The Last Dictator and the Last Monarch – Part 3

Welcome to our last discussion on the Last Dictator and the Last Monarch.

The Rapture

In our last discussion, we talked about the Rapture.

The rapture is a phenomenal event spoken of in many places in the bible that involves the snatching up from the earth of the true church (the Body of Christ), just before a series of cataclysmic events befall the earth.

These events will usher in the destruction of the last dictator and the reign of the last monarch. The rapture begins a spectacular, supernatural chain of events that will affect each of us for all eternity.

For most of humanity that rejects God and His plan of salvation it will be a time of great terror.

However, for the true believers in Christ those affects will be wondrous beyond description. This is called in Titus 2:13 “The Blessed Hope”. We, as Christians, are looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.

The Blessed Hope

As Christians, we believe and accept God’s salvation and are therefore assured of eternal life, but without the clear and firm understanding of our “Blessed Hope”, our journey here on earth, will be like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. We have eternal life but without an understanding of the daily journey and its eventual goal, the trials, and challenges that we will surely face in this life will cause us to be unstable in our ways.  We need to know what the bible says about the destination of our short journey through this present life.

To grasp the reality of our blessed hope, the rapture, and the events that follow it we need to understand heaven, hell, life, and death.

Many of us struggle to understand these things even though they are clearly explained in the Bible. We really need to know what the bible says about these subjects to fully understand the “Blessed Hope” of our salvation.

Saved From What?

Salvation means to be saved. But to be saved from what?

To answer that question, let’s first look at the subject of death.

It matters not if you are a Christian, an atheist, a religious person, a follower of a cult, or a practitioner of new age spiritualism, death is an ever present reality. No one can deny that death is real.

I remember walking through the old section of the Nudgee cemetery a few years ago where I spotted a headstone that had this message engraved on it;

As you are now, I once was
As I am now, so you will be

It was a stark reminder that one day soon I too would need to walk through that doorway of death.

I become aware of the fact that one day I will wake up and it will be the last day of life I will experience, and I have no knowledge of when that day is. It could be today.

Most of us realise that once that doorway slams shut behind us there is absolutely no returning. It is the ultimate in FINAL!

One Minute After We Die

It’s what happens one minute after we walk through that doorway that puzzles most people.

No person has ever returned from death to report on its state.  Since the other side of death’s doorway cannot be studied like biology or chemistry there is no scientific data that can satisfactorily explain what happens. Every near death experience ever written about and every report of contact with people on “the other side” are dangerously inadequate. You are going to need to believe something or someone. This means FAITH is the only vehicle by which we can peek into the other side. Faith itself will not explain or save you from death. Faith is simply the assurance you have that the message you received is the correct one. You are going to need to choose the authority on which you place your faith, and you cannot afford to be wrong.

Satisfying yourself about where you will be one minute after you pass through that door of death should be of the utmost importance. It is also a huge influence on how you cope with your journey through this life.

So then, what is the foundation on which you are placing your faith? How sure are you that you have chosen the correct authority to guide you into what happens one minute after your death?

I believe that for most hearing this, God’s Word, the Bible, is already the foundation of faith. However, should there be anyone who is not sure, I’ve included the following commentary.

Bible Alternatives?

Every cult, religion, and new age philosophy has an explanation of what death is. Even those who believe we evolved from absolutely nothing has a belief about what death is.

Death is viewed as everything from an eternal state of absolute nothingness to a series of rebirths into different life forms. Every one of the states of death that humans trust in is drawn from the authority of the organisation in which they choose to follow.

Some may follow the teachings of Buddha, the many and varied beliefs of Hinduism or cults such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses or the Mormons. Popular today is the new age cults that involve meditation and contact with the spirit world. They all have their own ideas about death.

I joined a new age cult in my early 20s. We were taught that death is a repeated and endless succession of one life ending and a new life beginning but each time to a lesser, more “degraded” life form. However, through the impossibly difficult (and costly) process of addressing every minute fault in your present life you could stop this degeneration and start taking on more advanced life forms each time you die. Cost me many thousands of dollars. And, when you get through laughing, remember that these new age movements based on meditation and communication with the spirit world are extremely common and sought after today.

Even science with all its advances still requires a belief to explain death.

Some people say they believe in nothing, such as the atheist or agnostic, but even they are still following a religious belief. Their belief is that nothing exists outside the “see, feel and touch” of this life. Death is simply eternal nothingness.

All these religions and beliefs have a common core. They are all man made views of what death is. Many of them offer complex rituals that you must work hard at to cope with death.

Good News

The good news is that there IS an authority that you can absolutely rely on.

It is God Himself, the Almighty Creator of the universe, and His infallible word, the bible. This is a big claim! How can I know all the rest are wrong and the bible is right?

It is easy to prove this claim for yourself, however, it does require some diligent homework.

You will not prove this claim for yourself unless you spend some time and energy. You are going to need to turn off the television, put away the phone and give this search the diligence that it deserves. After all it is YOUR death we’re talking about. You could start from our discussion article on Understanding the Bible.

So, let’s continue our discussion on where you will be one minute after you die from the Bible’s authority.

Life or Death?

One minute after entering through death’s doorway, you will either be enjoying a personal welcome from Christ in unimaginable joy or catching your first glimpse of despair as you have never known it. Either way, your future is eternally locked and utterly unchangeable.

You will either walk into life eternal or death eternal. These have no relation to the death of the body that has just occurred. From now on you are in a spiritual realm. If you have walked into eternal life with Christ Jesus, you will be more alive than you ever could imagine. Your eternity will continue from where it started the day you believed in God’s salvation through the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The difference is that, unlike your journey in your earthly body, you are now forever free from pain and suffering and all the terrible effects of sin.

The place where you will find yourself is what the bible calls heaven. You are in a place that is far beyond the four dimensions that we currently exist in. That place cannot be invaded by sin and death. It is the realm of God Himself.

If you have rejected The Lord Jesus Christ, your eternal existence will now be one of gloom, depression, regret, and pain. The death of the body is just one death that the Bible talks about. The death which we need to avoid at all costs is the second death. The second death is not an end to existence and consciousness. It the state of eternal separation from God and all the goodness, joy and satisfaction that can only come from Him. Those that find themselves here will be in an utterly hopeless but conscious eternal state.

The place of residence for these people is like heaven in one point only, it is in a dimension outside of our known four dimensional world. Beyond that there is no comparison. It is a place of evil and torment. This place is known in the Bible as hades.

Judgment for Heaven or Hell?

Many people believe that after the death of the body we will appear before God to determine whether we will go to heaven or hell.

This is not how the bible tells it. Whether we go to heaven or hell is determined already in this life. At the death of the body, those who know Christ as Saviour go directly to heaven. They will soon face Christ at what is known as the Bema or judgment seat of Christ. This judgment will not determine whether you will go to heaven or hell. You will already be in heaven. You will be judged by what you did AFTER you received forgiveness of sins through your trust in Christ. It will determine your eternal position, your eternal inheritance, and your eternal rewards.

Those who do not know Him go to a place called hades.

This is not hell. After the period on earth known as the great tribulation is finished the Last Dictator (the antichrist) and his second in command (the false prophet) will be the first inhabitants of hell. They will be cast there by the Last Monarch, Jesus Christ Himself,

The inhabitants of hades will stay here until they are eventually brought before God at what is known as the Great White Throne Judgment.

The people at this judgement have no hope of moving into heaven. Each person there has rejected the salvation freely offered by the sacrifice of Christ. After facing this terrifying judgement, hades itself, and all its inhabitants will be cast into a lake of fire. This place is called hell and the last dictator (the antichrist) and his second in command (the false prophet) will already be there.

Either way, everyone will encounter God. That you will appear before God is more certain than the sunrise. And the judgment at which you will be summoned is determined in this life, based on your relationship with Christ. There is no opportunity to change after you have died. One minute after you die, your eternal destination is absolutely fixed.

To Reject or Recieve

The amazing news is that not one human needs to spend their eternity separated from the God who both created them and loves them beyond imagination.

First, we must realise that even the best of us is still an infinite distance from God. If we forget this, it is because we have overestimated our goodness and underestimated God’s holiness and righteousness.

If we compare ourselves to others, especially to the multitudes of evil people on earth throughout history, we can feel confident that we are worthy of God’s love and forgiveness. However, when we compare ourselves to God’s righteousness, we all fall dismally short. We need another way other than our own works to be able to stand before God with the same righteousness as Him.

Many will be shocked to find only too late that their good works are like filthy rags to the Lord. Can any of us imagine the horror of believing that our own works were good enough to “deserve” eternal life only to cross the threshold of death to hear the Lord’s words, “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Matthew 7:23.

Let’s be clear. When you come to Christ, you do not come to give, you come to receive. You do not come to try your best, you come to trust. You do not come just to be helped, but to be rescued. You do not come to be made better (although that does happen), you come to be made alive!

It is purely and solely through God’s free gift of Grace in the completed sacrifice for our sin by Jesus Christ. The vehicle required to receive this free gift of Grace is faith and even that is gifted to us by God when we make the first move to trust Him.

Augustus Toplady had it right in the hymn Rock of Ages:

Nothing in my hands I bring, Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress, Helpless, look to Thee for grace: Foul, I to the fountain fly, Wash me, Saviour, or I die.

You do not come to Christ to make a promise; you come to depend on His promise. It is the faithfulness of God and not your own that gives the gift of grace.

Some things can exist together, but human works and the grace that brings salvation cannot.

Grace means that we deserve nothing and can do nothing. God comes along and does what we cannot do.

Will you trust in Him today?