2 Timothy 4:6-22 • Staying Faithful in View of His Appearing

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Are you afraid of death? I am not talking about the dying process. That can be a miserable time. But are you afraid of the actual moment of death? Let me give you some reassurance of the hope that we have in Christ. In the last article, we looked at how the gift of people in our lives helps us to stay faithful. This is post #9 in the 2 Timothy blog series. In this post, we will gain a long-term perspective about staying faithful because of the wonderful things our God has planned for our future.

Listen to this post as a similar podcast from our To Be Found Faithful Bible Study covering the book of 2 Timothy in the New Testament.

As Death Draws Near

While a prisoner in a Roman dungeon, Paul reflected on his life, which he viewed as a sacrifice to God. Paul knew he would be executed soon. He wrote this,

“The time for my departure is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:6-8)

In his first defense (verse 16), the Lord stood at Paul’s side and gave him strength to face whatever would come and gave him the words to say.

 “But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth.” (2 Timothy 4:17)

Even close to the end, Paul’s focus was still on the Lord. He could confidently say he had been faithful to what His Lord asked him to do with his life.

Christ was the focus of everything he did. He knew Christ’s constant presence with him. It would not matter whether it was on earth or in heaven. If he was released from this expected death sentence, Paul would be back out on the street preaching Christ. If not, he would be in Christ’s presence. Win/win!

“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom…” (2 Timothy 4:1)

Paul knew he would be with the Lord in heaven. Death was simply a comma between life on earth and life in heaven. Something was still going to happen in the future that was promised involving Jesus Christ—His appearing and His Kingdom.

Jesus’ Resurrection and the Future

Resurrection and ascension

Jesus was resurrected from the dead, made many appearances to at least 500 followers (1 Corinthians 15:6), then ascended back into heaven (Acts 1:9). As Jesus ascended into heaven, two angels declared to the watching disciples that Jesus would one day return in the same way that He left in physical form from the sky (Acts 1:10-11).

The time between Jesus’ ascension to heaven and His return to earth is called the “until” time. We get this from Luke chapter 21,

“Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” (Luke 21:24)

Jesus is waiting “until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled” before He returns. When that time comes, Jesus will return to set up His Kingdom on earth. While waiting, we are living in this “until” time—until His appearing (2 Timothy 4:8). Only God knows when it will end.

The Kingdom comes

Jesus’ Kingdom is a heaven-initiated kingdom in the until time. Every Christian is part of that kingdom. We just can’t see it. Ephesians said that in heaven Jesus is sitting on His throne where He has all authority over heaven and earth right now. He will one day exercise that authority when He physically rules as king on planet Earth.

What does this mean for us? Our future includes a lot of moving. What’s your opinion about moving? Most of us don’t really like it. But, moving with God is going to be good. So, I’m going to talk about what life will be like for us as we move from place to place with Jesus. There’s moving out, moving in, moving back, and finally moving up.

Moving Out

First, there is moving out. The UNTIL time is a time of waiting. Lots of believers have died while waiting over the past 2000 years. What happens when a believer dies? There isn’t much information, but there’s enough to provide some clues.

So let’s talk about death. Are you afraid of death? I am not talking about the dying process. That can be a miserable time. But are you afraid of the actual moment of death?

Let me give you some reassurance of the hope that we have in Christ. First, let’s cover…

What doesn’t happen at death

These are truths we can know based on Scripture.

• Your soul is not annihilated. It doesn’t disappear or cease to exist. Luke 16:19-31; Philippians 1:23
• Your soul doesn’t just sleep or become a floating spirit. You will have conscious enjoyment of the afterlife. 1 Corinthians 15; 2 Corinthians 5:1-10
• Your soul is not reincarnated into another life form as a second chance to improve your afterlife. You die only once then are judged. Hebrews 9:27
• You don’t go to a place called purgatory until you are purified enough to get to heaven. Your immediate entrance into heaven is guaranteed by your faith in Christ and the presence of the Holy Spirit in you. It is not tied to your behavior. Colossians 1:22; 2 Corinthians 5:5
• You don’t become an angel regardless of what is portrayed in the classic movie It’s a Wonderful Life. Angels are beings that were made by God at Creation and are entirely different from humans. There is no indication that angels were formerly humans or anything else—they were created as angels. Good humans do not become angels when they get to heaven. Our greatest confirmation of this is Jesus Himself. When Jesus was raised from the dead, He did not appear to His followers as an angel. He appeared in His glorified human body, the same kind we will receive after we die. Colossians 1:15-17 Hebrews 1:13-14

Those are things that don’t happen at death. So, what does happen at death?

What does happen at death

• You fall asleep on earth and wake up in heaven. The Bible teaches no time delay in the transition. 1 Thessalonians 4:14
• Your soul moves out of this earthly body and is instantly made perfect—no more sin nature. You can call it soul or spirit, but it’s who we are inside—mind, emotions, and personality.
• All Christians who die will get a heavenly dwelling fashioned for believers. Then, we will get an immortal body like the one Jesus has. I’ve given you some verses teaching this in the listener guide. 1 Corinthians 15:35-54; 2 Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 3:20-21; 1 John 3:2
• You are immediately with the Lord where you can enjoy all the blessings of heaven forever. And, we’ll finally get to see His face. To know what He looks like. Luke 23:43; John 17:24; Philippians 1:23

Paul had complete confidence that his death would bring the unquenchable joy of being in Jesus’ actual presence. Face to face with His Savior and Lord. His salvation would be complete. He would no longer wrestle with sin. He would be perfected. There would no longer be any suffering to endure. Now you can see why Paul could say, to die is gain.

For more biblical truth regarding what does and does not happen after we die, read “The Biblical Perspective on Death” blog series.

That’ is moving out.

Moving into New Bodies

The rapture

When the UNTIL time is over, when the fullness of the Gentiles has been reached, and God intervenes in human history again, Jesus will return to complete our new creation. It is at this appearing of Jesus that we will do some moving into new bodies.

Paul described this appearing of Jesus in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4,

“… God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep (died) in him.…For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17)

Those who are alive when Jesus comes will be caught up together with those coming with Him from heaven. The phrase “caught up” in Latin is rapturo. This has made its way into English as rapture. So, this event has been called “The Rapture” for many years.

Read more about the Rapture in this blog, “1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 • Perspective on Death and the Rapture.”

Dead believers with Jesus

Notice that Jesus brings the souls of dead believers with Him. That’s another confirmation that we are with Him after we die.

Paul wrote more about this in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. He said this,

“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet…” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52)

All believers get to move into new bodies when Jesus comes for us. We don’t know how the believers who had already died are clothed in heaven until this time, but we will have some kind of heavenly covering (2 Corinthians 5:1-4).

Instantly given new bodies

We shall be changed instantly. God will create a totally new body for each of us to move into—regardless of where our decayed old body is. That is not a problem for our creator God. He remembers how you looked except there will be no flaws anymore. I think that is great news.

We will be snatched up in the clouds to meet Jesus in the air. Do you ever dream of yourself flying? Our flying time is coming. What a celebration! And, the best thing about it is that we can’t miss it even if we are sound asleep. He calls for us! We are just supposed to be ready and eager for it.

Our new bodies will be like Jesus’ body—human, robust, fully functional, remembering our past and people, yet slightly different in appearance and abilities.

For more information about Jesus’ resurrection body, read the blog, “Resurrection…What Does It Really Mean?”

For us in particular, gone will be our sin nature—forever! With a perfect body and soul, a permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit, there will be no capacity for us to sin ever again. Isn’t that great news?!

Moving Back to Jesus’ Kingdom on Earth

Jesus’s second coming

At the end of the 7 years called “The Great Tribulation” in the book of Revelation, Jesus returns to earth to fight the enemies on earth, defeat them, and set up His kingdom that was prophesied so much in the Old Testament. The Rapture will only be visible to believers, but His Second Coming will be visible to everyone.

The kingdom on earth

We will be moving back here because we will be coming with Him for the battle and staying on to serve Him as King of planet Earth. This Kingdom will last a thousand years—also called a millennium. So, His kingdom is called the Millennial Kingdom with Jerusalem as His capital. All will see His visible and glorious Kingdom on the earth. Revelation 1:5; 17:14; 19:16: 20:4

King Jesus will be king over all—the King of kings. In this earthly Kingdom, Jesus Christ will actually be the supreme political ruler as well as the spiritual leader and object of worship. Righteousness and justice will prevail globally in all government, for everyone. There will be worldwide peace among people and even among animals. The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord. The book of Isaiah is filled with descriptions of the Millennial Kingdom, especially Isaiah 11 and 65.

All Christians will move back to earth in our resurrection bodies and participate with Christ in administering His earthly kingdom. Many natural humans who stayed faithful to God and survived the Tribulation will continue to live in the Kingdom. Nations will still exist, including Israel. It’s a big planet. God is a god of order. God plans to use resurrected humans to teach and disciple and manage the Kingdom on earth for King Jesus.

At the end of the 1000 years according to Revelation 20, Satan will be released from bondage. He’ll instigate a rebellion among non-believing people, and finally be defeated. Yes, some of those babies born will grow up into adults who will not submit to Jesus’s rule. Doesn’t it baffle you that anyone living under Jesus’s perfect rule in an almost perfect world would rebel against Him? That is how strong the sin nature is.

Moving Up to God’s Forever Earth

After that time, God will renew the universe and the earth, removing all aspects of sin, and will move His heaven to the renewed earth. God’s headquarters will be called the New Jerusalem. Just to visualize the size of this New Jerusalem—picture a gleaming city that extends from Dallas to the west coast and all the way to Canada. Absolutely beautiful. In it will dwell the saints of all ages, the angels and God Himself. I consider this moving up to God’s forever earth. It’s going to be so gorgeous and so perfect. Have you imagined what it would be like to live there? It’s okay to think about that.

Read the blog, “When Heaven Comes to Earth” on Bible.org.

But there is a lot of living to come between now and then as we move around here, then move out, move in, and move back.

We can stay faithful as we anticipate His appearing and His Kingdom.

Anticipate Our Future with Him

For now, the hope of heaven and the glory of Christ’s Kingdom on Earth should transform our perspective on death. Does it for you? Here are some things to remember:

• We are not immune to the sorrow that death can bring. We should not deny its reality. Death hurts!! But in Christ, we share in His victory over death! We can rejoice about that!
• We grieve now, but we shouldn’t grieve as those who have no hope. Rather, we can be certain of our reunion with loved ones who have gone before us. We can be certain we will receive a glorious body that will never weaken or decay. We can be certain of entering a wonderful new life beyond our fondest dreams as we are forever with this Lord we love and who loves us perfectly!
• The process of dying is hard. But we can trust our God to provide grace for us when the time comes, when we need it. And He will.

We should not long to escape this life before it is God’s time for us to leave. Yes, there is something great ahead for us. But the point is not to escape from earth and find oneself at last in heaven. We are to let God’s heavenly life change our earthly reality. We do that through His power in us—the power that also raised Jesus from the dead. Our freedom begins now, and we have a lot of living ahead of us.

As Paul would say, “fight the good fight, finish the race, and keep the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:7).

Let Jesus satisfy your heart with His faithfulness. Then, make the choice to stay faithful to Him for the rest of your life.

All of the above information is covered in the To Be Found Faithful Bible Study covering the book of 2 Timothy in the New Testament.

Related Resources:

• 2 Timothy blog series
• The Biblical Perspective on Death” blog series
• 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 • Perspective on Death and the Rapture
• Resurrection…What Does It Really Mean?
• When Heaven Comes to Earth

AI was not used to generate this post.