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Future Events---#2

Future Events---#2

Hopewell Church of Christ

December 10, 2000 Mural Worthey

Introduction

Our emphasis for the month of December is future events, or the study of last things. The Bible includes both history, from creation to the life of Jesus, and sober statements about the future of man and the world.

Go to the right source. We concluded last time by saying with Isaiah that we should appeal to "the Law and the testimony." (Isa. 8:20.) Man should not seek information from mediums, star gazers, soothsayers, and palm readers. These, along with religious groups who repeatedly make false and fanciful claims about the future, cause many to not take seriously any study of future events. The Christian view of human destiny needs to be presented credibly and soberly. We should appeal only to Scripture, to God’s holy apostles and prophets.

Bookstore shelves are filled with works on astrology, witchcraft, palmistry, ESP, the use of Tarot cards, spiritism, reincarnation, the writings of Edgar Cayce, Jeanne Dixon and other visionaries. It is estimated that more than 50 million Americans consult astrological columns in 1200 newspapers every day. There are now approximately ten thousand full-time astrologers in the United States and another 175,000 part-time. (We have only 13,000 churches with less than ten thousand full-time ministers.) More than 90% of Americans know their astrological sign. I recognize that many people are simply curious and much may be harmless curiosity. (20th Century Sermons, "I’m A Leo," Harold Hazelip, 169-175.)

There has been delivered a death blow to astrology, which arose from ancient Babylonians and Egyptians. This blow came when Copernius and Galileo and others demonstrated that the earth was only another planet revolving around the sun. The Zodiac is based upon the false assumption that everything in our solar system revolves around the earth. Astronomy pushed astrology underground! Astrology has now lost its credibility. The Jews of old were deceived by it; Christians should not be!

Many have been confused by people claiming to be able to predict the future and by religious teachers making false claims about biblical prophecies. These teachers are known to be false because what they have predicted did not come to pass. Remember last year at this time? Something big was suppose to happen at the beginning of the new millennium. These false claims make it more difficult for the Christian to speak credibly about the future. But we have a sober, confirmed message from God---that we must speak.

There are three good reasons why Christians should not listen to other voices about the future. They are: 1) The Bible condemns a reliance upon those voices. 2) A Christian simply does not need to trust astrology. We trust in God. 3) Jesus taught us not to be overly anxious about the future. God will take care of us. (Matt. 6:25-34.) (Hazelip, 173-74.)

Right questions. It is good for man to ask, What is our purpose on earth? What will happen to man after death? These kind of questions will not go away. It is wholesome and beneficial to think about them. Many do not give these questions adequate consideration.

With man’s purpose being revealed, our origin and destiny being made clear, we can live above a physical existence. There is another dimension to our lives. We cannot fully grasp the nature of our promised life beyond. Illustrations: Someone wrote that it is somewhat like a two-dimensional ant who tries to understand the movements of a three-dimensional fly. Another writer described man as a frog living in his world under water. There is a larger world outside the pond. Occasionally, the frog will come to the surface and look around. He sees the sky above and birds flying around. He hears sounds. But quickly he immerses himself into the water and back into his familiar setting. Man often peeps above trying to grasp his larger world. The temptation, though, is to simply stay under water and in familiar territory. I would warn us not to do that. Many live their entire lives eating, drinking, sleeping and working without considering their destiny.

Some argue that they cannot grasp these spiritual and eternal matters. Remember that no one on earth can fully grasp them. We are not required to understand all about it, but we are required to trust God and not be anxious about it. Everyone can do that! Illustration: African natives once saw British construction crews building strips of concrete in the jungle. They were confused about what they were building. It looked like a road, but it did not begin in a village or end in one. It started nowhere and ended nowhere. But when the Africans saw the first airplanes landing and taking off, they began to understand the meaning of the runway. Christians are like those natives. Eternity is difficult to grasp. The future is unknown to us. But when we see what happened to Jesus, we began to understand. Without Jesus life seems to be a highway that does not begin anywhere or lead anywhere. But with him, life takes on a function of eternal importance. (20th Century Sermons, "The Destiny of Man," Harold Hazelip, 43.)

Nature of Man

The destiny of man is based upon the nature of man. Man is unique among all the created beings. He is made in the image of God. (Gen. 1:26, Gen. 9:6, 1 Cor. 11:7.) This does not mean that God has a physical body like man, but rather that man has a spirit in the likeness of God.

"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Thess. 5:23.)

"And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. But rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matt. 10:28.)

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets. And thou sayest, He shall never taste of death." (John 8:51-52.)

"And whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Believest thou this?" (John 11:26.)

"And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise." (Luke 23:53.)

"And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." (Luke 23:46.)

". . .and to the spirits of just men made perfect." (Heb. 12:23.)

Man is a composite being of body, soul and spirit. Death is the separation of the body and spirit. The spirit never dies, according to the above passages. The spirit returns to God who gave it. "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." (Eccl. 12:7.) The Hebrew writer said that God’s word is able to discern between "soul and spirit, and of the joints and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Heb. 4:12.) To define these three parts of man, we can do so as follows: The body represents all that is physical about man; the soul represents the physical life of the body; the spirit represents the inward, spiritual life of man. Sometimes in Scripture, soul and spirit are used interchangeably; that is, either are used to refer to the inward man. Often, just two aspects of man are identified.

"Though the outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day." (2 Cor. 4:16.) Paul prayed for the Ephesians that they might be "strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man." (Eph. 3:16.)

We should all consider carefully the fact that death does not end our existence. Jesus said that the thief would be with him in paradise that day. Obviously, both Jesus and the thief died and were buried that day. Where was paradise? Surely, no one would call the grave, paradise. Paradise is the place of bliss for the spirits of just men.

 

 

 

The Day of the Lord

There is a coming "day of the Lord." This phrase is found often in the Bible. There have been many such days in which the Lord entered into human events. Peter said the events of the Day of Pentecost were foretold by Joel. He said in part, "The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before that great and notable day of the Lord come." (Acts 2:20, Joel 2:31.) In the Old Testament prophets, the Day of the Lord is any day in which God intervenes in history and accomplishes His will on earth.

Some in Israel in Amos’ day thought that the day of the Lord would be good for them. But he wrote:

"Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord!

Why would you have the day of the Lord?

If it darkness and not light;

as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him;

or went into the house and leaned with his hand

against the wall, and a serpent bit him.

Is not the day of the Lord darkness and not light,

and gloom with no brightness in it?"

Amos 5:18-20

The most satisfying explanation of the origin of the Day of the Lord is that of Gerhard von Rad, who sees the Day of Yahweh originating from the Holy War concept. The Day of the Lord was the day (or any number of days) that Yahweh fought for His people. All wars that Israel successfully fought were Holy Wars. The Day of the Lord was a day of battle. The hope entertained in the Day of the Lord was that there would be another day in which Yahweh would fight for his people.

The expression is frequently found in the writings of the prophets. The Day of the Lord is most often a day of judgment. Any nation that falls does so because God has brought it about. All of Israel’s enemies like Babylon, Edom, Egypt, Philistia meet up with the Day of the Lord. So also does Israel. (The Last Things, "Eschatological Expectations in Old Testament Prophets," Neale Pryor, 32-59.)

The Day of the Lord brings forth two things: judgment on the wicked and blessings for the godly.

"Blow ye the trumpet in Zion and sound an alarm in my holy mountain. Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the Day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand. A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains." (Joel 2:1-2.)

"And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered; for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call." (Joel 2:32.)

New Testament. The theme of the day of the Lord continues in the New Testament. Many of these statements are concerning a coming day of the Lord.

"For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief." (1 Thess. 5:2-4.)

Every chapter in the eight chapters of first and second Thessalonians refer to the second coming of Jesus. In this Day of the Lord, he will recompense two things: trouble and rest.

"Seeing it is righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you. And to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, inflaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. When he shall come to be glorified in his saints and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day." (2 Thess. 1:6-10.)

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