Kingdom Ready

Introduction

One of the concepts that most Christians are aware of is the fact that after Jesus was crucified, he was dead – and in his tomb – for a period of time, before God resurrected him.

Most mainstream Christian churches assert that Jesus was in the tomb for parts of three days. The general tenets of that doctrine are as follows:

– Jesus died – and was placed in his tomb- shortly before sundown on a Friday;

– He was dead, and in the tomb, all day on a Saturday;

– Jesus came back to life – and emerged from his tomb – shortly after sunrise on a Sunday.

Introduction

One of the ideas that Scripture discusses at length is the concept of resurrection. In essence, Scripture tells us that after we die, we will eventually be brought back to life – so that we will live again, on the earth. To be more specific, the Bible states that Jesus, himself, will resurrect people, after he returns to the earth.

There are many, many passages in Scripture which discuss this concept of resurrection. For example, consider the following passages:

John 6:40 (ESV):

^40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

Originally presented at Atlanta Bible College’s 2013 Theological Conference

According to the Hebrew prophets,cheap jerseys one day the God of heaven will set up a kingdom on this world, restoring it back to its original glory. Instead of shucking off the body like a husk so the soul can ascend, the biblical teaching about humanity’s destiny is rather fleshy. God designed humans to live on earth in the beginning, and he will resurrect his people on the last day, healing them of all their ailments and imparting to them immortality. The picture is a beautiful one, with people living in peace, confidently planting and harvesting without fear of intruders. Rather than rampant economic injustice, one will wear out the work of his own hands. This grand age is to begin with a banquet at which the resurrected saints will enjoy fine wine and rich meat, celebrating the victory of God. Although this terrestrial hope coursed through the veins of Jews for centuries, it had reached a fever pitch by the time of Jesus of Nazareth. In fact, he based his entire ministry on the proclamation and enactment of the coming of God’s kingdom.

Alright, time to get back in the habit of posting new content here on KR!  Sorry everyone for being absent from around here. I’ve got a ton of stuff from last month’s Theological Conference in Atlanta and this month’s One God Conference in Austin to share and publish here.

I’ll start today with a paper I just received the other day from Dr. John Roller on the importance of Conditional Immortality.  I really enjoyed it and I hope you will too!

How Important Is “Conditional Immortality”?

by Dr. John H. Roller

Introduction

Here’s the 5th installment in this series:

Biblical Common Sense – Death – Usage of the Sleep Metaphor

I’ve been to several funerals the last few years where I have heard the preachers often say that the deceased is now “more alive than ever” up in heaven.  Yet this runs counter to the most consistent description used in The Bible in reference to the dead. A description that isn’t something that means energized and alert, but the exact opposite with the word “sleep”.  Of course this is a metaphor (something used, or regarded as being used, to represent something else) to describe the death.  This metaphor is repeatedly used throughout many of the Old Testament books.

Finally, after way too long of a delay since posting the first third (about Jesus) of my lengthy paper entitled “A Common Sense Approach to the Biblical Presentation of Jesus, Death, & THE Devil”, here is the 2nd main topic – DEATH.

Like the first section on Jesus (started on KR here: Biblical Common Sense – Intro – What & Why), this has several sub-sections that are best published in smaller, easier to read sections here on KR.  So for my next several posts, I’ll add the sections that follow one another.  I’ll also try to provide all the links at the end of each post to the entire series just for reference.

Note: this post is essentially a “follow-up” to my last post – which dealt with the question of “Is any knowledge required for salvation?”. That post can be found here.

Introduction

From my experience, most mainstream Christians have a rather limited understanding about the topic of death. Essentially, most Christians believe that death is a one-time, permanent event. In other words, most Christians hold that when a person dies, his physical body disintegrates – and that his body will never be re-created, ever again.

It appears to me that Scripture gives us much different information about death – and the possibility of life after death – than the belief listed above. So, let’s take a look in Scripture, to see what is listed there about that subject.

I think the title says it all. The world as we know it is battling with hopelessness. Everything in our society these days has become uncertain. Nothing is guaranteed. Hence many are living in fear and misery. All they see is a pitiful life with no end in sight. Sometimes they wish death would take them and be rid of this little existence. How about when this begins to creep into the church? Today, I want to speak on the subject of hope and its importance in our life. Hope is an integral part of Christianity and each of us must learn about it and live it out.

Introduction

Scripture contains quite a bit of information about the subject of resurrection. In essence, the Bible tells us that when Jesus returns, he will bring believers back to life – so that believers will live with Jesus, forever, on the restored paradise earth.

However, from my experience, most Christians have almost no knowledge about the subject of resurrection. The main reason for this is that almost all mainstream churches teach that human beings have “immortal souls” – and that when a person’s body dies, his immortal soul leaves his body and goes to heaven. In other words, the mainstream belief is that people never really die – because their immortal souls keep on living, forever.