 Welcome to Hard Questions. This is where we gather pastors together to take on your tough questions and answer them right from the Bible. I'm Tom Hollis, the moderator, and today our panelists include Dr. William R. Glaze, Bethany Baptist Church in Pittsburgh. Ray Hypole, Providence Presbyterian Church in Robinson Township. Pete Giacalone, Lead Pastor, South Hills Assembly Guy Church, Bethel Park, PA. Jay Anthony Gilbert, Pastor of another level ministries in the North Hills area. Well, pastors, thank you for being with us today. We're on Hard Questions. We're going to talk about the Book of Revelation and the end times. We're going to talk about rising from the dead, all kinds of stuff today. So let's start with this question. It's an audio question and let's go to that right now. And I have a question for you from the Book of Revelation. I've not been able to get a definitive answer over the years from numerous theologians from various sources. So I'm hoping you'll be able to help me get some clarity on it. I'm referring to Revelation 20 verses four to six, but specifically verse five. Will those taken up in the rapture be part of the millennium or not? Will we be in heaven or on earth for those 1,000 years? And then the second part of my question is, will we be integrated with those who come out of the tribulation unscathed? Will they also have heavenly bodies? And I ask because obviously there will have to be marriage and procreation in order to last for the 1,000 year period. And lastly, will those raptured be ruling and judging from heaven or the 1,000 years on earth? Wow, there are a lot of questions there and there are a lot of theological trails we can go down with this, but I'm going to ask Pastor Glaze to start us off. Yeah, I was going to say that there are different viewpoints fundamentally, you know, pre-millennial, all millennial, post-millennial. So I want to make it clear to the caller that my answer is coming from a pre-millennial standpoint. And so I believe the next thing on God's prophetic calendar is the rapture where he will take Christians out of this world and then there'll be seven years of tribulation on the earth. At the end of the tribulation, Christ will come back. That will be the second coming of Christ or some people call it the battle of Armageddon. Christians will come back with him, right? And those coming out of the tribulation, those saved individuals coming out, they will still have human bodies. But when we are caught up in the heaven, we'll have our glorified bodies. So we'll come back and we will rule and reign with Christ for the 1,000 years, but there still will be human beings that have come out of the tribulation and they will continue to procreate. And so that's kind of the thumbnail version of maybe answering most of the questions that were asked here. But yeah, as Christians, we will come back, we will be here during the millennial and the Bible says that we will rule and reign with Christ. So at that point, we will rule and reign with Christ during the millennium in our glorified bodies. And the last part about that is, and it will be here on earth. We're not gonna be ruling and reigning. Exactly. So basically you're kind of confirming the direction she's going here with her question in a lot of cases. Let's go over for a different point of view. Oh man. I don't even know where to begin. Well, there's like at least three major theological streams in there. There's a lot of different views. And I think she's not getting a definitive, I think you've got a definitive answer. If you're going to get a definitive answer here, I don't think either one of us would say we are absolutely sure that every part of our view is correct. But you know, the way we understand scripture, we have to put forward, especially as Bible teachers in a humble way. So I come from it from what's called the all millennial perspective. And all that means is we don't believe that there is a literal physical millennium, but the millennium is the spiritual reign of Christ. When Christ ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of power. He will never have more power and authority than he has now. All authority has been given to me, he says. So when Christ took that and he sat down, that's the millennium. And the Bible talks about that we too have that authority with him. And so for example, it talks about in Ephesians 1.20, Christ, when he was raised, when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places. And then Ephesians two, we are raised up together and made to sit together in the heavenly places with Christ. So spiritually speaking, you and I already have all authority. We are with Christ seated in the heavenly places. And the idea that you're getting at in Revelation chapter 20 verse five of the first resurrection says this is the first resurrection. The way I understand that is what Jesus taught in John chapter five that unless we are born again, John chapter three, we will not see the kingdom of heaven. And Jesus said that people were being born again right now in his time. In fact, he taught this in John 5, 24 and 25, I say to you who he who hears my word and believes has everlasting life, shall not come into judgment but has passed from death into life. And then he says this, most assuredly I say to you, the hour is coming and now is. The hour is coming and now is when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. That was happening right now in Jesus' time. They were living again. This was the first resurrection. Then he says in verse 28, do not marvel at this. The hour is coming. The hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear his voice and those who have done good will come to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection condemnation. That's the resurrection of the body. That will happen on the last day. But right now, the first resurrection, if you're in Christ, you are reigning with him. You've been raised. You are enjoying spiritually the millennium. All things are under your feet cause all things are under his feet. All right, well again, this is. Again, I had to talk fast to get all that. I mean, these have been discussed for many, many years, the different timing issues of where all this falls. Jay, what's your view on all this? I think pretty much Dr. Glaze has kind of said it all. You just did all that right. I'm going to play a little water over here. I personally believe that there is a literal thousand year reign. The Bible talks about how the line will lay down with the land that God, Jesus is going to restore back. That's one of the reasons why I believe that the seven years of tribulation is God's determined dealing with the Jewish people because he told them even in Jerusalem before when he came into the trumpet entry, he said, I would have loved to have gathered you, but he couldn't gather them. So he said, now you will not see me again. Until you say, bless is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, which is what will happen in the middle of those seven years. So at the end of those seven years rather. So I believe that there's an actual thousand year reign that Jesus is going to, that's why many of the Jewish people missed him before because they thought what he was going to do at the end of the seven years he was going to do when he came to die. He did not come as a reigning king. He came as a suffering lamb. And so that's reason why John had the revelation of him in Revelation chapter one. And that's why I believe he even saw that he said, this is who I'm coming back as. He was that when he came on earth for those 33 and a third years. But the reality was is that he was not here to rule and reign at the time. He was here to pay the price. But when he comes back, John gets his revelers and this is the guy whose hair is white as wool and his feet were like bronze. I mean, he's a whole different guy that's coming back. I mean, this is John who was closer to Jesus in his flesh than anybody. And he sees him as in his full majesty, incredible in Revelation. Which is what I think is so cool. That's why when Jesus was there even in the Garden of Gethsemane, when they said, are you Jesus? He said, I am. They all fell backwards. A little bit of him every once in a while would come up. He'd say, I'm still a man. Let me just remind y'all, even though I'm here to pay the price for you, I still am he. But when he comes back, he's going to be the fullness of his majesty. And then he's going to set up and rule and reign the way the Jewish people wanted him to way back in the beginning. So. Yeah, yeah, very, very good point. Well, you know, I'm going with these two. Well, yeah, absolutely. And I want to ask you a little question. So we're saying then on this side, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll stone rain and break. Okay. We're not being foolish. I love you, brother. Leave him alone. That's fine. I love you, man. But right now we're going to stay over here for a little bit. But as we're saying that the rapture and the second coming of Christ, we're talking about two distinctly different things. Without a doubt. The rapture, as Dr. Glace says, the rapture is at a moment's twinkling of an eye. The Trump and God shall, shall sound and the dead in Christ shall rise first and we who are alive and remain shall be ever caught up with the Lord. And then after that, after the tribulation, whether the tribulation is whether we're taking up at the beginning of the tribulation, which is the pre-trib or the middle of the tribulation, which is the mid-trib. That's two or three and a half good years. A few other different beliefs in there. Yeah, there's others. So, and then after that, we're going to come down and rule with Christ for a thousand years. And it again in, in Revelation chapter 24 through six, it really gives a rule. I like the amplified version of it. And this one thought, this is the first resurrection, blessed, happy, prosperous, to be admired and holy is the person who takes part in it. You make that first resurrection, you're in. Absolutely. I love this discussion and you know, it's funny because I've always taken a kind of, I don't really care position. God's gonna work this all out. But you know what? He didn't leave that open to me. He talks a lot about in Matthew 24 and other places where that we need to be aware, right? We need to be aware. But we need to be aware. Why do we need to be aware of Pastor Glaze so that our hearts are ready and our lives are ready? Right, I like what one of my professors at Liberty said, Dr. Ed Heinsen, he said, God didn't give us a prophecy to scare us. He gave it to us to prepare us. And so I think that, you know, what you're saying is that, you know, we can look at that and be prepared, you know, by accepting Christ, by looking forward to his coming, that we would be prepared for his return. And that's the reason why we thank God for shows like Signs of the Times because the little shameless plug right there. The shameless plug. Because I believe we need, you need to be aware of what's happening in the news. You know, the Bible talks about how, even though we call the show Signs of the Times, Jesus in Matthew 24, I believe there's Luke 19, all those, he talked about the signs of those times. But this is the times of the signs. We're seeing the Bible unfold. So watching the news, the things that happened in Turkey and Syria, all the stuff that's happening with Russia and Ukraine, it's all in your Bible. If you read it and understand it, it's all starting to perform and take shape. So we need to be aware of what's happening. And that's why in Matthew 24, he said, look up because when you see all these things happening, your redemption is drawing night to you. Well, I'll tell you what, I want to wrap this up because I want to read something to you guys because we all love each other here. We love Ray. We love Ray. What were you specifically saying? But listen, someone wrote in and they shared this and they talked about how they called in to our prayer line here at Cornerstone. But they said this, I'm also very thankful for hard questions. I just love, she underlines love. I just love that show. God uses it to answer questions that I have, although I've never called in myself. Her name's Carla. And it makes you feel good, doesn't it? What we're doing here, it's ministering. So we thank you, Carla, for writing in. We'd love to hear from anyone who's being ministered by this program. Well, coming up in 60 seconds, we talk about what happens when you die. We'll be right back. Welcome back to hard questions. Our next question is this, why is it said that Jesus will come and raise the dead? Yet when someone dies, people say absent from the body, present with the Lord. How are you raised up if you're already present with the Lord? Interesting question, Pastor Pete. Well, you know, all of us pastors, I'm sure at a funeral time, we'll do something which is known as a committal. And at that committal, we will commit the body to the grave and the spirit to the Lord. So when Paul said to be absent from the body is to be present, we're talking about the spirit of that man is now in the presence of the living God. But then we have to also know for a fact, there's going to be a resurrection of the body. So let me read some scripture, okay? And it's found here in 1 Corinthians 15, and it's a little lengthy, but I'll read fast. Now, if Christ has preached that he has been raised from the dead, how do some of you say there's no resurrection of the dead? But if there's no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, we are found false witnesses of God because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ whom he did not raise up if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then your faith is futile. You are still in your sins. Then also those who have fallen asleep, is King James very poetic, meaning they died. We don't believe in soul sleep. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of most men, most pitiful. King James is miserable. But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. So, you know, and we're also told in 1 Thessalonians to comfort one another with these words. Also we see again the resurrection of the dead in 1 Corinthians 15 verses 42 through 45. So, I really believe with all of my heart because this is a big question that people ask after a funeral, they'll pull me aside and say, where's my loved one? I always go back to the scripture to be absent from this body. That person's spirit is in the presence of Almighty God. And then there's gonna be a reuniting one day where the body's gonna be resurrected. That's a comforting word. Yeah, I think Pete nailed it. I mean, the question isn't making the distinction that you made rightly so that there is, you know, we are soul and body. And so when we die, the moment we die, our souls go to be with the Lord. Our spirits are with him. And you see Paul referring to that. He talks about, you know, whether or not he should stay or remain in 1 Corinthians. And he actually says, you know, that I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ. And he's talking about dying. His passion. But he would have been with Christ in his soul the moment he would have died. And Jesus says the same thing to the thief on the cross, you know, that today you'll be with me in paradise. That day when that man died, his spirit went. You know, we have the passage in, what is it, Luke, I believe 17, where the angels carry Lazarus to Abraham's side. And so he's with the Lord and a lot of places. So that, you know, you have to understand that, yes, the body will not be raised until the last day when the Trump sounds and we will be changed. The body will be raised. We don't wanna deny that. We are a soul and body and that body is integral to our humanness. Someday your body will be raised without weakness, without disease, without suffering. It'll never grow old, it'll never die. You'll never get out of shape, you know. Hallelujah. You know, all these problems, losing your hair. Oh my God. You know, all those aches and pains. The fall. It'll just disappear. The curse is gone. Yeah, it's an eternal life, but your soul will enjoy that the moment you die. Ray, let me throw this out, if I may. Do you guys think that we'll have a body to that? I'm sure it's not gonna be this one again. I think it's gonna be a glorified. Well, I believe that God will raise this body up, but it'll be transformed. Okay. It'll be transformed. Like a transformer. I believe there won't be a body, right? Because I mean, even in, I think it's in Revelation where he gives them garments to wear. So you gotta have a body, you're gonna be wearing garments. Well, it says here in the scripture as well, in 1 Corinthians 15, which is a great passage to read. If you wanna go really deep into this, as a matter of fact, I was reading it, and I was like, boy, I should preach this soon. This is so good, the whole verse, the whole chapter in 15 is phenomenal. Except for this corruptible, what's put on incorruptible, this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corrupt was put on incorruption and this mortal was put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying, death is swallowed up a victory, or death wears your sting, or grave wears your victory. So I think one of the things, one of the greatest stamps, God would not have healed our bodies if he did not plan to totally redeem them. So the fact that we're being healed, if we're believing God for healing, is proof of the fact that they have to be redeemed, because it's just giving us a little bit saying, I'm healing this now, but I'm gonna redeem it totally later on. So I think the final thing, that's where it said it swallowed up at that point. The moment our bodies are resurrected with our souls and our spirits, however you wanna put it, then at that point, the saying is now completely finalized and redemption is complete, now that the body itself has even been overcome, or has been redeemed as well. Redeemed as well. And again, all those things, all those aches and pains, all those things will be gone from that body. You know guys, just real quick, when I was in college, I had a professor who was very, it was one of the world's leading authorities on cemeteries. So it sounds like a really funny side issue, but then he did. And he took us around to several ones out nearby, our campus, and he took us to an old family one, and he said, notice how all these graves face east. And that was the way they buried people in some of these small cemeteries that when they would rise up, they'd be facing Christ, who was gonna return from the east. Isn't that interesting? Kinda cool, kinda cool little quirky thing there, but if you're buried face of west, you just turn around, it'll be fine. Well, coming up, we ask, will we have to give an account for every word we say? Wow, stay tuned. Matthew 12, 36, and 37 talks about speaking idle words and giving an account for our words. Will we have to give an account for every word? Does this mean if I speak an idle word, I will go to hell? Wow, that's a strong point there, Jay. What can you tell us about this? Well, I think idle word is a bad translation. It's not idle word, like use the word the, or whatever. When you break that word down, it comes from the word, it's Rema Argos, which means every unconscious, careless, sinful word that you speak. So it's not just an idle word. When you think of idle, when you come from westernized mind, you think of just a flippant word. And he's talking about, and that passes well, about how out of the heart, what comes out of the heart. So he's talking about, when he's talking about the idle words, he's talking about those evil words from the heart that we will have to give an account of for those things, not just like, well, you know, I went to the store and went there like, you're gonna give an account for that. You know what I mean? It's not an idle word, the way that we would think the word idle, it's speaking more in depth of evil words that we speak. I'm almost going back to where, remember when the children of Israel were getting ready to go into the promise that the Bible says they brought up an evil report, that would be considered an idle word that they had spoken in. And it sealed their fate because of the report and what they spoke. So they had to give an account for what they spoke. And I believe there are certain times in our lives, we have to be careful. And I believe that we're in a season even now that there are certain seasons where you have to be careful about what you declare. Your words hold power. Whether they're sinful or they're in faith, they still hold power. And what we declare, God will hold us accountable because he gave us the power and authority, which means we must be responsible where authority has been given. With the scouts that went into the promise land and came back with an evil report, they were moving completely not in faith at all in that, certainly. Ray, why don't you give us your take on this? Yeah, I think, again, there's a little bit of lack of distinction in the question. I agree with Jay. We will give an account for everything that we do where moral creatures made in the image of God and nothing that we do doesn't matter. I think that's crucial. If we didn't have to give an account for a bunch of stuff that we did, well, then I guess there was nothing that mattered there. There was no meaning. We weren't living for God in that moment. And of course we always are living for the Lord. So everything that we do matters, but it's not about going to heaven or going to hell because it's not by your works that you're saved. It's by trusting in Christ and Christ alone that you're saved. The moment you believe in Him, you have eternal life. You can't lose it. God keeps you. He's changed you. He's given you a new nature. You're seated with Him. He says you have right now eternal life. It's not something you'll get if you can somehow hold on tight enough. You have it. You can't lose it. So once you have eternal life entirely by the righteousness of Christ and by the atoning sacrifice of Christ, then we live for Him. But once again, everything that we do matters. And I think with regard to the believer, every idle word will determine, or every word, I agree with you Jay, there's nothing idle about it, every word will determine either a reward. Jesus said, even a cup of cold water, just give somebody a cup of, in my name will by no means lose its reward. But also there are those, 1 Corinthians talks about it, that will have some of the stuff burned up because they didn't build on Christ with gold and silver. They built, they did works, they wasted their time and they'll lose reward, but they won't lose heaven. By the same token, the wicked, every evil deed will have another eternity of punishment for that deed. Theologian I like used to say that the souls in hell would give everything they could to have one less sin charged to them because for every sin, it's another punishment that goes on forever. And so it's true, everyone's gonna give an account for their words, but they're redeemed, it's a matter of rewards. Not a whether heaven or hell issue at all. That's a very big key point here, Pete. And then something else there, if we look at the second part of that, in Matthew says 12, 36, for by your words, you'll be justified. In other words, and by the very same words that you go to justify yourself, I cannot justify myself before God no matter what. And the very words that I use that justify myself are gonna be the very words that are gonna condemn me. Now again, as it was brought out and I'm so glad, this is not a matter of heaven or hell. This is a matter that we are gonna be judged for all that we've done. And then on to heaven. Right, and before I go over to you, Pastor Glaze, I noticed when I looked at this in context, he's talking to the Pharisees who were denying people the truth of the gospel and denying people. What's your take on this? Well, I think you gotta break it down into two groups, unbelievers and believers. Unbelievers will give an account of every, either word or word that, yes, you defined it, Jay. They will give them, at the great white throne, they will be judged for their works. So they'll give an account. Now I struggle with the idea of believers giving an account. And the reason being is because weren't all of our sins accounted for on the cross? You know, didn't Jesus, didn't he bear our sins on the cross? So I don't think that we'll give an account for the sinfulness of our words. I think we'll give an account for our stewardship so that if those idle words, those idle words can affect our stewardship and not necessarily, because again, time and time again, the Bible says that the blood of Christ covers all sin, that God puts his sins or sins in them and he remembers them no more. So if that's true, then we're not gonna give an account from that standpoint, but we'll give an account from a stewardship standpoint. That's so good. And so again, to you who wrote this question in, to you who maybe were wondering about this scripture, your salvation is not based on whether you said something idly, whether you let something slip, whether something just happened to fly out of your mouth and you're like, oh my gosh, there's an idle word. Am I going to hell? No, our salvation is not based on that, but it's on grace through faith. And so it's important to remember that because the enemy can play havoc with us in those things. Well, we like to end the program with the scripture. And this is a great one from 1 Peter, where it says therefore with minds that are true, that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed and is coming. That's 1 Peter 113. Real quick, Pete, reaction to that scripture. The grace that is set to come to you when Christ is revealed. Can I pass on that? I was in La La Land, I was going to... Pete was speaking out of words over here, I think. I don't know, that's great. Well, we hope you enjoyed today's program. We want to hear from you. Email us your question to hardquestionsatctvn.org or call into the hotline at 412-349-4326.