Heaven Part III

I hope you are not getting bored with heaven. Now we are moving toward the good stuff. Jesus has come and there are three things that are attached to that. The first of course is our own ressurection. Then there is judgement and lastly is the distribution of rewards. After all of this and a 1000 year reign of Christ comes the new haeven and new earth. But I do not want to get ahead.

Jesus of course was the first person to be resurrected, and to date is still the only one. When he comes the dead in Christ will rise first to receive their resurrection bodies. Does that also include the OT saints? I am not sure (see Rev. 20:4-6). After this those who are still alive when He comes will be changed into their resurrection bodies without experiencing the first death. Lastly, after the 1000 year reign, the nonbelievers will be raised to face judgement and eternity in hell.

So what about judgements? The Bible speaks of two. The first is the Great White Throne judgement of Rev. 20:11-15. This is where the righteous and unrighteous are separated, the former to heaven and the latter to the lake of fire (i.e. hell). This is the same separating of the sheep and goats in Matt. 25. Basically you want your name written in the book of life. There is only one way to do that. If there happens to be someone who does not know Jesus reading this then post a comment and I will make sure you know how to have your name written there. The second judgement is the bema seat judgement (named because of the Greek word used to describe it). This is found in Rom. 14:10-12, I Cor. 3:10-15, and II Cor. 5:10. Basically it means that we all will appear before God to give account of what we have done while here on earth. It is not for salvation for this is only for those already saved. Sounds pretty scarry doesn't it?

Let's move on to something more positive - rewards. Are there rewards in heaven? That seems kind of antithetical to the popular notion that we will all be equal in heaven. Maybe the notion is wrong. There is pretty good evidence for rewards in heaven, but not a lot of specifics on exactly what they are. Let's start with Heb. 11:6 where we are told that part of faith is that God rewards those who diligently seek Him. Obviously Jesus is our reward and that is enough, but the Bible suggests there is more. We see this from multiple passages including Matt. 5:12, 5:46, 6:4,6,18, 10:40-42, II John 8, and Heb. 11:26. We also are told in Matt. 6:19-21 to not lay up for ourselves treasures on earth but lay up treasures in heaven which can never be corrupted. So what exactly are these? We do not know. Some people think they are the crowns that we lay at the feet of Jesus. In the Beattitudes we see some possibilities - comfort, being filled, mercy, seeing God- and others are the lives of people we have touched here on earth, authority and ruling over nations. The point is not what they are but how to lay them up. That is beyond the scope of this text, but the answers are found in the same passages that I have listed as well as Matt. 25.

Next week we will look at the new heaven and new earth and I will conclude this series. It is the really exciting part and I think will get you thinking and possibly change your views. Till then.