The Simple Answers… To Life’s Most Important Questions.
Bible Study Course Lesson 1 – 16
These lessons have taken you through a journey of discovery about our awesome destiny. You’ve learned that heaven and hell are pagan concepts, which pale in comparison to the wondrous promises God has in store for us. But you still haven’t heard the best part! You’ve learned what we will be LIKE, but you haven’t learned what we will be DOING!
Once we die and are resurrected with a spirit body, immortal, what will we be like? 1 John 3:2. Can God be tempted to sin? James 1:13. If we’re like Him when we are resurrected (born of God), will it be possible for US to be tempted to sin? 1 John 3:9. Why is that? 2 Peter 1:4. At that point when we are filled with the divine nature, will this scripture finally be fulfilled? Ephesians 4:13. And finally we will be made perfect? Hebrews 12:23.
So we will be like God, incorruptible, immortal; but what will we be DOING? After the battle of Armageddon what will the “Ancient of Days” (God) do? Daniel 7:21-22. After Jesus takes over Earth’s government, what does He do with it? Daniel 7:27. And how long will they rule in the kingdom? Daniel 7:18.
What does He promise to the individual saints? Revelation 2:26-27. When Jesus rides out of heaven, followed by the resurrected saints, and puts down the war Satan has stirred up and takes possession of the kingdom, after that battle the very first thing we see being done is God giving “thrones” to those righteous who had been resurrected (Revelation 20:4-6).
And God gives JUDGMENT to them – they are given AUTHORITY! And as Daniel was told, the saints then possess the kingdom! They now rule the universe – under Jesus and the Father of course, who gave them this kingdom!
Did Jesus promise to give us these thrones? Revelation 3:21. What did He promise our enemies would do, after we were resurrected and put on these thrones? Revelation 3:9. Did He promise thrones to the twelve apostles? Matthew 19:28. And what will we be ruling over, specifically? Luke 19:17. Will this authority place us even over the angels? 1 Corinthians 6:3.
So what will our job be, specifically? Revelation 1:5-6. And where will we, these “kings and priests” be reigning – will we be in heaven? Revelation 5:10. What do the meek inherit – heaven? Matthew 5:5. Not only are the dead not now in heaven, but they are NOT GOING to spend eternity in heaven even when they DO awake! They will reign ON THE EARTH! They’re coming HERE! 2
This Earth is the center of the entire plan of God. Why would we want to leave it and go off to heaven? The Father Himself is one day coming here to literally dwell with man! Just as soon as we get the Earth (and man) properly prepared! (Revelation 21:1-4, 1 Corinthians 15:24-28).
YOUR REWARD IN HEAVEN
But then why does Jesus say “great is your reward in heaven”? Matthew 5:12. Doesn’t that mean our reward is to go to heaven to be with Him? What does Jesus promise to the persecuted? Matthew 5:10-12. And the poor in spirit? Matthew 5:3. What did Jesus come to preach? Matthew 4:17. Where are you to store treasures for your future? Matthew 6:20. So Jesus said our reward and our treasures are in heaven… but what are we to inherit? Matthew 5:5.
All these verses speak of having a REWARD in heaven, and storing TREASURES in heaven. But not one says that we GO to heaven and get it! If I have a present for you, I might keep it in my closet; but to get that present, must you go live in that closet? Or can I bring it with me when I COME to you?
Did Jesus go to prepare a place for you? John 14:2-3 After it is prepared, will Jesus TAKE us to it – or will it COME to us? Verse 3. Did Paul say that his reward – his crown – was laid up in heaven? 2 Timothy 4:8. And WHEN does he expect to receive it? (Same verse). When are we made alive? 1 Corinthians 15:22-23.
Most Christians believe we receive our reward “at our GOING to Him”. But the Bible says we receive it “at His COMING”! Is your reward being reserved (or stored) in heaven for you? 1 Peter 1:3-4. But do we have to GO to heaven to get that reward? Revelation 22:12. Will we GO to Jesus to be judged – or will He come to us? Matthew 25:31-33,34 And the righteous dead inherit what? Verse 34.
The “kingdom OF heaven” is not a kingdom IN heaven, as so many believe! It’s a kingdom FROM heaven! And will that heavenly kingdom rule the whole Earth, and stand forever? Daniel 2:44. The righteous inherit the KINGDOM. A kingdom which has been PREPARED IN heaven. But that doesn’t mean that your reward IS going to heaven!
It means that God is preparing a place for you, a job for you to do, in that kingdom! The REWARD is being prepared for you in heaven; the CROWN that God is going to give you awaits you there. And Jesus will bring that crown WITH Him when He comes, and set up the kingdom of heaven here, on the Earth!
WHAT IS OUR JOB?
Too many people seem to think the first resurrection, or “getting saved” is about spending eternity in paradise doing nothing – or perhaps staring blissfully into the face of God for eternity. But let’s face it, that would be boring!
God has not offered you an eternity of boredom in heaven thinking happy thoughts; God has called you to do a job. It involves hard work, heavy responsibility, and will be at times a thankless job – and not everyone would like it.
This is not to say there won’t be ample rewards, and great joys to go along with it (Psalms 16:11). But if you’re expecting to be treated like one of the Greek gods, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. This first resurrection is not about the trophy. It’s not about being served – it’s about being the servant of all.
The future will not have you being surrounded by seventy beautiful women peeling grapes and dropping them into your mouth like some Arabian sultan. The first resurrection is a JOB: Mark 10:42-44,45. Think about that! Your reward is to be a servant! If you don’t like work today, you’ll hate it then too!
Jesus plans to place you in authority over CITIES full of people. The unconverted imagine this to be rather like being a Roman Emperor – living in a palace full of jewels and expensive foods while the common people live in squalor.
But Jesus, “King of Kings”, didn’t come to have us serve Him – but to serve us and give His life for us… And He told us to do the same thing (verse 45). Jesus was our SERVANT! So think about what His life was like (Isaiah 53:1-12), and you’ll understand a little better what your reward will be like – what it can be like when YOU are the servant of a city!
“Serving” them doesn’t necessarily mean you help them get dressed in the morning or you “leave the word of God and wait tables” (Acts 6:2). But it does mean that just as a servant’s time and effort belong to his master, so the time and effort of “the greatest among you” is consumed entirely with caring for, and improving the lives of, his subjects – those he serves. A proper king should do what Solomon did in 2 Chronicles 9:5-8 (especially verse 7).
Are you the servant of God? Ephesians 6:6, 1 Peter 2:16. If you are a part of the first resurrection, will you be given a throne ruling the nations under God? Revelation 20:4. So is God going to exalt you and make you great? 1 Peter 5:6. On what condition? (Same verse). And since God is going to make you great, what will you be doing? Luke 22:26-30.
What is the job of the saved? Revelation 1:6. What does a priest do? Malachi 2:7. Is there a more detailed example? Nehemiah 8:2-8. So that’s what a priest does – what does a king do? 1 Chronicles 11:2-3. So a king feeds the people what? Jeremiah 3:15.
Isn’t that the same as what a priest does? Yes! They do the same thing in general – lead the people to God, show them the truth, help them understand the law… but with one key difference! A priest TEACHES – a king ENFORCES!
The job of a priest is to teach the internal side of the law, so people LEARN to act better. The job of a king is to enforce the external side of the law, so people HAVE to act better!
Was Moses the leader of the Israelites? Isaiah 63:12. What did Moses do with most of his time? Exodus 18:13-16. Does God plan to do the same thing? Psalms 67:4. Was Moses a shepherd? Isaiah 63:11. Is God going to raise up a new shepherd to do this job after His return? Ezekiel 34:22-24. And this shepherd will also be a king? Ezekiel 37:24. But isn’t Jesus the shepherd? John 10:11. How then can David and Jesus BOTH be the “one shepherd”? 1 Peter 5:4.
Note that! Jesus is the CHIEF SHEPHERD! Is God going to lead Israel by Himself, or is He going to have men HELPING Him lead them? Jeremiah 23:4. The saints of the first resurrection will be those pastors God promised so long ago who would lead His people into righteousness!
Moses’ father-in-law saw clearly that Moses couldn’t do this by himself for very long in Exodus 18:13-16. Why not? Exodus 18:17-18. What did he recommend Moses to do instead?Exodus 18:19-23. Did this seem like a good plan to Moses? Exodus 18:24 So was Moses – the greatest among them – the servant of all? And is it possible to get weary being the servant of all? Galatians 6:9.
And to help ease the burden, apparently with God’s consent (Exodus 18:23), did Moses spread out the burden among many chosen, able men? Exodus 18:25-26. And is that not the SAME PATTERN God has set up for the first resurrection? Carefully handpicked people, thoroughly tested and proven trustworthy, to be kings and priests? To RULE, and to JUDGE, and to TEACH righteousness?
TESTED AND PROVEN
Old versions of the Bible used the archaic English words “try” and “prove” to mean the same thing as our modern word “test”. How does God test us in this life? What does He test, specifically? 1 Thessalonians 2:4, Psalms 17:3. How does He test us? Psalms 105:19. So He uses His word – the Bible – to test which part of us? Proverbs 17:3. Is this testing to purify us and get rid of the evil? Daniel 12:10.
This “trying” process; how is it done exactly? James 1:12. Is there a specific example of such a temptation? Hebrews 11:17. What is a temptation? James 1:14. Is this testing process at times unpleasant? Revelation 2:10. What is another purpose of deception (heresy)? 1 Corinthians 11:19.
This life is about learning to make good choices; learning to experience sin, and learning to hate it. You are here to have temptations and deceptions thrown at you by other people, the devil, and just life in general; these tell God what you’re made of, and what you REALLY want. Some of us need more rigorous testing than others because we’re closer to the “reject” line. And God has to be sure of us.
But there is a line beyond which no temptation can cross. 1 Corinthians 10:13. God will ALWAYS leave you a way out – He always has, and always will. You may not have found it, but there always IS a perfect, right thing to do.
Was Jesus likewise tested in this way? Isaiah 28:16. Is Jesus that “corner stone”? Ephesians 2:20. Are there examples of specific temptations He resisted? Luke 4:2-13. But Jesus overcame that, and all the other temptations, and passed the “test”? John 16:33. And does Jesus promise to give us something IF we overcome temptation? Revelation 21:7.
This life is merely the entrance exam for that job promised to us throughout the Bible! Your job in the next life will be to lead others to righteousness; your job in this life is to make sure you are QUALIFIED to do that by first leading YOURSELF to righteousness! Read 2 Corinthians 10:5-6.
WHEN your obedience is filled – when you have PASSED all the tests God feels you need, and overcome the world, and are resurrected, that isn’t the end! That isn’t the goal! It’s only the beginning! It only means you passed the background check and drug test! The real job starts THEN!
LIVING WATERS
What does God promise “those who believe on Him” will receive? John 7:37-38. What do rivers or fountains or, most accurately, springs of “living water” represent? John 7:39. So water symbolically represents the spirit of God? Jeremiah 17:13. What gave life to Adam? Genesis 2:7. That breath of God – is that the spirit of God? Job 33:4. Was it the spirit of God that made Adam alive? John 6:63. BBE translates that last verse “the spirit is the life giver”; compare to Revelation 11:7-11.
So these living springs of waters – resurrected people filled with the spirit of God – give life? Psalms 36:9. God has the “fountain of life” with Him. Can just anyone give life? John 5:25-27. So when the Father gave the Son AUTHORITY, He gave Him “life in Himself” at the same time? John 17:1-3.
Then the Son also became a wellspring of life! After receiving “life in Himself” from His Father, was He then able to resurrect the dead (without His Father’s help)? Revelation 1:18. Can Jesus give someone these living waters which give life? John 4:10-14.
The Father has immortality and the power of life and death; the power to create at will! Jesus had this also, before He became a man (John 1:1). That’s why He’s the Creator! But Jesus gave up His Godhood and all its power to become a man (Philippians 2:5-9). Then, because He lived a perfect life, the Father resurrected Him, and again gave Him this power to give life (Philippians 2:10-11).
This ability to give life, symbolized by “living water”, is the holy spirit of God (John 7:37-39). And Jesus promised in that same passage to give this same water to everyone who believed Him! The use of the “river” means that this spirit will flow out from us, to others! That we will be a SPRING of life spreading the spirit over the world!
That means the creative immortality which the Father possessed and then gave to Jesus, Jesus is planning to pass on to us! Then WE will be a fountain of living water! Then WE will have the power to give life to others! To create life as we choose!
God loves creating, that’s why He does it! And by the Golden Rule, He can prepare no less for us than He would want for Himself! To give us the opportunity to create! Knowing that we would never create anything that would harm others, for we love the Golden Rule as much as He does!
This is what He’d want for Himself, so what else could He give us? And after all, isn’t that the family business? What else would His children do?
I know how shocking this is, but you’ve read the scriptures for yourself! God is building a family with whom to share His Kingdom and His power! And WE are that family, if we fulfill His conditions and make it into the first resurrection! (Galatians 4:6-7).
If you are a son of God, then you are an HEIR OF GOD just as JESUS is an heir of God! You stand to inherit the Kingdom of God alongside Jesus! He is your elder brother, so He will always outrank you, but you will share in the same inheritance God has given Him!
Revelation 3:21 (Weymouth) To him who overcomes I will give the privilege of sitting down with Me on My throne, as I also have overcome and have sat down with My Father on His throne.
When you are born into the Family of God you will have His royal blood in your spiritual veins and as such will be destined to rule as a part of the Family of God for all eternity!
We will prove that our spirit is just and fair in this life; we will prove that we have ears to hear, eyes to see, that we are capable of breathing God’s spirit. That’s all required just to be born! But it takes so much more to be an ADULT in the Kingdom of God!
It will take a lot of training, even after we are given our new body, before we can receive all the promises God’s own golden maxim requires Him to give us! But once we are born, we are as certain to grow up to be like God, as a human baby is certain to grow up to be like its parents!
THE REWARD OF THE SECOND RESURRECTION SAINTS
That is a promise made NOW, available only to those who hear God today, in this crooked and perverse world! The first resurrection is a great reward, and a better resurrection (Hebrews 11:35) – but not the ONLY resurrection!
Those saved in this life will be only a tiny fraction of the billions who have lived and died on this Earth! Many of whom never had a chance to know God. What is their reward? Will they be the peasants that work the land, while the firstfruits feast in the castles? Is that what the Golden Rule says God would do?
Is the first resurrection better? Hebrews 11:35. Is our reward called an inheritance? 1 Peter 1:4. Are we called the firstborn sons of God? Hebrews 12:23. How much more inheritance does the firstborn deserve? Deuteronomy 21:15-17. Does that principle still apply today, to the “elders”? 1 Timothy 5:17.
We are the firstborn – but they will be the rest of the family! The second, third, and fourthborn! But they will still be the children of God. They will still have immortality. They will still be entitled to the love of God and the inheritance of God!
An inheritance that is not a thousand times, nor ten times, less glorious – but exactly half. That is the principle God laid down for our human inheritances, and is He going to do any less for His own heirs?
But while they will be the sons of God, they will never be the firstborn sons of God. That honor will forever belong to those who overcame in this difficult life. We are called to a better reward – to a better resurrection. But the offer is available for a limited time only!
Read Hebrews 12:16-17 carefully. It describes the REWARD that Esau WOULD have inherited from his father! But Esau sold that for a morsel of food, and though he repented bitterly and begged his father to give it to him, his birthright as the elder son was gone! Never to return!
Those precious few – like you – who have been given a chance at salvation now are offered an opportunity to become one of the elder sons of God! If you miss out on this offer, it will never be offered again! (Isaiah 55:6).
If you throw your birthright away and die unsaved, then like the man in 1 Corinthians 5 “the spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus”, and you may be a second-born immortal son of God – but the reward you’re offered today will be gone for good.
But the wonderful, glorious truth is that the second resurrection reward won’t be so bad! Esau was still loved by his father! He still received a good inheritance! And so will all the unsaved who manage to overcome their selfish natures in that day of salvation!
WHY DO WE HAVE RIVERS OF LIVING WATER?
The first resurrection saints will have rivers or fountains of living water flowing out of them. That is both their reward, and their job! The spirit of God flows out of them, signifying that they can bring salvation to OTHERS!
But those rivers of living water are not the reward for the second resurrection people! After counting the saints in the first resurrection in Revelation 7:1-8, the scene shifts in Revelation 7:9-10 to talk about a “great multitude which no man could number”! A great multitude saved of ALL nations, ALL tongues!
But they don’t have RIVERS of living water IN them like the first saints do! They merely DRINK of that water! But one drink of that water is enough! (John 4:10-14). In Revelation 7:16-17 it is clear they are also made immortal without physical needs, after drinking of this water.
But it is also clear that they don’t have the water IN them, so Jesus has to LEAD them to those fountains of living water! To the firstborn saints! Read Isaiah 12:3. NASB translates it “…you will joyously draw water from the springs of salvation”, while YLT says they will get that water “Out of the fountains of salvation” – the rivers of living water flowing out of the belly of the firstfruits!
The “fountains of salvation” are those who are saved in THIS life, and those led to them are those UNSAVED in this life! They are led to those “pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding” (Jeremiah 3:15).
After being resurrected in the second resurrection they are LED during their second life to those rivers of living water, offered a chance to draw out water from the wells of salvation, a chance to be fed with knowledge and understanding by the spirits of just men made perfect! (Hebrews 12:23).
This world is a challenge; God intended it to be one. The purpose of this life is to learn to make right choices in a challenging environment where all the world conspires against you to encourage you to sin. In a world where heresy is the norm and deception is all but overwhelming.
A world where pressures from money, sickness, your family, society, the devil, all add together to pressure you into walking the wide road that leads to destruction like everyone else. But that means if you can overcome this challenge, if you can be the sheep who recognizes Jesus’ voice over all the other voices, you deserve a far greater reward!
On the other hand, it is hard to overcome all those pressures in this life. It is a narrow, difficult road to travel. And God makes it clear it is the MANY who will fail to follow that road, not the few (Matthew 7:13-14, 21-23). Not everyone will make it. And not everyone would like the reward if they DID make it! Being a leader is exhausting; responsibility is stressful!
The next life will be vastly easier. Why? Who will be running the world? Revelation 19:15. And who will be ruling under Him? Daniel 7:27. Will the devil be able to deceive the world? Revelation 20:10. Note this is BEFORE the “great white throne” second resurrection (Revelation 20:11-15)! The devil will be out of the picture for the second resurrection, not able to deceive the nations again!
Without the devil and his minions to deceive the world, without a deceived church spreading a lie on nearly every corner, without a government of corrupt, self-serving politicians, the world will be quite different!
This age is only about saving the best of the best, those who will be leaders in the world to come, those who overcame temptation in the worst times in human history and can be trusted to resist deception and sin for all eternity.
That also means that when we help the rest of the world find salvation, we will understand their weaknesses (Hebrews 4:15). Collectively, the firstborn will have seen and felt the results of every sin imaginable, and know exactly what it will bring. And so we will be in a position to teach the world “the exceeding sinfulness of sin”.
With a world run by saints who love the Golden Rule it will be a LOT easier to obey God! When the “earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the WATERS cover the sea”, and there is no devil to deceive the nations, no false churches to tempt them away, it will be EASIER to bring salvation to the nations. The only enemy left will be the human heart – but don’t underestimate that enemy! (Jeremiah 17:9).
Some might argue that in such a world, EVERYONE would surely choose salvation. But the Bible simply doesn’t teach that – see Revelation 20:15. The human heart is stubborn and “desperately wicked”, and there will be some who, in spite of the best efforts of God and His saints, flatly refuse to repent.
God will never force a person to choose His way, never possess someone and MAKE them obey. Not now, not then. He will never force them to drink that living water. If they develop a taste for flat, chlorinated swamp-water in this life, He will try to reason with them… but if they absolutely will not obey, will not accept God as their King, then they’ll simply receive the wages of sin once and for all.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
Soon, very likely in your lifetime, Jesus will return to rule all nations. When He returns, the saints rise to meet Him in the air, then go to the wedding supper of the Lamb to be accepted by the Father and given authority. Then they return with Christ to the Earth, win the battle of Armageddon, and govern all nations.
But this government won’t be a magical change. God plans to take His time in establishing direct rule over all nations – just as it took Israel time to inherit the physical Promised Land, even after they passed over Jordan (see the book of Joshua). Then a thousand years pass, while the rest of the dead stay dead. During this time, all those left of the nations that battled at Armageddon will be living and dying and having children.
A future lesson will focus on this time period, for now suffice it to say at the end of the Millennium the devil is loosed for a “little season”, then cast in the lake of fire. Afterward the rest of the dead are resurrected and given their first real chance at life.
They will be resurrected, live a full life in a better environment than any offered on this world today, and have a chance to know God without the massive deception that besets us all today. Then if they are saved in that life, they will also inherit immortality, but not the same authority as the first resurrection saints – which is only fair.
The saints overcame in a MUCH more difficult time, so because their challenge was greater, their reward is greater. Twice as great, in fact. But if they are not saved even in that easier time, then when they die a natural death the second time they are simply left dead.
That time, their soul really will be “as water spilled on the ground” (2 Samuel 14:14). Whether the unconscious soul is literally or metaphorically cast in a lake of fire designed to destroy souls doesn’t much matter – the point is they cease to exist forever. Gathering them up would be like turning smoke back into a tree.
This is what the Bible teaches. Jesus said, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). This is a glorious truth, perhaps the greatest single truth a person can know. And this truth frees you of a great burden of worry.
We all have unsaved parents, grandparents, children, friends, loved ones of all sorts who have died. And while we loved them dearly, we know in our heart they weren’t saved and aren’t likely to be a part of the first resurrection.
To know the Bible reveals they are not forever lost, that they are not this moment agonizing in hell, but are resting comfortably awaiting a resurrection to a world of love and truth; what single piece of knowledge could be more comforting?
The Bible openly reveals such a world, clearly and simply. This truth is not hidden, cloaked in mystic symbolism or spiritual phraseology; it screams out from nearly every page of your Bible.
Unlearning a wrong idea is ten times harder than learning a correct one. But in this case at least, it is clear to anyone this is a better way than what you’ve always heard. The rewards for obedience are greater than you’ve ever dared hope, and the rewards for disobedience are first patient, then firm – but always merciful.
God wants all men to be saved – and while He may not get what He wants, you can be certain He won’t give up until He has tried with all His Almighty might… And you can be there to help Him!
Romans 8:16-19 (Murdoch) …we are the sons of God. And if sons, then heirs; heirs of God, and participators of the inheritance of Jesus Messiah …the sufferings of the present time, are not comparable with the glory which is to be developed in us. For the whole creation is hoping and waiting for the development of the sons of God.
All of God’s creation is anxiously awaiting our salvation, our spiritual development into “just men made perfect”, because WE are the next step in His plan to save mankind! We, if we overcome in this life, will be the driving force that brings happiness, peace, prosperity and salvation to this Earth! And after we accomplish that… who knows?
Isaiah 9:7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
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