A. At the day of judgment, the righteous, being caught up to Christ in the clouds,¹ shall be set on His right hand, and there openly acknowledged and acquitted,² shall join with Him in the judging of reprobate angels and men,³ and shall be received into heaven,⁴ where they shall be fully and forever freed from all sin and misery;⁵ filled with inconceivable joys,⁶ made perfectly holy and happy both in body and soul, in the company of innumerable saints and holy angels,⁷ but especially in the immediate vision and fruition of God the Father, of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, to all eternity.⁸ And this is the perfect and full communion, which the members of the invisible church shall enjoy with Christ in glory, at the resurrection and day of judgment.

We have seen how the Day of Judgment coincides with the Last Day of this present age and order. From that day onwards, the creation will be completely renovated and believers will find themselves interacting with it in ways that have not been possible before because of the dominion of natural laws over them.

One of the first indications that this would happen is that the righteous will be caught up (contrary to the laws of gravity) unto Christ in the clouds. The apostle Paul describes this event thus:

Dispensational Premillennialists claim that what the apostle Paul is here describing is a secret rapture (the shout of the archangel and the trump of God notwithstanding). They assert that verse 17 shows that the saints caught up will remain in heaven until the end of the so-called ‘Seven Years of Tribulation.’ But this would be to read too much into the passage, for word rendered ‘meet’ (Grk. ajpavnthsi") occurs only four times and describes a going out to meet someone important to accompany him for the rest of his journey to a destination (see Mt 25:1, 6; Acts 28:15-16). The saints will be caught up to meet the Lord and will be part of the heavenly host that will accompany Him on His descent to the earth (see Rev 19:14; Jude 14-15).

This event, known as the parousia, will be followed by the general judgment; at which time one of the first acts of Christ our Lord would be to set His saints on His right hand and openly acknowledge and acquit them of their sins. They would be acquitted on the basis of what Christ has done for them.

These will then join the Lord in judging the reprobate angels and men. This does not mean that they will take part in the judicial process or that they will mete out sentences. Rather, it means that they will sit with Him and declare their assent as Christ, the Judge, pronounces His sentence on the reprobate and the wicked angels. This dramatic scene would be a very apposite conclusion to the era of redemption; for all through redemptive history, God’s people has been troubled, oppressed, persecuted, ridiculed by Satan and his cohorts as well as the reprobate. It is very fitting, therefore, that having been vindicated by the Lord they love; they sit with Him and join Him as He judges His and their enemies.

When that is done, they shall be received into heaven "where they shall be fully and forever freed from all sin and misery." They would have already been made perfect in holiness when they were raised to meet the Lord (1 Cor 15:52; Eph 5:27), but now they will be completely free from all interaction and influence of sin and misery (Rev 14:13; 21:8, 27).

The saints now perfected both in body and soul will experience joy inexpressible. They would not only be perfectly holy and happy, but they will enjoy the fellowship of saints and angels who are also perfectly holy and happy (cf. Heb 12:22-23). And not only so, but they will enjoy the immediate vision of the Triune God. This simply means that we shall ‘see’ God without the need of secondary means—such as the written word, or providence or nature. This does not, of course, mean that God has a bodily form that we can see. God is a Spirit. Apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-Man, God cannot be seen through bodily eyes. But we shall ‘see’ God not only with our bodily eyes (which would no doubt see Christ—Job 19:25-26). We shall ‘see’ Him in a way that we cannot comprehend today.

And then for all eternity, they shall bear fruit unto God by enjoying and glorifying Him forever and ever. Heaven will not be a place of idleness, but a place of joyful worship, fellowship and learning. This is the rest of the saints. This is what the saints are longing for. We are not hoping for a time of inactivity. That would not be true rest. True rest is found in joyful activity. Today, activity tires us out because sin has brought misery into the world. But in eternity in heaven, the activities centred upon God will be our chief delight. We shall have no desire nor need to ‘recuperate’ or ‘recharge’ for we will not need to. "There will be no night there" (Rev 21:25). W