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Pray that this pandemic will end soon and the resumption of the postal service.
Pray that this pandemic will end soon and the resumption of the postal service.
Subject 22 : The Gospel According to LUKE
[Chapter 20] Do You Have Hope for The Millennial Kingdom? (Luke 20:27-38)
(Luke 20:27-38)
“Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying: ‘Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man’s brother dies, having a wife, and he dies without children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. And the first took a wife, and died without children. And the second took her as wife, and he died childless. Then the third took her, and in like manner the seven also; and they left no children, and died. Last of all the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife does she become? For all seven had her as wife.’ Jesus answered and said to them, ‘The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him.’”
What Kind of Hope Do We Have? Is There True Hope for the Righteous?
Many people living in this world today just live in hopelessness. However, I want to speak through this Word of God about the fact that we do not have hopelessness. As beautiful flowers blossom in the field after the storm has passed through, I believe the Millennial Kingdom of our Lord will begin again at that time even when the world is destroyed. That is why I who have such faith can always live with hope for the Kingdom of Heaven.
Of course, for a while, I used to preach, “There will be Advent of Jesus and the rapture. Therefore, we must be born again. We must receive the remission of sins.” I preached the gospel only in this way because I had so many burdens in my heart. I had so many burdens in my heart because the world is becoming so gloomy. This world is in a state of calm before the storm. You and I live in the midst of the calm, the serenity that comes before the storm.
So many people of the world, the scientists, philosophers, religious people, and the politicians know that the future of the world is not bright. That is why they are impatient and mortified as they live in this world. People’s hearts are impatient and frustrated like that because there truly is not any hope in this world.
What is the reason the powerful countries are enforcing policies forbidding weaker countries from possessing nuclear weapons? They are worried that such smaller countries would start a nuclear war if they have nuclear weapons when earthquakes erupt, and malnutrition and famines strike most of the country. They make treaties, have talks, and also implement economic sanctions in an attempt to prevent the dangerous nuclear war because they could see the obvious fact that the entire humankind would be destroyed if the nuclear war erupted.
The economic situation will become even darker in the future. And the future of the religious field is not bright as well. The age of spiritual darkness will really fall upon the world. Historians say that one thousand years of the Middle Age was the age of darkness. Actually, during the middle ages, there were many instances of people being killed with false charges as heresy or through witch-hunt. And in the center of such treacherous deeds, there were always religious leaders.
This era we live in now also can be called an era of darkness like the Middle Age. However, we have a definite hope. The future of the world may seem dark, but we will never be destroyed if we discover the bright light that comes after the darkness. That is because we know that our Lord will first bring us the righteous back to life and fulfill the paradise of the Millennial Kingdom when this world ends. That is correct. Our Lord will return to the world and resurrect the righteous and make them live for a thousand years when the span of time given to this world terminates. Therefore, you and I must look to this hope based on the Lord. We would not have any other hope for us if we did not understand this fact.
Many Christians have talked about the Millennial Kingdom through the Scriptures, but few of them actually pay much attention to the Millennial Kingdom. They just thought, “I don’t think the Millennial Kingdom will be established on this earth. Would such Millennial Kingdom be possible when the earth world will be destroyed if the nuclear war erupts? There is only hopelessness for the people who do not believe in the Millennial Kingdom. However, we come to realize that the Millennial Kingdom is possible even though it is difficult to comprehend it with human thinking when we believe in God who created the entire universe only with His Word and believe in the power of such a God. No matter how the world is becoming devastated and contaminated, Our Lord can make all things of the world new when He comes. “Let the entire world be clean and worth living!” Once the Lord says so, the world will become a paradise within an eye blink. Therefore, believe it. You and I can definitely live in this world with the Lord for a thousand years.
The End of the World Will Definitely Come
And a thousand years of paradise on earth will follow the end of the world. Then, what sort of things will happen when the end of the world comes? First, the righteous who have received the remission of sins and have been sleeping in the graves will come alive. Moreover, we who are alive until then will also be transformed at once and be raptured to the presence of the Lord, who will come down from heaven. And we will come down together with our Lord at the time of His Advent and eventually live for a thousand years together with the people who have not received the mark and the people who have suffered their martyrdom for faith. The Scriptures say such things to us. Our Lord asks us to pray, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). Just by looking at the Lord’s Prayer, we could understand that it is only natural for us who have received the remission of sins to go live in the Kingdom of Heaven
However, it is difficult for us to live with hope even though we clearly believe in going to the Kingdom of God because we belong to this world now. It means that it is difficult for us to have hope for Heaven when we look at the world that is almost at the end of its span. However, we must hold fast to God’s Word especially during these times. We must think the Word of God is more important than our thinking or the circumstance of the world. God promised that He would resurrect the righteous, recreate the Garden of Eden that existed at the beginning of the world, and make the righteous live happily as kings for a thousand years. That is the promise God Almighty has made to you and me.
God who promised, “I will blot out all your sins. I will make a virgin give birth to the Child. I will send you the Messiah,” and He indeed sent the Messiah to this world according to His promise. So our Lord came to this world. And the Lord who came like that blotted out all our sins. God also promised to resurrect us and make us as happy as kings for a thousand years in this world. We must accept and believe the Word since our Lord God promised this to us.
Today, I want to share with you the Word about the resurrection of the saints and the Millennial Kingdom the Lord has promised. Let’s look at the Word first. When we look at the Word from the Gospel of Luke chapter 20 verses 27 to 38 that we have read, it says that some of the Sadducees who claimed that there was no such a thing as resurrection came and asked to Jesus. They asked, “Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man’s brother dies, having a wife, and he dies without children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. And the first took a wife, and died without children. And the second took her as wife, and he died childless. Then the third took her, and in like manner the seven also; and they left no children, and died. Last of all the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife does she become? For all seven had her as wife.”
Here, we must first understand the tradition of the Israeli people at the time to understand this Word clearly. Israeli people at the time had a custom that when an eldest son got married and died without having a son, his brother took the deceased brother’s wife as his wife and had children. They had such a custom to give birth to children to succeed the deceased brother. Moreover, the Sadducees who asked such question to Jesus were politicians during that time. They were people who did not believe in the resurrection although they believed in God. They were people who claimed that humans could not be resurrected again and that everything would be the end once they died. Therefore, they asked, “Jesus, you say there is resurrection and you say that you will bring the dead back to life again. Then, when the person who had six brothers and the woman who had been their wife in turn resurrect again along with the seven brothers, whose wife would she be?”
Let’s reorganize this story first. The eldest of the seven brothers was married and died without having a son. And the wife of the eldest brother lived with the other six brothers in turn for the same reason. Then, whose wife would she be at the time of resurrection? That is the question some Sadducees presented to Jesus. That is such a difficult question. This was a difficult question that was presented deliberately to make Jesus embarrassed by a person who thought there is no resurrection. However, even for such a question, Jesus answered with the clear Word of Truth. Let’s look at the Word together. The Lord says, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.”
What does the resurrection mean here? It means “to be brought back to life again.” A person who was dead once coming alive is the resurrection. When they are resurrected, they attain the equal nature as the angels as the sons of God. It means that there is no such miserable thing as death as well as human relationships like marriage. It means they become beings that attain new joy as sons of God, this joy is different from the fleshly one. To the people who thought there is no resurrection, our Lord said, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”
Our Body Will Be Brought Back to Life Again
What is the meaning of the passage, “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living”? If our body did not come alive after dying, then, our God would have been the God of the dead. However, He said God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Hence, we are the resurrected ones who have been brought back to life before the presence of God. In the eyes of our God who is the God of the living, we all the born-again are people who have come alive again. What is the reason? He said there is no death before the presence of God because God is the basis of life and because He is God who gives new life to all the people.
Therefore, God describes the physical death of humans as sleeping. The Scriptures do not use the word “dead” often. It just says, “Someone is sleeping.” Even in the Old Testament, God said that he is the God of the living. Should we examine the account for a moment? When Moses was walking in the wilderness, he saw a thorny bush burning. However, the strange thing was that the tree was okay. The tree stood unscathed even though bush continued to burn. Moses was amazed at the sight and went there to look at it more closely. Then, Moses heard the voice of God, “Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” God appeared Himself in the midst of the thorny bush.
Even here, our God said that He is the God of the living. However, when we really look at it, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that God spoke of were all dead people. Even so, God said, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. I am always the God of the living.” Then, what is the true meaning of this Word? The people that we thought were dead are not actually dead, but just sleeping, in the eyes of God. God’s Word means, “I am your God and the God of those who are alive now. Those who have died in this world are sleeping. Therefore, I am always the God of the living.”
To the question of the Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection, our Lord said, “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” Then, what should God do with us in order to be the God of the living? It means He must bring us back to life. That is correct. God can be the God of the living only if God resurrects our body and all the bodies of the people who have lived and died before us.
Do you believe that our God will bring back to life those righteous saints who have been born again before us and died before us and are in the grave now? Do you believe that when our Lord returns to this world again, when there will be rapture, our Lord will resurrect those who are in the grave and line them up before us who are alive and take them up to the air first? The Apostle Paul says in the First Book of Thessalonians chapter 4, “For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17). God said that He would resurrect and lift up those who are sleeping first and also transform the bodies of us the alive and take us up, too. It means that our Lord will change us into the eternal beings while He will bring the dead saints back to life again as well. Do you believe in the meaning of this resurrection? Do you believe that Jesus has been resurrected? That is right. We definitely believe in the resurrection of Jesus.
The life of Jesus is our life. The resurrection of Jesus is our resurrection. The death of Jesus was our death; the baptism of Jesus was our baptism; the penalty of the Cross Jesus suffered was for our penalty; and the resurrection of Jesus from the dead three days after His death means our resurrection. Do you believe this? The resurrection of Jesus was our resurrection. We will first confirm whether we believe in such meaning of resurrection or not, and then talk specifically about the meaning of the resurrection that appears in the Scriptures.
Do you believe in the resurrection? There clearly is resurrection. When the end of the world comes and if I am still alive at that time, I believe God will take me up like Elijah went up to Heaven on a chariot of fire after being transformed without experiencing death, and also like Enoch who was lifted up to Heaven after walking along with God. I believe God will transform me to the perfect and holy body like that of Elijah and Enoch, that is, a sacred body which is not limited by time and space, can go anywhere, does not become sick, and is not limited by anything, and take me up to the Kingdom of Heaven with all the righteous people who are born again.
Our Lord will return when the end of the world comes. The Second Advent of Christ will definitely come. We can definitely believe this fact because our Lord has been resurrected after dying on the Cross. It means that you and I also come alive as the Lord was resurrected to bring us back to life. We definitely would have had to die eternally if Jesus had not been resurrected from the dead. Do you understand this?
Let’s read the Word from the First Book of Corinthians chapter 15 to help our understanding of our resurrection. It says, “Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15: 12-20). As the Word states here, Jesus Christ was resurrected from death. Jesus Christ came alive from the dead like this and became the first fruit of those who are sleeping.
Jesus Christ Carried the Sins of the World in Our Place by Receiving Baptism, Dying on the Cross, and Being Resurrected from the Dead
Jesus was resurrected like that. Through that resurrection, He suffered the physical death and became the first fruit of all those who will be resurrected. Enoch and Elijah in the Old Testament were not resurrected from death. They were raptured. God took them to the Kingdom of God perfectly without having them experiencing their physical death. However, God made His own Son Jesus experience death in this world. It means that our Jesus Christ is the first One who was resurrected from death after suffering the physical death. Jesus was resurrected from death. Do you believe Jesus was resurrected from the dead? You and I will be resurrected the same way Jesus was resurrected if we have such faith. Do you believe in this fact? We will be brought back to life just like Jesus.
Then, let’s study the order of the resurrection through the Word from the First Book of Corinthians chapter 15 verses 20 to 25. It says, “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet.” Amen. Our Lord spoke of the order of the resurrection in the verse 23-24, “But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.”
Then, who is the first fruit of the resurrection? Like the lyrics from a hymn that goes, “♬He arose! ♪He arose! ♪Halleluiah! ♬Christ arose!” The first fruit of the resurrection is Jesus Christ who suffered the physical death and was resurrected from death for the first time.
And it says the second is the people who are His at the time of His coming, the Advent of Christ. Here, ‘His coming’ means God descending to this world again. Moreover, our Lord will definitely perform the rapture at the time of His Advent. That is, there will be people who belong to God when He descends to the world, those who will be lifted up, and they are none other than the righteous. Above passage does not have the words “the righteous,” but we know through verse 24 that they refer to the righteous.
God said the first fruit of resurrection is Jesus. And when God the first fruit of resurrection returns, He will rapture us. “Those who are Christ’s” refer to the people who have been born again. And, “Then comes the end” means that God will resurrect the people who will receive the judgment after the rapture of the born-again. The Book of Revelation in the New Testament also records such things. It means that there will be a time lag between the resurrection of the righteous and the resurrection of the ungodly. It says that Jesus Christ will resurrect the righteous when He comes again, and that He will bring the unjust back to life when the Millennial Kingdom is over.
Let’s look at that Word together to confirm this fact through the Word from the Book of Revelation chapter 20 verses 4 to 6: “And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.” Amen.
That is correct. The order of resurrection is as follows. First is Jesus Christ; the second is the people who are His at the time of Jesus’ Advent; and the third is the unjust people who are to receive the judgment. Then, what is the time lag between the resurrection of the righteous and the resurrection of the unjust? It is exactly one thousand years. The Word above says, “And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished.”
There is a similar Word in the Gospel of John also. Let’s look at the Word from the Gospel of John chapter 5 verses 24 to 29: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.”
This passage clarifies that there will be two different resurrections: “Those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation” (John 5:29). This Word means that those who have done righteous deeds, that is, the righteous people, will receive eternal grace and eternal happiness through resurrection. On the other hand, the people who have done evil, that is, the unjust, will not be resurrected until after the righteous rule as kings for a thousand years. The Book of the Revelation shows this fact clearly, saying, “And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection” (Revelation 20:4-5). The righteous and the unjust will all be resurrected alike, but there is a clear time lag between the two, and consequences of their resurrections will greatly differ from each other. The righteous will be resurrected one thousand years prior to the unjust. Moreover, the death will not receive the authority to rule over the righteous and the righteous will become the priests of God and Christ and receive the blessing of ruling as kings along with Jesus for a thousand years.
Do you have the witness of Jesus? Do you have the faith in your heart that Jesus is definitely your Savior? I am sure you do. You and I have such faith. However, there is no such witness in the hearts of the people who do not know the Lord’s gospel, people who do not know the Word of God and the Truth. It means that they do not have the witness of Jesus (1 John 5:10). We can make a clear distinction with this. The people who have the witness of Jesus, the people who have not received the mark of the beast at the time of tribulation and the people who will suffer their martyrdom during the tribulation will be resurrected one thousand years prior to the unjust. And they will rule over the world with Christ for a thousand years.
The people who have the witness of Christ will live in this world as kings for a thousand years. On the other hand, rest of the people who do not have the witness of Jesus Christ cannot be brought back to life during the Millennial Kingdom. The wicked people who have not been born again can never be brought back to life for the thousand years. It says, “Those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation” (John 5:29). They are both resurrections, but the consequences between the two are so different. We will come alive to rule as kings for a thousand years. We are suffering now for that day.
Why would the Millennial Kingdom be needed in this world? Why would our Lord construct the Millennial Kingdom on this world? It is to reward you and me who would receive suffering after receiving the remission of sins and being born again. God is telling us His suffering children, “You have suffered much in this world. Therefore, come and live in here.” God gives such reward to all of us. God will not neglect even one person.
What kind of Paradise would it be if God discriminated between individuals? Heavenly Paradise does not have rank and class. God said that He would give us all the same reward for the hard work we have done for Him and wipe away all the tears. This means that God will resurrect the righteous who are asleep and reward them for all their hard work by making all things of the world new for a thousand years. It means that God will reward them. Do you understand this?
After the thousand years of rewarding us passes, He will resurrect the wicked, too. God will resurrect them also and then judge them from the white throne at this time. Then, God will send the righteous whose names are recorded in the Book of Life to the eternal Kingdom of God, and the sinners whose names are not written in it will be sent into the eternal fire of hell. Such judgment of God is eternal. God will bring down the eternal judgment as Jesus Christ lives eternally.
The Lord speaks to us, “Humans must be born twice. They must be born again. They must believe in Me twice; once as sinners, once as the born-again saints. They must receive new life, the eternal life, by receiving the remission of sins.” Jesus is saying to us like that. God is telling twice to us all human beings. Therefore, you and I must definitely be born twice. The righteous who are born twice will be resurrected one thousand years earlier than the wicked who are not born again. And we, the righteous, will live as kings in the new world for a thousand years after the resurrection. I want you to understand this clearly. When this dark world ends, the resurrection of the righteous will occur. Do you understand this?
Through the Word from today’s Scripture passage, the Lord said that there is definitely a time lag between the resurrection of the righteous and the sinners. The Apostle Paul also recorded in the First Book of Corinthians chapter 15, “Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. Then comes the end.”
You and I definitely need the Heavenly Paradise. What would happen if there were no such Paradise in this world? Everyone would doubt, “What would happen if there was no Paradise? Why should I believe in Christ with such hardship? Why do people receive hardship after believing in Jesus? Why do people receive persecution after believing in Jesus?” You and I are not fools. If there were no Heavenly Paradise in the world, or if everyone were to go to Heaven whether he believed in Jesus or not, then we would not need to believe in the Lord, join together with the Church, or even suffer for the Lord. However, what is the truth? The truth is that we go to Heaven only when we know and believe in the righteousness of Jesus. Do you believe in this fact?
No one would witness or accept the gospel of the water and the Spirit if no one believed in this fact. Why would we suffer such hardship if there were no Heaven? Of course, we should do such things as the upright thing to do, but why would we need to do all that? However, I, as the one preaching this gospel of the water and the Spirit, am so happy at this moment. I am happy even though I am disrespected and persecuted and rejected by people of the world because I believe that I will be rewarded when the Lord comes again. It is because I am waiting for the reward of being resurrected and going to Heaven.
Our Lord Will Really Give Us the Reward
The Lord said clearly, “I will give you the authority to rule over ten cities.” And He also said, “I will make you rule in this Paradise on earth for a thousand years as a king.” There will be many people living in this world at the time of the Lord’s return. They will all become our people. Of course, we will not have bad feelings toward them. We will not have such feeling because our Lord will lock up the Devil for that time. However, it is clear that the people who have been transformed into spiritual bodies will live together with the people who are in the regular human body. God said that He would cast the Devil into the bottomless pit for a thousand years because the Devil brings sin. And we will live in this world as kings for a thousand years.
We who have been born again will participate in the first resurrection. Who would participate in the first resurrection except us? God is telling us clearly that we are the blessed who will participate in the first resurrection. God said that He will resurrect the people who have the witness of Jesus in the second along with the people who have been martyred for Jesus Christ and the people who have not received the mark, and He will resurrect the wicked lastly. It means that God will clearly divide the resurrection of the righteous and the resurrection of the wicked.
Our Lord said that He would never abrogate the things He has spoken. Since the Lord has said personally, the resurrection of us the righteous will clearly occur one thousand years before the resurrection of the wicked. Moreover, the purpose of the two resurrections itself is different. The righteous are resurrected to receive Heaven which God has promised as inheritance, but the wicked are resurrected to receive God’s condemnation. Do you understand this difference clearly? Do you believe in this Word?
Beloved saints, we will definitely come alive. Therefore, we must live in the midst of that hope. We are people who will never be destroyed even if this world is destroyed. We will not perish even if the world is finished. Even if the curtains come down on the world, the Lord will come to this world and rule as the King. He will rule as the King along with the people who are His own people. On the other hand, the people who are not His will be resurrected after the Millennial Kingdom and be cast into the eternal lake of fire and brimstone. The Devil will be there along with all those who worshipped and followed the Devil. However, the people who believed in and followed the Lord Jesus will go to Him during the Millennial Kingdom and also accompany Him to the Kingdom of God. That is the truth about the Millennial Kingdom. Do you understand?
This world is really distressing. It would have been even more distressing if Jesus Christ had not been resurrected from death. However, Jesus Christ was clearly resurrected from death. Therefore, the resurrected Lord will bring us back to life, too. We would be the most pitiful people if we were not going to be resurrected. Really, how horrible it would be if were not going to be resurrected? Then, I would not be able to have hope before the presence of God. If there were no Millennial Kingdom, if there were no Paradise on this world, I could not be discouraged even though I believed in Jesus and I would think that there was no need to preach the gospel ever again. Why would I preach the gospel if that was the case? We should all quit witnessing the gospel if there were no Paradise on this earth for us.
However, we have hope because the Millennial Kingdom is waiting for us. And we must definitely witness this gospel to other people. We must witness, “You will definitely be resurrected if you believe in Jesus properly. You will definitely come alive. If you believe in Jesus Christ and receive the remission of sins, then you will definitely face the resurrection of the righteous even after dying physically. You will receive a new life like that, rule over the world as a king, go to the Kingdom of Heaven, and live there forever. However, you will be resurrected and be cast into the eternal fire unless you believe in Jesus Christ.” We must preach the truth of resurrection to many souls. I am saying that we must witness to all the people that there is resurrection.
What actually is the most important thing in Christianity? The first is the remission of sins and the second is the resurrection of coming alive from death. The way of Christianity is the way of resurrection. The way of Christianity is that the dead life, dead heart, and dead body come alive again. That is the way of following God. That is the way of believing God.
We have witnessed the gospel of the Lord until now. And what instruction should we preach especially in this era? We must witness the way of the resurrection. We must preach, “We will come alive even if the world comes to an end. We who have received the remission of sins will live in the Millennial Kingdom after being resurrected.” Our Lord talked of the way of resurrection many times. And all the disciples of Jesus also preached the way of resurrection. The Apostle Paul, John, and all the servants of God witnessed the way of resurrection. Put differently, they witnessed that Jesus Christ was resurrected from death. They witnessed the way of resurrection with faith. Then, shouldn’t we also preach the way of resurrection in this era? We must preach the way of resurrection, the truth that all the people will be resurrected.
What is a matter of primary concern for the people of the world? It is living forever, that is, resurrecting from death. The biggest concern for all humankind is “Is it possible to avoid death?” However, there is a way to avoid death. There is one and only way. It is to believe in Jesus Christ, the way of resurrection. That is correct. If we believe in Jesus Christ, we can be resurrected one thousand years prior to the wicked, live happily and wonderfully, go to the next life of eternal Heaven, and enjoy eternal life forever. That is the way of resurrection. Therefore, we must preach this way of resurrection to all the people of the world. We must witness the way of the resurrection. We must witness the way of resurrection, not anything else. We must witness the way of resurrection along with the gospel. Hence, we must make people have the hope of resurrection like that.
You and I must not become hopeless in our hearts even though we see the politics, economy, and the religions of the world changing hopelessly. We must believe that our Lord will resurrect us when the dark world comes to an end. Furthermore, we must believe the Lord will renew the universe and make you and I live in such Paradise that a poisonous serpent would not even bite us even if we put our hands in its den. I want you to always believe in this fact.
When we live in the Paradise on this world after being resurrected, we will meet Abraham and the robber who were promised entry into the Paradise by believing in Jesus Christ when he was nailed on the right of Jesus Christ. Do you understand? The Paradise on earth is a little different from the Kingdom of Heaven. The Paradise on earth is the Millennial Kingdom the Lord has promised to us. We will meet all the righteous people at the time the Lord resurrects us. We will meet Paul the Apostle and we will also meet the Apostle John. We will meet them and receive the reward the Lord gives for a thousand years, rule as kings along with them, and live peacefully without the Devil. We will live like that with our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, we must live with such hope. It does not mean our lives also come to an end just because the end of the world comes. I mean that is not the end for our souls and our bodies. Jesus Christ will come to this world again when this world ends. We will reign as kings and enjoy new life eternally for a thousand years thanks to the King of kings, Jesus Christ. Therefore, let’s become saints who witness the gospel of the Lord and serve and follow the Lord in the midst of our hope.
I sincerely believe in this providence of resurrection. I praise our Lord. I give sincere thanks to our Lord who has given such hope to us, the righteous. Those who have received the remission of sins actually would have become the most pitiful people in the world if the Lord did not keep this promise of resurrection and if He did not record the promise of the Millennial Kingdom in the Book of Revelation. If it had been the case, the people who have received the remission of sins would have had to always endure the world with only the remote hope of the Kingdom of Heaven.
However, our Lord will return to this world and renew all things of the universe. Moreover, the Lord will rule as the King in the Paradise on this world that He has recreated, and also give such authority to you and me who believe in the Lord. I give thanks to our Lord who will allow us to live in the Paradise on this world.
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