“Things
Are Looking Up!”
The
Doctrine of Last Things (Doctrines Series at SBC, Sligo)
26 November 2017
INTRODUCTION:
Today we are finishing
our series on the doctrinal statement of Sligo Baptist Church. Our purpose has
been to help us all have a better understanding of the foundational teachings
of the Christian faith so that we might sink our roots deeper, and be better
prepared to give an answer to anyone who should ask us of the hope that is
within us (cf. 1 Peter 3:15). I hope the series has been helpful so far, and
that you feel a bit more confident about your faith.
Today we are considering a subject
that has caused a lot of confusion in the minds of many people, believers and
unbelievers alike, partly because of preachers who have often gone out on limbs
and said more than the Bible says. Today we are going to look at the doctrine
that in theology is called “Eschatology” from the Greek word, ἔσχατος (eschatos) meaning “last,
final, the furthest, the extreme-end,” coupled with the Greek word, λόγος (logos), which means “word,
speech, or instruction concerning.” Thus, Eschatology is simply the “Word About
Last Things.”
As with the other subjects in this series, this
one is too big to really do it justice in one session, but we will try to have
you leave this place excited about what God has in store for those who know and
love Him. But I should also caution you; I will be telling you what I believe
the Bible says about future events and not everyone agrees with me. In areas
where there is controversy I will try my best to be charitable to those who hold
other views.
TRANSITION:
To get us started let
me read for you what our church’s Doctrinal Statement says about “Eternity.”
We believe that the blessed hope of the Church
is the certain, imminent return of Christ to reign as King. We believe that all
people will exist forever, believers immediately upon death entering into
eternal conscious fellowship with the Lord, and unbelievers immediately
entering into eternal conscious separation from Him to await final judgement.
Those that trust in their own good works will exist forever separated from God
in a literal Hell. Those who trust in the perfect life of Jesus and His death
and resurrection for salvation will exist forever in the presence of God in a
literal Heaven.
The Bible is a prophetic book, from Genesis to
Revelation. On nearly every page it has something to say about future events
concerning the people of God as well as unbelievers. But for our purposes I
think we are especially interested in what God has planned for His children. That
is what we want to examine today. What does the Bible reveal about what awaits
the Bride of Christ? What do we have to look forward to in the days ahead? But I
must be honest—there is bad news, and there is good news.
MAIN BODY:
I will start out with the bad news
first. The Bible makes it clear that in the immediate future of Christ’s
Church we are not in for a good time. That should come as no real surprise
though, because from the beginning, the Church has been hunted, harassed,
hounded, and hated. The world and the devil’s crowd have tried everything to
muzzle her, to discourage her, to scatter her, to destroy her. Christians have
been burned at the stake, fed to the lions, and put into prisons.
Jesus warned His disciples to expect persecution. From
the moment He began His earthly ministry He was a target of Satan and of evil
men, and He made it clear that anyone who followed Him would become a target
too.
Ø In Matthew 5:10-12
He said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted
because of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. 11
Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely
say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. 12 Rejoice and
be glad, because great is your reward in Heaven, for in the same way they
persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Ø Peter, in 1 Peter
2:19-23 says, “It is commendable if a man bears
up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. 20
But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and
endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is
commendable before God. 21 To this you were called, because Christ
suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in His steps. 22
‘He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth.’ 23 When
they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He
made no threats. Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him [i.e. God the Father] who
judges justly.”
Ø In John 15:20
Jesus said, “Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No
servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute
you also.”
Ø And Jesus told His
disciples in John 16:33, “I have told you
these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have
trouble [i.e. tribulations, trials, and testing]. But take heart! I have
overcome the world [the perfect tense means it is done, already
accomplished].”
As
I read my Bible I do not see that the persecution of Christians and of the
Church will come to an end until the return of Christ for His Bride. For
as long as Jesus tarries, the Church will be treated with disdain, disrespect
and hatred in this world.
But now for the good news! Jesus is coming back, and it could happen today! Let’s look at some of the reasons why I have
come to this conclusion:
Ø John 14:1-3, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust
also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not
so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to
be with Me that you also may be where I am.”
Ø Acts 1:6-11, “So when they met together, they asked Him, ‘Lord, are you
at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?’ 7 He said to
them: ‘It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His
own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit
comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and
Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ 9 After He said this, He
was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid Him from their sight. 10
They were looking intently up into the sky as He was going, when suddenly two
men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 ‘Men of Galilee,’ they
said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has
been taken from you into Heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen
Him go into Heaven.’”
Ø I Thessalonians 4:13-18, “Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who
fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. 14
We believe that Jesus died and rose again and, so we believe that God will
bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep [died] in Him. 15
According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who
are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have
fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will come down from Heaven,
with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call
of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we
who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in
the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
18 Therefore encourage each other with these words.”
So,
what do we learn from these texts? That Jesus will come back the same way He
left—quietly, without the world being aware, in the clouds, witnessed only by
His disciples. This event, so beautifully described by Paul here in 1
Thessalonians 4:13-18 is the next great event on God’s timetable. The Bible
describes it as an event that will have no warning, no preceding signs. Those
people who are always trying to read “the signs of the times” will be disappointed
because there are none. It could happen today! In fact, this could be
the dawning of that day.
One
of the words that theologians have used to describe Christ’s return for His
Church is “the Rapture.” If you look up the word rapture in a
good dictionary you will find these definitions…
1.
The
state of being carried away with joy, love, etc.; ecstasy
2.
An
expression of great joy, pleasure, etc.
3.
[Now
rare] A carrying away or being carried away in body or spirit
This
word “rapture” itself is never used in any English Bible translation that I
know of. However, it has been used by theologians for a long time to explain
the event described by the biblical word, harpadzo that
Paul uses in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 where he says that we will be “caught up
together with them in the clouds.” The Greek word means “to snatch, or to catch
away.” It is sometimes translated as “pluck, pull up, or take by force.”
One
of these days, or nights, Christians all over the world will simultaneously
hear a sound they have never heard before. It will be a sweet sound to our
ears. It will be the call to come home and be with Jesus. In that moment, our
bodies will be taken up, and in the twinkling of an eye we will be caught up to
be with our Saviour. Moreover, in that moment our bodies will be changed into a
new body, one fit for Heaven. Those who have died in Christ, who Paul says will
return along with Jesus, will also receive their new, glorified bodies. We will
meet with our loved ones on the way up, and we will recognize one another, and
what a joyful meeting that will be!
That
will be the mother of all homecomings! Looking around we will catch sight of
people we know and love. We will laugh and cry at the same time. We will dance
for joy. We will burst forth in songs of praise and thanks to God. Upon
entering Heaven will bow before the throne of God and will marvel at His beauty
and majesty. We will shake hands with everybody close to us and we will hug the
angels. We will look around us at the azured halls of Heaven with our mouths
hanging open in awe of what God has prepared for His children.
The
Bible doesn’t give a lot of details about what comes next, nor does it say how
soon after we get to Heaven that it will happen. But it is called in the
Bible, “the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.”
Ø Revelation 19:6-9, “Then I [John] heard what sounded like a great multitude,
like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: ‘Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns! 7 Let us rejoice and be
glad and give Him the glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and
His Bride [THAT’S US!] has made herself ready.’ 8 Fine linen,
bright and clean, was given her to wear. For the fine linen is the righteous
acts of the saints. 9 Then the angel said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed
are those who are invited to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb!’” And
he added, ‘These are the true words of God.’”
I
believe that when Christ comes in the clouds to call us home to be with Him,
millions of people from all over the world will disappear from this earth in an
instant, in the blink of an eye. However, while we are with the Lord—enjoying
His presence, getting to know the Family of God, partaking in the Marriage of
the Lamb—the world down here on earth will be going through what the Bible
calls the Tribulation. It will last for seven years. The last 3½
years of that time is referred in the Bible as “the Great Tribulation.” Satan,
using a human puppet called the Antichrist as his intermediary, will try to
wipe the knowledge of God from the face of the earth. But despite all that, God
will be at work in the world and many will repent and believe in Christ as
their Messiah. However, it will be a time of great persecution for people who
come to faith in Christ, but still they will, by the millions. The Bible makes
it clear that among others, there will be 144,000 Jewish witnesses for Christ
who will go out preaching the Gospel of Messiah, but most them will suffer
martyrdom for their trouble.
However,
I do not believe that we who are part of the Bride will be aware of the
moment-by-moment events unfolding down here. We will be with the Lord, enjoying
the place that Jesus went to prepare for us.
In John 14:2-3 He told the disciples, “In
My Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told
you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I
go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me
that you also may be where I am.”
Even
though we will not be watching the events on RTE or SKY News, the Lord will be
keeping close track of what is going on down here. The Bible says that at the
end of that seven-year period the Antichrist and his buddies are going to rise
up against Israel to try and utterly wipe her off the map. The armies of the
nations will come against her from every side, including all the Arab nations.
But God’s promises to Israel are at stake. He promised that no one will be able
to destroy her. She is the apple of His eye. What happens next has been the
topic of endless discussion. The Bible says that just in the nick of time,
Christ will come back to this earth with His heavenly hosts to bring judgment
and destruction upon the ungodly. The Lord Himself will fight to defend Israel.
The Bible says that the great final battle will center in on the Valley of
Megiddo in Israel—it is referred to as the battle of Armageddon.
I
believe that we will be there to see it all. Apparently, the angelic forces
will be the ones doing the actual fighting, but I believe that we will be
present, because immediately following the battle the Bible says that Christ is
going to establish His millennial reign here on earth, and I know for sure that
we will participate in that, because the Scriptures say that we will rule and
reign with Him during that time, though I am not sure of exactly what that
means or how we will be used. The return of Christ with His armies in power and
glory is described in Revelation 19:11-21. It is also outlined in Matthew
24:29-31. This return of Christ to the earth in power and glory is called
the “Second Coming.” People constantly confuse this with the
Rapture. However, they are two separate events, seven years apart, with that
joyful celebration called the Marriage Supper in the middle.
After
the Battle of Armageddon Christ is going to judge the earth. He will separate
“the wheat from the tares,” “the sheep from the goats.” The ungodly will be
judged and sent away to await their final condemnation into Hell, as it is described
in Revelation 20:11-15. Those who have believed in Christ will experience God’s
favor and blessing. This judgment is described in detail in Matthew 25:31-46. “When the Son of Man [Christ] comes in His glory, and all
the angels with Him, He will sit on His throne in heavenly glory. 32
All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people
one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33
He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left. 34
Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My
Father; take your inheritance, the Kingdom prepared for you since the creation
of the world.’ 41 …Then he
will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the
eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’ 46 Then they will go away to eternal
punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
From
the Book of Revelation, we learn that the godly ones, identified as the wheat
and the sheep, will enter into a time of peace and harmony on earth
known as the Millennium, in which Christ will reign as the earthly King over
all the earth from His temple in the city of Jerusalem. It will be a 1,000-year
reign of peace and justice, something this world has never experienced before. All
those living people who survive the Tribulation and go into the Millennium will
be believers in Christ.
Satan
will be bound during that time, with his influence curtailed [Revelation
20:1-10] but that does not mean that sin itself will be done away with. Those
living, breathing people still have an old nature active in them. Those believers will have children, and every
one of them will be faced with the age-old decision to believe in Christ and
serve Him, or reject Him and rebel. At the end of the 1,000-years reign the
Bible says that Satan will be loosed for a little while to take his best shot
at God. There is another great battle described in Revelation 20:7-9 in which
again Satan loses. At that point Christ will squash him like a cockroach and
throw him into the lake of fire, along with all who served him and have rejected
Christ’s offer of salvation.
It
is not a pretty picture, but the truth is not always pretty. What will happen
then is a little bit hazy. God has deliberately left us in the dark about the
details. What we do know is that God is going to do an amazing do-over of this
planet. The Bible says that He will make a “New Heavens and a New Earth.” It
also talks about a heavenly city called the New Jerusalem that apparently will
hover over the earth in approximately the place where the old Jerusalem used to
be. The New Jerusalem is described in detail in Revelation 21-22. The
Lord Himself will inhabit it. And the people of God, and the angels will go in
and out freely. It is massive in size, and breathtaking in beauty. Yet there
will be a perfect harmony between this marvelous city and the recreated earth
over which it will hover. From the description in God's Word I have concluded
that we will have free and unfettered access to both places. Perhaps we will
live in one and play in the other. I don’t know, but it will be incredible!
In
fact, the Bible tells us that we do not have the ability to take it all in
right now. In 1 Corinthians 2:9 the apostle Paul, quoting Isaiah,
writes, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind
has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him, 10 but
God has revealed it to us by His Spirit.” That tells me that the best things I have ever tasted, the
sweetest sounds I have ever heard, the most beautiful things my eyes have
witnessed, and the most fantastic things my mind has conceived—all of these
fall far short of the reality of what awaits me in Heaven. It is better
than anything we can imagine.
CONCLUSION:
This all brings me to one last
question. When the Lord comes back for His Bride, when the trumpet sounds and
the angels shout, will you go with Him or will you stay here? The Bible
is clear that only those who have placed their faith and trust in Christ will
go to be with Him. Salvation is not based on good works, religious sincerity,
or blind faith. It is by grace, through faith in Christ alone. Lots of people
have faith in lots of different things. But if you have your faith pointed in
the wrong direction then you are simply deceived. The Bible says in Acts
4:12, “There is salvation in no one else. For
there is no other name under heaven, given among men, by which we must be
saved.”
Make no mistake. If you reject Jesus
Christ as your Saviour and Lord, you are also rejecting Heaven and all the joys
that await the child of God. You will not be there. You will not live to see
it. You will condemn yourself to an eternity in Hell separated from Christ and
the loved ones who have put their trust in Him. The choice is simple. The
choice is clear. Heaven is a real place, but so is Hell. Both will be populated
for eternity. What will you do with Jesus today? Your decision will determine
where you go on that day.
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