After Life for the Righteous What 1 Kingdom

After Life for the Righteous: What? 1. Kingdom of Heaven 2. Heaven (Paradise) 3. New Heavens, New Earth

After Life for the Unrighteous: What? 4. Life before Death: Sin Wrath Judgment 5 -6 Life after Death Judgment Seat Lake of Fire

After Life for the Unrighteous: What? 7. Life after Death 3 Saved after Death?

Condemnation Directly: Hearing the Gospel preached and rejecting it John 12: 48 48 There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day. Indirectly: Deliberately choosing evil (violating the conscience within you – image of God) - Willful backsliders fit into this category

Romans 1: 18– 20 18 But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. 19 They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. 20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.

Romans 2: 14– 15 (NIV) 14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, 15 since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them. )

Life after Death: Can a person be saved after death? 1. Various Viewpoints a. Universalism

At the heart of this perspective is the belief that, given enough time, everybody will turn to God and find themselves in the joy and peace of God’s presence. The love of God will melt every hard heart, and even the most “depraved sinners” will eventually give up their resistance and turn to God. (Bell, 2011, 107)

b. Purgatory Sanctification (holiness) is by cooperating with the Holy Spirit in this life. Christians go through the refining process in this life.

c. Good Works Titus 3: 4– 7 (NIV) 4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.

2 Timothy 1: 9– 10 (NIV) 9 who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, 10 but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

d. Conclusion Scripture never answers this issue directly; therefore there can be no definitive answer to the question. However …

2. Principles & Precedents a. Principle of Righteousness, Justice, & Mercy

Genesis 18: 25 (NIV) 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing —to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right? ”

“The final judgment … will be, and will be seen to be, perfectly right, utterly just, unequivocally proper, and receptive of the fullest approval of every conscience. No single human person will be dealt with in a manner that is even fractionally [less] or in excess of what, in God’s loving and holy presence, will be seen to be just. If one may so put it, not one individual will spend one millisecond longer in hell than is their just desert. ” (Milne, The Message of Heaven and Hell: Grace and Destiny 2002, p. 157)

“God is morally justified in destroying the wicked because he respects their human choices [and] He will not save them if they do not want to be saved” (Walvoord, Crockett, Hayes, & Pinnock, 1996, p. 151).

Romans 10: 11– 21 (NIV) 11 As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame. ” 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. ”

14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

16 But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message? ” 17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. 18 But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did: “Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. ” 19 Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says,

“I will make you envious by those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding. ” 20 And Isaiah boldly says, “I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me. ” 21 But concerning Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people. ”

Isaiah 59: 1 (NIV) Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.

b. Precedent: Those who died before Christ’s Resurrection heard the Gospel

John 5: 24– 30 (NRSV) 24 Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life. 25 “Very truly, I tell you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself;

27 and he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not be astonished at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and will come out— those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. 30 “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

Romans 3: 21– 26 (NLT) 21 But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. 22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.

23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood.

1 Peter 3: 18– 20 (NKJV) 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, 19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, 20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.

1 Peter 4: 5– 6 (NKJV) 5 They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

1 Peter 4: 5– 6 (Paraphrase) 5 But all will have to give an accounting to Christ who is ready to judge both those who are alive and those who have died. 6 For this is the reason the gospel was proclaimed even to the dead, so that, though they had been judged in the flesh as everyone is judged (physically died), they might live in the spirit (new creation) as God does.

These are all the dead before the resurrection of Christ. This would connect this verse with 3: 19, 20. The dead heard the Gospel when it was preached to the “spirits”; these include both the righteous and the unrighteous. (Arichea & Nida, 1980)

Matthew 27: 51– 53 (NRSV) 51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split. 52 The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints [holy ones] who had fallen asleep were raised. 53 After his resurrection they came out of the tombs and entered the holy city and appeared to many.

Romans 14: 10– 12 (NIV) 10 You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. 11 It is written: “ ‘As surely as I live, ’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God. ’ ” 12 So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.

c. Judgment Seat: Retributive and Redemptive?

1 Corinthians 6: 2 a, 3 (NIV) 2 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? 3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more things of this life!

2 Corinthians 5: 17– 21 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Revelation 3: 21 (NIV) 21 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.

The church is called to participate with the Son and the Spirit in a potential … ultimate reconciliation of all people, a desired embrace of both the victims of history and their oppressors. … to join the Son and the Spirit on the Last Day in effectively convincing wrongdoers of their inhuman violence, in encouraging them benevolently to undergo a free conversion, and in voicing a spontaneous request of pardon.

… to assist Christ and the Spirit in vindicating and consoling the wronged while gently urging the wronged to accept the repentance of their aggressors and to forgive them freely. (Rosato, 2006, pp. 166 -169)

John 20: 21– 23 (NKJV) 21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you. ” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained. ”

James 2: 12– 13 (NIV) 12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!

Zechariah 3: 1– 5 (NIV) 3 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. 2 The LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire? ” 3 Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel.

4 The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes. ” Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you. ” 5 Then I said, “Put a clean turban on his head. ” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the LORD stood by.

Zechariah 12: 10 (NIV) 10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.

Next week: 8. Life after Death: What? Eternal Torment or Annihilation?