DEATH KNELL FOR HYPER-PRETERISM
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5 WEEK INTRODUCTION TO ESCHATOLOGY
We apologize for the bad sound quality.
This is the 5th of 5 sessions summarizing the 3 Orthodox Christian views of eschatology. Premillennialism Postmillennialism and Amillennialism.
This study will not be an in-depth evaluation of each of these positions, but an overview. There are variations within each one, and each one has exegetical strong points and weaknesses. However, each of them is within orthodoxy, because, they affirm a future physical return of Christ, and have legitimate exegetical foundations.
Our Statement of Faith on Eschatology:
Regarding Eschatology, we apply the dictum, “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.” We believe that the doctrines regarding personal eschatology, the coming of Christ, and the eternal state are clearly expressed in the Scriptures and are therefore essential. Yet, we hold that the fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel and the nature of the millennium are less clear and therefore are non-essentials. Therefore, various corporate eschatological views are free to be discussed and taught side-by-side as long as unity is maintained and love is preeminent.
#eschatology #lastthings #revelation #datpostmill #postmillennialism #amillennialism #Premillennialism
- 00:24
- So, this Wednesday, we're going to wrap up our eschatology series. So this is week number five, and I just want to recap for a moment something that we've tried to do is say, eschatology, the study of last things and the end times, so deep, right?
- 00:39
- We've probably started this series and you're like, wow, I had no idea of all just the mass in -depth information that, you know, goes into interpreting
- 00:47
- Scripture with Scripture there. But we've kind of talked about three orthodox perspectives. You have the pre -millennial view, the all -millennial view, and the post -millennial view, okay?
- 00:57
- And these are good orthodox positions that all unify on the essentials of eschatology and they have healthy disagreement about the non -essentials, okay?
- 01:07
- And so, this Wednesday, I want us to recap on the three essentials, what they are and why they're so tethered to our blessed hope, to the gospel promise itself.
- 01:18
- And so, please write your questions down because hopefully we'll have a little bit more time at the end for Q &A.
- 01:25
- And it's not stump the chump because there's a lot to eschatology. I don't know, but I just want to let you all know, definitely want to allow for more time for Q &A.
- 01:34
- So, the three orthodox perspective, once again, unites around these three truths. So, if you want to write this down, number one, the future bodily second coming of Christ, that's number one.
- 01:46
- Number two, the resurrection of the dead. And number three, the new heavens and the new earth.
- 01:53
- Now, these are tethered to the gospel promise. Jesus resurrected from the dead and he says,
- 01:59
- I will give you new life, right, in communion with him. But this also promises life eternal, where he's going to resurrect us unto new life, give us new bodies fit for eternity.
- 02:09
- And so, something else with our eschatology series, we've talked about a major heresy out there called full preterism.
- 02:16
- Full preterism takes away these essential truths that we hold near and dear to our heart.
- 02:22
- And so, I want us, as we're talking about these things, I want us to answer the question tonight, how do we know that the second coming of Christ is in our future?
- 02:32
- Okay, so I want us to tackle that biblically this evening. If you would, open in your copy of God's Word to 1
- 02:39
- Corinthians chapter 15. We're going to look at verses 20 through 26 in 1
- 02:46
- Corinthians 15, and we're going to hit on these three essentials in eschatology. And I want to show without question how we know
- 02:53
- Christ's second coming, the parrhesia, is still in our future. And so, in this passage we read, but in fact,
- 03:01
- Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep, for as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
- 03:12
- For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order,
- 03:18
- Christ the first fruits, then at his coming, those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the
- 03:27
- Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power, for he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
- 03:35
- The last enemy to be destroyed is death. So this is such a wonderful passage, so much jam -packed in there.
- 03:45
- And so, you saw his coming in verse 23. At his coming, he's going to receive those all that come to him.
- 03:52
- So this kind of brings us to our first major point, that Christ's second coming is going to be future and bodily.
- 03:59
- And so I want to put that on pause and say, when we go back to verse 20, the apostle Paul talks about Jesus' first coming as he's building up to his second coming here, because what
- 04:09
- Jesus accomplished at his resurrection is so important for the resurrection of the dead, and it tells us many things about the second coming as well.
- 04:18
- And so look with me back at verse 20. Paul says, but in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead.
- 04:26
- Okay? Now you may say, that's pretty basic, right? This is talking about Jesus' bodily, physical resurrection, right?
- 04:33
- Remember, that's what he did at his first coming. And so Paul is telling us that this was a physical reality.
- 04:39
- Jesus is the God -man, right? In John 1, his incarnation, he added human flesh to his person.
- 04:45
- And so Jesus represents humanity, okay? Something we experience in this fallen and broken world is death, physical death, right?
- 04:55
- And so Jesus, he experienced that, right? Remember, it was actually prophesied to happen. That's actually an important reality to the gospel itself.
- 05:04
- Let's look at just the opening verses of 1 Corinthians 15. This a lot of times is referred to as the resurrection chapter.
- 05:11
- So Paul, in the very beginning, says, Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures.
- 05:39
- And so this is so important. This whole chapter is talking about the resurrection of Jesus actually happened as a historical event and it was physical.
- 05:47
- His body died, right? He was put in a tomb, but he rose again the third day. This was actually prophesied to happen according to the
- 05:54
- Old Testament scriptures, okay? So I want you in your mind to think, okay, Paul is talking about physical death, and Jesus physically rose again from the dead on the third day.
- 06:05
- So look with me back at verse 20. But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, and this is an interesting phrase.
- 06:11
- He says, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep, okay? Jesus is the firstfruits.
- 06:18
- His resurrection is something totally unique, something that it has not happened before.
- 06:23
- Because you may say, well, didn't Lazarus, didn't he resurrect from the dead? Wasn't there many other miracles or people were brought back from the dead?
- 06:30
- Yes, but all of those died again, right? When Jesus resurrected, he resurrected in glory forever, right?
- 06:40
- And so he's the firstfruits, meaning that there are more to come like him, okay? So remember the three big points of Jesus' future coming.
- 06:47
- Second point is the resurrection of the dead, because at Jesus' second coming, he's going to receive all saints, and they will be resurrected with new bodies, okay?
- 06:59
- And so the point is, he is the firstfruit, okay? And so, because he actually died, and he actually resurrected physically and bodily.
- 07:08
- And so it says that he's the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. Now you may think, well, does that mean there's a lot of people just taking a snooze?
- 07:17
- Are they sleeping? Paul is actually using a euphemism, a common phrase here, meaning that there are many people that are in Christ that have died, right?
- 07:28
- They've fallen asleep. He uses this phrase all throughout 1 Corinthians, and Jesus in the Gospels, he even told the disciples that Lazarus has fallen asleep.
- 07:38
- And they were even confused and said, okay, that means he'll get better, right? He's like, y 'all don't understand, he's dead, right?
- 07:44
- He's going to stinketh much for four days. He's going to be actually dead, and I'm going to raise him from the dead.
- 07:50
- And so this is important for the context, talking about Jesus actually died physically, and he was raised bodily the third day.
- 07:59
- And this is a promise for all believers that are in him that we too will be resurrected bodily.
- 08:06
- And so we know that because he's talking about physical death here when he says those who have fallen asleep, okay?
- 08:13
- And so verse 21 says, for as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
- 08:23
- Now, so we're going to table the first major point about Jesus's future bodily return, okay?
- 08:31
- Now, we've already talked about many things that happened at his first coming, a bodily resurrection, and that quickly moves us into how the resurrection of the dead is going to be one day, okay?
- 08:42
- Jesus is going to judge the living and the dead. For all of those that died in Christ, we are going to be resurrected with a resurrected body like Jesus has, okay?
- 08:53
- Now, this is so important because remember full preterism? They're actually saying, well, you're not going to receive a resurrected body.
- 09:00
- This is actually talking about when somebody puts their faith in Christ and is saved. That's actually one explanation of what resurrection here.
- 09:07
- You're dead in your sins and trespasses, and this is talking about a spiritual resurrection. And I'll say, time out.
- 09:14
- That's not the context of what Paul is talking about here. He's been talking about physical death, and he's also talking about physical life, a physical resurrection.
- 09:24
- So and I want to show you more on why that is the case. So when we read about the resurrection of the dead in verse 21, this is what the whole chapter has talked about.
- 09:34
- We see what Jesus' resurrection looked like, and this is a promise of what all Christians will have one day as well.
- 09:40
- If you look down at verse 35, Paul says, And you can almost hear his frustration in the next verse.
- 09:52
- He says, And so just so no one is confused, he's not talking about a mere spiritual resurrection.
- 10:04
- He's saying, look, take a little seed, a kernel. It has to die. It has to go into the ground before it can come to new life and transform.
- 10:12
- He says it's no different with us. We have to die physically in order to be resurrected physically and bodily.
- 10:18
- So he continues to build his case in verse 42. He says, And so he goes on to say,
- 10:45
- So he's telling us the kind of resurrection believers will have. And I have to stress this point because of what full preterism says.
- 10:53
- It's saying, oh, it's just a spiritual resurrection. Right when you believed in Christ, it's like, no, no, no. He's arguing for something so much more than that reality, which is true.
- 11:03
- But because of how Jesus was resurrected, that is also how we have been resurrected.
- 11:09
- And as we continue to look at this, the Apostle Paul takes us back to Genesis. He actually brings up Adam from in the beginning.
- 11:16
- But look with me at verse 45. But it's not the spiritual that is first, but the natural and then the spiritual.
- 11:32
- The first man was from the earth, a man of dust. The second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of dust.
- 11:40
- And as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
- 11:51
- So do you see the unity that we will have with Christ, right? He physically, bodily resurrect.
- 11:57
- We too will be joined with Christ in that way, still yet future, okay?
- 12:03
- But we also see a parallel, a comparing and contrasting rather, with the first Adam and the second
- 12:09
- Adam. Go back with me at verse 20. I want you to hear all this because this is so important with how we understand the first Adam in Genesis.
- 12:19
- So once again, we read in verse 20, but in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
- 12:26
- For as by a man came death, this is going to be Adam, and then by a man,
- 12:32
- Jesus has come also, the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive, okay?
- 12:43
- So you kind of have three different people in mind. You have the first Adam, the second
- 12:49
- Adam, and then all people who are in Christ. And even, I guess, fourthly, all those who are just in Adam.
- 12:55
- I want to point out something. Back in verse 21, it says, for as by a man came death, okay?
- 13:03
- Death happened with Adam in the garden, okay? And so I actually want you, if you don't mind, turn with me to Genesis chapter 2 for just a moment because we read about something that God said to Adam in the garden and the consequences that would happen afterwards.
- 13:22
- Now, I'm wanting us to prove without a shadow of a doubt how full preterism is wrong and it's heretical.
- 13:28
- And what they're going to say in 1 Corinthians 15 is it's talking about a spiritual death.
- 13:33
- It's not talking about anything physical. And we know this based on what God told
- 13:39
- Adam in the garden. The day that you eat of this tree of knowledge of good and evil, surely you will die.
- 13:45
- And their point is, Adam did not die physically. He must have died spiritually in that day.
- 13:50
- And I want us to say, well, Adam should have died physically that day, and he didn't because God is gracious and merciful, okay?
- 13:59
- And so this is really important. Look with me in chapter 2 of Genesis here, starting in verse 15.
- 14:06
- The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and to keep it, and the
- 14:11
- Lord God commanded the man saying, you may surely eat of every tree in the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat, for in that day that you eat of it, you will surely die.
- 14:25
- Now, this is the context of what's going on. God is saying, the day that you sin against me, there will be justice.
- 14:32
- There will be consequences when that happens, right? I've heard Pastor Nathan talk about when the creature of the dust sins against God, they have committed cosmic treason, okay?
- 14:44
- And so God is telling Adam, there will be a reckoning for when you sin against me, there will be death, okay?
- 14:51
- Now, man is at least a two -part being. He is a spiritual being and he is a physical being.
- 14:59
- He has a spirit and a body, at least, right, Don? So this is important because death touches both features of what man is.
- 15:10
- And so what I'm getting at, look earlier in chapter 2, starting in verse 7. The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and then breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living creature.
- 15:24
- There's a material aspect to humanity and an immaterial aspect to humanity, right?
- 15:30
- And then earlier, in chapter 1, we realized that we're made in God's image, okay? So think about what
- 15:35
- God is saying when he tells Adam, in that day that you eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and sin against me, you will die.
- 15:43
- Death is touching both features of what man is, the material aspect and the immaterial aspect.
- 15:51
- And so the full preterist will say, but he didn't die physically that day. I would say, you're right, but he should have.
- 15:57
- He should have because of who he is. And God is saying, there's gonna be consequences and I'm a just judge to carry that out.
- 16:05
- So even though that there was a spiritual separation with Adam and the creator, guess what?
- 16:10
- God is gracious, he is merciful, and he provided a way of salvation, even though man should have died physically in the garden, okay?
- 16:20
- And so God provided a way of salvation. Look with me at verse 15 of chapter 3.
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- So we know more of the story that the devil tempted Eve and Adam and then all of the guilt of sin is carried by Adam in this.
- 16:37
- But God says to the serpent, I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring.
- 16:44
- He shall bruise or crush your head and you will bruise his heel. This is essentially the first gospel proclamation, that there's a coming seed of the woman that's going to crush the head of the serpent, right?
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- This is wonderful. The entire rest of the Bible describes verse 15 in more detail, okay?
- 17:04
- I don't want you to lose something. Remember, Adam should have died physically that day.
- 17:10
- And God is just and he will execute justice, but we learn more about the character of God that he is also merciful.
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- He is also loving and he is kind. And so what God doesn't do is judge them immediately and physically that day, and he had every right to, but he shows them grace.
- 17:27
- Look with me at verse 21 here in chapter 3. And the
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- Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skin and clothed them.
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- Now, as I've read through this narrative a whole bunch throughout the years, I just skimmed through these details.
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- I did not realize the gravity of what is being said here. So when you read the garments of skins,
- 17:49
- God provided a substitute for Adam and Eve. And how did he do that?
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- He would have had to kill physically, physical death had to happen with animals. And that is a picture of what the
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- Savior is going to do for God's people. He's going to be our substitute. So here's the deal.
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- Something did die physically in Genesis chapter 3, and it wasn't man, even though that he should have died physically, right?
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- But God made a sacrifice. You see how incredible that is? Because God was already preparing the gospel message.
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- And so later in the Bible, we read that Leviticus 17, 11 says that life is in the blood.
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- And so that's why the saints of old, they needed an ongoing sacrifice in their state.
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- That's why they sacrificed lambs, goats, and they had the whole sacrificial system, right?
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- These were imperfect for what Jesus would accomplish one day, okay? And so this is all going in with Adam.
- 18:49
- And then the second Adam, the better Adam, Jesus Christ. And so I wanted you to be familiar with all that.
- 18:55
- Turn back with me to 1 Corinthians 15. This will shed more light on the argument that Paul is making here.
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- So look with me back at verse 21, where Paul says, for as by a man came death, and then by another man came also the resurrection of the dead.
- 19:14
- For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
- 19:20
- Here's the point of what he's getting at. When Adam sinned, he died spiritually, and he was then subject to physical death, right?
- 19:29
- He should have died physically that day, but God was merciful. But he is the covenant head of all creation that now is cursed by sin.
- 19:37
- And even though God was merciful and a substitute was made that day, Adam began to die.
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- And he died 930 years later, okay? And so here's my point.
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- What Adam did, he died spiritually, and it subjected him to physical death. Jesus reverses the curse, right?
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- By faith in Jesus, we are brought to spiritual life, and he promises us that he will resurrect us bodily, with the resurrected bodies fit for eternity.
- 20:05
- You see the point that Jesus is making with the first Adam and the second Adam? And what I'm really wanting to key in is the word death.
- 20:12
- For as by a man came death, this is talking about physical death. Now man is both physical and spiritual.
- 20:19
- So that separation happened, but we have to understand that he's talking mainly about physical death here in 1
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- Corinthians 15. How do we know that? Because Jesus died physically, and he bodily and physically rose three days later.
- 20:33
- Okay? I know there's a lot, but we need to have that in mind as we look at verse 23.
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- So verse 23 says, but each in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming, those who belong to Christ.
- 20:48
- Okay, so think about everything that we've kind of touched on so far. He says, but each in his own order, Christ the firstfruits.
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- Remember? He resurrected from the grave. That is the firstfruits of what is about to come.
- 21:01
- And so at Jesus' second coming, all who are his will also be raised like Christ.
- 21:08
- Okay? And so I wanna go back to that question that I really want us to take away this evening, is how do we know here in verse 23, at his coming, that this is future?
- 21:20
- Okay? Well, he answers it in verses, the next couple of verses. Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the
- 21:30
- Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power for he must reign until he has put all under his feet.
- 21:36
- The last enemy to be destroyed is death. This is talking about physical death, okay?
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- Every time you look at wars, fighting, hurts, and pains, everything in this world, we see death everywhere.
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- That is telling us that Christ has not returned yet. We have a promise that he will return and destroy death, okay?
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- So when we hear the arguments, no, this is just talking about spiritual death. No, no, no. Jesus didn't just raise spiritually, he resurrected physically and bodily.
- 22:08
- That's how we know that we have a future resurrection that'll be like Christ when he conquers all things.
- 22:15
- Can I get an amen on that? That is incredible. This is a part of our gospel promise, and that's why I'm so passionate against full preterism, because they're saying, no, those things don't belong to you.
- 22:25
- That was only to Old Testament Israel. That is just a spiritual reality. Well, man is spiritual and physical.
- 22:31
- That's why God, who is spirit, the second person of Trinity, took on flesh to be like us.
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- He actually died and he actually resurrected, and he's the firstfruits. That means that he is the rule. He is the example of what our heart longs for, to be with him, okay?
- 22:48
- So I want us to hang on to that truth, because every time we look in the world and we see death, hurts, pains, wars, this is reminding us that God is working all these things now.
- 23:01
- And so we talked about the Olivet Discourse a few weeks ago, in Matthew 24 and the other synoptic gospels, talking about the destruction of the temple and talking about the signs of the coming of the
- 23:11
- Son of Man. Something that he says there that's so important is there's going to be wars and rumors of wars.
- 23:17
- That's something we still see all around today, and we saw a lot of it in the first century. That's something that history will continue to have until Christ returns, because he's going to defeat physical death.
- 23:29
- He's going to put death to death, okay? And so that, remember the three points that we're covering is the future, bodily, second coming of Jesus, right?
- 23:40
- And then we're going to see resurrected bodies fit for eternity to rule and reign with him. And he's going to judge the living and the dead, or the just and the unjust.
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- Because not only will he receive all his own, in verse 23, right?
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- We will be given rewards, right, for our obedience to him. We'll see crowns, and it goes right back at his feet in worship.
- 24:04
- And those that die in their sin, they too will be resurrected for eternal death, eternal judgment in hell.
- 24:12
- And so this brings us to kind of the third and final point, and then we'll get into some
- 24:18
- Q &A, is Christ is going to restore all things. Because this world is also cursed by sin, right?
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- Our bodies are a part of the creation. We're fallen creatures, but all the whole world has been cursed by sin as well.
- 24:34
- And so we kind of see this brought out in verse 24. Then the end comes when he delivers the kingdom to God the
- 24:42
- Father. After destroying every rule and every authority and power, he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
- 24:50
- The last enemy to be destroyed is death, okay? So he's going to restore all of creation.
- 24:57
- You want to jot this down, Romans 8, I really think articulates this future glory that awaits us.
- 25:04
- So I just want to read you this. It's so wonderful because this is a part of our blessed hope. This is the promise that we have in the gospel when we look to Jesus in faith.
- 25:13
- Romans 8, starting in verse 18 says, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
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- For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.
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- For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
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- For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in pains of childbirth until now.
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- And not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the spirit grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for the adoption of sons, the redemption of our bodies.
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- For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope for who hopes and what he sees.
- 26:07
- But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. That is beautiful.
- 26:13
- Christ, when he returns, he is going to restore not only our sin -cursed bodies in this resurrection, but he's going to restore.
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- And so when we talk about the second coming of Jesus, remember he resurrected physically, bodily.
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- He also ascended into heaven at the right hand of the Father bodily, right?
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- And this is so wonderful if you wanna jot this down. Acts chapter 1 verse 11. All the apostles were watching
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- Jesus ascend into heaven at the ascension, right? And two angels were there and like, hey guys, what are y 'all looking at?
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- And they're just standing in amazement and awe, and they said, what are you doing? The way that you see him ascending, he will also return that way.
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- So Jesus at his second coming will be bodily, cuz he is glorified, because he is truly the
- 27:04
- God man. And so when we look to him, we can have this blessed hope, knowing that he will return in the future, and he will defeat the last enemy, death.
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- What do y 'all think? All right, how was the time on that,
- 27:20
- Nathan? Good? All right, I think we're about to transition into Q &A, so I can't wait.
- 27:30
- Let me ask y 'all this question. How do we know that Jesus' second coming has not already happened?
- 27:44
- First John 3, 2 says at his appearing, right? So how do we know that his appearing hasn't happened yet, Keith? Okay, so the full preterist would say, sure, we're trusting in him, and he's renewing us day by day.
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- How do we know that Jesus' second coming has not happened? There's still physical death here on this earth.
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- That is the sign that you can take to the bank that says, we know Christ has not returned yet.
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- That make sense? Any questions?
- 28:27
- He's gonna judge the living and the dead, meaning that he's gonna, yep, yep.
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- All will be resurrected, and if you die in your sin, you will receive a resurrected body fit for eternal judgment.
- 28:44
- And there's many places that talk about that. I think it's Daniel 12, 2. John 5, 29 talks about there's two types of resurrections, essentially.
- 28:54
- And for those that are in Christ, we're gonna receive a resurrected body like Christ. Like you were saying, 1
- 29:00
- John 3, 2 articulates that well. Philippians 3 talks about how at his appearing, we'll be just like him.
- 29:13
- That's good. Anybody else out there? Everybody, okay. Uh -oh.
- 29:29
- Yeah. I will first say,
- 29:35
- I don't know. But the way that I would treat a lot of these passages is almost saying, maybe how would the premillennial view treat this?
- 29:45
- How would the amillennial, and then how would the postmillennial? Like you're saying, and I don't know exactly how the postmillennial view would treat it.
- 29:53
- I would suspect, though, that they would say the apostasy, the kind of this falling away, is tethered to the main of lawlessness.
- 30:01
- And there's kind of multiple views on what it says. Could it be one person specific? Possibly. There's another view that says this is kind of in general, kind of the spirit of the age, the main of lawlessness, those that reject the law of God.
- 30:15
- You know what I mean? And so I think that's how some people try to treat it as saying, yeah, we can kind of point to the first century to see how the departure, especially
- 30:26
- Judaism, really was starting to depart from the things that were given to them and trusted to them, right?
- 30:32
- So there's a lot of good answers. And I'll be honest, I don't know where I land on a lot of this stuff.
- 30:37
- Y 'all make me think, man, he knows. It's like, I don't know. That's a good question. I was kind of hoping no one would ask about that.
- 30:50
- So kind of like a rapture is going on. Some people hold that view.
- 30:56
- So in that view, that necessarily means premillennialism. Remember, we've been kind of talking about the three orthodox perspectives.
- 31:04
- Some premillennialists would kind of read the snatching away, like in the time of Noah.
- 31:10
- Sometimes the point has been pushed. Well, Noah was kind of snatched away while there was a big judgment on the earth, right?
- 31:18
- Now, the premillennialists are split a little bit, too, because maybe what's going on is swift judgment.
- 31:25
- And the one that's being taken away and one left is not being one taken away to be protected, but one is taken away in judgment, right?
- 31:33
- And so the post -millennial view and the all -millennial view would look at that completely different.
- 31:39
- But premillennialism sees kind of this as a future event, and then there's kind of a discussion, is the one being snatched away to be saved, or is it being snatched away in judgment?
- 31:51
- Yeah. So if you're saying, how does post -millennialism account for this, you said post -trib.
- 32:10
- So post -mill is what you're talking about. They would see all... Is that what your question is? How would the other big views account for this passage?
- 32:26
- That's a good question. I'm not entirely sure how...
- 32:32
- Remember, because what she's asking is, within premillennialism, there's different people that think the rapture happens before the
- 32:38
- Great Tribulation, during the middle, and then at the end. And you're asking how the mid and post -trib account for this.
- 32:45
- I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. Good question.
- 32:53
- I bet where there's an article that probably will speak to this, because I love the ministry called GotQuestions, and they're a premillennial website, dispensational premillennial, so they write a lot of articles for that.
- 33:04
- And they push a pre -tribulational rapture view. So you might find that interesting.
- 33:09
- Good question. I don't... Like I said, I don't know. Any other questions out there? We have spent five weeks in eschatology, so there's got to be questions out there.
- 33:20
- Don? Don recommends the book,
- 33:34
- The Last Days According to Jesus by R .C. Sproul, and it's really a post -millennial book, but he covers a lot of the other positions with it.
- 33:42
- Yeah. Oh, man. That's a good resource. Yeah.
- 34:00
- That's good. That's a good resource. Any other questions? Erica, you got a question?
- 34:07
- All right, Josiah. So the question was, you got the wicked will be judged, those who are in Christ will be judged, but what about the unborn?
- 34:28
- So great question. I take the view that God is, since he's loving and gracious, he is going to protect those who cannot protect themselves, but not because they're innocent, not because they're good or done anything.
- 34:45
- In fact, they're human, and they do not love the Lord their God with all of their heart, soul, mind, and strength.
- 34:50
- And you may say they can't, and I'm like, they can't, so they don't deserve to be with God, okay?
- 34:56
- And so the point is, even those in the womb are not blameless or perfect in any way.
- 35:02
- That doesn't mean, though, that God in his sovereign grace cannot bring them into the kingdom of heaven.
- 35:09
- But I will say this, the scripture is not explicitly clear. All we look at is we can see many infants going to heaven.
- 35:19
- And so I simply just let the just judge of all the earth to do right, right?
- 35:25
- And so I kind of lean that way to say all the unborn, all children, all the mentally impaired,
- 35:33
- I think they're going to be in heaven. But it's not because anything good in them, it's because of how loving and gracious and sovereign
- 35:40
- God is. Did I say that right, Pastor Nathan? The reason why I'm saying I take that view is because we understand that God is sovereign, right?
- 35:49
- There is the elect, right, and he shows mercy on whomever he has mercy.
- 35:55
- And so in Romans 9, before Jacob and Esau did anything good or bad, God loved one and the language says that he hated the other, okay?
- 36:03
- And so some people throw out there you have those infants who are elect and the implication is those who are non -elect.
- 36:11
- And I'm just saying, if that's how it is, God is sovereign to do as he pleases, it just might be the case that all infants, all the mentally handicapped that die in that state are the elect.
- 36:24
- Does that make sense? So, I can see how this relates to eschatology, but those are kind of what we're working with, is to say the scripture is not super clear on that, it gives us principles, and then we ultimately trust the just judge to always do right.
- 36:40
- Does that make sense? So, good question. Keith? Mm -hmm.
- 36:53
- Yeah, that's where our heart goes.
- 37:02
- Yeah, another good verse to kind of ground what you're saying, I think it's Deuteronomy 29, 29. It says,
- 37:08
- God has revealed many things to us and to his children, but then there are also things that are mysterious that he keeps to himself.
- 37:16
- And so, we trust the one who does know the future, right? And we rest in certain promises that he's already told us, like we've been talking about in eschatology, that Jesus is coming back to defeat death, physical death, and then we're going to receive resurrected bodies and he's going to restore all things.
- 37:33
- That's good. Any more questions? Christy? Yeah. So, all meal has one of two options.
- 37:46
- It could be a particular man, it could be Nero, it could be a very specific antichrist individual, or it could be something generic.
- 37:54
- And so, there are kind of arguments both ways, but that's a good way of approaching it, is it's either talking about a specific person, or the man of lawlessness is this kind of general idea.
- 38:04
- Now, pre -meal typically sees that there being a person who's an antichrist, a false prophet, and you kind of got the unholy trinity going on there, and all that's kind of future.
- 38:17
- But all meal kind of sees the Olivet Discourse, the events happening, Daniel, and the Book of Revelation as this is talking about something in the first century.
- 38:26
- So, I don't know to your question. Adam? Yeah.
- 38:48
- Kim Riddlebarger? I'm awful at spelling.
- 38:55
- So, you'll have to ask Adam. Any other...Brad,
- 39:08
- it's okay. Good question.
- 39:16
- So, what's the big difference between dispensational pre -millennialism and historic pre -millennialism?
- 39:22
- Dispensational pre -millennialism says that the way that God's going to fulfill his promises to Israel wasn't completed in the past.
- 39:31
- That's something that's going to be fulfilled in a thousand -year reign, right? So, dispensationalism sees that as the major focus during the end times because the church is going to be raptured up either before the tribulation, in the middle, or at the end, right?
- 39:45
- And so, the thousand -year reign, God is fulfilling the land promises. Israel's finally going to be saved because they reject now.
- 39:53
- Dispensationalism is focusing on Israel. Historic pre -mill says this future thousand years doesn't have to be a literal thousand years.
- 40:03
- It's just an extended period of time. And God's focus is mainly on the church, not
- 40:09
- Israel during this thousand -year reign. And historic pre -mill, I do not think, sees a pre -trib or a mid -trib view that the church is going to go through persecution all the way through the very end.
- 40:22
- So, that's my understanding of the biggest distinction between these two types of pre -millennialism.
- 40:39
- Yeah, so the question is, how do we understand the different kinds of dispensationalisms, right?
- 40:46
- Because there's kind of three big ones. And so, number one, you have classical or traditional dispensationalism.
- 40:53
- And hear me, it's awful. It is wrong, and I would call it heretical because this view has
- 41:00
- God as being sub -sovereign, that God had plan A, that, all right,
- 41:06
- I'm going to create the world. I'm going to create Adam and Eve. Man, I hope they do right. And then they send.
- 41:11
- Oh, no. So, now, I have to make Israel give them the same command.
- 41:16
- Oh, no, they send. So, we got to send plan C, Jesus Christ, the big guns, right? That's awful.
- 41:22
- God is not sovereign in this model because God always has plan A, and he accomplishes what he sets out to do.
- 41:29
- And so, classical dispensationalism has kind of that as a framework, and different methods of salvations through all these different kinds of dispensations.
- 41:38
- The Jews were maybe saved by works, under law, and all these things. And now, we're living in this kind of age of grace, and it's not by works.
- 41:47
- And so, hear me say, classical, traditional dispensationalism, it's, to me, as much heresy as full preterism, okay?
- 41:57
- That's just one kind. Then, you have what's called moderate dispensationalism, and then a third kind called progressive dispensationalism.
- 42:07
- They look at the other view and said, please don't put us in that boat. Like John MacArthur would be a moderate progressive dispensationalist, not a traditional or classical, okay?
- 42:17
- Because the big thing that progressive moderate dispensationalism talks, for one, it reaffirms the sovereign
- 42:23
- God and salvation has always been by grace through faith. But the question is, between moderate and progressive dispensationalism, is
- 42:31
- Jesus on the Davidic throne now or not, okay? The moderate view, which
- 42:37
- I think this is where MacArthur's at, is to say, even though Jesus is ascended at the right hand of the Father, that's not necessarily the
- 42:44
- Davidic throne. The moderate dispensationalist says the Davidic throne will be in a thousand -year reign when he comes back, okay?
- 42:52
- And so I think the progressive dispensationalist will say, no, where Jesus is seated at right now, at the right hand of the
- 42:59
- Father, is the Davidic throne, right? So I think that's kind of the only dispute between moderate and progressive, and they are in a different category than the classical, traditional dispensationalism.
- 43:13
- Got the thumbs up. Adam. Yeah. Yeah.
- 43:54
- I think, so the question is, when we see the trumpets and 1 Thessalonians 4, at Christ's coming, you're saying the all -male kind of sees that as Christ coming in.
- 44:04
- It's like, you know, he's the conquering king. You know, we're praising him. I want to say all of you see that principle the same, just at different timings.
- 44:13
- So I think premill, a lot of the premillennials will say when Jesus comes back in Revelation 19, that's kind of what the trumpets are talking about, right, at the end.
- 44:22
- But then you'll have the argument that mid -tribulationists make as saying, no, the last trump of the trumpet judgments is what 1
- 44:30
- Thessalonians is talking about. And so I think postmill would see it the same way as all -male in that, so.
- 44:39
- Anybody else? Good questions. One more question? One more question. Who's it going to be? Who's it going to be?
- 44:45
- Anybody that hasn't asked a question that would like to? Van Til was
- 44:54
- Dutch, right? So he was probably, he was, I don't know. And one last question.
- 45:03
- Miriam. Good question.
- 45:14
- So the question is, when we die now, what happens to our bodies until the future resurrection?
- 45:21
- So our body was formed from dust, and it's going to return to dust.
- 45:28
- Some people are like, maybe that's going to be an issue for a rapture or a resurrection.
- 45:35
- And so actually, if you do look back at 1 Corinthians 15, verse 38, but God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.
- 45:52
- And so the point is, even when our body rusts away, goes back to dirt and is gone, it's nothing for God who spoke this world into existence to make sure that we have a transformed, renewed body at the resurrection.
- 46:08
- Am I answering your question? Yeah. Oh, okay.
- 46:13
- Got it, got it, got it. So what happens to our spirit when our body gets wasted away?
- 46:19
- A lot of theologians have talked about the intermediate state, which means that we go to be with the
- 46:26
- Lord. But to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. So we go to be with Christ, where the
- 46:31
- Old Testament saints are, and so our spirit is with the saints that have died, right?
- 46:38
- And so heaven, in a sense, is growing, right? As more saints die, they're going to be in heaven.
- 46:45
- John chapter 14 talks about him preparing a place for us. There's many different interpretations, but a lot of people say, to go to be with the
- 46:52
- Lord in heaven, that's just not our final destination because he's coming back, right?
- 46:58
- And when he comes back, then you're going to have the resurrection, both for the living and the dead, the just and the unjust.
- 47:06
- So does that make sense? So we would essentially say we go to heaven, but then one day he's going to bring heaven to earth, and it's going to be the new heavens and new earth, and we receive resurrected bodies, right?
- 47:18
- I would say we don't because we will only be spirits, right? Now, we're not an angel with a halo, and what's the thing about when you hear a bell rings?
- 47:28
- That's not what's going on. We don't become angels, right? So yeah,
- 47:36
- I would say you're right. We don't know what that looks like. Great question. All right, that's it.