Brief Reflections on Our Statement of Faith: #10 The Future

Article 10. – The Future.

We believe in the personal and bodily return of our Lord Jesus Christ. The coming of Christ, at a time known only to God, demands constant expectancy and, as our blessed hope, motivates the believer to godly living, sacrificial service and energetic mission.

We believe that the souls of those who have trusted in Christ pass immediately into His presence at the moment physical death occurs, and remain in conscious spiritual joy until the resurrection of the glorified body when Christ comes for His own, whereupon soul and body reunited shall be associated with Him forever. The souls of unbelievers who have died physically remain conscious of condemnation and in misery until the final judgment, when soul and body reunited shall be cast into the Lake of Fire to be punished with everlasting destruction (Luke 16:19-26; 23:42; 2 Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9; Jude 1:6-7; Revelation 20:11-15).

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Paul writes to the Romans,

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. (Romans 8:18-19)

When the apostle Paul looks toward the future, he sees a glory stored up for believers which is so great that all current sufferings seem trivial in comparison. Which might seem easy to say, until you consider the suffering this man has endured. Shipwrecked, snakebitten, stoned and left for dead, severely flogged, abandoned by close friends, in agony over the false teachers leading away those whom he considers his spiritual children, and suffering from a thorn in flesh, the nature of which is uncertain. Physical, emotional, and spiritual pain were all close companions of Paul during his ministry. And yet he considers them as not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. That's stunning.

Verse 19 says that the revealing of God's sons (reffering to both men and women, but "son" has the theological significance of someone who had the right to receive an inheritance) is something for which the very creation itself waits with eager longing. Why? Paul goes on to say that God subjected the creation in hope (a certainty here, not hope as in wish) that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. The freedom of creation is tied to th children of God having glory revealed to them. And the glory that will be revealed to God's children is their own glory.

We can piece together other Scriptures and see that we will have glorified, resurrection bodies (1 Corinthians 15); when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:2); and God will create a new heavens and a new earth where the glorified and freed children of God will live with him forever (Revelation 21).

The eternal hope of the Christian is not that God will left our disembodied soul into an eternal state of boredom. Not do we receive new bodies simply to take up harp playing. Rather, we are remade by Christ with new bodies, with souls not only forgiven of sin but cleansed of it as well. The resultant glory results not only in freedom for redeemed humanity, but freedom for the creation over which God made us his stewards and which has been suffering our curse since Genesis 3.

What awaits the believer in Christ? Boredom, lifeless drudgery in a stale heaven? No. Eternal joy, incomprehensible glory in the physical presence of Christ eternally.