The Daily Word of Righteousness

The New Creation and the Resurrection, #13

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. (II Peter 3:10)

When the thousand-year Kingdom Age has been concluded, the material universe will vanish in a fiery explosion.

This fiery explosion marks the end of the first creation, of the adamic race and its environment.

And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. (Revelation 20:11,12)

"The earth and the heaven fled away."

All spirits (with the exception of those who attain the first resurrection) will then be reunited with their bodies, as nearly as we can tell from the Scriptures, and will be brought before Christ and His firstfruits for judgment.

It is difficult to understand how the bodies of the dead could be preserved and brought forth after the physical universe has vanished. But the Scriptures insist that all who are in the graves will hear the voice of the Lord Jesus and come forth, and it is clear that it is the bodies, not just the spirits of the deceased, that will arise in the Day of Judgment. We must leave this mystery to the glory and majesty of God.

In any case, the dead, small and great, will stand before the Lord Jesus. This is the Judgment Seat of Christ. Those whose names are found in the Book of Life will be brought forward into the new age where they will have opportunity to partake of the tree of life, becoming an eternal part of Christ, of the Kingdom of God, of the new creation.

Those whose names are not found written in the Book of Life will be cast into the Lake of Fire. They will be thrown into the Lake of Fire in their bodies.

And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh. (Isaiah 66:24)

Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. (Matthew 18:8)

The problem of how a physical body can be cast into a spiritual fire will be explained when the incidents take place. At this time we do not understand the relationship between the natural and spirit realms. For example, we cannot understand how Enoch, Elijah, and the Lord Jesus could be brought into Heaven while in a physical body.

To be continued.