VII. RESURRECTION
(I Thessalonians 4:13-18)

A. HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT:

Acts 23:6-8 Paul was called to court because of his peculiar belief in the resurrection of the dead through Christ. Paul believed that as believers we participate in the benefits of Jesus' resurrection (new life, able to overcome sin and temptation, Romans 6:4-9) in this life and yet we look forward to the day when Jesus calls us with the trump of God and we receive the completeness of a resurrected body to live forever with God.

Origen rejected the idea that the identical body would be raised up. He described the resurrected body as a refined and spiritualized body. Most of the Church Fathers held that the resurrection body would be identical in every respect with the body in the present life.

The Reformers believed the resurrection body would be identical with the present body.

Modern religious liberalism either bluntly denies the resurrection, or explains the scriptural representations of it as a figurative representation of the idea that the full human personality with all its powers will continue to exist after death.

B. THE FACT OF RESURRECTION:

1. God is called the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Jesus asserted that God is God of the living, thus establishing life after death (Exodus 3:6; Luke 20:37-38).

2. Psalm 16:8-11; 49:14; Isaiah 26:19; Daniel 12:2; Zechariah 14:5.

3. Christ predicted His own resurrection (Matthew 16:21; 17:23; 20:19).

4. Christ taught the truth of resurrection (Matthew 22:31-32; John 2:19-2; 11:25-26).

5. Paul taught bodily resurrection and gave details (I Corinthians 15:20-24, 35-50; II Corinthians 5:1-4; Philippians 3:21; I Thessalonians 4:13-18).

C. THE ORDER OF RESURRECTIONS:

1. The resurrection of Christ (Romans 6:9). Jesus looked like Himself. His is the first of MANY (I Corinthians 15:23).

2. The resurrection of those who are Christ's at His coming (Luke 14:14; John 5:29; I Thessalonians 4:16; Daniel 12:2; Rev. 20:4, 6).

3. The resurrection of the unsaved at the end (Rev. 20:11-14).

VIII. THE LAST JUDGMENT
AND THE FINAL REWARDS
(Matthew 25:14-46)

A. HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT:

The earliest Church Fathers believed in the certainty of judgment and that the saints in heaven would enjoy different degrees of blessedness, commensurate with the virtues which adorned them on earth. The punishment of the wicked was generally seen as eternal, Origen being an exception. They also believed in a final judgment at the end of the world.

Thus there were three judgments:

1) of the saints;

2) of the wicked;

3) final judgment at the end of the world.

The Scholastics paid special interest to the locations of heaven and hell.

The Reformers held these same views, and were careful to distinguish between the general judgment at the end of the world, and the secret and particular judgment that occurs at the death of an individual.

B. FUTURE JUDGMENTS:

The final judgment does not occur until AFTER the 1,000 years (Revelation 20:7-15). Here the books will be opened, including the Book of Life, and the dead will be judged according to their works (Revelation 20:12-13). Death and Hell (Hades) are cast into the lake of fire (Gehenna). Whoever was not found in the Book of Life is cast into the lake of fire.

1. JUDGMENT OF BELIEVERS' WORKS: I Corinthians 3:10-15; II Corinthians 5:10. Others include Romans 14:10; I Corinthians 4:1-5; 9:24-27; I Thessalonians 2:19; II Timothy 4:8; James 1:12; I Peter 5:4 and Revelation 2:10; 3:11; 4:4, 10.

2. JUDGMENT OF OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS: Daniel 12:1-3.

3. JUDGMENT OF SAINTS OF THE TRIBULATION PERIOD: Revelation 20:4-6.

4. JUDGMENT OF JEWISH SURVIVORS OF THE TRIBULATION: Ezekiel 20:34-38 and Matthew 25:1-30.

5. JUDGMENT OF GENTILE SURVIVORS OF THE TRIBULATION: Matthew 25:31-46; Joel 3:2. Ryrie says this judgment upon the Gentiles is based upon their treatment of Israel during the Tribulation period. He asserts that the "brethren" in Matthew 25 can only refer to Christ's Jewish brethren.

6. JUDGMENT OF SATAN AND FALLEN ANGELS: Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:10; Jude 6-7. Believers will be with the Lord in this judging (I Corinthians 6:3) which occurs AFTER the millennium.

7. JUDGMENT OF THE UNSAVED DEAD: John 5:22,27,29; Revelation 20:11-15. This occurs AFTER the millennium.

IX. HADES AND HEAVEN

A. HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT:

"Official" reflection of last things did not begin until it was apparent that Jesus Christ was not immediately returning. Up to this time it was commonly held that the believers immediately inherited what had been prepared for them, and the wicked immediately suffer the punishment of hell.

Justin Martyr (100-165) denounced as heretical those who believed that souls "when they die, are taken to heaven." Later Fathers (Irenaeus, Tertullian, Hilary, Ambrose, Cyril, Augustine) believed they went to hades, a place with various divisions, where they remained until the day of judgement or are sufficiently purified.

As the coming of Christ became a more far distant event, this position became hard to hold. An exception was soon proposed for those who were martyred for their faith, they would go directly to be with God. Hades was gradually robbed of it 'righteous' inhabitants. When the wicked became only the ones left in hades it became regarded as a place of punishment, sometimes identified with gehenna (hell).

It was widely held that many saints at death were not sufficiently holy at death and thus could NOT enter into eternal bliss. These persons were subjected to a process of purification BEYOND the grave!

In the Western Church the idea of a special purgatorial fire developed. Scholastics and Mystics were VERY explicit in their description of purgatory, with the majority conceiving of a real material fire! In 1546 at the Council of Trent purgatory was solemnly affirmed which fueled the practice of selling indulgences in the Church.

The Greek Church, Eastern Church, NEVER enthusiastically accepted these views current in the West.

The forerunners of the Reformation (Wyclif and Hus) and the Reformers one and all, rejected the whole doctrine of purgatory as contrary to Scripture.

B. JESUS:

He spoke more graphically of hell and punishment than any Old or New Testament prophet. John, the Apostle of love, recorded much of what Jesus spoke concerning judgment, John 3:16-21; 5:22, 26-30; 12:47-48; I John 3:8.

C. HELL:

1. OLD TESTAMENT:

Deuteronomy 32:22; II Samuel 22:6; Psalm 19:7; 16:10; 18:5; 55:15; 86:13; 116:3; Isaiah 5:11-17.

Matthew 3:10,12; 5:22, 29-30; 7:19; 10:28; 11:23; 13:37-42; 16:18; 18:7-9; 23:33; 25:41; Mark 9:43-48; Luke 3:9,17; 10:15; 12:5; 16:23; John 15:6.

D. WHERE DO THEY GO WHEN THEY DIE?

The unsaved gentiles go into Hades and Jews unto Abraham's bosom (Luke 16:19-26) to await their respective resurrection and final judgement. The believers do NOT have a waiting period. Paul said, "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord" (II Corinthians 5:8).

EXTRA

THE BOOK OF REVELATION is a contested book today with many claiming it was never fully accepted by the "early church." Let us clear this up. The first critic was Dionysius of Alexandria (190-265) who questioned the use of "bad grammar" found in Revelation. These examples of "bad grammar" have since been confirmed as common usage in contemporary Koine literature. Dionysius also rejected the doctrine of the millennial kingdom expressed in Revelation.

Revelation was written sometime between 90 and 95 AD. JUSTIN MARTYR (100-165) quotes John's view of the millennium. IRENAEUS (130-202) and TERTULLIAN (160-220) quotes from every chapter. HIPPOLYTUS quotes extensively from chapters 17 and 18 and attributes them to the Apostle John. CLEMET OF ALEXANDRIA (150-220) and ORIGEN (185-254) both accepted Revelation and the authorship of the Apostle John (d.96).

Although Revelation was not commonly received as canon until the middle of the second century, it is included in almost EVERY list of Bible books from this early period. Johannine authorship WAS NOT QUESTIONED until the end of the second century. Thus, it appears that the greatest motive to reject Apostolic authorship, and thus Revelation itself, is based upon one's theology rather than internal or external evidence. We find this true yet today.