Personal and Universal Eschatology

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00:02
Good evening everyone when you came in tonight, I Hope that you signed in for the last time tonight is our last class and There are two handouts that you need for tonight if you did not get them.
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Please take a moment to come and get the handouts One of them is what we're going to be looking at actually Beginning the class we're going to talk about next semester So you can have that prepared and the other one is part of tonight's lesson Tonight is as I said our last class and I have good news for you No pop quiz tonight Instead of the pop quiz, I'm going to use the first five minutes or so to converse with you about why you should take next semester's class and Tell you about what it is going to be on So if you have your sheet This one that is entitled course title ds200 introduction to apologetics Please take it out and look at it with me just for a moment.
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You'll notice I have reformatted the syllabus slightly It is now two pages versus three and I didn't just go in and reduce the font size Even though that is part of it What I also did was I changed some of the grading criteria and I'm going to explain that when we get to next semester's course and But your final grade is your research project is now 50% of your final grade rather than 40 And as I said when we start next semester's course, we'll discuss why that is But on the second page or rather on the first page under required texts if you are going to take this class You need to purchase John frames apologetics a Justification of Christian belief and I'm going to go ahead and tell you it's the book is not too pricey I think I paid $15.99 on Amazon.
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So it's not super expensive but it is It's going to be a heavy read You all read if you took this class and did all the reading you all read dr.
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Sproul's Systematic theology the introduction to systematic theology.
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That was a great book.
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You showed me you can read well next semester You're going to read a little more But the good thing is you don't if you look at this book I've actually chopped off the parts that you don't even have to worry about the there's there's like four Introductions of this book because it's like the third edition second edition or whatever So there's like all these introductions to the different editions You ain't got to read all that you can just don't have to and these are the appendixes So like there's a ton of in the back that you don't you this is a this truly is a textbook That would be used in seminaries and it is yes I don't think it's available on audio that I could find if you do find it.
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Let me know But the the book itself the actual reading portion is 218 pages and we're not reading about we're not reading all the chapters the one difference of this and dr Sproul's book is I'm going to assign you Sections of chapters to read because you're just it's so heavy I I'm going to focus on specific parts of this book So you still need the whole book obviously you can buy it digitally if you want But there are going to be times when I say read pages this through this and if you got it digital That's hard to figure out so it's better to have the hard copy so that you know the pages, but please get your book and you'll see under the Assigned reading you'll have an assigned reading from the Actually, it is from the introduction a biblical perspective on apologetics.
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That's only like a page That's all you have to read before the class starts.
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It's just a little section I want you to read and it tells you where it's at in the syllabus now this class is going to start the week after Easter April the 8th, and it will take us through the end of May so this will be our spring semester if you will April and May and then We'll have a very quick turnaround Because we're going to do June and July and take August off So we're going to have a pretty quick turnaround for the last class which is Introduction to Christian life and ministry so that gives you the idea of where we're going to be This is the book you need if you're going to be in the next course any questions Terrific.
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All right John would you close that door for me or yeah either? All right Well that went faster than a pop quiz, so we're moving right along Tonight we are going to study the doctrine of Eschatology we are going to be looking at several Different aspects of eschatology, but the three primary things we are going to look at our death and the intermediate state in time perspectives and Heaven and hell That will be our three major primary headings everybody open your Bible and turn to Hebrews 9 27 now miss Jackie Okay, she's she's tired of me calling her name.
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I think I mentioned her name last night.
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She just finished we did a two year 90 part series on Systematic theology at our church and last night We finished it we finished on the subject of heaven and I think she's one of the few people who were here for most of those 90 classes and She has heard Several weeks on eschatology, and she's going to tell me how good I do tonight at shoving Probably the last eight weeks of study into a one-hour lecture And that's really what we're doing every week I'm having to condense and combine a lot of things to get us through each of the Bible doctrines, but but here's the thing always remember this you can go as Macroscopic or as microscopic as you want when it comes to studying Scripture Microscopic is when you look down at the small details of any particular teaching or text, but you can also take a Macroscopic or a big view of things and that's what this class does this class looks at it Really in a in the lens of the larger Looking over it in a in a big way.
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We're not digging into all of the Fine details, but we are looking at a few of them Hebrews 927 who's got their Bible ready? Read it for me John.
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That's it.
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Well.
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Yeah, it goes on But that's the most important part as it is appointed unto man to die once and after this comes judgment That is the heart of what we would call eschatology the word eschatology comes from the Greek word Eschaton Which means the last things the last things? so the doctrine of eschatology deals with the end or the last things and And When we think of eschatology we can think of eschatology in two categories First we have what we would call personal eschatology and Then we have what we would call universal Eschatology Brian What do you think would be the difference between personal and universal eschatology I Don't know I don't know if the microphone picked you up.
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I may have to bring you up He said one is personal is one universal What what do you think I mean though when I say personal and universal eschatology? Yeah, yeah Personal eschatology is my own end Right my own last things and as I point out to everybody when they ask me pastor Keith Do you think we're in the end times my answers you are? Because you're you know in a hundred years you won't be here anymore, so whether or not the world only has a hundred years left You don't You're in your end times and so most people focus on The universal aspect of eschatology they focus on the the Tribulation they focus on the Millennium they focus on all of those things that do inspire tremendous debate but they don't tend to focus on the the reality that we're all in our own in time and If you were in the last class which was our introduction to The New Testament when we did our study of Revelation you probably remember me saying some of these same things And remember the key to learning is repetition and repetition of key to learning.
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It's good to remember these things because We can get tied in knots trying to figure out Revelation We can really bend over backwards trying to figure out all of the the beast and the The the ten headed this and the horns of that and what this means and what that means, but at the end of the day It is very likely That I will die Before Christ comes because most of the people who live before me died before Christ came and Most of them thought they were living in the end times and most of them thought Jesus was coming in their day Now could he come tomorrow yes, and amen Could I live to see his return what a glory But if we fail to think about our own end While getting tied up in knots about the universal end Then I think we've missed the point You know, we know not when the master of the house cometh But we do know that our end is certain as it is appointed unto man wants to die The only people who aren't going to die are Enoch Elijah and everybody who's alive when Jesus comes Everybody else is going to die and there and that there is an appointment God has that on his calendar.
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I don't know when that date is.
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I don't think I'd want to know Never thought you ever asked that question if you could know for certain when your day was going to be would you want to know? Probably not right.
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None of us knows the day But it is appointed unto man to die So we know it's coming even if medicine gets Wildly advanced to the point where it can preserve the body.
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It will never preserve it indefinitely We will die as a result of the fall Brian you had your hand up That's right.
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That's right.
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There have been people who've tried to commit suicide.
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God didn't allow it there have been times where you know, people have have Not necessarily try to commit suicide, but tried everything that just almost Done their body so wrong that you think they would die and they go on to live another 30 years So yes, you can't You can't out God God You can't out sovereign the sovereign and so yes, his appointment is firm Brother you had your hand up or did one? Okay All right.
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So when we consider a personal eschatology, the first thing we have to realize is we're talking about death and We then have to take the next logical step and say what happens after death which is typically typically referred to as the afterlife so death and afterlife Now afterlife is a bit of a miscommunication.
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Sorry, I'll move that over.
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This is death and afterlife underneath Individual or personal eschatology we talk about death and afterlife.
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It's not really afterlife.
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It's just a different life It's after this life and the Bible says that every person is Going to have an afterlife whether they are experiencing an afterlife that is pleasant or Unpleasant to for lack of a better term that is the difference But it does declare that all men will experience life after this one We're going to talk later on about the concept of Annihilation when we talk about heaven and hell But for the for the moment, we'll leave that on the table We're going to talk about that later, but for the moment we talk about personal eschatology We talk about death and afterlife and on your sheet.
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We have something called the intermediate state We say death and the intermediate state.
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What is the intermediate state? Okay Very good, Ed.
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That's the right answer.
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I like what I just I just erase this When we talk about the intermediate state To draw a timeline, this is you This is your life line What's that This is Brian Sorry Yeah, if it were Ed, yeah, like I said a little bit bigger head All right, so when you die you go and as a As a body your body goes either into the ground or it is in some way consumed whether it's cremated or whatever it is your body is is placed into a Condition of Inanimacy, it's no longer animate, right? And then one day there will be a resurrection of the body And the Bible is very clear that the body will resurrect.
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It's it's not a spiritual resurrection Jesus didn't just come out of the tomb spiritually.
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They went to the tomb and what did they find an Empty tomb, right? Where has where is the body right? And what was the the Jews? Oh, they've stole his body tell people they've stole his body Why because the body weren't there the greatest way to prove Christianity false in the first century What had been for the Pharisees to produce the body of Christ? If all the disciples of Jesus are running around and saying this Man has raised from the dead all they had to do to prove that was false was produce his body No, he hasn't here.
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He is he's still dead But they didn't produce the body because his body raised that's a key Apologetic point about the resurrection of Christ.
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He didn't just raise spiritually people didn't see a phantom people saw a resurrected Jesus and He even makes the point with Thomas see my hands my side in his eye He eats on the beach with Peter Remember after his resurrection when he when he cooked fish on the beach remember so there's a resurrection of the body We too will be resurrected 1st Corinthians 15 I love to preach this text at Easter because 1st Corinthians 15 tells us Paul says Specifically if Christ is not raised No, rather if resurrection is not true, then Christ be not raised and if Christ be not raised and we have no hope We are of most of all men most to be pitied if there is no resurrection Because we've been preaching a lie so the resurrection happens when Christ Returns now we're going to talk a little bit about millennium positions and all that but for the for the most important for this individual Personal eschatology you will die you will be raised the point between this is the point of contention That is the point that we call the inter mediate State The intermediate state is the point between death and Resurrection now Wait one second before you ask I just want to make a point that if you're alive when Jesus comes you won't you don't get one of these Because you won't need it, but it was after you're gonna ask.
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Okay, go ahead Well, that's what we're getting to absolutely because this is absent from the body The Body's in the ground.
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All right, the intermediate state is the state of you is you is the state of your soul? Don't stress days you just hang with me.
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I promise I'll make it make sense Well, yeah, well I hope so this is basic Christian doctrine This is but it's true.
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The the body goes into the ground The soul and we could write that we could say the soul is in an intermediate state and Then one day the soul and body are reunited at the resurrection Are we clear on on that part? now the question is What happens to the soul in the intermediate state and there are two? Competing arguments I only think one is biblical but I will present both to you so that I can explain why I think one is unbiblical the first position is the position I believe is unbiblical and that is the position known as The fancy word is psychopenic.
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Yeah, but the no not purgatory.
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The the position is called soul sleep soul sleep soul sleep And that is the idea that when your body goes into the ground your soul is unconscious and still with your body The belief is that your soul is an inextricably tied to your body therefore wherever your body is That's where your soul is and if your body's dead so too is your soul Unconscious or asleep in your body and it will be there until the resurrection when both wake up together This is called again psychopenic He is the fancy word, but the simple word is soul sleep and the idea again is you die eyes closed you're on the bed and You die and the next thing, you know, you wake up and you're resurrected in your in your new body So for you, it would be an instantaneous trip It's like like when you know, you fall asleep at night you wake up the next day It's happens instantly right which is terrible I love sleep and I don't get to enjoy it You know, you go to sleep you wake up.
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It's like no.
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No, let me have a little more I didn't you know, yeah, unless you're like me and you have terrible dreams Sometimes I wake up and I live a whole lifetime in one dream and I'm like I need to go back to bed I'm exhausted from that horrible dream And I have asked people who hold I know people who hold this position their entire denominations to hold this position The Advent Christian Church holds its position Seventh-day Adventist hold this position the heretical Jehovah Witnesses hold this position This is very popular among Adventist movements, by the way, Jehovah Witnesses is a offshoot of Adventist theology so this is very popular in some circles and their argument is You're when the Bible says they're sleeping that that's talking about their soul I Disagree but that's the position called soul sleep that during the intermediate state the soul is asleep The opposite position the position I think is biblical and the position of course that we teach and hold to is what we would call continued consciousness Continued consciousness is My body is in the ground, but my soul is with the Lord That's what you just said Daisy, yes, my soul is still conscious and Very much aware and very much alive So here's a few verses to support Continued consciousness.
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My favorite is Luke 23 43 When Jesus was on the cross the man beside him was dying He was dying and he said Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom and Jesus said I say to you Today thou shalt be with me in paradise today thou shalt be not in the future not at the resurrection But today thou shalt be with me in paradise so That tells us two things one It tells us that There's an immediate Consciousness on the day that you die in your new condition, but also tells us Jesus didn't go to hell Some people have a theology that Jesus went to hell, but he said you will be with me in paradise Very important theological ramifications.
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Yeah, Joyce Meyer and a lot of others say Jesus went to hell.
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Jesus didn't say he was going to hell Now that's in first Peter and I do not believe it means what you think it does That's the verse they use I know and They'd be wrong No, no that that verse is often used to try to prove that Jesus went to hell Jesus suffered on the cross Jesus did not suffer in hell.
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That is a very important distinction.
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Yes You got a question Okay There is there is an argument that can be made that Luke 16 tells us and that's another by the way, Luke 16 is another argument for continued consciousness because the two men who died were alive when they died the the The rich man went to hell, but the poor man went to Abraham's bosom both of them were conscious That's the point continued consciousness, right? I think it supports that now the question of whether or not Jesus There's led captivity captive is the way the King James says it that he went and he preached to the souls in prison and he Led captivity captive and the argument is that did Christ at that moment go and set them free and take them to heaven with him And my answer is I don't know.
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I don't know.
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I don't know the answer to that I don't know the condition of the pre cross Saints after death except one thing Moses and Elijah Were both on the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus and Therefore there was a certain ability for them to Understand and be in a pleasant condition I think there's a lot that we could extrapolate from that Maybe infer a few things that you know based on what that's saying But there is no There's no indication in my mind that the Old Testament Saints were sleeping I think they were alive and Conscious now were they with Abraham? I think Luke 16 would argue there were they were him.
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The question is where is Abraham? Paradise and that's where Jesus said today.
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You'll be with me in paradise.
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So what's paradise though? And how do we define that that's it? That's that's more than we have time to get into today But but they were in paradise.
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That's where Jesus went.
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I'm just saying Jesus didn't go to Hades Jesus did not go to the hellfire damnation place Frank you want to ask a question? I'm sorry Frank had his hand up for He descended in hell I disagree with the interpretation of that because I think that that that particular creed is is is basing an idea on Christ descending into hell to do the very thing.
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We just talked about to set captives free.
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I don't think Sure Sovereignty Yes, but The couple questions just come to come to mind first first thought is Can God go wherever God wants to go? Absolutely, but we have to base what he did do on the text not on what he could do So do we have a passage that says he went to hell? We have certain allusions in first Peter that we talked about earlier And we have the creed that seems to indicate that but no specific passage The one thing we do have is he himself saying I will be in paradise because he said today you'll be with me in paradise So I think that's where we have to begin to break down.
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What is paradise? How is it related to hell could Jesus have stood in paradise and preached to the people in hell as Luke 16 says there's a gulf where they can interact with one another.
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That's a possibility So, but I don't think he was suffering that's my that's my only contention Frank is those who would say he went to hell to suffer for our sins because He suffered for our sins on the cross that that's my that's the big argument whether or not Physically present where I believe he's in paradise with Abraham If he could interact with people in hell, did he preach to people in hell? I don't think he took anybody out I think the people that were in paradise with the people that were with him the people in hell don't get a Stay of execution or a reprieve at that point Lot to go into though a lot.
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It certainly would be a interesting, you know Conversation to continue if we had time, but unfortunately we don't days what we're gonna ask I was just going to say that he preached to the saints before the ark, before Noah.
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Yes, and again though when did he preach to them? Well, that's it.
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It was probably a long time ago.
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Well, but We don't Unfortunately, we do not have time to break down individual texts like that tonight.
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It just we just don't have time to break it For time's sake I have to move on Let me simply say though that the people who say that he went to hell to suffer I think are misunderstanding that passage and there are people who do again Joyce Meyer said that very thing Kenneth Copeland many of the health and wealth preachers say Jesus went to hell to suffer and I just don't believe that Okay Getting back to continue consciousness.
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I I'm glad you know, don't be sorry.
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I'm glad you asked questions If all this was was a lecture, they'd be now I just send you the video We're supposed to interact but we do got to move on and eventually, you know, once we've interacted move on to the next thing few other verses 2nd Corinthians 5 8 it should be on everybody's list.
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I Am willing rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord.
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That's when you mentioned earlier Daisy James 2 26 This is one of my favorites to point out as the body apart from the spirit is dead.
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So faith apart from works is dead James uses an analogy about the body in the spirit For faith and works, but he says the body apart from the spirit is dead How do we define physical death the spirit leaves the body? That's how James defined physical death Therefore spirit is not asleep in the body.
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The spirit is absent left the body Luke 16 19 to 31 Lazarus and the rich man Again pointing to immediate consciousness after death One of my favorite parts of that story is that when when Lazarus dies, he is carried by the angels When the rich man dies, he closes his eyes and he opens them in in hell.
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There is no angelic escort.
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There's no pleasant death You know I have I've actually been at the bedside of many people who died while I was there Several specific ones stand out to me People that I've known people I've loved church members and other things.
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I've seen the machines go Flat like you see, you know, they don't usually go flat like the movies.
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They just get so slow that it's you know, it's done but you've kind of seen that I've been in that situation before and There are there are many many stories of Of Unbelievers particularly rampant atheists who in their final moments were just clawing at the walls and very fearful of the darkness that was coming upon them and Hating The the the reality of what they know is coming and it's not always that way but there's enough Anecdotal Situations that you could share to at least know that the death of the wicked is not a pleasant thing And even God himself says I'd take no pleasure in the death of the wicked Ross had a question.
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I Don't think so.
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I think it's real, but I'm not gonna die on that hill My biggest argument is not even a really, you know a big argument It's just it's if it is a parable.
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It is the only parable where Jesus uses a real name a Proper name he calls him Lazarus.
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He doesn't say there was a man like I don't think there was a good Samaritan I don't think that's a true story.
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I think the Good Samaritan is a parable I don't think there was I'm not saying there's never been a good guy.
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I just think that that story is a story I don't think that Most of Jesus's parables were based on a real thing I think they were you know, the kingdom of heaven is like this or the kingdom of heaven is like that or whatever It's always analogous to something but when he said that he said Lazarus and he spoke of him and he spoke of a situation that in My own heart I look at and I say there's there's something there's something well, there's something about that story that stands out to me as Just like very powerful and that's this if the story is true Then that guy is still in hell today and That just is so mind-boggling to me That as much as he was in hell when Jesus told the story He's still in hell today and all he's waiting for is the resurrection whereby he will be resurrected Judged and poured into the lake of fire.
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He has no hope even today and all he wants is that his family would not come to the place that he's in and That speaks to me.
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Very true, even if it is a parable It doesn't have the same qualities of a parable parables usually are intended to have analogous You know, there was a soul went out and sow a seed.
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This is rocky soil This is this this is that and it represents something the story of Lazarus and the rich man You have to ask the question.
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What does it represent? Death and what does it teach us about death and the afterlife, you know, there's a lot of questions that come in But personally I prefer to think of it as a real story, but I'm not dying on that hill.
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I don't know Brian Okay, cool Okay last verse to throw out for you on continued consciousness because I want to support.
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This is Revelation 6 9 and 10 and I'll read this one and we'll finish up and move on to the next thing resurrection Revelation 6 9 when he opened the fifth seal I saw Under the altar the souls of those who'd been slain for the Word of God and for the witness they had born They cried out with a loud voice Oh Sovereign Lord, holy and true How long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? They say well, what does that got to do with anything? Well a couple things one.
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It says the souls are Present in the throne room of God two it says these are previously men who have died men and women who have died as martyrs and They remember how they died Because they cry out for justice That's a big deal to me Because even though I do believe Revelation is very it has it's filled with symbolism as we've talked about in our eschatology course It's I do believe Revelation is highly symbolic.
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It's apocalyptic literature You have to look at that and say is there right now before the throne of God? Men and women who have died for the cause of Christ who are crying out that God would bring justice on their adversaries It's what it says and if so, does that not Remind us that Continued consciousness is the right view of what happens after death rather than soul sleep I just I just can't I can't get down with soul sleep I can't I can't abide it It's not heresy though Because it wouldn't it doesn't change the condition of the soul just the immediacy of them of the change Whether or not the person's going to heaven and hell wouldn't be affected by the doctrine of soul sleep.
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It's it's just to me One of those doctrines that doesn't seem to bear any fruit and it's a it's an argument for no cause no reason Would though be what I guess you could have say it's an argument against cremation Yeah, I mean somebody could say well your soul is still there you need to keep the body intact But honestly and not to get put to find a point on it and I'm gonna offend some folks but I'll go ahead and say it cremation is is not a Is is not the tradition of the of the Christian Church, it's not the way we have done away with our dead We have always buried the dead Cremation is very popular right now because of one reason finances, it's economically cheaper and I understand that but Cremation was never the practice you read through the Old Testament who burned their dead the pagans the Christians the Jews Buried their dead and it was because they had an eye toward the resurrection Now having said that before I get any emails from anybody out there in a Facebook land who may want to send me a message Let me clarify one thing very quickly if your body is cremated.
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It isn't going to change God's ability to resurrect you at all I'm simply saying from the from the position of tradition It is not the tradition of Christians or Jews to burn It's the tradition to bury and therefore yes, it's economically more Financially prosperous or whatever.
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I want to be buried and I'll tell you just not that you care I want to be buried in the Jewish method and that is no embalming They wash your body and they have you in the ground in 24 hours It's not Hold you over for a week so everybody can look at your you know bleach body because of the Formaldehyde in your body turns your skin different color and then caked up with makeup and all that stuff that they do with your body It's unnecessary.
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I think viewings tend to be somewhat unnecessary Just wash me and put me in the ground That's the again the simple model But and I worked in the funeral business for years I can tell you it is and Bobby can tell you even more than I can because he did it for years and his father Was a funeral director It's what what what we do to the body is not not not the most Pleasant thing to even discuss to prepare it for viewing and that's all we're doing is preparing it for viewing and for some form of unnatural Preservation Yes, Brian Yes, yes burning form of judgment.
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Absolutely I'm not sure if there's I would have to look into that and to see if there's any real symbolism I just burning was a judgment.
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Okay Nadab and a by who Aiken You know, we're all burned But I don't know that I would attach that to cremation as much as I would just say this was a picture of judgment All right So this is death in the intermediate state I believe the intermediate state is conscious and I wanted to focus on that because you probably think thought coming tonight We're going to talk about eschatology.
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We're going to talk about end times.
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Well, we did we talked about your end times But for the last few minutes of this part of the class, let's talk about universal eschatology Everybody has their handout on your handout.
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There are two count them two sides The first one is four views of the end times which this is what we're going to look at The second one is the same information just in a different chart form So both of them kind of give you the same information But let's look at the board very quickly and let's let's have a little powwow about the different views Because as we said this is the resurrection of the body We die we have an intermediate state we are resurrected the question of universal Eschatology is what happens here? That's the big question.
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What happens at the resurrection of the body? Is it preceded by a seven-year tribulation which itself was preceded by a pre tribulation rapture? Is it? Followed by a thousand-year reign of Christ on the earth, or is it followed by an immediate translation into the new heavens a newer? This is the question and this is the arguments that go on when we talk about universal eschatology.
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So for a second Let us jump to The four views as simply as I can express them and it's on your sheet But I want to make it even simpler than what's on your sheet simpler than one page I want to make you a scholar of in time studies With one whiteboard and a black marker Here is Jesus Jesus Introduces the New Covenant age we are now under the New Covenant in Christ Which will culminate finally and perfectly in his second coming so we have Jesus's return and It will be three things it will be a bodily return It will be a Visible return and it will be a glorious return If you read your book remember that was in the book Because it's the same way he left acts chapter one, right? It was a bodily physical and glorious Departure and the angel said the way he left is the same way It's going to return so we know and this is agreed on by all whether you're dispensationalist covenant theologian whether you believe in premillennialism postmillennialism, whatever your position the bodily Visible glorious return of Christ is not debated.
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That is something we all agree on The question is Everything else that goes on Because when we come back to the cross We say after the cross is when he ascended so we would say this is the ascension of Jesus and From that which was around the year 30 To 2021 which is somewhere on this line and Jesus hasn't returned yet.
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So we don't know when it's going to be.
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It could be in 3031 Can you imagine the world living another thousand years? But what we don't think so, right but the people in the Middle Ages didn't think it was going to make it another thousand years either I Mean, no, they didn't Yeah, I mean, I don't think the people in Jesus's time thought it was going to last another thousand years And we're 2,000 years into the end times by the way the end times began right there When you say when did the end times begin the end times began as soon as Jesus ascended because he said I will return And now the clock begins When does the clock end? Over there.
45:06
That's when the clock ends.
45:08
So we're all on a we're in a diminu We're in a time clock that's diminishing.
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It's the sands running through the hourglass.
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It's dripping through.
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We don't know when the last Grain will fall but it's coming at some point grains gonna fall.
45:23
So Big question is in Revelation chapter 20.
45:26
There's something called the Millennium a thousand-year reign of Christ and The thousand-year reign of Christ is marked by several things The first thing is the binding of Satan if you read the text it talks about Satan being bound for a thousand years Christ is going to rule and reign with the Saints for a thousand years and then at the end Of that thousand years Satan is going to be loosed For a season and during that season he will bring war Against the lamb and he will be finally and fully Destroyed and he and his followers will be cast into the lake of fire All right.
46:06
That's the how Revelation 20 ends pouring them out into the lake of fire those who's who have followed the The devil say So where does that thousand years come in? Well, if you take the position known as pre millennialism Then you believe the thousand years Is here after the return of Christ That is called pre millennialism That when Jesus returns He will rule and reign on this earth in this state of being for a thousand years During which time Satan will be bound Until the end where there will be the great and final battle which occurs here And then that will usher in the eternal state That will usher in the eternal state.
47:07
That is pre millennialism That is the view that most people in Modern evangelical churches hold Even if they don't know it Because this is the view that is taught that also includes prior to Jesus's return a seven-year tribulation and a pre-tribulation Rapture That is all called Dispensational pre-millennialism, that's a long phrase won't get into what it means but only simply to say that the dispensationalist believes that Jesus will rapture out the church and Then there will be a seven-year tribulation period where God will Turn his focus back to the Jews because right now his focus is upon the church, but Because according to dispensationalist God still has promises to fulfill to the Jews I don't believe that but that's the argument of the dispensationalist I think because God still has promises to fulfill to the Jews That he must turn his attention back to the Jews and he will fulfill those promises during the seven-year tribulation But most specifically in the Thousand-year millennial reign that the promises to the Jewish people will be fulfilled in the millennium Okay, that again is Dispensational pre-millennialism.
48:42
I don't hold that view, but I did once Because that's what I was taught in seminary That's what most people were taught who were in evangelical seminaries when I was going to school This is what everybody who read Jerry B.
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Jenkins and Tim LaHaye left behind this was the position of left behind Because the idea was the rapture happens everybody's left behind, you know That's it.
49:08
That's that that's the view So that is the that's dispensational pre-millennialism now There's something called historic pre-millennialism all historic the difference the main difference of historic pre-millennialism is it doesn't include any of this So historic pre-millennialism doesn't include a pre-tribulation rapture.
49:26
It doesn't include the seven-year tribulation all that stuff It's just after Jesus returns.
49:31
That's when the Millennium starts Yes Rapture is the taking up or translating of People who are alive into heaven Rapture means to catch away.
49:44
That's what the word means and it's a term there is a couple times which used in Scripture such as when when Thomas no, not Thomas Philip was baptized in the eunuch and it says once he came up out of the water Philip was taken away That term is is the idea is being raptured away or taken away, but he wasn't raptured into heaven He was just taken to a different place Yeah, and so the idea of rapture is to be taken away Yeah, yeah, you could say that first Thessalonians 4 when it says the dead in Christ shall rise first and you know Trumpet sounds Jesus descends from heaven with a shout dead in Christ alive first Those of us who are alive together will be caught up together with him in the clouds will forever be with him That's what a lot of those who believe this would say that's the rapture They wouldn't say that's the resurrection.
50:33
They would say that's the rapture See, that's the key if that's the rapture.
50:38
Why is The bodies coming out of the ground see I say that's the resurrection.
50:43
I don't See see I would say they're essentially the same thing Because the idea of a rapture Where your body and everything goes up into heaven? prior to this is In my opinion is is not correct So let's quickly while we have another few minutes I'm gonna draw another line because if I try to draw over that I don't have another color marker So just be easier if I draw another one okay, so the next position is Jesus ascension Jesus has returned This position is During the church age and that's what this line here represents between the ascension and resurrection Or the ascension and return of Christ that was typically referred to as the church age there will be a time where Christianity will flourish throughout the world and People will be saved in greater numbers than ever before and there will be a worldwide revival Which precedes the return of Christ? So this is called post millennialism Yeah, but it doesn't post millennialists would say it doesn't have to be an actual thousand years pre mill will say it's exactly a thousand years They'll say a thousand years is not to be interpreted Figuratively it's interpreted literally Postmillennialists would say it's a figurative amount of time.
52:19
It's a long amount of time, but it doesn't have to be exactly You know 999 plus one, you know years they would say though that there's going to be a time of essentially Christian victory Which will usher in the return of Christ? Now here's the great thing about post millennialists, man.
52:39
They are optimistic Because they are always thinking the kingdoms coming and you know This was a lot of the Puritans held this view because when they came to the Americas They saw America as the the new opportunity for the expansion of the gospel and now we're going to have this new You know, they had the Great Awakening Right, which you know The almost the whole nation is being visited and people are being saved when I say visited by the Spirit and being saved Yeah, Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield.
53:11
You had these amazing things happening then we get to the 1900s and we have war one or two drop a nuclear bomb twice and Everybody gets pessimistic and they become pre-millennialist again, you know everybody No, I'm serious, right the world often Often changes people's views of eschatology because when everything's looking good Well, you know we're gonna have this victory at victorious time and then Jesus gonna return when everything's looking sour Well, we're going everybody's gonna get their heads cut off, but Jesus is going to return and then he's going to set up the good time the Millennial Kingdom The third position and I'm being super simple.
53:58
I hope you understand.
53:59
We're not getting into the nuances here.
54:01
This is the most basic thing the third position is What is referred to as the ah millennial position or What I would prefer is called the realized millennium But ah millennial is certainly more Popular and the ah millennial ah when you put the a at the beginning of something means the I know You know like to say atheist means no no theism or whatever So ah millennial simply means the Millennium Isn't something that we look forward to but it is something we are experiencing presently That it began with the ascension of Christ and it ends with the return of Christ We are in the Millennium.
54:54
We are in the Church Age and they both are the same Essentially again, there's a lot that could be said for this But let me make an argument because that's where I land.
55:03
I'm gonna make an argument on a simple level when Jesus came He proclaimed That the kingdom of heaven Had come What did John the Baptist say? The axe was laid at the root of the tree.
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This is the king You know the king and here behold the Lamb of God Jesus proclaimed He was the king remember when they asked him Why do your disciples fast and there are John's disciples fast, but your disciples don't fast He said when the king is with him, they don't fast the king is here right and so an Amillennialist would say that the rule and reign of Christ during the Millennium is the rule and reign of Christ in the hearts of his people and in the life of his church and Therefore Christ is ruling and reigning right now and the church is through the preaching of the gospel binding Satan in the administration of That proclamation you asked earlier about Satan being falling from heaven like lightning What caused Satan to fall from heaven like lightning in the gospel of Luke the preaching of the gospel? Binded Satan and he fell like lightning from heaven Jesus said that so I saw when you were preaching Satan fell like heaven so from heaven like lightning, so I I think that the The pre-millennialists tend to take a very literal approach.
56:35
There's a thousand years coming It's going to be specifically a thousand years and during that thousand years Jesus is going to rule on the earth The post-millennialist says there's a time coming We don't know when it's going to be but it's going to be great victory on the earth the amillennialist says that right now we are in the midst of Christ ruling and reigning and we are Waiting for his return when he will finally Take all of his enemies and put them under his feet and that will be what happens at the end Now could we be wrong? Could there be a millennium coming? Sure at this point.
57:10
I'm willing to say I'm I'm not perfect.
57:14
I kind of like this one with Christianity, you know Being victorious all around the world, you know, I kind of think post-millennialism gives a lot of optimism, but you see I'm not pessimistic Yeah, I think yeah, it's almost like that right pessimism Optimism and realism.