Sermon Tone Analysis

*Ü**The Resurrection of Jesus as Proto-Type: *

*A Guide to Eschatological Hope & Present **Mission*

How the Resurrection of Jesus Informs our Understanding and Vision of God's Grand Purpose for the Earth & the Human Race, and thus our Present Mission

Indebtedness: Rick Watts, Charles Ringma, J.I. Packer, John Stackhouse, N.T. Wright, Irenaeus

Disclaimer: Not representative of the official teaching of this church or of its leadership

Advice: Be stimulated & provoked to further study by what you understand in today’s message.

*Ü**Lk 24:36-43 (TNIV)* While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost [/spirit/].

He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?

Look at my hands and my feet.

It is I myself!

Touch me and see; a ghost [/spirit/] does not have flesh and bones, *Ü*as you see I have.”

When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet.

And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?”

They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.

*Ü**Php 3:20-21* ...our citizenship is in heaven.

And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies [the body of our humble state] so that they will be like his glorious body.

*Ü**Ro 8:18-25* I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

The creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.

For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that *Ü*the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption, *Ü*the redemption of our bodies.

For in this hope we were saved.

But hope that is seen is no hope at all.

Who hopes for what they already have?

But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

*ÜEph 1:8-10* ...With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

*Thematic Outline*

I.        *Ü*The Resurrection of Jesus

A.     Central to the Gospel (1 Co 15)

B.     The Basis of our Hope

C.     The Resurrection, not Heaven, as our Hope

1.

The Primary Emphasis of the NT

2.       Heaven, a Place of Rest, Blessing & Eager Expectation

a.       Better than Present Earth, Not as Good as Renewed Earth

D.     *Ü*The Nature of the Resurrected Body

1.

The Transformation of Corporeality

a.

Not the Annihilation of Corporeality

b.       Physicality with Different Properties

1)      Flesh & Bones

2)      Scarred Hands, Feet & Side

3)      Eating (Lk 24:36-43; Ac 1:4; cf.

Lk 24: 30; Jn 21:9-13)

4)      Spontaneous Appearance & Disappearance

c.

A Spiritual Body

1)      Not a Non-Physical Body

2)      Rather, a Supra-Physical Body Conditioned for the Fullness of the Glory of God’s Spirit

3)      An Advance upon Adam’s Corporeality; (Super-Man)

2.       Paul’s Description (1 Co 15:42-55)

a.       ἀφθαρσίᾳ = Incorruptibility, Imperishability

b.       δόξῃ = Splendor, Glory; Radiance

c.       δυνάμει = Power, Might, Strength

d.       πνευματικόν = Of the Spirit (of God)

1)      Not ψυχικόν = Of the (Human) Soul

e.       ἐπουρανίου = Heavenly

f.        ἀθανασίαν = Immortality, Deathlessness

E.      *Ü*The Ascension of Jesus

1.       His Transformed Body taken “Up” into Heaven

2.       Heaven as a “Created” Place

a.       OT: God /Made/ Heaven and Earth

b.

Not Another Place in This Universe

3.       Heaven as Another Dimension

a.

A “Parallel” Universe (Scientific Hypothesis: Multi-Verses)

b.       C.S. Lewis’s Allegory: Chronicles of Narnia

4.       Heaven is Not Non-Material

a.       Space, Matter, Time with Different Properties

1)      “things /upon/ heaven”; cf.

Eph 1:10

b.       God’s Presence, Rule, Glory in Fullness

II.     *Ü*General Themes of the First Century Jewish Hope (Non-Uniform)

A.     A One-Stage Earthly Kingdom

1.

A Messiah King

2.       General Resurrection

3.       Outpouring of God’s Spirit

4.       A Judgment on Evil

5.       A Subduing & Judgment of the Nations

6.

A Blessing of the Nations

7.       A Renewal of the Present Creation

III.   *Ü*The Hope of the Early Church: Witness of the NT & Church Fathers

A.     A Two-Stage Development of the Jewish Hope

1.

The Resurrection of Jesus & A Measured Outpouring of the Spirit

2.       *Ü*The General Resurrection, Final Judgment, Renewal of Creation, Earthly Reign of Christ

B.     *Ü*OR, a Three-Stage Development

1.       The Resurrection of Jesus & Measured Outpouring of the Spirit

2.       *Ü*The Resurrection of the Righteous, Renewal of Creation, Earthly Reign

3.       *Ü*The General Resurrection, Final Judgment, Brand New Creation

C.     *Ü*The Interim: The “Last Days”

1.       Heaven as a Place of Blessing and Eager Expectation in the Full Reign of God

2.       Earth as a Place of Mission

D.     *Ü*Confusion Over the Future of the Earth

1.

The Elements Melt, The Heavens Destroyed (2 Pet 3:7-13)

a.       Note: Comparison to the Flood; yet “Destroyed” does NOT mean Annihilated, for the Earth Endured the Flood (2 Pet 3:5-6)

b.       *Ü*Option One: the Renewal-Transformation of Creation upon Christ’s Return; Non-Literal Apocalyptic Language: Judgment & Purification

c.       *Ü*Option Two: The End of the Millenial Reign

1)      Scientific Theory:

a)      The Accelerated Expansion & Death of the Universe