A Study of Eschatology

Revelation 21 - 22

As we continue to look at our existence of life with Christ in the New Heavens and earth our excitement over the reality of living forever should increase. There is real evidence that in the Bible of Resurrection since we can observe the resurrected body of Jesus Christ during His appearance for forty days here on earth before His return to heaven. Notice Luke 24:39 and John 20:27. These appearances are not recorded as an experience of one person, but of many.

Some alternate spiritual groups or religions may claim to give a new existence after death, but one must understand the fine print. These religions do not offer a person their real body, but a virtual one. You know, one of a cow or some other animal, spirit or some other form of unknown life. These religions teach a person to believe that a virtual existence is all they will need to live again.

But the New Heavens and Earth do not offer us that kind of existence. Simply put; if our New home is one hundred percent real then we too will be one hundred percent real. Our existence will be just as real as the existence of Christ. The apostle John motivates us to purify ourselves daily because when we see Him (Jesus) we shall be just like Him. This is a confidence that all believers in Jesus Christ should have. 1 John 3:2-3

When Jesus rose from the dead, He was recognized. John 20:11-18. And from a short distance off shore the apostle John recognized Jesus as the One talking with them. John 21:7-8. Since Jesus is risen and true here in the event, it will be just as real and true for those who are of faith. (Galatians 2:20) We know these things are true through the substance of faith. Hebrews 11:1 and as we continue to grow in faith the evidence becomes clearer with each observation. 1 Corinthians 13:12

One more thought about living an eternal life after the death of our temporal life. We spend billions of dollars annually to gain a little more longevity or to maintain our marginal existence. We often do this without regard to our spiritual condition. Our outward appearance may look good, but the inner person is rotting away. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. So with effort to maintain a therapeutic existence we seek to prevent death, thus we lose the temporal battle to enjoy everlasting life. To this day, there has only been one Person to die and come to Life again and that Person is Jesus Christ. The historian; Josephus, born in AD 37 writes in “The Antiquities of the Jews” Chapter 3 and paragraph 3.(63) was condemned to the cross, but appeared alive again after three days to those who loved Him and followed Him. This happened and agreed with the divine prophets who foretold. This event is claimed in the book in footnotes to be; April 3, 0033 and that on April 5, 0033 He was seen as risen from the dead.

Revelation 22:2 refers to the Trees of Life and the healing of the nations. We will not need this food to be holy since we are already holy or we would not be in heaven. The Greek word for healing here is therapeia our English word comes from this word and you guessed it; therapeutic. So the maintenance that these trees offer is enjoyment of this phenomenal life after death. And if you think about it, it is not hard for us to see that the New Heavens and Earth is the rebirth of the Garden of Eden, where the original Tree of Life had been located. A couple of passages in Genesis will help here. Genesis 2:8:17 and compare Genesis 3:20-24. These passages explain several things to us. Before the sinful fall of mankind, man and woman were created to live forever. They did not know or experience good and evil. If and when mankind chose to experience G and E they would die.

Mankind was not created dumb, they were created in the image and likeness of God, they would have figured out that by eating of the Tree of Life that it was therapeutic to maintain life, so God drove them out of the Garden. When the Garden returns, it will return with many Life maintenance Trees, added to this will be the Life giving waters of Revelation 22:1.

This is not my personal view of life after death, I do not hold a personal view, but what I do hold is a solid faith that it is impossible for God to lie and that His Word promises three truths about real eternal supernatural life after our real temporal natural life is over.

The first truth is that in order to have real eternal supernatural life your name you have in the real temporal natural life must be written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Revelation 21:27.

The second truth is that in order to have and maintain an eternal supernatural life, you must have daily access to the river of Life that is located in the New Heavens and Earth. Revelation 22:1

The third truth is that in order to have a therapeutic and everlasting existence, nations of faithful people will have access to the fruits of these trees. Revelation 22:2

So someone also said in scripture that there will be rewards in Heaven. Matthew 5:12. The statement of Jesus that there will be reward in heaven is not profound, since other religions offer reward too. But what is profound is that most of us believers in Jesus are not really looking for reward and it sort of makes us nervous to think about laying claim to a reward when spiritually we are living in Christ out of a faithful experience of love for Him.

The lure of reward seems then to be illogical and morally wrong, but the truth is that this logic is incorrect and is on the verge of corrupting our Spiritual walk. Look at it this way, the Bible does not defend the concept of reward as religions often do: rather, the idea of reward is accepted to be a supernatural reality in eternity. That is to say that the religions of the world around us do not offer anything supernaturally. The rewards of religions are based on natural reward.

Psalm 58:11; Psalm 62:12; Hebrews 6:10-12; Luke 18:29-30; Mark 9:41 and Mark 10:29-30.

In our natural life, we cannot expect to receive a reward of 100 percent, taxes and other expenses always seem to take away from the real thing. However, God promises a reward of a hundredfold when we serve Him. Different from religion is the truth that God begins this rewarding process even while we yet live in this physical body.