WHAT ISTHE RESURRECTION?
"For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God..
Judgment is now only upon the church!
Those who have not entered into that agreement have failed to do so for one of several reasons. Either they have never heard of the only name given among men through which they might be saved -- " Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved...... Acts 4:12" --, or, they have heard but never understood enough to believe.
Everyone gets one chance at repentance. But, in order to have a chance they must, understand enough to know what it is they are either rejecting, or, believing in.
Romans 6:23 asys "the WAGES of sin is death." Wages are something one must EARN himself. If, in the end, we receive the penalty of eternal death (the second death), it will be because we have EARNED it.
God will not sentence us to eternal death because of being tricked, lied to, deceived, or otherwise conquered by the "god of this world".
Those who agree to come under judgment now, are fully aware that they are asking to be judged, put on trial, now, when Satan (A powerful, rebellious angel) is still in control of the world around them.
They have agreed to walk upstream agasinst the pulls, temptations, and trials of this present evil world. They have agreed to undergo conversion and training. That training will be put to use in teaching, and opening the minds of those who survive the coming Great Tribulation.
Satan will have been removed at the return of Christ. Thrones(plural) will be set up in cities through out the world. Christians trained in this life will be placed upon those thrones to assist Jesus Christ in the most extensive reclaimation project this earth has ever seen.
While those who failed to come under the New Covenant agreement sleep in their graves, the earth will be transformed into a veratible Paradise. it will take a thousand years.
All this in preparation for the GREAT resurrection ---the Second Resurrection --called the Great White Throne Judgment.
"And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
"But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection." ....Revelation 20:4-5.
At the end of the thousand years the "rest" of the dead will be resurrected back to physical life (unlike those in the first resurrection who went to their graves as a physical being and were raised a spirit being). This resurrection includes everyone who has ever lived, from Adam until then. All of mankind.
They will build houses, work the land, eat, sleep, give birth to children. They will each be given a one hundred year life span (Isaiah 65:20) in which to learn of God's way of life and come to repentance and conversion. Any who do not, after fully understanding, will go to their graves only to be burned up in those graves in a future event referred to as the Lake of Fire(Compare Malachi 4:1-3, Revelation 20:13-14). The words "hell" Revelation 20:13-14 was translated from the Greek word "hades" meaning simply GRAVE, and not the stereotyped concept of hell.
People will learn there is only one true God. They will stop worshipping nature, ancestors, false gods, cows, etc. They will be brought up to speed on earth's true past history and the rebellion of Lucifer.
"The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.
"For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:"....Isaiah 2:11-12
People who thought their loved ones were lost because of they had died being unrepentant sinners will be ELATED to see them resurrected back to physical life to be taught the truth and given their first real opportunity at salvation without Satan in the world.
In preparation for this greatest event in earth's history (the resurrection of all who have ever lived) the thousand year reign of Jesus, Christ with the saints of the First Resurrection, will be used to transform this earth into a living Paradise. The dessert will burst forth with vegetation. Sea floors and mountainous terrain will be reshaped for the use of agriculture. The environment will be cleaned up. Wonderful cities and highways will be built. Technology that man would have received from God, had he not rejected instruction from God back in Eden, will now be received.
Here are a few descriptive scriptures of that coming time:
IISAIAH 2:2-4: "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. "
" And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
" And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
ISAIAH 35:1-10:"The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
" It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God.
" Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.
" Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.
" Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
" Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.
" And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.
" And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.
" No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there:
" And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."
ISAIAH 41:14-15: "Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
" Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff."
There has never been a time during man's tenure on earth like the time described here. This is FUTURE. It is COMING at the hand of God And, some are being prepared now to help.....to be involved in that process!
ISAIAH 11:6-9: " The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
" And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
" And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.
" They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea."
GOD'S CONTROL OVER TIME ITSELF
Many science fiction stories have been written about time machines, time travel, etc.