What Happens When We Die?

Thank you, Adam. Good afternoon, everyone. It's good to see at least some people here. Actually, it's not that bad up here. I thought my voice was completely recovered. Singing brings back memories. It seems like every year at camp I lose my voice almost entirely, which I'm not sure if that's entirely a bad thing for some people. But in preparing the sermon, I found Mr. Orlum and I were thinking along similar lines, but it's interesting how you get there. I had in mind the Holy Day, but I got the initial thought from having seen a movie. Sue and I will get movies occasionally, and partly because I'm cheap, I don't like to pay the high prices of theater. We usually wait and get the DVDs out of the library. So, as it was, a few weeks ago, we were watching a movie with an unusual title. It was called The Invention of Lying. It was a comedy meant to be silly, and I was expecting mostly just slapstick silly humor. There was a fair bit of that, but surprisingly, or it surprised me, that it got into some fairly deep concepts, and dealing with some of the basic ideas of human existence. So, let me tell you a little bit about the premise, and I'll tell you where I'm going here. The premise of the film is that before the main character, it's this artificial world, so to speak, and before this person came along, nobody had ever told a lie. Matter of fact, it was based on the idea of evolution, and the idea was humans had not evolved the ability to lie, so no one even could. They didn't even have a word for it in the language.

Well, what I didn't like so much about the movie, though, was that they also tied some other ideas to this. In this world where nobody told any lies, there was also not much in the way of creativity or imagination. And also the fact that people didn't have the ability to see below the surface. They would judge everybody by their outward appearance and not think that there might be something more to someone than just what you saw from outward appearance.

Now, I should add to this also, besides the fact that nobody ever lied, there was the other side of it that everybody on earth implicitly believed everything they'd heard. If they were told or read anything, they automatically believed it was true. They were just unable to conceive of the idea of anything being presented that wasn't true. Now, that was one of the good parts of the movie. It was nice to see this world presented where everybody trusted everyone else and that there was just no lying. Of course, then comes along this main character who suddenly is able to lie, and you can guess there'd be some humorous situations that would arise. I'll leave that mostly to your imagination, one that I thought was interesting, just sort of portrayed.

He's in a bad situation. He's about to lose his job, and his rent is past due. So, he needs to go to the bank and get all the money he has to pay his rent, but he doesn't even have enough. He's got something like $600, and he needs $800. And it shows him. He goes in to the teller and says, I need to withdraw all my money from the bank. And she says, well, I'm sorry. Our system is down. How much money do you have? And that's when the idea hits him, you know, because suddenly he's developed this ability to lie. So he says, well, I have $800 in the bank. And just then she says, oh, our system has come back online. Well, it says here that you only have $600. He says, well, this computer must be mistaken. Here's your money. And she hands him a pile of bills. He doesn't have to sign anything. There's no receipt, because this is a world where there's no lying. And she implicitly assumes the computer must be wrong because he would never lie. Anyways, I didn't want to do a whole review of the movie, but I want to get into the deep part of the movie. You know, that was very interesting, because along with the fact that this main character invented lying, they portrayed it that he was also the one who inadvertently invented religion. And that all religion, of course, in this movie, based on the concept of evolution, was based on lies. Of course, that made me think a little later when I was preparing this. Well, a lot of world's religions are, but I'll go down that way a little later. And the way it happened was he had a mother—sorry, I'm going to look back and forth. Actually, we're not so bad in the middle— but his mother was elderly and not in good health. And he was a fairly good fella. He came to visit her in the nursing home on a regular basis. And so after he's developed this ability to lie, he comes to visit her, and she's taken a turn for the worse. And the hospital workers let him know, oh, your mother's in a bad way. She's not going to last very long. You'd better go see her. So he's sitting beside her bed, and she's passing away. And she starts getting rather frightened. And she says, oh, I don't want to die and go to just eternal nothingness. And he wants to comfort his mother. So he tells her, well, Mom, it's not going to be like that. You won't go to nothingness. You're going to go to a nice place, a place where everyone's comfortable. You're going to see the people you love, and everybody gets a mansion. I don't remember all the exact words, but for some reason he promised everybody would get a mansion. And this comforted her. She's like, oh, really? Well, that's wonderful. And because she believes him implicitly, she's able to spend her last moments on earth in not being afraid or fearing that this was all there was. Now, of course, the other side of it is they're not alone in the room. There are nurses and other hospital workers who also overhear this, and they believe him. This must be true. This is fantastic, great news. It doesn't just end when we die. Please, tell us more. So they want to hear more about what's going to happen. And he's obliged because he can't admit, well, I just made that up. He goes on and he tells more stories. And it expands. The news goes around the whole world, and he develops this whole elaborate system. And that sounds suspiciously like what we see in modern what we would call traditional Christianity around us. This made me think, and getting into the subject of my sermon, this is all a long introduction, but a lot of what religion or what is based... Let me back up and say that, poor that... A lot of what passes as religion is based on these central ideas.

You know, what is the concept of life after death? Not necessarily the idea of lying, but what religion is is based on some basic questions. What happens after you die? And is it something good or is it bad? Well, does what you do now in this life affect what's going to happen afterwards if there is something that happens? And if so, what should you do to have a good result? Or what should you not do to have a bad result? And you can see all of this comes together and becomes the stuff of religion and of a belief in what we should do, how we should order our lives, and it all keeps coming back to this basic concept of, you know, what's going to happen when I die?

It made me think that most of the world's religions or what we call Christianity is based on one original lie, thou shalt not die. You know, we know where that one came from, and in the movie similarly, he said, well, it's not going to be just eternal nothingness, you know, and then a lot of lies have followed. Well, good people will go to float around in some type of heaven on a cloud, you know, bad people will go and burn in hell forever. Or there's the lie of the atheists. Their lie is that, yes, indeed there will be eternal nothingness, and there's no hope of anything else.

Well, we want to focus in here today and say, I believe that the Bible teaches something very different than any of that. It's very different than what's common in society around us.

So, I want to explore that and realizing we're dealing with some very fundamental beliefs. This, I went into this thinking, this is going to be a doctrinal sermon, and I thought, well, you can't get much more fundamental than what happens after you die.

But it occurred to me, well, there's one more fundamental thing. You know, I'm going to base this on the idea that we've all explored and looked at ourselves, and we've convinced ourselves that there is a God and that the Bible is His Word. So, I thought, well, you know, Hindus might not much care what the Bible teaches about life after death, and the Buddhists don't care much about it. But we've convinced ourselves that the Bible is God's Word. So, what does God's Word tell us and answer to these questions? I've got a just question after question that I want to explore today and look at the answers in our Bible. For most of us, this is going to be a review, but I think it is good to review, especially in light of the Holy Day season that we're about to enter. So, let's explore the Bible's answer to these questions about life after death.

The first one, I thought of one of the most famous questions that we have in English society from Shakespeare. Remember in the line in Hamlet that says, to be or not to be? That is the question to the English accent. I should be holding a skull. Well, if we had one more word that gets to this, if we'd say to continue to be or not to be? Now, that's the question. And most religions have this fundamental basic belief that the human core essence, in Christianity they call it a soul, others call it something else, but there's this belief that the body will die, but something about us, our life, will continue, that we don't really die. Well, the question, does the Bible teach this?

Well, I think the answer, I would say no. Let's look at a couple scriptures, basic ones. Ezekiel 18 and verse 4. Ezekiel 18 chapter 4. We'll get to one of the answers, or the first answer to this question.

Ezekiel 18, 4, Behold, all souls are mine, the soul of the Father, as well as the soul of the Son is mine, the soul who sins shall die. That's a pretty straightforward statement. The soul that sins shall die. Now, we quote this a lot. We're taking it a little bit out of context because the point here was that God was making the point that nobody's going to die for someone else's sins. If the Son die, or the Son sins, the Son will die, not the Father for the Son, and vice versa. But it still comes down to the basic reply that, you know, the result of sin is death, and the soul is going to die.

Let's turn also to the book of Romans chapter 6. This is another one of our memory scriptures. Romans 6 and verse 23. This is another way of saying what we just saw. Romans 6, 23, For the wages of sin is death. You could say the result of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Life, then, is not something we have just built in.

We're not just going to continue once the body dies, but it says life is a gift from God.

He gives it to us, and unless He gives it to us, we're not going to have it.

As a matter of fact, let's go back to the beginning. If you'll turn to Genesis chapter 2. Genesis chapter 2. We're going to start in verse 16.

The story of God in the Garden of Eden, explaining to Adam and Eve what their situation is.

And here he explains them about the two trees that He planted, or many trees. Genesis 2.16 Once again, you do what I told you not to do. You're going to die.

In that day, I think if I were writing my own translation, I'd say, in the day that you eat it, you're going to be sure to die. Because we know Adam and Eve didn't die the day that they took the fruit, but their death became sure from that day.

Now, within this story, of course, a little bit later, if you want to look, it's across the page from me. Genesis 3 verse 3. Oh, no, 3 verse 4. We know the serpent has come and questioned Eve, and he gives the first lie, or the first lie that humans heard. The serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die. And he goes on to say, some good things are going to happen to you if you eat this tree. Lying is at the base of this. Who is this serpent? It might seem a little odd. I'm going to make a reference here. You might not want to turn there, but Revelation 12 verse 9 explains who this serpent is going from the beginning of the book all the way to the end. Of course, it refers to the serpent as the that dragon, the old serpent called the devil and Satan, who it says deceives the whole world in Revelation. He started off deceiving the only two humans in the world and goes on to deceive the world. Scripture I do want to turn to, though, is in John chapter 8. John 8 and verse 44. Here, Christ was having one of his many confrontations with the Pharisees.

And he also says something about Satan and his role as a deceiver or a liar.

Of course, it shows us that contrary to the movie, there was no one man who evolved to invent lying. Satan had invented it long before him. John 8 verse 44 hears Christ telling the Pharisees, you are of your father the devil and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning. He doesn't stand in the truth because there's no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources for he is a liar and the father of it. Satan invented lying. And he lied about what's going to happen when you die. He told Adam and Eve, well, you're not going to die. He could have went on and expounded and we don't know how much you might have said that isn't recorded. But from that original lie comes the idea that, oh, you have an immortal soul and you have this or that reward and this is what you have to do. But the Bible tells us that's not what happens. It says the wages of sin is death. Life is a gift from God.

So then if death doesn't automatically transfer our essence to some other plane or some other place, then what does happen at death? The next question we've got to ponder, what happens when we die? And once again, let's, well, I was thinking if we looked at popular culture around us, we'd get a very different idea, right? How many of us have seen on a television show or a movie, a character dies and suddenly you see this image of them come up that looks like them, but you can sort of see through it and they look down and they see their body, they're a little surprised, you know, and they then, they say, what happened here? You know, and a lot of times they'll say, I must be dead. You know, they try to talk to the people around them and those people can't hear them. And a lot of times some other character will come along and explain if they haven't figured out, well, you're dead now and you can't do this or that. You know, that's what society tells us happens when we die, that there's no end of consciousness. But if we'll turn to the book of Ecclesiastes, let's see the Bible, they're going to show us something very different. Ecclesiastes chapter 9 and verse 10. Another scripture that we know very well, but we often focus on the first part of it. It's a good motivational scripture. Ecclesiastes 9 and verse 10 tells us, whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might. You know, put everything you've got into it. The reason for that is because of what happens when you're not around anymore. It says, there's no work, no device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you're going. In other words, when you're gone, you're gone. There's no wisdom, no knowledge, nothing. You're just out. No consciousness. You're not going to be looking back down at your Bible and thinking about what's going to happen next.

Let's look at what Jesus had to say about this process also in John chapter 11. And I'm going to start in verse 11. I always like to back up these things, especially you can't go wrong if you have Jesus explaining something because I figure he knows the process pretty well.

This is an area that's pretty definitive in...

Yeah, actually, that's not the section I was thinking of, but I do want to talk about this. Sorry. John 11 verse 11. Jesus also... Well, let me just say, he's already explained to the disciples that they need to go down to Jerusalem. And in verse 11, he says these things, our friend Lazarus sleeps. Now, this isn't the same Lazarus we heard about in the sermonette, although we'll talk about that a little later, perhaps. So our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him. And the disciples said, Well, Lord, if he sleeps, he's going to get well. They knew he was sick. Well, sleeping is good for getting well. However, Jesus spoke of his death. They thought he was speaking about taking rest and sleep, what we think of as commonly sleep. Then Jesus said to them plainly, Well, Lazarus is dead. So Jesus was using sleep as somewhat of a euphemism for death. In other words, he didn't just come out and say, Lazarus is dead. We got to go wake him up. He said he's asleep. But I think it's obvious why he was doing that. Combining this with Ecclesiastes, where we know there's no knowledge, no wisdom with what Jesus says here, being dead is like being asleep. Only we presume probably without having the vivid dreams that some of us have. I say some of us, I almost never remember any of my dreams. And I've learned that some people do, because after we got married, almost every morning, Sue's got some really interesting story to share. I mean, I wish we could film these. And I don't know, it's just interesting. You can have your mind can be so active when you're asleep, but not, it's not that way when you're dead. When you're dead, the lights are out. Interesting, though.

And Jesus said this about Lazarus, but he was going to wake him. Let's look at another Scripture. Turn back to the book of Dan, chapter 12. Dan, Dan, Daniel. Sorry, I abbreviated as Dan.

Daniel chapter 12 and verse 2. I can tell this is going to be one of those afternoons.

I set myself up for this. I said, I could have made this a Bible study with so many Scriptures.

But once again, we'll see the analogy of sleep to death here. Daniel 12, verse 2.

Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake. Now, this is looking to the end when another great event is going to happen. But many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth, he doesn't mean people are laying down and taking a nap on the ground. He's talking about people who are dead and buried, but they're going to awake. Some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. Now, that's what we're getting ahead of ourselves in some ways of the story. Always saying, I just said, you know, there's no life in us. We don't have eternal life. And when we die, it's like we have lack of consciousness. But now we're posing that question. Is there a way to awake from that that sleep of death? Is there going to be life after death?

Daniel 12, 2 implies that. And Jesus Christ answered that question as well.

We want to turn back to the New Testament, to the book of Matthew.

It's going to be Matthew 22, and we're going to look at verse 23. This is the passage where a moment ago I was telling you it's dealing with a bigger question, and we're going to come back to part of it a little bit later. As a matter of fact, I'll set the stage here. This is a case where Jesus was teaching, and one by one, the groups that opposed him were coming up to challenge him. Lawyers, Pharisees, and the Sadducees. The Sadducees were the priestly group, usually in charge of the temple and such. And they, as Mr. Stuyper likes to say, they were the ultimate conservatives. They only believed in the first five books of the Bible, and they didn't believe that they were such a thing as spirit beings other than God. They didn't believe in angels, and they didn't believe in a resurrection, as we'll see here in Matthew 22 and verse 23. The same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him. Now, I'm not going to go through the whole, well, yeah, I will. They came and asked him, saying, teacher, Moses said that if a man dies having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring to his brother. In other words, we want to keep the family line going, so if a man dies without children, the brother comes along and marries a woman, and the child will be known by the deceased father's name. So now they're going to pose a riddle. I'm pretty certain this wasn't a real-life situation. They're trying to trap Jesus because they know he believes that there is a resurrection, and they think there's not. They say, you can't answer this question. It's too difficult. So, they say, well, there were seven brothers. The first one, he married someone, and then he died, didn't have any children. Well, so his next brother marries her to raise up the family, but then he dies without any children, and it goes down the line, all seven of them, and the woman dies last. They say, well, then, in the resurrection, ha, ha, ha, if there is such a thing, who is she going to be married to? Well, now Jesus knows that the question isn't so much about who's married to who. They're just trying to disprove the resurrection. So, let me skip ahead what he answers there. I want to go to verse 31 because he wants to address that question of, is there a resurrection? Is there going to be life after death? Verse 31, Jesus says, But concerning the resurrection of the dead, haven't you read what was spoken to you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Now, he wasn't saying they're all living right now, and he's their God, but he meant they're going to be raised. There is a life after death.

In this line of questions I've had, that brought another question to mind. I thought, well, especially, I like to play the devil's advocate sometimes when I'm preparing these stances on things. Well, how is this different than what the traditional Christianity teaches?

They say you die, and then you're raised again, you go to heaven or hell. Jesus is saying, well, there's going to be a resurrection. How is it different then, if we say people are going to live after they die? Well, the crucial difference, and one we need to be aware of, it's pretty easy, though, is we know that no human being has that ability to wake up on their own from death. It's not going to happen automatically. It takes something in particular for that to happen. Let's look back to another very familiar scripture in the book of Job. Job 14 and verse 14.

This is one, of course, I was tempted to go to first on the whole subject, but I like to work my way around to things. I want to look at this not only for asking and answering the question, but explaining how it's going to happen. Job 14, starting in verse 14.

Mr. Stivers, right, you can hear pages flipping here and there. So, 14 verse 14, if a man dies, shall he live again? And Job goes ahead and answers that. He says, all the days of my hard service, I will wait till my change comes. I like that hard service, it's kind of like doing hard time. It's sort of like being dead is like going to prison, and you got to serve your time, that hard service. But he's not in wait, but what's he waiting for? In verse 15, you shall call and I will answer. You shall desire the work of your hands. Now, who is the you he's talking about? Not, what, a lie you, bill dad. I can't remember the names. Eliphaz, bill dad, and somebody's name begins with an s. It doesn't matter, but he's not saying them. He's talking about God. He said, I'm going to wait my time till you, the God of all the universe, call and then I'll answer. As a matter of fact, flip ahead a few pages to chapter 33.

I want to look at a few scriptures because I want to drive this point home to make sure that we know and we know that we know what the Bible says about this. Verse 33 and verse 4, or chapter 33 and verse 4, that is. Job was a pretty smart cookie. He knew all this stuff. He says, the Spirit of God has made me and the breast of the Almighty gives me life. That fits in with that you will call and I will answer. He's saying life comes from God. It doesn't happen automatically and once you're dead, you don't get it back unless God gives it to you. Again, also, let's look at turn closer to the front of the book, Deuteronomy chapter 32. I say if Job was pretty smart about this, let's see what God Himself says about it. Job 32... or Job... Deuteronomy 32. Sorry, I got thrown off because I was looking at Exodus 32 and noticing it doesn't have a verse 39, but I'm pretty sure Deuteronomy 32 does.

You know, what's funny is I was reviewing my notes this morning and I did the same exact thing. I was looking for a scripture in Deuteronomy and I went to Exodus. It must be a conditioned response.

Okay, now here we see the words of the Creator Himself in verse 39.

Now see that I, even I am He, there is no God besides me. I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. Nor is there any other who can deliver from my hand. Here it comes down to it. How can someone come back from the dead only if God makes them alive? It doesn't happen automatically. That's why it's so... why what we teach is dramatically different from the common belief of traditional Christianity or I believe Hinduism and Buddhism believe in reincarnation that your soul is still around and it goes into some other body and reincarnated in some other form. God is saying no it's not. You know, God says I'm the one that can kill you and I'm the one that can make you alive and you're not going to be alive otherwise. Just as a reference if you want to jot down the scripture, 1 Samuel 2 in verse 6 says essentially the same thing. This is the song of Hannah praising God after he gave her a child and she says you know God kills and He makes alive and she goes further to say He puts in the grave and He brings out of the grave.

So without direct action by God, no one lives again.

Let's look at one more scripture to kind of seal this point. I want to go to the book of John, chapter 11. This is back to the story of Jesus raising Lazarus because he's going to comment on Lazarus but also the broader view of all humanity. In John, chapter 11, I'm going to begin in verse 21. This is of course after Jesus had this talk with the disciples, saying Lazarus is dead, we need to go wake him up. Some interval of some days come because they have to walk. You know, they don't have the interstate system to get him there in half a day and they arrive. Lazarus's sisters, Martha and Mary, are upset. The mourners are already there. Lazarus is already in the grave by the time Jesus gets there. And if we're going to go to verse 21, Martha comes out to confront Jesus and she's a little annoyed at him. You know, because he didn't take the interstate and get there sooner, or maybe not because of the interstate, but because he didn't leave any sooner. And Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. She knew that Jesus had the power to heal and that he would have healed Lazarus, which, of course, we know is why Jesus didn't leave any sooner.

So if you'd been here, my brother would not have died.

But even now, I know that whatever you ask God will give you, and Jesus answers her. In verse 23, Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. And Martha said, yeah, I know he'll rise again in the resurrection at the last day. But she's sort of implying, but that's a long time from now. I miss him right now. And Jesus says something coming back to that point that I made that God is the one that makes alive. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection. I, being Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the one who was God who came into flesh, says, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. And he asked her if she believes this, and they go on from there. So we know that the power of life and death belongs to God. And apparently the Father has delegated that specifically to the one that was the Logos and that we call Jesus Christ. He is the resurrection. The resurrection happens through him. Oh, yeah, I want to... But there's a conundrum that came to mind, another one. If you want to turn just ahead a few pages to 1 Corinthians 15.

1 Corinthians 15 and verse 22.

As once again, I found myself looking, okay, traditional Christianity says this, the Bible says this, and I had a question of, well, why do it that way? 1 Corinthians 15, 22 says, well, for as an Adam, all die. And we know that all are going to die, no consciousness.

Even so, in Christ, all shall be made alive. So Christ, God is saying, you can't live again unless Christ makes you live again. But here it's saying everybody is going to live again in Christ.

And I wonder, well, God, why did you do it that way then? Why didn't you just give us an immortal soul if you're going to raise us all anyways? You know, why did you make it this way and not the way we see it in the movies? You know, what's the point of all this? Well, of course, there is an answer to that. Let's turn, we're already in the New Testament, back a few more pages to the book of Hebrews, chapter 9.

Here's a hint.

Of course, in some ways, I could just refer you to the sermonette that answers a lot of this question anyways, but I can't sit down after just a half hour, though. So... Okay, Hebrews 9 and verse 27.

As it is appointed for men to die once, but after this, the judgment.

Okay, we're all going to die. We're all going to be made again, and then there's this judgment. So part of the reason that we're all going to be resurrected is judgment. Well, how is that going to work? I said we've got questions upon questions. Started off just saying, you know, is there... are we going to... do we have an immortal soul? Are we going to live again? Well, apparently, we don't have an immortal soul, but we are going to live again. Why does it have to be that way? Because there's going to be judgment. Now, to understand that, though, we have to get into this timing. When are people going to be resurrected? You know, and why? Is it all going to happen at once? Is it happen right away that the common teaching might say, you know, matter of fact, I thought traditional Christians might have said, well, you're just misunderstanding. Of course, it says everyone's going to die and then be raised, but that's what we teach. You die, and then your soul raises, and God judges you, and he sends you up to heaven or sends you down to hell.

Well, I don't think it's quite like that. So let's go back to the book of John, and John chapter 5.

I'm going to let Jesus Christ give us an introduction to explaining this, and then we're going to go on to a little more to see, you know, what's going on with this? What do we mean by this judgment, and how is it tied into the resurrection? John chapter 5, we're going to begin in verse 25. Here Jesus is speaking. He 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.

Remember, the power of resurrection belongs to Jesus Christ. For as the Father has life in Himself, so has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him 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 and come forth, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation. Now before I move on and talk about coming to resurrection of life and one of condemnation, I think it's interesting also that Jesus Christ made an interesting point of distinction of one way that God is very different from man. He said the Father has life in Himself, and the Son has life in Himself. That's the thing that's very different with us. We don't have life in ourselves. You know, we don't have an immortal soul. We don't have a... just slipped my mind. I know that the Hindus have a different word for their essence that gets reincarnated, but Christ is saying we don't have that. But He does say all are going to live again, but He's not saying everyone's going to live again forever. You know, a person's action, some will be resurrected to life, but some are going to be resurrected to condemnation.

Now, if I want to be skeptical, I could say again that traditional, you know, the Baptist or the Methodist, you know, who go to church nearby might say, well, this is what we teach, you know, you die, you're raised, you're either rewarded or you're condemned.

I just realized I'm making noise bumping on this. So we're going to have to look to some other scriptures to explain this, because otherwise looking at this alone might give that impression that, okay, you're going to, you know, the resurrection will come and boom, you're either rewarded or you're punished. So we've got to go outside to complete the picture. Give us a broader view. Let's turn to the book of Revelation. There's some things happening near the end. That's a good place. Revelation chapter 20, and I'm going to begin in verse 11.

I'm going to get a look at some of this, you know, this. Remember that everyone's going to be raised to, there's going to, well, everyone dies, then comes a judgment. Revelation 20 in verse 11, very familiar scripture.

Then I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face heaven and earth fled, and there's found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God. So obviously a resurrection because the dead are now standing before God. And the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works by the things that were written in the book. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, death and Hades or the grave delivered up the dead that were in them, and they were judged, each one according to his works. And then death and hell, death and Hades or the grave 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.

So we see here resurrection and then judgment based on works.

And some are going to be judged and condemned cast into this lake of fire. I'll make a reference. The book of Malachi chapter 4 and verses 1 through 3 talks about what happens to these. As a matter of fact, let's go there. Let's go to Malachi. If your fingers aren't warmed up by now, they certainly will be soon. So Malachi 4, that's the last book in the Old Testament. It's good for us to tie these together because we just talked about second death and being cast into the fire. Here's a scripture written hundreds of years, perhaps before, John wrote. It says, For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming will burn them up, not keep burning them eternally, but burn them up. So says the Lord of hosts that will leave them neither root nor branch. For to you who fear my name, the Son of righteousness will arise with healing in his wings, and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves. And you shall trample the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I do this. So if you tie this, of course, the Revelation 20. And those who go through the second death, not eternal punishment, they're dead again with complete lack of consciousness and ashes under the soles of the feet. But we want to make sure we understand here, though, what distinguishes us from what many other Christian groups teach is that people are not earning a pass-fail grade right now. Because once again, they might say, well, this is what we said. The dead are going to rise after they die, and some go to heaven, some go to burning up. Let's see another interesting thing that Jesus said.

In the book of Matthew, we're going to go to Matthew 11.

Matthew 11, we're going to start in verse 20. Okay, here Jesus is complaining a little bit about the reception he's had in some cities where he's taught. Matthew 11, 20. Then he began to rebuke the cities in which most of his mighty works had been done because they did not repent. He says, woe to you, Corazin! woe to you, Bethsaida! And then he said, well, you're going to be a good man. You're going to be a good man.

So I'm telling you, if you are an angel and you have done this, woe to you, Corazin! woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented a long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades.

For if the mighty works which were done in I just said that backwards. Well, I think that's an interesting scenario. Let's go back to that section in Revelation 20. The dead, small and great, are standing before God. The books are open and people are judged. Now, if it's a matter of their judge and what they've done before, what do you say? Okay, Capernaum? Here you are and here's Sodom.

Now, Capernaum? Or no, Sodom. It's more tolerable for you and you go to the fire. Now, Capernaum? Less tolerable for you. You're in the fire now, too. That doesn't make a lot of sense. How can it be more tolerable if they're both just raised and pitched in the fire?

But what would make sense is if they're raised and then they go through a process of judgment. Not the pass-fail grade earned before they died, but they're raised. The books are opened. We understand this to mean that the books are open to people's understanding, not just opening the book.

They're going to do that. I imagine there's going to be a lot of studying and reading. I look forward to that. I guess as being a teacher, I want to be involved in part of that. But people will be able to understand what's there and they're going to go through a process of that judgment. And then a verdict will come eventually.

One of the ways we know that is if we turn to the book of Jeremiah 31. Jeremiah 31 and verse 31, we're going to see how the books being opened is going to make a difference. Jeremiah 31 and verse 31, this is referring to this time.

It says, And that, of course, is how it can be more tolerable for some than others. Of course, the ones that had no idea that these books even existed, let alone have understanding of them, they might get a little more toleration as they learn and go through this process of adapting their lives to it and having their sins forgiven.

Those who knew the books and perhaps don't have as much of an excuse, not going to be as much toleration. Perhaps those who are teaching them are going to say, you've got to straighten up. You know better. We're not going to tolerate you taking so long to get this stuff down. I'm just speculating on that. I think the teachers are all going to be very merciful and kind. Now, this is a subject fitting for the Feast of Tabernacles that's coming up. Of course, we're going to learn a lot more about that coming up.

But there's another aspect of the timing of the resurrection I want to look at that pertains to the festival we're going to be keeping in a few days. So let's turn to the book of 1 Thessalonians in chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians 4, and I'm going to begin in verse 14.

1 Thessalonians 4, 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, which we do, even so, God will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus. Once again, that reference of sleep being like death. For in this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will by no means perceive those who are asleep.

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel and the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ 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 will always be with the Lord. And Paul writes, therefore comfort one another with these words. That's interesting. The dead in Christ is a phrase that jumps out. Okay, that seems to be a special group we've been looking at in Revelation 20. All the dead, small and great standing before this great white throne. This is describing something a bit different.

As a matter of fact, let's turn ahead towards the front to 1 Corinthians chapter 15 again. 1 Corinthians 15, and we're going to begin in verse 50.

Once again, I said there's a resurrection, but there's timing involved. And we're going to see timing comes down to more than one resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 50.

Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption. But behold, I tell you a mystery. 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'll be changed.

Now, when I was reading through this, I thought somebody who's not familiar with this, who doesn't understand that next Thursday will be the Feast of Trumpets, might be asking the question, well, what's with the trumpet? Well, now, we're talking about resurrections and life after death, and this trumpet keeps coming up. Well, I'm going to throw that point in sort of as a teaser. You know, show up outside of Zanesville on Thursday, we're going to learn a lot more about the trumpets and how it relates.

But we could just say, at least we know that Christ's return will be heralded by many trumpets. And here it says, though, at the last trumpet, the dead in Christ will rise.

We don't use the phrase dead in Christ that much nowadays. We often use the term someone who died in the faith. In the faith in Christ, it's someone who understands the truth, someone who has already gone through this, and you know, you wonder, are they going to be in that great white throne with the dead small and great? Well, I say no. Let's turn to the book of Revelation, chapter 20 again.

You might be wondering, why didn't you just read this when we were in Revelation 20 a while ago? But I want to present this in a proper order. In a proper order, according to me. But remember that Scripture in Isaiah. Here a little, there a little. I like Mr. Armstrong talking about putting all the puzzle pieces together. I've been gathering a lot of pieces to put together here. Revelation 20, verse 4. Here is a different time of resurrection. He says, I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw, saw what? The souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus, and for the word of God, who had not worshipped the beast or his image, or received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. Interesting. Now, as I said earlier, they'd been beheaded. So we know, they were beheaded. Now they're up living and reigning. Explanation in verse 5. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This, not the rest of the dead, but this group we're talking about who had been beheaded, this is the first resurrection. Ah, so that thing we read later in Revelation is obviously a second resurrection. And we believe a third resurrection after that, which I don't want to get into all the details there. But we see there's going to be a first resurrection. And if you want to make a note, we don't need to turn there, but in Hebrews 11 verse 35, the Apostle Paul, who we believe wrote that book, refers to a better resurrection. Now, I think, first, is first better? Well, if this is the... I think so if they say, well, they're going to live and reign with Christ for a thousand years. That sounds pretty good. The rest not only have to wait for a thousand years, but once they do, they've got to go through this big judging thing. First, group doesn't seem to have to go through that. It doesn't say they're standing before a judgment throne and all that. They're getting right down to work. That certainly sounds better. Does that mean assuming that we're going to be part of this group and we hope to be? Woo-hoo! You know, we don't have to be judged. We got it easy. Or maybe not. Let's... just to clarify that, since I raised the question, turn up a few pages to 1 Peter chapter 4.

1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 17.

Here Peter's answered that question. He knew I was going to raise it. I don't know if he knew I would say woo-hoo, but...

But the judging... there's always the judging. It's when is it? Just as when is the resurrection? Here he says, for the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God. And if it begins... and he might say, who's this house of God? He says, it begins with us first. Well, that means us is the house of God. What's going to be the end of those who do not obey the apostle? The gospel of God. Well, you know, do you want to say, okay, judgment is... the time has begun for those who are of the house of God. That's the church of God. That's us. Okay, we want a favorable judgment. What do we have to do?

I mean, it's interesting, because I said the whole fabric of religion can be based on that question about what happens after you die. Because, okay, we want it to be a good thing. Well, what do we have to do? You might think, boy, if he starts answering that, we're going to read the entire book. We've been looking at Scripture a lot. So what I want to say is, come back next Sabbath and every Sabbath and read this book every day for the rest of your life, because that's how you learn what you have to do to have that favorable judgment. That's not the point that I'm going to go into here today, because it takes a lifetime to answer. But judgment has begun and we want to have a favorable judgment. And of course, I should throw in, of course, that involves a lot of repentance and Christ's sacrifice covering our sins, because I don't want anybody to misconstrue, where I would say that we can earn salvation. Of course, we don't. We've already earned the negative judgment, because we've all sinned, as we saw in Revelation 6.23. We've all sinned and the wages of that is death. But there is a way around it, which is another purpose for another Holy Day sermon. But let's assume that we're going to get in that first resurrection. I have the question then, what's that going to be like? For me, it's easy to imagine what we would consider the second resurrection. They're raised physical. We know they must be physical, because they can be subject to the second death. So that's easy for me to picture. I was dead, now I'm back, here I am. You have to eat, you sleep, you do all those things. It's just like you were before. Except, then again, more subject matter for the Feast of Tabernacles, it's going to be a lot better in so many ways. Think of what it's going to be like for them, the advantages they'll have that we don't. They're not going to have to put up with being sick, because there will be divine healing available. They're not going to have to put up with crime. They'll be perfect government. Everything is going to be so much better. But still, as much better as it will be for them, that resurrection to life. Some will be resurrected to judgment. Some will be resurrected to life. What's that going to be like? We know it's going to be an eternal life, a spirit being. As a matter of fact, let's look at the part of the answer that you'll turn to the back to Luke, chapter 20. This is the part of that confrontation with the Sadducees. I skipped over because I wanted to save her for now. Luke 20, and we're going to begin in verse 34. Because Jesus did answer the idea that, yeah, there is a resurrection. But he also addressed the effect, a little bit, of what it's going to be like for those who are resurrected. And Jesus answered once again the Sadducees who'd given them this riddle about the seven brothers and the wife who never had any children. Jesus answered to them, The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are counted worthy to attain that age. Remember, I've been saying worthy to be in that better resurrection.

And that age and the resurrection from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, nor can they die anymore, for they're equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.

Wow, that's interesting. So you can't die anymore. You're like the angels. And you're not going to... well, let me beat that to death. Let's turn the book of 1 Corinthians. Once again, 1 Corinthians 15.

1 Corinthians 15, and I'll begin in verse 42. As Jesus explains, okay, you're going to be like angels. You're not going to die anymore. You're not going to be married. Which some would consider that good and some would consider that bad, but that's another subject for another day.

But Paul's going to add a little bit more to this. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 42, So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, meaning it can decay and fall apart, but it's raised in incorruption. It's sown in dishonor. It's raised in glory. Sown in weakness. Raised in power. That sounds pretty good. 1 Corinthians 24, it's sown in natural body.

It's raised a spiritual body. There's a natural body, and there's a spiritual body. Okay, so that's starting to answer. I said, those in the second resurrection, physical body, can be put to death. Those in the first resurrection, a spirit body, a different type of body. Earlier, the apostle Paul goes into more detail explaining, saying, well, what you put in the ground, just like when you plant seeds, you don't have the seed come up, you have the plant that grows out of it.

And he makes the analogy, just like when we put our dead body in the ground, God doesn't bring all the different atoms and molecules together to recreate that body. He gives you a brand new body, and it'll be a spirit body for those in that resurrection.

While we're here, I'll also skip towards the back to the book of 1 John, chapter 3. We'll see a little bit more about what that'll be like. And that's going to lead into a little more explanation I want to make. 1 John 3, we'll begin at the beginning of the chapter. Once again, what's it going to be like to be raised in spirit? John says, Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God.

Therefore, the world doesn't know us because it doesn't know Him. But, beloved, now we're the children of God. It's just not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him like He is.

See Him as He is. So, he's saying, we're going to see Jesus as He is, because we're going to be like Him. We're going to have that spirit body. So, we're going to be in the same plane as Jesus. And that made me think, okay, if we want to know what it's like to be spirit, let's look at the one person who's ever lived in the flesh and blood and then been resurrected to spirit. Only one has done that, and that's Jesus Christ. Jesus...oh, my notes here says exactly what I just said.

He's the one that's been through it. So, maybe if we look at the fairly brief description of what He went through, it'll give us some idea what it's going to be like, because you can say, okay, you're going to have a spirit body. Well, I've never seen a spirit body. Never been inside one. I'm not sure how that works. We're in first drawn. Let's turn to the book of John. John, Chapter 20. Let's look at a little bit of what happened to Jesus after He was resurrected. And maybe we can learn a little bit about what this type of life after death is.

And this life in a new body. John, Chapter 20. And I'm going to begin in verse 19. Now, this is, of course, after Jesus had been crucified. Put in the tomb was there three days and three nights. Then He was raised. Mary and Mary Magdalene go to find Him.

He's not there. We're skipping ahead to later that night. In verse 20, when He had... Oh, matter of fact, I want to begin in verse 19. Sorry. Then that same day at evening, the first day of the week. So He was raised the afternoon before. They discovered the empty tomb in the morning. Now it's evening. Evening, the first day of the week, the doors are shut. The disciples are assembled for fear of the Jews. And Jesus just came and stood in the midst of them.

Zoom! He's there and He says, Peace be with you. I'm not sure if peace be with you. It's sort of like nowadays if He showed up, He might say, Hey, guys, how's it going? And they were a little surprised. When He said this, He showed Him His hands in His side. You know, hands that had been pierced by the knee on the side where the Spirit had gone on. It says, Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

So we can gather some things out of this. The first thing I thought is, okay, the disciples recognized Jesus. They saw Him and He looked like He looked. I mean, they looked at Him and said, Oh, it's Jesus. They might have been kind of amazed, but they knew something was up when He wasn't in the tomb.

And of course, the other thing is, He wasn't constrained by physical restraints. The laws of physics somehow weren't completely applying because it says the doors are closed, the walls are there. It doesn't say Jesus knocked at the door in the open and He came in. It's just that He was there among them. Somehow, in the spirit body He had, He could defy the laws of physics and be there. Also says, the third thing, He showed them His hands in His side. He showed the wounds, but He didn't say, Oh, man, this is killing me. No, He was well. He was going along fine. So, you could say in the spirit, you're not suffering the pains you have in the flesh now, even if the visible marks are there.

I've got some questions about that, but we'll explore a little more later about what can happen. But it's good to know, and perhaps especially, a lot of our youngsters are away at the campout. Those of us that are left are the old and decrepit, some more of one than the other. But face it, it's funny, I've talked to a lot of older people, and they say, Oh, when you get older, you start in. I say, Yeah, I'm beginning to feel that. It reminds me, growing up in church, I remember hearing ministers say, Yeah, boy, life in an eternal body is going to be great, because this body doesn't work so well.

As a teenager, I say, Yeah, yeah, what do you know? My body's going to last forever. But now that I'm into my 40s, it's like, No, it's not. It's breaking down, and it hurts at times. And I'm sure a lot of you are saying, Yeah, wait another 20 or 30 years. You're going to see what breaking down and hurting at times is like. But we've got some hope with Jesus. He was hurting more than any of us.

He'd been scourged and stabbed and bled to death, and now he's feeling fine. That's a good thing to look forward to in that resurrection. We're not going to have any of those pains. I want to look at a parallel passage in the book of Luke, Luke 24.

Luke's account of the same thing happening, but I want to draw another couple of things out of this. Luke 24 will begin in verse 36.

Once again, this is that evening, Sunday evening. Now, as they said these things, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and said, Hey guys, how's it going? Or in this version, peace be to you. And they were terrified and frightened, supposing they'd seen a spirit. And maybe we can insert the word ghost or something. They weren't just thinking they saw Jesus as a spirit being. They were thinking this is something evil. And he said to them, Why are you troubled? Why do you have doubts in your heart? He said, Behold, my hands and my feet, that it's I myself. But he went beyond. He didn't just say, Look at them. He said, He said, Handle me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see me have. That's interesting. He said, You can touch me. And they felt him. And they said, Flesh and bones. They were able to feel him. Now, I thought he was raised as a spirit. Well, we know he was, but somehow he was also able to appear this way. And in my mind, he must have some control. He could, we often use the term manifest in the flesh. I'm not sure how that works, but since he did it, I trust him on that. And it says, We're going to be as he is, so we must have that to look forward to. Then in verse 41, when some of them still didn't believe for joy and the amarble, and he says, Do you have any food here? They gave him a piece of broiled fish and some honeycomb, and he took it and he ate in their presence. So not only can he be in the physical, but hey, that fish smells pretty good. I'm guessing they're probably cooking, and he's, Hey, you have any food here? Yeah, I'll take a bit of that. He has some honeycomb, and he eats it in front of them and enjoys it. I suspect this probably wasn't the only time over the course of the next few weeks that they ate together. We know that there's the account in John chapter 21 where they're out fishing, and Jesus has them catch this big load of fish, and they come, and he's cooked breakfast for them. He probably didn't just sit and watch them thinking, Boy, that fish looks good. I wish I could have some. He probably ate the fish and the bread along with them just as he did here. What's interesting to me, though, let's be turning to Revelation chapter 7 while we consider, you know, a spirit being is able to eat.

But we want to make the point here that a spirit being isn't going to have to eat. There's going to be a distinction. Revelation chapter 7, I'm going to begin in verse 13. Here's a case where John and the vision sees people who resurrected, and the context will show us these are people that are in the first resurrection, resurrected as spirit. In verse 13, chapter 7, he says, That's interesting. There are going to be spirit beings. We've just seen that a spirit being can eat, but it must be strictly for pleasure because a spirit being is not going to be hungry anymore, not going to be thirsty, and apparently will not need sunscreen because it says, you know, the sun's not going to strike them anymore. I find that interesting, but maybe sunburn was a big problem in those days. Well, it's a big problem these days.

But, you know, this tells me in many ways we're going to be able to enjoy many of the pleasures that we enjoy now. Good food, a nice...well, I would say a nice wine, but I'm not that much of a wine drinker, but a good single malt scotch, you know, or a great cheesecake. But it's not going to be because we're starving and we'd be suffering without it.

Yeah, let's...I knew I was going to get into the time constraints. Yeah, well, I'm going to...one of the things...I was thinking about some of those things because, you know, you might wonder, well, what are we...are we going to...we know we'll be able to eat as spirit beings. Does that mean that's what we're going to do? We're going to sit and eat, you know, and watch Oprah?

You know, there must be other physical things. And the thing that...it's always been on my mind, I thought, I want to play basketball as a spirit being. I thought if Jesus could come back and come indoors, and there's the story that I just decided I wasn't going to read through all of, but we know in the book of Luke where there's a couple men that are walking to another city, and Jesus joins them and he walks along with them, and he withholds them so they can't tell who he is, but he goes along and once again he's about to have a meal with them.

You know, I think if you can come and be with people in the spirit, you know, or you can be in the spirit, but you can be manifest as flesh, you can do some of the things you like. Like I said, I've always had in my mind that I'd like to play basketball. I love playing basketball. Any of you...I don't know if Rich is out in the lobby. He's...I've played with him more than anybody else, and he could attest that I'm not any good at playing basketball. Matter of fact, some of you remember from Y.O.U, I'm about as good now as I was back then, and that wasn't any good. But that doesn't mean I can't enjoy doing it. And I suspect that's one of the things that spirit-raised children of God, you know, can do some of those physical things that we enjoy doing. Eating some good things, having some of the activities that we like.

Now, as far as some of the other things we're going to be doing, you know, we've read scriptures that said, we're going to live and reign with Christ. We'll be serving with Him. We're going to be given jobs to do. So basketball might have to take a back seat for a lot of the time. Let's look at the book of Isaiah, chapter 9. This is another famous scripture, memory scripture for us. Also, I'm pretty sure this ended up in Andals Messiah, Isaiah 9, verse 7.

Now we get to envision what's out ahead. And, you know, this thought crossed my mind because when I think of life as a spirit being, I'll mention this. Looking back to those teenage years, I don't know if this has ever crossed any of your minds, but I've talked to other people. Sometimes you wonder, will you reach a point where you've done it all and you start getting bored? You say, well, I don't know if I want to live forever. If it just keeps, you know, boy, forever is a long time. What are you going to do? You know, once you've watched all the TV reruns, there are to watch. Probably not going to be a lot of time for TV, especially as bad as the stuff is. But Isaiah 9, verse 7 gives us some hint because we're going to be working with Jesus involved in governing in some aspect. And here it says, of the increase of His government and peace, there will be no end upon the throne of David and over His kingdom. But I want to focus on that. The increase of His government and peace, no end! It's going to keep growing and going. You know, scientists have done the studies and they're convinced that the universe is still growing. They say it's expanding outwards. And not only are things getting further apart, but new stars are still being formed. There's as many stars as there are now, there are still new stars coming into existence. I think, wow! There's so many! What's out there? Should we be concerned about that? I do want to look at a couple of scriptures here to give us an idea that we're going to be involved in that. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 8. Some quick scriptures here to establish what we've got to look forward to. Hebrews 2 verse 8. I was going to 8 verse 2.

It's probably one time you're all there ahead of me. Here is part of quoting a prophecy about Jesus Christ.

Now we don't yet see all things put under him, but we see Jesus who is made a little lower than the angels. So we see mankind doesn't yet have everything under him, but we know Jesus does now have everything put under him. And we're going to be working with him. Now, book of Romans chapter 8. Romans 8 and verse 17.

Once again, matter of fact, we can begin in verse 16. The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together. We're joint heirs with Christ. What is the inheriting? We just saw all things. And we could verify that again if you want to turn there. Otherwise, I'll just read Revelation 21 verse 7.

21 verse 7. This is basically God speaking to us. It says, I will be his God and he will be my son.

What does all things mean? And I think it's probably beyond our imaginations. And facing it, human beings can imagine an awful lot. We're good at imagining things.

I've sometimes wondered, we've speculated about what it'll be like in the long hereafter. I remember in college, some people talk about, Well, when I have my own planet, I'm going to do this or that. My galaxy.

I like the fact that Dr. Ward brought us up short once in classes. He said, Bible doesn't say that we're going to go out and each have our own planet or galaxy. It doesn't say that. But then again, he would also say, it doesn't say that we won't.

It does say we'll inherit all things. So however we're going to be inhabiting all that, it's going to be something pretty good.

I think of what God wants us to do. He wants us to be happy for all eternity. He's going to give us the spirit body that makes it possible. He's going to give us opportunity to engage in things that we like.

In the summer camp program, which I was just there a couple weeks ago, we used this term that we call the zone as a bit of a code word for being like the kingdom of God.

Because we're trying to set up this environment of what it'll be like when God reigns.

Describing what the zone is, the minister who used to be the overall camp director, Larry Greider, gave a sermon that he called the seven elements of the zone. He laid out these things, and he didn't say the seven elements of camp. You have to have basketball, and you have to have leather work, or canoeing, or something. But the seven elements of the zone he described are these. He said challenge, success, which challenge and success go together. And then fun. I don't know how many times we tell the kids, and of course the teenagers aren't here, so don't let them know that we plan on them having fun in advance. But another element is support and inclusiveness, structure, like rules and schedules, and positive relationships. You know, these are what we try to establish at camp when we're trying to have an environment that's like God's kingdom. I think I don't know if God would delineate them in this particular format, but I'm sure all those things translate to what he wants for us in eternal life as spirit beings. We're going to be meeting fun and interesting challenges, and we're going to be doing it together. And we're going to have some structure. There's going to be government, and of course God's law. But I think all of this sounds pretty good to me. Taking on fun challenges, being included, and being around the people I like. That sounds like a good thing. I don't think boredom is going to be a problem for spirit beings in the kingdom of God. And of course, keep in mind, ultimately there is an alternative that's available beforehand. If someone is considering eternity and they don't like it, there is Malachi 4, verse 3, being ashes under the souls of the righteous. It's funny, I thought it's almost like a full circle, because we started out talking about, in the movie, the fear of eternal nothingness. In a sense, God says, well, that is an option if you want that. But who would want that? Even when I was a teenager, when I was a little scared of, you know, how am I going to handle being around for eternity, I remember one of the things that made me stop ever worrying about that is, I said, you know, all my friends and people that I love are going to be there in eternity. It'd be like the greatest party ever going on. Who wouldn't want to be there? Do you want to miss that and not be there as part of it? Now, I'm sure God, well, He has much more complicated ways of explaining it. We've been going through all that here. And when I said coming back full circle, where we started, we've seen by the revelation of God's word and the understanding of Spirit gives us, you know, humans don't have life inherent in them. We don't have an immortal soul. But we know that life is a gift from God, and that all men are going to die at least once.

And they're going to experience that complete lack of consciousness. But God also plans to resurrect all people. He's going to give everybody a chance to accept His way of life, to accept repentance and have their sins covered and wiped away. And then life as a spirit being is going to be available. That's going to include challenges and fun that we can hardly imagine. I think of that, you know, as we look at our hope and our plans for the world tomorrow, what could be better than planning and looking forward to all being in that together?