God's Perfect Preparation of the Afterlife (Isaiah 57:1-2)
Rev. Myung-Sin Choi
“1 The righteous perishes, And no man takes it to heart; Merciful men are taken away, While no one considers That the righteous is taken away from evil. 2 He shall enter into peace; They shall rest in their beds, Each one walking in his uprightness.”
Introduction
Last week, on the 31st, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BSA) were predicting when the earth would come to its destruction. I saw this on TV. The time frame of the doomsday was being predicted. They were saying that there were 90 seconds left until the doomsday time clock. Right now, there is the war between Russia and Ukraine as well as the Israel-Palestine conflict. There is also a threat of nuclear war for World War III. There are also climate change problems as well as natural disasters. These are the reasons why the doomsday prediction time frame is so close. Many people look at all these events and fall into fear. From here, there is a covenant that we must hold onto. It is John 14:1-2 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” Why did God say this? Don’t fear but just hold onto God’s covenant. This is what God wants us to focus on. What we need to hold onto is Jesus Christ, only Christ, the kingdom of God, and the Holy Spirit so that we can do world evangelism. Jesus tells us not to have concerns towards worldly affairs but hold onto only His covenant and Him. This is because God has prepared everything perfectly for us and is guiding us. We must hold onto the sermon’s title today.
1. God's Concern
(1) The death of the righteous
Verse 1 - This sermon is connected from last week’s sermon. If we look at last week’s Biblical passage, it speaks about the life of the religious leaders. These religious leaders were living a life drunk on wine and a life bound by darkness. The life that they were living were not focused on God nor worship but were living an evil life. If religious leaders are living a life like that they are living a life like they are crazy and insane. If they do an evil deed, then they end up doing evil and wicked deeds.
2 Kings 21:16 “Moreover Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides his sin by which he made Judah sin, in doing evil in the sight of the Lord.” - The life that King Manasseh was living was a life of evil. Back then, when Isaiah was living, the king back then was King Manasseh. King Manasseh lived an evil life and lived a life full of idolatry, and even went far to killing his own son. Not only that but he killed so many innocent people in his life. Isaiah was also killed within the hands of King Manasseh. Isaiah was hiding from King Manasseh in a tree that King Manasseh cut the entire tree in half and Isaiah was sawed in half. King Manasseh didn’t think about the lives of people and the afterlife. He only thought about the current life and only lived for the physical life. People who are evil, they live with this kind of mindset. The commonality of these people is they fail in worship. Those who fail in worship, they are not able to look towards the afterlife and only focus on the current life, and enjoying their current life on earth.
Verse 1 - Truthful people and people who are living in faith, they end up suffering and live a life of righteousness. But people who are evil, they don’t seem to notice anything. When righteous people are dying, this is all part of God’s plan but the unrighteous people are not able to see this. The righteous people are taken away from evil. This is all part of God’s plan and God allowed this to happen.
(2) God's absolute plan
Let me give you the example of Stephen. Acts 7:60, 27:24 “Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, 'Lord, do not charge them with this sin.' And when he had said this, he fell asleep. 27:24 Saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.' ” - Stephen was killed while preaching the gospel. Before Paul was saved, Paul believed that Stephen’s death was rightful. But we all know that there was God’s great plan behind Stephen’s death. After the death of Stephen, all people and disciples became scattered. They were scattered to Samaria and shared the gospel there, and saved that region. Not only that but this caused the birth of the Antioch Church. There were great plans of God behind this. We have to see that within every plan of God, there is life saving movement.
Acts 27:24 - Why did God save Paul in the midst of death? To save someone or to allow someone to die, that is all within God’s plan and hands. The reason why God saved Paul was that there was a plan of God for Paul to go and continue to share the gospel. We can see that God’s concern is towards evangelism and mission.
Luke 21:18 “But not a hair of your head shall be lost.” - Chaos and tribulations will come upon Christians but this was what God promised them. God promised that none of the evangelists’ hairs will be touched. Why is that? God’s absolute plans cannot be changed. God’s absolute plan is Matthew 24:14 “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” No matter how corrupt and evil the world becomes, there are evangelists in this world. If you continue to live your life for evangelism, God will continue to protect you. This shows how important the gospel is. We are living a life of blessings. Then, what happens to those who die?
2. The Process of the Afterlife
(1) The meaning of death
Verse 2 - The fact that they have entered into peace means that they have died. People in this world face fear towards death, why is that? They are facing God’s judgment once they die. The Bible told us that we will face death if we disobey God’s word. Then, what was the origin of death? The meaning of death does not mean that we will perish but it means that we will become separated. Many people think that they will just perish and all things will come to an end when people die. But the Bible tells us that death is separation. Once we die on this earth, we will become separated from our physical body into our soul and spirit. If we are spiritually dead, then we have become separated from God. This means that you will go to hell. People of this world don’t understand this at all. Why does our spirit become separated from our physical body? What caused the spiritual death? The Bible tells us this.
Genesis 2:7 “Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. ” - When God made mankind, He made us from dust and with His breath of life. Our bodies were made out of dust from this earth. Our bodies are just homes for our soul. So death means that our physical bodies become separated from our soul and spirit. Only the Bible tells us this.
Verse 2 - Entering into peace means that we are being separated from our physical bodies and we are entering into God’s kingdom.
2 Peter 1:14 “Knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me.” - This was what Paul said. The tent is referring to his physical body and our physical bodies are just temporary.
(2) What you must remember
Ecclesiastes 12:7 “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it.” - Before our physical bodies and spirit become separated, there is something that we must remember.
That is John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.' ” - When we die, we should meet God but the only way we can meet is through Jesus Christ alone. The most important thing within our walk of faith is that we need only Christ, we must remember this.
Romans 8:2 “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” - When we are inside of Christ, we have been freed from the law of sin and death. When we are inside of Christ, then we become freed from sin and death. We must remember this.
1 John 3:8 “He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” - All of our sins, curses, and death were finished within Christ. The moment we believe, then we have been freed and liberated.
With these three roles of Christ and these three things, we can see what happens in John 1:12 “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” - The moment we believe within our hearts, then we become children of God. The blessings that we have been given as children of God are tremendous.
The first and greatest blessing is 1 Corinthians 15:53 “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” - When we become children of God, even if we die, our physical bodies may seem like they will perish and rot, our bodies will resurrect once again. With our physical and evil bodies, we cannot enter heaven with this body but once we die, our bodies will resurrect into a holy and eternal body. We will never perish with our new bodies. Our bodies will transform into a blessed body. Only those who are saved can enjoy this blessed body. I believe that we have received this blessing.
3. Rewards Prepared in the Afterlife
(1) The crown prepared for you
When we go to heaven, there is something that God has prepared for us. God has prepared a crown for us. I will share five things with you. Examine to see what kind of rewards and crowns you will receive. I spoke with the elders and we said that we hope that we will receive at least 5 of the crowns. I hope that you can receive all of the crowns.
The first crown is 2 Timothy 4:8 “Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.” - God has prepared a crown of righteousness. If we hold onto only Christ, then we will receive the crown of righteousness. Only those who receive Jesus Christ who shed His blood for us will receive this crown. Is this Christ your Christ? Is that an Amen? Those who are not sure, may you confirm once again.
Second crown is 2 Corinthians 9:25 “And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.” - Eternity is waiting for us. Those who look towards only God’s kingdom will receive this crown. Those who enjoy and experience the blessing of God’s kingdom will receive this crown.
Third crown is 1 Thessalonians 2:19 “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?” - Many theologians interpret this as the three crowns in one. The crowns of hope, joy, and rejoicing. This scripture means that this is the blessing of the evangelist. The crown that an evangelist will receive will be the crowns of hope, joy, and rejoicing. Starting the first week of February, there will be evangelism camps starting again. May we receive this crown.
Fourth crown is 1 Peter 5:4 “And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.” - When the shepherd appears, the crown that He will give will be the crown of glory. Those who minster and share the gospel will receive this crown. Those who do Bible studies or minister, you will receive this crown.
The fifth crown is Revelation 2:10 “Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.” - When we live in this world, there may be many tribulations and hardships. We may even face persecutions but if we continue to be faithful of faith till death then God promised us the crown of life. We will experience victory because of our faith. How many of these crowns do you think you will receive? Do you think you will receive none or just one? I heard someone tell me that he went to heaven and all of these people were wearing all of these crowns. He had high expectations but he couldn’t find any crowns for him. But God found one and placed one on his head. But it was just a crown made out of dog hair. There was nothing you have done on earth so just wear this hat. I don’t think there are dog hair crowns in heaven, this is just a story but the crowns that have been prepared for us will be glorious crowns. While we live in this world, we must be victorious. For us to be victorious on this earth, we must use the name of Jesus Christ. The name of Jesus Christ has great authority.
(2) What you must use now: the name of Jesus Christ
Luke 10:19 “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” - Our fate and destiny have completely changed. We have a new identity and authority. We are now children of God, no longer a child of Satan. Do you have a problem? Use the name of Jesus Christ. We have the authority to trample on darkness in the name of Jesus Christ.
John 14:14 “If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” - The word of God will absolutely be fulfilled. If God works, then He can heal any illness. He rose from the dead. He spoke that anything is possible in His name. Use His name. Believe this within faith.
Philippians 2:10 “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth.” - All of earth and all generations, all darkness will be bound. The moment we proclaim the name of Jesus Christ, all darkness will flee. Do you have a problem? Use the name of Jesus Christ. You are a child of God, you have tremendous authority. If you truly believe, then God will absolutely work.
Conclusion
Acts 1:8 “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.' ” - All of your thoughts and discernments are all within God’s word. This means all of the crowns that you can receive are all within this. We possess the bartizan to save the remaining ones, the TCKs, and our future generations. May we raise this bartizan.
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