punishment for those who lived in sin in this life and refused to accept God's provision for salvation. This raises the question: could any amount of sin in time merit an eternal punishment? That seems like a large disproportion between punishment and crime. This is a deep question that you could spend a long time with, but for our purposes, I want to point out two things, one from common sense, the other from theology.

From common sense: as we look at this world, we see good and evil in the world; we virtue and vice; kindness and cruelty. And in this mixed state, even while there is much goodness in the world, we can see in very clear detail the results of sin and evil. We see what effect crime and hate and lust and greed and strife have on both the sinner and those around them. We can see how even the best and highest aspects of life can become easily corrupted and turned into something bad. If God were to withdraw His hand, His grace which speaks to the conscience of man and gives guilt and shame—if God were to leave sinful man on his own, he would create Hell-on-earth. Given the existence of sin, hell, in some form or another, is inevitable.

The objection is that if God truly loved mankind, He would not send them to Hell; He would find some kind of alternative to this harsh necessity. The answer to that, from theology, is John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” God has provided a means of escape; God has provided an alternative. We may not fully understand why such an alternative was necessary; why God couldn't simply not send people to Hell in the first place—but, if we believe in God at all, it doesn't take much faith to assume He knows better than we do about that; and that if He enacted such extreme measures as the incarnation and the crucifixion, it was only because they were the only way.

From here, we turn to the state of the saved in eternity, to heaven, or, as Revelation describes it, “the new heavens and the new earth.” John describes this place with these words: “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.” (Revelation 21:4-5)

The statement “I make all things new” implies a new creation, a fresh start. There are parts of the description in Revelation that are reminiscent of the world before the fall, the world of Genesis 1-2. But this is not simply a return to Eden, but something new. 

Notice the things specifically that John says are not in this new world: death, sorrow, crying, and pain. Those are all things which, in one way or another, are a result of sin. And so in a world without sin, they will no longer be present. As we talked about back when we were talking about the rapture, those who are part of this world will be immortal, incorruptible, and clothed in glory.

All of this has to do with the individuals who inhabit this world. But it is to be assumed that the world itself will be something glorious. This world itself has incredible beauty, even with all the marks of sin, so we would imagine the same will be true of the new world. We talked about this back in Romans—Paul pictures the natural order groaning in pain because of the futility brought about by the fall. But there is a hope, a hope that when God's people are redeemed, this will bring about glory and exaltation not just for them but for the entire natural order itself.

But here we have to make a very sharp distinction. Many religions—and many people who have no specific religion—believe in some sort of life after death. Many believe, in some way or another, that good will be rewarded and evil punished in the next life. But as Christians, our hope, our desire is not simply to find something good in the afterlife. Remember what Paul said when describing the rapture: “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 4:17) The most important part of Heaven isn't the golden street or the gates of pearl; it is the fact that we will be with God. Olin Curtis wrote: “Our Lord must be in all and over all. Let us not have any longing for anything which can exist outside of him. Let us... find our interest in eternity itself... through our desire to be forever with our Lord and those who love him supremely.” (The Christian Faith, Chapter 33)  The Westminster Catechesim asks what is the main purpose of mankind, and then gives this answer: “To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” 

Though in saying that, we must remember something else. Notice this image which John sees in Revelation 21:10: “And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.” At the heart of this new world, there is a city, a new Jerusalem. You can argue about whether this is literal or figurative, but in either case, the clear idea is of a community. Heaven is not a lonely place. The focus is on God and worshipping Him, but in Heaven, as on Earth, worship is something that we share with one another.

(I want to shout out two of my previous articles here which relate to these topics. Polishing Brass on a Sinking Ship deals with the problem of living life in the light of its temporary nature. The Problem of Heaven discusses the doubt which haunts many Christians regarding the desirability of Heaven.)