15. PreConference | Jeremiah Nortier | The Dangers of Full Preterism

All right did everybody get a handout? Raise your hand if you didn't because we have a number of them and brother

Danny has the handouts. So thank you all for having me this evening because eschatology matters and as you heard from Dr.

Frost there's a lot of it's at stake here and he mentioned a little bit of how I wrote him back into this conversation and so I serve as a pastor and elder at 12 -5 church in Jonesboro Arkansas that's a verse reference to Romans 12 verse 5 that's about the church we are one together in the body of Christ and so we are a church plant in Northeast Jonesboro Arkansas and in this church plant

I wanted to do an apologetics ministry also so the apologetic dog where we guard the deposit that's been entrusted to us and so as I was doing more apologetics mainly evangelizing the

Church of Christ I had a number of people starting to knock my door and ask me more about eschatology

I was kind of like oh it's it's gonna all pan out in the end right we just trust

God with it that was my typical response and then essentially in our backyard there was a church plant that was preaching full preterism from from the pulpit and this this church plant was being started by some dear friends of mine who we started ministry together and they were partnering with another

Southern they were partnering with the Southern Baptist Church who the the preacher was starting to preach openly hyper preterism and these things broke my heart because as I was studying apologetics my pastor friends were starting to study eschatology and they went from pre meal to all meal to post meal and they were right up on the edge of full preterism and I remember getting a phone call one day from my friend at the time

I'm just saying Jeremiah I think I'm a heretic and I was like slow down like what in the world are you talking about he's like I really think all of biblical prophecy happened at 70

AD and I don't see a way around it and he said something at the time that was very encouraging he said

I think I'm gonna just back out of ministry altogether because I don't want to ruin people's lives I know the Word of God is inerrant so the problem is with me and I was just thinking well that's good like don't preach it

I said it's okay to struggle with things but don't preach it so anyway I was I was encouraged a little bit by that conversation but it wasn't just a couple more months where he just totally swung the other way and so I had people coming to me saying

Jeremiah what is full preterism I'm like I don't know but I know someone who does and his name is

Dr. Sam Frost and so we have a mutual friend Eli Aguila who runs a

YouTube channel called Revealed Apologetics and so he interviewed Dr. Frost probably two or three years ago on hyper preterism so that was my only knowledge and so I had to call the big guns up and say

Dr. Frost do you know these people what's going on and so I remember you're just like oh

Jeremiah I don't want to get roped back into this I'm like I need help I don't want a lot of other people that need help as well so I appreciate so much of Dr.

Frost help God has used him mightily in my life and I hope he is a blessing to you definitely check out his books and support him you're a blessing to the church so this

I just wanted to remind you all of all that because this heresy is personal

I've lost friends I've seen those lives go down this path of eschatology is no longer just having minor disagreements over coffee but redefining

Christianity altogether and so I want us to kind of take an exegetical approach

I want to show you how we can know with certainty what our blessed hope is as Christians what we look forward to and I want us to deal with some objections that full preterist will make and they will definitely ask you and they definitely come out in social media where the apologetic dog lives and I want to tell you all the things that I've discovered but if you have your copy of God's Word please turn with me to Titus chapter 2 where I want us to look at the time that the

Apostle Paul told us about our blessed hope or if you have your handouts I have the passage here as well so here the

Apostle Paul says in Titus chapter 2 starting in verse 11 he says for the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation for all people training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self -controlled upright and godly lives and make special note of this in the present age waiting for our blessed hope the appearing of the glory of our great

God and Savior Jesus Christ who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works this is the

Christians blessed hope right you see the phrase here he says that we are waiting for this blessed hope the promise of the apocalypses the revealing he says here that it's the appearing of our great

God and Savior Jesus Christ right this is something that is meant to encourage Christians amen right we look forward to this right the one who is going to restore all things and so this is in Titus chapter 2 meant to encourage one another in discipleship older men older women encouraging younger men and women in the faith and so this is referring to the second coming of Jesus Christ and I also want to bring this in Paul says renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self controlled upright and godly lives in the present age this is huge in the topic of eschatology something

Dr. Frost and I talk about and warn people about is when you understand this two age model of this age and the age to come the full preterist wants you to see that this age is back in the first century talking about the

Jewish age the Jewish mosaic aeon that terminated in 70 AD okay we got to be careful because what's at the end of this age according to Paul and all of the discourse well it's the

Paris here okay and so but Paul tells us no no the present age is something that is filled with evil sin and rebellion against God and the same is called to be set apart to live holy lives to glorify

God and it's going to be a struggle we are going to suffer in this present evil age but we await and long for the age to come with the consummation of an eternal kingdom that Christ will establish at his

Parisea at his second okay and so as I was thinking more about this

I talked with a lot of people in Johnsboro Arkansas they're like Jeremiah you're just being a little harsh right and that's why

I wanted to attack verse 15 here in the passage about this the our blessed hope is because Paul says declare these things exhort and rebuke with all authority let no one disregard you this is not a small matter we are called to exhort and to rebuke so we're going to continue to do that a little bit this evening we're going to have a little bit of exhortation encouragement we're also going to rebuke right rebuke is essentially calling someone to repent because they are wrong okay once again this is crucial within discipleship the older men older women encouraging these truths of our blessed hope but also rebuking if they have it wrong this also goes hand -to -hand with the man of God back in Titus chapter 1 the man of God is to hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught so he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also able to rebuke those who contradict it so our blessed hope this is ever tethered with of the gospel itself that we're going to see and so we hold our blessed hope with a closed fist something that we as Christians long and we're waiting and looking towards so on your handout

I kind of wanted to show three main points of our blessed hope and these are the essentials of eschatology right we we have the all -millennial king in the building here right we can learn from the

Keith Foskys right about all millennialism we can look to John MacArthur about pre -millennialism and we can learn from Jeff Durbin right and James White about post -millennialism and we can agree to disagree but we all agree on these three major fundamental truths of eschatology right so look with though look with me at these number one

Jesus Christ future bodily return this is not up for grabs this is one of those things that gives us hope and encouragement

I can't wait to see him face to face number two we're going to talk about the resurrection of the dead this is also a part of our blessed hope and lastly number three the restoration of all things that includes judgment so we hold these things closed fisted this is not up for debate and so dr.

frost talked about Max King I just want to tell you that the church for 2 ,000 years of all the disagreement that the church has had this is the thing that everyone has always agreed on for 2 ,000 years until Church of Christ minister

Max King comes along and says oh I have this new eschatology and he called it essentially covenantal eschatology that's the realized hope everything happened in the past 70

AD 70 AD Flavius Josephus 70 AD that's full preterism in a nutshell and so this conference was almost about the dangers of the cult of the

Church of Christ and so I find it just absolutely mind -boggling that full preterism is barely 30 years old and finds its origin in the

Church of Christ with Max King okay so if you look at the top of your handout what

I put there is that all full preterism is essentially that the that all prophecies concerning in times have already been fulfilled in the past this extreme view of eschatology redefines

Christianity and is therefore called hyper preterism okay everything is fulfilled in the past and I want to make a case that this absolutely undermines not only our blessed hope but corrupts the gospel of grace that has been entrusted to us amen so if you have your copy of God's Word please turn with me to 1st

Corinthians chapter 15 I believe Paul systematically undoes and dismantles full preterism at the core and he vindicates these three primary points of eschatology and so like I said this this is the

Achilles heel 1st Corinthians 15 where we know this is the great resurrection chapter and Paul begins by talking about the essentials of the gospel itself and so look with me starting in verse 20 like I said if it's also here in our handout

Paul begins in verse where we're going to start in verse 20 he says but in fact

Christ has been raised from the dead the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep for as by a man came death by a man has also come the resurrection of the dead for as an

Adam all die so also in Christ shall all be made alive but each in his own order Christ the first fruits then at his parousia his coming those who belong to Christ then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the

Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power for he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet and make special note of this the last enemy to be destroyed is death okay what's so amazing about this passage of scripture is it spans all of redemptive history it brings up Adam right with his sin plunging the cosmos into death but Jesus were first reverses the curse right we're talking about the second and better Adam that promises us resurrection life right the passage we just looked at there's a whole context leading up to that we'll look at it a little bit and everything afterwards is pointing us back to these central truths and so Jesus's glorious return is at the end we'll talk about that too to restore all things with the consummation of his eternal kingdom in eternal age with a kingdom that cannot fail or perish okay and so this has encouraged saints for 2 ,000 years this is our blessed hope so look with me back at major point number one

Paul is talking about Jesus Christ future bodily return something

I want to emphasize in this context as we circle around the word death in verse 26 what is that talking about well

Paul's case is saying we'll look back to Jesus what kind of death did he have and when

I asked what kind of resurrection of believers going to have look back to Jesus what kind of resurrection did he have and so verse 20 but in fact

Christ has been raised from the dead meaning that Christ has been this perfect tense he has been raised from the dead and remains to this day as our risen

Lord understand this about Christ he died bodily which means physically okay we're not talking he died merely a spiritual gnostic death no his body right the scriptures prophesied that he would be buried according to the scriptures right a physical death his resurrection was bodily also in Acts chapter 1 we see that he had a bodily ascension into heaven and the angel said oh yeah he's coming back that same way that you saw him leave and understand

Jesus is the God -man he didn't lose his human nature his human body didn't get dissolved like some of these full predators would say because they need to get rid of the body in their view understand

Jesus is the perfect high priest he is the God -man that intercedes perfectly on our behalf and all this is showing us how he will return bodily as the

God -man and glorify him that's the context and so it's not hard to know that this has not happened yet look at with me at verse 23

Paul says at his coming those who belong to Christ then comes the end a lot of debate is revolves around what is the end here well

Paul has been developing in so many ways that the end is the end of this evil age this perishing age this assumes that there's going to be a last day and so he's talking about the end of history the end of this evil age where the apocalypses the great revealing of our

Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will return to judge the world in righteousness you know what he's going to do he's going to crush the last enemy death and so a lot of our conversations revolve around what is the nature of death who do we look to Jesus what kind of death did he have oh that was physical that wasn't a near spiritual death and so that is the number one timing indicator that we can say the last enemy death has not been destroyed we see it all around us my day job is a hospice chaplain guess what

I see a lot of death praise God I get a lot of opportunities to share the gospel but it hurts my soul when

I hear people say that this was merely a spiritual death that happened at 70 AD 70

AD Flavius Josephus 70 AD it's not gonna work on me because I see the corruption

I know you do too of sin and evil that all results back in returning to the dust of the ground so the the parousia has not happened how do we know only the scripture clear but we see death continuing day in and day out major point number two the resurrection of the dead all preterists need at least two things with the resurrection of the dead they need this to merely be spiritual and fulfilled at 70

AD Paul destroys this idea back in verse 20 he says but in fact

Christ has been raised from the dead the firstfruits is so important Paul repeats it twice

Jesus Christ is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep so to be the first fruit is a picture of what is to come it's the first crop harvest if you looked at the firstfruits everything else is going to fall in line with that that's why

Paul is building his case pointing back to King Jesus and so if you would look with me at verses 21 and 22 where we see a double parallelism with Adam and Jesus Christ for as by a man came death and then in your mind draw a circle and think okay what kind of death related to Adam for as by a man came death by a man has also come the resurrection of the dead for as an

Adam all die so also in Christ shall all be made alive right remember everything that happened with Adam he sinned and plunged the world into death

Jesus reverses the curse what Paul is communicating is that all humans are in Adam by nature and share in death but all who are in Christ by faith alone shall be made alive he's given us a promise that we will be resurrected unto glory and see him face to face one day so in verse 23 he says but each in his own order right remember

Christ is the firstfruits his resurrection is first and then all of his soldiers at the last day will be resurrected like him he's first and all who are in Christ will be like him okay so we understand that the resurrection of the dead will be like Christ resurrection bodily not merely spiritual this is something we look for at his return which we know has not happened make your point number three the restoration of all things so if you look with me at verse 24

Paul says then comes the end first wind clause when he delivers the kingdom to God the

Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power in verse 28 we see the second wind clause and says that God may be all in all what

I'm what I'm stressing is all of history is his story of redemption there's not going to be any open ends and correct me on this but full preterism says everything that you see around us continues on into infinity that means the evil continues on with no end in sight right because they don't want us to think about the end being the end of history well

God is not the author of confusion all things will be restored and he will judge the world in righteousness so my point is full preterism has this this story open -ended it never gets resolved but God will restore all things

Christ will deliver the kingdom to God the Father it says destroying literally abolishing all those who do not submit to the lordship of King Jesus this would include the resurrection unto judgment remember earlier we see the resurrection of the dead this is primarily referring to saints right for us we've merely fallen asleep because we will be raised one day right we will see a new dawn we will see our

Lord and Savior and be with him for all eternity but for those that will receive the judgment they will be cast into the lake of fire ongoing death ongoing alienation from God and so the the

Hebrew Scriptures prophesied about the great and awesome day of the Lord and he will bring into fruition this consummation of a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells eternally now there's a lot of different views about the book of Revelation but something we have to recognize is it gives us a foretaste of this consummated eternal kingdom that is not yet no more sorrow no more hurts no more pain and death shall be no more the

Apostle Paul the Apostle John says no longer will there be anything accursed nothing touched by sin but the throne of God and the land will be in it and his servants will worship him they will see his face and his name will be on their foreheads and night will be no more they will need no more light or lamp or Sun for the

Lord God will be their life and make note of this they will reign forever and ever this is a kingdom that cannot perish and cannot fail no more sin no more evil no more death just eternal glory with our sweet Savior and so as we begin to look more at the context of 1st

Corinthians 15 look on the back with me of your handout because the full Priesthood say well you're wrong the church has got it wrong for 2 ,000 years you need us actually we we we are we have some questions that show the faulty of you hyper credalist out there right you need to get to the back to the

Bible only no creed but Christ that's what they'll say like I said it comes out of the

Church of Christ restorationist movement that said no creed but Christ which is a creed I just want to point out and so they will bring out four objections here and the common thing with all four objections is understanding the word death so let's look at objection number one

Adam only died spiritually the day he sinned okay this is actually a good question or a good point to be raised that I want to help equip you to be able to handle and we're going to spend the most time on objection one because it's going to help us with the next three objections as well number two the quotation the last enemy can't be physical death because everyone dies okay number three the dead refers to the corporate body of Old Testament Saints this by far is the most odd and bizarre view that's imposed on to first Corinthians 15 and lastly number four a quote from Hosea oh death where is your victory the full predators say oh that's just referring to spiritual death if you don't know what the

Prophet Hosea says then you can't understand the Apostle Paul so you can see how everything kind of revolves around verse 26 in first Corinthians 15 the last enemy to be just to be destroyed is death okay remember the the context the first 25 verses

Paul is building his case saying death oh well Jesus physically died right so this is what

Paul has in mind the full predators are going to front load the conversation like dr. frost was saying that spiritual it's covenantal death right they don't want us to think in these physical categories of returning to the dust of the ground and so we look back to Jesus not as the exception but as the rule as the first fruits right you can always have in mind

Jesus Christ what his resurrection what his death looked like that's that's what's promised us that's the context of the

Apostle Paul death and the Greek is thanatos and it's perfectly defined for us the termination of physical life that's the context and so our blessed hope revolves around Jesus restoring all things at the end of history when physical death is destroyed but I can already hear the full predators say but Jeremiah you conveniently left out

Adam and the kind of death that he had in Genesis chapter 3 okay does this make sense they say listen

Adam only died spiritually the day he sinned not physically and this point is valid to at least raise and say well how do you account for this because look with me back in verses 21 and 22 remember the parallelism right for as by a man came death question mark what kind of death by a man has also come also the resurrection of the dead for as in Adam all die question mark what kind of death is being talked about there so also in Christ shall all be made alive so sure

Paul wants us to go back to the beginning even quotes from Genesis later here in first Corinthians 15 where the context there we're familiar that Adam was supposed to have dominion over all of God's creation and to subdue it but Adam sinned and plunged the entire cosmos in to death and so this is where the full predators comes in and say

Jeremiah Adam only died spiritually the day he sinned not physically and so I believe there's a few assumptions in their objection here and this is this is huge dr.

process spent many hours talking about this first one they are assuming a radical separation between physical death and spiritual death as though they are almost unrelated and disconnected from each other as we're going to see scripture talks about the death we can talk about it being two sides of the same coin where yes there is a spiritual death a spiritual element to things because we are human we are both spiritual and physical and yes that's inextricably linked with returning back to the dust of the ground which is termination of physical life thanatos death and so the other assumption is well day here in Hebrew is y 'all and this must be referring to a 24 -hour window in which

Adam sinned and died and so I want to challenge that is that being consistent to say that y 'all is merely referring to a 24 -hour window or is it referring to a new y 'all an evil day of death

I want to consider these things so if you do want to turn with me in your copy of God's Word to Genesis chapter 2

I want us to look at when God spoke to Adam and talked about that the day that he sins ultimately he will die

Genesis chapter 2 starting verse 16 says the Lord God commanded the man

Adam saying you may surely eat of every tree of the garden but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat for in the day y 'all that you eat of it you shall surely die okay now we we not only have objections from full predators saying see he only merely spiritually died here there is no physical death even atheists will come in and say well if Adam didn't physically die in that 24 -hour day then

Christianity is a sham and so I just want us to be equipped to answer these objections and laser focus in on for in the y 'all that you eat of the tree of knowledge and good and evil you shall surely die now there's a semantic domain to the word y 'all and so I just want us to kind of consider to perhaps we can understand y 'all as a 24 -hour window of evening and morning but y 'all also is open -ended it could be a reference to any number of days any general specific time and so one good example this of this is when we look back in Genesis chapter 1 the debate rages on between young earth creationist and old earth creationist and that's okay but perhaps some good evidence for a 24 -hour window of time is when we see the phrase evening and morning okay so if you can just humor me for a moment

Genesis 1 verse 5 God called the light day which is another usage for the word y 'all and he called the darkness night and there was evening and there was morning the first y 'all okay so look at this is really good evidence for a 24 -hour window of time but in Genesis 2 we see a shift in the word y 'all to some degree because the seventh day

God rested and we don't see that phrase evening and morning anymore right God didn't get tired he didn't need a siesta right but he simply ceased from creation right he entered into a day of rest which is not a 24 -hour window of time in fact the

New Testament and the book of Hebrews says if we want to enter into that same day of rest we'll look to King Jesus he will save you from the evil day of death and so when

God says to Adam for in the day that you eat of the knowledge of the the tree of good and evil you shall surely die

God is being clear to Adam he is saying the moment you sin against me you will eat you will enter into a new day you will enter into the evil day of death and everything that you were supposed to have dominion over oh yeah it's going with you and then we see in the next phrase you shall surely die we could easily understand this as dying you shall die and so Ken Ham with answers in Genesis says this the

Hebrew is literally die die mooth mooth with the two different verb tenses dying and die which can be translated surely die or dying you shall die this indicates the beginning of dying and ingress of sins which finally culminates in physical termination that's exactly what we see in Genesis chapter 3

Adam sinned against God and entered into that day of death and then God cursed the ground because of man's sin told

Adam by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread you're you will return to the ground for out of it you were taken for you were dust and to dust you shall return as I listen to dr.

frost debates we can't get a clearer definition of death can we the the returning back to dust this is not just merely spiritual

Adam entered into the state of dying with the absolute certainty that he would physically return to the dust of the ground and Genesis 5 5 does highlight this all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years and he died right we see the death at work meaning the death goes in through the power of sin which is spiritual but it guarantees us that we return back to the ground which is physical death and so just because we can distinguish aspects that are spiritual and physical listen physical death spiritual death two sides of the same coin you don't get one without the other this goes back earlier to Genesis 1 and 2 where God said let us make man in our image for the

Lord God formed the man of the dust the ground think physical and he also breathed into his nostrils the breath of life spiritual this is man he is a living creature and so when

Adam sinned death necessarily touches all of what man is spiritual physical the prophet

Isaiah says there will be a day when the death the one and only death that touches all of man that death will be swallowed up in victory and that is what the

Apostle Paul has in mind when he quotes those prophets so the Apostle Paul was a

Hebrew of Hebrews he was familiar with this a young this evil day of death and so he is warring against the flesh in Romans chapter 5 he brings this concept out he says therefore just as sin came into the world through one man the death reigned through sin so death spread to all man because all sin it goes on to say as sin reigned in the death grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life in Jesus Christ okay so you start to see the connection between the

Hebrew roots of Paul in the didactic clear teaching in the New Testament Paul was warring against the flesh because that's where the power of sin would rear its ugly head in Romans he says it was sin producing death in me for I know nothing good dwells in me that is my flesh

Oh wretched man that I am who will deliver me from this body of death the death the one and only where the spiritual power of sin reigns and will certainly return man back to the dust of the ground and I think it's a valid question to ask why did

Adam live so long in the evil day of death Adam had committed treason against the cosmic creator of the universe who is holy righteous and good

God would have been perfectly just in terminating Adams physical life because he sinned fellowship had been lost

God's covenant with man to have life was broken and we understand the wages of sin is death valid question why did

Adam live so long in the evil day of death there's mitigating circumstances in that right but God God wanted to show his grace and mercy and reveal more of himself to fallen man to Adam and Eve God was merciful and provided a substitutionary animal sacrifice right animal skins to cover

Adam and Eve's shame their guilt they had sinned in order for Adam and Eve to continue to live temporarily a sacrifice had to be made the book of Leviticus tells us that for the life of the flesh is in the blood make atonement for your souls for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life physical death did happen in that 24 -hour window when

Adam sinned right for my Hebrew scholars out there Hebrew the the

Hebrew language really emphasizes the action and what I want you to understand is physical death did happen and it definitely should have been

Adam and Eve but God so what we're taking away from this is that physical death is a result of Adam's sin that's the whole point in 1st

Corinthians 15 physical death which results from the sin of Adam and here's the reality

Adam was not the only one stuck in the evil day of death but he plunged all of humanity into that same evil day

Paul being a Hebrew of Hebrews he brings out this concept in Ephesians chapter 6 he says therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day having done all to stand firm you hear that the evil day the evil day of death this perishing age that will end at the end the last day when the parousia happens

John Calvin weighs in on this and says all the days are evil and he goes on to say that Satan has his way we need

God to redeem the times and so I don't see Jeffrey Rice but can

I quote Johnny Mac at this conference I love John MacArthur by the way and he has a wonderful quote here that I just want to share with you all he says since the fall of man every day has been an evil a condition that will persist until the

Lord returns and establishes his own righteous kingdom on earth amen first Corinthians 15

Paul quotes from Genesis he says thus it is written the first man Adam became a living being and he was from the earth listen a man of dust in all of humanity we have born the image of the man of dust and so in my study of this the word image in Greek is icon which we get the word image or icon and so sometimes we think an image of something is just a mere representation and so this is actually saying something that is drawn out of the essence of we are made in the image of Adam who plunged all of us into the evil day of death we are drawn from the man of dust that's why we all die in Adam when

Adam sinned in the garden it looks gloomy but God not all hope was lost because he gives us the promise of the gospel the

Savior of humanity to save us from the evil day of death and if you're familiar with the

Genesis chapter 3 we get the Proto Evangelium right the first promise of the gospel we read that the woman's offspring this

Savior he will crush the serpent's head this goes hand -in -hand with those substitutionary sacrifices of the animal right because Jesus Christ is the lamb slain before the foundation of the earth amen of the world he is the lame of God that takes away our sin right he removes it from us as far as the

East is from the West there was mitigating circumstances that day

God wanted to put his glory on display he wanted to show his grace his mercy and compassion friend listen he rescues us from the evil day of death by promising us resurrection unto life that's our blessed hope okay so we're just still in the first objection hopefully we can get through this in an hour but I just want to remind you that first objection says

Adam only died spiritually the day he said I did a substitutionary sacrifice of animals for Adam and Eve to temporarily live telling you you wrap your mind around that full preterist is not going to catch you off guard hey let's go back to Genesis let's do it

Paul Paul is not trying to invent something that's different from what happened from the beginning beginning because God is all in all don't let the full preterist say well it's just merely spiritual and that's something in our past let's go to Adam who is spiritual in physical and he returned to the dust of the ground that's a result of the curse that is a result of sin going back to our objections look with me number two okay this one's easy but this objection comes from none other than Gary DeMar I messaged him and said

I would like to know more of his view of 1st Corinthians 15 26 about the the last enemy to be destroyed is death

I said do you have some work on that he goes no I stay away from that but he said Jeremiah the last enemy can't be physical death because everyone dies and he continued to tell me how does believing in Jesus overcome physical death as the last enemy no no it's spiritual death that is the last enemy and so I thought the answer is easy yes we all die as Christians but we don't stay dead okay so when he says the last enemy can't be physical death because everyone dies the point is we don't stay dead by believing in Christ we are promised a raised glorious body for all eternity with our

Savior the debt the pains of death will be loose for believers just like Jesus and a little insight for our friend when

Jesus returns the death will be no more the Apostle John once again says

I saw a new heaven and I saw a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth passed away behold the dwelling place of God is with man when he will dwell with his people and we will be with him

God himself will be their God he will wipe away every tear from their eyes in the death

Thanatos shall be no more neither shall there be mourning crying pain the former things have passed away listen bull predators say that's all spiritual okay hopefully you hear that and say

I hope not right because we feel the effects of evil sin and death obviously

Damar is just radically separating the death into being spiritual death and physical death right and we're saying no scripture says they're inextricably linked together and when he says the last enemy can't be physical death because everyone dies this is simply bad reasoning

I was listening to one of dr. White's debates with the Muslim they make the same type of objection with Jesus Christ being the

Messiah they will quote Psalm 91 that is messianic listen to this so this is the reasoning of the

Muslims and it's identical to what Gary DeMora saying Psalm 91 says the Most High will deliver you the

Messiah no evil will befall you I will protect you the Most High says the Messiah I will be with him in trouble

I will rescue him and I will show him my salvation listen the Muslim will say

Jesus cannot be the Messiah because you think he died on a Roman cross he was not protected according to you he was not rescued according to Psalm 91 he did not see salvation because he experienced death by dying on a rope and the

Christian says of course he died the the New Testament tells us that he might taste death for everyone yes he did die on our behalf but he tasted death

Jesus was not abandoned to death to stay there he was delivered he was protected how by resurrecting from the dead so it's just bad reasoning when we hear the last enemy can't be physical death because everyone dies yes all

Christians will physically die but we have been promised not to stay dead because we will be resurrected at the final day at the

Parisia at our Lord's return amen amen brother Danny that's what

I'm talking about objection number three this one's a strange one this is one that I think you said you endorse this view for a time dr.

Frost right the the Old Testament corporate body view this this originates with Max King it's a strange one so the objection is the dead refers to the corporate body of Old Testament Saints so he mentioned this earlier look at me at first Corinthians 1535 so the questions that Paul is raising the objection is raising how are the dead raised with what kind of body do they come so Max King is scratching his head thinking okay how can we get around this one and he says okay the dead ones are those that are trapped in Hades the body of Old Testament Saints and nowhere nowhere in the context nowhere do you get that unless you have this guiding hermeneutic of 70

AD 70 AD Flavius to see this destruction the temple 70 AD right there needs to be a rescuing device and so what what we see is well body earlier in first Corinthians could be referring to the body of the church right so this could be referring to a different corporate body and then they'll basically say so you're telling me there's a chance and we're saying no there's nowhere in the context that's suggesting this spiritual corporate body that's trapped in Hadas is what

James White would say but he's not here to correct my Greek understand they're they're having to shoehorn this rescuing device into the context of 1st

Corinthians 15 all prophecy must be fulfilled by 70 AD at all costs and so when you engage with this type of like why do you continue to read this they'll say well

Jesus was a Jew and he represented the Jewish people and so when he when he resurrected out of the dead he is an exception to he is the exception showing us that this is that kind of spiritual resurrection yes he resurrected bodily but a spiritual resurrection was happening when

I hear this I say yes Jesus represents true Israel ethnic Jews that were trusting in the promises of God apart from their works that would also include

Gentile Christians trusting in Jesus Christ apart from their works just doesn't work full predators will say well

Paul's quoting from the Old Testament I'm like what's your point just quoting from Hosea and Isaiah doesn't mean that he's constructing this

Old Testament corporate body of you I'm just saying like you're reaching first straws here and it's not working there's no context there's continuity and discontinuity between the

Old and New Testament the New Testament fulfills the old yes of course Paul is going to quote from the

Old Testament scripture so we understand the more of the context that's going on in 1st

Corinthians 15 these professing believers at Corinth they are being heavily influenced by pagan philosophy teaching that the resurrection of the dead is impossible and the reason we know this is

Corinth was a flowing metropolis a very popular town that everybody knew was going in and out of and just 50 miles down the road was the

Areopagus where Paul went and preached at Mars Hill contending for the gospel of grace and preaching that the man the

God -man will judge the world in righteousness oh yeah he just to mention he resurrected from the dead and so the

Epicurean Stoic philosophers they mocked him thinking yeah right this is the type of pagan philosophy that is corrupting the hearts and minds of Corinthian believers and so Paul is trying to point out this is absurd

Corinthian believers that you're starting to question these things so if you look with me at verse 12 dr.

frost references Paul Paul is pointing out the absurdity of what the believers of Corinth are touring with now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead how can some of you say that there is no resurrection from the dead but if there's no rest resurrection of the dead then not even

Christ has been raised Paul is saying Corinthian believers you not know not only know that resurrection is possible you know it's reality right because you received

King Jesus in faith unless you believed in vain and since you received his resurrection that's a package deal for us as well and so he's just saying you can't go back questioning the resurrection because that undoes the gospel

Jesus Christ and his resurrection and his promises towards us and so in that passage he even mentions the phrase twice as they did and guess what it's not reformed referring to corporate body of Old Testament saints who have only died spiritually

Paul goes on to say in verse 23 but all of those who belong to Christ all believers who are

Jew not Jew only that spiritual and Hades but all believers who are Jew Gentile all saints before 70

AD and all saints after 70 AD all that belong to Christ so how are we doing on time?

I forgot to hit the timer and I thought well we can't start now but we got one more objection to deal with here objection number four comes in verse 54 in 1st

Corinthians 15 that's a quotation death is swallowed up in victory and the full prayers would say well this is quoting from Isaiah and Hosea that's only talking about spiritual death okay

Paul is basically repeating the truth that he said in verse 26 right the last enemy to be destroyed is death and now he's saying death is going to be swallowed up and the full preterist would say well you can't understand

Paul's argument unless you're familiar with Hosea chapter 13 from which he's quoting from and so I want to test that theory a little bit you're welcome to turn with me to Hosea 13

I want us to look a little bit more into this this fuller quote Hosea says in Hosea 13 14

I shall ransom them from the power of Sheol I shall redeem them from death

Oh death where are your plagues Oh Sheol where's your sting compassion is hidden from my eyes the full preterist would say okay well now since I got you over here in Hosea you actually got to look at the opening two verses to understand the kind of spiritual death only that Paul is referring to so opening verses say when

Ephraim spoke there was trembling he was exalted in Israel but he incurred guilt pay attention through bail and died and now they sin more and more so the full preterist says gotcha see

Israel died spiritually because they kept on physically living they died spiritually and covenantally by sinning and worshiping bail well once again we can spot the fallacy of trying to radically separate spiritual death and physical death okay so we already have that in mind they're wrong by Israel worshiping bail this severed their fellowship with God and have died meaning their destination is

Sheol or Hades and here's the key unless they repent they will not be redeemed and brought to life at the resurrection they will remain in death ongoing alienation from God where one day death and Hades will be thrown into the lake of fire eternal death eternal conscious punishment

Israel always understood this fundamental truth so I'm about to make a crossover from the

Prophet Hosea to the Prophet Ezekiel all of Israel understood thinking by Adam from the beginning the soul that sins shall die listen to this parallel because the

Prophet understood that spiritual and physical death that's the death there's no radical separation he says the soul that sins shall die if he who is violent a shedder of blood defiles his neighbor's wife oppresses the poor and needy commits robbery lifts up his eyes to idols commits abomination he shall not live he has done all these abominations he shall surely die his blood shall be upon himself so when you hear that phrase he shall surely die where does that sound familiar back in the garden right back to what

God said to Adam and so some of these types of sins are going to result in capital punishment immediate death but many of these sins will result in the natural death of returning back to the dust of the earth and here's where I'm wanting to get at at the end of Ezekiel 18 the

Prophet commands Israel to repent okay repent and turn from all of your transgressors lest iniquity be your ruin why will you die okay death here the death why will you die by not trusting in the promises of God repent for I have no pleasure in the death of anyone declares the

Lord so turn and live once again the Prophet is saying to die in your sins without forgiveness is eternal separation from God with no hope the psalmist says this is your ultimate destination if you do not repent the psalmist in Psalm 49 death shall be their shepherd from their form shall be consumed and she'll with no place to dwell repent

Israel or this will be your ultimate destination no hope of salvation no hope of resurrection no hope of eternal life another prophet the

Prophet Isaiah says the death is like a veil that touches all people right

Paul told us the power of death works through sin but Isaiah promises us this from the stump of Jesse that Adonai who sits upon the throne high and lifted up the

Lord of hosts the righteous one he will swallow up the death forever and the

Lord God will wipe away tears from all their faces and the reproach of his people will be taken away from the earth your dead shall live your bodies shall rise you will dwell in the dust awake and sing for joy that is what the

Apostle Paul had in mind when he quotes Isaiah and Hosea repent and look to Jesus Christ in faith and at his coming you will receive resurrected eternal life so friend

I just want to encourage that as certain as we are that Jesus resurrected from the dead we can also be certain that we too in the future will be resurrected from the pains of sin and death but in Arkansas land

Jonesboro where I'm from I've been accused Jeremiah you're being a little harsh okay why can't we just agree to disagree and just talk about eschatology right full preterists just see things a little bit differently than you they're not denying a resurrection of the dead they just disagree a little bit on the timing well if you had your hand up look with me at the bottom because like dr.

Frost quoting Paul Paul would say you fool right for those people that are questioning the things that we've been talking about our blessed hope remember what

R .C. Sproul would say he would say what's wrong with you people he would not put up with up with it either and so neither shall we and neither did the

Apostle Paul when he warned Timothy to beware of these false teachers he said

Timothy but avoid irreverent babble think about this pagan philosophy right epicurean and stoic philosophy philosophers that mocked that the resurrection of the dead was even possible a rule avoid irreverent babble for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness for their teaching their talk will spread like gangrene or cancer remember dr.

Frost says there's only one way to deal with gangrene you cut it off right to be severed and then

Paul says among these false teachers are Hymenaeus and Philetus and look who have swerved or gone astray from the truth right this is meaning you're not in the

If you get the timing in the next verse of the resurrection wrong if you say it's already happened in the past when it has not well you've swerved from the truth you are no longer in the body of Christ this is anathema language

Hymenaeus and Philetus they are teaching that they have those are those who have swerved and gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection right the resurrection that the

Hebrew Scriptures prophesied about they are talking about that okay they're talking about the timing of the resurrection right in here this passage it's not talking about the nature of resurrection

Paul did that in first Corinthians 15 it's a bodily by the way how do we know that well Jesus is the first fruits and so this is what

I want you to understand the timing of the resurrection is not up for debate in the sense that we can agree to disagree okay full preterist want to say it's just a minor disagreement and I'm saying look since I disagree with you on the timing you should not be trying to be my brother now they're parasitic they want to infiltrate the church they have to say it but we look at them and you're and we're saying wait you're saying it already happened in our past so that will cause people to swerve from the the truth and this teaching is upsetting the faith of some okay

I want you to see the gravity of what Paul is warning Timothy to beware of this of this gangrene because the timing of the resurrection is inextricably linked with the second coming of Jesus Christ Paul in Romans 6 says that this is a part of the gospel itself we know that Christ when he raised from the dead will never die again because death no longer has dominion over him and he says for if we have been united with him in a death like his we shall certainly be united with with him in a resurrection like this it's a package deal every generation of Saints have waited with great anticipation of our blessed hope right these three points that are non -negotiable

I believe this frees us to live boldly proclaiming the gospel of grace telling people that you can look forward to Jesus returning and that's why

Paul I believe ends in 1st Corinthians 15 he says as beloved brothers be steadfast immovable always abounding in the work of the

Lord knowing that the Lord that your service for the Lord your labor is never in vain no matter what happens

Christ secures us through all circumstances to the end because he is a perfect Savior who cannot fail and Paul got excited writing 1st

Corinthians and he gave in chapter one a little bit of taste of what he is building up of how God is all in all he says as you are as you await for the apocalypses the revealing of our

Lord and Savior Jesus Christ he will sustain you to the end the day the last day of our

Lord because God is faithful by whom you are called into the fellowship of his son Jesus Christ our