Great question you raise! That preacher was not confused or mixed up. He was actually quoting 1 Thessalonians 4:16-16, which reads, “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. 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.”
When Jesus returns, all who died prior to Jesus’ Second Coming, who have accepted Him as their Lord and Savior, their physical bodies will be resurrected. Remember, we have a spiritual body (our souls) and a physical body. When we die, our spiritual bodies instantly go to Heaven but our physical bodies are still here. Anytime the Bible speaks of a resurrection, it is a physical event involving a physical body. So, those who area dead in Christ will receive resurrected bodies.
Don’t ask me how this works because it is one of the mysteries God chose not to reveal. However, we can be assured that those who died before Christ’s return will be first to ascend then those who are alive will go up to meet them. All of the believers will receive resurrected, “glorified” bodies.
Showing posts with label second coming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label second coming. Show all posts
Monday, 20 February 2012
Thursday, 19 August 2010
Will the world end in 2012?
Wow, what an awesome question! So, I think I know where you came up with that 2012 number. There are a lot of people who study numbers and number patterns and then come up with these formulas to “predict” events. In fact, there are many people who try and do this with the Bible. Somehow, based on this numerical formula theory, someone came up with 2012 as the year that the world is going to end.
But, here’s the truth: no one knows when the world is going to end. In fact, even Jesus says in Matthew 24:36-42:
“No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.”
The one thing I do know is that every Biblical prophecy that needed to be fulfilled prior to the second coming of Jesus has been fulfilled. That’s another reason so many people are thinking the end is soon. The key is that we need to be ready for that day, whenever it is.
That means that we should have a relationship with Jesus and have accepted Him as our Lord and Savior. We need to choose to follow Jesus’ ways and confess our sins and accept His gift of salvation. Then, we’ll be ready and not have to worry about when the world will end.
But, here’s the truth: no one knows when the world is going to end. In fact, even Jesus says in Matthew 24:36-42:
“No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.”
The one thing I do know is that every Biblical prophecy that needed to be fulfilled prior to the second coming of Jesus has been fulfilled. That’s another reason so many people are thinking the end is soon. The key is that we need to be ready for that day, whenever it is.
That means that we should have a relationship with Jesus and have accepted Him as our Lord and Savior. We need to choose to follow Jesus’ ways and confess our sins and accept His gift of salvation. Then, we’ll be ready and not have to worry about when the world will end.
Sunday, 14 June 2009
If I am alive when Jesus comes again, how will I know it’s him so I can follow him?
I want to answer this in two ways. (1) How can you recognize Jesus? (2) How can you recognize the deceiver (the antichrist)?
(1) How can you recognize Jesus?
When John was on the island of Patmos, Jesus came to him in a vision. At first John was terrified. Revelation 1:17 says that John fell at Jesus’ feet as if he was dead! I remember when I was 16 and backpacking in the woods. I ran into a bear, and it charged me. I was so scared it felt like my legs were full of sand and I couldn’t move at all! Well, John was so scared that he completely fell down.
Right away (still in verse 17), Jesus says, “Do not be afraid.” Still, don’t you wonder why someone who has spent his whole life following Jesus would be so afraid of Jesus? Verses 12 through 16 tell us what John saw, and help us to understand. When John turned to see Jesus, John saw the light from seven great lamps. If you take seven really strong lights and look directly into them, maybe that’s kind of like what John saw! Standing in that super bright light was Jesus, his eyes “were like blazing fire,” his head and hair “white like wool.” Jesus’ feet were “like bronze glowing in a furnace.” His face was “like the sun shining in all its brilliance.” Everything, including Jesus, was just bright, bright, bright!
Then in Revelation 19:11-16, John writes about Jesus’ return. John describes Jesus as a rider on a white horse, and he gives Jesus several different names in those verses – that’s to try to describe how awesome Jesus is. Jesus is called “Faithful and True” and “Word of God” and Jesus has written on him two other names. One is “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” and the other one we don’t know (vs. 12). It says that Jesus is wearing a robe, and he is being followed by the armies of heaven, all on white horses, and all wearing clean, white robes. Wow! What a picture!
Remember, this is from John’s vision. Jesus doesn’t have to look exactly like that for this to make sense. Maybe that is exactly how Jesus will appear, or maybe John is simply doing his best to describe for us the awesomeness of Jesus’ return. John is definitely more concerned with what happens than exactly what Jesus look like.
So if you ask me how we will recognize Jesus when he comes again, I think we can know the answer from how John describes Jesus – Jesus will be absolutely unmistakable! When we see Jesus, even though right now we don’t know exactly what he will look like, we will for sure know it’s him!
(2) How can you recognize the deceiver (the antichrist)?
The Bible also doesn’t tell us exactly what the antichrist looks like. But John in his letters (1 John and 2 John) does say some important things that will help us know who the antichrist is so we don’t follow him. The Bible doesn’t say exactly, but the antichrist may be one person, or it may be a group of people. It doesn’t matter, though, because the Book of Revelation tells us that Jesus wins and Satan loses!
1 John 2:22 and 1 John 4:3 and 2 John 1:7 tell us clearly how to know who is the antichrist. Those verses tell us that those who deny that Jesus is our Savior, that Jesus is real, or who say that Jesus didn’t really come to earth are the antichrists. Wow! So what does that mean for you and me? Don’t ignore Jesus, or don’t accept a substitute religion that will turn your attention away from Jesus. That is what we would do if we were to follow the antichrist.
So what do you do? You do what you are doing right now. You are doing the right thing because you have faith in the right person – Jesus. Continue to ask me hard questions – that’s good. Continue to learn – that’s good too. Continue to worship God. Continue to have faith in Jesus – even though you can’t exactly understand everything about God and faith – that is exactly what faith is. You see, our Lord did not give John the command to write the Book of Revelation, or tell us about antichrists, or tell us about his return just to satisfy our curiosity. He has two reasons for sharing that stuff with us. One is to challenge us to be faithful to him. The other is to encourage us with the message that Jesus wins, Satan loses. Cool, huh?
(1) How can you recognize Jesus?
When John was on the island of Patmos, Jesus came to him in a vision. At first John was terrified. Revelation 1:17 says that John fell at Jesus’ feet as if he was dead! I remember when I was 16 and backpacking in the woods. I ran into a bear, and it charged me. I was so scared it felt like my legs were full of sand and I couldn’t move at all! Well, John was so scared that he completely fell down.
Right away (still in verse 17), Jesus says, “Do not be afraid.” Still, don’t you wonder why someone who has spent his whole life following Jesus would be so afraid of Jesus? Verses 12 through 16 tell us what John saw, and help us to understand. When John turned to see Jesus, John saw the light from seven great lamps. If you take seven really strong lights and look directly into them, maybe that’s kind of like what John saw! Standing in that super bright light was Jesus, his eyes “were like blazing fire,” his head and hair “white like wool.” Jesus’ feet were “like bronze glowing in a furnace.” His face was “like the sun shining in all its brilliance.” Everything, including Jesus, was just bright, bright, bright!
Then in Revelation 19:11-16, John writes about Jesus’ return. John describes Jesus as a rider on a white horse, and he gives Jesus several different names in those verses – that’s to try to describe how awesome Jesus is. Jesus is called “Faithful and True” and “Word of God” and Jesus has written on him two other names. One is “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” and the other one we don’t know (vs. 12). It says that Jesus is wearing a robe, and he is being followed by the armies of heaven, all on white horses, and all wearing clean, white robes. Wow! What a picture!
Remember, this is from John’s vision. Jesus doesn’t have to look exactly like that for this to make sense. Maybe that is exactly how Jesus will appear, or maybe John is simply doing his best to describe for us the awesomeness of Jesus’ return. John is definitely more concerned with what happens than exactly what Jesus look like.
So if you ask me how we will recognize Jesus when he comes again, I think we can know the answer from how John describes Jesus – Jesus will be absolutely unmistakable! When we see Jesus, even though right now we don’t know exactly what he will look like, we will for sure know it’s him!
(2) How can you recognize the deceiver (the antichrist)?
The Bible also doesn’t tell us exactly what the antichrist looks like. But John in his letters (1 John and 2 John) does say some important things that will help us know who the antichrist is so we don’t follow him. The Bible doesn’t say exactly, but the antichrist may be one person, or it may be a group of people. It doesn’t matter, though, because the Book of Revelation tells us that Jesus wins and Satan loses!
1 John 2:22 and 1 John 4:3 and 2 John 1:7 tell us clearly how to know who is the antichrist. Those verses tell us that those who deny that Jesus is our Savior, that Jesus is real, or who say that Jesus didn’t really come to earth are the antichrists. Wow! So what does that mean for you and me? Don’t ignore Jesus, or don’t accept a substitute religion that will turn your attention away from Jesus. That is what we would do if we were to follow the antichrist.
So what do you do? You do what you are doing right now. You are doing the right thing because you have faith in the right person – Jesus. Continue to ask me hard questions – that’s good. Continue to learn – that’s good too. Continue to worship God. Continue to have faith in Jesus – even though you can’t exactly understand everything about God and faith – that is exactly what faith is. You see, our Lord did not give John the command to write the Book of Revelation, or tell us about antichrists, or tell us about his return just to satisfy our curiosity. He has two reasons for sharing that stuff with us. One is to challenge us to be faithful to him. The other is to encourage us with the message that Jesus wins, Satan loses. Cool, huh?
Tuesday, 9 June 2009
Is it OK to be afraid of the rapture?
The short answer is – as a Christ-follower, you don’t have to be!
Let’s get to my answer together. Go get your Bible and read Acts 1:1-11 once before you finish reading this any further.
.......
In the section you just read, Luke the doctor is writing his introduction, and he reminds his reader of what Jesus said about His second coming. Carefully read vs 7 again. What does Jesus say? (He says, “Don’t worry about it.”) Why does Jesus say that? Carefully read vs 8 again. What does Jesus say there? (I’ve given you plenty to do. I want you to spread the gospel throughout Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria – in other words, the world – so get busy and stop worrying about what you can’t know anyway. That’s just for the Father to know!”)
One very simple reason you don’t need to be afraid of the rapture is because Jesus instructs us to focus on the business He has given His followers to do – sharing the gospel! He clearly tells us not to stand around staring at the sky and fearing His return. Those are Jesus’ words.
OK, now I want to challenge you. You ready? Here we go …
Even though Jesus has told us in Acts 1:7-8 not to focus on trying to figure out exactly what the second coming of Jesus will be like, we are curious, aren’t we? God made us curious, so that’s OK. And we’re curious about Jesus’ second coming for many reason. Some people are hopeful, some are scared, some just love knowing stuff, and there are many other reasons why we have been trying to figure out the second coming. The funny thing is, we are not going to know, plain and simple, because Jesus said we weren’t.
But people try anyway. People read the Bible carefully and then they interpret what they read differently. By “interpret” I mean to explain or to understand or to shed light on. Answer this question – if you are trying to explain to an alien (OK, stick with me …) how our alphabet works but you only have some of the letters, do you think your explanation will be very good? Do you think the alien (even if it is really intelligent and really wants to learn) can understand? Both times the answer is nope!
And this is what has happened in our understanding of Jesus’ second coming. God has not given us all the answers in the Bible, and so our interpretations – our understanding – can be different. Just like the alien might not figure out the difference between “rant” “runt” and “rent,” we also can’t figure out the second coming when we’re missing some letters (some information.)
Do you wonder why I am saying all this? Here is the challenge – in our attempts to understand the second coming of Christ, of the rapture, of the final judgment, of the new heaven and new earth, and of the last days and the end of time – there are many different ideas, by many bright people who love Jesus, of what might happen!
I say this is challenging because there may not even be a rapture! Some people think there will be a rapture to lift God’s people off of the earth before a period of great suffering. Another group of people thinks that the rapture will happen after all the suffering (which means Christians will have to suffer, too!) Others think there will not even be a period of great suffering. And the ideas go on and on and on and on.
I want to challenge you to follow Jesus with your whole heart, while at the same time knowing that Jesus has asked us to focus on spreading the good news about Him. Trust Him, even though you will not know all the details of the rapture (or no rapture) and His coming again.
No matter what happens, eternity with Jesus is a magnificent eternity. For that reason, those of us who have given our hearts to Jesus have no need at all to fear the rapture!!
I want to leave you with one more verse – it’s Proverbs 3:5-6.
Let’s get to my answer together. Go get your Bible and read Acts 1:1-11 once before you finish reading this any further.
.......
In the section you just read, Luke the doctor is writing his introduction, and he reminds his reader of what Jesus said about His second coming. Carefully read vs 7 again. What does Jesus say? (He says, “Don’t worry about it.”) Why does Jesus say that? Carefully read vs 8 again. What does Jesus say there? (I’ve given you plenty to do. I want you to spread the gospel throughout Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria – in other words, the world – so get busy and stop worrying about what you can’t know anyway. That’s just for the Father to know!”)
One very simple reason you don’t need to be afraid of the rapture is because Jesus instructs us to focus on the business He has given His followers to do – sharing the gospel! He clearly tells us not to stand around staring at the sky and fearing His return. Those are Jesus’ words.
OK, now I want to challenge you. You ready? Here we go …
Even though Jesus has told us in Acts 1:7-8 not to focus on trying to figure out exactly what the second coming of Jesus will be like, we are curious, aren’t we? God made us curious, so that’s OK. And we’re curious about Jesus’ second coming for many reason. Some people are hopeful, some are scared, some just love knowing stuff, and there are many other reasons why we have been trying to figure out the second coming. The funny thing is, we are not going to know, plain and simple, because Jesus said we weren’t.
But people try anyway. People read the Bible carefully and then they interpret what they read differently. By “interpret” I mean to explain or to understand or to shed light on. Answer this question – if you are trying to explain to an alien (OK, stick with me …) how our alphabet works but you only have some of the letters, do you think your explanation will be very good? Do you think the alien (even if it is really intelligent and really wants to learn) can understand? Both times the answer is nope!
And this is what has happened in our understanding of Jesus’ second coming. God has not given us all the answers in the Bible, and so our interpretations – our understanding – can be different. Just like the alien might not figure out the difference between “rant” “runt” and “rent,” we also can’t figure out the second coming when we’re missing some letters (some information.)
Do you wonder why I am saying all this? Here is the challenge – in our attempts to understand the second coming of Christ, of the rapture, of the final judgment, of the new heaven and new earth, and of the last days and the end of time – there are many different ideas, by many bright people who love Jesus, of what might happen!
I say this is challenging because there may not even be a rapture! Some people think there will be a rapture to lift God’s people off of the earth before a period of great suffering. Another group of people thinks that the rapture will happen after all the suffering (which means Christians will have to suffer, too!) Others think there will not even be a period of great suffering. And the ideas go on and on and on and on.
I want to challenge you to follow Jesus with your whole heart, while at the same time knowing that Jesus has asked us to focus on spreading the good news about Him. Trust Him, even though you will not know all the details of the rapture (or no rapture) and His coming again.
No matter what happens, eternity with Jesus is a magnificent eternity. For that reason, those of us who have given our hearts to Jesus have no need at all to fear the rapture!!
I want to leave you with one more verse – it’s Proverbs 3:5-6.
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