The purpose of the Church.
“The Four Last Things”.
In Christian eschatology, the Four Last Things or four last things of man (Latin: quattuor novissima) are Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell, the four last stages of the soul in life and the afterlife.
Hebrews 9:27.
It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.
Rev 20 v 4 to 6
There are two
resurrections
The 1st Resurrection
has 3 phases
just like the Jewish
harvest had 3 phases
Stage 3
New Heavens & New Earth
Firstfruits
Main Harvest
Gleanings
The resurrection of the Righteous.
Day of Grace
The Church Age
Tribulation
7 years
Millennium
1000 years
Hebrews 6 v 1 to 3.
Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of Repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgement.
Understanding the Doctrines of the Resurrection of the dead and Judgement that awaits each one of us is crucial and foundational as a Christian and it helps one to understand future events more clearly.
John 5:21-29.
For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.
Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.
John 5:21-29.
Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come 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 also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.
Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out, those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.
Judgement of sin at the cross
Self-judgement of the believer
Judgement seat of Christ
Judgement of the Nations
Judgement of Israel
Judgement of fallen angels
Great White Throne Judgement
(Genesis 3:14–24). God banished the first couple from the Garden of Eden for violating His clear command not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
The Judgment of Adam and Eve.
Genesis 3:22-24.
And the Lord God said, The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.
So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.
After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
Judgements that have already occurred.
Genesis 3:16–19.
To the woman he said, I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.
To Adam he said, Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, You must not eat from it,
Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow, you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.
Romans 8:20–24.
For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the Firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope, we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have?
(Genesis 7:17–24).
God sent a worldwide flood in judgment of mankind’s sin in Noah’s time. The flood destroyed all of mankind and the animal world, except for Noah and his family, whose faith led them to obey God’s command to build the ark.
The judgment at the Tower of Babel.
(Genesis 11:5–9). Noah’s post-flood descendants remained in one location in defiance of God’s command, so God confused their language, causing them to disperse over the earth.
Genesis 11:5–9.
But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language, they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.
So, the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
The ten plagues against Egypt at the time of the exodus were “mighty acts of judgment” against a stubborn, cruel king and an idolatrous people and their gods.
Exodus 12:12.
On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord.
Exodus 7:3-5.
But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites.
And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.
Isaiah 53 v 6 to 8.
We all like sheep have gone astray each of us has turned to his own way and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all, he was oppressed and afflicted yet he did not open his mouth he was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is silent so he did not open his mouth by oppression and judgement he was taken away…….for the transgression of my people he was stricken.
Matt 16 v 18
On this rock I will build my Church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it.
Revelation 1:18.
I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
Judgements.
Day of Grace
The Church Age
Tribulation
7 years
Millennium
1000 years
Judgement of The Cross.
Self-Judgement of The Believer.
There are two types of examination we are told to do in Scripture.
Firstly we are instructed to examine ourselves to see if we really are Christians.
2 Corinthians 13:5.
Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you, unless indeed you fail the test?
Lamentations 3:40. Let us examine and probe our ways, And let us return to the LORD.
Lamentations 3:40-48.
Let us examine our ways and test them and let us return to the Lord. Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven and say:
We have sinned and rebelled and you have not forgiven. You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us; you have slain without pity. You have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through. You have made us scum and refuse among the nations.
All our enemies have opened their mouths wide against us. We have suffered terror and pitfalls, ruin and destruction. Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed.
Secondly, Christians are told to examine themselves as they come to the Lord’s table or they will face God’s discipline.
The Corinthian church were having “Love Feasts” and were getting drunk and being gluttons.
1 Corinthians 11 v 28-30
Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup.
For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.
That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.
1 Corinthians 11 v 28-32.
For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.
But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.
There are 3 things that are necessary for self-examination.
You need a mirror.
You need to be able to see.
You need light, you will see nothing in the darkness.
We don’t get up in the morning and go to work or to Church without looking in the mirror to wash our face, shave, brush our teeth, comb our hair or do our make-up, yet we do it spiritually?
Hebrews 4:12-13.
For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Self examination is a waste of time unless you do something about what you see, take action.
James 1:23-25
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.
But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
2 Corinthians 3:18 ASV
But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:18 AMP
And we all, with unveiled face, continually seeing as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are progressively being transformed into His image from [one degree of] glory to [even more] glory, which comes from the Lord, [who is] the Spirit.
No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.
This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.
1 John 3:6-10.
No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.
1 John 3:6-10.
No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.
This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.
1 John 3:15.
Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.
Matthew 5:28.
But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Isaiah 43:8
Lead out those who have eyes but are blind, who have ears but are deaf.
Ezekiel 12:2
Son of man, you are living among a rebellious people. They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people.
Jeremiah 5:21
Hear this, you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear.
Mark 4:23-25. He who has ears to hear let him hear. Consider carefully what you hear, with the measure you use it will be given to you and even more.
He who hears will be given more, he who does not hear even that which he has will be taken away.
Isaiah 6:1-8.
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? And I said, Here am I. Send me!
He said, Go and tell this people: Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving. Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.
Matthew 13:13,14.
This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah.
Matthew13:13-15..
You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.
Jesus said the Pharisees were blind leaders of the blind.
John 9:39-41.
Jesus said, For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.
Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, What? Are we blind too?
Jesus said, If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.
Matthew 7:1-5.
Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, Let me take the speck out of your eye, when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?
You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
Galatians 6:1-4.
Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted……
If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else.
The only explanation for us judging others, is that we have never seen the deceptiveness of our own heart and our need for Grace.
Mark 4:21-25.
Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead don’t you put it on it stand? For what is hidden is meant to be disclosed and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought into the open.
If anyone has ears to hear , let him hear. Consider carefully what you hear, he continued. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you and even more. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.
1 John 2:8-11.
At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.
But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
1 Corinthians 5:1-5.
It is reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate:
A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this?
For my part, even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this.
So, when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.
1 Timothy 1:18-20.
Timothy, my son, I am giving you this command in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by recalling them you may fight the battle well, holding on to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith.
Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.
1Corinthians 6:1-2 &4-5.
If any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord’s people? Or do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases?...
Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, do you ask for a ruling from those whose way of life is scorned in the church? I say this to shame you.
Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers?
1 Corinthians 7:1-3.
If any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord’s people?
Or do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases?
Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!
The Greek word for “judge,” krino, also means “to rule or govern.”
Luke 22:28-30.
You are those who have stood by me in my trials. And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
1 Corinthians 15 v 51 & 52:
Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.
For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will
be changed.
Grace
7 yr Tribulation
1000 yr Millennium
Eternity
Rapture
Judgement of the Believers
2nd Advent
Judgement of the Nations
Great White Throne Judgement of the wicked
Jesus Reigns
The Anti-Christ Reigns
Man
Reigns
New Heavens & New Earth