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Have you ever lost a loved one to an accident or illness? You may have felt the painful realisation that death is NOT meant to be part of life.
We long for the good and the beautiful NOT to end. But there is good news. A wonderful time is coming, described in the Bible as follows:
"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea... He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away" (Revelation 21:1, 4).
Before this can happen, the great battle between Satan and Jesus Christ must come to an end. The final stage begins when Jesus returns and takes all those who have accepted Him as their Saviour to heaven. The Bible tells us that all the righteous will sit on thrones there to judge with Jesus (Revelation 20). This is the second phase of a gigantic heavenly trial which will now deal with all those who have chosen to reject God and reject eternal life.
Imagine that you have chosen Jesus, accepted the forgiveness of your sins on the cross and are now sitting on one of those thrones in the heavenly court. You look right and left and notice that your brother, sister, parents, or good friends are not there. Maybe you're looking for the person who preached the Gospel to you, taught you the teachings of the Scriptures, and finally baptised you – but you can't find them! You wonder how this can be. Could God have made a mistake? Could He not have done everything to save these people as well? These are the questions that this judgement will deal with! God will confront the whole of humanity (and all the angels) and go through the records mentioned in the Bible, where the whole life of a person is recorded, one by one.
Only when every doubt about God's justice and love has been removed in this extensive process, and everyone has realised that God has done everything to save every human being, will this phase of the judgement be completed. We will see that everyone who is not saved has chosen not to be saved. God loves us too much to disregard this free will decision.
This judgement lasts for 1000 years. This is why it is called the Millennium. When it is over, we will all return to earth with Jesus. Not only that, but a new city – the golden, heavenly Jerusalem – will come down to earth with us to make a new home there forever.
The dead who have not chosen forgiveness through Jesus Christ will now rise to receive their judgement. The Bible calls this the SECOND Resurrection. They will make one last attempt to stop God by attacking the Holy City with all their might. But then fire will come down from heaven and destroy them once and for all – not only the wicked, but also Satan and his angels. After all evil has been removed from the earth, and it will be ready to be recreated. As at the beginning of time, it will now appear in splendour, newly created, a beautiful paradise for all the redeemed. Not only that, but God Himself will dwell among us. We will be able to go to Him and talk to Him.
He will be able to answer all our questions, explain everything that has seemed mysterious and strange to us here where we have not understood His actions in our lives. All problems will then be solved. Sickness and death will no longer exist. There will be no more suffering, no more separation, no more tears. There will be only perfect happiness.
Let's all be there!
Bible texts for in-depth study:
Psalm 139:16; Jeremiah 4:23-26; Ezekiel 28:18-19; Malachi 4:1; Matthew 19:28; 1 Corinthians 6:2-3; Revelation 20; 21:1-5
