The Biblical Resurrections

Well, happy Sabbath once again, brethren. Always a pleasure to have all of you with us.

One of the most wonderful truths, in my opinion, that the Church of God understands is that of the resurrections. It's one of the most hopeful, inspiring certainties that we hold dear because it explains how deep and how patient God's love is towards every human being who has ever been born anywhere on this earth. And it shows that God has a plan for each and every individual person, that they are so precious and so important to Him that someone born thousands and thousands of years ago who was born, lived their lives, died, and there's no record of their existence at all, humanly speaking. Yet God knows them by name, and He has a special plan and a purpose for their life.

Another doctrine where we believe in the Word of God rather than the traditions, the cultural beliefs, or the doctrines of men. Over time, modern Christianity has evolved its beliefs about the afterlife into a number of major and diverse doctrines. And quickly, I'd like to go through a few of those, which you'll typically find. One doctrine is that one goes to heaven immediately after death. And this is very attractive because as a people, human beings like instant gratification. And that includes the afterlife. We don't want to wait. We'd like to think. We'd like to believe that if we're really a good person, that we instantaneously go to heaven when we die. Of course, no one wants to think of the alternative if you weren't a good person. But going into heaven, if people go into heaven after they die, that leaves the meanings of a resurrection irrelevant and rather redundant, doesn't it? Think about the theology of that. Someone dies and they go to heaven. And then there comes the time of the resurrection. They leave heaven. They go back and enter a human corpse, and they are resurrected from a human corpse once again to a new life. That doesn't even make sense. Again, that leaves the meanings of the resurrections. And their purpose, irrelevant and redundant. Another spin-off of this is going to an ever-burning hellfire upon death and suffering and horrifying pain and terror for all eternity. Well, obviously, if this were true and you were roasting on an eternal rotisserie spit, you will not be experiencing a future resurrection, will you? If that is your plot, your plan, your penance for all eternity, just roasting on a hellfire, then there certainly is no need for you to experience a future resurrection. And then there are some things that occurred in Protestantism. For example, John Calvin, who was an early reformer, held a view on predestination, sometimes called double predestination. And this is the view that God has actively chosen some people for damnation as well as for salvation. So it kind of removes free will that God had already decided in advance that some people are going to be damned. No matter what they want to do, no matter what they choose to do, they are predetermined to be damned for all eternity. And that doctrine has influenced Protestantism far more than it's willing to admit, I might add. Then there's the Roman Catholic theology. They created the idea of a purgatory. This is an intermediate state between physical death in which some who are ultimately destined to go to heaven eventually must undergo purification so that they can achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven. This was one of the reasons that the Protestant Reformation occurred. It just so happened by coincidence that if your beloved relative was in purgatory, then a generous monetary offering to the church could speed the process of them moving from purgatory into heaven. So these are some of the things that have spun off of human cultures and human ideas and human religions that are contrary to what the Bible teaches us about the resurrections.

Human beings are mortal. We have no inherent immortality. We are not immortal souls. In addition, we are incapable of giving eternal life to ourselves. We need every human being who ever lives and dies needs a resurrection from death, or our existence is ended. It's ended forever. The Scriptures clearly reveal that God is the final judge and determiner of a person's eternal fate.

Judgment and resurrection go hand in hand. So let's begin looking into the resurrections by going to John 5, verse 25. If you'll turn there with me, and we will see a comment made by Jesus Christ himself. John 5, verse 25. Jesus says, Most assuredly I say to you, 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. So Jesus says there's coming a time of resurrection. He says here, the hour is coming, and now is.

What did he mean by now is? Well, just a few chapters later, in John 11, verse 43, what does Jesus say to the corpse of Lazarus in that tomb? He says, Lazarus, come forth! And Lazarus has resurrected from the dead. So that's exactly what Jesus means when he said the hour is coming, and now is. Jesus resurrected people in his earthly ministry. So when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.

For as the Father has life in himself, so he is granted the Son to have life in himself. So they have self-generating immortality. Verse 27, and has given him, speaking of Jesus Christ, authority to execute judgment also because he is the Son of man. Do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming, in which all who are in the graves will hear his voice. Not some people, not just good people, not just bad people, all who are in their graves will hear his voice. And come forth, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation.

Condemnation is part of judgment. The fact that there is a resurrection for every human being who has ever lived is an absolute promise. But what most people don't realize is that this resurrection is not a single monumental event. And those within Christianity that still believe in a resurrection, most believe that it is a single monumental event. And that's not true, as we'll see as we take a look in the book of Revelation in just a few minutes. Throughout history, God has chosen to work with some individuals in their lifetimes and has given them his spirit to work inside of them.

And that spirit and the relationship he has with them is preparing them for a special task. That special task is to serve alongside of Jesus Christ for 1,000 years as a very brand new culture and new way of life is introduced into the earth. You are part of that very special people whom God has called. You are destined to an earlier, or what the Scriptures call a first, resurrection. We'll get into that in just a few minutes. I want to highlight that resurrections are only possible because only God has the ability to give life. God, through the Word, who became Christ, gave life to the first man, Adam.

And Jesus has been given the authority and the power from the Father to give human beings life a second time in a resurrection from death. So again, the Father and the Son both inherently have life within themselves. Resurrections are possible because Jesus Christ himself was raised from the dead.

His resurrection is a living Savior made possible the salvation of all people. Thus, mankind would die and perish forever if it weren't for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. As Paul stated in Romans 5 and verse 10, For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. So as I've said before, anyone who diminishes the purpose or the resurrection of Jesus Christ just doesn't get it.

If Jesus Christ wasn't raised from the dead, his shedding of blood would simply make us righteous corpses for all eternity. Righteous ash heaps. And that's okay, but that's not part of God's plan. We are saved by his life. He was risen from the dead as a model and an example of the importance of the kind of resurrection that we're longing for. So let's look at a chapter in the Bible where there are three different resurrections briefly mentioned. Revelation chapter 20, if you'll turn there with me, and we'll begin taking a survey of these different resurrections.

Revelation chapter 20, beginning in verse 4. John was inspired to write, and it says, and then the next sentence is referring to those who were sitting on thrones. It's going back to the main topic. This is the first resurrection, speaking of those who will reign for a thousand years. Blessed and holy is he who has part in this first resurrection.

The apostle John will be referring to three resurrections here in Revelation 20. This is the first that he mentions.

This is the first one to eternal life that we've read here in verses 4 through 6. The fact that you call something first means by its very term that there must be something else that follows.

Or there would be no reason to say that this is the first. You could say, this is the resurrection. This is the only resurrection. But the very fact that you call something first means that there's something else to follow.

So let's take a look here now in verse 11.

It says then, and that's a pause phrase, meaning after the preceding events that were spoken about, those one thousand years have ended, then I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and 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.

So the books were opened, the books were the scriptures that have God's law and remind us of what God's value system is, God's way of life.

And then there's another book called The Book of Life. Only the Lamb of God has the right to enter a name into the Book of Life.

Church leaders do not write people's names in the Book of Life. Church councils, self-appointed apostles or evangelists or whatever titles people give themselves do not have the right, do not decide whose names go into the Book of Life.

Only the Lamb makes that decision, continuing in the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books, by those laws, those values and those principles that were written in the books.

We'll get into this in just a few minutes into a little more detail. This is the second resurrection after a thousand years. Death still has power over those who were raised from the dead here because they're physical. So death still has power over them. This is contrary to those who were in that first, the better resurrection.

Finally, another physical resurrection that leads to what the Scriptures refer to as a second death in the Lake of Fires discussed here in verses 13 through 15. Let's read that. It says, the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one, according to his works.

By the way, that's not a good thing. Human works are not a happy, salvation discussion. You see, they don't have a Savior.

So since they don't have a Savior, they are judged according to their own works.

Then death and Hades were cast into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death.

And anyone not found written in the book of life, in other words, anyone who doesn't have the Savior, Jesus Christ residing in them through the power of his Spirit, was cast into the Lake of Fire.

Now, although verses 13 through 15 don't specifically mention a resurrection, the irredeemably wicked of all past ages who have rejected God's offer for salvation will be resurrected and cast into this Lake of Fire.

Jesus warned many of the religious leaders of his day that they were in danger of his judgment and eternal death.

So I haven't seen a quick review of these resurrections. Now, let's understand each and more detail of these three resurrections, beginning with the first resurrection, the one that God's children look forward to, and a wonderful promise.

We'll go to 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 50.

Scripture that we read often, especially when we have a funeral of one of our brethren, and we had a bunch of them a few years ago, very close together.

That was a very difficult time for me to do the funeral of a number of our loved ones.

But thankfully, we've had a little bit of a rest since then that I hope continues.

But this is a scripture that is part of our traditional funeral service, Paul writing to the Corinthians.

Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit in corruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery.

We shall not all sleep, and that's Paul's phrase for death, because for the faithful, death is not permanent. It's just like going to sleep for a while.

You lose your consciousness. You lose your awareness of what's going on, and it's like falling into a deep sleep.

We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the 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.

So Paul tells us that this is going to occur at a time that we understand the fullness and the richness of it, because we keep God's holy days.

We know that one of those holy days is the Feast of Trumpets, and that festival pictures the return of Jesus Christ to this earth.

Those who don't keep the holy days have a hard time figuring out what this trumpet blouse...oh, it just must be something an angel does.

It's just something that's kind of prophesied. Well, it's much richer, much more meaningful than, quote, something an angel does.

It is fulfilled in the meaning as part of God's holy day plan.

For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

For the corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

So when this corruptible is put on incorruption, and this mortal is put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. Death has been the enemy of humankind since the time of Adam and Eve.

We hate death. Death separates us from our loved ones. Death stops people who are in existence, that they're no longer in existence.

It's been our enemy. It's been something that we have feared. It's been something that we've despised, and we spend trillions of dollars in our world every year through healthcare trying to put off the inevitable, don't we, because we view death as our enemy. Death is swallowed up in victory.

Oh, death, where is your sting? When there's no longer death in the world, we no longer have anything to fear.

It can hurt us. It can separate us from our loved ones.

Oh, death, where is your sting? Oh, Hades, where is your victory? No more corpses. Oh, Hades, where is your victory?

The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. And thankfully, we have Jesus Christ, who pays the price for our violation of God's law.

Verse 57, but thanks to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

So this resurrection will take place at the second coming of Jesus Christ, when the righteous dead will be resurrected to immortality, no longer subject to a second death.

No longer subject to death at all. It's a victory over death, through the separation and the sorrows and the things that we experience as human beings because of death.

That terrible plague will be removed. And these dead in Christ will immediately be followed by those still alive in Jesus Christ.

We'll read that here in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse 13. If you'll turn there with me, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse 13.

So let's get a little further understanding of this first resurrection, what's going to occur to those who, when they fall asleep, have God's spirit residing in them.

Paul says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse 13, But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep. Notice the term he uses again.

Lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, God will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus.

And those who want to believe that there's a heaven, and those who want to believe that you go to heaven when you die, they conveniently stop right there in reading that verse. But let's do something highly unusual. Let's continue reading the Scripture. Verse 15.

So we're not coming from heaven back to earth. We are coming and meeting with Christ as he's leaving heaven and coming to earth, and we are leaving this planet and meeting him in the clouds ready to return.

It says, Thus we shall always be with the Lord. Does Agariah chapter 14 verses 3 and 4 tell us that his feet are going to stand on the Mount of Olives.

So if we are forever going to be with the Lord, we're going to be where he is. And where is he? He's on earth, preparing to rule for a thousand years.

Therefore comfort one another with these words. His first resurrection is called the resurrection of life in John chapter 5 and verse 29. It's also referred to as the better resurrection because death has no stain. There's no second death for anyone who's involved in this very beautiful resurrection.

It's a resurrection of immortality and rulership with Jesus Christ during the millennium.

This is part of Revelation chapter 20 verse 6 that we read earlier. If you'd like to turn back there to Revelation chapter 20, we'll take a look at a few scriptures as we continue. It says there in verse 6, This is the first resurrection.

So this first resurrection is for all those throughout history who died retaining God's Holy Spirit, who ceased life and had God's Holy Spirit residing in them. As Christ said in John chapter 6 and verse 63, He says, So it's God's Spirit residing in us that makes it possible for us to be part of that glorious and wonderful first resurrection, the better resurrection.

Then there is, after a thousand year period, another resurrection. This takes place at a later time in history. And again, we typically call this the second resurrection, going back here to Revelation chapter 20 and verse 5. It's referring to those who are not raised from the dead at the return of Christ, but are raised after a thousand years after the millennium has ended. Revelation chapter 20 verse 5, it says, This resurrection, also known as the general resurrection, is the great white throne judgment in verse 11, is further described here in verse 12. It says, This, of course, means that the books of the Bible will be opened, and for the first time in their existence they will receive understanding. These are people throughout history who, in their lifetimes, never received an understanding of who and what God is. They were blinded, purposely. So this is their first opportunity for salvation.

It's the second time they have life, but it's their very first and the only opportunity they have for salvation. Their former lifetime is spiritual blindness will be removed. And what happens here isn't, again, a second chance for salvation. It's their first opportunity for salvation. Verse 12, it states, Another book was opened, which is the book of life. This book of life is a list of those who are saved, those who are written in it by a lamb, who have attained salvation through his shed blood. Continuing in verse 12, And the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books. And the news that they are told is that, like all human beings, they're guilty of sin and worthy only of death. But God says, I'm not giving you instant condemnation. You didn't understand my way of life. The blinders were on you your entire lifetime. So rather than receiving instant condemnation, even though they're all guilty, and they need to repent, and they need to accept God's way of life, they're evaluated over time, according to how they live by what they then learn. They are not instantly condemned. Let's go to Isaiah chapter 65 and verse 19 and see a hint of how long this period may be. Isaiah chapter 65 and verse 19, a very beautiful prophecy about the world tomorrow after the return of Jesus Christ.

Isaiah chapter 65 and verse 19, The child is born physical. That child will live in a beautiful world, a perfect world with great health care, with non-polluted air, with great healthy food, a good home, healthy lifestyle, stress-free. That child will live a full physical lifespan of 100 years. For the child shall die 100 years old, but the sinner, being 100 years old, shall be accursed. So those who live that 100-year period and don't accept God's way of life, don't repent of their sins, don't accept Jesus Christ as their Savior, don't begin to make the efforts of changing their lives and using that spirit of God to develop fruit in their lives. They'll be given a 100-year period. And if after 100 years they're still resentful or rebellious, or they refuse to accept a Savior as Jesus Christ, then it says they shall be accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them. They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

So this inspiring prophecy, which takes place after the return of Jesus Christ, strongly implies that each individual, as a result of this second resurrection, will be given a 100-year period to repent, to accept God's grace, along with God's gift of salvation.

Take a look at another scripture regarding this second resurrection that occurs after the millennium, Ezekiel 37. And we won't read the entire account for the sake of time. It's a very inspiring prophecy, a metaphor of this great white throne judgment, the second resurrection, Ezekiel 37.

Ezekiel, in his prophecy, said, The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the spirit of the Lord, and he set me down in the midst of a valley, and it was full of bones. So this is a vision for a great resurrection that is to occur. It's applied specifically to the house of Israel, but like I say, it represents in the metaphor this resurrection we've been talking about.

Then he caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley. This is the total number of human beings who have lived since the time of Adam and Eve. Very, very many people who died, not knowing God's way of life, dying without hope, dying blinded to what God's purpose was for them.

Very many in the open valley, and indeed, they were very dry. These aren't people who died through a war five years ago. These are bits of bone and ashes, people who died thousands and thousands and thousands of years ago, represented by the fact that they were very dry. And he said to me, Son of Man, can these bones live? So I answered, Oh Lord God, you know.

Again he said to me, prophesy to these bones, and say to them, Oh dry bones, oh bones dead for a long time. Oh dry bones, hear the word of the Lord, thus says the Lord to these bones, surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live.

Verse 6, and I will put sinews on you, and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin, and breath in you, and you shall live, then you shall know that I am the Lord. If anyone had any questions about whether there was a God, when they get out of that sleep, and they remembered what their final days were like as that aged old man, or that warrior who was going in the battle, in the prime of his life, just to be hacked to pieces, and their next conscious moment is, wow, here I am made whole, in the prime of life, scars are gone, and everything that I experienced before is like a vapor, and here I am fresh and new, alive again. Anyone who experiences that will certainly say, I believe in God. Yes, I acknowledge him as the Lord.

So let's continue here. So I prophesied as it was commanded, and as prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly rattling, and the bones came together, bone to bone. Unfortunately, we have to stop there for the sake of time. I encourage you to read the rest of the chapter, but it explicitly explains how God brings to life all of these many dry bones in this valley through this prophecy. This is a scripture prophetically spoken of, as I said, about the house of Israel, but by a metaphor represents everyone who has ever lived. I want you to remember that Jesus said in John 5, 28, we read this, All who are in the graves will hear his voice and come forth. Not one general resurrection, but it was a promise by Jesus Christ that everyone will experience a resurrection. While these individuals will have a second opportunity for physical life at this time, it will be their first opportunity for salvation and for glorious immortality in God's family. Though we give an ample time to learn and grow in a far better world than they lived in in this first physical life, they will learn God's way of life. God's plan includes everyone. He's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and salvation. Peter reminds us of that in 2 Peter, chapter 3 and verse 9. I want you to think of your loved ones and friends who struggled through life and never got their life together, living empty, miserable, and frustrated existences without hope because God never called them. I have an uncle, Uncle Walter, whom I never knew because he died before I was born, driving in Euclid in the late forties. He was in an automobile accident before there were seat belts and airbags and everything we have today, and his last memory was being thrown through that windshield. He was not yet 40 years old. He's buried in a small cemetery next to his sister, my grandmother, in an Appalachian part of Ohio. My grandfather, who emigrated here, John Thomas from Wales, was an alcoholic. He never had a fulfilling life. He never reached his potential. His son, my father, was an alcoholic, lost his job, lost his wife, lost his relationship with his children. He never fulfilled his potential. I had an aunt, who also was an alcoholic and died of cirrhosis of the liver. On my mother's side, one of my great-grandfathers, as the coroner's report says, hung self by neck with a chain. So obviously, I don't think he had a very fulfilling, happy life. So all of us, I'm sure each one of us, could tell our story of our families, the pain and the suffering and the lack of hope that billions upon billions of people have lived throughout history who had no hope.

And God says it's not over. Their existence isn't over. Their potential isn't over, because they never received their first chance for salvation.

So those who experience the second resurrection, who repent and love God, will ultimately receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. They'll be saved and they'll be given immortality, like the first roots were at the return of Jesus Christ. And just like us, their names will also be written in the Book of Life. Very encouraging. A plan that is just so contrary to much of what we see in the world today. There are major Christian faiths that believe that you have to be baptized to be saved. And if you're a small child and you died during childbirth, too bad. If you happen to grow up in a part of Africa where a missionary didn't get to, and you lived your life and died, sorry. Grow up in one of the many areas of China today where you never heard the word of God, the Bible doesn't exist because of fear. A Bible doesn't exist in your little village. And you grow to the ripe old age of 80 and you die. You didn't hear or learn anything about the Savior Jesus Christ. Their theology is too bad. Sorry. You're condemned for all eternity. But that isn't part of God's plan at all. And in spite of all that good news and the opportunities that God provides, everyone who has ever lived, tragically, there will be some who will reject all that God has to offer and will choose to remain alienated from Him.

Yes, sadly, some with sufficient opportunity, with sufficient understanding, will still refuse to accept God's way of life. And for them, there's a final third resurrection that will take place at the conclusion of God's revealed plan for all mankind. This will be a resurrection of physical life for all those throughout past ages who, though fully aware of God's truth and purpose, willingly chose to reject His offer of obedience and repentance and salvation. That's very sad. They will be brought back to be justly punished by death in the lake of fire, along with those who are unrepentant at the end of this second resurrection period. That will include those who lived a hundred years, as Isaiah spoke about in the 65th chapter, without repenting and accepting God's grace. And it said there that after a hundred years, the sinner will be accursed. Let's make the connection of this very sad final resurrection, going back to Revelation 20, verse 13. It said, the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them, and they were judged each one according to his works. Then death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, and anyone not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Very sad to think of the opportunities, to think that God bends over backward to give people an opportunity to repent, to accept his grace, to live on for all eternity. Yet there are sadly some who are so corrupt in their own thinking that they just can't accept the beautiful gift that God is offering them. It says, it will be cast into the lake of fire. Like any fire, this fire burns everything that's flammable, everything that is combustible, until it consumes everything and it turns it to ash. And then the fire goes out. And this is the second death from which there is no resurrection and there is no existence beyond.

God's design is to cleanse everything physical that is defiled by sin.

Let's go now to Malachi chapter 4 and verse 1. Malachi chapter 4 and verse 1, and see the result of this third resurrection and what those who lived through it will experience.

Malachi chapter 4, beginning in verse 1.

This describes the time of those who experienced the second death, those who are not found written in the book of life, being cast into that lake of fire.

Malachi chapter 4 and verse 1, for behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud yea who do wickedly will be stubble.

And the day which is coming shall burn them up, says the Lord of Host, that will leave neither root nor branch. Their existence is expired. Their past is forgotten. They have no future. Hence the phrase neither root nor branch. They will no longer have a past. They will no longer have a future. The knowledge, the understanding of who and what they are will be expired, will be extinguished from history.

Verse 2, but to you who fear my name, the son of righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings. You shall go out and grow fat, like stall-fed calves. 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 Host. What will remain of them when the fire is extinguished will just be the bits, much like a human being going into a crematorium. What will be left will just be simply ashes of their existence under the feet of the righteous. Again, on the day that I do this, says the Lord of Host. As I mentioned earlier, Jesus spoke about this second death as a warning to many religious leaders because they rejected him in his lifetime. Some of the strongest words that he had against the Pharisees and Sadducees were because they knew in their heart that he was the promised Messiah. Yet they rejected him. They blasphemed God by what they said and what they did. Many knew him to be the Christ, but they were more interested in their positions, in their titles, in having influence and control over people rather than submitting themselves to the Son of God and humbly accepting him as Lord.

This includes the fate of the rich man. If you remember the parable of the beggar Lazarus and the rich man, the rich man was threatened with this fate of being totally consumed in this fire. Well, let's look at one final scripture today that highlights the absolute need for each of us to seize the opportunity that we've been given. We've been offered salvation right now, and we have been called. It's a precious calling. It is so great, like a pearl of great price, that we should grasp it. We should do the most with what God gives us in his blessings and to the power of his Spirit, and we should even be willing to die for it if that should be required. Our final scripture, Matthew 10 and verse 25, if you'll turn there with me, Matthew 10 and verse 25. Jesus was preparing his disciples for some very difficult persecutions that they received, and they did, particularly that first generation. And persecution will come again. Sometime in the future we don't know when.

But here's something Jesus said that was very important for us to remember, Matthew 10 and verse 25. It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher and that a servant like his master, so we should imitate our teacher and our master, Jesus Christ. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, if they've called him Satan and evil, how much more will they call those of his household?

So be prepared to be called some pretty nasty things. That's what he's saying. Verse 26, therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing covered that will not be revealed and hidden that will not be known. We read that again, therefore do not fear him, for there is nothing covered that will not be revealed and nothing hidden that will not be known.

Verse 27, whatever I tell you in the dark speak in the light that what you hear in the ear preach out on the housetops, 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. So he says, don't fear any man. Don't fear what man can do to you and put you in jail, even possibly take your life. Don't fear any man, because all they can do is destroy your body.

But with the resurrection, God will give you a new one, a better one, a younger one, a healthier one. He says, fear him who is able to totally extinguish your existence forever in that lake of fire. If we don't do what we've been told, do we need to do? Fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin, and not one of them falls to the ground apart from your father's will?

In other words, God knows everything going on in our lives. The open things and the things that we think are secret that no one else knows about it. Oh, someone knows about it, all right.

That someone's God. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear, therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows. Therefore, whoever confesses me before men, him I will also confess before my father, who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, him I will also deny before my father, who is in heaven. Great thing to ponder when you're being persecuted, not to deny who you believe in, and not to deny the fact that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, and you're proud of it.

Well, brethren, this third resurrection that we talked about and the punishment is not because God loves to punish people, not because God loves to judge people. It's just pure justice after a period of time when God has done everything possible to bring everyone to a point of salvation through His grace, providing them every opportunity. This is an eternal judgment and punishment, not because the torment goes on forever.

It certainly does not. It's an eternal judgment and punishment because the effects of the punishment are permanent. Again, those who die the second death will forever remain dead with no possibility of a future resurrection. So, in conclusion today, today we have briefly covered the resurrections which are part of God's plan. The three resurrections reveal the order God has with an awe-inspiring plan for all humanity, even many of our loved ones and relatives who lived their entire lives and just never got it, never got their act together, never figured out what life was all about. It's appointed for men to die once, but after this, the judgment.

That's what we're told in Hebrews 9 and verse 27. And that requires a resurrection for everyone who has ever lived. But we, God's people, our goal is to maintain our faith and dedication so that we are part of that first resurrection, that better resurrection. God has called us in this lifetime and He's given us an incredible opportunity. He not only called us, He not only accepted us and has forgiven us, but He's given us that wonderful spiritual gift so that we can grow and change with a partner, with someone alongside the help, that paracletos, that Holy Spirit that He gives us.

So let us continue to fulfill the calling God has given us in this lifetime. Let us fulfill that opportunity. Let us accept this precious gift and use the rest of our physical lives for the glory of God. Let's be determined that in everything that we do, whether it's at church, at home, in the workplace, socially, whatever environment we may be in, that our conduct and our thinking and our attitudes bring glory to God, our Father, so that we can be part of that resurrection that is the better resurrection. Have a wonderful Sabbath day.