Pastor Mac Hammond | January 16, 2022
Recap:
Last week, Pastor Mac began talking about the rapture of the church. For many people, that is a mystery, yet it doesn’t have to be. We can know where the rapture fits within the end times. We can know what happens after the rapture and we can know what we will be doing for the eternal ages that follow the rapture.
Throughout eternity, the body of Christ will rule and reign with Jesus over the vastness of universal creation—and that all starts with the rapture of the Church! Stir your expectation for big things lie ahead for those who follow Christ!
Dive Deeper:
We cannot live eternally in the body that we are in. The corruption of this world cannot live in the eternal ages to come. However, God can—and will!—provide His church with glorified bodies to accomplish the purposes He has for us throughout eternity.
What will we do throughout eternity? The body of Christ will rule and reign with Jesus over all universal creation. We will be equipped to do this with our glorified bodies, which will come in the rapture of the church. Jesus’ post-resurrection body was glorified. With it, Jesus could both eat with his friends and He could walk through walls! The corruptible parts of our bodies will be set aside for the incorruptible.
You see, this earth is our bootcamp for the eternal ages to come. We are learning how to obey the Lord and follow His leading and love other people without condition. We are learning to hear God’s voice. These lessons are preparing us to serve Him throughout eternity.
Let these glimpses of eternity motivate you to strengthen your spirit and let the voice of God become clearer in your heart and head. Let your thinking expand beyond the needs of today and consider your future serving Jesus. Eternity will be better than we can ever imagine—and we are part of the generation that will usher in this new end of the age!
Read More:
1 Corinthians 15:51–57 KJV
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 KJV
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
Discussion Questions:
1. What excites you most about eternity with Jesus?
2. How do glimpses of heaven and eternity provide us with good reasons to serve God here on this earth?
3. What can you do today to prepare for a future serving Jesus?