Series: Our Great Hope - Message # 3

With appreciation to Dr. Wayne Grudem’s excellent work in Systematic Theology, 1994, Inter-Varsity Press

What Do We Know about God’s Plans for the Future?

Human beings have always been fascinated with the future. What will tomorrow bring?

In our daily newspapers one of the most popular and widely read portions are the astrological predictions where supposedly those who peer at the stars are shown the outlines of the future for us. What silliness and yet millions take it seriously!

Near the end of the Reagan presidency, the White House was embarrassed when a man who had served as the President’s Chief of Staff revealed that Nancy Reagan consulted an astrologer prior to her husband traveling. The most powerful man in the world was being influenced by a woman who consulted the stars for her guidance! Amazing, isn’t it?

We want to know about tomorrow! Imagine being handed a book entitled, Your Life from Beginning to End. Honestly, how many of you would read it? I think most of us would!

We would want to see how long we had to live, if our lives would be touched by tragedy, if we would be successful, what our kids become, etc.

We both dread and anticipate the future. I am thankful, honestly, that God, in His wisdom, gives us each day - and the grace to deal with each day’s successes and challenges!!

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Christians are given a glimpse of the future in the Scripture.

No, of course, God doesn’t tell us our individual fortunes! But the Bible clearly shows up that God has a plan that He is working out, that He has declared a destiny for this Creation. The study of these matters is called eschatology - a word that means ‘study of last things.’ Some preachers, and I was one of them, proudly say, “I do not care much for eschatology for I just trust God to work it all out in the end!” And with that, a major part of the Bible is pushed to one side, as though it were of little importance to Christian life.

As important as the subject is, we must not become obsessed with prophecy as some do. There are several reasons that prophecy is overly magnetic to some:

a. It is a means of gaining hope, when all appears hopeless.

To those who have come to believe that the world is beyond redemption, that life is a tough experience that we simply endure, the promise of the Second Coming and the final defeat of sin and evil is a means of escaping their hopelessness. It is true that the promise is a source of great hope, but it is also true that there is much to do for the sake of the Kingdom of Christ -

right now, right here!

b. Focusing exclusively on prophetic themes also takes away the sense that we need to deal

with life and work out our Christianity; with our kids, our wife, our boss, and yes, ourselves.

Prophecy for some is an escape hatch from the often ugly reality of life. But Christians are not called to escape life, but rather to deal with it with the power and help of the Spirit of God!

To become overly fascinated with prophetic themes is a real error!

Imagine trying to successfully drive your car while peering through a telescope at some spot far away on the horizon. You would soon have a terrible collision. It is important to know the destination and to plot the course, but a driver has to pay attention to what’s going on right in front of his car, too!

We cannot live our Christian lives successfully while fixated on the events we believe will happen around the Second Coming of the Lord. In the same breath, however, let me hasten to say that we must keep the promise always in view, so that we stay ‘on course.’

One of the major reasons that some of have avoided prophecy is that it is a complex subject about which there are real differences of understanding. I want to begin equip you today to have a discussion about prophetic themes so that you can delve into the Scripture for understanding. I want to arm you so that you are not duped by those who twist these doctrines into strange scenarios. I want you, for example, to be able to recognize the major errors in false religious systems such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

So on what things of a prophetic nature do Evangelical, Bible-believing Christians agree?

1. Jesus Christ will return to earth in a visible, sudden, and bodily way!

The Second Coming is not a just a spiritual thing, nor is it a metaphorical way of dealing with death. Jesus will come back to earth in a body we can see and in a way that everyone will see!

∙ He said, “I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:3, NIV)

∙ The angels who appeared to the disciples who saw Jesus taken up to Heaven said, “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.”" (Acts 1:11, NIV)

∙ Paul wrote to the Church and told them, "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." (1 Thessalonians 4:16, NIV)

2. The Return of Christ should be anticipated by Believers anytime.

Last week, we read Peter’s word that we must live spotless, blameless lives at peace as we ‘look forward to the day of God.’ Paul, likewise, urges us to have a sense of expectancy in our lives, writing that we "say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,"

(Titus 2:12-13, NIV)

That does not mean that we avoid long-term projects or just let the world around us go to Hell because we are so fixated on the Second Coming! True readiness for the return of Christ involves faithfully serving Him and advancing His call so that when He arrives, we are ready for inspection, and will hear His commendation; “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

3. We cannot know WHEN Jesus will return.

Nothing has caused more damage to the glorious doctrine of the return of Christ than date-setting!

It is one of the reasons that I avoided the subject for so long. In my formative years, I was convinced by teachers and preachers that Jesus would most certainly show up by the late 1980's! I won’t go into their prophetic schemes and understandings, but suffice to say, ‘we’re still here!’ so they were wrong.

Jesus clearly taught us not to set dates for His return, but Christians have done it for the last two thousand years. He said, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come." (Mark 13:32-33, NIV) Some miss the whole point, by insisting that while we cannot know the day or hour, we can know the year or the decade! How silly! That forced literal reading avoids the main message of the passage.

Jesus was saying, “Don’t try to figure out times and dates. Be faithful all of the time!”

So, if anybody, regardless of how trustworthy you think they are, tries to tell you that they have found the key to Bible prophecy and know when Jesus is coming again for His church, you can conclude - “they are wrong!” End of story!

One of the more brazen time-setters in recent history was a rocket scientist (yes, literally) with a great set of academic credentials, who circulated a book called Eighty Eight Reasons Why the Rapture will be in 1988. He soberly made the case that Jesus would appear on September 12, 1988 and many Christians who were in other ways wise, took his word. Thousands built their lives around his prediction.

Even more bizarre was the fact that when September 12, 1988 came and went with no Second Coming, Edgar Whisenant actually had the ‘chutzpa’ to re-publish his book with revisions, and he called it The Final Shout, The Rapture Report, 1989. He claimed to have made some calculation errors, and insisted that Jesus would appear on September 12, 1989, though he allowed it could be 1990, 1991, or 1992, or at the very latest - September 15-17, 1993. And people bought it... go figure!

- source - Grudem’s Systematic Theology, pg.1094

Time and time again, Christian groups have reached the conclusion that their pastor or prophet has figured out the timeline of Bible Prophecy and found the key to knowing the date of Jesus’ return. They have sold their homes, cars, pulled their kids from school, abandoned work on projects, quit school - to go and wait. And, they’ve been disappointed!

The promise of His return is NOT to provoke us to withdraw from our world. It is to stir us to be diligent in the work of the King!

4. The Second Coming will set off a series of events that lead to a Final Judgment and the revealing

of a new order of things that is free from evil, sin, and death!

The close of John’s Revelation is quite clear about God’s declaration that there will be an End of the world as we know it. He writes with symbols that are compelling and difficult to decipher. John writes of the destruction of the systems of the world, of great and terrible justice visited on all who have ever lived.

In a passage, both awesome and terrible, we read:

READ - Revelation 20: 11-15

But, thankfully that is not the end of the story. Then, God showed John this scene:

READ - Revelation 21: 1-6

What a glorious promise! Believer, we must hold onto it, never let it fade from our minds - for this will be the final vindication for those who have followed Christ, even into suffering. It is a powerful motivator for working to bring others into the Kingdom, as well.

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So, what brings us to that final glorious moment?

We are not wrong to wonder about this. Jesus’ disciples heard him predict the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and they asked Him -

"Tell us, when are these things going to happen? What will be the sign of your coming, that the time’s up?” (Matthew 24:3, The Message)

Likewise we want to know, don’t we? Do we know something of the prophetic sweep of events that lead to the coming of the Lord? Yes, but the discussion is a complex one.

Before I conclude this morning, let me take a few moments to acquaint you with the vocabulary that lets us have this conversation.

A key word is MILLENNIUM. The word itself comes from Latin and means, 1000 years. The ways that Christians view events of the End Times and the Second Coming involve their understanding of the word, millennium. Many of the prophets of the First Testament wrote and spoke of a time to come when the sorrows of humanity would be erased by the revelation of God’s Kingdom. The end of Isaiah is filled with visions of a golden age of peace when the enemies of God and good are defeated, when evil is overcome, and where suffering is erased.

The actual term, millennium, comes from Revelation. 20 where John speaks of a thousand years on earth during which Satan is restrained from influencing people to do evil and in which an Eden-like paradise results from the rule of Jesus Christ.

But not all Christians interpret these prophecies in the same way.

∙ There are Pre-Millennialists - who, as the label says, believe that the Second Coming of Christ will happen prior to the Millennium, and that Christ’s coming will be the EVENT that brings about the age of peace.,

an earthly kingdom of God, in which Christ rules over humanity from the city of Jerusalem.

∙ There are Post-Millennialitsts, who believe that the Second Coming comes at the end of the Millennium, which is brought about by the preaching of the Gospel and the transformation of the world by the work of the Church.

∙ Finally, there are Amillennialists. These people believe that the doctrine of the Millennium is not about a future age, but rather is about a spiritual state enjoyed by Christians now who live under Christ’s reign. They do believe in the Second Coming, but as the final event of earthly history, not to create an earthly kingdom of God.

Who is right? The answer is complex, and good Believers, with excellent minds, arrive at very different conclusions. To fight over it, is surely a mistake, and we must be charitable even as we invite the Spirit to give us insight.

Another key word is the word, RAPTURE, which again comes to us from the Latin word, raptus, meaning “to be carried away!” In 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 Paul describes a moment of transformation at the time of Christ’s return. With excitement he says, "I can tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not rise to meet him ahead of those who are in their graves. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the call of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, all the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and remain with him forever." (NLT)

All of those of us who accept the Bible’s teaching of the literal return of Christ, believe that in that moment, those who are in Christ, will experience an amazing change. The righteous dead will be resurrected to immortality. The living Believer immediately changed into an immortal being. But Christians understand the sequence of change and the moment of it differently.

Yet another word that comes up often in the lexicon of Prophecy is the word, TRIBULATION, or some say, GREAT TRIBULATION.

The book of Revelation, when coupled with the prophecy of Daniel, seems to imply that there will be a time on earth when a wicked ruler, nicknamed The Anti-christ, in the Bible, will rule the world for a period of seven years. During this time, God brings terrible judgment against a rebellious human race, in which there is terrible suffering. This time is called the Tribulation.

Other Believers do not believe that those Scriptures are describing a literal period of seven years or even an actual ruler. Instead they interpret that symbolically, as referring to the general suffering that sin causes in the human race. They do not see the Anti-Christ as an actual ruler, but rather an attitude prevalent in the world that causes human beings to resist the rule of God.

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Let me review quickly -

Jesus will return - visibly, suddenly, and in a real body.

We should anticipate His return at any time.

We cannot know when He will return and should set dates.

When He returns, it will be with power, to bring justice, and a new order free of evil.

Key terms that are involved in eschatology -

Milllennium - a thousand years

Rapture - the immediate transformation of Believers, from mortal to immortal

Tribulation - the suffering of judgment that comes on the earth

Anti-Christ - an attitude or person who operates in rebellion towards God

Prayer -