Eschatology: The Last Things

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Thursday Evening Study: Shayne Poirier teaches on the Grace Fellowship Church statement of faith. This study focuses on the doctrine of The Last Things (Eschatology).

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This sermon is from Grace Fellowship Church in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. To access other sermons or to learn more about us, please visit our website at graceedmonton .ca.
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But before we begin, and as we begin, let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we glory in you.
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We give you thanks for this night. Lord, I give you thanks for everyone that's here.
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Lord, we give you thanks for all the people who aren't here, Lord. And we pray for their blessing.
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But we pray tonight as we meet together and as we open your word, Lord, that you would speak to us.
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What a complex and controversial topic.
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And yet, Lord, you have spoken, and in many ways you've spoken clearly. And we want to read, and we want to study, and we want to obey your word, whether it's about Christology or Soteriology or Eschatology.
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And so, Lord, bless our time tonight. We pray that you would be glorified, that your name would be magnified as we open your word, and that we would be made ready for the last things.
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We pray all of this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Well, we made it.
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We finally did it. I looked back in my calendar, and it has been exactly six months to the day that we've been studying through our
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Statement of Faith. So we started, if you were here, you'd remember that October 1, 2020,
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Elias started with the Doctrine of the Scriptures. Today, fittingly, April 1, 2021, we study the last things.
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And it's my intention that this will be the last study in our statement. So as we come to the end of this series, it's no coincidence that we look at Eschatology.
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And, Noah, do you know what Eschatology means? Does anyone else know what
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Eschatology means? Study the last things.
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That's right. So eschatos or eschaton is Greek for last. And so eschatology is the study of the last.
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It's the study of the last things. And to whet our appetites tonight,
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I want to start by asking a question. And that's the first question you'll see on your handout.
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And the question is this. Why, in all the world, why should we study eschatology?
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Why does eschatology matter for us as Christians? Absolutely. That's right.
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We study eschatology, one, because God has spoken on the topic. Noah was asking why it is that we study the last things.
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How do we know how the last things will be? We know because God has spoken on the subject.
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So whenever and wherever God speaks, we ought to pay attention. And so we study eschatology because God has spoken on these things.
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Yes, Noah? That's okay.
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Maybe tomorrow. Okay? Okay. So we study the last things because God has spoken.
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And everything that God has spoken has application for us. So by way of reminder, it's fitting that we looked at this verse in our study on the doctrine of the
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Scriptures. We'll look at it in our study of the last things in 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17.
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You don't have to turn there, but we know it well. All Scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
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And so when God speaks, He speaks for our good, for our edification, for our obedience, for the strengthening of our faith, for our hope and perseverance, and most importantly, for His glory.
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And so we study eschatology because God has spoken on the matter. Why else might we study eschatology?
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Can you guys think of anything else? I'll give you another hint.
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In Revelation 1, verse 3, if there was ever an eschatology book in the
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Bible, what book would it be? It would be the book of Revelation, right?
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Maybe that, and Daniel, maybe some from Ezekiel, but definitely the book of Revelation would be an eschatological book.
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And in Revelation 1, verse 3, it says, Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.
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And so when we approach the study of the last things, just like as we approach the book of Revelation, we should expect blessing from it.
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And so my hope, my goal, my prayer tonight is that we would be blessed as we look at the doctrine of the last things.
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Jesus Christ is nearer now than when we first believed, and so to read the words about his second coming, about his parousia, his presence in the world, and to live in light of this truth will bring
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God's blessing. And the third one, we study the last things.
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This is a bit of a mouthful, because we long for the visible, the bodily return of our
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Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We study the last things because we look forward to the last things, when
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Christ will return and will transform our lowly bodies to be like his glorious body.
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That is why we study the last things with a sense of expectancy.
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This is what it means in many ways to be a Christian, not only to have hope in this life only, but as a deer pants for water, so our soul longs for, eagerly awaits, it loves the appearing of our
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Lord Jesus Christ. If you look into God's Word over and over again, and as I did this week,
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I saw it over and over again, we see that this is one of the defining marks of a true
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Christian, is that we're no longer citizens of this world. You said it is, just as we are about to begin,
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Steve, that we, a true Christian, a mature Christian, is heavenly minded, is heavenly minded.
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We're no longer citizens of this world, but rather we're exiles and pilgrims in a foreign land, on a journey to our true home, on a journey to the celestial city.
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In fact, if we do not have an interest in this topic, if we do not have an interest in Christ's coming in the last things, we need to ask ourselves, how have we become deficient?
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It's actually a sign of immaturity, of deficiency in the Christian life, if we have no interest in Christ's second coming.
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I read from Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology, he writes this, I found this convicting actually, he says, the more
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Christians are caught up in enjoying the good things of this life, and the more they neglect genuine
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Christian fellowship and their personal relationship with Christ, the less they will long for his return.
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On the other hand, many Christians who are experiencing suffering or persecution, or who are more elderly and infirm, and those who daily walk with Christ, sorry, whose daily walk with Christ is vital and deep, they will have a more intense longing for his return.
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He says, to some extent then, the degree to which we actually long for Christ's return is a measure of the spiritual condition of our own lives.
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I think we've all experienced that, haven't we? Times when our affections are set on this world, our mindset isn't to live as Christ and to die as Gain.
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Our thinking is, no, I want to be here just a little longer. I want to enjoy this pleasure for another season.
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I'm not ready for Christ to come back. And yet when we're walking nearest to God, when we're in greatest dependence upon him, our longing is for him to return.
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I've spoken a little bit about a trip to Indonesia that I did a few years ago, but I traveled to Indonesia and left
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Nicole and the kids at home. It was just shy of a month. Not only did
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I have, I guess, the longing to see my family. Elise was,
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I think, just over a year old. Noah would have been about three years old. But I was faced with culture shock and poverty and just the spiritual darkness of that country, a majority
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Muslim country where they are without hope and without God in the world. And I remember at one point being in a city called
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Sebulga, which is on the east, no, the west side of Indonesia on the
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Indian Ocean, and I remember praying, come Lord Jesus, come. It's when he is our only hope that we long for his return.
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So, in any case, maybe we should reframe the question. Rather than asking, why should we study eschatology, we should ask the question, why don't we?
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Why shouldn't we study eschatology as Christians? Why wouldn't we want to study about Christ's return?
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It is the study of our eternal future hope that in 900 quadrillion years, we will be alive with Christ, with one another, enjoying the unending riches of his grace.
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That's what the study of eschatology is. It's looking at the true reality long after this world has passed away, where we will be forever.
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So, let's study some eschatology. And by way of a few housekeeping items.
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So, teaching through eschatology is kind of like walking through a minefield.
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There are perils everywhere. There are a number of views that certainly seems to be always under debate.
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My goal tonight first is this, that I'm not able to provide exhaustive detail, but I do want to provide some coverage of the differing theological perspectives.
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And I want to do that in a way that is unbiased and objective. Unlike our statements on perhaps the doctrine of the gospel, or of Christ, or of the scriptures, we've left the doctrine of the last things intentionally vague in some areas.
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And the reason why we've done that is we've allowed room for various interpretations that are within the sphere of orthodoxy.
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So, there are secondary and tertiary issues that we're going to disagree with people on. And we would like people who are postmillennial and amillennial and dispensational, pre -trib, post -trib, premillennial, to be able to come and to heartily affirm the statement of faith.
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So, I'm going to teach on some of the views, but I'm going to teach it objectively. And if you ask for my opinion,
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I will give you my uppercase H, humble opinion.
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I don't know it all by any means, but I'll give you my humble opinion, but it's not the official position of the church.
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It's just that, it's my opinion. So, that's number one. And secondly, like I said, it's a massive study.
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We could actually spend another six weeks and another 20 studies looking at eschatology.
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We aren't going to. So, what that means is we're going to look at it from a 40 ,000 -foot approach.
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So, I'm going to give you a layout of the land, hopefully draw attention to a couple of areas of interest, and then whet your appetite for more study.
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And so, you can go home with some of this framework and some of these tools and dig deeper in your individual study.
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Okay? So, let's dig in. So, for the sake of simplicity,
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I've broken up our statement, you'll see it on the top of the sheet there, into three different parts. So, we're going to look at the
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Christ's second coming, we're going to look at, I'm scrolling down, the final judgment, and then we are going to look at the new heavens and the new earth.
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And each section is taken up by one sentence in our statement. So, let's look there together at number one first.
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Christ's second coming. So, that first sentence reads like this. The coming of God's kingdom will be consummated in the glorious, visible, and triumphant appearing of Christ when he returns to the earth as king.
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So, when Christ comes, he will consummate his kingdom.
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The consummation of God's kingdom is dependent on Christ's second coming.
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I'm going to do a lot of rapid fire here because it's such a broad topic. You can follow along or you can just hear me carefully.
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But Christ's kingdom has already been inaugurated.
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We believe that. We believe that to be biblical. Matthew 10, verse 7, the Lord Jesus announced the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
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Luke 11, verse 20, when some people accused Christ of casting out demons by the power of demons, you might remember he said, but if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
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In Colossians 1 .13, Paul wrote to the church in Colossae. He says he has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son.
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The kingdom of God has been inaugurated. It's been set in motion and it is awaiting consummation.
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And so as surely as Christ came the first time to deal with sin, not to deal, sorry, what am
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I trying to say here? As surely as Christ came the first time to die on the cross for our sin, just as surely
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Christ will come a second time not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
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He is coming to bring his kingdom to completion. Now I want to ask the question, how will
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Christ return? And it's not a trick question. The Bible speaks fairly clearly on it, but does anyone know how will
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Christ come back? In glory?
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Yeah, it says it in our statement, his glorious return. I'm thinking physically, materially, you can see it with your eyes.
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That's right, he'll come in triumph, conquering his enemies. If we go to Acts chapter one, in Acts chapter one, you'll remember when
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I taught on the ascension, when Christ ascended, he rose up, he ascended into the clouds beyond the sight of the disciples.
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And after the ascension, it says this, so, and while they were gazing, this is
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Acts chapter one, verse 10, and while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?
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This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.
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And so in the same way that Christ went up into heaven, it's the same way that he will come down.
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He will descend from the clouds. In Matthew chapter 24 and verse 27, it says this, for as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the
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Son of Man. So not only will Christ's return be from the heavens, from above, from the clouds, but it'll be sudden.
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It'll be instantaneous. You guys will remember
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I shared a story from last week about the World Mission Society, Church of God. And we were talking in that particular exchange about the
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Passover. Well, in a completely separate exchange, one time we had them over and they were sitting at our kitchen table and we were talking about the second coming of Christ.
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And they did what I would say they did violence to this text in Matthew chapter 24. And what they said was, as the lightning came from the east, so Christ has come back and he has come and landed in the east, specifically
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East Asia, specifically South Korea. And if you know anything about the World Mission Society, they believe that a man by the name of An Sung Hong, who was born in 1918 in Korea, is the
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Lord Jesus Christ. That he came in 1918, he came from the east, being in South Korea, East Asia.
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He lived, he married, and then in 1985 he died. But he died after founding the
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World Mission Society and his wife, who is still alive, is God the Mother. She is
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God incarnate in human flesh and together they are, it's a strange view of the
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Trinity, but together An Sung Hong and his wife are God the Father, God the
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Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Now, can
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I ask, so I said, how will Christ return? Why does that not make sense?
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How is that wrong? So we said that he will come from the clouds, he will come from the heavens, it will be sudden, as lightning flashes across the sky from east to west, but why would it be wrong that he's already been born, lived, and died?
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You didn't think you were doing apologetics tonight. There's a lot of problems there.
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I'm going to put a couple more verses in terms of how Christ will come.
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So, he will descend, it will be sudden, 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 16, for the
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Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
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Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
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Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore, encourage one another with these words.
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So that's 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 16. So, not only is it going to be visible from the heavens, not only will it be sudden, but it's going to be triumphant.
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It's going to be glorious. In Revelation 1, verse 7, Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and this is a big problem,
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I think, for the World Mission Society. He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him.
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Even so, amen. So, when Christ returns, it will be sudden.
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It will be visible to all. It will be glorious. It will be triumphant in a single word.
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When Christ comes, it will be unmistakable. It won't be the obscure birth of Christ, who was the
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Nazarene, and no one truly knew his identity. It will be the unmistakable second coming, the unmistakable second advent of Christ when he comes.
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Every eye will see him. Now, Noah, I want to ask you this question.
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Buddy, when will Christ return? Nobody knows.
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Are there any dissenting opinions? Do you have a decade or a millennia in mind?
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In the future. Good answer. That's right. That's right. We don't know, right?
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We don't know when Christ will come. And anyone who claims to know the day and the time when
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Christ will return, Amy, if you encounter them, run. Get away from there as far as you can.
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They've lost all credibility in the eyes of Scripture, right? In the
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Bible, it says that no one will know the day or the time when he comes.
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So Matthew 24 is one of those chapters. Matthew 24, verses 42 to 44.
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So Christ says this, Therefore stay awake, for you do not know on what day your
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Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would have let his house be, sorry, would not have let his house be broken into.
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Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
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And yet people make confident assertions about this. I walked into work today actually in our office and someone had kicked through both windows and had broken into a convenience store that's on the main floor of our building.
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Had they known that a criminal was going to come and break into the building last night, they would have been ready.
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They put out an email that said they would have security providing patrols extra tonight.
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And what I would say is, it's too late. They needed security last night.
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And yet just as they did not know that someone was going to be breaking into the building last night, we do not know, we cannot pinpoint the day when
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Christ will come. I don't mean, as we talk about this, to pick on cults specifically, but it just so happens that a lot of cult groups place a lot of emphasis on eschatology.
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I don't think that is a coincidence. I think that they lean heavily on apocalyptic texts because they are unclear.
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And that's why there's so much eschatology to talk about. But this is an example of a group that has made confident assertions that Christ will come.
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So the Jehovah's Witnesses, the founder of the Jehovah's Witnesses, Charles Taze Russell, and his followers have made many predictions.
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Predictions that the Jehovah's Witnesses have had to explain after the fact simply because they're embarrassing if they don't explain them away.
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So he predicted first that in 1878, he said the gathered saints would be translated into spirit form.
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So there would be some form of rapture or translation when the true people of God would enter into a spiritual state.
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Then it was predicted in 1914 that Christ's millennial rule would begin. And they realized that there were some date miscalculations, so that date was later corrected to 1918.
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And then it was prophesied that the patriarchs and the prophets would raise from the dead in 1925.
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And then again, there were other dates set for 1975. And then even as late as 1995, they were saying that the
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Armageddon was going to come before the year 2000. All of these are claims they made.
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They set dates on. And what we could have said in 1877 or in 1913 or 1917 or 1999 is that all of them are going to be untrue because as humbling as it is, we do not know when
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Christ will come. Mark 13, 32, 33, but we're in good company. But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows,
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Christ said, not even the angels in heaven nor the son of man, but only the father. Be on guard.
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Keep awake, for you do not know when the time will come. Now, Steve, you said something when
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I asked, when will Christ's second coming happen? You said that there are some indicators.
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Can you think of any of those indicators, things that might need to happen before Christ comes? It does.
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And this gospel of the kingdom will, as the testament told me, extend the annual content.
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Yeah. Textbook answer. That's the first answer, is that the gospel must be proclaimed to the whole world.
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And what I think that means is a thorough proclamation. So the children and I, during our family worship, we go through something.
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Does anyone know the Joshua Project? I've heard of it. The Joshua Project, they do a people group of the day.
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And so you pray for a particular people group. And there are people groups that you pray for where the
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Christian population is 10 % of that particular people group. There are people that you pray for where the
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Christian population is 0%. There are people in the world today that have not heard the name of Christ ever.
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They do not know who Jesus is. If you were to come and say the name of Jesus, it might as well be your brother because they don't know who it is.
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But that's one of the things. The gospel must be preached thoroughly to all the nations. Now, is it possible that that's already happened because the gospel has gone to India and it has gone to China and it has gone to Bangladesh or other places in the remote jungle and in the
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Amazon? Perhaps. Perhaps. But I think specifically, it means that the gospel is to be preached thoroughly in many ways to be...
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Oh, I'm looking for the word. It's to permeate that nation. Also in Matthew 24, verse 24.
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For false Christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.
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So we should expect that the gospel will be proclaimed, that there will be false prophets working signs and wonders.
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In Matthew 24, verse 21 and 22. For then there will be great tribulation.
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Such has not been seen from the beginning of the world until now. No, and never will be.
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And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.
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So we have the gospel proclaimed, false prophets, the great tribulation. Also in Matthew 24, signs in heaven.
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There are other spots in the Bible, but I'm picking on Matthew 24 because we're there. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened.
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So we have signs in heaven. And the moon will not give its light. And the stars will fall from heaven.
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And the powers of the heaven will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the
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Son of Man. And then all the tribes of the earth will mourn. And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
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And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call. And they will gather His elect from the four winds and from one end of heaven to the other.
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In 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 1, Now concerning the coming of our
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Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to Him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed either by a spirit or a spoken word or a letter seeming to be from us to the effect that the day of the
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Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way, for the day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so -called
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God or object of worship so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be
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God. So before Christ can come, we need to have the coming of the man of lawlessness, the man of rebellion, or the rebellion,
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I should say. And also, too, before Christ can come,
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Scripture says that we should see the salvation of Israel. Now this does not necessarily mean all of Israel, meaning every single individual of Jewish descent.
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But what I think would be more correct, more specific, would be elect
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Jews. So Romans 11, verses 25 and 26, Paul writes to the
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Romans, he says, Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers. A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the
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Gentiles has come in. And in this way, all Israel will be saved.
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And so I think we would expect to see a revival of sorts amongst the Jews. That there would be an appreciation amongst
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Jewish people that Christ, that Jesus Christ is the
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Messiah, and that they would respond. So that's just a few.
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I won't name all of them, but there are certain things that we would expect. Now some would say that Christ's return is imminent, it is immediate, we need not wait for any signs.
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I would say based on the text we've just read, that that would not be the accurate view. That these things must happen.
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For those who believe that Christ could still come today at this very moment, I think a biblical argument would be that these things have already happened.
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Does that make sense? And so there is some room, there is some ambiguity to allow us to continue to walk by faith.
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But there are birth pangs to look forward to, or to wait for, I should say. Not necessarily look forward to.
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So, we know how Christ will come. We don't know when Christ will come. And what is our responsibility as Christians?
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If we consider the text that we looked at, the word to us is this. It is to stay awake.
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It is to be on guard. It is to serve Christ until He comes.
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To eagerly long for and to hasten His appearing.
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And brothers and sisters, He will not disappoint us. That's the first note of this lesson, is that Christ is going to come.
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And praise the Lord for that. He is going to come. Now, what comes next? In our statement it reads this.
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After Christ returns, He will bring about the ultimate defeat of Satan, the resurrection of the dead, the final judgment, the eternal and conscious punishment of the wicked, and the eternal blessings of the righteous.
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So, this is our second heading on the paper there. And it's the final judgment. So, right away, as we enter into the section,
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I want us to recognize that a number of items on this,
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I guess the specific timing around these events, is what I'm trying to say, are in dispute. So, I want to refer us to the handout.
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This is the novel part. Like I said early on, it wouldn't be a study in eschatology if we didn't have some type of chart.
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So, we'll look at these together. So, these specifically, these different views, are views, differing views, on the millennium.
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So, the millennium is the thousand year reign of Christ, or the reign of Christ, in some form, that we read about in the book of Revelation.
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And this has bearing both on when Christ comes, and also what happens when
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Christ comes. So, we'll start with the most simple, and we'll look first in the top left quadrant at amillennialism.
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So, this is the most simple of views. So, we'll take a look at this one first. Now, does anyone, do you think anyone could give a one or two sentence description of amillennialism?
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Something that's just a concise synopsis? Sure. The revealed word of God, in regards to Revelation, specifically, and other parts, like Daniel in particular, are apocalyptic.
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And falling within that genre means that there's a certain way to look at it. It's to be interpreted symbolically as a tool for us to look forward to if Christ wins in the end.
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But the specifics are to, are not fully known, are not fully revealed, especially when you look at different parts of Revelation.
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Sorry. No, that's fine. That's fine. You warned us. But in the end, the final consummation of the kingdom is fully revealed that Christ wins.
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So, on the specifics about how it happens, we wouldn't hang our hats too firmly on that.
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That's right. So, in one way, what you're saying is the amillennial view, in terms of the philosophy of interpretation, would view
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Revelation, and other apocalyptic literature, as being rich in symbolism.
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And so therefore, we should interpret some of those things as perhaps symbolic or spiritual in nature.
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So, the amillennial view is this, in summary. Christ's reign in the millennium is not a physical, bodily reign on the earth, but rather, it's a heavenly rule.
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It's a heavenly reign right now. And so, an amillennialist might point to passages like Matthew 28, verses 18 to 20, where Christ says, all authority on heaven and on earth has been given to me.
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They would see that as the consummation, or not the consummation, but the inauguration, perhaps is a better word of putting it, of Christ's reign on the earth, or sorry, in heaven.
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And so, every believer that dies, they would view the first resurrection that we would see spoken of in Revelation chapter 20.
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That's where we find the millennium. They would see that first resurrection as a resurrection into heaven where believers go and they rule and reign with Christ for what isn't necessarily, literally, a 1 ,000 year period, but a very long time.
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So, a thousand years being representative of a very long time. So, if we were to look at our visual, this is the church age.
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This is where we are at right now. There is no future millennium, but rather, the millennium is during the church age.
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It is a spiritual millennium. When Christ returns, he will return. There will be a resurrection.
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There will be judgment. And then there will be an eternal state.
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So, an eternal state both for the wicked and for the righteous. Does that make sense?
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So, in many ways, an all -millennialist would view Revelation 20 as being spiritual and not necessarily, literally, a 1 ,000 year reign.
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And they would look, in fairness to millennials, they would point to the fact that in Revelation 20, it doesn't actually say that Christ will reign on the earth.
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So, if you were to look at Revelation chapter 20, and maybe
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I'll start from verse 4 for context. Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those whom the authority to judge was committed.
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And also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God.
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And those who had not worshipped 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 for a thousand years.
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The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection.
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And so, if you're debating with an amillennialist, one of the main features that you're debating about is that first resurrection.
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Is that first resurrection physical? And when they came to life, are they coming to life in the way that the
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Greek term uses that? It could also mean living. So, they are living instead of, you know, they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
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So, that would be their contention that absolutely, amillennialism in some ways is a misnomer.
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They would say, absolutely we believe in a millennium. We believe in a spiritual millennium. So, I've given that lots of air time.
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We'll look next to the top right quadrant, postmillennialism. So, postmillennialism is the belief that the millennium, in many ways like amillennialism, the millennium of Revelation 20 is happening right here and right now or to some extent is going to come about in the future.
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And if, does anyone here know a postmillennialist? I know we know of postmillennialists, but postmillennialism in many ways,
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I'll speak this just kind of off the cuff, is a very attractive position because it's a very optimistic position.
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It's a very attractive position because it's a very optimistic position. Because according to this view, they believe that as the gospel advances and the church grows, there will be a gradual increase in holiness and in righteousness and in the kingdom of God and the reign of Christ in the world.
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And so, unlike pre -tribulational dispensationalism or post -trib dispensationalism or some forms of amill, it only gets better from here in a postmillennial view.
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And they would look at the parable, for instance, of the mustard seed.
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The mustard seed is planted and it grows and it increases in size until eventually the birds can nest in the mustard seed.
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It's the smallest of seeds and becomes this large plant. They would view it the same way, that as we preach the gospel, that as Christ's church grows,
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Christianity will permeate the world and the culture and it will bring about a millennial age of peace and righteousness on the earth.
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So, a good example of a postmillennialist, if you know it all, Apologia Church and Jeff Durbin and now
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James White, who's just announced that he's a postmillennialist as well. You see that optimism in their ministry to some extent and it really does invigorate their ministry.
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And so, while I am not a postmillennialist, I see that and say, there's certainly some strength because it's kind of like people say we should work like an
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Arminian and sleep like a Calvinist. In many ways, I feel like we should work like postmillennialists.
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We should labor for the gospel like postmillennialists with an expectation that God will bring about fruit as a result of that ministry.
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Okay, bottom left quadrant. Are you guys still with me? Yeah, okay. So, this is known as historical premillennialism or sometimes classic or classical premillennialism and this is starting to get a little bit more complex.
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So, we're going from perhaps simplest to most complex here. So, what we see here on the left is the church age.
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So, this is the age that we are in. The church exists now. That near the end of the church age, there will be the great tribulation.
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The tribulation that we read about in Matthew chapter 24. You'll see there that that tribulation happens during the church age.
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So, the church remains in the world during this time of great difficulty.
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During this time of great suffering, the church will be present. At the conclusion of the tribulation, you'll see here that Christ returns.
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There's the catching up of the believers to be with Christ. So, they go up and then immediately they come down.
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So, in this throng, the believers will come down with Christ. Christ will establish his earthly millennial kingdom in the world.
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Some say in Jerusalem. Some don't specify, but it'll be an earthly reign for a literal 1 ,000 years or perhaps a very, very long time.
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Then will come the judgment, the defeat of Satan, and the eternal state.
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This is perhaps the oldest held view of all of the popular views.
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So, if you were to look back at some of the early church fathers, they would articulate this view.
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And then bottom right is perhaps, what
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I'll say is that this view has been articulated relatively recently compared to the other views.
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And so the bottom right is what's called predispensational premillennialism.
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We could do a really good crossword puzzle with all these words. Or dispensational premillennialism.
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And dispensational premillennialism in many ways is like historical premillennialism for the exception of a couple things.
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So, we'll see here the church age is the same, but rather than the church enduring through the tribulation, you'll see that the church is caught up into heaven.
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The tribulation occurs, so a seven year tribulation that occurs.
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Dispensational premillennialists would say that during this time there will be a revival amongst the Jews. They might apply
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Romans 11 to that dispensational period of time or say that tribulational period of time. During that time, some teach that Christians will undergo the judgment seat of Christ and there will be the banquet supper.
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And then Christ and the church will return after the conclusion of the tribulation for a literal 1 ,000 year millennium.
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Then the Armageddon, the defeat of Satan, the judgment, and the eternal state.
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Does that make sense? Do you guys have any questions about that specifically? No.
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It's quite in depth, but this is, like I said, it's a 40 ,000 foot flyover.
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There are so many more nuances and I was kind of hoping that Jason would be here tonight. I'm sure that Jason would disagree with something that I've said about dispensational premillennialism, but that's a general overview.
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And then certainly within that there are a million different shades, including me.
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I fall somewhere between these two positions.
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So it really depends on the day. And even as I was preparing and I was reading for the arguments against amillennialism,
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I thought, oh, those are some pretty compelling arguments. So historical premillennialism or amillennialism, it depends on the day.
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If you put a gun to my head, though, I'll say I don't know. But we will know when
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Christ comes. And so for anybody that joins
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Grace Fellowship Church, we've articulated the statement in such a way that you can hold to these orthodox views, not necessarily the views of the
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Jehovah's Witnesses, or the views of the
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World Mission Society, or some of the others, but you can hold to any of these views and you can still heartily affirm our statement.
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So regardless of where you end up, a few things are certain. And we'll look at these, picking apart our statement here.
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And this is going to be more or less the last part of the meat and potatoes of this study. So the first thing that we see is that when
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Christ returns, he will bring about the resurrection of the dead. So whether you believe that happens before, during, after the millennium,
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Christ will bring about the resurrection of the dead. And just to show that this is taught in the whole
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Bible, not just in the New Testament, not just in my Bible, Isaiah 26, verse 19.
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This is actually just a really, really encouraging verse.
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Isaiah 26, 19. It says,
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Your dead shall live. Your bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy.
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For your due is a due of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead.
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I can speak from experience that when there is a birth, it is a joyous experience.
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My kids laugh at me because I say that I cried when both of them were born. They say they don't get to see me cry enough.
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Is it a question about eschatology? Sure, go ahead. Not quite a question about eschatology.
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Yeah, but I thought we were talking. Yeah, kind of, sort of. Yeah, can you tell me why you never cry? You know what?
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It takes a lot to move me to cry at times. I agree. But one thing's for sure.
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The joy of a birth. But when both of you guys were born, there were tears of joy. And so this is what the resurrection will be like for the righteous.
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You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy. The resurrection is going to be a good and a glorious thing.
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Daniel chapter 12 and verse 2. You see, we're hitting some of the apocalyptic
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Old Testament books. Daniel 12, 2. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
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There's shame and contempt and it's everlasting for the wicked, but to the righteous, everlasting life.
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John chapter 5, verse 25. Christ says,
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Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.
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For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.
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And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out like Lazarus.
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When Christ said, Lazarus, come forth, everyone will come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
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And it wouldn't be complete without a visit to Revelation. Revelation 21. Am I going too fast?
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Okay. Revelation 21, verse 13. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it.
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Kids, we watched a show on the Titanic recently. So in Revelation 21, verse 13, it says,
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And the sea gave up the dead who were in it. All of the passengers who died in the
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Titanic and who conceivably sank to the bottom of the ocean with the
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Titanic. The sea one day is going to give up the passengers of the
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Titanic. And anybody else, all of the other people that have been in shipwrecks and anything else, the sea will give up the dead who were in it.
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Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each of them, according to what they had done.
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So there will be a resurrection of the dead. Everyone. And it will be a physical, bodily resurrection.
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That will be the nature of the resurrection. Yes? Rotting from when they died?
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Or will they be, like, restored? I believe that they will be restored in physical bodies.
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That's right. So if people that went down in the tropical ocean somewhere were eaten by fish, they will come out alive.
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Or if their bones were scattered in the water, they will rejoin and they will come back.
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They will be physically present. Next thing we see is that Christ will defeat
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Satan. We won't jump around here too much. Just Revelation 21. We're already there.
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Revelation 21, in verse 7. So this is at the end of the millennium, regardless of what your view is.
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Verse 7, And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth,
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Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints.
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And the beloved city, Jerusalem, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them.
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And the devil, so this is the fate of the devil, the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were.
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And they will be tormented day and night forever. The Lord Jesus Christ will make quick work of our ancient foe and he will be placed under, he will endure the wrath of God forever and ever and ever.
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That is the fate, the destined fate of the roaring lion who right now is ready to devour.
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Christ will put him, he will conquer him, he will put all things under his feet and the devil will be thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur.
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Next we see that God will judge the living and the dead. So not only will God raise everyone from the sea and from Hades and Sheol and from graves underground and from urns with ashes, but everyone, those who are alive and those who have been raised from the dead will stand before the judgment seat of God.
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So Psalm 96, 13, the just judge, this, sorry,
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I'm going to quote from somewhere else before I quote from Psalm 96, the just judge of all the earth will do right,
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Psalm 96, 13, for he comes to judge the earth.
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He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness.
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We live in a world right now especially that is increasingly disdainful of justice.
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We no longer have punishment. We no longer have detention centers. We have correction centers.
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We have these places that they don't exist to exact judgment but rather to correct, to educate the sin out of people.
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In many ways, our culture doesn't like the idea of judgment. And I can say that as someone that worked in the criminal justice system when
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I was in uniform, we would say we don't have a justice system, we have a legal system.
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And that was simply because it was rarely, if ever, that the punishment fit the crime.
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But God who is just, who is faithful, he will come to judge the earth and he will judge the world in righteousness.
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And so we need not fear God's judgment. He will judge the world, his peoples, in faithfulness.
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We have two questions. Are there buildings in heaven?
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Well, God says, or Jesus said that he is going to prepare a place for us. The King James Version says that there will be mansions.
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I believe that there are going to be buildings in heaven, yes. So I don't think we'll be camping under the stars or under the light of God's glory every night.
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Yes? Well, I think that it will be for some, yes.
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Some people will want to take their own lives because they don't want to face the judgment of God. Well, that's right.
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And I remember Leonard Ravenhill, if anyone knows Leonard Ravenhill, they said they'll be, you know, climbing into rocks and caves and someone will try to take their own life and they'll find that even after they've taken their own life, they're alive again to face the judgment of God.
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Yeah, so it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God if you're not right with him. What's that?
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Well, it's going to be, there are going to be two different experiences. So we're going to get to that.
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But those, the people who have rejected God, who have rejected Jesus, it will be very, very bad for them.
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It will not be a good day on Judgment Day. It will not be a good day on Resurrection Day. But to those who love
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Christ, who trust in him for their salvation, the Bible says that for those who love his appearing, what that means is that when
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Christ comes, it will be, like we read here, it'll be a resurrection of joy.
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It won't be like a death. It will be like a birth. And births are happy. Does that make sense?
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So it all depends on who you are. Very good questions. It'll be a good day.
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It'll be a very good day. 2 Corinthians 5. Oh, sorry. Romans 2, verses 6 to 8.
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We're going to do rapid fire. He will render each one according to his works. To those who by patience and well -doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.
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But for those who are self -seeking and do not obey the truth but obey in righteousness, there will be wrath and fury.
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2 Corinthians 5 .10. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
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Everyone. We must all appear. Now some, I will say, some believe that the judgment seat of Christ is different from the great white throne judgment.
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That is not my view. I believe that they happen simultaneously. They happen together.
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That both the just and the just will be judged at the same time.
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But you can certainly hold to a view of two separate judgments and we will extend the right hand of fellowship without concern.
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But either way, we must all appear before the judgment seat of God and I believe all before the judgment seat of Christ, whether good or evil.
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Revelation 20 verse 11 to 14. It's one of the last verses we'll look at.
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Just keep your finger in Revelation because we're going to end there. It says there,
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Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it from his presence, earth and sky fled away and no place was found for them.
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And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne and books were opened.
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Then another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done.
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So this is why I believe that these judgments happen together, by the way. This is one of many reasons. But you see here, two books are opened.
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Same time, same place. And the sea gave up the dead, we already read this, who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them and they were judged, each of them according to what they had done.
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Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
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And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
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Louis Burkoff, in his book, A Summary of Christian Doctrine, he writes this,
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The standard of which saints and sinners will be judged will be evidently revealed, sorry, will be the evidently revealed will of God.
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Gentiles, and we see this in Romans 2, Romans 1, 2 and 3, Gentiles will be judged by the law of nature,
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Jews by the Old Testament revelation, and those acquainted with the fuller revelation of the gospel will be judged by it.
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God will give every man his due. Everyone will be judged, whether you are in the
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Amazon rainforest in an unreached tribe, an unreached people group that have never heard the name of Christ, but yet you looked up at the sun and the stars that God created, the heavens that declare the glory of God, and you will be judged based on that knowledge.
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The Jews who had the Old Testament prophecies and the Torah, they will be judged based on that, and to those who have heard the gospel.
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In many ways, that's why it's a fearful thing if you're an unbeliever. It's a fearful thing if you're an unbeliever to hear the gospel and to not respond to it, because you will be held to account for that knowledge.
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It would be better for you never to have heard it than to hear it and to reject it.
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Yes, Noah? Very good question.
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I'm going to answer that question in one minute. Okay? Okay. No one will escape the perfect and just judgment of God.
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No one. So what becomes of the judgment? Is it like our courts where a person can murder someone and they get two years of house arrest?
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Sorry, I don't mean to be so political, but what will come? What will become of the wicked?
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The wicked will be doomed to hell, and that ought to shake us to some extent, brothers and sisters, that people, real people with real souls, are going to go to a real place that we call hell, a place of eternal, conscious punishment.
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He will bring about the eternal, conscious punishment of the wicked for all those who have rebelled against their
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God and Creator, who have rejected the only Savior of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ, the only name given under heaven by which we must be saved.
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They will endure the just wrath of God for all of eternity. Period.
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In scripture, it's referred to, Noah, as a fiery furnace, as a prison, as the lake of fire.
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Matthew chapter 8, verse 12. I'm just going to do rapid fire again. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
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Mark 9, 47 and 48. And if your eye causes you to sin, this is Christ saying this, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell.
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Verse 48 is probably one of the most fearsome verses in all the Bible.
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It's better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, verse 48, where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.
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Unlike the Jehovah's Witnesses who believe in annihilationism, this idea that you die and then you're done.
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There's just no more conscious punishment. It's not what the Bible teaches. The worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.
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I'll make my case with another text. Revelation 14, 10. He also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented.
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Now, Albert, does that sound painful? He will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the
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Lamb. Revelation 21, verse 8.
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But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.
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So we do not believe in annihilationism. And I'll tell you why. We don't believe it because it's not in the
01:08:08
Bible. The worm does not die. The fire is not quenched. It will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the
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Lamb. The same Lamb that was slain for the sins of many will be the same presence that torments the unrighteous for all of eternity.
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You can believe that. Hell will be a bad place not only because God isn't there, but hell will be a bad place because God is there in judgment, in wrath, for all time.
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And this doctrine demonstrates two things. It demonstrates both the holiness of God and it demonstrates the love of God.
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It demonstrates the holiness of God in this way that oftentimes we have a high view of man and a low view of God when people say, why would
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God ever sentence me to an eternity in hell? What kind of a loving
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God would do that? A just God.
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A good God. A holy God. A righteous God. A perfect God. And the reason why
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He does that is because you are not any of those things. We have all sinned and fallen short and fall short of the glory of God.
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We are, the way that I sometimes say it on the street, just put your hand down bud and I'll come back to you
01:09:41
I promise. The way that I say it sometimes on the street evangelism is this, that you are guilty of the greatest cosmic offense that ever has or ever will be and that is the offense of cosmic treason.
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You have rebelled against, you have rejected, you have denied the
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God who has made and who sustains everything even your very life at this very moment.
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He gives you life and breath and all things and you cast Him aside. And then a million and one other sins on top to boot.
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God condemns the wicked to an eternity in hell because He is holy.
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Like I said, it also demonstrates God's love. Christ went to the cross.
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Christ took that cup of God's wrath. Christ took our hell that we might have eternal life in Him.
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And so in hell, in the judgment of the wicked, we see both the holiness of God, the justice of God, the wrath of God, the immutability of God, all these things that we've learned about over the last six months, the eternality of God and we see the love of God and the mercy of God and the grace of God and the patience of God.
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I've been on the street and people have reviled the gospel and reviled
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Christ and said, if Christ is really coming, why hasn't He come? And what's the answer?
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He is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.
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Right, Noah? Remember that? The Lord is not slow in keeping His promises, as some understand slowness, but He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
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Do you remember memorizing that? No? I don't know if Lisey, Lisey, do you remember that?
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Yeah, maybe it was your song. So we see the holiness of God and the love of God.
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And then lastly, and He will bring about the eternal blessing of the righteous in the new heavens and the new earth.
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Psalm 107, verse 26 and 27. They will perish, but you will remain.
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They will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe and they will pass away, but you are the same and your years have no end.
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The children of your servants shall dwell secure their offspring shall be established before you.
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John 14, 1 to 3. Let not your hearts be troubled. As we've just heard about the judgment of God, the second coming, the resurrection.
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Believer, listen to this. Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me.
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That's Christ. In my Father's house are many rooms. I think you need buildings to have rooms, right
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Elise? There are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you,
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I will come again and will take you to myself. That where I am, you may be also.
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John 3, 16 and 17. For God so loved the world that he gave his only
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Son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
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We see the heart of God in these two verses. Verse 17. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
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This whole study of eschatology has bearing on all of our lives and on every aspect of our lives.
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How we worship God. How we walk with God day to day. How we have assurance with him. How we do evangelism.
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Why we do evangelism. How we worship. How we teach the Bible. How we read the
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Bible. How we raise our children. How we treat our wives or husbands. It has bearing on everything for those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ.
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For those of us who have, our eternity is secure. At that time, our statement reads, the kingdom of God will be completely fulfilled in the new heavens and the new earth in which righteousness dwells and in which
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God will be rightly worshipped forever by his people. Revelation 21.
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Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more.
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And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband.
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And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them.
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And they will be his people. And God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
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And death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away.
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And he said, and he who was seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new.
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Also he said, Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. Brothers and sisters, these words are trustworthy and true.
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We can take it to the bank. This is going to happen. And he said to me,
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It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. This is the future.
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I'm going to answer your question. Just hold tight, pal. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of water of life without payment.
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The one who conquers will have this heritage. And I will be his
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God and he will be my son. Brothers and sisters, let's be conquerors.
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It is done. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He's making all things new. These words are trustworthy and true.
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And the only one that is going to bring this about is the
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Lord Jesus Christ. If you look in the news, you realize that all of the world is trying to bring all of this about, all by their own power, all apart from Christ.
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So I have nothing against vaccines. Nothing against masks. I have nothing against what
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I would call reasonable restrictions for the sake of the welfare of the world. As an example, this
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COVID -19 crisis, right? But what are they trying to do away with? They're trying to do away with sickness.
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They're trying to do away with death. When you look at the world, all of the systems that exist to bring about heaven on earth, to bring about a paradise apart from Christ, and the reality is none of that is going to happen apart from Christ.
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But when Christ comes, he will bring it all. To quote from Louis Burkhoff one last time, the reward of the righteous is described as eternal life, that is not merely endless life.
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Eternal life is not going to be just endless life, but life in all of its fullness, without any of the perfections and disturbances of the present.
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This fullness of life is enjoyed in communion with God, which is really the essence of eternal life, an eternity in communion with God.
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So the last two verses in the book of Revelation read this, and I think we can all agree.
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He who testifies to these things says, surely I am coming soon.
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Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the
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Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. Sorry, that was longer.
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I just wanted to, I didn't want to say we'll come back next week. Yes, Noah.
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The Bible uses the word torment. So tormenting, when someone is tormented, that is a state of anguish.
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Like if I said, when we get home, I'm going to torment you. You're not going to look forward to that.
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That's going to be a painful experience, right? Fear not. I'm not going to do that. But that's what the lake of fire is.
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It's a place of torment. I don't know exactly.
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I don't know exactly all that it's going to contain. It's a very graphic image.
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Yeah. Any other questions? No. Okay.
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Well, let's pray. Father in heaven,
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I pray that you would apply these things to our hearts. Lord, that we would live in light of eternity.
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As we've said over and over again over the last few months, those words from Jonathan Edwards, Lord, stamp eternity on my eyeballs.
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Lord, help us to understand what you've written in your word concerning the last things.
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Lord, you've given them for our instruction and for our good. And Lord, help us to faithfully seek out these things, to understand them, to know them.
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And Lord, to obey you, to glorify you, and to serve you for all of our lives, in life and in death.
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And then Lord, forever and ever and ever. Lord, we thank you for Jesus Christ.
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This lesson would be half as long if not for him. And there would be no hope.
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And it would be only the outcome of the wicked. It would be only torment and unquenchable fire.
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But thanks be to you, Lord, that you sent your son, Jesus Christ, that we might be saved from that.
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And for that, we are forever and eternally grateful. And Lord, we have all the reason in all the world to worship you for all of eternity simply because of the
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Lord Jesus Christ. And so much more in light of all that you are.