Focal Point

Pastor Mike Fabarez: The best place to be on the day of the rapture is in a cemetery because then you'll get a little bit of warning. All these graves are going to start popping open and you're going to think, "Whoa, whoa, whoa," and then you go.

But the graves will go first because that's what the Bible says. The dead in Christ will rise first, then we who remain be caught up together in the sky to meet the Lord in the air.

Dave Drury: Many great movies, TV shows, and books have been ruined by people giving away the ending. Most of the time, we don't want to know the details of our favorite stories. But today on Focal Point, Pastor Mike Fabarez provides a spoiler alert that we want to hear.

Right now, we're living in the middle chapters of history, but the final pages have been written. So let's take a peek at the conclusion. Pastor Mike calls the message "A Crash Course in the End of the Book."

Pastor Mike Fabarez: When we talk about the study of end things, the end-time things, the word for that you'll find in all your Christian books that have any categorization or systematizing of Christian doctrine is eschatology. Eschatology.

Let's figure out the kinds of things that the writer of Hebrews says we ought to have these things mastered. I put it this way on your outline. Number one, we ought to master at least these two basics about your future.

The first one is described this way in verse number two. Look at it again. The resurrection of the dead. We immediately when we hear phrases like that start to think about life after death. That's really not what's being communicated here, though. Look at it again.

The resurrection of the dead. Resurrection, *anastasis*, to bring something up of the dead. It is not talking about your conscious existence after life, although that's true too. What we're talking about here is the *anastasis*, the bringing up of the dead. What are we talking about here? Bodies, biological units.

Letter A, pointy finger number one, when it comes to this, let's just summarize it this way to be real specific. We need to master the truth in our minds and be able to think through the fact that you and I will both have a second physical life. That's what the word resurrection means.

Let's look at a couple of passages just to drive this home. The essential nature of the teaching of the resurrection is this one, 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, look at verse number 12. He says if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, if that's what you heard, if that's what the apostles have gone around saying, if that's what all these witnesses, 500 of them, have testified to, then how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead?

How come you think that the bodies that we live in aren't going to be resurrected? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, underline these words, our preaching is useless and so is your trust, your faith. Well, it's just a waste of time. Let's do something else with Sundays.

More than that, we're found to be false witnesses about God because we were going around telling everybody that God raised Christ from the dead. He physically, bodily raised him. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead aren't raised. Verse 16, for if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.

And if Christ has not been raised, here it is again, a good phrase to underline, your faith is futile and you're still in your sins. Because the whole point of this Christ dying on a cross thing was to take the sin problem away. And the wages of sin is death, and if he did that, there ought to be a resurrection of the dead. He ought to reverse the death problem.

If only in this life, look at these poignant words, verse 19, if only in this life we've hoped in Christ, then we are to be pitied more than all men. We ought to be just seen as a pathetic bunch of people. But, verse 20, Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the prototype, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

That's their euphemism for death. We are going to be raised the way that Jesus was raised. And he wasn't raised as a spirit or a phantom. As a matter of fact, he told his skeptical disciples, "Touch me and see. I have flesh and bone. A spirit doesn't have flesh and bone as you see that I have."

As a matter of fact, to prove it, what did he do? Constantly in his post-resurrection appearances, he kept eating. Why? Because you can't eat if you're Casper the Friendly Ghost, right? You need teeth to eat. You need a tongue to eat. You need an esophagus to eat. You need a stomach for somewhere for that food to go.

Jesus had all of that because he was bodily, physically resurrected. Now, you thought you just killed him last Friday. Well, they did. But now he's alive again. Now it's Sunday and he's alive. What kind of life? A physical life. And the Bible says that's the same resurrection we can anticipate. And if the dead are not raised, then this whole thing's a crock and it's a waste of time. Resurrection. You will have a second physical life. If you just want to sum it up in the basics, let's just be sure we know that. We can talk about it, we can understand it in its biblical and historical perspective as Christ being the prototype of what this physical resurrection's all about.

Secondly, there's this word in this phrase in Hebrews 6:2 that we ought to have this concept mastered: eternal judgment. Judgment, the evaluation and accountability of life. I put it this way, pointy finger number two, letter B. You will be held accountable for your decisions.

Paul says, "I strive to keep my conscience clear before God and man." I want to make the right decisions. Why? Because I'm going to be resurrected, and that resurrection is going to last forever. And therefore, the reward or the repayment for my decisions is going to last forever. That's why the word eternal is connected with this word judgment.

Therefore, wow, that changes the way I live because you will be eternally judged. What does that mean? Your judgment will have eternal ramifications. It will linger on through eternity. Now, those are the basics.

But as soon as you start talking about, hey, you're going to live again twice physically, there will be a resurrection and you're going to be judged, all you got to do is start opening your Bible and looking through the New Testament and you know what you find? You get confused real fast. Because there's a lot of different judgments and a lot of different resurrections, and we start going, "Wow, I need this all sorted out."

What I want to do is I want to look through what God's *eschatos* is all about, the end stuff is all about, and I want to say, okay, when it comes to accountability and second life, I know the Bible teaches that, but let's just try to sort these things out.

And let's figure out what's God's plan for the future. What has he revealed to us about what's coming? And the thing about it is, if he went to all the trouble of revealing it and we keep reading about, oh, there's a resurrection, oh, and there's another resurrection, oh, there's a judgment, oh, there's another judgment, I think it would do us well and God would have us spend the effort and the mental activity to say, "Hey, let's sort it all out."

So let's put it in chronological order. And to put the *eschatos* in chronological order, we got to go back. We're going to start in the past. We're going to describe it, that's the "what." We're going to see where in Scripture it says it. And then, aka, we're going to put a label on it that you probably already heard that will help us say, "Oh, yeah, also known as, that's what that's all about." Okay? So let's describe the first event in the Bible.

Here comes the very first event: Genesis 1:1. God creates people so that they can enjoy his presence. I'm going to put all this in just really simple vernacular, layman's terms. And here it comes. God creates people. He creates them so that they can enjoy him. Does that sound egocentric?

Kind of, yeah. You know what? That's because he is. He's God, see. And God is so good, he knows that if you are going to experience good, it'd be good for you to focus on him because he is the greatest. And in his greatness, if you connect with him, you will be blessed.

And he just wants to share that greatness. He wants you to experience that greatness. He could have gone just fine through all of eternity in the eternal fellowship, the triune God of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That's how he's revealed himself. He's a self-contained, eternal divine fellowship. He doesn't need other people.

But he is so great that he says, "You know what? If I created some people, they would really be blessed if they knew me." Does that sound prideful? It's because he's God, right? They would be blessed. It's like I kind of attribute it to creating or having something that's so great that you'd be really bad not to share it. And you've heard the old vaccine illustrations, but I think about snow cones in Blythe.

That I just go there in my mind. If there were no such thing as snow cones and one day you created them in your kitchen and now you, wow, this is great. Let's not say snow cones. Let's say full-blown shaved ice. You just came up with the concept.

Now it's Blythe, right? I think the best thing you could do for Blythe-ians is to share your greatness, which in that case would be your snow cones. Share them. God didn't have anybody to share his greatness with besides himself, so he creates an angelic class, then he creates a human class, and he says, "I can let you enjoy who I am."

We call that, no big surprise here, creation. Yeah, it's called the creation. We heard about that. That's the first flannelgraph story they learn downstairs. God creates the heavens and the earth and all the people on it.

Letter B, the second thing that happens is people say, "Forget you, God. Not interested." As a matter of fact, by chapter three, and that's where this happens, people say, "I'm not interested in following your rules. As a matter of fact, I see that that tree that you told us not to eat from, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that's really good. That would be good for me. I want to have that. Oh, I know God said not to do it, but you know what? I'm going to do it anyway."

And they were tempted and they were drawn away and they took this fruit and said, "Forget you, God." Okay? That's called the fall, right? Genesis chapter three. The fall. Mankind fell from their place of fellowship. They no longer were able to enjoy God's presence. As a matter of fact, the next time God showed up in the garden, what did they do? Hide. Don't want anything to do with it because they were guilty.

God says, "Okay, people said forget you." God could have rightly and justly said, "Well, then forget you," right? That's what you say when people say forget you, usually. You say forget you then.

God doesn't say that. As a matter of fact, he says, "Okay, I'm going to choose a person. And from that person, I'm going to build a nation. And I'm going to choose to set my love on those people, and I'm going to choose to forgive those people." God loves and forgives a nation, promising them a kingdom.

In other words, I'm going to promise you an environment where everything's going to work out the way it's supposed to. It's going to be a place where things are going to be right. After the fall, everything's all wrong. But I'm going to make a place, a community of people. It's going to be based on these national borders, but I'm going to create this place with this people and they're going to be blessed, they're going to be loved, they're going to be forgiven.

Genesis chapter 12 is the catalyst of that. It's the starting point for that. Abrahamic Covenant, God promises, "I'm going to set my blessing on you people. And as a matter of fact, anybody who blesses you is going to be blessed. And if they curse you, I'm going to curse them. It's going to go bad for them." Okay? This is what it's called in Scripture: Israel, the nation of Israel. These are his people. He names them four generations into it. He names them Israel. And they are now going to be God's people. Three generations into it, pardon me. Okay, great.

Letter D, we're fast-forwarding now. And you get this in the Gospels. God sends their King. He's going to create a kingdom, they need a King. As a matter of fact, the King's going to be his Son, the second person of the Godhead. Sends their King and payment for sin because he can't just say, "I forgive you, so let's just forget about your sin." He's got to pay the sin, pay the sin off, pay for the sin.

How's he going to atone for the sin? Well, it isn't going to be through the blood of goats and rams. It's going to be through the blood of his own Son. But what he hopes is that these people are going to embrace him. I'm going to create a nation from Abraham, and I want the nation to embrace their King. But that's not what they do. They reject him. God sends their King and payment for sin but they say, "No thanks."

Things aren't going well. God creates people, enjoy me. Nah, not interested. God says, "Okay, but I'm going to love you and forgive you anyway. Here, here's your King." Nah, not interested. He came, remember this Sunday school verse? He came unto his own, but his own received him not. Remember that verse? They rejected him. Not interested. This is Jesus, of course. You know who the King is, right? Yeah, right. Thank you. You know the King. King, Jesus.

Letter E, here we go. What happens? King is rejected by Israel, by and large, for the most part. I mean they may go through the motions of "Save us now, Hosanna, Hosanna," but in a week they're saying, "Crucify him." Not interested.

So God says, "Got a new plan now. We've got an expanded hybrid organization that I'm going to set my love on and forgive." Now, I'm not going to confine it anymore to the descendants of Abraham. I'm going to now include people from every tongue, tribe, and nation, and I'm going to set my love on them and move them to embrace my King.

And I'm going to love them and forgive them. And it doesn't matter if they're Israelites or not. They can be Grecian, they can be Italian, they can be, doesn't matter. I'm going to set my love on people as I draw them to embrace my King. God creates an expanded hybrid organization to love and forgive.

Okay, that happens throughout the rest of the New Testament. NT, New Testament. What do we call that organization? It's called the church. It's a new organization. This is not the nation of Israel, this is the expanded hybrid organization because it does include some Israelites.

As a matter of fact, the first generation, a lot of them were Jewish. They wrote a lot of the New Testament. But the majority was Gentile. As a matter of fact, the Old Testament foresaw this as the times of the Gentiles. Going to be a bunch of non-Jewish people that God is loving and forgiving. You are here.

So far it's all historical. So all of it you're going, "Oh, I know all that stuff." Because and you even know the chronology of that. Creation, fall, Israel, cross, Jesus, church. Great.

Now we're moving into the future. All of this is yet future. What's next? Letter F, what's the next thing on the list? Here it comes, ready? Let's jot it down. God resurrects all those who were a part of the church. Now to be a part of the church you've got to repent of your sins and put your trust in Christ. Mostly Gentiles, some Jewish, they've done that.

And the problem is, this has gone on for, at least from our perspective, at least 2,000 years, and most of the church is dead, biologically. They're biologically dead. The bodies of former churchgoers and people who have trusted in Christ, I mean their DNA and biological matter scattered all over the planet.

Most of the church is dead. So God says, "I'm going to resurrect all those people." Where does it say that? Passages like 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. 1 Thess 4, he's going to resurrect those who are part of the church.

Okay, now note this. This is resurrection 1.1. Just jot down 1.1. What's 1.1? We'll get to what 1.1 is. But just jot down resurrection 1.1. It is the time when God brings back to life those who had put their trust in Christ during the period of the church. From Acts chapter 2 to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Actually to Revelation chapter 3.

Now, letter G. God temporarily sets aside the church and gets back to his program with Israel. He sets aside the church and now he's going to get back to his program with Israel. Because what was Israel all about? "I want to create a kingdom out of you. And I'm going to give you your King." Oh, you rejected the King? New hybrid organization.

Hybrid organization, a lot of these people die through the ages. Now what I'm going to do is pop them out of the ground, give them their bodies back, and I'm going to set aside the church and draw my attention back to finishing my program with Israel. Because there's a lot of unfinished business there.

1 Thessalonians chapter 4 tells us about the setting aside of the church. Daniel 9 predicted that there's still a dangling section of God's program for Israel. We call the setting aside of the church, what? The rapture. That's the rapture.

The next thing on God's program comes really in a set: the resurrection of formerly churchgoing, repentant, and faith-filled Christians. It's just their bodies because their spirits are already with God. Out of the ground they go. And then 1 Thess 4 says, if you're still on earth and you remain and you're a follower of Christ, when all these dead bodies start popping out of the cemeteries, then you get caught up in the sky to meet the Lord in the air.

What about my body? It gets changed on the way. Okay, resurrection and rapture. The best place to be on the day of the rapture is in a cemetery because then you'll get a little bit of warning. Just a little bit. All these graves are going to start popping open and you're going to think, "Whoa, whoa, whoa," and then you go.

But the graves will go first because that's what the Bible says. The dead in Christ will rise first, then we who remain be caught up together with the Lord in the air. Resurrection, rapture. It's why it's good to hang out in cemeteries because you raise the odds of getting a little bit of warning. But not much. Twinkling of an eye. All right, let's not hang out in cemeteries.

H, what happens after the rapture? Well, God's now going to do a little judging. Here comes our first judgment. The King judges the church for her faithfulness. Now notice, this is a judgment of something positive: faithfulness. He judges the church for her faithfulness.

Not individuals for their giftedness, but individuals for their faithfulness. How faithful were you to do what God told you with what you had? That's why he's not just going to look at fruit. Because people bear fruit some 30, 60, 100 fold. He's going to ask how faithful were you because it's required of a steward that he be found faithful.

God wants you to be faithful. And therefore, this is a judgment of how faithful you are. But that's all on the positive side. Passages in Scripture that talk about that, I think I narrowed it to one, 1 Corinthians 3. 1 Corinthians 3 talks about the fact that we will be judged for what we do, but in this case as it relates to the church, only for the positive.

So therefore it wouldn't be all that bad. Well, it will be bad for those of us that weren't very faithful. If our faithfulness was sporadic and our wife's faithfulness was exemplary, and if our best friend's faithfulness was above average and mine was just a little below, I was a little behind the curve, I wasn't very good, well, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 3 you'll suffer loss.

Does that hurt? Yeah, it hurts. As a matter of fact, there'll be some tears on judgment day for us in the church because we'll say, "Wow, I should have been more faithful." And to the extent that we're not, we're going to suffer that loss.

But it's a judgment of what is good. It's like I like to illustrate it with the chili cook-off. There is a judge who comes down the line and samples your chili. Now can that be a day of tears? It can be if the judge goes, "Oh, ugh, no, thanks, nice try," and goes on to the next guy and says, "Oh, this is good."

Now you're sitting there with your chili going, "What do you mean?" And he says, "Nah, it's just not very good." "Whoa, am I going to be cast into hell?" No, but it's not very good. And then the next guy, "Oh, that's really good chili. Mmm, good job. Well done, good and faithful servant." Remember all those phrases?

Comes into play right here, 1 Corinthians chapter 3. We want God to reward us because we've been faithful. And the more faithful we are to the tasks that God has called us to, the more God is going to say, "Well done." And that's going to come with some kudos because it isn't just a pat on the head.

As a matter of fact, the Bible says we are storing up for ourselves treasure in heaven. And that, by the way, remember it's all about a physical resurrection. This is physical. And you know what, when I think about goodies that are not physical, I don't get very excited. When I think about goodies that are physical, I get excited. Right?

I mean, that's what really connects with us. We want the nice house or the nice car, we want the nice whatever, and the nice whatevers are what come connected with God's rewards because it comes in a physical dimension.

Okay. God resurrects all who are part of the church. Temporarily sets aside the church to get back to his program with Israel. That's what Daniel 9's all about. H, the King now judges the church for her faithfulness. What do we call that?

Maybe you've heard this phrase, maybe not, but I know it's tossed around often: the Bema seat judgment. The Bema seat judgment is a judgment that's different than the *krino* judgment if you want to put it that way. There's two Greek words in the New Testament for judge. One is *bema* and one is *krino*.

*Krino* usually has a negative connotation attached with it. *Bema* has a positive connotation. We use judge in English word and we just use it indiscriminately. "Hey, my cousin Vinny's going to the courthouse and he's going to stand before the judge." That's a negative judgment.

"You know, I baked this great bowl of chili and I'm going to the judge at the Orange County Fair and they're going to judge it." That has a positive connotation. There's hopes of great things in the one judgment and there's dread of bad things in the other. This is the Bema seat judgment, which means it's the good judgment. And there's hopes of good things at this judgment, but there also is a little disappointment going on here because a lot of us are going, "Man, I could have had a whole lot better crock of chili than that, and darn, I wasted my opportunities."

Dave Drury: We've covered a lot of territory about God's plan for the future today on Focal Point with Pastor Mike Fabarez. If you're interested in hearing more about the end times, you'll find a variety of resources online as well. In fact, you may want to check out Pastor Mike's video blogs on that subject.

There's one called Burial Versus Cremation and another about the Millennium. Look for those online at focalpointradio.org. For some, talking about the end times has a certain draw. But ever feel lost trying to make sense of Revelation's prophecies? Well, you're not alone.

That's why we want to send you Mark Hitchcock's excellent resource, The Revelation Answer Book. This practical Q&A guide answers the questions that keep believers up at night, like what actually happens during the Tribulation, who the major figures in end-time prophecy are, how to interpret these vivid symbols, and what clues point to Jesus's return.

Request your copy of The Revelation Answer Book when you donate today by calling us at 888-320-5885, or donate online at focalpointradio.org. Pastor Mike, there's an exciting opportunity on the horizon for later this year. Tell us what you have in store.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Thanks, Dave. I'd like to invite you to join me September 19th through the 26th, 2026, on a Christian cruise through New England and Canada. We'll sail Holland America's Zaandam, known for its elegance and exceptional hospitality, to historic cities like Boston, Halifax, and Quebec City.

We'll gather for devotional times in God's Word, followed by thought-provoking Bible teaching throughout our journey. Grammy-winning musicians Keith and Kristyn Getty will lead us in worship.

You'll enjoy the stunning autumn landscapes as we explore charming coastal villages, all while building friendships with like-minded believers. It's a unique opportunity to deepen your faith and see some of the most beautiful scenery on the Eastern Seaboard. Space is limited, so don't wait to sign up. Secure your cabin today at focalpointradio.org.

Dave Drury: Have you ever wondered how your pastor came to faith in Christ and why he was called to preach the Gospel? Well, coming up tomorrow, Mike Fabarez is sharing his journey to faith in his own words. I'm Dave Drury, inviting you to join us for a very personal edition of Ask Pastor Mike, Friday on Focal Point.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Pastor Mike here. I pray today's message will help you live out your faith with truth and love. After all, that's the kind of biblical faith that changes lives and transforms a crooked culture. But if you haven't truly surrendered your life to Christ, then I'd like to invite you to get in touch. We'd love to pray with you and help you discover God's plan of salvation. Visit focalpointradio.org.

Dave Drury: Today's program was produced and sponsored by Focal Point Ministries.