The Sky is Only a Stepping Stone

"Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart."                                                                                            Jeremiah 33:3

                                                                                                                                                  At the end of the 1,000 year physical Reign of Christ on earth, the Triune Godhead is now ready to be spiritually reunited. This time is referred to as “All in All” (I Corinthians 15:28). The final rebellion against God has been defeated and the unrepentant captives of Sheol have been judged and removed from memory. The earth and mankind are now in a state of holiness and bliss not experienced since the fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden. Two and one half billion Christians along with two and one half billion children who were raptured, have now had the privilege of assisting Christ during His Millennial Reign over the nations of the earth. At this same time, millions of raptured Jews along with a remnant of mortal Jews, who survived the Great Tribulation, have all been gathered into the land of Israel (Matthew 24:31). Some have served in the Third Temple in Jerusalem conducting worship services attended by all the people of the earth (Zechariah 14:16; Revelation 15:4). This has been the time of the Millennial Kingdom Age of God (Matthew 6:10).

The population of mortal humans on the earth has continued to grow exponentially with the blessing of God. Because the people of the earth are now back to their state of genetic perfection with no ageing, diseases, wars or food shortages, the earth’s population has now grown quickly back to billions. We are even told that God brings back the Tree of Life to assist in healing needs and help to extend the longevity of mortal bodies (Revelation 22:2). As the Children of God, all of their wants and desires are freely given to them. They will only want what is in the will of God, so no request is too large nor too small for God to consider and most probably grant to them. There will still be a line between the Creator and the creation but all that can, within the will of God, be given to the creation will be given to them (Revelation 21:7). However, this idealistic situation begs a question. If the population of the earth is continually and exponentially increasing, how does a finite earth provide room for an infinite number of inhabitants?

Today we know that our earth is but a minuscule part of our galaxy which we call the Milky Way. Astronomers using the Hubble Telescope estimate that there are 100 thousand million stars in our Milky Way galaxy. They also estimate that there are 100 billion planets in our galaxy of which 300 million are statistically habitable. Today it is now estimated that there may be as many as 2 trillion galaxies! Our desires to know more about our universe and our abilities to create ways to explore our immediate solar system is a testament to the creative abilities of mankind. At the same time, the creation of the human mind, the creation of our solar system and the vastness of space is a testament to the unimaginable creative power of God. Therefore, one has to wonder why God would bother to create such incomprehensible wonders when He could have simply created only our planet rotating around the sun. He may have created a massive, diverse and complex series of universes simply because it gave Him pleasure to do so. Or, He may have created this system to entertain and better help us understand His power and majesty. But either way, He absolutely knew that man would not just simply continue to sit back and wonder in awe at the night sky. He knew that man would ultimately develop the technology to leave earth and visit a few of these far flung exotic worlds before He took back control.

America’s space program is a tremendous testament to man’s insatiable curiosity about the space that surrounds our planet. Therefore, it would not be a stretch of the imagination to consider the idea that God purposefully created these marvels for mankind to one day colonize. For one thing, this would solve the problem of the overcrowding of the earth. Man was made from the earth but this does not necessarily mean that he is confined to the earth. And it is highly probable that God will make it possible for future generation to explore and dwell on many of the other planets. The real question to ask is, why would God not want His human children to colonize these habitable planets? Why else would He have created these other worlds and who else would He use to explore utilize and enjoy them if not His beloved children?

Scripture tells us, God said on day 6 “Let us {plural}  make man in our {plural} image”(Genesis 1:26-31). This is God saying, let the 3 of us agree on creating a physical being that in both intellectual and spiritual ways would be similar to us. A being that could contemplate it's existence and thus commune and celebrate it's life with it's Creator. A being We could love and who could freely love Us in return. And let Us surround the world of this being with stars and planets that shine in the night so that they can look up in wonder and behold the power and glory of their Creator. And let Us give them an intellect capable of flight through the first and the second heavens. Let them create mechanical devices to go even further into space to reveal even more of its beauty and wonders, and be astonished at what they find. And, in the fullness of time, let Us translate them into immortal bodies capable of passing through solid objects, moving at the speed of thought and taking flight at will through time and space (Luke 24:30-32, 36-38).

It is highly improbable that God created the unimaginable vastness of space for mankind to only look at in wonder. It is clear He is currently encouraging and allowing His most beloved Children to see and in some cases actually explore some of the planets He has created. And why not? Man was created in the image of God. And while man was created a little lower than the angels, God has set him above the works of His hands. And while all things on earth are currently under man because of sin, he has yet to experienced all things being put under him (Hebrews 2:7). This is prophecy as to the inheritance of mankind to include other rights and opportunities beyond current imaginations.

At the Bema Judgment Seat, followers will be purged of all sin and given rewards of governance according to the works or fruit they produced in furthering the Kingdom of God on earth (II Corinthians 5:9-10,17). Furthering the Kingdom means people are rewarded for causing other people to have faith in Christ, and thus were given eternal life. In other words, God is rewarding people for helping other people achieve eternal life. After the Bema Seat Judgment, the saints will then be presented to God the Father known as the Marriage of Christ to His Bride the Church (Revelation 19:7-9).

At that point they will become the Children of God and heirs to all that God has to offer them. Man has become physically, mentally and spiritually one with God and now endowed by their Creator with all the rights, honors and privileges that come with this distinction (Matthew 25:21). These rights and powers are beyond our imaginations but are no doubt many fold and unimaginably profound as hinted in the Book of Hebrews. Jesus, as the Word of God, died to redeem not only mankind but all life forms in the heavens and the earth from the curse pronounced by God in the Garden (Genesis 3:16-19). It is problematic that it would not be in the will of God to now allow mankind full unfettered access to the entire physical universe He created expressly for them, and that Christ died to redeem for them.

The only other possible reason that God would deny mankind the rights and ability to explore the universe is that it may be in His will to create yet other types of beings to utilize other planets and galaxies. But this possibility poses an inescapable conundrum. If this new creation was given the same free will to choose their destiny, they too will ultimately rebel against God (Job 15:15). This in turn would require their salvation which can only be made possible by the sacrifice of the Word of God or Christ. It would seem preposterous that God would allow this redemption process to continue and sacrifice His son a second time. This conclusion can only mean that there are no other creations made by God in His image as was mankind. There may be lower life forms on distant planets in distant galaxies but none created in the image of God as was mankind. This would mean that space was only made for mankind to colonize and this will most probably take place during and or after the end of the Millennial Reign.

There is however one intriguing possibility concerning the salvation of other intelligent creatures. Theoretically, if a saint was completely free of sin, fully indwelled by the Holy Spirit and entirely in the will of God, then it is conceivable that God might assign that saint to bring the Gospel to these other intelligent beings. And, should these individuals reject the offer of salvation through Christ, that saint may become a martyr and die on behalf of the inhabitants of that planet. In this way, Jesus would only die one time for all the sins of all intelligent created beings in rebellion against God. And the saints, would have the privilege of taking salvation to others throughout the universe in obedience to God's will even to the point of death. Again, this is only a hypothetical possible solution to a hypothetical problem.

The Apostle James writes that just as Christ was the first fruit of the resurrection and translation to immortality, we are the first fruits of His creation (James 1:18; I Corinthians 15:20). The profit Isaiah writes that “of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end." (Isaiah 9:7) Because mankind is now free from sin, they are fully capable of taking on the incredible responsibility of taking the pure truth of the righteousness of God to the farthest corners of space. Mankind has inherited from God "all things" and now has unlimited time and abilities with which to explore space. Thus, the physical saints become the physical emissaries to any physical intelligent entities living in the physical universe (Revelation 21:7). We are now officially God's Space Ambassadors.

The six thousand year Age of the Rule of Man will end the day of the Second Coming of Christ. That same day will be the beginning of the one thousand year Millennial Reign of Christ also know as the The Kingdom Age of God. This is the time prophesied by Peter concerning one day is as a thousand years with the Lord (II Peter 3:8). This Age will come to a close on the last day of the one thousand year Reign of Christ. On that day, the final rebellion of man and Satan against God will take place and be defeated. Then Sheol, located down in the earth, will be emptied out and the Great White Throne Judgement of God on the unrepentant human and angelic captives will take place in a location far from the earth.

Simultaneously, the earth is made Holy by the cleansing power of the Holy Spirit, and the New Jerusalem containing the Throne of the Triune Godhead will descend down from the sky and rest on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. At this time, the Millennial Reign of Christ will officially end.

We have now arrived at the Great Abdication which is the threshold for an endless series of timespans known as the Age of Ages. Three thousand years earlier, God the Word, left the Throne of God the Father, and spiritually indwelled a newborn named Jesus. His entourage of angels then went out into the grazing fields of Bethlehem to announce the news before returning to Heaven. While He has remained in this immortal physical human form since His resurrection, it is now in the plan and will of God that He reunite with the Triune Godhead and transition back into His original eternal spiritual state of being. Thus, now it can be truly stated that God is once again All in All (I Corinthians 15:24-28).

Christ now presents His earthly Kingdom and Throne as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, to God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. He has satisfied all that was required of Him from His initial ministry on earth to His Second Coming and His Millennial Reign. He abdicates this position just as the New Jerusalem with the Throne of the Triune Godhead descends onto the regenerated Holy earth. He now simply returns to His eternal role as the Word of God. He will continue to serve as God The Word on the Throne of God to the right of God The Father surrounded by the purifying flame of God The Holy Spirit. These 3 separate yet wholly and inextricably unified entities, now continue to reign sovereign and eternally over all that they have jointly created.

It is at this moment that all of physical creation has now crossed into eternity. This means that time has officially ended as there is no need to account for time in eternity. And, as eternity begins for mankind, the first “Age of Ages” begins. This Age will continue until God’s revelations and objectives are met. Then, that Age will end and a new Age with new revelations and objectives will begin. And this pattern will repeat itself throughout eternity as God’s ever unfolding plans are revealed. And with every new Age there will be more exciting revelation about God and His plans for mankind. Then, just when mankind believes their existence could not become any better, they are rewarded with even more astounding revelations. And this pattern of loving God, and being unconditionally loved by Him in return, will continue Ages upon Ages as they are as eternal as is God. Amen!