Many people are largely uncertain as to what will happen in the future as far as their souls and the activity of God.
To begin, I need to go back almost 2,000 years to the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. After Jesus died, He descended into Hell while His body lay in the grave of Joseph of Arimathea, as we confess in the creeds. (For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom, also He went and preached to the spirits in prison (1 Peter 3:18-19, NIV).) We know that this descent was not to complete His suffering, since He said before He died, "It is finished." Therefore it is generally believed that His descent into Hell was a victory march.
On the third day of these events, He rose from the dead, on the day celebrated today as Easter. When He rose, He rose body and soul. Though the holes in His hands, feet, and side remained, His body was perfected and glorified, but it was still the same body, and He even ate fish as a sign of His solid state. He rose fully human and fully God, as He had been since His birth and always will be.
40 days later, He went up into heaven on a cloud, promising to be with us always and promising to return.
Until He returns, we find ourselves in a new era, the era of the church, waiting for His return. The period we are in right now is the "1000 years" figuratively described in Revelation 20. During this time, we do not know when Jesus will return, but we know that when He does, He will be the same Jesus who came, died, rose, and ascended, who comes to us now in His body and blood in Holy Communion. Meanwhile, people continue to die. When we die, we are immediately judged by the Father based on our works. Unfortunately, our works are less than perfect, so we all deserve hell, eternal separation from God's grace. Fortunately, though, God carried out His judgment on Jesus instead when He died on the cross. There, Jesus suffered the full wrath of the Father in our place, even though he's the only one to ever live without sinning. He took our place and got what we deserve, death and infinite torment, the full knowledge that God had "turned His back" on Him. This is why He cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Therefore, when we die, the Father judges us based on the works of Jesus, as if He put His name on our test and our names on his. If we do not reject His gift, we get to live forever with Him. For now, the souls of the dead are either in heaven in perfect happiness or in "prison," hell, suffering for the sins they refused to allow to be counted with the sins for which Jesus died, insisting on being graded on their own deeds instead of on Jesus'.
At the end of this time, Satan has a "Little Season," also described in Rev. 20. This period may have already started, judging by the declining morals of the world. However, we do not know, and as soon as that "Little Season" is over, Jesus will return.
On the appointed day, which no one knows but God, Jesus will again appear to the world. On that day, all living and dead Christians will be caught up in the air to be with Jesus. Everyone who ever lived (Christian or not) will rise again, not like zombies, but the same way Jesus rose. In a way, He was setting an example for us. On that day, heaven and earth (that is, all of God's creation, including the entire universe) will be remade so as to be more perfect than it was in the Garden of Eden before the fall. There, we will live, body and soul, with God for all eternity. On the same day, the devil and all His followers, demons and non-Christians, will be cast into hell where they will suffer body and soul (except for the devil and the demons who have no bodies) for all eternity.
The new creation will be very much like the current creation, except with no sin or effects of sin. ("Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. But be glad and rejoice for ever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more. "Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; he who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth; he who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed. They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the works of their hands. They will not toil in vain or bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the LORD, they and their descendants with them. Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but dust will be the serpent's food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain," says the LORD. (Isaiah 65:17-25, NIV).)
"The new creation consists in a new order of things. Day will be continuous with no more night, nor sun nor moon, since God and the Lamb will be the light and lamp (Rev 21:23; 22:5; Zechariah 14:6-7; Is 60:19-20). Created ordinances such as marriage and government will cease (Mt 22:30; Mk 12:25; Lk 20:34-35; 1Cor 6:1-11). Finally, heaven and earth will be joined in harmony as the place of His presence. This is the point of Rev 3:12 and 21:2-3, which picture the heavenly Jerusalem coming down. Now, human beings will be in a perfect relationship with God, seeing Him as He is (1John 3:2) In 'body and soul,' and in everlasting joy, believers will see God as He is -- which is the essence of eternal life (1Jn 3:2) When Christ returns, then God will be known perfectly and seen face to face (1Cor 13:8-12; 1Jn 3:2; Rev. 22:4)."[1]
[1]Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod Commission on Theology and Church Relations. The End Times: A Study on Eschatology and Millennialism. 1989.
©1997 Dale Critchley All Rights Reserved.
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