OUR INCREDIBLE DESTINY BLOG -37
Date: 8/10/2025
By: Bill Watson
Direct Comments to:
So many Christians in today’s world are sadly confused about what their salvific reward really is. They are clueless as to what their actual destiny is all about and what their salvation includes. As a matter of fact, if many Christians were actually told what their real purpose in life is really all about, they wouldn’t believe it because so many of them are so deeply ensconced in the “traditions” of their Christian denomination!
Clearly, many of these denominations hold a lot of influence on their members. This unfortunately, often leads to teaching more about their traditions than what the Bible actually says. And it’s these traditions that make it so difficult for Christians to see the real truth about the Biblical teachings embedded in the pages of God’s Word.
For instance, with regard to our human potential––our destiny––God is offering humanity an awesome future that is so unbelievable to comprehend that in light of the traditional Christian belief, shrinks the teaching of going to heaven into insignificance.
Now you may ask how can that be? Well, it’s true! Once you begin to unpack just what God’s Word describes as to the actual future of a Christian, you begin to understand its far greater than just going to heaven. Fundamental, to this understanding is to recognize all Christians are being called to rule as kings and priests in God’s Kingdom. Notice this: “…Unto him that loved us, and washed us, from our sins in his own blood, and has made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. A-men” (Rev. 1:5-6).
However, what is really shocking, when comparing this idea to “traditional” Christian doctrine, is to read and understand the location where this reigning will occur. Notice: “And has made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign ON THE EARTH” ( Rev. 5:10). Clearly, this is a surprising concept that goes against what Christian orthodoxy teaches. To rule and reign in God’s Kingdom, BUT ON EARTH, instead of in heaven? This is a disruptive concept to the traditional doctrine of spending eternity in heaven as an immortal, in the presences of God. Yet, this is what the Bible teaches when it’s plainly understood, uninfluenced by traditional denominational teaching.
The apostle Paul addresses a timeline for Christians that died and when they will receive their reward. Notice; “For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam (metaphorically) all die, even so in Christ (metaphorically) shall all be made alive. BUT every man in his own order: Christ the first fruits; AFTERWARD they that are Christ’s AT HIS COMING” (1 COR. 15:23).
What Paul is saying is the dead in Christ will rise AFTER Christ RETURNS! This is the timeline we are being told, regarding WHEN the dead will be resurrected and brought back to life––with active consciousness! Notice how Jesus agrees with Paul and substantiates what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15. Notice: “Truly, truly, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the DEAD shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. …Marvel not at this [don’t be surprised]:for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the GRAVES shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:25-29).
What the Bible is actually saying, is the dead are resting in their graves until Christ returns. The Bible teaches, dead Christians know nothing. They’re inactive. Shut down, and unconsciousness! They are doing nothing. Notice: “Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, IN THE GRAVE, where you go” (Eccl. 9:10). Notice: “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. …neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun” (Eccl. 9:5-6). Nor do the dead praise God, notice. “The dead praise not the Lord neither any that go down into silence” (Psalms 115:17).
So, for most traditional Christians that have embraced this concept of going to heaven when you die; they are in direct conflict with the word of God. The Bible doesn’t teach the idea of becoming a disembodied spirit, thereby transitioning death into another life form so you can travel to heaven, hell, or purgatory––its just not there! This concept has been adopted from pagan influences that is predicated on the false premise you have an immortal soul already in you––this is also untrue. However, that’s a subject for another time.
The Bible is clear, when the dead die they know nothing. There is nothing going on in the grave where we go, except rest. The dead are resting until Christ returns. When He returns He will call those who are Christians to be resurrected and return them to an active life as a king and priest, rewarded with entrance into His Kingdom that will be on earth! Notice: “And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east…And it shall come to pass in that day, that light shall not be clear, nor dark: But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord… And the Lord shall be king over all the earth [not heaven]: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one” (Zech. 14:4-9).
Orthodox Christian beliefs that teach heaven as the reward of the saved completely ignore the stunning, rich, and active destiny all Christians have promised to them; which is to rule and reign with Christ, helping to reinstitute a world government under the direction of Jesus Christ from Jerusalem, which will be the capital of the world! Notice: “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they (the resurrected Christians) lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years” (Rev. 20:4).
This is the glorious destiny of all Christians––to rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years and then on out into eternity! Keep in mind, the millennium [1000 years] is just the start of the awesome eternal future we will share with our Father and Lord as immortals, for eternity! This is the stunning truth your Bible describes!
So, remember these words of our Lord, Jesus Christ and understand this fact; because facts are stubborn things; yet, they need to be considered if we do indeed, desire truth: “And no man has ascended up to heaven, but …the Son of man which is in heaven” (John 3:13).