The Resurrection: God's Answer to Life After Death

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Heaven & Hell

What Does the Bible Teach?

Introduction

Most religions and religious organizations, including most Christian denominations, teach that good people go to some sort of paradise, usually heaven, after they die. Heaven is usually characterized as a place of unsurpassable happiness-the ultimate paradise. It is commonly taught and believed that all who go there will live joyfully forever.

Yet, considering what a wonderful place it is supposed to be, it seems no one is in a hurry to go there.

Death, which according to most traditional beliefs is the gateway to heaven, is generally viewed as something to be avoided at all costs. Through medical science we usually do everything we can to prevent death as long as possible. If such a journey to heaven could be by means of some heavenly express, wouldn't we find that almost no one would want to buy a ticket? Wouldn't we find that most people would prefer the continuation of their present life here on earth to any immediate possibility of taking up residence in heaven? Our actions indicate this is the way most of us think.

An eternity doing what?

Perhaps the reason for the reluctance to enter the hereafter through death is that no one has ever provided us with a truly compelling explanation as to what the righteous would do once they arrived in heaven. If we are to spend all eternity there, you would think God would tell us in the Bible what we should expect once we arrive. Will we spend our time plucking harps? Will we sit and simply gaze upon God? These are both popular concepts of heaven, but most people can't imagine doing either for eternity. Eternity is, after all, a long time!

Maybe we should ask ourselves whether these common concepts come from the Bible. Many people who expect to go to heaven admit they can find little in the Scriptures about what they can expect once they get there. British historian and author Paul Johnson put it this way: "Heaven ... lacks genuine incentive. Indeed, it lacks definition of any kind. It is the great hole in theology" (The Quest for God, 1996, p. 173). If heaven is the goal God has set for His servants, why has He revealed so little about it in His Word, the Bible?

There is an excellent reason we encounter a vacuum when we look in the Bible for what the "saved"-those who are spared some sort of eternal punishment-will do in heaven. The reason is simple: The Bible does not say the righteous will receive heaven as their reward. As we will see, the Bible reveals that God has something else in mind-something far different and far superior to most people's concepts about heaven.

Troubling questions about hell

But heaven isn't the only problem we run into when we consider popular views of life after death. What about the unrighteous, those who don't measure up? What happens to them?

Many who profess Christianity believe the wicked will burn forever in hell. They claim to find this teaching in the Bible.

But we need to ask a simple question: Would a merciful God inflict excruciating pain and torment on human beings for millions and millions of years-throughout all eternity? Could the great Creator God of the universe be that unfeeling and uncaring? Even though "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23), the God of love, justice and mercy has no desire to see anyone, even the incorrigibly wicked, suffer in agony for all eternity.

The Bible indeed says that God "has appointed a day when He will judge the world in righteousness" (Acts 17:31). At that time those who have repented and accepted Christ as their Savior will be given eternal life. "There is no salvation through anyone else; in all the world no other name (than Jesus)' has been granted to mankind by which we can be saved" (Acts 4:12, Revised English Bible).

But what will happen in that day to the hapless people who were never fortunate enough even to be exposed to that name? Will they be cast shrieking into hell along with those who hate and despise God?

Only a minority of the earth's population lays claim to being Christian. Those who profess Christianity total only some 28 percent of the world's population. Vast numbers of the other 72 percent have never had the opportunity to genuinely repent and accept Christ simply because of where they live. Millions more through the centuries likewise never had the opportunity because of when they lived. Would it be just and right for God to subject them to the same punishment He will give to those who reject Him and make themselves His enemies?

These questions are neither trivial nor hypothetical. They affect the overwhelming majority of all people who have ever lived. When carried to their conclusions, the traditional answers have sobering implications about the character, nature and judgment of the very Being Christians claim to worship. We need to face these questions squarely and honestly. Isn't it about time we examined the truth of what the Bible teaches about heaven and hell?

Join us on a journey through the pages of history and your Bible. You may find the answers quite surprising!

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The Biblical Truth

About the Immortal Soul

Traditional beliefs about heaven and hell are based on an underlying teaching-that everyone has an immortal soul that must go somewhere after his physical life ends.

This belief isn't unique to traditional Christianity. "All religions affirm that there is an aspect of the human person that lives on after the physical life has ended" (World Scripture: A Comparative Anthology of Sacred Texts, Andrew Wilson, editor, 1995, p. 225). In other words, in general all religions believe in some kind of immortal essence, a spirit that lives on separately after the physical body dies. Most professing Christians call this the immortal soul.

Failure to properly understand this subject is a fundamental reason for the prevalent beliefs regarding heaven and hell. If an immortal quality exists in a human being, it must depart from the body when the body dies. The typical views of heaven and hell have as their foundation the belief in the immortal soul that leaves the body at death.

What does the Bible say about the existence of an immortal soul? Does this belief have a foundation in Scripture?

Many are surprised to learn that the words "immortal" and "soul" appear together nowhere in the Bible. "... Theologians frankly admit that the expression 'immortal soul' is not in the Bible but confidently state that Scripture assumes the immortality of every soul" (The Fire That Consumes, Edward William Fudge, 1994, p. 22, emphasis added).

That such an important assumption should not be explicitly taught in the Bible is surprising, considering how confidently theologians hold to this doctrine. If it isn't found in the Bible, where did the idea originate?

The New Bible Dictionary offers this background of the nonbiblical nature of the immortal-soul doctrine. "The Greeks thought of the body as a hindrance to true life and they looked for the time when the soul would be free from its shackles. They conceived of life after death in terms of the immortality of the soul ..." (1996, p. 1010, "Resurrection").

According to this idea, the body goes to the grave at death and the soul continues to exist as a separate conscious entity.

Belief in a separate soul and body was popular in Greek society and was taught by one of their most famous philosophers. "The immortality of the soul was a principal doctrine of the Greek philosopher, Plato ... In Plato's thinking, the soul ... was self-moving and indivisible ... It existed before the body which it inhabited, and which it would survive" (Fudge, p. 32).

How the immortal-soul idea entered Christianity

When did the concept of the immortality of the soul enter the world of Christianity? The Old Testament does not teach it. The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia explains: "... We are influenced always more or less by the Greek, Platonic idea that the body dies, yet the soul is immortal. Such an idea is utterly contrary to the Israelite consciousness and is nowhere found in the Old Testament" (1960, Vol. 2, p. 812, "Death").

The first-century Church did not hold to this belief, either. "... The doctrine is increasingly regarded as a post-apostolic innovation, not only unnecessary but positively harmful to proper biblical interpretation and understanding" (Fudge, p. 24).

If such an idea were not in place in the Church during the time of the apostles, how did it come to assume such an important place in Christian doctrine?

Several authorities recognize that the teachings of Plato and other Greek philosophers have profoundly influenced Christianity. Jeffrey Burton Russell states: "... The unbiblical idea of immortality did not die but even flourished, because theologians ... admired Greek philosophy (and) found support there for the notion of the immortal soul ..." (A History of Heaven, 1997, p. 79).

The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, in its article on death, states that "the 'departure' of the nephesh (soul) must be viewed as a figure of speech, for it does not continue to exist independently of the body, but dies with it ... No biblical text authorizes the statement that the 'soul' is separated from the body at the moment of death" (1962, Vol. 1, p. 802, "Death").

Should we then accept a teaching that is nonbiblical? Many people take it for granted that their doctrines are based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and the Bible. Yet Jesus said in a prayer to His Father, "Your word is truth" (John 17:17). Does God give men the liberty to draw from the world's philosophers and incorporate their beliefs into biblical teaching?

God inspired the apostle Peter to write: "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:20-21). We must look to the words of Christ, the prophets and the apostles in the Holy Scriptures if we are to understand the truth about the doctrine of the immortality of the soul or any other religious teaching.

Let's dig into the Scriptures to see exactly what the Bible tells us about the soul.

Soul in the Hebrew Scriptures

The Old Testament teaches that the soul dies. In Genesis 2:7 we find that when Adam was created he became a "living soul" (King James Version). In Genesis 9:12 the same Hebrew words are translated "living creature" and refer not to humans, but to every sort of animal distinct from man.

God told Adam and Eve, two "living souls," that they would "surely die" if they disobeyed Him (Genesis 2:17). God also told Adam that He had taken him from the dust of the earth and he would return to dust (Genesis 3:19).

In the Old Testament, man is referred to as a "soul" (Hebrew nephesh) more than 130 times. The term is also applied to sea creatures (Genesis 1:20-21), birds (verse 30) and land animals, including cattle and "creeping" creatures such as reptiles and insects (verse 24).

It follows, then, if we make an argument for man possessing an immortal soul, animals must also have an immortal soul, since the same Hebrew word is used of man and animal alike. Yet no biblical scholars would seriously make such claims for animals. The truth is, the term soul refers to any living creature (whether man or beast), not to some separate, living essence temporarily inhabiting the body.

Among the plainer statements in the Bible about what happens to the soul at death are Ezekiel 18:4 and 18:20. Both passages clearly state that "the soul who sins shall die" (emphasis added throughout). Not only do these scriptures show that the soul dies, but the soul is identified as a physical being-not a separate spirit entity having an existence independent of its physical host.

The Scriptures tell us that the dead do not have consciousness. "For the living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing ..." (Ecclesiastes 9:5). They are not conscious in some other state or place.

The New Testament teaching

The New Testament contains several statements that confirm that the wicked will die-permanently. In Matthew 7:13-14, in exhorting His disciples to choose the way that leads to life, Jesus states that the end of those who do not choose life is destruction. He contrasts that path with the way of righteousness, telling us "narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it."

The apostle Paul also stated that the wicked will die. In Romans 6:20-21 he talks about those who were slaves of sin and says that for them "the end of those things is death." So those who are slaves of sin, who habitually commit sin, can perish completely.

Romans 6:23 is one of the best-known verses of the Bible. Yet many people either overlook what it plainly says or read into it an entirely different meaning. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

This verse plainly tells us two crucial truths. First, the punishment of the wicked is death, not a life of eternal suffering in another place. Second, we do not already have eternal life. It is something God chooses to give us. We see from this verse that a fleshly human being has nothing about him that is immortal; God must give eternal life to us through our Savior, Jesus the Messiah. In 1Timothy 6:16 Paul also tells us that God alone has immortality.

Paul makes a similar statement in Galatians 6:8: "The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life" (New International Version). This tells us what happens to sinners. Eventually they will "reap destruction," but those who obey God will ultimately receive eternal life.

In Philippians 3:18 Paul speaks of those who are "enemies of the cross of Christ." Verse 19 says that their end is destruction, not eternal torment in another life after death.

Finally, in 2Thessalonians 1:9, Paul emphatically declares that the wicked will come to a complete end: "These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord ..."

So is man an immortal soul, or does he have an immortal soul? The Bible declares plainly that man is temporary, of the dust of the earth. There is no immortal quality about man at all-unless and until he receives it from God through a resurrection.

The Bible clearly states that man puts on immortality at the resurrection (1Corinthians 15:50-54), not at the end of his physical life. Until that time man has no more permanence than animals.

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Will a Loving God Punish People Forever in Hell?

Take this simple test. Or, on second thought, perhaps it's better if you just imagined it, since the test could prove quite painful.

Light a match, then hold your finger in its tiny flame for five seconds. What happens? You'll likely scream involuntarily and suffer misery for several days from a painful burn.

Perhaps you've seen a burn victim who was disfigured in some horrifying accident, his flesh gnarled and misshapen. Imagine walking into flames that would char and burn away your skin in the same way. What would that kind of agony feel like for a minute? For a year? For a lifetime?

Most people find the idea appalling almost beyond imagination. They would understandably be appalled that anyone might willingly torture another person in that way.

Why, then, are so many willing to accept the idea that the God they worship and hold in high esteem would willingly inflict such punishment not on just a few, but on a great multitude of people who die every single day? How can such a belief possibly square with the Bible's description of a God who is infinitely loving and merciful?

Hell through the centuries

The traditional view of hell as a fiery cauldron of punishment has been taught for centuries. Perhaps the first to expound this view among Christians was Tertullian, who lived around A.D. 160-225.
In the third century Cyprian of Carthage also wrote: "The damned will burn for ever in hell. Devouring flames will be their eternal portion. Their torments will never have diminution or end" (Peter Toon, Heaven and Hell: A Biblical and Theological Overview, 1986, p. 163).

This view has been officially reiterated over the centuries. An edict from the Council of Constantinople (modern Istanbul) in 543 states: "... Whoever says that the punishment of demons and the wicked will not be eternal ... let him be anathema" (D.P. Walker, The Decline of Hell: Seventeenth-Century Discussions of Eternal Torment, 1964, p. 21).

The Lateran church council in 1215 reaffirmed belief in everlasting punishment in these words: "The damned will go into everlasting punishment with the devil ..." (Toon, p. 164). The Augsburg Confession of 1530 reads: "Christ will return ... to give eternal life and everlasting joy to believers and the elect, but to condemn ungodly men and the devils to hell and eternal punishment" (Toon, p. 131).

Teachings on the subject of hell have by no means been consistent through the centuries. Beliefs about hell have varied widely, depending on which theologian's or church historian's ideas one reads. Generally speaking, the most common belief has been that hell is a place in which people are tortured, but never consumed, by ever-burning flames.

Hell's location has been a subject of much discussion. Some have held the idea that it was in the sun. For centuries the common view was that hell is inside the earth in a vast subterranean chamber.

The most comprehensive description of hell as a place, as man commonly views it, is found not in the Bible but in the 14th-century work Divine Comedy, written by the Italian poet Dante Alighieri. Dante described an imaginary journey through hell replete with its fiery sufferings.

The popular concept of hell is a mixture of small bits of Bible truth combined with pagan ideas and human imagination. As we will see, this has produced a grossly inaccurate portrayal of what happens to the wicked after death.

Modern attitudes about hell

A more modern interpretation rejects the idea of physical torment and asserts that the torture of hell is mental anguish caused by separation from God. A recent survey of modern attitudes revealed that 53 percent of Americans embrace this perspective (U.S. News & World Report, Jan. 31, 2000, p. 47).

Pope John Paul II "declared that hell is 'not a punishment imposed externally by God' but is the natural consequence of the unrepentant sinner's choice to live apart from God" (ibid., p. 48). Still others have rejected the doctrine of hell outright and believe everyone will be saved.

Why is there so much diversity in the teachings about hell? The reason is that, like the belief in the immortality of the soul, common misconceptions of hell are rife with the ideas of men rather than the teachings of the Bible.

An angry God

One of the most graphic descriptions of the torments of hell as conceived by men was given by the Puritan minister Jonathan Edwards in a 1741 sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God."

He said: "The bow of God's wrath is bent, and the arrows made ready ... (by) an angry God ... It is nothing but His mere pleasure that keeps you from being this moment swallowed up in everlasting destruction! The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you and is dreadfully provoked: His wrath towards you burns like fire; He looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire ...

"You are ten thousand times more abominable in His eyes than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended Him ... and yet it is nothing but His hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment ...

"O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in: it is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of God ... You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder."

This human concept of hell was so terrible that the prospect of such a fate caused great anguish, fear and anxiety for many Puritans. "The heavy emphasis on hell and damnation combined with an excessive self-scrutiny led many into clinical depression: suicide seems to have been prevalent" (Karen Armstrong, A History of God, 1993, p. 284).

The Puritans were not the only ones tormented by fear of hell. Many people have been terrorized by the thought of hell ever since this nonbiblical concept crept into religious teaching. Other ministers and teachers have, like Jonathan Edwards, used a similar approach to frighten people into belief and obedience.

One of the reasons this concept of hell survived is because theologians believed the teaching deterred people from evil. "It was thought that, if the fear of eternal punishment were removed, most people would behave without any moral restraint whatever and that society would collapse into an anarchical orgy" (Walker, p. 4).

Could a compassionate God torture forever?

Is it possible to reconcile this view of a God who terrorizes people with the fear of eternal torment in hell with the compassionate and merciful God we meet in the Bible?

God is a God of love who does not want any to perish (2Peter 3:9). He tells us to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44). "He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (verse 45). Yet the traditional view of hell would have us believe that God vengefully punishes His enemies through all eternity.

The idea that God sentences people to eternal punishment is so repulsive that it has turned some away from belief in God and Christianity.

One such example is Charles Darwin. In his private autobiography he wrote: "Thus disbelief crept over me at a very slow rate, but was at last complete ... I can indeed hardly see how anyone ought to wish Christianity to be true; for if so, the plain language of the text seems to show that the men who do not believe ... will be everlastingly punished. And this is a damnable doctrine" (Paul Martin, The Healing Mind: The Vital Links Between Brain and Behavior, Immunity and Disease, 1997, p. 327).

The problem is not that the Bible teaches this "damnable doctrine" but that men have misunderstood what the Bible says.

Other aspects of the traditional teaching of hell simply offend the senses. One such belief is that righteous people, who are saved, will be able to witness the torments of the wicked. "... Part of the happiness of the blessed consists in contemplating the torments of the damned. This sight gives them joy because it is a manifestation of God's justice and hatred of sin, but chiefly because it provides a
contrast which heightens their awareness of their own bliss" (Walker, p. 29).

This scenario is especially revolting for several reasons. According to such twisted reasoning, parents would inevitably witness the suffering of their own children and vice versa. Husbands and wives would see unbelieving spouses tortured forever. Worst of all, the doctrine paints God as sadistic and cruel.

More than one hell in the Bible

What is the truth about hell? What does the Bible teach? Many are surprised to learn that the Bible speaks of three hells-but not in the sense that is widely believed. Let us see why there is so much confusion about hell.

In the original Hebrew and Greek languages in which the Bible was written, four words are translated "hell" in English. The four words convey three different meanings.

The Hebrew word sheol, used in the Old Testament, has the same meaning as hades, one of the Greek words translated "hell" in the New Testament.

The Anchor Bible Dictionary explains the meaning of both words: "The Greek word Hades ... is sometimes, but misleadingly, translated 'hell' in English versions of the N(ew) T(estament). It refers to the place of the dead ... The old Hebrew concept of the place of the dead, most often called Sheol ... is usually translated as Hades, and the Greek term was naturally and commonly used by Jews writing in Greek" (1992, Vol. 3, p. 14, "Hades, Hell").

Both sheol and hades refer to the grave. A comparison of an Old Testament and a New Testament scripture confirm this. Psalm 16:10 says, "For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption." In Acts 2:27 the apostle Peter quotes this verse and shows that it is a reference to Christ. Here the Greek word hades is substituted for the Hebrew sheol.

Where did Christ go when He died? He went to the grave. His body was placed in a tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathea. The two passages, in Psalms and Acts, tell us Jesus' flesh did not decay in the grave because God resurrected Him.

The majority of scriptures that use the term hell are simply talking about the grave, the place where everyone, whether good or evil, goes at death. The Hebrew word sheol is used in the Old Testament 65 times. In the King James Version it is translated "grave" 31 times, "hell" 31 times and "pit" three times.

The Greek hades is used 11 times in the New Testament. In the King James translation in all instances but one the term hades is translated "hell." The one exception is 1Corinthians 15:55, where it is translated "grave." In the New King James Version, the translators simply used the original Greek word hades in all 11 instances.

Two other Greek words

Two other Greek words are translated "hell" in the New Testament. One of these is tartaroo, used only once in the Bible (2Peter 2:4), where it refers to the place where the fallen angels, or demons, are restrained awaiting their judgment. The Expository Dictionary
of Bible Words explains that tartaroo means "to confine in tartaros" and that "Tartaros was the Greek name for the mythological abyss where rebellious gods were confined" (Lawrence Richards, 1985, "Heaven and Hell").

Peter used this reference to contemporary mythology to show that the sinning angels were "delivered ... into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment." Fallen angels are in a condition or place of restraint awaiting their ultimate judgment for their rebellion against God and destructive influence on humanity. Tartaroo applies only to demons. Nowhere does it refer to a fiery hell in which people are punished after death.

The third Greek word used in the Bible and translated "hell" is gehenna. This does refer to a fiery punishment for the wicked-but not in the manner portrayed in the hell of men's imagination.

Gehenna refers to a valley just outside Jerusalem. The word is derived from the Hebrew Ge-Hinnom, the valley of Hinnom (Joshua 18:16). At the time of Jesus this valley was what we might call the city dump-the place where garbage, trash and refuse were thrown and consumed in the fires that constantly burned there. The carcasses of dead animals-and the bodies of despised criminals-were also cast into Gehenna to be burned. Jesus used this particular location and what took place there to help us understand the fate the wicked and unrepentant will suffer in the future.

Are there immortal worms in hell?

In Mark 9:47-48 Jesus specifically referred to Gehenna and what took place there. But, without a proper historical understanding, many people draw erroneous conclusions.

Notice His words: "It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell (gehenna) fire-where 'their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.'" Any inhabitant of Jerusalem would have immediately understood what Jesus meant, since Gehenna-the Valley of Hinnom-was just outside the city walls to the south.

Without this understanding, people commonly hold several misconceptions about this verse. Some believe the "worm" is a reference to pangs of conscience that condemned people suffer in hell. "'The worm that dieth not' was nearly always interpreted figuratively, as meaning the stings of envy and regret" (Walker, p. 61). Many believe that the phrase "the fire is not quenched" is a reference to ever-burning fires that torture the damned.

This scripture has been notoriously interpreted out of context. Notice that the phrase "their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched" appears in quotation marks. Jesus was quoting from Isaiah 66:24. A proper understanding of this verse begins there.

The context in Isaiah refers to a time when, God says, "all flesh shall come to worship before Me" (verse 23). It is a time when the wicked will be no more. What happened to them? In verse 24 we read that people "will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind" (NIV).

Notice that in this verse Jesus noted that the bodies affected by the worms are dead. These are not living people writhing in fire. When Jesus returns He will fight those who resist Him (Revelation 19:11-15). Those who are slain in the battle will not be buried; their bodies will be left on the ground, where scavenging birds and maggots will consume their flesh.

According to the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (1980), the original Hebrew word translated "worm" in Isaiah 66:24 and Mark 9:47-48 means "worm, maggot, (or) larvae."

Neither Isaiah nor Christ was talking about immortal worms. The vermin of which they spoke-maggots-do not die because they turn into flies. The flies then lay eggs that hatch into more maggots (the larvae of flies), perpetuating the cycle.

This background information helps us better understand Christ's words. In that time, when the bodies of dead animals or executed criminals were cast into the burning trash heap of Gehenna, those bodies would be destroyed by maggots, by the fires that were kept constantly burning there, or a combination of both. Historically a body that was not buried, but was subjected to burning, was viewed as accursed (Joshua 6:18; 7:11,25).

What did Jesus mean in Mark 9:48 when He said, "... The fire is not quenched"?; With the preceding background we can understand. He means simply that the fire will burn until the bodies of the wicked are consumed. This expression, used several times in Scripture, refers to fire that consumes entirely (Ezekiel 20:47). An unquenched fire is one that has not been extinguished. It burns itself out when it consumes everything and has no more combustible material to keep it going.

When are the wicked punished?

But, we might ask, when does this punishment take place?

As we saw earlier, Jesus quoted from the prophet Isaiah, who wrote of a time after the Messiah establishes His reign on earth. Only then would all humanity "come and bow down" before Him (Isaiah 66:24, NIV). Only then would this prophecy be fulfilled.

Jesus used a common site of trash disposal in His day-the burning garbage dump in the Valley of Hinnom outside Jerusalem's walls-to illustrate the ultimate fate of the wicked in what the Scriptures call a lake of fire. Just as the refuse of the city was consumed by maggots and fire, so will the wicked be burned up-consumed-by a future Gehenna-like fire more than 1,000 years after Christ returns (Revelation 20:7-9,12-15).

Peter explains that at this time "the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up" (2Peter 3:10). The implication is that the surface of the earth will become a molten mass, obliterating any evidence of human wickedness.

What will happen after that? The apostle John writes: "Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea" (Revelation 21:1).
The entire earth will be transformed into a suitable abode for the righteous who will, by that time, have inherited eternal life.

The destruction of soul and body in hell

Another place where Jesus spoke of gehenna fire is Matthew 10:28: "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell (gehenna)" (Matthew 10:28).

We should notice that Jesus did not speak of people suffering everlasting torment. He said that God can destroy-annihilate-both the body and soul in Gehenna.

Jesus here explains that, when one man kills another, the resulting death is only temporary because God can raise the victim to life again. But, when God destroys one in hell (gehenna), the resulting death is eternal. There is no resurrection from this fate, which the Bible calls "the second death." The Bible explains that unrepentant sinners are cast into the lake of fire, or Gehenna, at the end of the age. "But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death" (Revelation 21:8).

As we discussed earlier, the wicked will be destroyed. They will not live for eternity in another place or state of everlasting anguish. They will reap their destruction in the lake of fire at the end of the age. They will be consumed virtually instantaneously by the heat of the fire and will never live again.

The wicked burned to ashes

Another passage that graphically illustrates the utter destruction of the wicked is to be found in the book of Malachi. "'For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,' says the LORD of hosts, 'that will leave them neither root nor branch'" (Malachi 4:1).

The time setting is the end, when God will bring retribution on the wicked for their rebellious, reprehensible ways. To those who surrender to God and live in obedience to Him, God says: "'You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I do this,' says the LORD of hosts" (verse 3).

God, speaking through the prophet Malachi, makes clear the ultimate fate of the wicked. They are to be uprooted like a nonproductive tree, leaving not so much as a root or twig. They will be consumed by the flames of the lake of fire, leaving only ashes.

The Bible does teach that the wicked will be punished by fire-but not the mythical hell of men's imagination. God is a God of mercy and love. Those who willfully and willingly reject His way of life, characterized by obedience to His law of love (Romans 13:10), will die, not suffer forever. They will be consumed by fire and forgotten. They will not be tortured for all eternity, nor will God grant His priceless gift of eternal life to those who persist in rebellion against Him.

Even the final death of the incorrigibly wicked in a lake of fire is an act of justice and mercy on God's part. To allow them to continue to live on in unrepentant, eternal rebellion would cause themselves and others only great sorrow and anguish. God will not grant them eternal life, neither will He torture them for all eternity. The encouraging truth of the Bible shows that God is indeed a Being of great mercy, wisdom and righteous judgment. As Psalm 19:9 tells us: "The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether."

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Is Heaven God's Reward for the Righteous?

Is the reward of the righteous an eternity in heaven? It seems 78 percent of Americans believe it is (National Review, Nov. 9, 1998). Through the centuries this has been the hope taught by traditional Christianity.

What would going to heaven be like? What would we do when we got there? How does the Bible describe heaven?

Beliefs about heaven as the reward of the saved have varied considerably through the centuries. Traditional pictures of heaven typically show an entrance with a rainbow arching over it, often marked by a bridge of gold or glass. St. Peter is usually represented as the doorkeeper. The inhabitants are shown accompanied by angels, or they may appear as angels themselves, having apparently sprouted a pair of wings.

Another common view in the popular consciousness has the inhabitants walking among the clouds plucking harps. The decor of heaven often features jewels, stars, candles and trumpets.

These ideas may represent views of the classical heaven as envisioned by artists, but men have had other ideas about what they think heaven may be like. Theologians and philosophers have adapted their concepts through the centuries, influenced by the society around them.

"Monks and friars, depending on whether they felt more at home in the countryside or in the city, preached a heaven defined primarily in terms of environment" (Colleen McDannell and Bernhard Lang, Heaven: A History, 1988, p. 108).

In other words, religious teachers, depending on their own experiences and preferences, have foreseen an urban paradise or something more rural. "Heaven became a city ... or the visionary experience of celestial castles. Accounts of the other world resonate with descriptions of golden streets, jewelled buildings, and richly dressed residents" (ibid.).

Men of the Renaissance era envisioned a spicier paradise. "In its boldest form, the new theology envisioned heaven as a place of erotic human love in the bucolic setting of a comfortable natural landscape" (ibid., p. 112).

An eternity in heaven doing what?

The relationship the heavenly inhabitants might have with God has been debated. A modern author describes the interaction with God this way: "There the saints shall eternally, without interruption, feast their eyes upon Him, and be ever viewing His glorious perfections" (John MacArthur, The Glory of Heaven, 1996, p. 221).

Others believe that, if this is all they are to do forever, heaven may prove to be a boring place. As one writer put it, the prayer of many could be: "Please God, don't take me to heaven yet ... I haven't even been to Hawaii!" (MacArthur, p. 49).

The modern Christian concepts of heaven present a diverse landscape. Another writer said: "I have a theory that heaven will offer faithful Christians whatever they sacrificed on earth for Jesus' sake. My mountain-climbing friend who intentionally lives in a slum area of Chicago will have Yosemite Valleys all to himself. A missionary doctor in the parched land of Sudan will have her own private rain forest to explore" (Philip Yancey, "What's a Heaven For?," Christianity Today, Oct. 26, 1998).

For many the most important aspect of heaven is the opportunity to see their loved ones again. "By far the most persuasive element of the modern heaven for many contemporary Christians is the hope of meeting the family again. Countless 'in memoriam' sections of newspapers throughout Europe and America reflect the belief that families parted by death will be reunited" (MacDannell and Lang, p. 309).

God does have a plan that will reunite loved ones, as we will see. But the popular ideas of heaven fall far short of capturing the majesty and purpose of God's plan.

Do people go to heaven at death?

The popular belief is that a good person goes to heaven immediately when he dies. But for the traditional Christian things aren't quite that simple. According to this view, the body goes to the grave, but the soul ascends to heaven.

The Westminster Confession of Faith, written in the 17th century, states, in part: "The bodies of men after death return to dust, and see corruption; but their souls, (which never die nor sleep,) having an immortal subsistence, immediately return to God who gave them. The souls of the righteous, being then made perfect in holiness, are received into the highest heavens, where they behold the face of God in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies."

But does this concept agree with the Bible? Do the Scriptures state that righteous pe ople go to heaven when they die?

David, the king of Israel and author of many of the Psalms, whom God called "a man after My own heart" (Acts 13:22), did not go to heaven at his death. The apostle Peter, speaking under God's inspiration, stated: "Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day" (Acts 2:29). He then added that "David did not ascend into the heavens" (verse 34).

David is included in Hebrews 11:32 among those who died in faith, and in verse 39 David is one of those of whom it is said: "And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise."

Jesus, speaking about 1,000 years after David's death, said: "No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man ..." (John 3:13). This means that Abraham, Moses, David, the prophets and all other righteous men and women who lived before Christ's first coming did not go to heaven. They were buried in the grave as David was.

The view that a person's soul goes to heaven at death-though held by many in good faith-cannot be found in the Bible. It results from a misunderstanding of the Scriptures and confusion over what the Bible does teach about the resurrection.

Why a resurrection?

Theologians widely acknowledge that the Bible speaks of a resurrection, even if they're not sure what it means or when it takes place. The most common view is that at the resurrection the body rises to be reunited with the soul in heaven. But, as we pointed out earlier, the concept of the immortality of the soul-the soul as existing as something apart from the body-is not biblical. It takes its origins from the Greek philosophers rather than the writers of the Bible.

We might pose this question: If it were true that at the resurrection the body is to rise to be united with the soul in heaven, why would God do things this way? What purpose would the resurrection serve? Why keep the body in the grave? If the righteous go immediately to heaven at death, why wouldn't God send the complete being-soul and body -to heaven simultaneously, instead of keeping soul and body apart through the ages? Or why even have a resurrection? If the soul goes immediately to heaven, why bother with bringing bodies back to life?

The inescapable fact is that, according to popular teaching about heaven, there is no logical reason for the resurrection.

Why is there confusion about how the resurrection fits with the traditional view of heaven? Perhaps it is because support for the idea of going to heaven at death is not found in the Bible.

What is the Kingdom of Heaven?

Many people believe they will go to heaven because Jesus spoke repeatedly of the Kingdom of Heaven. In Matthew 5:3 He said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Three other verses in Matthew 5 refer to the faithful entering the kingdom of heaven. The phrase Kingdom of Heaven appears in the book of Matthew a total of 32 times.

However, note that Matthew is the only biblical writer who uses the term kingdom of heaven. Other Bible writers use the term Kingdom of God. For example, Luke, in recording the same event described above, records Jesus' words as: "Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God" (Luke 6:20). The terms are interchangeable. The term Kingdom of God is used 69 times in the New Testament, mostly in the Gospels-Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

As we will see, Jesus did not tell His disciples they should expect to go to heaven. He spoke instead of a kingdom originating from God in heaven that is to be established on the earth at His second coming. Notice Jesus' explanation that He would come to join His followers on earth at His return rather than have them ascend to heaven to be with Him where He currently resides.

After Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection, He spent 40 days teaching His disciples, instructing them about the Kingdom of God (Acts 1:3). After this He joined His Father in heaven. Let us notice the instruction His disciples received after He rose into the sky.

"Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven'" (Acts 1:9-11).

Jesus spoke repeatedly of His return to establish the Kingdom of God on earth (Matthew 25:31-34; Luke 21:27-31). He will return to earth and establish His Kingdom here-not in heaven. In what is commonly called the Lord's Prayer, He instructs His followers to pray to their heavenly Father, "Your kingdom come" (Matthew 6:10; Luke 11:2). That kingdom is the true goal of every Christian (Matthew 6:33); we are to pray for its arrival.

In Luke 19:12 Jesus spoke of Himself in a parable, comparing Himself to "a certain nobleman (who) went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return." The "far country" is
His Father's dwelling place, which is in heaven. Jesus will bring the Kingdom of God to earth at His return.

Matthew sometimes refers to it as the "kingdom of heaven" because it is a kingdom of heavenly, divine origins. Notice also that it is called the kingdom of heaven and never referred to as a kingdom in heaven. (To better understand what the Scriptures teach about the Kingdom of God, be sure to request your free copy of the booklet The Gospel of the Kingdom.)

Christ's Kingdom established on earth

One Old Testament prophecy is specific about Jesus' return, telling us exactly where He will arrive back on earth to establish His Kingdom. "And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east ... And the LORD shall
be King over all the earth" (Zechariah 14:4,9).

The incident we read about in the book of Acts that describes Jesus' ascension tells us that it was on the Mount of Olives that He last talked with His disciples, and it was from the same mountain that He rose into the clouds in their sight. He will return to the same mountain to begin His reign in the Kingdom of God.

In Matthew 5:5 Jesus tells us, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." This verse and many others describe the saints ruling on earth in God's Kingdom. For example, Revelation 5:10, speaking of the resurrected saints, says: "You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth" (NIV).

The reward of the saints is eternal life in the Kingdom of God. This will be given to them when Christ returns, but, as we have seen, Jesus will reign with them on the earth rather than in heaven.

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The Resurrection: God's Answer to Life After Death

)If a man dies, shall he live again?" (Job 14:14). This question has intrigued the minds of men from ancient times to our day.

In the Bible God inspired the patriarch Job not only to pose this important question but to give us the answer. Responding to God,
Job said: "All the days of my hard service I will wait, till my change comes. You shall call, and I will answer You; You shall desire the work of Your hands" (Job 14:14-15).

Job affirmed that the dead will live again through a resurrection.

Other passages in the Old Testament also affirm the resurrection. Daniel 12:2, for example, prophesies of a time yet future when "many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake ..."

But the way to eternal life was not fully understood in those days. It remained for Christ to come and fully reveal the truth. Jesus said:
"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live" (John 11:25).

It is through Christ that we can experience our own resurrection from the dead. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive" (1 Corinthians 15:22).

The teaching of the good news of the resurrection-that man can escape the power of the grave-set Christianity apart from other first-century religions and philosophies. Among Jewish sects the concept of a resurrection was a subject of controversy. Some dogmatically denied that the dead would rise, and others said that they would (Acts 23:8).

The world in which Jesus lived, besides being Jewish, was heavily influenced by the culture of the two empires-Greek and Roman-that had successively dominated the region for several centuries. The Greek and Roman religions held little hope for the dead.

"The old Greek belief, and its Roman counterpart, held that once the body was dead the disembodied soul lived in a miserable twilight existence ... Sadness, silence and hopelessness seemed to brood over the life after death ... Death was to men of those days the ultimate disaster" (J.B. Phillips, Ring of Truth: A Translator's Testimony,
1967, pp. 40-41).

The New Bible Dictionary affirms the dreary outlook of the day and tells us that the resurrection of Christ gave men more than a glimmer of hope. "The most startling characteristic of the first Christian preaching is its emphasis on the resurrection. The first preachers were sure that Christ had risen, and sure, in consequence, that believers would
in due course rise also. This set them off from all the other teachers of the ancient world ... Nothing is more characteristic of even the best thought of the day than its hopelessness in the face of death. Clearly the resurrection is of the very first importance for the Christian faith" (New Bible Dictionary, 1996, p. 1010, "Resurrection").

A truth that launched the Church

It was the riveting truth of the resurrection of Jesus the Messiah that launched the New Testament Church. Preaching on the day of the Church's founding, as recorded in Acts 2, the apostle Peter thundered the good news:

"Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know-Him, being delivered by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it" (Acts 2:22-24).

The news of the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth traveled like a shock wave through the land. Jesus' disciples were galvanized into action and began to preach with zeal. What had been regarded as a band of renegade Jews soon grew into the thriving Church.

In its early days the Church grew by thousands (Acts 2:41; 4:4). The young Church spread hope-hope of eternal life through the resurrection. The disciples taught under God's inspiration that all who accept Jesus as their personal Savior, repent, are baptized and receive the Holy Spirit will be resurrected (compare Acts 2:38 and Romans 8:11).

The resurrection that the disciples expected was not some sort of substandard half-life such as the Greeks and Romans believed lay beyond the grave. The disciples were called to "take hold of the life that is truly life" (1Timothy 6:19, NIV).

Jesus had told them before He was crucified, "Because I live, you will live also" (John 14:19). Jesus had also shared with His disciples His intention for all of mankind: "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). The abundant life of which Christ spoke reaches its full realization in the resurrection from the dead.

The resurrection gives meaning to life

The first-century world held numerous conflicting ideas about life after death. Pagan philosophies had clouded the understanding of most people.

Our situation is similar. In the Western world a significant number of people believe nothing lies beyond the grave. Atheism and agnosticism have left their marks. The world needs to hear and understand the original resurrection message of Christ and the apostles.

Many people, like those of the ancient world, are anxious about the matter of death. The truth of the resurrection proclaimed by God's Word can counter the anxiety and hopelessness inherent in any approach that excludes God.

Speaking of the return of Christ and the accompanying resurrection of the faithful, Paul encouraged believers to "comfort one another with these words" (1 Thessalonians 4:18). The truth of the resurrection provides comfort for our natural anxiety about death.

The resurrection: historical fact

Why should we believe in a resurrection from the dead? We should take heart because the resurrection is a biblically and historically confirmed fact.

After being executed and entombed, Jesus' body disappeared, and even His enemies who wanted to refute His resurrection could not explain away the empty tomb. Jesus' resurrection was confirmed by many witnesses-including on one occasion 500 people (1Corinthians 15:6). Peter, speaking on behalf of all the apostles, proudly proclaimed, "... We are His witnesses to these things"-to the fact that "the God of our fathers raised up Jesus" (Acts 5:30-32).

Years later Paul similarly documented that "God raised Him from the dead (and) He was seen for many days by those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are witnesses to the people" (Acts 13:30-31). The apostles and other members of the early Church gave their lives as willing martyrs for this truth.

Every man in his own order

These facts are known and understood by many Bible readers. What is not so clear to many is that the Bible describes more than one resurrection. The writings of the apostles Paul and John both confirm this truth. In 1Corinthians 15:22-23, Paul wrote: "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming."

The reference to firstfruits indicates that other fruits are to follow. Paul specified that God has set an order in His plan by which He will bring up everyone in a resurrection. Not everyone will be resurrected at the same time.

Those who believe that people go to heaven or hell at death have been troubled at the indications they see in Scripture that comparatively few will be saved. They frequently base this assumption on such passages as Matthew 7:13-14: "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it."

In these verses Jesus explains what happens in "this present evil age" (Galatians 1:4), in which God is not calling everyone to be converted now. We read in Revelation 12:9 that Satan "deceives the whole world." John wrote, "We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one" (1John 5:19).

Mankind as a whole is deceived-for the time being. Jesus said, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:44). Jesus plainly indicated here that only certain ones will be in that resurrection-those who are specifically called by God. The Bible teaches that in this particular age-the age preceding the return of Christ-God is calling only a small portion of mankind to enter and partake of His Kingdom.

The first resurrection

The resurrection of those who are called now-the ones Paul referred to as firstfruits-is further described in the 20th chapter of Revelation.

Let's notice how John describes that resurrection of the firstfruits: "I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshipped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection" (Revelation 20:4-5, NIV).

Notice that some are resurrected at the beginning of the 1,000-year reign of Christ-at "the first resurrection." The use of the term first shows that at least one more resurrection must follow.

Another resurrection

That same verse explains, "The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended." There is another resurrection after the first, and in this resurrection others will have the opportunity to receive salvation. They will be called to understand God's truth and His plan during a period sometimes referred to as the "great white throne" judgment (verse 11).

This time of judgment is further described in joh: "And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books."

Those resurrected in this group have never completely understood the truth of God. Consider that the majority of all people who have ever lived have never heard God's truth. Rather than such people being condemned to eternal suffering in a fiery hell, the truth of the Bible is much more comforting and encouraging. God will extend the opportunity for eternal life to everyone-to a relatively few in
this age but to billions of people in the coming second resurrection.

Judgment is much more than a final decision to reward or condemn. Judgment is a process that takes place over time before a final decision is rendered. Those brought to a temporary, physical life again in this resurrection (see Ezekiel 37:1-14) will, for the first time, have their minds opened to the truth of God's plan. They will have the opportunity to decide whether they will accept and follow God's instruction or not. After coming to see the truth, they will be judged according to their response to their new understanding. Many will accept that truth, repent and receive God's gift of eternal life.

Past generations resurrected together

Jesus spoke of this time when He said even the sinners of the long-destroyed city of Sodom would have the opportunity to repent in a future judgment. As He sent His disciples out on a mission to preach the gospel (Matthew 10:9-14), He told them that some they would encounter would reject their message. Of these Jesus said, "Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city" (verse 15).

That there is room for tolerance in that day toward Sodom and Gomorrah shows they will have opportunity to repent and enter God's Kingdom. This is because, when they formerly lived, they either never had opportunity to know God or His way or never fully understood what they heard. The time for their calling and judgment is yet future. This is not a second chance for salvation. This will be their first chance-their first opportunity to act on a clear understanding of God's truth.

In a similar example, Jesus said the long-dead people of the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh and the biblical "queen of the South" from Solomon's time would rise alongside those from Christ's generation. The people from those generations had lived and died many centuries earlier, never having understood the true God or His plan to offer eternal life through His Son Jesus the Messiah.

That God will offer salvation to all who lived and died in all ages without ever really knowing Him shows His great mercy toward all people. God does not show partiality (Romans 2:11). He calls all at the time that is appropriate for them, and all eventually will be given the same wonderful opportunity to receive His gift of salvation.

Evidence of a third resurrection

Other scriptures indicate that a third group will be resurrected just before the final destruction of the wicked in the lake of fire.

Jesus explained that some would deliberately and knowingly despise the spiritual revelations that God would open their minds to understand. These, He said, will not be forgiven "either in this age
or in the age to come" (Matthew 12:31-32).

Yet "all who are in the graves will hear (Christ's) voice and come forth ..." (John 5:28). Even those who will not be forgiven are to be resurrected from the dead.

This group will include only those who have deliberately rejected God's way of life even after they have been "once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit" (Hebrews 6:4-6). These few are people who were once forgiven and converted but later chose to reject the Holy Spirit and priceless knowledge God gave to them.

Because they "trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace," for them "there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries" (Hebrews 10:26-29).

God has revealed that the ultimate fate of the incorrigibly wicked is to be burned up. "'For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,' says the LORD of hosts, 'That will leave them neither root nor branch'" (Malachi 4:1).

Therefore destruction in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:13-14) must include those few who stubbornly refused to repent of their own self-willed rebellion in spite of all the opportunities God made available to them.

When all this is finished we read: "Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death" (joh). The judgment of God is complete. Those who are saved will never again have to fear death.

Your Awesome Future

In light of these biblical truths, where does that leave us? As we have seen, the beliefs of people about the nature of heaven and hell have ranged over a broad-and confusing-spectrum. But there is one thing on which we all should agree: We shall all die. Indeed, "the living know that they will die" (Ecclesiastes 9:5).

The prospect of death has hung over the heads of mankind as long as men have existed. When people are gripped by the fear of death, they are enslaved in a cruel and unforgiving bondage.

The Expositor's Bible Commentary summarizes how the truth of the resurrection, personified in the resurrection of Christ, transformed the outlook of many: "In the first century this (fear of death) was very real. The philosophers urged people to be calm in the face of death, and some of them managed to do so. But to most people this brought no relief. Fear was widespread, as the hopeless tone of the inscriptions on tombs clearly illustrates. But one of the many wonderful things about the Christian gospel is that it delivers men and women from this fear ... They are saved with a sure hope of life eternal, a life whose best lies beyond the grave" (Leon Morris, 1981, Vol. 12, p. 29).

The Bible reveals that the best that man can experience lies beyond the grave. It shows us that converted Christians will inherit eternal life at the resurrection and that death will never again lay a claim on them.

"So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: 'Death is swallowed up in victory'" (1Corinthians 15:54).

The life to come will be vastly superior to this present temporary existence. It will be a life abounding in both purpose and pleasure. "In your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore," wrote David (Psalm 16:11). Let us catch a glimpse of what awaits those who receive eternal life through the resurrection.

What will we be like?

We can know in general terms what we will be like in the resurrection because the Bible tells us we will be like the resurrected Jesus. "The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven ... And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man" (1Corinthians 15:47,49).

We learn that in the resurrection we will take on the same image, or likeness, that Christ has. Paul tells us that true Christians will "share the likeness of his Son," who is "the eldest among a large family of brothers" (Romans 8:29, REB). Did you catch that? We will be Jesus' brothers and share His likeness. Though Christ has eternally existed and we have not, we will be elevated to a plane so high that we are called children of God and brothers of Jesus Christ.

The apostle John confirms these same two truths, that we will be children of God with the same glorified form as Jesus Christ. "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us," he writes, "that we should be called children of God" (1John 3:1). And in 1John 3:2 he tells us, "we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."

We will possess a glory that is so great as to be compared to the glory of Christ (Romans 8:16-18), though we will never equal Him. He is the one Son of God who has always existed, superior to all but the Father.

The glory of Christ

What is the glory of Christ like? During His physical ministry on earth, He gave three of His disciples a preview of His appearance in this glorified spiritual state. "He was transfigured ... His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light" (Matthew 17:2).

Years later, at the writing of the book of Revelation, John saw a vision of the resurrected, glorified Christ. Notice how John describes His awesome appearance: "His hair was as white as snow-white wool, and his eyes flamed like fire; his feet were like burnished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of a mighty torrent ... His face shone like the sun in full strength" (Revelation 1:14-15, REB).

This language describes Christ, the glorified Son of God, as a being of great brilliance. We, too, will share that dazzling appearance.

After His resurrection Jesus had the ability to take on the appearance that He had when He existed in the flesh. Early on the morning after He rose from the garden tomb, Mary Magdalene visited His grave. When she saw the tomb was empty, she began to weep (John 20:11).

Then "Jesus said to her, 'Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?' She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, 'Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away'" (verses 15-16). Jesus appeared to Mary as a normal human being rather than in His radiant state. She mistook Him for the gardener, possibly because it still may have been dark at the time (see verse 1).

On another occasion Jesus appeared from nowhere inside a closed room where His disciples were meeting. "And after eight days His disciples were again inside ... Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, 'Peace to you!'" (John 20:26). After His resurrection Jesus was able to pass through solid barriers-such as the walls of a building or the stone enclosure of His tomb.

Like Jesus, when we are changed to spirit we will not be limited by the laws that govern physical things. With the ability to simply materialize, we will not be subject to the speed restrictions that physical objects are. As part of this change we will not need to eat to survive, but apparently will have the option of eating for pleasure and fellowship if we choose. In two of Jesus' post-resurrection appearances He shared a meal with His disciples (Luke 24:28-30; John 21:9-15).

Those to whom God gives eternal life in the resurrection will forever possess these supernatural characteristics. Notice the description of the resurrection in the book of Daniel: "Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever" (Daniel 12:2-3, NIV).

What will we do as spirit beings?

As spirit beings in God's family we will live and work at the highest possible level and environment. Jesus said, "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (John 17:3). We will spend eternity with God in His environment-the world of spirit and all power. We will not sit idle in our new life. We will be positively occupied. Jesus said, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working" (John 5:17).

When Christ returns to establish the Kingdom of God on earth, those in the first resurrection will serve as judges (Revelation 20:4) and priests (verse 6) and will "reign on the earth" (Revelation 5:10). We will not go to heaven to live passively and idly.

Jesus will return to a world that has largely destroyed itself by living in opposition to the commands of its Creator. He will teach people to obey God's laws. He will begin a massive reeducation process to help people unlearn their old ways of doing things and for the first time learn to do things God's way.

Notice Isaiah's prophecy of this future rule of Jesus as Messiah and King over the earth: "Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, 'Come and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.' For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

"He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore" (Isaiah 2:2-4).

At that time Christ will teach all people who have not known God's way. He will be assisted by all who are changed into glorified sons of God in the resurrection at His return (Luke 20:36).

If we enter that new life we will be endowed with unlimited energy. As members of God's family we will be empowered by God's Spirit. As Isaiah describes it: "The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary" (Isaiah 40:28).

A change for the better

Speaking of the event that will change our mortal bodies, Paul wrote: "The sun has a splendour of its own, the moon another splendour, and the stars yet another; and one star differs from another in brightness. So it is with the resurrection of the dead: what is sown as a perishable thing is raised imperishable. Sown in humiliation, it is raised in glory; sown in weakness, it is raised in power; sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body" (1 Corinthians 15:41-44, REB).

God will give us bodies that will never tire nor grow ill-and minds having some of the kind of supernatural abilities He has. Reigning with Christ (Revelation 2:26; 3:21), we will help bring about worldwide peace. We will assist in spreading the knowledge of God to the most distant lands in a reeducation process that will span the globe. "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9).

Those changed at Christ's return will include all who are alive in Christ at His return and the dead who were called, repented and lived in faithful obedience to God. It will include all of the faithful of Hebrews 11 who "died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth" (Hebrews 11:13).

Those who died in faith include Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (verses 17-21). The promise they have not yet received is the promise of the Kingdom of God. As Jesus said, "... I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 8:11). Remember that the Kingdom of Heaven is synonymous with the Kingdom of God, which Christ will establish on earth at His return.

Responding to God's invitation

You can be among the many who arise from all parts of the world in the resurrection to be with Christ in His Kingdom-if you respond to God's invitation. God is issuing that call through the preaching of the gospel, which includes the information you are reading now.

That calling is not being offered to everyone in this age. Jesus told His disciples that the understanding of God's truth is not yet available to many: "... It has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given" (Matthew 13:11).

The Bible speaks in several places about God's "elect" people. They are called to understand these things now, in this present age, but the rest-the vast majority-will not be called until later.

Most of Israel, God's people spoken of extensively in the Old Testament, were not called to understand the Kingdom of God during their lifetimes. Their hearts were hardened, their minds blinded. But the opportunity for most of them will come in the second resurrection. "Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded" (Romans 11:7).

Yet, as Paul explains in this same chapter, the time is coming when "all Israel will be saved, as it is written: 'The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob'" (verse 26). God's calling is carried out according to His timetable. When all is said and done, His plan is entirely fair to everyone.

Peter explains that those who now become a part of His Church are chosen in this age to receive salvation in the first resurrection. Peter says of them, "... You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light" (1Peter 2:9).

The good news is that God eventually will offer eternal life to everyone who repents. He desires that everyone enter His Kingdom. He wants to share this opportunity for eternal life with everyone (2Peter 3:9).

In a final, breathtaking view of what God has in store for those who serve Him, the apostle John was inspired to write this glimpse of the future in Revelation, the last book of the Bible: "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away ... He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and
I will be his God and he shall be My son" (Revelation 21:4,7).

The future God has planned for us is fantastic beyond belief! It is far superior to the fanciful heaven of men's imagination. God will share the real future with all who repent and turn from their sins. As for those who willfully refuse to repent, they will not suffer forever in hell. They will simply cease to be. But this need not happen to you.

You may share in the eternal Kingdom of God if you heed the words spoken by Jesus when He began His ministry: "The time has come. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!" (Mark 1:15, NIV).

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