Brief Statement on the Doctrine of Last Things<\/p>\n
One day, yet future, and known only to God (Matt 24:36; 1 Thess 5:1\u20132), Jesus Christ will physically return to earth as Judge and King (Acts 1:11; 2 Tim 4:1). All humanity will be resurrected bodily (Dan 12:3)\u2014those saved by Christ unto everlasting life (1 Thess 4:16; Rev 20:6), the wicked unto everlasting condemnation (Rev 20:12\u201315). Creation itself will also be renewed (Rom 8:20\u201322; Rev 21:1), and sin, death, and evil will be eternally vanquished (Rev 21:3\u20135). Though a believer\u2019s spirit is ushered into the Lord\u2019s presence immediately upon physical death (2 Cor 5:8), the fullness of salvation awaits Christ\u2019s return (1 Thess 1:10), when He will resurrect believers in glorified bodies like His own immortal body (Phil 3:21). <\/p>\n
Detailed Exposition on Eschatology <\/p>\n
I believe that Christ will physically return to Earth in the future, in the same manner by which He departed into heaven. Christ\u2019s Second Coming will take place in two phases. In the first phase, Christ will rapture His saints. He will meet believers in the air and take them to \u201cbe with Him in heaven.\u201d He will then return to Earth at the second phase of His Second Coming, which is at the end of the Great Tribulation. At this point, Christ will establish His Millennial Kingdom on Earth, and He will reign with believers for one thousand years. During this time, Satan will be bound, not in a spiritual or allegorical manner, but in such a manner as he will have absolutely no direct influence in the world. In fact, the binding of Satan is the very thing that will usher in the Millennium. The first resurrection for believers will have been completed before the Millennium begins. The last resurrection will be at the end of the Millennium when all nonbelievers, who are not listed in the Book of Life, will be judged at the Great White Throne and thrown into the lake of fire for eternal punishment.<\/p>\n
I believe that the period of the Tribulation is yet future. This period of time is well-termed the Great Tribulation in that it is a tribulation greater than any other experienced in history. It will last seven years. During this time, the Gospel will continue to be preached in a final attempt to bring repentance and salvation. With all believers raptured, the \u201cman of lawlessness (Antichrist) will be revealed\u201d and will set himself up as God to be worshipped. He will declare himself to be God, persecute the saints (which consist of those who have believed in Christ during the tribulation period), try to annihilate Israel and set up a blasphemous empire over the nations of the earth. The most intense time of this period of Tribulation is that latter three and one half years consisting of the Antichrist’s rule, great persecution, martyrdom and the bowl judgments. The Tribulation will conclude at the great battle (Armageddon) where the military forces of Satan will come together to do warfare in Israel’s Megiddo Valley. They will be immediately destroyed, however, by Christ at His second advent.<\/p>\n
I believe, however, that there will be a rapture prior to this seven-year Tribulation. Since I see the Great Tribulation as prior to the Millennial Kingdom, and since we see the rapture of the church as prior to the Tribulation, we believe that \u201cthe next major event in God’s future program\u201d is the bodily rapture of the Church. Since we believe that the rapture occurs before the seven-year tribulation, we believe that Christians today will be spared from the events in the Tribulation. In Heaven, all believers will \u201cappear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.\u201d<\/p>\n
Practical Implications of Eschatology<\/p>\n
Ministry Emphasis: Pastoral Counseling <\/p>\n
Eschatology is eminently important for Christian life and ministry because hope is a vital dimension of the Christian faith. The Christian hope has therapeutic value because its hope is concrete, not abstract, with specific promises, particular expectations, and vivid descriptions. Hope lifts our hearts and minds from our present impossible and unbearable circumstances. It gives us a glimpse of a glorious future. It helps us look outward, upward, and forward toward a better world and a better existence rather than inward, downward, and backward to obsess over our pathetic existence. <\/p>\n
Of particular importance to pastoral counseling is the yearning for the resurrection of the body. This truth flies like a banner over the opulent realm of Christian hope. Because of our future bodily resurrection when Christ returns, Christians need not mourn hopelessly over the death of believers (1 Thess. 4:13). Rather, they can rest in assured hope that just as Jesus Himself was raised from the dead, one day He will raise all of His children to an eternal life in a new, glorified body. In many pastoral counseling contexts, the concrete hope of bodily resurrection has often replaced by a \u201csweet by and by\u201d notion of just dying and going to some ethereal place. Yet the biblical hope is a physical hope. It involves bodily resurrection, not just spiritual release to heaven. In fact, all creation itself longs for the day when the saints are resurrected, for the resurrection of believers ushers in the \u201cresurrection\u201d of creation itself from bondage to corruption (Rom. 8:20\u201325). For men and women struggling with the losses, sufferings, pains, and tragedies of this dark, deteriorating world, the glorious vision of a new world injects needed hope into a soul-sick world. <\/p>\n
The coming of Christ, the resurrection of the body, and the transformation of creation will coincide with the advent of the fullness of God\u2019s eternal kingdom. Though the sin, injustice, and suffering of this present world can be somewhat eased when believers live out the values and virtues of the future kingdom in this present life, the ultimate triumph of good over evil, peace over calamity, and righteousness over wickedness awaits the coming of the promised Messiah King, Jesus (Isa. 9:7; Dan. 6:26). What a bold hope in the midst of corrupt politicians, bankrupt political philosophies, failed nations, tyrannical dictators, military coups, and unstable governments!<\/p>\n
If we obsess over our miserable standing before an impeccable Judge, we can sink into a state of desperate misery. However, at the coming of Christ, the resurrection of our bodies, and the advent of the eternal kingdom, we will finally experience eternal triumph over temptation and sin. In the glorious future God has for us, we will find not even a smudge or speck of unrighteousness, for we ourselves will be conformed to the righteousness of Christ (Phil. 3:21). So, in the moment-by-moment conflict against wickedness in our lives, we must continue to persevere as we look up in hope for the heavenly \u201cair support\u201d that will one day provide decisive victory on behalf of the righteousness of God. When Christ returns, establishing His righteous kingdom and resurrecting believers in their glorious bodies, He will bestow upon us that for which we have been eagerly hoping: eternal life. Having been justified in the past when we believed, we now look forward to eternal life with unwavering hope (Titus 3:7). Though this eternal life will be fully experienced \u201cin the age to come\u201d (Luke 18:30), believers in Christ can already experience life \u201cabundantly\u201d in this age through the power of the Holy Spirit (John 10:10). <\/p>\n
Biblical, Exegetical, Theological, Historical, and Explanatory Notes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Brief Statement on the Doctrine of Last Things One day, yet future, and known only to God (Matt 24:36; 1 Thess 5:1\u20132), Jesus Christ will physically return to earth as Judge and King (Acts 1:11; 2 Tim 4:1). All humanity will be resurrected bodily (Dan 12:3)\u2014those saved by Christ unto everlasting life (1 Thess 4:16; […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[10],"class_list":["post-107440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research-paper-writing","tag-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107440\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}