34 What Happens After Death? How Eternal Life Will Ultimately Be Offered to All35will reign with Jesus over the earth. Assisted by His resurrected followers,Christ will fill the earth with the knowledge of God “as the waters coverthe sea” (Isaiah 11:9).The apostles taught that Jesus will return and reestablish the nation ofIsrael. At that time He will also offer the gift of salvation and eternal life toall of mankind. Said the apostle James in Acts 15: “And with this the wordsof the prophets agree, just as it is written: ‘After this I will return and willrebuild the tabernacle of David [the royal house of Israel], which has fallendown; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up; so that the rest of mankindmay seek the Lor d, even all the Gentiles who are called by My name,says the Lord who does all these things’” (verse 15-17).James here quotes the Old Testament book of Amos, which goes onto describe the conditions that will be extant <strong>after</strong> Jesus reestablishes thenation of Israel. Note <strong>what</strong> God reveals in Amos, starting with the wordsquoted by James in Acts:“‘On that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, which has fallendown, and repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as inthe days of old; that they may possess the remnant of Edom [ancient Israel’sadversarial national neighbor], and all the Gentiles who are called by Myname,’ says the Lor d who does this thing.“‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lor d, ‘when the plowmanshall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows seed;the mountains shall drip with sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow withit. I will bring back the captives of My people Israel; they shall build thewaste cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink winefrom them; they shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them. I willplant them in their land, and no longer shall they be pulled up from theland I have given them,’ says the Lor d your God” (Amos 9:11-15).What a beautiful picture of the prosperity and peace the nations willat last be led to enjoy <strong>after</strong> Jesus returns!All will learn God’s wayAs appealing and satisfying as physical blessings of abundance andsecurity are, God is working out a far greater purpose. Everything physicalis temporary, including the physical prosperity of the Millennium andeven human life. God has much more to offer than just a comfortablephysical life.The prophet Jeremiah speaks not just of a physical restoration (Jeremiah31:1-4), but of the spiritual restoration Jesus will also accomplish when Hereturns: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lor d, when I will make anew covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—notaccording to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I tookthem by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant whichthey broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lor d. But this is thecovenant that I will make with the house of Israel <strong>after</strong> those days, says theLor d: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; andI will be their God, and they shall be My people” (verses 31-33).Remember James’ words in Acts 15. Speaking of the physical nationof Israel, he says that God promises to “rebuild its ruins” and to “set it up,so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lor d” (verse 17). This physicaland spiritual restoration will spread from Israel and Judah to the rest ofHe shall be tormented with fire and brimstonein the presence of the holy angels and in thepresence of the Lamb. And the smoke of theirtorment ascends forever and ever; and they haveno rest day or night, who worship the beast andhis image, and whoever receives the mark of hisname” (Revelation 14:10-11).At first glance this passage may seem to confirmthe traditional idea of a seething, sulfuroushellfire, mercilessly and eternally tormentinghelpless immortal souls. But if we don’t alreadyhold to a preconceived mental picture of hell, wecan quickly grasp that this passage describes aconsiderably different circumstance.First, notice the setting for this passage. Fromthe context we see that the events it describesoccur on earth amid earth-shaking events anddisasters occurring immediately before or atChrist’s return, not in hell or the <strong>after</strong>life at all.This warning describes the punishment that willbefall all the earth’s inhabitants “who worshipthe beast and his image, and whoever receivesthe mark of his name.”Chapter 13 describes this “beast”—an endtimedictatorial superpower opposed to God—and its mark. Those who accept this markshow that their allegiance is to this powerfulsystem rather than God, and in chapter 14 Godreveals the consequences of that choice—warning of the terrifying punishments that willprecede Christ’s return (see verses 14-20 andthe following two chapters).“Will the Torment of the WickedLast Forever?Notice also in this passage that the smokefrom these terrifying events ascends forever—itdoes not say that the people’s actual torment continuesforever. David wrote in Psalm 37:20 that“the wicked shall perish [not be tortured forever inhell] . . . Into smoke they shall vanish away.”The smoke is also no doubt associated withGod’s wrath poured out on earth as describedin Revelation 16—which includes widespreaddestruction, great heat, warfare and a massiveearthquake. All these events will generatemassive fires and a huge amount of smoke.The properties of smoke are such that it“ascends forever and ever” (Revelation 14:11)—meaning that nothing will prevent or stop it.Being a column of heated gas containing tiny,suspended particles, it rises, expands and eventuallydissipates. Moreover, the Greek phrasetranslated “forever and ever” does not have tomean for all eternity. It could just refer to thishappening in the culmination of the ages.The reference in verse 11 to the wickedreceiving “no rest day or night” speaks of thosewho continue to worship the beast and his imageduring this time. They will be in constant terrorand fear for their lives, and thus aren’t able tofind a moment’s rest during this terrifying timeof God’s anger.Rather than describing eternal torment ofpeople in hell, from the context we see that thispassage is actually describing specific events totake place on earth at the end of this age.
36 What Happens After Death? How Eternal Life Will Ultimately Be Offered to All37the world. God plans to use the Israelites to extend His promises to allmankind (Galatians 3:26-29).The spiritual restoration is the most important work Jesus Christ willaccomplish at this time, offering the gift of salvation to everyone. No morewill worldly politics confuse people, because Jesus will rule over all thenations (see Revelation 11:15; Daniel 7). No more will religious confusionbe found on the earth, because at that time God will open the minds ofall people and draw them to Christ (Ezekiel 36:26-27; Isaiah 11:9; 25:7;Joel 2:27-28).Those in the first resurrectionare given a vital part to play inthis great work. Raised to glorifiedeternal spirit life at Christ’s return,they will reign with Him as kingsand priests on the earth, assistingin the teaching of God’s truth to allhumanity (Revelation 5:10; 20:6;Isaiah 30:20-21).What about those who neverreally knew God?So far we’ve seen that salvationis offered to some people in thisJesus was describing a time during which the long-deadpeople of the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh and the biblical“queen of the South” from Solomon’s time will rise withthose from Christ’s generation and live at the same time.age—prior to Jesus coming to rule the world. We’ve also seen that whenJesus returns to reign He will offer salvation to mankind in general.But, as we’ve previously asked, <strong>what</strong> about all those who have died, orwill yet die, in this age without ever being called to salvation? This grouprepresents the majority of all people who have ever lived. What is theireternal fate?John said those not resurrected at the time of Jesus’ return (“the rest of thedead”) will live again at the end of the Millennium: “But the rest of the deaddid not live again until the thousand years were finished” (Revelation 20:5).A few verses later comes some description of this later resurrectionperiod: “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, fromwhose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found noWIkimedia Commonsplace for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God,and books were opened.“And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the deadwere judged according to their works, by the things which were written inthe books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades[the grave] delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged,each one according to his works” (Revelation 20:11-13).Jesus spoke of a future period of judgment when all will understand Histeachings—when people from all generations will live and be judged atthe same time: “Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of Hismighty works had been done, because they did not repent: ‘Woe to you,Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were donein you had been done in Tyre and Sidon [ancient pagan cities], they wouldhave repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say to you, it will bemore tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you.“‘And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought downto Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been donein Sodom [the depraved city that God destroyed], it would have remaineduntil this day. But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land ofSodom in the day of judgment than for you’” (Matthew 11:20-24).The ancient wayward pagans mentioned here lived and died without evercoming to know God and His offer of the gift of eternal life through JesusChrist. Note that Jesus says they would have repented if they had beengiven the opportunity the cities of His day had. Is it fair, then, that theywould never receive such an opportunity?In similar examples, Jesus refers to the long-dead people of the pagan cityof Nineveh, to the queen of the South (of Sheba) of Solomon’s time and againto ancient Sodom along with Gomorrah, these serving as the epitome of wickedness(Matthew 10:14-15; 12:41-42). God doesn’t tolerate perversion andsinfulness, but it is evident that He has not finished working in the lives of thepeople of these ancient generations. This requires that they be resurrected—brought to life again—and at last instructed in God’s ways.Jesus was describing a time during which people from all past ages—the long-dead people of the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh and the biblical“queen of the South” from Solomon’s time will rise with those fromChrist’s generation and live at the same time. Together they will come tounderstand the truth about who Christ was and the purpose of life. Thosefrom different generations will find it remarkable that the people of Jesus’time rejected Him.A resurrection to physical lifeFrom the prophet Ezekiel we learn that those who are part of this
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