Come and See
[Week V]

Notes

You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror.

There is a difference between knowing about God and knowing God. Many people grow up in the Church and have a lot of knowledge about God, but don’t have a personal relationship with Him. When we come to the decision to know God personally, we can have assurance about what will happen in the future.

In His Word, God tells us what comes next, once our lives here on Earth are finished. Here are five things we learn from the Bible about the next life:

1) A resurrection

And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died. Everything about what comes next is based on Jesus’ resurrection. Without the resurrection, nothing else in our faith matters. Jesus is alive right now! Through His power, all who follow Him will have eternal life, despite our physical bodies which are our temporary dwelling places.

2) A return

We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died.

Jesus’ return is the next big thing on God’s calendar. He has promised to come back, and we can trust that He will keep His word.

3) A rising

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves.

The “rising” will include any followers of Jesus who passed away before His future return. It doesn’t matter the manner in which they died or the amount of time that has passed; God’s power is greater than all of that.

4) A rapture

Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words.

Any believers who are alive at the time of Jesus’ return will be raptured, or caught up, and joined with those believers who had passed away. We don’t know when this will all happen, so we can’t know whether it is in our lifetime or not, but it is imminent.

5) A remodeling

But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.

Our bodies will be remade to be eternal bodies. Those of us who know God have the privilege of one day dwelling with Him forever. Jesus’ resurrection power is available to us not only in the future, but today as well.

Group Questions

• How can we be sure of whether we just know about God, or whether we know Him?
• What questions have you had about what comes next?
• How can we trust that God will fulfill what He has promised about the future?
• What questions have you had about our lives in eternity?

Prayer

Thank you for welcoming us into a personal relationship with you, and for giving us eternal life in you. We trust that you will do what you’ve said you will do.