Our Future is Out of This World

Want some good news amid the bad? God has a glorious future planned for you. He screams at us and says, you think this is something?

I've got a heaven coming. Your eyes can't even handle it. Your ears can't even receive it. Welcome to Understanding the Times Radio with Jan Markell. Radio for the Remnant, brought to you by Olive Tree Ministries.

Today, Jan spends the hour with Dr. Ed Hindson. Our world today is threatened by dark clouds daily, but the future God has planned for us is out of this world. Prepare to be encouraged. For millennia, humans have looked up into the sky and wondered what lies ahead of them in the afterlife. Our souls innately desire an answer to what is perhaps life's greatest mystery, that which awaits us when we walk through the door into the world beyond. But God doesn't conceal the details about your eternal resting place. Look in God's Word and you'll find a glimpse into heaven, streets brighter than gold, God's radiant throne, and the eternal home of Jesus Christ.

All the magnificent details are written in the pages of scripture. What heaven will look like, how your soul will get there, if you'll be reunited with loved ones once you arrive, and how your body will appear for eternity. That is but just a sliver of what we can know about eternity, which promises to be a place beyond your wildest dreams.

All you have to do is open the Bible and you'll find that inside, God is revealing the mysteries of heaven. Welcome to the program. Well, I hope with those couple of teases that you heard, you're going to realize that this hour we're going to focus on only good news, the hope of our future in heaven, the millennium, the new heaven and the new earth, and more. And we are setting aside for this week, current events, bad news, dark topics, and only we'll look at our glorious future, the future for the believer. It's out of this world.

It's unimaginable. And if you are struggling today, I hope this hour will be uplifting. We're carrying a new book by Dr. Ed Hindson, his most recent book, Future Glory, Living in the Hope of the Rapture, Heaven and Eternity. Let me just read from page seven of this book. Ed writes, God has planned an incredible and eternal experience for every believer. We were created for eternity and redeemed for eternity. But life has a way of focusing our attention on our immediate cares and not our ultimate goal. He says we are easily caught up in our daily tasks that take most of our time and attention away from the ultimate purpose for which we are created. The Bible reminds us that while God has made everything beautiful in its time, He also has put eternity in our hearts. Ecclesiastes 3, no matter how hard we try, we are never satisfied with anything less than that which is eternal. Dr. Hindson said eternity is a long time.

It lasts forever. Sometimes people ask, what will we be doing all that time? They assume once we die and go to heaven, that's all there is to your eternal life. But the Bible promises so much more. In fact, there are at least seven things predicted in scripture that every believer will eventually experience.

And as time permits, folks, we're going to talk about those seven things that are yet future. Dr. Ed Hindson is Dean Emeritus at Liberty University, more specifically, the Rawlings School of Divinity. He's the Distinguished Professor of Religion there. Dr. Hindson, welcome back to the program. Thank you, Jan.

It's always an honor to talk to you. I love your commitment to Christ, commitment to the Word of God and to getting the truth out to people in a way that can make a difference for both time and eternity. We are carrying your new book, Ed. And by the way, Ed has participated in my Understanding the Times conference activity.

I'm going to try, as much as time allows, to hit some of the highlights contained in the book, things that are yet future. You say that most people want to go to heaven, but they're not in a hurry to get there. They are tied to this world. They can't comprehend the wonders of heaven and eternity in a perfect place. And honestly, Ed, after the events of the last year and a half or so, I am still shocked that many people still want to cling to this earth.

God, I think, allows things to come apart from time to time from a human perspective to remind us this is not our final destiny right here. And if you're dealing with people that live in the third world and become believers, they want to know how soon can we go to heaven? But Americans are thinking, hey, I've got the house at the beach and I've got the swimming pool and the three cars and all my plans, and let's not get in a hurry to get there. And yet, at the same time, if you ask them, do you really want to go? Most people will say yes, but you have to get your focus then on the Lord Jesus Christ, who's the one who can take you there. And you need to be ready to go at any time. Any of us could die at any moment, or Jesus could come at any moment. So being ready to go keeps our focus in the right direction. As you rightly say, before heaven happens, something else has to happen.

And let's just spend a few minutes on it. And you say the next major event on the prophetic calendar is the rapture of the church. There are lots of things that might happen before the rapture occurs, but nothing must happen before the archangels shout the trumpet sounds and we leave this world to be with Jesus Christ. Are people thinking certain things must happen first? Because I think it's a signless event.

But speak to this, please. I think a lot of people feel like there has to be certain things that must take place. The temple has to be rebuilt eventually. There has to come a time of apostasy and unbelief. Some people would even try to argue the Antichrist has to come first. I think 2 Thessalonians 2 makes it very clear he will not be revealed until after the Restrainer is removed.

And I'm not looking for the Antichrist, I'm looking for Jesus Christ. For the believer at death to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. But your spirit goes to heaven.

Your body goes to the grave and in some cases to the dust or ashes of time. At the rapture, Paul makes it clear in 1 Thessalonians 4 that when Jesus comes in the clouds, he brings with him those that have been with him. The spirit returns and the bodies are raised, reunited with your spirit so that your body, soul, and spirit in a glorified body for all eternity, then we that are alive and remain at that moment are caught up in a glorified body also to meet the Lord in the air and to be with all of them as he reunites the entire family of God in the rapture. The rapture has to occur.

People can argue all day long about the timing of it. There has to be a time when the dead are raised and the living are caught up. You and I and so many others believe that has to be before the time of tribulation, before the wrath of Christ is poured out on the world because he's coming for the bride out of love and commitment to the bride, but that's an exciting thing to look forward to that no matter what's going on on planet earth and what's going wrong, God is always going right. Jesus is coming. The dead will be raised. The living will be caught up.

The question is simply when, but the real personal question is are you ready to go when the trumpet sounds? I'm going back to the fact that this could be a signless event and nonetheless there are certainly signs for the second coming. They're outlined in scripture, but couldn't some of those second coming signs, Matthew 24 outlines a lot of them, couldn't that second coming experience be casting a shadow on the church age?

I think so. That's why he would say that eventually when you begin to see these things come to pass, look up. Well you only look up in anticipation of the rapture and the coming of the Lord. We should be aware of the fact that certain trends that we see going on right now are precursors to set the stage for the rapture. They're not signs of the rapture, they're signs of the return.

Dr Walvoord from Dallas Seminary years ago used to like to illustrate it in the way that if you went to the mall shopping in September and they already had Christmas decorations up you know Thanksgiving's coming before Christmas. If I see the signs of the return that'll tell me the rapture's coming soon and one of those signs is apostasy and unbelief. We are living right now 21 years into the 21st century with a tsunami of that kind of unbelief not only sweeping the secular culture but impacting many of the churches and many of the younger generation as well.

The problem of deconversion is happening all over America right now. Young people walking away from the faith saying I made a profession, I grew up in a church, I don't believe any of it, I'm out. You believe then as I do the 2 Thessalonians 2 passage talking about the great apostasy, the great falling away. Some are now teaching that's the rapture. I think you and I believe it's clearly the great apostasy, the great falling away from the faith, the great Laodicean false teachings raging in the church.

That's 2 Thessalonians 2 am I right? Exactly and I think Paul also makes that clear in 1 Timothy 4 the spirit expressly says in the latter times some will depart from the faith giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons etc. Paul's talking to Timothy about falling away from the faith. In the latter days he's talking to the Thessalonians about the fact that people will fall away from the faith.

The debate comes over the term. Fall away is apostasia in the original Greek. It means to stand away from so it's like if you stood up for a position and said I believe in A and then you walk away from it and said I don't believe that anymore I believe B and C instead you have walked away, stood away from your original position. The argument then is well can it mean depart?

My dear friend Tim LaHaye and I were very very close. Tim would point out often in English translations prior to the King James Version that phrase was often translated depart. The departure would come first and that starts with Tyndale's New Testament and was followed by other translations later.

In the interest of time I am moving on because we've got some more categories in your book to cover. Again folks the book is future glory living in the hope of the rapture heaven and eternity. A God that loves you enough to send his son to the cross to die for your sins loves you enough he'll come back when the time is right.

You can trust him for that. Plan your life like you have a lifetime to serve the Lord but prepare your heart to be ready to go in a moment's notice because at any moment God could call us home. If you know the Lord is your savior the promise of the rapture is assured for you. If you die first spirit goes to heaven body goes to the grave but at the rapture the spirit returns the body is resurrected and reunited in a glorified body soul and spirit for eternity. If you're alive at the time of the rapture boosh we're out of here to the glory of God. You say we're going to go right up through the ceiling how are we going to do that? Well how are you going to get the dead guy out of the ground?

The same way by the power of God the same power that Jesus exerted when he stood at the tomb of Lazarus and simply said what Lazarus come forth and the dead man came to life immediately and walked out. Somebody observed if he hadn't said Lazarus and just shouted come forth all the dead of all time would have come forth. There's coming a time that he's coming for the believer to call us home to heaven. If you just join me you're listening to Understanding the Times Radio.

I'm Jan Markell. I have on the line from the east coast Dr. Ed Hindson as we are carrying his newest book. In the book he's outlining seven future things the believer is going to experience. Some of those include the rapture, the father's house, the marriage supper of the lamb. We've got the second coming where we participate in that. The millennial reign of Jesus Christ we participate in that. We have the new heavens and the new earth and I'm sure some of you have had questions about all of these categories.

We can't cover them all today but we'll cover as much as we can because this is our glorious future and if you're tired of the headlines like I am that I have to look at every day then it's time that we focus instead on our glorious future or as the book title is future glory. Ed Hindson I'm moving to as you outline the father's house. The bride must be taken to the father's house and you say this is one big house with lots of rooms and quite frankly it's heaven. It comes out of John 14. Let not your heart be troubled.

Believe in God. Believe also in me and my father's house are many rooms that were not so what I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you. This essentially is heaven correct?

Correct. The beautiful thing about it is that if Jesus has been there now for nearly 2,000 years preparing a place for the bride of Christ it has to be spectacular beyond imagination. Think of how beautiful the world is and it's under the curse of sin.

Despite that the beauty of various places on this planet are incredible. They're nothing compared to what he has prepared for us for all this time. He's working on something unique for every single believer and what I love about it is we're all there in that house together. Brothers and sisters co-equal in the family of God serving in a glorified state where there's no sin. There's no animosity.

There's no competition of any sort. Everybody is there with a focus on the presence of Jesus Christ who makes it glorious for all eternity. Well all believers are citizens of heaven and Jesus says we are a part of a different kingdom not of this world and this is why we don't fit in this world very well. The believer particularly since things have gone so haywire here in the last year and a half to two years nobody feels comfortable here anymore if you're a believer.

And rightly so. People got too locked down to success, prosperity, the blessing of God all too often as it did with ancient Israel and has done even throughout the church age. Sometimes when everything's going right we don't feel like we really need God. We're not desperate for his presence but when everything goes wrong and the bottom falls out and you go on your knees then you understand it's really ultimately all about him and our relationship to him and where that's going to take place in eternity. So these seven things are seven things I like to remind people if you know the Lord this is part of your future destiny. Whatever goes wrong here on planet earth is not the end. You have the rapture to look forward to, the trip to the Father's house that is promised only to believers. There we go to the judgment seat of Christ.

We go from there to the marriage. Both of those are clearly pictured in heaven. You have to go up in the rapture to go to the judgment seat. You have to go up in the rapture to go to the marriage. But then from there we return with Jesus in his triumphal return and reign with him in his millennial kingdom on earth. So when people say well all of you guys that believe in the rapture are just escapists.

No, not at all. We actually believe we're coming back to planet earth later but only when the king comes back will we return with him and then his rule will be glorious and earth will finally experience the full blessing that God has promised to it and yet even that is still not eternity. Beyond that millennial reign is the new heaven the new earth and the new Jerusalem.

One more clip here Dr. David Jeremiah speaking about the glorious kingdom of heaven to come. When you get to heaven you're going to know all the people that you met down here and they're going to know you. It is unthinkable to me that in heaven we will know less than we do here. 1 Corinthians 13 12 says this for now we see in a mirror dimly but then face to face now I know in part but then I shall know even as I am known. We will have a greater sense of recognition in heaven than we've ever had here on this earth. Well our new bodies will be indestructible our new bodies will be identifiable our new bodies thirdly will be incredible and I mean that incredible. Verse 43b says we will be sown in weakness we will be raised in power. We will be buried in weakness isn't that true when a body's buried it's without any strength without any power but when we come out of the grave it will be in power in our current bodies we are limited in our ability to sustain effort for very long isn't that true it gets harder and harder as we get older and older we work hard for a few hours and we're exhausted but in our new bodies we will have capacities and abilities without any limitation nothing will be outside the scope of the possibility for us in our new body. On one occasion listen to this on one occasion Jesus actually entered a room without going through the door he just appeared in the midst of his disciples. John 20 verse 19 says the same day at evening being the first day of the week when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews Jesus came stood in their midst and said to them peace be with you. In Jesus' resurrection body he surmounted the limitations of this life earth had no power to stop him and our bodies are going to be the same. We are carrying Dr. Heinsohn's new book Future Glory Living in the Hope of the Rapture Heaven and Eternity find it in my online store olivetreeviews.org views as in viewpoint olivetreeviews.org call my office get on our newsletter lists e in print you'll have the opportunity to get a hold of this very uplifting book Dr. Heinsohn again in the interest of time I'm moving ahead here because once we are in the Father's house or heaven and this is your third point here then we are going to experience the judgment seat of Christ let's just spend a couple of minutes on it God keeps a record book of what we do for his kingdom and we will be rewarded we'll also be reminded of some things maybe we aren't so happy with but if we were faithful to the Lord we will be rewarded because the Lord himself is keeping the record so after the rapture in heaven and it's before the Lord's seat which is the judgment seat 2nd Corinthians 5 10 talk to us about it please that judgment seat or bema seat was where the ancient city's administrators would often appear and rewards would be given out to those for their faithful service the Christian will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and we will be rewarded for our faithful service to the Lord now our good works do not earn heaven we're already in heaven at that point the good works are merely rewarded then as he shows appreciation to us some of those rewards are listed as crowns that we will receive and then ultimately cast at his feet so when somebody says well they don't need a lot of rewards you want some crowns to throw at the Savior's feet and worship and appreciation for who he is and all that he's done for you I like to remind people you don't have to be a preacher or a leader to receive those rewards every faithful believer will be rewarded for faithful service and those that have been faithful in much here on earth will be given much responsibility then in the kingdom and in eternity I love to think of the lady that led me to the Lord in vacation bible school I grew up in a non-christian home I tell that story in the book she had no idea this kid would go on to have a global ministry one day well whatever God's going to bless for my activities she'll share in that because she was faithful in giving the word of the gospel to me and that's true for everybody listening today God keeps the record book of all that you're doing to serve the Lord and will bless you accordingly do you think we will regret some lost rewards yes and no yes in the sense of how could you not regret it that it's missing and yet at the same time in a glorified mind and body God will give us an eternal perspective where we see it from his perspective you might even think of Simone Biles she couldn't compete in some of her olympic competitions there was a loss of reward so to speak and then she finally did the last event and won a bronze medal and there was a reward so I think it's that kind of a thing where we'll realize okay I didn't do the high jump but God blessed me with this and this etc I think the motivation there is we can't just take our salvation for granted and assume I'm saved I'm on my way to heaven it does not matter how I live or what I do the new testament makes it clear yes it does we're saved by grace through faith none of our works are we saved and yet that same passage in Ephesians 2 goes on to say but we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works and that word workmanship in the original Greek new testament poiema is the word from which you get the word poetry we are God's poem God is writing a beautiful story in your life as a result of his grace and your response to that grace by faith and he's going to keep the record book and bless you and reward you for your faithful service you say that God will judge according to the truth we have received now I think I know what you mean there and perhaps those who don't have a whole lot of access to the scripture perhaps will not be judged so severely would that be correct I think so you have that implication given throughout scripture Paul even says in one passage that because they did it in ignorance in the past etc even Jesus from the cross father forgive them they know not what they do they don't realize who I am that doesn't mean they're not responsible but that it's more severe he said for those who know the truth and try to teach the truth but don't live it here's a quick clip of Dr Irwin Lutzer talking about the bema seed or judgment seat of Christ first of all we're going to be judged fairly we're going to be judged fairly you say well where is that in the text this is after all the judgment seat of Jesus Christ the one who died to redeem us the one who loves us the one who became our brother he's going to be doing the judging and of course he would like to have us do well he is going to be eminently fair and standing there in the presence of Jesus we will all have to deal with reality nothing but reality no attorney to tweak it to make ourselves look better no fact will be overlooked if you were brought up in an abusive home it affected the way in which you lived and so forth all of those things are going to be taken into account and when your judgment is over nobody is going to dispute it because we'll know that the judgment was indeed fair and just and you'll be judged on the basis of what you did since your second birth not your first birth there are seven milestones that are ahead of us folks and we're trying to cover those in the time we have today they all represent future glory and we've still got several to get to obviously we've already talked about first the rapture and heaven and the father's house the judgment seat the marriage supper of the lamb the second coming the millennial reign of Jesus the new heavens and the new earth what on earth would be the new heavens and the new earth is that going to be on the earth or is that in heaven or both so we're going to talk about those when we get back we can continue to go through the list here that i have again we can find it all in ed heintzen's new book future glory living in the hope of the rapture heaven and eternity and it is about 220 pages of almost all good news and if you're as tired of the bad as i am then this is something that will not only inspire you but will cause you to look at the future i think with eagerness so many are dreading the future when you see what awaits us i think you're going to have a different perspective on where you are going to be spending eternity so i'm going to just take a real short time out when i get back we're going to talk about the marriage supper of the lamb it follows the judgment seat of christ if you're a believer we're going to a wedding and it may be the greatest marriage of all time that in just a minute don't go away we hope you'll stay in touch with us online through olive tree views dot o-r-g that's olive tree views dot org you can call us central time at seven six three five five nine four four four four that's seven six three five five nine 44 44 write us through the mail at olive tree ministries and jan markel post office box 1452 maple grove minnesota five five three one one that's box one four five two maple grove minnesota five five three one one all gifts are tax deductible in this age of fake news and false teaching thank you for trusting understanding the times radio and olive tree ministries as another year is winding down we just want to thank you for your strong support of this radio outreach now in its 21st year we began our syndication in 2004 and are now airing on almost 900 radio stations across north america and around the world electronically every day we hear from new listeners and new followers of this ministry they write or call about the renewed zeal to spread the gospel in light of the fact that jesus christ could return to call his church home perhaps today we are in challenging times and troubling times but the bible outlined all the things to come for last day's believers we hope you will take advantage of all this ministry offers from our cutting edge products and our cutting edge products newsletters radio programs live streaming conferences daily headlines and other articles we are committed to helping you better understand the times the watchman on the wall and remain hopeful as we await his return somebody can live a long life here on earth and we can say well they had a good life but down deep there's always the feeling that wasn't enough nothing less than that which is eternal is enough and only jesus can give you eternal life and it's available to all who put their faith and trust in him we know you can't always be by a radio so just remember that our programming is posted to our website in both its audio and video format just go to olive tree views dot o-r-g that's olive tree views dot org and then to radio you can also find us on youtube rumble light source and his channel now here are jan markell and dr ed hindson to wrap up today's program number one the reality of heaven so come on pastor and that's the whole thing i want to come to you right now from the view of a skeptic maybe a skeptic is in the house or watching right now and they're oh come on this religious junk heaven well my argument is why does man appreciate some sort of glory or paradise that speaks of grandeur it's not purely materialistic i'm not promoting some sort of wealth and prosperity bizarreness talking about the fact that there's something that god has put within you and apparently it means something to jesus because you know john 14 he said i'm going to go away and prepare a place for you in my father's house so many mansions and we're not so i would have told you i go now to prepare a place for you and if i go i will come again and receive you to myself that where i am there you may be also that's amazing it's called heaven welcome back pastor jack hibbs oh he gets so excited thankfully and rightfully so when he talks about eternity and what lies ahead for the believer i'm talking for the hour with dr ed heinson dr ed heinson is dean emeritus at liberty university more specifically the rawlings school of divinity he's the distinguished professor of religion there and his newest book is titled future glory and it's talking about living in the hope of the rapture heaven and eternity find it at olive tree views dot org by calling our office by getting on our newsletter lists i've read it cover to cover because i needed a break from the endless litany of bad news that we've been dealing with now for decades and decades but i think the last year and a half or so has been on overdrive and folks are tired of it and we cover current events here almost every week on understanding the times radio but sometimes we just have to look at apologetics because that's much more hopeful so dr ed heinson of the seven items that you outline in the book i want to get to the fourth here because it's the wedding of all weddings it's the marriage supper of the lamb now just having said that there are listeners right now their churches aren't dealing with the things we're talking about and they hear about a marriage supper of the lamb and they're saying you know that sounds really strange so can you make sense of it for them i think so i think the apostle paul knew that he looked forward to it the writers of the new testament were convinced of that that's why paul said in first corinthians 2 9 i has not seen nor ear heard the things that god has prepared for those that love him beyond our comprehension it can be understood to a point but not fully comprehended because it's beyond anything we've ever known in the whole emphasis on the marriage you have that in the book of revelation very clearly in the 19th chapter jesus is preparing to return to earth in revelation 19 it's the climax of the whole book of revelation it opens with four hallelujahs and then the statement that we're to praise the lord and sing praises to him because the marriage of the lamb has come that's revelation 19 7 his wife has made herself ready and to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen clean and bright and the fine linen represents the righteousness of the saints or the believers so the idea there is the marriage is a picture it's an illustration of our union with christ that prophecy is not just bad news about what's going to go wrong in the future prophecies bad news only for the unbeliever prophecies good news for the believer the good news is jesus is coming to take us home in the rapture to the father's house to the judgment seat of christ to receive our rewards and then to the marriage to this celebration of a union spiritually with christ forever so i like to remind people if they've never been married or how many ever times they've been married you're going to be married again in the future there's a wedding coming and that wedding is described here in such beautiful way and the bride of christ is a term used throughout the new testament so it's not only there in revelation paul refers to the church as the bride of christ that christ in essence is spiritually married to the believer forever and that becomes a full reality at the marriage in heaven and once you receive the white robe then when we return with christ same chapter chapter 19 revelation verse 14 the white robed believers come from heaven with christ in his triumphal return the bride of christ comes back to reign and rule on earth with jesus no longer the church vilified murdered persecuted now she's the church triumphant who marches out of heaven with her warrior husband to reign and rule on earth that is still coming in the future destiny of every single born-again believer the marriage supper of the lamb actually takes place then during the tribulation that's what's happening on earth the saints are in heaven so this would be during that seven-year tribulation exactly so you have all that illustration throughout scripture where jesus will talk about going away to the father's house to prepare a place for you well in the jewish wedding concept the couple would be betrothed to one another but then the groom would go back to his father's house add a room or maybe several rooms onto the house to prepare for the bride the bride was told you'd be ready to go when he comes back for you and he would return for the bride when the room was ready and take her to the father's house i think that's very clear in what jesus talks about it's very clear in what the apostles talk about in the letters of the new testament that the bridegroom is coming to take the bride home to the father's house in heaven and take us to the marriage and that relationship is permanently consummated forever we are now in a glorified body in a glorified state that is no longer subject to pain to heartache to disappointment or descent we're in a final fixed sinless state forever with the savior i'm going back just a little bit in our discussion here as it concerns the rapture nobody knows the day or the hour in the meantime we have a job to do don't fall for guys saying i know the date of the rapture no you don't i've been in the ministry for 50 years i've heard every crazy speculation you could imagine 1972 76 88 99 2000 2011 whatever jesus said nobody knows the day or the hour of my coming in what in the rapture to raise the dead and capture up the living in a glorified body straight to the clouds to heaven etc so if nobody knows the time so don't waste your time trying to guess the time be ready all the time because jesus could come back at any time well-taught people yeah you live with a balance an eye on the sky he could come at any moment feet on the earth i have a job to do in the meantime i love the way you said that dr heinstein that was brilliant moving on only in the interest of time to the next event the second coming of jesus i think you say it's the second most prominent reference in the bible next to salvation correct exactly there are scores of prophecy about the return of christ and yet so many churches never talk about it they talk about you die you go to heaven that's it but if you read the bible it's obvious no you go to heaven and you're going to the marriage and you're going to the judgment seat but you're coming back with jesus to reign and rule with him when he returns the believers are coming back with the lord jesus christ because the earth is devastated and breeding the seals and the bowls etc that are in revelation we see why the earth is devastated and humanity is at its lowest point i like the way you put it jesus no longer rides a donkey he rides a white horse and the saints are with him but ed that could be literally millions of saints over time and probably will be yes this is a host that is stunning it's at that point that when he returns triumphantly revelation 19 ends with those powerful statements he speaks the word with the sword of his mouth slays the army of the anti-christ the beast and the false prophet are cast into the lake of fire satan is bound in the abyss for a thousand years and jesus is going to reign and rule on earth in a time of unparalleled peace and prosperity and blessing in the right sense of the word where the word of god the law and truth of god will go out to the entire planet even as god promised by the old testament prophets as well as the new testament apostles so we're going to proceed to reign and rule and this is when in scripture it talks about on his thigh is written king of kings and lord of lords and satan is bound then for 1000 years and that's the millennium we're not there yet folks because i'm still dealing with the second coming here of jesus christ we are going to reign and rule with jesus christ in our immortal bodies we'll get to that in a minute but this is the second coming and i think ed many denominations are fine with teaching about the second coming but they're not fine with teaching about the rapture now i don't fully understand that and that i think the rapture is so clear in scripture but why are they okay with the second coming but not the rapture technically the promise of the second coming is in every theological statement of virtually every denomination they all say that they believe christ will return because he said he would they at least go that far then the problem becomes when and how does he return is it literal is it spiritual is it before the tribulation after the tribulation etc the timing issue gets garbled up there and a lot of times people who don't believe that the rapture will come before the time of tribulation tend to say things like well there never will be a rapture no there has to be a rapture or you've got to take first thessalonians four rip it out of the bible straight away there has to be a time the dead are raised the living are caught up the question is simply when i'm convinced it is before the time of tribulation because the time of tribulation is clearly described in the book of revelation as the wrath of christ and the wrath of god the father well the church that's born again and saved is not the object of the savior's wrath she's the object of the savior's love and devotion when you spoke at my understanding the times conference a few years ago now you put a picture from your powerpoint presentation of a bride you know white gown beaten up black and blue eye etc and you said to the audience god doesn't beat up his bride he died on the cross for his bride why would he beat her up and i think you made a point that i'll never forget yeah is that his goal for his bride no satan may attack her the world may attack her but god's not going to attack the bride he doesn't have to pour out wrath on the bride to purify the bride that starts to sound like protestant purgatory after a while jesus went to the cross he took the punishment for us he took the beating we deserve it but we don't receive it because he paid it all for us what i love about these positive prophecies of the future they highlight the love of christ they highlight the power of his atonement and his commitment to the bride that god is a wonderful future planned for every believer and my goal in writing the book was to help people see that i actually wrote this in the first month of the covet shutdown okay couldn't go anywhere at first so i thought why waste the time i preach on it let's write it up in a book so that all the verses and all the emphasis is there people can read it study it for themselves and walk away with a wonderful sense of hallelujah we win that the future is really glorious in jesus christ you're listening to understanding the times radio i'm jan markell i have on the line from the east coast dr ed heintze we're carrying his new book future glory living in the hope of the rapture heaven and eternity you can find that in my online store by calling us or getting on our newsletter lists here and then i'm moving on from the second coming because the saints that's you and me folks if you are a saved person we return in the second coming and we are going to populate the millennium and that's the sixth future promise that dr heinson talks about the millennial reign of jesus christ ed heinson says in his book revelation 19 is probably the most dramatic chapter in the entire bible it is the final capstone to the death and resurrection of christ in this chapter the living savior returns to earth to crush all satanic opposition to the truth he establishes his kingdom on earth in fulfillment of the old testament prophecies of his own promise to return having said that ed there are some and i might be one of them who has asked i don't any longer but at one time i did why do we need a millennium that's a thousand years right back here on this awful earth though it's going to look a lot different during the millennium help us understand this literal 1000 years on earth which we already have referred to the amillennialist is going to make this symbolic and we're in the millennium now and i've talked about that on air before but there's no way we're in the millennium now but why a millennium because it fulfills the promise of the prophets that there has to be a messiah the son of david on the throne of david on earth in jerusalem reigning and ruling and that the law and truth of god would go out from jerusalem to the whole world we have to think of the millennial era as a time of unbelievable christian influence christian evangelism christian messages if jesus is here in person and he's ruling as king then every school is a christian school every hospital is a christian hospital everybody who's born in natural bodies throughout the millennium will have every opportunity to hear the truth while satan is bound in the abyss locked down cannot get out now people say to me all the time well do you think i can build a chain to hold satan do you think it's literal well you think the abyss is literal is the devil literal god can capture satan and limit him however he wants to the scripture says he's going to do it for a thousand years when he cannot deceive the nations and there is no war the very fact that there are wars on the planet and there's massive deception ought to tell us we're not in the millennium satan is not bound at the present time peter said he walks about like a roaring lion james jesus own brother said to christians resist the devil and he will flee from you satan is very alive and well on planet earth right now but there will come a time in that millennial reign when he will be bound in the abyss and the opportunity for earth to finally experience the full blessing of god will come it'll have to be renovated after the devastation of the tribulation there will be much for us to do in glorified bodies will return to reign and rule with him and have responsibilities in his literal kingdom on earth and that is a glorious time that people can't fully comprehend and yet we see in many ways how god blessed america in its early days because of the commitment of so many of our leaders to biblical truth that they too were looking forward to that kingdom in the future we realize today we can't bring that in by ourselves the church even at its best is not going to bring in the kingdom of christ on earth you're only going to get the kingdom when the king comes back people ask me every time there's an election they want to know who would jesus vote for if he were here well if jesus were here we would not be voting for anybody he'd be the king right and it would be glorious but at the end of that millennium satan is released help us understand this that's the great shock it really is like you're watching this movie where finally the enemy's captured and everything's going great and suddenly he's let out again i think god releases him one more time to demonstrate that salvation is of god not the environment the environment can be wonderful but it's not going to convert you the message can be fully available to everybody but you have to personally believe and i think satan's final deception is to try to deal with those that have been born during that thousand years okay to say you really want to follow jesus or not are you tired of this follow me and the sad truth is many will follow him and that final rebellion is then put down and then the earth and its atmosphere when he talks about new heavens and new earth i believe he's talking about the atmosphere around the planet you have those three levels of heaven i talk about that in the book yes you do atmospheric part of the planet what we would call outer space and then the dwelling place of god what paul called the third heaven well god doesn't need to renovate the third heaven where he dwells it's the planet and the atmosphere around it and some believe that that means elimination of the current planet it's replaced by another others like david jeremiah's my good friend says he believes it's a renovation where everything that represents sin and death is burned away and the planet is brand new either way the scripture calls it a new heaven and a new earth but the real key is the new jerusalem that comes down from the ultimate heaven of god and the new jerusalem then is the portal between heaven and earth in eternity that's when the scripture says every tear is wiped away there is no sin there is no pain there is no more death we shall live in that glorious city forever and ever and serve god in his vast universe we need to get to the new heavens and the new earth because that follows this thousand year reign of jesus christ on earth and folks that's a literal thousand years i know there are many denominations teaching it's symbolic i understand that but dr heinson and i believe that reign of jesus christ is a literal thousand year reign let's spend a minute or two here ed heinson on the new heavens and the new earth this i really want folks to comprehend how will the new heavens and the new earth be different than the millennium and it will for one thing we're going to get rid of satan finally in the new heavens and the new earth he's gone he's history and that's the major difference at that point when this is described in the last two chapters of the book of revelation the city has the glory of god that's part of my emphasis in the book on future glory we are there in a glorified sinless state and it's in this city that there is no need even of the sun or the moon to shine because the glory of god illuminates it and the nations of those that are saved walk in the light of god that you still have your national ethnic distinctions from earth but you're resurrected in a glorified body and all of us are there in harmony with one another brothers and sisters in the family of god forever the river of life is there the tree of life is there it hasn't been seen in the bible since it was lost in genesis 3 now this tree of life is available again and then he goes on with those beautiful descriptions pain is wiped away evil is no longer there you are in this glorious place forever and ever and that's why i think it even says in the old testament and ecclesiastes god has said eternity in the hearts of men that we're really not satisfied with anything less than that which is eternal somebody can live a long life here on earth and we can say well they had a good life but down deep there's always the feeling that wasn't enough nothing less than that which is eternal is enough and only jesus can give you eternal life and it's available to all who put their faith and trust in him is the new heaven and the new earth in heaven or on the earth or all the above or all the above is the new jerusalem suspended between heaven and earth and the saints of god go back and forth through all these places and have access to the whole universe in which we are serving god in the expanse of all that he has created forever and ever so there's a river there there are trees there there's some emphasis on nature yet at the same time there's the streets of gold and the walls of jewels it's almost indescribable and because john the apostle writes those closing chapters in revelation he's trying to tell us what i saw was almost beyond description it's so glorious you don't want to miss it and i want to go there in just a moment that it's beyond description we don't want any listener to miss it but still talking here about the new heavens and the new earth so this is paradise regained correct exactly no curse no sin whatsoever all of that removed all of that has been judged in the lake of fire the unsaved are not admitted into this place you always ask me why wouldn't you still give them another opportunity you're not going to take unsaved people to heaven because it wouldn't be heaven it wouldn't be happy just help us better understand the holy city the new jerusalem because again some of this is out of this world literally so it's a little bit hard to grasp it is i think when he says the streets are of gold but it's transparent as glass not sure that that means literal gold like we think of it it looks like gold but it looks like transparent glass and he keeps using like and as comparisons as he's trying to describe this because he's trying to describe something he'd never seen before and that was beyond human description the key is it's the holy city there's no crying there there's no pain there because there is no sin there because the holiness of god prevails in that place and we are made holy by him because the scripture reminds us without holiness no one will see god god is the one who grants us that gift of righteousness and holiness through the atoning blood of jesus christ that when jesus died on the cross he not only died to forgive your sin but he dies to give us the gift of his righteousness and we stand complete in him and as you see the description of the people that are there it is obvious they are not just worshiping god they're doing all of that but they're also serving him and he calls them his servants who serve him for all eternity i think will be busy because in a glorified body it's not limited by human dysfunction and physical limitations as you say it's beyond description it's our future glory ed if there's one person uncertain about that as we speak here and i am down to just a couple of minutes you've outlined the plan of salvation actually two or three times why don't we do it one more time as we go out of the program here jesus came not just to teach a better way he came to give everybody a better life died on the cross taking the wrath of god against our sin put it to death rose from the debt to offer us the gift of eternal life and the scripture tells us whoever will call on the name of the lord will be saved it's a call that says i really believe jesus you are who you said you were you're alive today you can forgive my sin you can change my life i'm ready to say yes to you all the wages of sin is death according to the bible the gift of god is eternal life to all that will believe so i would encourage you today if you're questioning am i on my way to heaven john the apostle said i wrote these things that you might know that you believe put your faith and trust in him he paid it all all to him we owe if i'm trusting him jesus is the way the truth and the life he will fulfill all of his promises to you and me dr ed heinsohn thank you for all you do i can't think of a program more appropriate for me to close with something i do quite often and that's just a little saying when the time was right the sea parted the walls fell down the lions went hungry the sun stood still the waves were calm the stone was rolled away the clouds were parted the lord ascended and when the time is right the king of kings will return god is never early he's never late he's always right on time and his plan for you is good i hope you've seen that throughout this hour that the plan these seven incredible events that lie ahead of us that his plan for you is not just good it's perfect i want to thank you for listening and we'll talk to you again next week contact us through our website olive tree views dot org that's olive tree views dot org call it central time at 763-559-4444 at 763-559-4444 we get our mail when you write to olive tree ministries and jan markell box 1452 maple grove minnesota 55311 that's box 1452 maple grove minnesota 55311 all gifts are tax deductible remember that god has orchestrated events to play out as they are he remains in control you are in the palm of his hands and everything is falling into place