It's time for us to return to our study of the last things. We're doing introductory matters and we come to our second topic after contrasting the present age and the coming one we want to talk at least in summery fashion about the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom was inaugurated in a special way in Jesus public ministry. So in Matthew 12, he could say, when he was accused by his enemies of casting out demons by the elves above by the devil himself, but if I drive out demons by the spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you. The Kingdom of God is in their midst in the person of the king and in his bringing the Kingdom of God with power. He does no surprise at the major discussions, the major records of the demonic occur in the gospels because when the Son of God comes, how can I say it? The devil comes out with both barrels blasting. He knows. This is it. The Kingdom of God is in the Kingdom of God and the devil is not going to go down without putting up a fight, but it is a futile fight in the parallel in Luke 11. If I drive out demons by the finger of God, interesting. The spirit of God is here referred to by the language, the finger of God. Our fingers are that which we use to manipulate our world, to make contact with our world, to exert our power, if you will, on our environment. Well, it is the spirit of God who is the finger of God in that sense. If I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the Kingdom of God has come to you. It means by God's power and God's power is associated, of course, with the spirit and the parallel passage. So the Kingdom was inaugurated in Jesus' public ministry. It was expanded in his exaltation to God's right hand. Acts 5 teaches us about this. God exalted him, Peter says, to his own right hand as prince and savior, that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. So Christ is doing some big works from the Father's right hand. He takes his position as his rightful place as Lord. We saw the same place and the rule of Christ in Ephesians 1, 19 to 23. We began to read this last time. The great power of God exerted toward the believers that Paul wants the Ephesians and other churches who read this circular letter to know is like the working of his mighty strength. He says Ephesians 1, 19, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places. He views this from two perspectives. From above looking down, he says, it's far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age, but also in the one to come. In other words, forever and ever is the sense. And then he views this great power of Christ in his position from below. 22 says, and God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church. So the kingdom is expanded in Jesus' exaltation to God's right hand, and in his pouring out the Holy Spirit upon the church so that Colossians 1 could talk like this, verse 13, God has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Christ brought the kingdom in his earthly ministry in his person and through his works. So he preached the parables of the kingdom and other messages of the kingdom. He drove out the devil in demonstration of the power of the kingdom and so forth, but he was limited to being in one place at one time in his body. But now sitting at God's right hand, he's still in that one place, if you will, but through the Spirit working in the apostles and other disciples, he works around the world. And the kingdom is greatly expanded in fulfillment of Jesus' words that the Spirit would come and that they would do greater works than he has done. There's no greater work than his death and resurrection, but the works are greater in terms of number and location, because the glorified Christ works around the world through the Spirit of God. The kingdom was brought with power in Jesus' earthly ministry, it was inaugurated then, it was expanded in his resurrection, exaltation and session, sitting at God's right hand, it will yet be consummated when he comes again, Matthew 25, and verse 31 says, when the Son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. Here's the king sitting on his throne. It seems to be on earth with all the nations gathering, it has heavenly glory, no doubt. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep in the goats, who put the sheep on his right, goats on his left, 34, then the king will say to those on his right, come, you who are blessed by my father, take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world, 41, then he will say to those on his left, depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, 46 sums it up, then they, the wicked will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. Here, King Jesus consummates the kingdom of God. First Corinthians 15 goes even into more detail and says that all things that we put into subjection to Christ, and then finally he himself will submit himself to the father that God may be all in all. So the kingdom of God is our second perspective by way of an introduction to last things, to the last things, and the study of them. Top of 65, there is no more important conception in studying biblical eschatology, we call this study of last things, eschatology, than the already and the not yet. The fact that the events promised in the Old Testament are both fulfilled on one hand and yet still remain to be fulfilled. We could take point after point of Christian theology and verify this. Oh, let's just look at John 3, 16 to 18. Concerning ultimate salvation and condemnation, we read, of course, we could read Revelation 20 and 21 and see the great white throne judgment and people going into lake of fire and Revelation 21. I saw a new heavens, a new earth, okay? But already we learn that God loved the world and sent his son and so forth. 17 of John 3, for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned. The verdict of the last day is rendered in time and space ahead of time, if you will, based upon one's relation to Christ. Those who believe are not condemned. Those who don't believe don't need to wait until the last day to know God's verdict because it hangs over their heads. The one who does not believe, whoever does not believe, stands condemned already because he is not believed in the name of God's one and only son. Does this deny that there will be a last judgment and that people will be consigned then to lake of fire or the new heavens and the new earth? Of course it does not. But it means already understand those realities are manifest in the world based upon one's response to Christ because Christ is the great judge of the last day. He's come the first time not to be judged but to be saved here and he reveals the verdicts of the last day already. Those verdicts are revealed based upon one's relation to him. Believing in him one is not condemned. Not believing in him one stands condemned already. So salvation and condemnation is present and is yet future. It is present in that the wicked are heading for hell already and in that the righteous already have eternal life. Well then, is the future completely realized? Oh no, the Romans they could say we have eternal life in mortal bodies. Boy, there's a strange situation for you. Eternal life in dying bodies? Exactly what he says. Mortal bodies. What about the resurrection of the dead? According to John 5 it's present and future. Wait a second you say. The resurrection of the dead is only future. Well, it is future and it is future in the full bodily sense of that hope or for the wicked not a hope, a terrible thing. But it is also already present for believers. Naturally speaking, John 5, 24, I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life and will not be condemned. He has passed over from death to life. I tell you the truth, the time is coming and has now come. This now means already. When the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God those who hear will live. Is that talking about resurrection from the grave? No. Since it says is coming and has now come, in my verse 24 it means that a spiritual resurrection takes place when people believe in Christ. Actually, more properly said, because God regenerates, because he gives a spiritual resurrection people do believe in Christ. But notice, they hear the voice. They hear the voice of the one who is going to summon the dead out of their graves at the end. They hear that voice now. And he summons us out of our spiritual grave clothes, if you will. And we hear his voice and we get up and we follow him. We move from death to life. So, there is a spiritual resurrection. Watch out. In the past orals Paul condemns those who could deny the bodily future resurrection. I am certainly not doing that. The next two verses talk about that. For the father has life in himself as the father has life in himself. So he has granted the Son to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge John 527 because he is the son of man. Do not be amazed at this. Don't be amazed that I am giving spiritual life and resurrecting people spiritually now. For a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice, the voice of the Son of man, and come out. Those who have done good, I might say, in demonstration that they have been saved freely by God's grace, will rise to live. Those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. So here, right in the same context, we have resurrection in terms of the already spiritual resurrection, so the people of God, and then bodily resurrection which is the not yet. As a result, we live in the most exciting time in the history of the world. And this is the most exciting time to live because the eternal destinies of human beings have never been made clear than they are now. John 316-18 again. Based upon those verses, we can tell with compassion in our voices and hearts, hopefully, unsaid people who say, well, I am going to wait until the end, and I hope he is going to have my good deeds or outweigh my bad ones. We should say in love, please don't wait. What do you mean? You don't have to wait until you die to hear the verdict of the judge at the last day. Because the judge, thank God, has come ahead of the last judgment before that time. Oh, he has come right on time, as a matter of fact. And he has done a work and given a message. And the judge has come as a savior. And everyone who believes in him passes from life to death, from condemnation to justification. And please don't wait. If you reject him as your Lord and Savior now, you can know, based upon John 318, that you have been condemned already. Understand? The destinies of the last day have been brought to light. Paul says it in the positive side in 2 Timothy 1 where he says in verse 10, that Jesus Christ, our Savior Christ, Jesus, has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light. God has taken out the biggest spotlight you can imagine. And he has shined that spotlight on eternal life and immortality. You could say he also has done it on eternal death and hell. The destinies of human beings are made so clear. Old Testament saints dimly look forward to the city of God and the promise and so forth. Oh, it was theirs, but they couldn't see it as well as we could. Why? As well as we can't. We look back with 2020 hindsight on what Jesus said and did. And we have an inspired New Testament that explains the significance of his life and death and resurrection. So you understand what I mean when I say this is the most exciting time to live in the history of the world. Because already Christ has come. But not yet is the end of the age. That is, this is the time of Christian missions. It is the time to be part of God's in gathering of his people from every nation. There's not a more exciting time imaginable because the power of God has been unleashed in the resurrection of Christ. And the pouring out always spirit on the church. And greater numbers of people are coming to the Lord in between, in this time, in between Jesus ascension and his second coming. Then in the whole previous history of the world. And in one sermon, more people were saved than in Jesus' whole earthly ministry. One sermon that Peter gave in Pentecost. What's going on? Oh, Peter is very clear to give the glory where it belongs. It's in the name of Jesus Christ, this guy is healed. We preach to you not about ourselves, but about Jesus Christ. It is Christ doing in fact, but in God's plan, that great, hardest, awaited His ascension. As a result, we should be realistic and optimistic. We are realistic. We don't confuse the kingdom not yet with the kingdom already. When I went to seminary back in the late Middle Ages. A number of years ago now, we used the book on the prophets by a man named Hobart Freeman. Moody Press published the book. It was a good book and it's time. It would be dated by now, but it was a son of book. All of a sudden Moody Press, the name you can trust, so called, is what his slogan is. It's good publisher. Stop using his book. You know why? The man went to an evangelical seminary. The man did not observe the principle I said earlier that to get the teaching of the Bible on any one point has to take the whole Bible. And he worked with James 5 and he read that the prayer of faith would heal the sick and raise him up and so forth. And he not only said, we should believe God to heal people and we should pray to God and expect the answers to prayer. All that is fine, okay? And perhaps some over emphasize that and others deemphasize that. But he went further and said, throw your insulin away, diabetics. Mother is having babies. You don't need any hospital. Do you have enough faith? There won't be no problems. Other people with serious illnesses. It is, he confused the not yet with the already. Understand? Churches in the Midwest here, flourished. It was a simple message. No grays here. It was very, very simple. Very, the things were black and white. It's very simple. Believe enough and everything's going to be fine. In fact, he reached the epinical faith himself and announced because of his great faith he would never die. Well, diabetics died. Others died in childbirth. Babies died because of complications in childbirth. It was a shame for the name of Christ. The last time I checked lawsuits continued, lawsuits by people whose lives were ruined by this teaching. There is an example. We can commend his faith to a point, but because we do live in the already. But we do not live in the not yet. Understand? As a result of this tension between the already and the not yet. Our lives are bittersweet. We're optimistic. Jesus reigns already. Every evangelical Christian should believe that. And he's going to reign in a bigger sense when he comes back again. Every Christian should believe that. Whatever our views of the millennium and some of those debatable matters. I'm going to work through the different viewpoints and work with strength and weaknesses. And probably offend you all. I mean, and I probably get you excited and make you think about those things. I'm not the dogmatic on some of those. But I think we'll learn to do that. But this much is plain. Jesus has ascended the God's right hand. And he reigns now. I can read the end of Ephesians 1 and deny that. Everything's under his feet. He's above all the powers and so forth. But he will reign at least on the new heavens and new earth. Maybe in a millennium before then. I'm not sure. But certainly on the new heavens and new earth he will reign as king. Our lives now should be realistic. The kingdom has not come in its final installment. But we should be optimistic and believe in the that God will bless the gospel and bring people to himself and so forth. Take the funeral of a believer as an example of this bitter sweetness, if you will. Now, some people feel bad when they cry. When they're sad over the loss of a loved one. Don't feel bad. If you don't cry at all, I wonder if it really was a loved one. My goodness. For live with somebody for years and years and years and marriage. And then to lose your spouse. Would you be happy about that? Not if something is severely wrong in your relationship. You'll be broken by that. It's terrible. And we are too super spiritual sometimes. We should look at death for what it is. What the Apostle calls it. The less the enemy. We don't thank God for sickness and sin and death. We can thank God in all of that. But that makes us sad because of the not yet. And we're going to be separated from those believing loved ones who die. But not forever because that not yet will come. On the other hand, a Christian funeral is sweet because Jesus is alive. And to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. And there's victory in Christ. I have seen believers. Here's a Christian man at the funeral of his father. So filled with the joy of the Lord. So filled with the Holy Spirit. That he felt bad because his unsaved brothers and sisters were getting a wrong idea. The Lord just buoyed him up and just strengthened him. He said, I love dad more than any of them did. I took him in. I cared for him. He couldn't care for himself. He said, I loved him dearly and I miss him. But he has been freed from his pain and suffering. Hallelujah. This man and his daughter sang a song of victory and his father's death. The funeral of a Christian is bitter sweet because already there is victory in Christ. There's a sweetness but not yet. Will we be with that loved one forever and not yet and they receive their new body and so forth? Isn't that not an important notion to this already and not yet? It runs through the New Testament. It is a single most important aspect of future things. And I know people fighting about the millennium, fighting about the tribulation and other details in the rapture. And those things are worthy of study who don't understand this and they have missed the whole deal. Because this is basic, is foundational. Let's move to another important topic, having done our introduction to the last things. It is death and the intermediate state. Death. The first thing that needs to be said is that according to scripture, death is not natural. It is unnatural. It first contains 15 Paul calls it the last enemy. That will be conquered and it will be conquered. According to Revelation 21, when God makes all things new, the Lord God will be witness people himself. There will be his people, God himself will be with them and will be their God. Revelation 21, 4. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away. Pastors, you will have performed your last funeral. Praise the Lord. No more death than that thing. So death's days are numbered. Death and the fear of death are the result of sin. We see this in Genesis 2 and 3. Genesis 2, 17 warns of the penalty for sin death. On the day you eat of that one tree that God prohibited them from eating and mixing my pronouns up, God told our first parents. On the day they eat it from that tree they will die. Comment? Yes. Okay. Yes. It's a good comment. See if this summarizes your question well for the benefit of our students taking the course by extension. First of all, in 1526 speaks of the last enemy to be defeated being death and it looks like that's a future defeat. On the other hand, Jesus in His resurrection defeated death. How do we put this together? Here's how we do it. Already? Not yet. Already death has been defeated. It no longer has us in its clutches as it did before we were saved. And we can know our eternal destiny right now and a believer, many a pastor, many a Christian friend, has gone to the hospital, especially it's these mature saints. People have walked with the Lord for many, many years. The pastor goes to comfort the saint who's really dying and the pastor comes back. Blessed because the saint has blessed the pastor. A person who's ready to die. There's a certain fear of death that is perfectly natural and we're not to be afraid of that, of admitting that we are afraid of it. Okay. Who wants to die and leave one's family and one's loved ones and one's church and the things that God has called us to do. On the other hand, according to Hebrews 2, 14 and 15 right in there, the fear of death has been taken away for us. It's the fear of hell, the fear of the judgment of God. And believers can face death and eagerly desire to be with their savior. It's a wonderful thing. In that sense, but they still die. In that sense, that final enemy hasn't been overcome. That's it. There's no more death. So spiritually, it's overcome. We do have eternal life, but we have it in dying bodies. So we are in a tragic situation, but there is great hope now. And that hope extends to the grave, doesn't nullify it. Everybody still dies except those who are alive when Jesus comes again. That's a good question. Genesis 2.17 warns of the penalty for sin. On the day you eat of it, the Lord said to Adam and Eve, you will die. Technically said it to Adam and Adam told it to Eve, I understand. Genesis 3.19, after the fall, by the sweat of your brow, you will eat your food. Until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken, for dust you are, and to dust you will return. Genesis 3.8 records something that never happened before in life as Adam and Eve. They hid from God. Immediately they died spiritually, that is. Their fellowship with God was broken. Oh, they still recognized his presence in the garden, but they hid from God. That's a terrible thing. God overcame their sins and saved them, but still death took its toll. That is Adam and Eve and they already were saved, but they still died according to Genesis 5.5. Death took its time working itself out in their lives, and it was God's will for them to live a long time, and have many children and so forth. But still they died spiritually, immediately, and they died physically later on. Our understanding is that indeed they are saved individuals. Death is in fact both spiritual. We have read Ephesians 2 enough times now. You were dead in your trespasses and sins, Paul could say. They were very much physically alive. It's a flashback passage. He looks back at their condition before they were saved. Oh, they were alive. They used to walk in the devil's ways, do his will, and so forth. They were spiritually dead. That is, they were devoid of spiritual life. They were ignorant of God. And the John 5 passage rereads spoke of spiritual death, and people moving from spiritual death to spiritual life. And it spoke of physical death, and people coming out of their tombs at the voice of the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus Christ. So death and the accompanying fear of it are the result of sin. Death is both spiritual and physical in the Bible. God has already overcome spiritual death in the work of His Son. He will one day overcome physical death. And there's no other atonement that will be made. That is still an application of that work of Christ done in the first century. What about the intermediate state? You even had a question on this tonight. It's an important area. The intermediate state is a term we use to distinguish our present state living in the body. And the future state, the eternal state after the resurrection of the dead, in between these two, we call it the intermediate state. It's intermediate. It's in between life in the body now and the resurrection of the dead. That is, it's that interim state that follows death and that precedes the resurrection of the dead. The Bible says more about this for believers than unbelievers. But for believers, it says that we live, we will live a disembodied spiritual existence with Christ in heaven. We could call it. So in Luke 23, 43, Jesus spoke to the dying thief and said, today you will be with me in paradise. Their bodies were taken down from the crosses and Jesus was put into the tomb from which he arose. But they were that day in paradise. That is their spirits or souls. Remember, Jesus said, father, into your hand I commit my spirit. That is, in terms of our constitutional makeup of human beings, we are unified. Adam and Eve were made with body and soul together. But we are made of two parts. A material one, the body. And in material one, the body, the Bible sometimes calls it a soul. Sometimes the spirit, sometimes it just uses pronouns. We are eager to be absent from the body and present with the Lord. So the intermediate state for believers is a disembodied spiritual state of being with the Lord in heaven. Today you will be with me in paradise, Jesus told the dying thief. In Philippians 1 and 23 Paul expresses his own desire to depart and be with Christ, which he says is better, which is far better. From this passage I have devised a little chart. Our three states are our present state, living in the body, the intermediate state, being absent from the body and present with the Lord and our eternal or future state. That is a resurrected existence. Well, how does Paul describe the intermediate state in Philippians 1? It is better, he says. It is good to be alive now in the body and know the Lord. It is better than its alternative. That is to be alive now in the body and not know the Lord. As a matter of fact, I would describe that as bad. But there is better stuff awaiting. Paul says himself, it is better by far to depart. He means this life and to be with Christ. That is what makes the intermediate state blissful. It is being immediately in the presence of Christ. But the best is yet to come. God made us as whole beings. Not as disembodied souls. We live as whole beings now. The intermediate state is not only a disembodied spiritual existence. But being with Christ, that is desirable, that is better. But it is temporary and incomplete. And on the last day we will be raised from the dead. And God will get body and soul together again. And He will resurrect us and glorify us. And we will be whole beings. And enjoy the Lord Jesus Christ on the new earth for all eternity. So for believers, the intermediate state is something desirable. By the way, for unbelievers, I would say bad, worse, worst. I will do that in a moment. But one more past. It is the most important one, perhaps. For believers, it is Saint Corinthians 5, 6 and 8. Paul says that while we are now absent from the Lord, he calls it. We live by faith and not by sight. We are confident verse 8 and say, I say, and we would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. Once again, we see the Bible affirms this interim existence. It is outside of the body as disembodied souls. Compare Revelation 6 that talks about the souls under the altar. Revelation 6 crying out for vengeance to God. With me, those are martyrs, those are human beings, Christians who have died. They are outside of their bodies. Revelation 6, 9 and following. I won't turn there. Hebrews 12 talks about the spirits of just people made perfect. Well, they are outside of their parts from their bodies. This is abnormal. I will grant you. But it is real and that is what happens at death. Saint Corinthians 5, 8, we prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. We don't know everything about the intermediate state that we might like to know. I cannot tell you about the furniture of heaven. But I can't tell you this. This intermediate state does exist. It is a spiritual existence, not a bodily one. It is desirable. It is better than being here and knowing the Lord in the body. Paul says it. We believe it. But it is temporary. It is somewhat abnormal. And God is going to even do better by us on the last day. What about the language of believers sleeping? It is figured to be language. It means a couple of things. It shows it pictures the position of the body and death. It looks like somebody is asleep. It is a euphemism for death. It is using a good way of talking about something difficult, if you will. When the Bible talks about believers sleeping, it doesn't mean sleeping of souls or something. Or literally sleeping. It means those who die in the Lord rest as it were. This is something desirable for them. And so the death of believers is viewed as sleeping. It speaks of the position of the body and death. It does not deny that their souls are conscious after death. Witness the passages we have been studying. It also communicates the notion that, how can I say it? To God, death is only sleep as it were. Remember the count of Jairus' daughter? And Jesus said, the little girl was sleeping and they left him the scorn. That is, for you and I, to rouse a sleeper, I've got one son that makes this illustration work pretty hard. You're like, oh, wait up, boy! I already haven't waked that. Just like that. It is as hard for us to rouse a sleeper as it is for God to rouse the dead. It is as easy as us for us to do that as the other. That is, Jesus says, Lazarus, come forth. And as some commentator said, it's a good thing he said Lazarus. Or they would have all been coming out of it, you know, like that. He's specific there and that's a good thing. So, another question often comes, what about Old Testament saints? We can't look at it in any detail. What my understanding is that the people of God always, that the teaching is the same. God's the same, our plate is the same, salvation is the same. Better, more clearly understood now, but that they did go immediately into God's presence in bliss. Look at the end of Psalm 73. Sometime. And the wicked went immediately into judgment. Which brings me to the intermediate state for unbelievers. Now, the Bible is a book about God. It says, tells us most about God himself. If you think about it, that makes a lot of sense. We wouldn't really be better off if it told us more about ourselves or something else, okay? Whether your poodle is going to go to heaven, I'm sorry, he's not. But that's not really important to God. Important is telling us about himself. And then secondly, an importance, it's not angels, but it's the people of God, okay? The Bible also is about unbelievers. It's about them in large measure and calling them to come the faith. But in terms of the destinies of human beings, the Lord says more about His own people than about the wicked. It warns about hell ahead of time that people might believe in Christ and avoid it. But here's what I'm trying to say. We have a number of passages. We could have multiplied passages for believers in the intermediate state. We only have one clear one that I know of, Luke 16, the parable of the rich man in Lazarus. Where the rich man dies and he goes immediately to a place of torment. I am in pain. I'm in torment in these flames. It's at three times pain and torment in that parable. This teaches the reality of the intermediate state for the wicked. How can we describe it? Well, if we go on based on my chart here, I would say to be an unsafe person, and to be alive in the body now is bad over against the good of knowing the Lord, to die is worse because they're going to go into immediate torment, to be raised from the dead and made a whole human being again, and to be fitted to suffer for all eternity in the body is the worst. So I'd go with a bad, worse, worst description for the wicked. Maybe 2 Peter 2, 9, depending upon how it's translated, the NIV, for example, the way it renders it, it looks like it teaches the intermediate state for the wicked. I won't even turn there. It's not that crucial for our purposes. Let that suffice for me to say the Bible does teach this interim existence, especially for God's people, but also in lesser measure for the unsafe. Let's break and come back in a few minutes to talk about immortality, and then the second coming of Christ, we're doing okay. I think we'll cover our stuff tonight. I have a good break, and I'll see you in about 10 minutes.