Job said, "Yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up; so man lieth down, and riseth not." Job 14:10-12. There, people very often stop, but not so the Spirit of God here by Job. For it is plain here he really does say what Scripture fully warrants—"till the heavens be no more." A very remarkable expression. It might have been thought to be—and that we could easily understand as a natural thing—"till the earth be no more"; but man lives and dies, and does not rise—not till the earth be no more, but—"till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep."
Surely, what is here said is very striking, that even man without God—man who is only born of woman, and not of God—man is to sleep till the heavens be no more. Now take the last book of the New Testament. In the 20th chapter of the Revelation you find that, after the last outbreak of the world and the external nations of the world in the Millennium, all that are not converted during the Millennium will fall victims to Satan, after his release from the abyss; and they will all be rallied by him against Jerusalem on earth. They cannot touch Jerusalem above, the holy city. And not merely that, but "the camp of the saints about"—another striking thing. Why is there a camp of the saints around Jerusalem at that time? Has Satan gathered all the outside nations for one great effort to destroy the righteous that will then be on the earth? All the righteous flow up to Jerusalem; and as it will be entirely beyond the capacity of that Jerusalem to take in the saints from every quarter of the world, they will make a vast encampment around the "beloved city"; and that will be the great mark for Satan. Against that he thinks to hurl his battalions—all the rebels of the Millennium on earth. And what happens then? Fire comes down from God and destroys them all. And what then? Satan is cast at last into the lake of fire. There is to be no temptation any more; everything is going to be changed now. It is not merely that he is bound—he is cast into the lake of fire. There is no use which God can put him to; he is now to be punished forever. And that is not all.
Heaven and earth flee away. And as the fire had consumed these wicked nations, they now are raised from the dead, and not only they, but all the wicked since the world began. This is the resurrection of the unjust [the last resurrection], and they will all be in one company, and without one righteous person. You may ask what is to become of the righteous. Oh, they are translated, just as we are at the coming of the Lord for us before the tribulation. They will be with the Lord. They are not spoken of; there is no need to speak about them. They were never promised to sit upon the throne; we were. They had their comfort all the time of their righteousness. They will enjoy nothing but comfort; and, consequently, as they never suffered with Christ, they are not to be glorified with Him. Nevertheless, they are to be raised; or, as I should rather say, they are to be changed, because they do not die. But they will no doubt be changed.
That great principle of change will apply to all that are found alive—all the saints on the earth at that time. And we do find them in the next chapter. "The tabernacle of God is with men." There they are the men; they are not the tabernacle. The tabernacle of God are the glorified saints—are those that had been already with Him and reigning—all those that were His—and they are particularly, as far as I know, the Church. I do not know that one could predicate it properly of any but the Church. Still, all the others will be blessed throughout all eternity. But the tabernacle of God is with men, and I presume that these men that are spoken of are the saints that are transported from the earth into the "new earth." You may ask me, How and why? I say, God does not tell us, and I cannot tell you, beyond that I know it will be; and we are all bound to believe that will be, because the Word of God says so. So, the tabernacle of God is quite distinct. And now when they are all in this city, fit for all eternity, the tabernacle of God, instead of being up in the air, comes down. It is not that it mingles with the other, but there it is. It deigns to be in the midst; God Himself is there; and all those that are in especial nearness to God will be there; hut all the blessed inhabitants of the millennial earth will be there as the men with whom that tabernacle shall then be.
So nothing can be plainer than how this coalesces with the words of Job. The wicked lie in the grave till the very end of the earth. Not merely the end of the age, but the absolute end, not only of the earth, but, of the heavens; and therefore it is said, "till the heavens be no more." For it might be thought that at the beginning of the Millennium the earth sustains a very great change, and so it does. But it is not then; it is "till the heavens be no more," and that will never be till the absolute end of all the dispensations of God; and then it is that the wicked from the beginning and up to the end of the Millennium will be all raised for judgment. And this entirely agrees with the 5th of John. You recollect that very remarkable drawing out of the grand principle of life and judgment by our Lord Jesus. He is the source of life, and He is the executor of judgment. In giving life He had communion with His Father. "For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom He will." But He, and He alone, will judge the dead. And in effect He carries on the judgment of the living also—the "quick" or "alive." But at this time all His enemies will be dead—all the wicked from the beginning of the world—and they will be sentenced therefore to that which lasts when the world is no more, when there is nothing but the new heavens and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. They will meet their doom then. And it is lovely, it appears to me, that God should bring those whom He loves into their blessing, long before those that are accursed meet their doom; and they will all meet this doom together.