The Resurrection

Well, good evening.

Open up your Bibles to Psalm 16. Psalm 16. I want to open up with this psalm to kind of get us right in thinking about the resurrection. This is the resurrection. So before we dive into — you know, we're here studying the scriptures, and I think sometimes it can come across as we're getting into a systematic theology where it can be very academic pretty quickly. I think going to the Psalms here right out of the get-go, to what this resurrection — the weightiness of the resurrection — is, what it means, and with that sort of thing, will help us get our minds wrapped around here with the resurrection. So read with me as I read aloud in Psalm 16.

"Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in You. I said to the Lord, You are my Lord. I have no good besides You. As for the saints who are in the earth, they are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight. The sorrows of those who have bartered for another god will be multiplied. I shall not pour out their drink offerings of blood, nor will I take their names upon my lips. The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup. You support my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me. I will bless the Lord who has counseled me. Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night. I have set the Lord continually before me because He is at my right hand. I will not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad and my glory rejoices. My flesh also will dwell securely, for You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. You will make known to me the path of life. In Your presence is fullness of joy. In Your right hand, there are pleasures forever."

That's Psalm 16.

And so when we're thinking about this, we're reflecting on our lives. You may be young right now. You may be old and thinking about your life. I know as I've turned 47 in October, looking back — you know, growing up — you think you've got your whole life in front of you; you're not even thinking about what it's gonna be like after you die. And so then you get a little bit older and there are some things that you can and cannot do, and you start learning some things about different limitations on what you are able to do. And you have so much fewer resources to be able to do what you want to do. And then as you live even a little longer, you see others around you fall away into this unknown area of life that we are not really exposed to here in this biological life outside of scripture. And so you probably start to wonder around that time, when is my time? When is my time where I'm gonna be confronted with this point of death and then be faced with this moment of truth — will I be resurrected? Will I not be?

What is this all gonna look like? All that's gonna come into a realization where your faith will become sight; your faith will be no longer faith, it will be realized. And so here, at this time and in this part of life, we can reflect and we can study about what the resurrection is. In that point of pondering and thinking about that appointed time that God has for each and every one of us, death is a weakness — it is a weakness of us in our sinful nature. It is a natural penalty that God has given to us ever since Genesis 3 to all men. And so we are forced to come into this reality of understanding the resurrection and what this really means, and what does scripture say.

We're gonna learn of two different types of resurrections — two different types of resurrections — and it's all over scripture. We're gonna go over that in depth. There's a resurrection for those who are the just and a resurrection for the unjust. And what scripture says about these. So read with me in point one, and we'll get the blanks settled and we'll come around to this thought here.

Point number one: at the second coming of Christ, there will be a resurrection of the body for the just and the unjust. The resurrection is a reunion of the body to the soul from which it has been separated during the intermediate state. We studied about the intermediate state a couple lessons ago. Last lesson was the second coming, and the intermediate state was right before that. The just will be resurrected to life and a body like Christ's. The unjust will be resurrected to eternal condemnation.

So here we see this connection between the intermediate state — that's where the soul is separated from the body — and then we have the resurrection where now the soul is given a new body. The just is given a body of life, everlasting life. And the body of the unjust — that's a resurrected body — will receive a body of condemnation. So those are the black and white right out of the gate here in point number one. And so in 1 Corinthians 15:52, it says, "In a moment" — that's a key phrase — "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed." So I feel like the natural application for this is: praise God that believers in Christ will rise again.

We'll go right into section two. Read with me as I read point number two. And if you look at point number two and point number three, we're gonna go over how the Old Testament testifies about the resurrection, and then point three, we'll get into how the New Testament does that. To conceptually get your head around here, point number two and point number three kind of go together. But point number two is: the Old Testament testified to the resurrection. Jesus taught that Exodus 3:6 testified of the resurrection, found in Matthew 22.

And that Matthew 22 passage is at the point where Jesus is talking to the Sadducees, and Jesus makes a point and teaches them. By the way, it's also found in Luke 20 — it's the same passage if you look at Luke 20 and Matthew 22. But Jesus tells them — where Moses pointed out — that the Sadducees believed in the Pentateuch, right? So Jesus is saying, "What you believe in, I'm gonna quote this and I'm gonna explain this to you. I'm gonna teach you about the resurrection in the scriptures that you say that you believe in." And so He points out that Moses quoted God and said, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Jacob, and the God of Isaac." And you all know that those patriarchs were done in Genesis before Moses, so they were dead. And that's why when Jesus said, "I am not the God of the dead but I am the God of the living." And so Jesus points out there with the resurrection to the Sadducees — to the leaders who did not believe in the resurrection — Jesus confronted this idea with the Sadducees, risked His whole reputation, right? Talking to these elite religious leaders, He points to them how they are wrong. And they walked away pretty impressed; they didn't challenge Him after that, if you keep reading there in Matthew 22.

To read back in point number two here: Peter said that Psalm 16 verse 9 — and that's the psalm we just read in Psalm 16, but down in verse 9, which is where Peter said Psalm 16 verse 9 — spoke of Christ's resurrection. And that was done in Acts chapter 2, there in verses 26 and 27. And then Hebrews testifies that the Old Testament saints looked forward. Hebrews — and that's done in the Hall of Faith there in chapter 11, where it lists person after person referring back to the Old Testament and how they looked forward to the resurrection. And so these are New Testament recordings with apostolic authority and Christ Himself pointing back to how the resurrection applied and was taught and inspired back in the Old Testament.

And so there's a list of more passages there for you in the Old Testament. Actually, flip over on the back. Let me read Psalm 73 verse 21 and 24, there on the bottom left side of your page.

"Thus, my heart was grieved and I was vexed in my mind. I was so foolish and ignorant. I was like a beast before You. Nevertheless, I am continually with You. You hold me by my right hand. You will guide me with Your counsel." And here's the part where it refers to the resurrection: "And afterward receive me to glory."

There in the Psalmist in Psalm 73. And like those other passages, we read in Job where Job points out, "For I know that my Redeemer lives." And then Daniel 12 verse 2 points out some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt. So there you are in the same context pointing out the two resurrections — there's two everlastings. There's everlasting life and there's everlasting contempt. So two resurrections there pointed out in the Old Testament in Daniel 12 verse 2.

Oh, I'm sorry, I haven't gotten to that yet — that last point there. Resurrection was thus a common belief — resurrection was thus a common belief among Jews before the New Testament was written.

All right, yeah, I skipped that a little bit there.

This leads us to our application: how can belief in the resurrection comfort a man like Job? And you think about Job's life and the situation that he found himself in, and that the Lord put him through, and that he can still shout out — "For I know" — meaning that the belief in the resurrection — "for I know that my Redeemer lives." So how can belief in the resurrection comfort a man like Job in the time of where he was at, and he can still shout out, "For I know that my Redeemer lives"?

And if you think about the state that he was in, I was reflecting on this and I think about where Jesus quoted in the Beatitudes, the first Beatitude in Matthew 5 verse 3, where He said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." And then there in Psalm 73, where we just read, the Psalmist is in a very hard state and he says, "And afterward receive me to glory." So there's a willingness to suffer, there's a willingness to push through, and yet there's an acknowledgement of the resurrection. There's an acknowledgement and a security that you know the Lord's gonna take care of me, the Lord's gonna see me through this. And so there's a pushing through, and so there's a comfort in believing in the resurrection.

All right, section three. This is now how the New Testament testifies. The New Testament testifies to the resurrection more abundantly as it testifies of the climax of God's revelation in the death, burial, and resurrection of God the Son incarnate. Let me just keep reading here. Jesus testified of the resurrection in all those lists in Matthew, John — a ton of John passages there. So the next one is: the apostles preached the resurrection ceaselessly, and you see a bunch of Acts and Paul's epistles there. It is something to be studied.

I know in John 11:25, Jesus Himself said, "I am the resurrection and the life." You can't ignore it — it's plain to see right here in the New Testament. This is like the easiest point to put together. It's like all over the New Testament.

In Acts 24, there on the front, in Acts 24 verses 14 through 15, these are great, great scriptures here. "But this I confess to you, that according to the way which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things that are written in the law and in the prophets. I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust."

Right, so there again we have in the same context the two resurrections of the just and the unjust. Why do you think it's important for the apostles to preach the resurrection? And I think that's found right here in the application. When you think about why did the apostles preach and how it was important to preach, the application here is: is there a gospel apart from the resurrection?

The gospel is the person and the work of Christ. The person being His incarnation — being that He was God in human flesh — and the work being His righteous life, His obedient death, His burial, and His resurrection. It is a complete gospel in that way, the person and the work of Christ. On the back there in Romans, Romans 8 verse 11, down on the bottom left: "But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you."

What a wonderful truth to be able to understand the resurrection in the context of how important it is to be able to share the gospel and to lift His name up in this way. It's not just like any other point of doctrine that helps support the gospel. No, it is part of the gospel. To understand the completeness of what the work of Christ did — that leads us here to point four.

When we get into the person and the work of Christ, this leads us to really understanding the nature of Christ. The nature of Christ's resurrection was literal and physical. It happened in time and space. It happened to the God-man who was able to feel, who was able to see, who was able to touch, who was able to communicate. He was hearing other people's words. He felt pain on the cross and He suffered and He prayed to God. He did all these things in time and space. It was very much a literal recording in the gospels. How great a gift on this side of the cross to be able to have the scriptures, to have a recording.

The Christ resurrection was literal and physical. So you have there in Luke 24:39 and John 20:27, where after Jesus met up with His disciples, He pointed to His scars and His nail marks. It was a bodily resurrection. It wasn't a spiritual resurrection — it was a bodily resurrection. He conquered death and was given a new life, a new body. And He remembered the apostles. He had a very similar mindset of what they cared about and what their concerns were. It wasn't just like a totally new person. This is a resurrected Jesus that lived there. And so in those two verses there in Luke 24 and in John 20, those are great recordings for that.

Let me keep reading the point here. His resurrected body had continuity with His body as shown in the marks of His crucifixion. Christ's body in His resurrection was not fully glorified before His ascension. Yet His resurrected body had undergone remarkable change. Christ's resurrection determines the nature of the resurrection of those united to Him. Christ is the firstfruits of the resurrection, and 1 Corinthians 15:20. United to Christ, we are vitally connected to Him. Christ's resurrection draws in its train the resurrection of those united to Him through faith. God through His Spirit will raise up our mortal bodies, and we already read in Romans 8 verse 11.

The denial of the believer's resurrection leads to the denial of the reality of Christ's resurrection. The application for this is: if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile — you are still in your sins. And then on the back, flip over to 1 Corinthians 15, on the upper right-hand corner, 1 Corinthians 15 verses 20 and 21: "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."

"Until the times of restoration of all things which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began."

There's a great song from the Messiah that lifts this up in song. I think as it's intended to be read and sung and believed and worshiped — about how "for since by man came death" — it's a very solemn type of tune. And then it says, "But by man" — Man being capitalized, referring to Christ — "also came the resurrection of the dead." And so right there in the same context, we have that even though God has bound us with this curse, He has given us a Savior. And it's the Savior not just to forgive us of our sins but to resurrect us as He was. And so we share with Him in Christ only by grace through faith.

And then back on the front, we'll go over point number five. Believers who are living at Christ's coming will receive glorified bodies without passing through death. Both the body and the outward world will be created anew, rehabilitated and fitted for holy habitation.

This glorified body — being in a new world, a new habitation that is holy — it's something to be marveled at. There's really no way to describe it but to read scripture. I don't know how you teach glorification without just reading scripture. So on the back, 1 Thessalonians 4:17, these are glorious scriptures. 1 Thessalonians 4:17:

"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."

And then in 2 Peter, chapter 3, verse 7 and 10 through 13. Let me read this whole thing. This kind of puts the last verse in context.

"But the heavens and the earth, which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise and elements will melt with fervent heat. Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness? Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells."

We're gonna get a little bit more into our glorified bodies here, I think in the next section. But these are just great, great passages to come to. So let me read the application for this: how does the resurrection give us hope for the future?

It gives us hope. It's according to His promise. It's according to His word, and we can have that certainty that that will not be the end. And it's a very good thing to be able to come around to this truth.

Section six here kind of gets into this a little bit more. I'm gonna kind of dwell on this section in the context of also number five. The resurrected body is called glorified because it is the completion of what God began when He elected us to His glory, there in Romans 8:29 through 30. Glorification is the complete redemption of our body and soul in perfect fellowship with God forever. We will be in total conformity to Christ. Christ will share His infinite glory with His finite image bearers. We will be without sin, separation, and suffering.

So, Christian, let us think about what this means for just a minute. Let's just pause and think about what an everlasting life would be like without sin. I think it's worth just kind of pausing and thinking about that for just a moment. Maybe even like — you walk away here tonight — no more selfish motives, no more dirty thoughts floating in your head, no more need for repentance because you'll already be glorified. You have nothing to repent from. You will be with God in perfect fellowship forever. There's gonna be no need to turn from sin because there will not be any thought, word, or deed that comes from your soul that is sinful. It will be glorified, and it will all be by His grace and for our good.

This is the reason why we study the truths about God. When we're in fellowship with Him forever, we as Christians need to get to know Him if we're gonna be with Him forever, right? This is temporary, where we're at right now. We're gonna read, I think here in a minute, about our citizenship being in heaven. And so when we think about this, Christian — about us, we're going to be with Him forever — we need to prepare now. This is what we're doing: we're digging into His word and we're getting to know Him, and we're gonna be in complete unity and conformity with Christ without sin. It's just an amazing thing.

I think one of the closest things that God has given to us here on earth is through marriage. And what a wonderful thing it is to be able to get to know someone before you're married, right? And to be able to look for that unity, to look forward to that — or even just, if not married, to look at a good marriage and see how that reflects Christ, that there's unity, conformity in Christ, there's a fulfillment there. When I think about being married to Rebecca, I wanted to get to know her before we were married. And so it's kind of like a "duh" thing to be able to do. Like, before we go to heaven, before we are joined together in unity and perfect conformity with God, we need to get to know Him. And He's given us His word to be able to get to know Him, to search the scriptures, to piece these doctrines together, to get to know Him. He has revealed this for that purpose — that we would grow in grace, that we would be sanctified, and that we would become more holy and conform to the image of His Son.

This is kind of a no-brainer for the Christian, right? But we can so easily get distracted. We can so easily — the things of this world get us too busy. How important it is to be able to grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus.

So the application for section six is: is your glorification uncertain? Is your glorification uncertain?

I couldn't help but think about — just, I just recently prepared for the sermon. A week and a half ago. And one of the truths was to be able to say that our assurance of salvation is linked to God's word. And so when we think about, is our glorification uncertain? Let's go to Romans 8 verse 30 and then Philippians 1:6.

In point number six, in Romans 8, it talks about that link: those who are predestined are called, and those who are called are justified, and those who are justified will be glorified. There's a certainty there, right? There's a certainty in being found in His election — that this was God's plan all along to do that. And so we grow in this knowledge of grace. We grow in this certainty that we will one day be glorified. Not because of what we have done, not because of the choices that I've made, but by His grace and His mercy that He would save a wretch like me, right? And I think that's one of the things that we would need to do to come around to this: our assurance of salvation is linked to His word. And then in Philippians 1:6, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. He will do that. He will bring it to completion — He will bring it to glorification. And so we can have certainty in this, in your glorification as a Christian, as a follower of Christ, as someone who repents and believes in the gospel.

And this leads us to section seven here.

"The resurrection of the just and unjust takes place at the second coming of Christ. The dead will be raised together, but to two different ends." The just will be resurrected to life in a glorified body to always be with the Lord. Their body and soul are reunited in an act of Christ's redemption.

And we know redemption is a buying back of what was once His. He was once the owner — it's a buying back, it's a redemption, it's a being redeemed. To redeem is to buy back something that was once yours. And so their body and soul are reunited in an act of Christ's redemption to which He shares His glory with them.

The unjust — right, this is the second resurrection, or the other resurrection, I should say. Two different peoples, right? The just and the unjust. The unjust will be resurrected to eternal death. Their body and soul will be reunited as an act of divine justice by Christ the judge. They will suffer the penalty of everlasting death.

So here I wanted to kind of unpack a very sobering truth. As we think about the wonders and the glory of being glorified in Christ, we have to think about at the same time — while we're in this earth — God has a purpose for us to be able to understand this resurrection of the unjust. And I believe that there is no movie, there are no images or videos that we can even comprehend, that is more horrific than this everlasting death that will be experienced in a body that will endure decay. It will endure the pain in an everlasting way. It will be a new body that will last a lifetime of torment.

This is something that I think we need to dwell on, because this is what Jesus taught. He taught more on hell. There are around six times where I saw the phrase in the Gospel of Matthew where He says there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And we have to understand — if we're going to teach and preach the Bible, we need to teach and preach hell. We need to teach and preach judgment.

It's important to be able to come around to this, because universally we all deserve it. And we all know that we belong in this everlasting torment. Because when I think about this glorification and reflect on it, I think about who am I? Who am I to be joined in unity and perfect conformity in Christ, to have an everlasting life with not a care in the world, with no sin — nothing floating in my head — at that everlasting moment? It's something to be marveled at and wondered about, but at the same time we must learn and understand the truth about this resurrection of the unjust. This is a very important part to understand.

So these next four points and the bullet points kind of break this idea down and help us decipher between the two resurrections. And so point number one here, under section seven: the resurrection of the just and the unjust is one event. This is clearly stated in scripture in Daniel 12:2, John 5:28-29, Acts 24:15, 1 Corinthians 15:52, and Revelation 20:13-15.

These passages describe the resurrection as one event in the plainest of terms. They do not include the slightest hint of separating the rising of the just and unjust by any amount of time.

So flip over on the back and we'll get into the scripture here on the bottom right corner. We have a ton of scripture to cover here from point seven. Very important. First of all, from this point one, we'll get into John 5:26 through 29.

"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" — it's going back to one event — "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." And let's find out if it's just one resurrection or both. It says, "Those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation."

And then I'm just gonna go through these. Acts 24:15: "I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust." They're in the same context — both resurrections of the dead are spelled out very clearly. 1 Corinthians 15:52: "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye" — we read this at the beginning. This is a great context with groups of passages there in 1 Corinthians 15. "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet" — meaning at the one event — "for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed."

And then in Revelation 20:11 through 15: "The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire."

All that supports that first bullet point. So turn back over on the front. We'll cover the second bullet point. The resurrection of believers is directly connected with Christ's second coming.

Flip back over on the back and we'll go down to the list here in 1 Corinthians 15:23: "But each one in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming." So specifically calling it out at His coming. This is in the New Testament, after He had come, talking about His coming, referring back to His second coming. And then in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 through 17: "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven 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." And that is also referring to His second coming — how the resurrection and the second coming are connected.

All right, that's point number two. And then point number three: the resurrection of believers is also taught repeatedly by Christ to take place at the end of the world, also known as the last day. On this day — meaning one event on this day, referring to a moment in time — the just and the unjust will rise from the grave to stand before Christ the judge.

All right, now flip back over. On the back in John 6:39 and 40, the Lord says, "This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me, I should lose nothing but should raise it up in the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day."

And then in John 6:44: "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day." And then 10 verses later in that same chapter, Jesus says, "Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."

And the fourth bullet point here reads that the resurrection of the just and the unjust both take place at the second coming of Christ, and this is also proved in 2 Thessalonians 1:7 through 10.

This passage clearly states — well, let me read this and then we'll talk about the rest of that. So flip back over on the back, the very last verse there on the bottom, 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, verses 7 through 10:

"And to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes in that day, in that day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed."

And so we see there that passage is important. And let's continue reading here on the front. We're explaining a little bit more of this passage. And you'll notice some of these terms that we covered last lesson. So to kind of unpack some of these terms further, just go back to your notes from last lesson on the second coming. But this particular 2 Thessalonians 1:7 through 10 says, "This passage clearly states in verse 7 the revelation" — which is the apokalupsis, describing Christ's unveiling as He comes for His saints — "is in direct conjunction with the judgment of the wicked in verses 8 through 9, coinciding with His coming."

How do you pronounce that, pastor — is it para, parousia? Okay, thank you. I did not know how to pronounce that one.

But it's coinciding with His coming to be present with His church in verse 10. This is called the day of the Lord, or the last day.

I don't have much to say to that except for what the scriptures say about the moment of the last day. And so this leads us to the application for this: do the resurrection and the day of the Lord move you to serve? You know, you're thinking about it — that there will come a time where there will be one event, and this life as we know it will all be over. It will either come with our biological death or it will come at Jesus' second coming. This is a certainty. And so this should not compel us to sit still and let bygones be bygones or whatever. This should cause us to hurry up. This should cause us to feel the urgency of the gospel. This should cause us — those who do not know Christ, we need to be able to tell them about Christ. Very, very important that this would compel us to serve and to follow in obedience.

All right, the last point here. Premillennialists assert that the resurrection of the just is followed by a thousand-year period before the resurrection of the unjust takes place. This is chiefly based on their interpretation of Revelation 20 verses 1 through 6. And we will study this thoroughly in lessons 15 through 17, so a little bit further away.

And I think that point we wanted to put in front of you to kind of give you some context, right, of one particular view on how the two resurrections get interpreted in the context of when things may happen. And so we know that as we study scripture — especially when we talk about eschatology as far as when, especially when we read where Jesus Himself says only the Father knows — when we're doing eschatology and we're trying to figure out when this one event is gonna take place with the second coming, we study using a pencil, right? I think that's a good analogy to think about.

When we're studying, you're gonna read a verse and that's gonna stand out to you a lot. And then you're gonna read another verse and be like, "Well..." — you're gonna weigh different types of scripture. But there are certainties that we have gone over: that there will be a resurrection of the just and that there will be a resurrection of the unjust. But to help us understand that as a collection of believers, we are all united in Christ — we can all unite in our soteriology — that we as Christians here in this church are united with Him, that we will be in heaven, we will meet Him in the air, and we will be with Him forever. And this is a glorious truth to settle on. And it's also exciting to think about the one event, to study all these different views and come around to this. Makes for a great discussion around the church. So I love that we're doing this and I'm excited to continue. So thank you for letting me help explain and unpack this idea of the resurrection a little bit. Hopefully it's encouraging to you as it has been for me.

Oh, thank you, Jimmy — I can always count on you.

Application for the last point: you also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.