What Happens After the Rapture? Romans 7 & Heaven Explained

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, now here we go again, and we're going to come back to our activities in heaven immediately after the rapture, while the tribulation is raging here below, because I think so many times a lot of believers just don't have a good handle on what's ahead of us, except going to heaven, and that's it. But the Bible has told us what we can look for, and if it's in here, I think God wants us to know it. So we'll be looking at that aspect beginning in Romans chapter 7. And now again, for all of you joining us on television, we are thrilled to know that you're part and parcel of this class, and we love to get letters, and they say it just feels like we're sitting in the very room with you. Well, that's exactly why we set it up the way we have, that you can sit in your living room and feel that you're a part of this study. We're strictly informal, and as I've said so often, we do not just try to lift up one group or admonish another. We're just teaching the book, and we trust you'll be blessed by it. We love to hear from you, and remember that everything is available on videotape, audiotapes, and some of them now in the printed page. I think that's all the announcements I want to make for this time, anyway. I want to get right into the book as quickly as we can. Romans chapter 7, and now we realize that after we have come through the bema seat in glory, then the next aspect is the wedding, which I feel will be in heaven while the Tribulation is here on earth, the wedding between Christ the Lamb and the Body, the Church. And Paul especially, since he writes concerning the Church, makes so much of Christ and His Body which is the Church. Now in Romans chapter 7, we can only really apply this out of one verse, and that is in verse 4, where the Apostle writes, "...wherefore, my brethren," now that's in Romans 7, verse 4, "...wherefore, my brethren, you also are become dead to the law by the Body of Christ." Now that is the law of Moses, the Mosaic system. We're dead to that. It no longer has any power over us. So we are dead to the law by the Body of Christ, but we're not just dead and to be forgotten, but we are to be married, see that? We are to be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, and that we should bring forth fruit unto God. Now of course that begins in this earthly sojourn. In other words, just as soon as we become a child of God, and we've become a member of the Body of Christ through faith in the Gospel, we are of course already connected to Christ as we saw in our previous programs. We have become joint heirs with Him, and He is the Head, and we make up the members of the Body. Now, we can pick that up a little further in a little more understandable vein, I think, in Ephesians. Now of course, the book of Ephesians is where Paul gets into some of the deeper aspects of our position in Christ. Book of Ephesians is not a simplistic book. It's a deep book, and you have to plumb its depths every once in a while. And now in chapter 5, again he comes into the analogy of the husband and wife relationship here on earth as being a correlation with Christ as the Head, or the husband, and the Body of Christ, that composite of church age believers. Now, I for one, and I don't expect everyone to agree with me on everything, they don't have to, but I for one do not believe the Old Testament believers will be members of the Body that is strictly part and parcel of Israel's relationship to her Jehovah God. And the Body is that unique relationship of especially the Gentile, which of course includes some Jewish people, but not many. There are Jewish members of the Body. But the Body of Christ is unique to this age of grace, those who have come in by virtue of believing and trusting the finished work of the cross, or the gospel. And so the Old Testament believers are not in this language. Now let's begin at verse 21 of Ephesians 5, where the Apostle writes with regard to the human husband and wife, "...submitting yourselves one to another in the fear, or the reverence, or the awe of God. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord." Now immediately I know some ladies out there are probably raising their hackles and saying, now wait a minute, wait a minute. We believe in equality between the sexes, and that's all well and good. But God has still mandated this husband and wife relationship is such that the husband is the head of the wife. And I've always told my classes over the years that that does not mean that she can be his gopher. That does not mean that she's his slave girl, and that he's some kind of an augury that can lord over her. Because you see, the very next verse makes it so plain how this whole relationship is to be equated. And that is, as the Lord is to the church, that's how the husband is to be to the wife, and the wife is to be the husband, of course, then, as the church, or the body of Christ is to the Lord. So now then, verse 22, "...wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord." And here's the reason, verse 23, and this of course is the eternal sovereign God who has mandated all this, that the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church. There's that analogy. And I've always asked my classes, is there anything uncomfortable or miserable being in the body of Christ with Christ as the head? Well of course not. I mean, He has nothing but the purest of love for us, nothing but the best that He can give to us, and He has come that we might have life, and have it what? More abundantly. And that's exactly what the husband and wife relationship should also be. The husband should just live totally to the benefit of his wife. And she, on the other hand, should not take advantage of that, but rather respond to it. Remember how I've used that word so often? I've taught my classes, and maybe I've even done it here on television, that when God created that first human couple, never throughout all of human history did God command the wife to love the husband. Not once. Not even here in the book of Ephesians. He never commands the woman to love the husband, but the other way around. He does command, you'll drop down, you'll see it in verse 25, where He does command, "...husbands, love your wives." Now that's a commandment, see? A lot of people think the only commandments are in the ten. No, that's foolishness. Whenever the Bible stipulates something like this, it becomes a commandment. "...husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church." You just can't go wrong. All right, now backing up then to Adam and Eve. If God mandated from the very onset of creation that the husband was to love his wife, but she doesn't tell the wife to love the husband, what do we know He put into the woman? That responder, see? And that's exactly the way He's created us. That if the man will love the wife, God has put within the female of the species that ability to respond. And that's what makes a marriage work, is that husband, who loves his wife, even though he's the head over her, because she's going to revel in the fact that she has a man who is expressing His love, His protection, His everything. And then of course the two come together. All right, now this is constantly, like I said, referred to as an analogy with Christ and the church as the husband is with the wife. Now then, come down to verse 23, finishing it, "...as Christ is the head of the church, He is the Savior of the body." That is the body of Christ. Now, let's go back. A thought just comes to me. Keep your hand here in Ephesians. Come back to 1 Corinthians for a moment. 1 Corinthians chapter 12, where Paul makes such a beautiful description of this body of Christ as He called it. Now remember, this is a Pauline term. Jesus never referred to the group of believers as His body, never. That is strictly a Pauline term. It's a Pauline doctrine that we are members of the body of Christ. All right, 1 Corinthians 12. Let's start at verse 12. 1 Corinthians 12, beginning at verse 12, "...for as the body," that is the human body, "...is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ." See that? "...for by one Spirit," capitalized, so it's the Holy Spirit, "...for by one Spirit are we," now underline that next little three-letter word, "...not just the most spiritual, not just the ones who are the holy, but all," every believer. See? Every believer has been baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ. Now analyze that for a minute. Can human hands touch that? No way. See, this is a baptism that no organization or denomination can adhere to. This is beyond that. This is something that only the invisible Almighty Spirit of God can do. And it happens the moment we believe the gospel as we saw in our last program. That's one of the, what shall I say, that's one of the results of our salvation is that immediately the Holy Spirit places us into this body of Christ. This whole congregation worldwide of genuine born-again people now become part and parcel then of this body of Christ. And that's why I'm sure you've all experienced it. You can go into a strange community, and you can go into a group of genuine believers. How long are you a stranger? Not over five minutes. See, now imagine you've already experienced it today. And I know I have. I remember years ago I was invited to go down into central Iowa and teach a group of young people, and I didn't know a soul. And I was kind of filled with trepidation as I would drive. I wondered, what's this going to be like? But you know, the minute I got into that living room full of kids, it was as if I'd known them all my life. Well, that's the beauty of the body of Christ. We were never strangers very long. So as we are now then baptized into this body by an act of God, an invisible, unfeeling act, we can't say, oh, I felt it being done. No, we don't. It's just something that, again, we take by faith. And now Paul says that we are all placed into the body, whether we be Jew or Gentile, whether we be bond or free. See that equalizing factor? We have been all made, weak or strong, rich or poor, Jew or Gentile. We have been all made to drink or partake into that one Spirit. Now verse 14, for the body, now he's talking about the physical again, is not one member, but many. Now he comes to the description of it. If the foot, see, the member of this physical body, if the foot shall say, because I'm not a hand, I'm not of the body, well, is that true? Well, of course not. The foot is still part of the body, and so is the hand. Now then verse 16, or if the ear should say, because I'm not the eye, I'm not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? Now Paul is almost getting it so simplistic, it's getting ridiculous, but nevertheless no use. No one in the body of Christ can say, I'm at the top of the heap, because see, regardless of our role, whether we are visible, or I've said so often, whether you're just as important in the overall function of the body as an eye or something that is out front invisible. And that's what Paul is teaching here, see, that every one of us are equally important in our role and in our function. All right? Now then he says, verse 18, I'm skipping a couple, but now hath God set the members, every one of them, in the body as it has pleased Him. In other words, every believer is in a place where God puts them. And it's up to us to just simply say, all right Lord, here I am, use me. And I've told people, now you've got to be careful when you say that, because you just might be surprised how He'll all of a sudden take a hold and start using you. And that's just the way it works. I mean, that's part and parcel of it. And so the body is comprised of all the believers. And as we've been seeing in the last few weeks, since we are members of the body and we have a common goal, it behooves us then to get out there and get busy and serve Him, not only for just the good of the body, but also for, I don't like to use the word, but I will for lack of a better one, there's also a little bit of the selfish included, because we're to work for reward. See? And that, of course, is the self that's involved. But on the whole, coming back now to Ephesians again for just a moment, in chapter 5, the whole function of the body is to respond to the Head, which is Christ. And again, just use your physical body as an example. You step or hurt your toe, where do you hurt? All over. You smash your thumb with a hammer, where do you hurt? All over. Why? Because all these nerves go up to the central computer up here that responds to every part of the body, regardless. See? It's the same way with the body of Christ. He is the Head. And if a believer over in China is hurting, every believer around the world should hurt with Him. I mean, that's just the way it's supposed to work. All right, now then, He comes down again to verse 25, as I've already touched on. Husbands, love your wives, that's a commandment, to the place that we're even willing to die for them. See? Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it. Now that, of course, is the epitome of love, isn't it? That we're willing to give our life for our Beloved. All right, then He goes on in verse 26, that He might sanctify, in other words, set it aside, set it apart, and cleanse it. In other words, the body needs a constant cleansing, just as sure as the physical body does. But instead of using water to cleanse, the spiritual body is cleansed with what? The Word of God. This is what keeps us in a place of service, is in the Word. And then that He might, verse 27, that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church or a glorious body, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. Now that's the whole concept of walking the Christian life. We're not to be careless. We are not to just simply take the attitude, well, I'm saved, so what? I've got nothing to worry about. That should never be the believer's attitude. Our attitude should be, I want to do all I can to bring glory to His name. In fact, months ago I used the analogy, I think it was the first part of the Heidelberg Catechism. The first question and answer is, what is the chief end of man? Any of you know that one? Yeah, you do. To glorify God and enjoy Him forever, see? And that's so apropos. And this should be our constant desire is to bring glory to Him. All right, now then, let's go over to Colossians. Chapter 1. So as the Lord is filling up the body, we feel that it's getting awfully close to the midnight hour. We feel the rapture will take place. But here in Colossians chapter 1, oh, these are beautiful verses. Let's jump in at, oh, verse 13. We looked at it a couple weeks ago, but now let's look at it in a different light. Colossians 1 verse 13, who, speaking of God the Father, in verse 12, hath delivered us from the power of darkness, hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son, in whom, that is, in the Son, we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Remember our last program on salvation? It's the death of Christ that made possible our whole plan of salvation. All right, now then, He goes on to say, "...who hath delivered us from the power of darkness." And then in verse 15, this God the Son, who is the image of the invisible God. Now that's another whole hour and a half, isn't it? God is what? He's invisible. The Spirit God, the triune God, the Godhead, as He refers to it later in Colossians, is invisible. It's Spirit. But at the appropriate time, what happened? One member of the Godhead took on visibility, and that's what the verse says here now in verse 15. He became the image, or the visible manifestation, of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. And then let's just read on to get to the verse that I want, which is 19, "...for by Him," by God the Son, "...were all things created." Now you remember when we were in Genesis 1, what did I say? The God of creation was God the Son. All three persons were there, of course, but God the Son spoke the Word, and all things came into being. All right, "...and that are in the earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him." That is by the Son. And now verse 17, "...and He is before all things." He's from eternity past. He didn't just come on the scene at Bethlehem, which a lot of people think. No, sir, He came on the scene in eternity past, or I shouldn't even put it that way. He's always been. He came out of eternity past, and He is the One who holds all things together. That's what the word consist really means. And then here comes verse 18, "...and He is the head of the body." The Church. See that? "...who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father," and here we come back to the Godhead again, "...for it pleased the Father that in Him," in God the Son, "...should all fullness dwell." Now if you have a marginal help, that word fullness could better be translated with what word? Compliment. I don't know if we've brought this up on the program. If we have, it's a long time ago. But what is a compliment with the E? It's that which adds to, or it completes. That's the word that we really mean. It completes. Now, what is the completion of the Son? Well, it's the body. See? "...that it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell." Oh, let's see. There's another verse that I want. I wanted one with the word compliment. I'm sorry. But in Ephesians chapter 1, it's still the same connotation as you have in Colossians 1. I'm not remiss there, but here's the verse that I like better. Ephesians chapter 1, verse 22 and 23, where it says, "...and he hath put all things under his feet," that is under Christ, under the Son, "...and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body." Now do you notice how Paul is always using those two terms in unison? The church, which is his body, or the body, which is the church. Now that's his own. Remember when we taught it back here, we realized that while Adam is yet alone, even though Eve is in him, yet he names all the animals, and no doubt they came with their mate, and Adam must have been almost getting heart sick, that everything that he was naming had a mate, but he didn't. And so God says in verse 18, "...the Lord God said, It is not good that man should be alone. I will make him a..." What? "...help mate." Now what's the word? A complement. And you have the same connotation, that as Eve was the complement that completed Adam in that relationship, so the body of Christ is that complement of which Christ, of course, is still waiting for, and looking for, and like I said, when it's suddenly filled and the last one is brought in, He's going to take it to Himself. All right, now we've got just about a minute and a half left. Now let's turn quickly to Revelation where we've been studying anyway. Revelation now again, chapter 19, verses that we have looked at once or twice before. Now Revelation 19, and come down to verse 7 and 8. Revelation 19, verse 7 and 8, "...let us be glad, and rejoice, and give honor to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready." Now I think it's unfortunate we've got the word wife. I'd rather it was the word bride, because that's really what it is, because in verse 8 we know it is. "...and to her," that is the bride, "...was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness," or the positional aspect of the what? The saints. Now then you remember in chapter 19, when we were looking at it several weeks ago, you come over to verses 11 down to verse 16. We now have the coming of Christ for the second time, down to the Mount of Olives, as King of kings and Lord of lords. This is His second coming, and oh, let's just start at verse 14, I guess. Our time is running out. At verse 14, "...and the armies who were in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in," what? "...fine linen for the saints." And as I've said so often, at the Rapture He comes for the saints, at the second coming He comes with them, and that just separates them, and that helps you delineate so clearly. But here we come with Him, members of the body, but also citizens of the kingdom. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.