Jesus will come again to take man to be with him. He said: In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also… You heard me say to you, “I am going away, and I am coming to you.”[1]
He will come from heaven with the clouds[2] accompanied by tens of thousands of angels.[3] Every eye will see him.[4] He will issue a cry of command, Michael the archangel will call, and a trumpet will sound.
Believers who are dead will be resurrected. They will have spiritual bodies like that of Jesus after his resurrection[5] – imperishable and immortal[6], glorious and powerful[7], shining like the brightness of the sky and like the stars forever[8]. They will be caught up in the clouds to meet Jesus in the air.[9] Then the physical bodies of believers who are alive will be changed in a twinkling of an eye to spiritual bodies and they too will be caught up in the clouds to meet Jesus in the air.[10]
Afterwards, the rest of mankind will be resurrected.[11] Jesus will judge them according to what they have done[12] and they will “suffer the punishment of eternal destruction”: For it is indeed just of God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to the afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, separated from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes to be glorified by his saints and to be marvelled at on that day among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.[13]
There will be differing degrees of punishment. Jesus said that the punishment of those who have not witnessed the works of God or heard the word of God will be “more tolerable” than those who have but reject them: If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgement than for that town.[14] 2 Peter 2:20-22 suggests that the punishment of those who turn back after knowing the way of righteousness will be “worse” than those who have no knowledge: For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overpowered, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment that was passed on to them.
Meanwhile the universe will be dissolved, and God will create a new universe: But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed. Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire? But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.[15]
Finally, man will be with God in a loving relationship and there is happiness: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.”[16] They will not be floating on clouds with halos above their heads strumming harps for eternity. That’s medieval fable. Rather, they will receive crowns of righteousness[17] and of glory[18], and will rule the new universe together with God.[19] In the parable of the minas, Jesus informed that the reward for being a good and faithful servant was authority to rule over cities: The first came before him, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made ten minas more.’ And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.’ And the second came, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made five minas.’ And he said to him, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’[20]
1 Thessalonians 4:17 concludes with this: and so we will always be with the Lord.
[1] Jn 14.2-3, 28.
[2] Acts 1.9-11.
[3] Jude 1.14-15, Mt 16.27; Mk 8.38; Lk 9.26; 2 Thess 1.7-8; Zech 14.5-6.
[4] Rev 1.7.
[5] 1 Cor 15.49; 1 Jn 3.2.
[6] 1 Cor 15.44, 50-54; 1 Jn 3.2; 1 Thess 4.17.
[7] 1 Cor 15.43.
[8] Dan 12.3.
[9] 1 Thess 4.14-17.
[10] 1 Thess 4.14-17; Dan 12.1-2; Zech 14.5-6; Jude 14; 2 Thess 1.7-8.
[11] Dan 12.2. Judgment is for unbelievers. John 5.24 says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life; he does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”
[12] Rev 20.10-13.
[13] 2 Thess 1.6-10 cf Mt 25.41; Rev 12.7-8.
[14] Mt 10.14-15.
[15] 2 Pet 3.10-13 cf Is 66.15. Rev 20.11; Mt 24.35; Rev 21.1-22; Mt 25.31.
[16] Rev 21:3-4.
[17] 2 Tim 4.7-8.
[18] 1 Pet 5.4.
[19] 2 Tim 2.11-12; Rev 22.3-5.
[20] Lk 19:16-19.