 Okay, we were looking at a few scriptures before the break regarding the second coming. Let's get into this whole concept of rapture. There are different people who have different views regarding this issue. So we'll just look at what the scriptures have to say and then it's left to people how they wish to interpret that for themselves. So just to state some facts regarding what is mentioned in scripture regarding this. So maybe we could begin by looking at Acts chapter 1 verses 11 to 12 because it talks about Jesus ascending into heaven at that point of time and the angels talk about how he will come back one day and this is basically what the angels say about how he will come back. So Acts chapter 1 verses 11 to 12 if somebody could read out for us please. Who also said men of Galilee why you stand gazing up into heaven the same Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will so come in like manner as you saw him go into heaven then they return to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet which is near Okay so here the angels they say he will come back in the same way you have seen him go. So which is why many believers hold the view that he went from the Mount of Olives because we see that in the next verse right? Ma verse 12 where it says then the apostles return to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives. So the belief that is held by most of the believers is that Jesus went up from the Mount of Olives ascended back into heaven to his father. So in the same way that he went up he will also come down because that's what the angels said that he would return in the same way. So the belief is that he will once again descend onto the Mount of Olives. So that is the idea that is held by most believers regarding the second coming in the same way that Jesus went up from the Mount of Olives he will once again descend down upon the Mount of Olives and we see Zechariah 14.4 kind of confirming this. So if someone could read out Zechariah 14.4 maybe 3 and 4 then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations as he fights in a day of battle and in that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives which faces Jerusalem on the east and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west making a very large valley. Half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south. Alright so here in Zechariah 14.4 it talks about how when the Lord comes he's going to come to fight against the nations and when he comes to fight against the nations it says his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives and when he comes and stands on the Mount of Olives it says that there would be a great earthquake and the mountain would literally be split into two portions and then at that time you know God will go out and fight against the nations and he will defeat the enemies. This is the picture that we get from these scriptures about the second coming. Now let's look at another passage and you know see how we can compare contrast 1 Thessalonians 4 16 to 17. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God and a dead in Christ who will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Now over here when we look at this passage we see Jesus coming of course it says over here with the voice of an archangel under the trumpet call of God he will come and then it says the dead in Christ will rise first after that we who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord where in the air you know it says to meet the Lord in the air and so we will be with the Lord forever. It does not talk about him descending down upon to Mount Olives okay so which is why people say that oh there must be something like a rapture where Jesus comes but he doesn't actually come down and descend upon to upon the Mount of Olives because over here in 1 Thessalonians 4 16 to 17 it just seems to be saying that where he will come to collect his people it looks like when he comes the dead who are in Christ you know all the believers who have passed away and who have been buried they will rise up when he comes they will rise up they will rise up with glorified resurrected bodies and they will join with him in the air and those who are still alive the believers who are still alive at that point of time they too will will rise up into the air to meet him and and then it just says you know so we will be with the Lord forever so they say it's not talking about here about him actually descending upon the Mount of Olives so this probably is not the second coming this must be the rapture that is how this whole idea of rapture came in so some will you know speak against it some will say no no this is you know true because this is what the scriptures say now when it's up to you what you wish to you know believe in at APC we officially do believe that you know that rapture is a fact that will take place so there are two you know belief systems regarding this so this is basically how this whole idea of rapture developed because 1 Thessalonians 4 16 to 17 is saying something slightly different from what we see in Zechariah 14 4 okay so that's the basis on which this whole you know belief is built so also we see that in the Zechariah event I know it we get the idea that everyone will witness his second coming Matthew 24 30 to 31 if someone could read out Matthew 24 30 to 31 then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven and then all the tribes of the earth who mourn and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory and he will send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they will gather together his elect from the four from one end of heaven to the other yeah so over here it talks about how all the peoples of the world of the earth will actually be able to visibly physically see him when he comes in the second coming so they say that you know in 1 Thessalonians 4 16 to 17 that is not the impression that we get because over here he does not really come down it's the believers who go up into the air to meet him so these are just some of the you know arguments that are presented so we'll just leave it at that and we'll move into the idea of the whole concept of resurrection what what does the Bible have to say regarding the resurrection so we look at a few scriptures we see actually many different stages of resurrection being mentioned in the Bible generally when we think of resurrection we just think of Jesus Christ being resurrected you know on Easter Sunday and we think about the believers being resurrected you know at some point in the end but in the scriptures we see many many different stages of resurrection maybe you could say being mentioned we'll just look at those scriptures so of course we'll begin with you know Jesus Christ who was the first human to be resurrected because he chose to be our representative and as our human representative he chose to defeat death on our behalf and be resurrected so we will look at a couple of scriptures regarding that 1 Corinthians 15 20 and 23 two separate verses okay 1 Corinthians 15 20 and then 23 but now Christ has risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep but each one in his own order cries the first fruits afterward those who are Christ at his coming okay so the word first fruits it's an Old Testament word and all the Jewish people would be very familiar with that word when they would have when they would grow their crops and they harvest the crops they want to bring the thanksgiving to the Lord so they would bring the first fruits to the Lord you know the the the first harvest which they picked up they bring those fruits to the Lord and they make a presentation of the of it in the temple those are the first fruits as an indication Lord in the same way you have given us these first fruits the rest of the crop also will follow and we thank you for all that you're going to be giving to us and our family so in that sense the first fruits are representative of the rest of the fruits which will be you know which will follow in the same manner so over here Jesus Christ our human representative he becomes the first fruits of the resurrection so in the same way he got resurrected all the other humans who place their faith in him they also will undergo the same experience so he is the first fruits and because he indeed got resurrected it is guaranteed that we also will experience that one day without fail you know up to now we know we have not yet had that experience because the second coming has not yet taken place but like we saw in the in the Thessalonians scripture when he comes in the air the dead the believers who are dead their bodies will rise up whether those bodies were buried or whether they were you know they were drowned in the sea or that they were blown to bits by a bomb it really doesn't matter that physical body will actually be resurrected and meet with him in the air and then it says the believers who are still alive they also will rise up to meet him so that is basically when the resurrection of the believers will happen and that we look that is referred to in your 1st Corinthians 15 51 and 52 someone could read out 1st Corinthians 15 51 and 52 behold I tell you a mystery we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed in a moment in a twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed yeah so in the it says in the twinkling of an eye in a microsecond people whose bodies were completely dead and people also who are still believers were still alive in the twinkling of an eye we will be transformed and have the same kind of resurrection body which Jesus Christ had you know because after his resurrection he just walks into the room without even bothering to knock on the door he just comes in right through the wall and then he eats he actually eats which means you know he was in a resurrected body you are able to chew and eat food so we will have a resurrected body like that something exciting to look forward to now another scripture regarding resurrection Daniel chapter 12 versus one to two 12 one to two at the time Michael the great prince who protects your people will arise there will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of the nation until then but at that time your people everyone whose name is found written in the book will be delivered multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will be awake will awake some to everlasting life and other to share shame and everlasting contempt over here we see Daniel being spoken to by you know by the angel and this is what the angel reveals to him he says you know at the end time your people you know will rise up from the dust so over here it's talking about the resurrection so some people this is what they say that the Old Testament believers the ones who you know placed their faith in Yahweh even though they did not at that at that point of time fully understand about the role of the Messiah and how the Messiah would save them they did not know the details but they had placed their faith in Yahweh and stayed true and faithful to him all of those Old Testament believers they say that these people will be resurrected you know at the time of the second coming so others there are other people who will say no no no or the Old Testament believers also will get resurrected during the time of the rapture when the dead in Christ will rise up so they say the term dead in Christ does not refer just to the New Testament believers the dead in the term dead in Christ also refers to the Old Testament believers there are other people with the other viewpoint where they say no the Old Testament believers they will receive their resurrected bodies only in the end time when the second coming happens so you have basically have two points of view regarding that then what about the people who actually you know died during the tribulation period the that is talked about in Revelation 20 4 to 5 Revelation 20 4 to 5 and I saw thrones and they sat on them and judgment was committed to them then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God who had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received this mark on their foreheads or on their hands and they lived and waning with Christ for a thousand years but the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished this is the first resurrection it talks about something called the first resurrection over here so over here it's referring to people you know who were killed and who died during the tribulation period just before the second coming so there's a time of great trial and suffering and difficulty and then after that you know the second coming happens so it looks like these people so we don't know about the Old Testament believers whether they'll get resurrected over here at this point of time at the second coming or that they will rise up you know when Christ comes in the air that we do not know but one thing is sure about these believers who have been who have died during the tribulation period they will be resurrected definitely at the second coming only not before that for the simple reason that they were not even alive before that they were born during the tribulation time they lived during the tribulation time and so when they get killed such people it says they will rise up and reign with Christ during the millennium which will come immediately after the you know second coming so that their resurrection will happen at that time and it will be called the first resurrection why because there are some believers who will be there afterwards and their resurrection will only happen later whom are we talking about we're talking about people who will be born during the millennium period because people who were caught up in the air with Jesus will have resurrected bodies Old Testament believers they'll either get the resurrected bodies at that point of time or at least at the second coming so we have a whole bunch of people entering into the millennium thousand-year rule of Jesus with resurrected bodies but there will still be some believers who are still alive and they will still have their physical bodies so they will continue to get married they will continue to have children and now those people will have a resurrection later so which is why over here it's referring to people of the first resurrection so so we're basically when we see we observe that you know there are different stages of this resurrection process taking place you know depending on which era the particular believers are you know born into of course the final resurrection will be even the resurrection of the of the evil wicked people and they will be resurrected basically for to be sent into the lake of fire and so maybe we can look at John chapter 5 28 and 29 John 5 28 and 29 28 to 29 do not marvel at this for the harbor is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear his voice and come forth those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done able to the resurrection of condemnation it says very clearly that both categories of people will rise you know so it says those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned because it's very very clearly told by Jesus that even the evil people also will be will receive resurrected bodies but their resurrection is basically for condemnation not for eternal life which is why the same thing is repeated even in your revelation 20 verse 13 what does revelation 2013 say 2013 yeah uh the sea gave up the deed who were innate and death and it's delivered up the date who were in them and they were judged each one according to his works so over here it's talking about the resurrection of the evil the people who are you know drowned in the sea they will rise up the ones who are being held in heads they also will rise up with their with resurrected bodies so all of these people will be judged in the very end times so these are the different levels and stages of resurrection that are talked about in the scriptures and we just kind of briefly covered all of those verses just so that we'll have a general idea coming to the judgment the final judgment now this we are more familiar with judgment happens at two levels first you have the judgment of the believers which is done separately so we will look at that the judgment of the believers second Corinthians 5 verse 7 and also verse 10 second Corinthians 5 verse 7 and then verse 10 for we walk why faith not by sight for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done with the with a good orbit here it's talking about believers very very clearly it is not talking about unbelievers because it's talking about people who live by faith not by sight so these believers it says will appear before the judgment seat of Christ and then what will happen they will receive what is due for the things done while in the body so we believers when we are living in the body how are we living are we living by faith or by sight believers who are living by sight they'll discover very sadly that there's really no reward at all you know because they were too busy living by sight only what was pleasing to them in in their physical eyes they did those things whatever they felt was too threatening and scary they didn't bother doing they were not living by faith they were not living for unseen things in the spiritual realm they were not placing their faith in this invisible god so whenever things look safe and good then fine they obeyed but when god was asking something which is so impossible which looked like as if you know they will literally die if they do that they would hesitate to do why because they can't even see this invisible god how to place their faith in someone who's invisible and so they would hold back so all of these things will actually have consequences today if I'm living by faith I cannot even see you know like it says in the scripture you have not even seen Jesus Christ but you trust him you believe in him and you love him so you know so those of us who even though we have not even seen Jesus with our physical eyes we are choosing to trust him and live for him by faith our reward will be very great and there are those who will just simply be living by sight if everything looks safe and fine they will follow if things look dangerous they will not because who knows you know they don't want to trust something which is invisible we should not be like that so if we choose to live by faith and not by sight when we stand over there in front of the judgment seat of Christ we will receive what is due us for the things done while in the body so what we are doing now in the body is so important it will bear eternal rewards for us so this is talking about the judgment of the believers so when the believers stand in front of the judgment seat of Christ he does not say okay you are saved you can go to heaven and you are the other person no no you know you're not saved you will go to hell no we all first of all got saved simply by placing our faith in him in Jesus not because of any great thing that we did so over here the judgment is not judgment for salvation salvation has been guaranteed in Christ already what is being judged over here is how much reward each person gets so there'll be some people who will not even have any reward quite a shameful thing right I mean you're standing over there all of us in front of the judgment seat of Christ and there are unknown people you know from some remote village who really have this huge reward in their hands which the you know Jesus Christ has given them and then you have this big preacher who was appearing on the stage everywhere and he's got nothing in his hands empty-handed because he you know maybe he was was good at talking but he was not good at anything else he never really lived out his life by faith you know so his faith was weak he didn't fight and overcome and have victory in his personal life what a sad thing that will be so it is quite a dangerous thing in fact you know we should be very careful that we are actually working towards the heavenly reward you know that God has awaiting us because otherwise what reward you know what it says in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 that will happen to us 1 Corinthians 3 13 to 15 1 Corinthians 3 13 to 15 1 Corinthians 3 13 to 15 each once work will become manifest for the day will declare it because it will be revealed by fire and the fire will lay will taste each one's work of what sort it is 14 if anyone's work which he has built on it endures he will receive a reward if anyone's work is earned he will suffer suffer loss but he himself will be saved so as throw fire yeah so it says what we have done that their work will be shown for what it is because the day will bring it to light the day of course over here is talking about you know the judgment day and over here is talking about the judgment day for the believers when they will stand before the judgment seat of Christ so on at that time their work will be shown for what it actually is you know it's a person just opening their mouth and talking and is that all they can do or is their lifestyle showing that they really are followers of Christ because it's always very easy to talk and it's so difficult to actually put those things into practice so the the the work will be exposed for what it actually is was it all just outward show or this was they really a genuine sacrificing and living as a living sacrifice for God on a daily basis did that personal sacrifice happen in private every day you know because that's it happens in private right not in front of people people only see the nice side the painful side where you're shedding tears and you're submitting him to him and you're saying okay Lord even though this hurts so much I will follow you I will honor you all that happens in secret nobody ever gets to see that but on that day your work will be exposed for what it is and then you know the fire will bring up will test the quality of each person's work what exactly does this fire test it basically sees you know with what motivation did this person do the things that they did did they do it by faith in Christ and did they do it to honor Christ or did they do it just to get fame and glory did they do it to get the praise of their pastor did they do it for some kind of financial gain why did they do this so two main things will basically come out when the fire tests did the person live by faith or was it just by sight and what are the motives of that person's heart when they did those things you know so every little thing that we do why are we doing it are we doing it because you know the church leaders asked us to do it but are we doing it because we have this passion for God in our hearts to do something for him because we love him the fire in seconds you know it just goes through your entire life's work I mean all that you all the all that you did in your entire lifetime in a matter of seconds the fire just goes through all of that and tests it and it'll be frankly revealed the things which you did because you love him and things which you just did because you know the leaders told you to do it so it is so important how we are living am I living as a living sacrifice each day am I renewing my mind each day so when my mind is getting renewed I'll do things for him not for people because you see when my mind is getting renewed every day I will realize that oh my I'm doing this for my lord and savior I'm doing it out of gratitude for him and because I care about his kingdom not because some people told me to do it so the fire in a matter of seconds will burn through your entire life's work so what kind of work are you producing what kind of work am I producing in my life that becomes so important for us you know so it says over here what has been built if it survives the builder will receive a reward if it is burned up the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved so salvation is not lost but there's nothing for you to hold in your hands no reward no crown nothing and it'll be quite shameful at that point of time because you know you're looking into the eyes of your lord and savior ouch I really hope I don't have to ever go through that experience you see you're standing in front of the one who gave up everything for you and if you have nothing over there to offer him how shameful that will be I mean forget about other people you know I don't think it will be very bothered about status in heaven so what other people think will not really matter that much but you have to look at you a lot and savior you know look at him and if you're standing over there empty-handed and he just looks sadly at you most shameful moment of your entire existence so let that not happen to us let us be people who are really living out romans 12 one to two you know it's a maybe maybe you should get up in the morning and look at romans 12 12 one to two and say am I doing it today am I living as a living sacrifice am I offering myself to him second am I renewing my you know my mind and am I you know if I am renewing my mind I will be doing his will and I will be discovering on a daily basis how perfect and good and pleasing his will is so romans 12 one to two can help us really in getting our reward that day because it just takes a few seconds for that fire to burn through everything that you have done and the real motives of why you did what you did will be exposed you know for everyone to see so this judgment is going to be something I know important for our eternal future of course there's also a judgment for unbelievers now that is talked about in your revelation 20 11 to 13 we did read one of those verses but then if you can just read that entire you know portion revelation 20 11 to 13 the judgment of the unbelievers then I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away and there was found no place for them 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 a dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books the sea gave up the dead who were in it and death and hates delivered up the dead who were in them and they were judged each one according to his works yeah each person was judged according to what they had done so over here obviously the judgment is not for salvation because salvation is not based on works salvation is based on the faith that we place in Christ and we submit our lives to him so salvation is based on that here the judgment is basically for what level of punishment are you going to face in your future so over here it is purely for determining the level of punishment that the person would endure in hell and you know we see a confirmation of that in Luke 10 10 to 12 if someone could read out for us Luke 10 10 to 12 but whatever city you enter and they do not receive you go out into the streets and say the very dust of your city which clings to us we wipe off against you nevertheless know this that the kingdom of God has come near you but I say to you that it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city yeah it will be more bearable and tolerable on that day for Sodom than for that particular town which rejected Jesus Christ so which means there are degrees and levels of punishment people who have you know done more against Christ their punishment will be greater those who have sinned less their punishment will be more bearable so there are different levels of punishment in hell and on the judgment day you know at the great white throne judgment it will be determined how much punishment each person will be given and there's another scripture actually which refers to this maybe it would be good for us to look at that as well Luke 12 47 to 48 Luke 12 47 to 48 and that servant who knew his master's will and did not prepare himself or do according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes but he who did not know yet committed things deserving of stripes shall be beaten with few for everyone to whom much is given from him much will be required and to whom much has been committed of him they will ask the more. So there are people who are very aware of what God's standards are and they have a greater awareness of what is good and what is bad and they still choose to live in sin for such people the punishment will be far greater there will be some people who are not really very aware of you know godly things simply because they were they grew up in such a terrible background where you know they were not been very aware of godly things for them the punishment will be lesser so those who no more have understood more and yet rejected it for such people the punishment will be higher okay so there will be different levels of punishment in hell for the unbeliever and then we of course have the scriptures which talk about how the angels will be judged and maybe we can look at that scripture which talks about the demons which are held in bondage so Jude verse 6 Jude verse 6 and the angels who did not keep their proper domain but left their own abode he has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day. Yeah so when the angels fell I mean this is something we talked about last class when the angels fell there were some which who were immediately chained and tied up and they were placed in the abyss so they never even got to roam around on the earth other fallen angels were allowed to continue to operate you know up to the time when god will you know stop their work so there are some demons which are already being held in bondage and they are being held for what for the judgment on the great day when actually believers also will participate in judging these fallen angels. So yeah first Peter 1.17 says since you call on a father who judges each person's work impartially live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear so god will not show any partiality when the time for judgment comes he will be he will treat everyone equally so at that time if we have done a good work we will receive a good reward so over here it's established it says the father who judges each person's work impartially so therefore it says live in reverent fear live in the fear not not in a not in a negative kind of fear but in a reverent fear knowing that you are serving a very very holy god and if you serve him with the with the right motives then one day you know you will be receiving a great reward from him. Another verse which can you know bring us assurance with this regarding judgment Colossians 3.25 but he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done and there is no partiality. So this whole idea of final judgment not only does it make you know motivate us to really give our very best you know because we know that on that day god will not show any favoritism whoever has really put in their best with the right motives they will be rewarded more others will be rewarded less the same thing regarding those who have done bad things to us Colossians 3.25 it says they will be repaid for their wrongs because there are some wealthy people who don't seem to face any kind of judgment here on earth you know they they live in a in a cruel exploitative manner and then they die well I mean nothing bad seems to happen to them but there is going to be a judgment day and on that judgment day it says over here they will be repaid for their wrongs because with god there is no favoritism just because they were influential and rich upon the earth god is not going to overlook them they too will be judged. So this whole idea of final judgment it motivates us to live with reverent fear it also gives us this assurance that the people who are oppressing us and ill-treating us and working against our families today even if nothing happens to them today because they are too powerful a day will come when every wrong will be repaid in full by the Lord you know who does not show favoritism. A third thing that actually judgment you know final judgment helps us with is in our attitude towards other people Romans 12 17 to 19 Romans 12 17 to 19. Repay no one evil for evil have regard for good things in the sight of all men if it is possible as much as depends on you live peaceably with all men 19. Beloved do not avenge yourselves but rather give place to wrath for it is written vengeance is mine I will repay sees the Lord says vengeance is mine I will repay and so it says to the extent possible live at peace with other people forgive them yes it is true what they did to you was bad what they did to you was painful but to the extent possible from your side continue to live at peace with them you know forgive them choose to you know treat them in a nice way in spite of what they have done to you because God says vengeance is mine when the time comes I will repay I will take care of it so the idea of final judgment also enables us to forgive people and you know continue to be good to them because we are leaving it in the Lord's hands the Lord will work out the details the Lord will give us what is our due when the time comes so we don't have to pay we become vengeful and attack them and try to hurt them and pull them down that is not the attitude which believers should have okay so that's another thing that we can draw from this whole idea of final judgment and then one more maybe one more maybe a couple of scriptures more maybe we can look at Galatians 6 9 to 10 yeah Galatians 6 9 to 10 and let us not grow weary while doing good for in due season we shall weep if we do not lose heart therefore as we have opportunity let us do good to all especially to those who are off the household of faith it says here as we have opportunity let us do good to all people especially to those who belong to the family of believers why are we and it says in the previous verse let us not become weary in doing good because doing good takes a lot of effort I mean we all know that right I mean you have to make sacrifices to be good to people you have to invest time in them all that takes effort but don't grow weary in doing that in being good to people why because at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up so do not give up being good to people even though that may be a very difficult thing even though it may require a lot of sacrifice go ahead and do that why because when the proper time comes you will reap a rich harvest okay is what the Lord says okay last verse with regard to this whole final judgment thing concept James 5 19 to 20 James 5 19 to 20 brethren if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover multitude of sins yeah it says here that if you turn someone away from their sins you know it says whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins an entire lifetime of sins will be covered and forgiven because you took the effort to bring that person to God now over here actually it's talking to believers you know it's referring to however person backslides you know you should be concerned enough to reach out to them and help them to return to God but the scripture can also be applied to unbelievers so if you take the effort to know to turn a sinner from their ways and if you bring them to God imagine not only are you going to save them from eternal death in fact you will you know it will lead to the covering over of a multitude of sins so what we are actually doing is we are saving that person from the final judgment it's going to be a very very scary and frightening thing for all these people who are going to be standing in front of the great white throne and if you can spare a few people from the terrible experience by bringing them you know to Jesus Christ imagine all their sins will be covered forgiven and they don't even have to go and stand over there in front of that great white throne so what a great thing you're doing for that person and God we know in fact will recognize that and reward you for that so this whole idea of final judgment should also be a motivating factor for us to really make an effort to share the gospel with people because even if we are able to turn away a few people from their sins a multitude of their sins will just be covered and forgiven and they'll not have to go and stand in front of that you know judgment throne of God so this is our you know responsibility we have maybe about nine minutes left maybe we can look at a few scriptures about heaven and hell we can start off with hell because people somehow seem to be more interested in hell than in heaven um let's look at Luke chapter 16 22 to 24 Luke 16 22 to 24 Luke 16 24 22 22 so he uh so it was that the bigger died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom the rich man also died and was worried and being in torments in heads he lifted up his eyes and so Abraham up uh afar off and Lazarus in his bosom then he cried and said father Abraham have mercy on me and sent Lazarus that he may give the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame uh yeah so it here it's talking about something called heads and we have a person who is not a believer you see who seems to be unrighteous so he has been thrown into heads and it says that he's in torment in that place okay that would be verse 22 in heads where he was in torment he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side and then this is what he says he says you know send Lazarus to at least give me one drop of water why he says because I'm in agony in this fire so we get the impression that heads is a place where there's going to be some kind of fire and where there's going to be a lot of torment and where you'll basically have people who are unrighteous being held over there and these people in heads are looking far away on the other side and on the other side they see Abraham with Lazarus now Abraham as we know is one of the good guys he's a he's a person who placed his faith in the Lord and it was credited to him as righteousness so Abraham is one of the righteous and it looks like even Lazarus was one of the righteous because he's along with Abraham so we get the impression that his heads is some place which is divided into two compartments in one compartment you have righteous people being held in the other compartment you have the ungodly unrighteous people being held and the ones who are in the in the in the bad part of heads the hell part of heads if maybe maybe is how we can call it they are actually suffering in something called the flame or the fire okay so there is agony going on over there but the people who are on the other side where Abraham and Lazarus are staying in the other compartment of heads they seem to be doing fine you know things are going well for them so when we think about Jesus speaking to the thief you know just before he died at that point of time Jesus says to the thief you know because you have trusted in me and placed your faith in me and you're saying to me when you come into your kingdom remember me which means that you believe that I am lord because you have chosen to place your faith in me he says you will be with me in paradise today and so we kind of maybe can give the label to the you know the other compartment where you have Abraham and Lazarus and all of them staying maybe that can be called paradise so heads has basically got two compartments on one side you had the unrighteous people who are suffering I suppose you can call that hell the other compartment was paradise but Jesus says that he will go over there to paradise and he will collect his people and take them to heaven because now the crucifixion process is done the resurrection would have happened and once the resurrection has happened death and sin are defeated and so now he's you know he's fully justified in taking his people right into God's presence you know into the throne room of God so that's basically what happens so I'm assuming the paradise compartment is now empty and you basically only have hell where people are continuing to burn in agony in the flames okay so then you have something called the lake of fire now that would be mark chapter nine verse 43 so someone can read out mark 943 if your hand causes you to sin cut it off it is better for you to enter into life maimed rather than having two hands to go to hell into the fire that shall never be quenched the word used over here is that word uh gehenna okay so heads was the other word over here this word is gehenna and this seems to be some kind of permanent destination so heads was like a temporary place heads is not your permanent hell okay uh the hell that we keep talking about today is actually a temporary hell there's a permanent hell waiting and that basically would be your gehenna where you would have that the fire which never goes out and in some places it's called the lake of fire and in this lake of fire there's supposed to be one deepest compartment which is called the abyss so over there the some of these fallen angels are being right now chained and held over there in the abyss which is like the lowest deepest part because that word abyss basically means a very very deep pit so at the lowest part of hell there's something called the abyss and that's basically where some of the demons are right now being chained and kept you know for for the day of judgment and so this is basically hell so not exactly sure how this works out whether hell itself will get transformed into the lake of fire in that final day or that that's a separate place we don't know the details but anyway this is basically what we have in the scriptures regarding you know hell and then regarding heaven okay how we have three minutes for heaven isn't that bad okay revelation chapter 21 verse 23 this is one very lovely verse which you know we need to look at regarding heaven revelation 21 verse 23 the city had no heat of the sun or of the moon to shine in it for the glory of god illuminated it the lamb is its light okay so okay maybe we should read another verse so that we can get this whole idea of this new city into our heads maybe we can you know if someone could read out revelation 21 verses 1 and 2 yeah revelation 21 1 and 2 and 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 than I jone so the holy city knew Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from god prepared as a bride adorned for her husband and I hear a loud voice so um oh you don't believe in full stop okay um so you see it says over here that the the first heaven and the first earth which we have now you know they'll pass away and then a new heaven and a new earth will be established so uh this new heaven and this new earth this is how it is described it says I saw the holy city the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from god so it looks like the new heaven descends upon upon the new earth and this new city of Jerusalem will be somewhere located in this new earth and of course I think people will be living all over the new earth and then they would visit the new Jerusalem whenever they feel like it so this is an entirely a new setup that we see over here being described and so we will basically be living in this new earth as citizens of the new Jerusalem okay so um that is basically maybe what we can grasp from the scriptures regarding this and so going back to the verse that we were looking at earlier it talks about how in this new place you won't be needing any sun or moon because the glory of god gives it light and it says the lamp will be its lamp so the lamp of god himself will be the light for the entire city you know so we will be part of this um you know of this new earth and we will also be citizens of the new Jerusalem um this is a question post here so the question here you know is does haids still you know exist is it still in operation today so I'm just assuming that you know if haids is divided into paradise and the place where this person was getting burnt you know in the flames so I'm assuming maybe that would be hell so in that sense paradise has been emptied out because Jesus collected his people and took them into God's presence but as for those who are in the place of torment where there are flames and there is torment going on if we call that hell I assume that the hell part of it is still operational and so maybe hell is a separate place and the lake of fire is a separate place so after the great white throne judgment you know because it says those who are in haids the dead in haids will give up the dead to be you know to be judged by God so maybe after everyone gets judged everyone gets moved out of this hell into the permanent lake of fire the Gehenna so maybe there they are two separate places that God has created for judgment and this is all you know assumption just based on the few verses that we have we kind of try to understand what is being said but I mean no one is actually hundred percent correct regarding these things so whatever I'm saying take it with a pinch of salt yeah we should really stop because we are over time let's just close with the word of prayer Lord we just thank you so much for all the things that we could just reflect upon today this is our future this is what we are looking forward to there are going to be very very frightening things happening oh Lord in the end times because you will reveal yourself in all of your glory and might on that day today people may be pretending that you don't exist today people may be you know mocking you and taking a stand against you but on that day Lord nobody can even dare to say anything because they will see you and they will know who you are and it's such a assurance to know that on that day you will be at peace with us I think on that day Lord we will really appreciate what Jesus Christ has done for us because of His atoning sacrifice you now look upon us with peace you don't look upon us with condemnation at all and your love is for us Lord on that day on that final day when you really appear in your frightening and awesome glory we will really appreciate that we because of Jesus just because of Jesus we are on your side so Lord I pray that every day we will live with deep gratitude honoring our Lord and Savior that Lord we will be a living sacrifice because He chose to become a sacrifice for us I pray oh Lord that you would really help each of us in our walk with you so that on that day you can actually look at us and say well done good and faithful servant thank you oh Lord that you are working in our lives and you know how to cause us to stand and you know how to sanctify us and you know how to present us blameless before the Father so we just look to you oh Lord to continue doing your work of sanctification in our lives so that we will be prepared and ready for whatever awaits us when we stand before the judgment seat of Jesus Christ thank you oh Lord in Jesus name amen amen yeah thank you so much