The Day of Christ

Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)

There is an extraordinary day coming. It is abundantly testified of in the Scriptures, as the Day that all Christians are continually exhorted to watch for with eager anticipation. It is called by various names: the Day of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Day of Christ, the Day of the Lord Jesus, the Day of the Lord, the Appearing of our God and Savior, the Coming of the Lord, the Revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, and sometimes simply, “that Day.”

God has divided life into days, and I, for one, am glad that He did. I’ve had a few days that went so badly, I was glad for the chance to go to bed that night, and get up to a fresh start and a new day!

Most of us had had certain days that we eagerly anticipated. In childhood it was usually our birthdays, Christmas, and those exciting days when we got to go somewhere special. The Day of Christ is a Day that eclipses all other days we have ever or will ever look forward to. It will be a unique Day, that will never be seen again. Paul thought and wrote about this Day constantly. Peter loved this Day, and John, too, was passionate about it, declaring, “when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2).

It would be tragic for Christians to be in ignorance of this incredible Day, and yet that is exactly where great numbers of believers are. Many sit in church for decades without ever hearing a sermon about this Day. Imagine running into a man living in the United States who had no idea of Christmas. When you mention Christmas he gets a blank expression on his face, and finally interrupts you to ask, “What do you mean, ‘Christmas?’” You would be shocked. “How is it possible to live in this country and never hear about Christmas?” you might ask. “Where have you been all your life?”

That is precisely the situation for those professing Christians who have no knowledge of the Day of Christ. Considering how the pages of Scripture are saturated with the glory of the appearing of Jesus, one can only wonder how the church has come to such a sad state of things.

Three R’s

Many preachers love to preach sermons where every key point begins with the same letter. Billy Graham used to preach a sermon that declared how God delivers us, through Christ, from the penalty, power, and ultimately the presence of sin. (I have preached a similar sermon, but I add the word ‘guilt’ which throws the whole alliteration thing down the drain! I just can’t think of any word similar to guilt that begins with p!)

Actually I’ve rarely indulged in this practice, since too often I feel forced to come up with points that I wouldn’t ordinarily use, just to keep the rhythm flowing. But in this message it works out pretty easily. The Day of Christ is composed of three great events, all of which begin with the letter ‘R’.

These three events that comprise the Day of Christ are each, in their own right, spectacular and awesome to contemplate. If any one of them were to happen today, you can be sure it would be a day you would never forget.

1st Event

The first amazing event of the Day of Jesus Christ is the RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. Paul describes it this way:

But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming (1 Corinthians 15:20-23).

Before we can go further to talk about this resurrection, we must first answer a very basic, and yet often asked question: Why is there a need for this resurrection? After all, when we die, don’t we go immediately to heaven? And if we’re in heaven, what’s the point of a resurrection of any kind? Didn’t Paul say to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord? So why a resurrection?

It is most certainly true that those who die in Christ are allowed an immediate access to the wonders of heaven. To “live is Christ, but to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). But the person who goes to heaven after death does not go there in a physical body. He is “absent from the body” and “present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). If you could take a trip to heaven you would find spirit beings there. Yes, your Grandma Emily and Grandpa Jed would be there. But when you tried to shake their hand, your hand would go right through theirs. Their spirit body, though quite “real” would not be tangible (capable of being touched and felt).

Many Christians have believed that this is to be our state throughout eternity – a kind of “Philip Marley” (Scrooge’s partner) minus the chains and groans. Indeed when Greek philosophers like Augustine began exerting influence over the church, they insisted that the idea of a “physical” universe was absurd. Everybody (they assumed) should realize that eternal things are spiritual only. All that is physical will ultimately be destroyed.

Redemption for the body

The eventual destruction of all things physical is another one of those concepts that sounds sensible – until you compare it with what Scripture has to say. When you allow the Bible to speak for itself, you come to the conclusion that God is not only interested in our spirits; He has provided redemption for our bodies as well.

Paul told the governor Felix:

I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust (Acts 24:15).

In His letter to the Philippian church, Paul says:

…who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself (Philippians 3:21.)

Our bodies will one day be returned to us! Some of you are saying, “I’m not so sure I want this old body back!” The good news is that the body that will be returned to you will be the new revised edition. Yes, it will still be your body, but it will be transformed to be similar to Christ’s glorious body. Walking on water, passing through walls, and jetting from one place to another at the speed of thought will be a normal part of your new experience.

When will we be given these “glorified” bodies? Jesus tells us:

The hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear (My) 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 (John 5:28,29).

Jesus declares that it is His voice that will simultaneously waken all those in the graves. The resurrection of life is that resurrection of those who were justified by their faith in Christ. A word from His lips shall be sufficient to raise millions out of their graves, and into eternal life.

Spirit, Soul, & Body

Keep in mind that these believers were not dead in a spiritual sense. They were alive and enjoying the presence of the Lord in heaven. But upon this mighty life-giving cry their bodies shall experience Jesus’ resurrection life, and be raised, never to die (or sin) again. Their spirits shall rejoin their per-feted bodies, and they shall be a three part being once again: spirit, soul, and body. This shall be the state of the justified believers throughout eternity.

We have seen a miniature prototype of this incredible event. When Jesus stood outside of the tomb of Lazarus, who had died a few days before, He prayed,

Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me (John 11:41,42).

Having prayed this simple little prayer, He then spoke forcefully to Lazarus, “Lazarus, come forth!” (John 11:43) Dead Lazarus appeared at the mouth of the tomb, not looking especially fashion-able (he still had the traditional winding strips on) but very much alive.

What power! Three little words from Jesus’ lips and the dead man arises. The Bible says, “Where the word of a king is, there is power” (Ecclesiastes 8:4). When the ultimate King of kings speaks, no one is strong enough to resist His demands – not even death.

The time is coming that Jesus will once again speak to the dead. This time He will not be speaking to one man, but to His church – all those from the past 2,000 years, who died with faith in Jesus. It won’t be a single man who rises up to stand at the front of a tomb; it will the believers from every nation and tongue who will be raised to eternal life by the power of the life-giving words of the King of kings.

No Answers

Death is the reality the world has no answer for. You have to admire them for their noble attempts to put some sort of perspective on it, but all such efforts fall flat. One philosopher wrote a little book on death, and compared it to colorful leaves dropping down from the trees in the fall. It is pretty imagery, but utterly useless. Go to that widow who has just lost her husband to a heart attack at age fifty, and tell her, “Don’t worry, honey. Your husband isn’t really dead. He’s just a leaf that fell off of a tree,” and see how much that encourages her.

Some years back I was going door to door, passing out tracks and asking people about their spiritual condition. I ran into a young man who proclaimed himself an atheist. We talked for a while, and finally he summed up his feeling about what I was doing by saying something like this: “Well, I have my beliefs as well as you. I have my convictions. But you don’t find me going about door to door telling people about atheism and trying to convert them to my point of view.”

My response was immediate. I told him, “Well, I guess not! If I believed this world had come from nothing, and that we were nothing more than cosmic accidents, to live for a short while, and then die and rot and go into nothingness – you wouldn’t find me going around sharing that good news either!”

In the Humanist Magazine one article defined death as they, the humanists, see it. It describes death thus: “universal, intrinsic to human experience, and inevitable… death is a natural event.” I can’t argue with their conclusion, but I have a bit of a problem with their acting as though they had said something very profound. All they have told us is something we all knew – we’re all going to die. For all their high sounding words, they simply declared the obvious, which, of course, is all the secular world can hope to do.

It is amazing how those without Christ react to their own prospect of dying. Alfred Hitchcock was the master of death on the silver screen of his day. He directed a large number of suspense-filled movies that all revolved around death and murder. Throughout his movies there was always a death or the near prospect of a death that kept things interesting.

When it came his time to die in real life, it was a different story. The master of death had met his own master and was helpless. It is said that he cried like a baby as he lay in the hospital on his deathbed, and confided to one of his favorite actresses, Ingrid Bergman, of his fear of the grim reaper. He had been able to portray death, but he could not face the real thing when it was his turn.

Wishful Thinking

Lauren Bacall, in an interview with the Dallas Morning News, spoke of the wonderful years of happiness she had with her famous hubby, Humphrey Bogart (who never actually said, “Play it again, Sam”). She stated, “The eleven and a half years that Bogie and I were married were the happiest period of my life. He was my mentor, my teacher, and the love of my life. I remember every word he ever said to me. (A woman has the right to exaggerate a little!) but I will never see him again. I’d love to believe that after I die, I will see Bogie walking toward me with his arms outstretched … I’d love to believe that will happen, but I do not believe that it will.”

In other words: “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there really was an afterlife where we could see our loved ones and have our old relationships renewed? Too bad that can’t happen.”

Of course the good news is that this can and will happen for those who have trusted Christ. We shall indeed be able to see our loved ones once again, and to renew old acquaintances. Jesus has paid the price for just such reunions.

A No-Win Case

Raymond Burr was another celebrity who didn’t seem to have any confidence in Jesus’ promised mansions in His Father’s house. The actor, known universally for his role as Perry Mason, fought cancer with all he had in his last days. At one point a reporter asked him what he had learned from his ill-ness. Burr replied, “That death is ugly and messy and not one whit romantic.” At one point in his struggle with cancer he sat upright for 30 hours straight, fearing that if he lay down he would die. But that was one case that even Perry Mason was not going to win. Eventually he wore out, lay down, and died within 48 hours. Burr had often quoted Dylan Thomas: “Do not go gently into that good night.”

John Wesley was once asked about the Methodist people under his leadership. He stated: “One thing you have to say for my people – they die well.”

It is the resurrection from the dead that is the coup de grace as far as death is concerned. Yes, it is comforting to think that our dead loved one is in heaven, in their spirit body. But that knowledge does not keep us from tears and deep emotion upon their death. In my case, at least, it has been the first time I saw my parents’ dead bodies, that has been the most gut-wrenching. Even though I was certain of their place in heaven, and knew that they were in a far better place than I was, there is something about seeing the lifeless body of one who had previously been so full of life, that brings the tears.

Powerful Foe

Death is ugly. It confronts us with our own impotence. With all the world’s money, power, prestige, and influence cannot buy a single extra minute of life when death comes and sinks its icy cold fangs into someone we care deeply about.

The writer of Hebrews tells us that Jesus came to “release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Hebrews 2:15). This doesn’t mean that sinners routinely go through life outwardly terrified of death, continually absorbed with the subject. Many do not.

Death is, however, a continual pall on the hearts of those who are “without God and without hope” (Ephesians 2:12). They carry it with them into all their joys and pleasures. They bring it along on their picnics and outings. They cannot escape it in their hobbies and recreations. Always, always, that maddening, never silent inner voice whispers, “You are growing older, and you will die.” The voice seems to get louder as the years go by. It makes meaningless their most meaningful aspirations, it sours their greatest pleasures, and renders their most eloquent philosophies absurd.

The apostle Paul describes man’s ultimate revenge upon death:

So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body (1 Corinthians 15:42-4).

When we die there is always weakness. No matter how strong, or sophisticated, or beautiful, or capable you were in your life, there is only weakness and impotence in your death. But though you may be “sown” in dishonor, corruption, and weakness, if you are Christ’s you will be raised in power, glory, and incorruption. You may not have looked very impressive on the way down, but you will be awesome on the way up.

Christ, Our Victory

Jesus was the perfect example of this. At the cross, He was jeered and mocked continually. He certainly didn’t look like a Messiah. He couldn’t possibly be the Messiah – He was so puny looking, so frail, so weak.

Yet had you been present at the tomb the next Sunday morning, there would have been no sign of weakness or frailty. As the Holy Spirit came upon His battered body, and divine life poured into Him, all weakness fled. Now there was glory, now there was power. Death itself, the ultimate bully of man-kind, had been conquered! Not merely beaten but annihilated. And by a Man! In Second Timothy we read:

For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus… (1 Timothy 2:5).

In his classic passage describing Jesus’ victory over death, Paul gets so carried away he begins to mock death:

“Oh, death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” (1 Corinthians 15:55)

Yes, death is still painful. Yes, the tears still fall. Jesus wept deeply at the death of His friend Lazarus, even though He raised Him from the dead a short time later. But behind the sadness of parting, behind the wellspring of emotions that always surface when someone we deeply care about is no longer there for us, our Master’s victory over death provides us an anchor that holds fast even as the tears flow.

The 2nd Event

If the Resurrection were the only event on the calendar, it would certainly make the Day of Christ a day like no other. But that’s just the beginning! Immediately after the resurrection the second great event occurs – THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH.

Before we can say much about the Rapture, we must first address the stumblingblock that seems to bother so many – the fact that the word ‘Rapture’ is not even in the Bible.

It is true! Unless you read the Latin Vulgate edition of the Bible (not exactly in vogue for the last few hundred years!) you can search your concordance all day long and you won’t find the word “Rapture.” The concept of the Rapture, however, is plainly spelled out in Scripture. The most detailed and comprehensive passage that deals with this incredible prophecy is found in Paul’s first epistle to the Thessalonians. Paul writes:

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with 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 we shall always be with the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:16,17).

So where’s the word “Rapture?” We get “Rapture” from the Latin word “rapturo” which is found in the Latin Vulgate Bible. It comes from the concept of being “caught up.” Paul says that those believers who are alive on the earth at the Day of Christ will be “caught up together with those being resurrected from the dead, be carried into the clouds, and will be drawn to Jesus to meet Him in the air.

The Latin word is “rapturo;” in Greek it is the word “harpadzo.” So what does it mean? One of the best ways to find the meaning of a Bible word is to see where it is used in other places. Let me give you three such places.

Raptured After Baptismal Service

Anyone with a Sunday School background will probably remember the dramatic story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. Philip is told by the Holy Spirit to leave a tremendous revival in Samaria and head south for the Gaza desert to await further instructions. When he got there, the Holy Spirit spoke again, telling him to head over to a chariot being driven by an important looking Ethiopian official. When Philip drew near, he noticed the man was reading Isaiah 53. Philip proclaimed Christ to him, and the man practically begged him to baptize him. Upon hearing the Ethiopians confession of Christ, he agreed, and they headed for a nearby pond. (Yes, baptisms still count even when done with-out the benefit of a custom made baptistery!)

While this whole event has been supernatural, what happens when the baptism is accomplished gets really eerie. As they are making their way up out of the pond, Philip disappears. Not disappears, as in he suddenly remembers he has an appointment and hurries to get there. Philip literally disappears! He’s nowhere to be found!

The Bible is an incredible book of understatement. It is filled with absolutely amazing, miraculous events that it mentions in the briefest of terms, and then moves on to some other subject. This is one of those cases. The Scriptures inform us:

Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found at Azotus. And passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea (Acts 8:39,40).

Notice that “the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away.” Sound familiar? As in “We who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds…” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Indeed it is the same Greek word, “harpadzo.” In a sense, we could say that Philip was raptured from that place by the Holy Spirit. In this case the rapture was horizontal; the Rapture described in 1 Thessalonians 4 will be vertical.

Snatched to Heaven

Another use of “harpadzo” is found in Paul’s description of an amazing experience. He appears to be speaking of himself when he says:

I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows such a one was caught up to the third heaven. …how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter (2 Corinthians 12:2).

Once again we find the word “caught.” Once again it is a translation of the Greek word “harpadzo.” Paul had an experience of being snatched from the present realities of this world and instantly translated into a heavenly realm. We could easily wish he would have gone into all the delicious de-tails, but we are told just two things: He wasn’t sure whether he was translated in body or merely in spirit, and he heard some things but wasn’t allowed to share them. This rapture was vertical just as the 1 Thessalonians Rapture will be, but it was only temporary. In a short time Paul found himself back on earth with all the pains, misery, and problems he had had before.

Never Snatched from Jesus Hands

A third use of “harpadzo” is not quite so dramatic, but it is infinitely satisfying to all those who love the Lord Jesus, and yearn to live in His presence forever. In John Jesus says:

"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand (John 10:27,28).

This time we don’t find the word “caught.” Can you guess where “harpadzo” is found? It is translated “snatch” in this verse: “Neither shall anyone “harpadzo” (My sheep) out of My hand.” What a tremendously comforting promise this is. No demon, no circumstance, not the devil himself has got what it takes to rip us from the loving, strong hands of our Savior. We shall not be snatched! (Perhaps we could change the words of that classic hymn from “I shall not be moved” to “I shall not be harpadzoed” – on second thought, maybe not!)

Forceful Grab

From these three uses of the same word that Paul uses to describe the Rapture, we gain an under-standing of its basic nature. And it means exactly what the Greek definition tells us it means: “To seize, to carry off by force, to claim for one’s self eagerly, to snatch out or away.” The idea is a quick, somewhat violent snatch. We’re not talking about a gradual “Beam me up Scotty” kind of a transition here. Nor is this one of those “I see a bright light, and I’m now going through a dark tunnel being drawn closer – closer – closer to the light,” kind of experiences.

We’re talking, “Now you see me, now you don’t.” One moment minding your own business here on earth, the next moment admiring the glory of Jesus in the presence of all His saints. In another place Paul writes:

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 shall be changed (1 Corinthians 15:51,52).

As fast as you can blink, that’s how quickly you will be translated from earth to glory. No time for good-byes to your sinner friends, no time to dust the furniture so that the heathens who take over your house will be impressed with your fastidious housekeeping. Considering that all of us can blink in well under a second’s time, there won’t even be time for you who are afraid of heights to get nervous about the whole prospect.

This is the great event that all Christians are commanded (not merely encouraged) to watch for. Jesus tells us:

• Watch therefore, for you do not know that hour your Lord is coming. (Matthew 24:42)
• Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. (Matthew 24;44)
• Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. (Matthew 25:13)

In each of these exhortations, Jesus tells us two things: 1) what to do, and 2) why we should do it.

What do we do? We watch. That is, we live in anticipation of His coming for His church, and let that reality affect every aspect of our lives. We walk softly, humbly, and righteously before our God.

Why do we do this? We do this because Jesus is coming back for us, and we could not bear to be ashamed before Him at His coming. And we do not know when He will appear.

The Fairy Tale Factor

To secular minds, this whole business sounds like an outlandish fairy tale. “How can you believe these things? You actually believe that Jesus is going to show up one of these days, and make you fly up in the sky to meet Him in the air? What boat did you just come off of?”

We evangelicals are a strange lot, I admit. We believe some incredible things. For example we believe that Jesus was literally born of a virgin. So many people seem to have such a hard time with that. It’s never been a problem for me at all.

And we believe that Jesus literally walked on water, literally raised Lazarus from the dead, and was literally raised from the dead Himself. Many would say that we are a gullible lot. Perhaps that is why we are often called “believers.”

Truth is, it seems perfectly reasonable to me that God should intervene in human history with occasional dramatic and miraculous events. In fact, if one can grant that God is love, it would be almost impossible for Him not to. One couldn’t help but expect that if our loving and almighty Creator decided to put His hand into human affairs, awesome things would be the result.

As to God’s capability, what kind of God wouldn’t be able to set aside His own natural laws for His own purposes? If He is indeed our Creator, if He spoke and set the universe in motion, if He could create a myriad of galaxies, establish the proper laws by which the universe should run, set the planets in their motions, and constantly oversee the entire process, it shouldn’t be all that difficult to snatch His children off the earth, or enable a virgin teenage girl to become pregnant apart from the usual means, or bring to pass any of the other miracles that the Scriptures attribute to Him.

It is significant that the man who most clearly described this great meeting in the air was none other than the apostle Paul. We’re not talking about a simpleton here, folks. Those who have studied Paul’s writings conclude that his IQ would have been at the level of “genius.” It is true that Paul had considerable help in writing the Scriptures from the Holy Spirit, but it is likewise evident that this man had the mind of a steel trap. Paul was absolutely brilliant, far more intelligent than most modern pundits and scholars, and yet had no problem whatsoever believing in the great “catching away.” It’s kind of amusing when men of far less intellect mock the rapture and ask, “How can any intelligent person believe such nonsense?”

To Stand Before the Son of Man

There is a little word that is often used to describe those of us that act the least bit joyful at the notion of the Lord coming to take us into heaven. Those who use it seem to feel that it automatically ends all debate and establishes once and for all that theirs is the righteous and noble position. They call us – escapists!

The idea seems to be that if we were truly spiritual we would have no carnal desire to go to heaven and escape the miseries that are coming upon this world. We would be more than willing to hang around and witness of Christ, right on through the pouring out of the final bowl of God’s judgment at the conclusion of the tribulation. Shame on any and all who would desire to leave early!

The fact of the matter is that the Rapture is an escape. Jesus used the word unashamedly. He declared:

“Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:36).

Let me first tell you what Jesus is not promising. He is not saying that God cannot stand the thought of His children ever suffering in this world. Anyone who hasn’t lived their life under a rock knows that Christians are not exempt from suffering anymore that we are exempt from the law of gravity. In fact Jesus made us a promise about these things. Now we Christians love to claim the promises, and rightfully so. But there is one promise that I’ve never known anyone to claim. The promise is one made by our Lord, who told us:

“In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

Have you ever seen anyone standing on the word, and insisting, “Lord, You promised me tribulation, and things are going too peacefully lately. Now, Father, I’m claiming Your word and expecting You to fulfill it!”

No, the promise of tribulation is one of those promises that God is going to keep whether we believe it, confess it, or deny it. It makes absolutely no difference. In most restaurants, customers are usually asked, “Would you like smoking or non?” Wouldn’t it have been great, if before we got very far in this life, God would have asked, “Suffering or non?” I think we’d all have ended up in the non-suffering section of life’s restaurant! But He never asked and never will. Tribulation comes with all the other joys and experiences of being human.

When we talk about escape, we are talking about a particular form of deliverance. Yes, Christians will suffer in this life. Sinners cry at funerals and Christians cry at funerals. Sinners have heart attacks and Christians have heart attacks. Sinners get laid off their jobs and Christians do as well. The new birth does not exempt us from these things. God doesn’t say, “No more bumps in the road.” He does promise that He will be our “shock absorber.”

Escape from Wrath

The escape Jesus refers to in Luke is an escape from the wrath of God. This is one area where sinners and Christians are vastly different. The unregenerate person lives his entire life under the wrath of God. The Bible tells us:

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him. (John 3:36)

Notice that God’s wrath doesn’t come upon the sinner at his rejection of Christ; it was already there and simply remains on him. The Christian has no such problem. By Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection, the wrath issue has been eternally settled. God’s anger at his sin has been retroactively placed upon Christ, and he has achieved that state the Bible calls “justification.” He will never experience the wrath of God; in fact it would be impossible for him to do so, as it would negate the cross, a thing which could never happen.

At the Rapture, we are instantly snatched from a wicked, defiant world upon which God’s fierce anger is poised to fall, and translated into that heavenly realm where His anger is never felt. Thus we “escape all these things that will come to pass” and “stand before the Son of man” (Luke 21:36).

The Third R

Two mind-boggling events have occurred thus far. All those who have died “in Christ” have been raised by the mighty voice of the Son of God. Every living believer has been instantly snatched from the earth and transported to the presence of Jesus for a great universal gathering of the Church. What could be left?

The third event of this Day of all days is that solemn time of accounting before our Lord known as the “judgment seat of Christ.” I know, you are saying, “Where’s the R?” The R word that describes this event is reward. This will be the time for THE REWARDING OF ALL BELIEVERS for the lives they have lived and the good works they have done.

Paul writes: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7,8).

Paul is looking forward to a reward, but is not expecting it upon his death. He fully expects to see Jesus then, for “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). But the rewards for service do not come then. They are delayed until that awesome day when Christ takes His church unto Himself. On that day, he looks to receive the “crown of righteousness” from His Master.

Believers’ Judgment

You may wonder why there would be a need of judgment for believers. After all, has not Jesus forgiven our sins and made us acceptable in God’s sight? If this is true, what purpose could there be for a time of standing before the Lord as Judge, to have our lives reviewed and analyzed?

The purpose of the believers’ judgment is entirely different than that for the sinner. Those who have not been saved will have their works brought forth in order to reveal the justice of God’s sentence, and the proper degree of punishment that will befall them in hell. God’s justice will be absolutely vindicated as the records are revealed.

For the believer there is no punishment. The issue of God’s wrath has been settled once and for all at the cross of Jesus. The Bible declares:

• God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation (1 Corinthians 5:19).
• To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood … (Revelation 1:5)

So why a need for a judgment for the believers? This judgment will not be in order to punish us for our transgressions, but a determination of the rewards we will receive for the lives we have led and the deeds we have done.

Is this some kind of justification by works? Not at all! Clearly we are saved by faith in Christ alone, and not by works, for “by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified” (Galatians 2:16). No, this will not be a matter of earning heaven through good deeds, but rather a determination of divine compensation for the works of grace that God has wrought in our lives. The Scriptures encourage us with the knowledge that “God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name …” (Hebrews 6:10).

No, your works shall not be forgotten, dear Christian. Every single deed you have done, that has been motivated by God’s Spirit, every loving sacrifice you have made, every act of kindness and mercy shall have its divine compensation. Jesus seems to go out of His way to make this clear, stating,

Whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward (Matthew 10:42).

My Reward is with Me

The knowledge that we shall be rewarded for the “things done while in the body” seems to have been lost in much of the church today. Many think it is carnal for us to think about rewards that we might gain through serving Christ. And yet the Bible is filled with encouragement to remember the re-wards that shall be ours one day. In the very last chapter of the Bible Jesus tells us, “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work …” (Revelation 22:12)

Other “reward” Scriptures include:

We see that life has accountability, even in the spiritual realm. (Especially in the spiritual realm!) For the sinner every transgression shall have its perfect counterpart of justice. Just as the shotgun recoils backward in perfect accordance with the measure of projected force forward, so the sinner shall find the “recoil” of God’s justice in perfect accord with the unlawful deeds he has committed during his stay on planet earth. For the believer there shall be a recoil of heavenly treasures showered upon him in response to those deeds Christ has worked through him.

No One in Hell

What few seem to realize is that neither sinners nor Christians are in their permanent state immediately after death. I heard a fascinating testimony of a man who had lived in organized crime for many years until finding salvation in Christ. He was a colorful speaker and sometimes referred to sinners he knew who had died and were now “popping and crackling in hell.” It certainly made a vivid impression, but his theology was a little off. There is no one “popping and crackling in hell” at the present. Hell is currently empty. It is devoid of residents altogether. Revelation reveals that it is only after the judgment of the wicked, which occurs after the millennium, that sinners shall be cast into the lake of fire.

When a sinner dies, he does not go to hell. He is placed in Hades, which is a temporary abode for the wicked. Hades is a place of torment; it is no picnic. But it is not the ultimate. That will only come after each sinner has his “day in court” and hears those awful words: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41).

Amazingly the sinner will be physically resurrected before this judgment, so that he will stand be-fore Christ in his physical body. Should you go to Hades today, you would find a holding place for the spirits of the damned. There are no bodies there, only the spirits of those who have rejected the love and mercy of the Savior. Just before they stand before the Judge of all the earth, their physical bodies will be resurrected and restored to them. They will stand before Christ as men and women, every bit as tangible as when they lived their selfish lives on earth. And it will be in their physical bodies that they will experience the pains of the lake of fire. Paul declared that “there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust” (Acts 24:15).

Waiting for our Bodies

Christians likewise are not in their permanent state upon death. They are granted the privilege of living in the Savior’s presence, but are in spirit bodies. A tour of heaven today would reveal that the only physical body there would be the body of Jesus (with the possible exception of Enoch and Elijah, but that’s another story!) All the other saints, your dead grandparents and so forth are spirit beings. They will receive their glorified physical bodies on the Day of Christ, as we mentioned in the first portion of this chapter.

To the joy of the Christian, he will find that the blood of Jesus Christ has truly atoned for his every sin and misdeed. There will be no charges against him on that great day at the bar of God’s judgment. However, the works of grace, which the Holy Spirit has wrought through him, will be rewarded with rewards and blessings which the human mind cannot even conceive of. The greatest joy, of course, will be to live in the presence of the Savior who has made all this possible.

That Day

This, then, is that Day that the apostles yearned for, the Day the whole church is called to live in expectation of. To the Corinthians Paul writes:

Who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:8).

To the Thessalonians he acknowledges that his greatest joy will consist in seeing them safely with Jesus on that Day:

“What is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?” (1 Thessalonians 2:19).

Peter encourages suffering believers with the thought of that Day:

“Rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy” (1 Peter 4:13).

We Shall be Like Him

The irony here is that God is encouraging ordinary, flawed, mistake-riddled humans to anticipate that Day when we will see face to face the One who is absolute perfection. Although men could see Christ without difficulty in His pre-glorified days, things have now changed. John had a glimpse of the glorified Savior in the first chapter of Revelation and it nearly killed him. Jesus’ deity, kept “under wraps” while He walked the roads of Israel, had now burst its bonds. The one who had laid his head on Jesus’ chest was now incapable of more than the briefest glimpse.

If godly John could hardly handle the briefest glimpse of the glory of Jesus, how shall we be able to? Through the blood of His cross Jesus has made it possible for even the most ordinary Christian to not merely glimpse, but to live in the presence of Deity for all of eternity. At the Rapture a great change will occur. Paul says, “We shall be changed.” (1 Corinthians 15:51). We, who are mortal, shall put on immortality, we “corruptible's” shall put on incorruption. Somewhere, between earth and heaven, we shall be granted not only a perfected body, but we shall be rendered holy. John declares:

Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has 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 as He is (1 John 3:2).

Greatest Generation

My parents were a part of that “greatest generation” which experienced the trauma of WWII. During that difficult time, millions of America’s young men left their homes and families to fight against totalitarianism. Millions of young women had their lives turned upside down. Some went back to live their parents. Others did the unthinkable – they worked at full time jobs, often in factories and plants that produced weapons and ammunition for the war effort. Rosie the riveter became a symbol for these women, most of whom would have liked it far better if they could have been home with their husbands having babies and fixing meals. Instead they were handling rivet guns and welding torches. Everything was upside down. (It took women’s liberationists another thirty years to convince America that having babies and keeping house were “degrading.”)

Finally the war came to an end. After a while the men started coming home by the hundreds of thousands. All over the country, women could think of only one thing – that day when their husbands would arrive and their lives could get back to normal.

My Mom was one of those young ladies. She had received word that Dad was soon to come home, but wasn’t sure of the exact time. She had two goals for Dad’s arrival. She had a beautiful dress she planned to wear for the occasion, and she wanted to bake him a cake. He arrived sooner than she expected. She was in the kitchen, in an old dress, preparing the cake when the knock on the door came. Realizing it was her “honey” she told him he would have to wait a few minutes at the door for her to change into her chosen dress.

I don’t think we will have the option of making our Lord wait, but in many ways the illustration fits. We are forced to live in a very abnormal situation. Our world is upside down. Sin is glorified and righteousness is mocked. We find that sin not only pervades our world, but rises up within our own breast at times. Our prayers are often dull and listless, our emotions get out of control, and despite our best intentions, we never quite attain that level of spirituality that our hearts desire.

Jesus is coming back! Though our yearnings for holiness may never be completely fulfilled in our present condition, we have the hope of being like Him and seeing Him as He is. It is then that we will be able to experience the truly normal business of the Christian: praising and glorifying God in the beauty of holiness.

And so we work and pray and wait – for that Day.