The End Times
Notes
Transcript
When I die I want to be cremated, its my last chance of having a smoking hot body
What vegetable is cool, but not that cool? Rad ish
One of the questions we ask is the question about the end of our world… the end times… This sermon is deep, he talks about the end of the world and what that will look like to all of us. And there is a ton of debate on this topic and there are probably at least three main views in the Christian world on what happens at the end of the world… and we could go into this and describe all of them, but I am not going to take the four hours to get there… and Im going to hit some lightly but not take a HARD stance… and I hope that some of you can realize there are things in the christian faith that you dont HAVE to take a hard stance on. Its not salvific… its important to have a thought… but its not salvific
Left behind… people disappear and people are left behind and planes crash… so is this what the Bible teaches about this… and here is where the debate comes from… even rev 3 shows the church suffering… in the world but not of it...
but much of the debate centers around this version in 1 thess
15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
SO he is talking about the day of the coming of the Lord… fallen asleep is dead… and the Thessalonica church were worried that their loved ones would be secondary citizens to those who went before… and Paul so no no no dont worry about it.... they
16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
So, this is super public.. its not secretive… and this probably goes against that idea of it being secretive and no one understanding what is happening… but they may not believe that is what happened… but its going to be public everyone SHOULD now what happened
So the dead will rise...
Caught up = harpazo 14x NT it is a snatching… people will be snatched… there is no word rapture in the greek so this is the latin translation of the greek work harpazo
So people say rapiaire is the latin version
and then the word MEEt which is the greek work apantesis which literally means to be gathered for a reception… 3x in the NT...
“The word ‘apantesis’ is to be understood as a technical term for a civic custom of antiquity whereby a public welcome was accorded by a city to important visitors.” Erik Peterson
So here is the issue… Jesus is coming back… and Caesar was coming back after winning a war… and hed have these troops following him.... and people would run out to greet him and bring him to the city to celebrate...
So here we see Jesus coming back very publically and we go up to greet him…
SO the other text is
36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.
37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark,
39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
40 Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left.
41 Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left.
42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.
That sounds very left behind like.. and the context is the days of Noah, and when the judgment came who was left and who was taken away… the righteous were left here… and the non christians were wiped away.... and this context is the righteous stay and they go up and greet him,,, and this goes well with philipians 1 and 2… reve 21 where heaven itself comes down and marries earth… and this is what we are going to talk about here in John 5… so if we believe somethign we want it to be Biblically accurate...
It is well with my soul....
And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend
Even so, it is well with my soul
So if the rapture you mean this…there are tons of different views…believe
“The rapture concept is relatively new. It started with an Anglo-Irish theologian who in the 1830’s invented the concept. This may come as a shocker to many but it’s a fact: Before John Nelson Darby imagined this scenario in the clouds, no Christian had ever heard of the rapture. The idea was popularized by Scofield, an american minister who published a famous reference Bible in 1908, one that developed the idea of an elaborate series of final periods of history.” Jay Parini
This has been the most popular view in Western Christianity… so why are we talking about this… because this is exactly were Jesus goes in chapter 5
24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
Mic drop moment… here is the Gospel… the end times can be a distraction… we can get so wrapped up in it and not focus on what the real gospel is and havea deep understanding of it. Peoiple always saying this is the end this is the end… Y2K… scientist had messed up the ability for it to flip over…and nothing happened...
80’s… Ronald Raegen was the antichrist because he had 6 letters in each of his names...
its always coming and going...
there are so many… and so all these days come and go because nobody knows… and that is the point of matthew 24 dont be so sure of yourself… he just said I dont even know… ever met a thief in the night… he didnt say Im coming IM gonna take your stuf… its secret its subtle its sudden… thats why we have to be watching out....
Think about the World Wars… dont you think they would have thougth the end is coming… and we can look for signs but we can’t be so sure about it… and there are so many people that can pontificate on end times but can’t explain the gospel which is what he is talking about here… you get eternal life.... human beautfiul life.... by doing great things… no but by believing..... if you dont know Jesus… believe in him,, put your trust in him… the word piss toss .... its the image of this big tree sticking offf a cliff and you fall and grab onto the tree....
ITs not about the amount of faith its aboutthe one you have your faith in… the tree has deep roots… believing in that versus believing in ourselves or false religions or beliving that we can build up ourselves…
You have to trust in Jesus… and you will not come into judgment but you will pass from death to life… before you meet Jesus you are a dead man walking… you are actually dead to the, but when you come to christ you come truly alive… and the second layer is you move from death to life… and you neednt fear death because the spltt second you die you are with Jesus...
Spurgeon had this perspective as a pastor long ago
“The only people that I’m jealous of are dying members of this very church.” becasue the greatest moment for a Christian is his last moment because he will never be closer...
“He who learns to die daily…while he lives will find it not difficult to breathe out his soul for the last time.”
You’ve already died to self a million times, so its easy to do it one last time...
One day you will hear that I have died… more alive than I have ever been
25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
The concept of resurrection… so we have this resurrection for all
26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.
27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.
28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice
29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
Those are the only two options in the end… there is no disembodied spiritual world… we will all have these bodies and there will be a new heaven and new earth… and there we will live with him… jsut as Jesus was resurrected in bodily form...
Here is what is fascinating about resurrection… in Greek though you didnt want it… because the physical world is bad… spirituak world is good.... thats why in greek mythology there is no resurrection… they didnt want to be back in the physical world… you were set free… why come back
Judaism resurrection.... at end of time everyone would be resurrected
2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
3 And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.
This idea that pre jesus there would be a kind of resurrection that would happen… either to life or judgment...
People ask why do we not just die and that is it.
“IT should be borne in the mind that the judgment at the last day will differ from that of death of each individual in more than one respect. It will not be secret, but public; it will not pertain to the soul only, but also to the body, and it will not have reference to a single individual, but to all people.” Louis Berkhof
SO here is the resurrection… and the options… either unto life… or judgment… and the deciding factor is Jesus, that is what he is trying to say.... hes the son of man… hes the deciding factor… you cant just look at him as a good teacher… Jesus is going to be the judge… and how does that resurrection happen… the voice of Jesus… jsut like lazurus… he said his name.... thats the power of Jesus Christ… the one whose voice raises the dead...
So we have to answer the question what are we going to do with this judge… will we accept his offer… hes going to want to know what we did with him…
Aslan creates the world by singing… Genesis 1 he speaks creation into existence… and aslan sings and creation pops into existence…the lsat supper says they sang a hymn… I imagine that voice of Jesus would habve been heavenly
Something about the voice… later he says my sheep will hear my voice., and some of you recognize it now… and then one day we will all hear the voice that will call us all from the tomb and we wiell stand before him as the judge and he will judge our lives and our faith...
“God intends that the one who judges the world will be a slain lamb, a crucified man. The judging Son of God at the last day must be a suffering son of man. And if we ask why must our judge be a man - a suffering man - I think the answer is that God deems it fitting that human beings be judged by one who knows what it’s like to be human.”
Thats deep… not just human.. but the one who suffered to deliver us from it all… the one who judges us will be able to look us in the eye and say I have experience everything you have before… and everything that comes next will be answering what you did when it came to me...
There are only two options the resurrectin unto life which is heaven… where Jesus restores… and there wont be this disembodied spirit floating around… if it was just spirit God lost… he created all this physica nd said this was good… so if satna came in and tempted us and then its all about spiritual he loses...
Its physical he didnt change the rules… and revelation shows all these wonderful things that you can see and their is pleasure… and think of what your greatest pleasure is on earth and that is jsut a small pointer.... and thats why jesus says dont build up treasure on earth where moth and flame can destroy… go for it in heaven… thats why we should be so much more giving when we give.... becasue we want to build things that echo in eternity… and we should build kingdom things....and the pleasures in heaven will be different for everyone…and Paul talks about this in 1 and 2 corinthians
“What we need very badly these days is a company of CHristians who are prepared to trust God as completely now as they know they must do at the last day.” AW Tozer
What if you lived like the sacrifice was now for eternity and the great reward is we get God and get to see him face to face…we will be transformed in a twinkling of an eye...
then there is the other option… hell the weeping and gnashing of teeth… and there is punishment…punishment and isolatino and awfulness forever… the smoke rises forever day and night and there is no rest...
Bible teaches us that hell wasnt created for people,,, it was prepared for the devil and his angels… he never wanted anyone to end up there...
CS Lewis… at the end of the day its wither thy will be done or thy will be done....
People in hell are successful rebels until the end… and he honors their choice to the end of time… guy in hell wishes he could go tell his borthers...
So what is this passage about it is about us waking up from death to life and sayingI need to stop drifting and just doing the worldly.. have I made a decision to follow Christ yet...
WE are all going to die and we have to be reconcilled to god through Jesus… some of you may never answer that question… but lookat what spurgeon says
A Man goes into the hotel and sits down and he begins to order his wine and dinner; there is no delicacy in season which he forgets to order and enjoy. He stays there for weeks. And he goes to leave but the bill is forthcoming and it takes him by surprise, ‘I never thought of that - I never thought of that! ‘Well here’ says the landlord ‘here’s a man who was either born fool or has become one over time.’ ‘I never thought of the reckoning,’ the man says, ‘I never thought of settling with anyone.’ After this fashion too many of us live. We eat and drink but forget the inevitable here after, when all of the deeds done in the body, the Lord will bring into judgment.” Spurgeon