But this is not the future of those who reject the Lord all their days. They too will experience a bodily resurrection---what is known as the "second resurrection" in the book of Revelation. In Revelation we see the redeemed rising from the dead and being given glorious bodies like Christ's; this is referred to as the "first resurrection": "Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection." (Revelation 20:6a)
But there is a second wave of people being raised from the dead and these are being raised for the judgment. This is the final judgment, often referred to as the "great white throne judgment", for the Apostle John saw it like this: "Then I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it." (Revelation 20:11a) In this passage of the book of Revelation, John envisions the remainder of the dead (those who never accepted the Lord) being raised from the earth and from the sea and from every place man has ever died and from every place man's remains have ever been buried or scattered. They are raised to stand before the great white throne to have their sins judged and to be sentenced.
Those who took part in the first resurrection will live eternally in the light and love of the Lord; those who rejected Him to the end will live apart from Him eternally. They did not want anything to do with Him in this life on earth and they will not be forced to have anything to do with Him in the afterlife. The Bible does not portray this as a pleasant eternity. How could it be? Even if it entails nothing except separation from the Creator, that in itself is hell. I believe the Scriptures indicate that for many it will entail more than just separation from all that is good and holy, but even if that's all it is, we were never created for such an existence. The human soul can never find any satisfaction in such an existence.
When we ended our last study session, the prophet Isaiah foresaw the redeemed singing the praises of the Redeemer whose face they will behold forever and ever as He reigns lovingly over His own from His throne at Jerusalem. The final portion of text from Chapter 25 speaks of how the Lord's capital will be at Jerusalem (referred to as "this mountain") but then it goes on to speak of the fate of a particular group of idolaters.
"The hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain; but Moab will be trampled in their land as straw is trampled down in the manure. They will stretch out their hands in it, as swimmer stretch out their hands to swim. God will bring down their pride despite the cleverness of their hands. He will bring down your high fortified walls and lay them low; He will bring them down to the ground, to the very dust." (Isaiah 25:10-12)
The Moabites were related to the Israelites through Abraham's nephew Lot, though they were no friends to the Israelites. There is even a Moabite in the genealogy of Jesus Christ, for Ruth was a Moabitess who converted to the God of Israel and married Boaz, the great-grandfather of King David. But the vast majority of the Moabites worshiped idols and they were still idolaters in Isaiah's day. I believe Isaiah's prophecy against them is literal and figurative. The Lord was going to judge the literal Moabites for their wickedness and idolatry and He is also going to judge "spiritual" Moabites---those who have rejected Him to serve the things of this world.
Isaiah's prediction against the literal and figurative Moabites is quite graphic. He depicts them as swimming in excrement. Their lives have been spent serving idols, serving the flesh, serving sin. Nothing good can come from that. They will have nothing to show for their deed. Their deeds are like dung, in other words. In contrast to this, the redeemed have a song to sing forever and ever, and we will close with those words of praise from earlier in our chapter. "Surely this is our God; we trusted in Him, and He saved us. This is the Lord, we trusted in Him; let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation."
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