The Future of the Church

When the author of Hebrews encourages his readers that in Christ they have not come to Mt. Sinai with its terrors but to the heavenly Mt. Zion with its joys and privileges, he says this:

²² But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, ²³ to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, ²⁴ to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. (Hebrews 12:22-24)

In the heavenly city where God lives there are multitudes of angels and there is the church or assembly of the firstborn, those who are in Christ Jesus, the Firstborn, whose spirits have been made perfect by his sacrifice. The Church on earth has come to the Church in heaven.

When Jesus returns to the sky above earth, the first stage of his return, he will bring with him the spirits of all the righteous dead, those saved before the Church and the Church, and they will be rejoined to their resurrected bodies and remain with Christ in the sky above the earth as he pours out judgment on the earth:

¹⁴ For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. ¹⁵ According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ 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. ¹⁷ 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 4:14-17)

The Church and all those saved before the Tribulation will come down to earth with Jesus as his army to engage the beast in final battle in Israel:

¹¹ I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. ¹² His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. ¹³ He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. ¹⁴ The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. (Revelation 19:11-14)

The resurrected Church and all other resurrected believers will reign with Christ a thousand years on earth with those who were saved during the tribulation and lived through it. So there will be glorified (resurrected) saints and unresurrected saints in the Millennium:

⁴ I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. ⁵ (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. (Revelation 20:4-5)

Then the earth will be remade and the heavenly Jerusalem will come to the earth and the Church and all believers from every age will dwell there with the Triune God forever:

¹ Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. ² I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away”… ¹² It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. ¹³ There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. ¹⁴ The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. (Revelation 21:1-4, 12-14)

The Church merges with all the saints in this forever dwelling. But there is a reminder of its distinctive identity in the names of the apostles on the foundation stones of the city.