Last Things
Essentials • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 1 viewWhat we know for sure is that Jesus is coming back to earth to establish His eternal kingdom, The dead in Christ will rise and all those who are His children will be given new glorified bodies, there will be judgement on those who have not followed Jesus
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Religious leaders, scientists, and even a hen (or so it seemed) have been making predictions for the end of the world almost as long as the world has been around. They’ve predicted the destruction of the world through floods, fires, and comets—luckily for us, none of it has come to pass.
December 21, 2012, marked the end of the first “Great Cycle” of the Maya Long Count calendar. Many misinterpreted this to mean an absolute end to the calendar, which tracked time continuously from a date 5,125 years earlier, and doomsday predictions emerged. End-of-the-world scenarios included the Earth colliding with an imaginary planet called Nibiru, giant solar flares, a planetary alignment that would cause massive tidal catastrophes, and a realignment of Earth’s axis. Preparations for the end of the world as we know it included a modern-day Noah’s ark built by a man in China and extensive sales of survival kits.
Among the most prolific modern predictors of end times, Harold Camping has publicly predicted the end of the world as many as 12 times based his interpretations of biblical numerology. In 1992, he published a book, ominously titled 1994?, which predicted the end of the world sometime around that year. Perhaps his most high-profile predication was for May 21, 2011, a date that he calculated to be exactly 7,000 years after the Biblical flood. When that date passed without incident, he declared his math to be off and pushed back the end of the world to October 21, 2011.
Religious leader William Miller began preaching in 1831 that the end of the world as we know it would occur with the second coming of Jesus Christ in 1843. He attracted as many as 100,000 followers who believed that they would be carried off to heaven when the date arrived. When the 1843 prediction failed to materialize, Miller recalculated and determined that the world would actually end in 1844. Follower Henry Emmons wrote, “I waited all Tuesday, and dear Jesus did not come … I lay prostrate for 2 days without any pain—sick with disappointment.” - https://www.britannica.com/list/10-failed-doomsday-predictions
We get the point, Many people have tried and failed to predict the second coming of Jesus. One of the essentials of our faith contains the fact that Jesus is coming back again. But the more people try to predict when it is going to happen, the more we realize that it is impossible to predict. People keep saying Jesus is coming soon, He cant wait that much longer. But again that has been said for centuries and Yet the Lord Tarries.
What we are going to go through today is broad strokes, the main point of the end times if you will. We can get into secondary issues, timing of certain events and such but what i want to go over today is the main point of the last days.
What we know for sure is that Jesus is coming back to earth to establish His eternal kingdom, The dead in Christ will rise and all those who are His children will be given new glorified bodies, there will be judgement on those who have not followed Jesus. This is what we are going to go through today.
Jesus is coming again
Jesus is coming again
This is the beginning of the essentials of the end times. Jesus is coming back again whether we believe it or not. Though this is a part that we would all agree with. It is timing where we get into trouble. But we will not get into that today. What matters is Jesus promised He is one day coming back.
7 Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. So it is to be. Amen.
This is quoted from the book of Daniel, But we know that Jesus himself said He was coming back again.
2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also.
But what we do not know is the day or the hour of the coming of Jesus. He promised He is going to come back again, that is essential to understand. But the timing is not as important as the fact that it is going to happen. So what are we to do about it? the Bible says that we are going to have to prepare ourselves for the second coming of the messiah.
The first point being that Jesus is going to be back, and our role in the process is to be ready. Jesus used the imagery of a bride and a bridegroom. The bridegroom would go and prepare a pl;ace attached to His fathers house and the role of the bride would be to have her and her wedding party prepared for when he came to go get her for the wedding. In anticipation she would watch and wait for her betrothed to come and take her to live together for the rest of their lives.
We to must be prepared, waiting and watching and letting the world around us know about the gospel of Jesus so that when He returns as many people as possible will be ready. This is our great hope as followers of Jesus.
The living dead
The living dead
The living dead, sounds like a horror movie but there is great comfort in what is going to come. We move to 1 Thess to look at what Bibles often title “the comfort of Christ’s coming”. This is a passage that would take a while to go through, so again we are going to go on broad brush strokes.
13 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.
We as followers of Jesus have a hope like no other. We must not remain uniformed about the hope that we have. We do not grieve as followers of Jesus like those that have no hope, we have a great hope. What happens when we die as followers of Jesus? Death is only temporary. Not only will our souls go to be with Jesus but on the return of Jesus The dead in Christ will rise to be given new glorified bodies.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
No this is not an episode of the walking dead. Though I am really curious as to how this will play out. The essential pat of this that we need to know is that at some time during the second coming of the Lord, the dead in Christ will rise from the grave .
There is a contrast here that would be good to look at. Jesus died and rose again. Jesus refers to followers of Jesus not as dead but as fallen asleep. He actually endured death and the consequences of the sin of the world and rose again. Because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, those that are His followers will not be seperated from God but our death has been transformed into sleep.
this sentence is not trying to explain how this happens, just that it is going to happen. Our souls will be with Jesus already if we are dead, but our bodies will be asleep.
15 For we say this to you by a word from the Lord: We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
Then there are those who are alive when the coming of the Lord happens. Timing? doesn't matter, the next essential is not only will the dead in Christ receive new glorified bodies, but also those who are alive followers of Jesus will rise to meet him in the air.
It says that we who are alive will not precede those who have fallen asleep. That means that those who are alive will rise to be with Jesus. What this refers to is what we commonly call the rapture. So many arguments and debates over what this looks like and when it is going to happen. We have those that believe that it will happen before a time called the great tribulation, which is The last chance for those that don't follow Jesus to turn their lives to Him.
Some believe it will happen during and some after in which after Jesus will set up His Millennial Kingdom and then comes the new heaven and the new earth. Traditionally the Baptist conference has held to a pre tribulation rapture. But I would argue of the three views it doesn't to much matter. What matters is it is going to happen. Does this frustrate you? that is okay, sometimes we need to major on the majors, it is an important reminder.
17 Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Be encouraged by one thing and to do one thing. Be encouraged that as a Christians, you will one day be with Jesus, with glorified bodies to always be with Him that died for you. Be encouraged to share the gospel with hose that do not know Jesus because of the last essential of the end times.
The Judgement
The Judgement
Lastly I want to mention the part of the end times that no one likes to talk about to much, the judgement. Like any laws, if you break them, you receive consequences. Imagine you are guilty of something and you go before the judge and He finds you guilty and sentences you to death. You deserve the death sentence for what you have done, it is a forgone conclusion. But here comes an innocent man who comes to the judge and says I will take this persons death sentence. Let them go free. That is what Jesus has done for us. and for those that refuse his offer of life there are going to be consequences.
11 Then I saw a great white throne and one seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. 12 I also saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their works by what was written in the books.
13 Then the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them; each one was judged according to their works. 14 Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
15 And anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
There will be a great judgement, another resurrection of the dead, all those that have lived and died but refused to follow God will be held accountable for their actions. This is what we all deserve, we all deserve death and punishment. We all deserve the lake of fire for what we have done.
One day those that have not followed Jesus will be judged and thrown into the lake of fire. But the next passage gives hope, the promise of a new heaven and a new earth. Where the followers of Jesus will live with worship Him in the new garden of Eden, like it was originally meant to be.
So What?
three things, the main points of the end times that we get from this. We did not go over timing of different things, that is not the main point today. You may not agree with that but I am okay with that. The three main points that really matter, that are hills to die on are
Jesus is coming Again
Jesus is coming Again
Jesus will once again come down to earth and we are all going to face Him and bow before Him whether you like it or not. So the question is are you prepared to kneel before Jesus? If you are a child of God then you have nothing to fear, have hope! But you also must make sure that you are being good stewards of what God has given you and called you to do.
We will receive new bodies
We will receive new bodies
The arguments over this topic are vast, but what we know for sure is that when Jesus comes back again that those who have died already will receive new glorified bodies to reign with Him in the new heaven and the new earth. Those that are still alive during this time at some point will go bodily to be with Him as well. Another great hope that we have, new bodies, perfected with out pain and sorrow, just joy for all eternity to be with Jesus.
The last judgement
The last judgement
There will be another raising bodies from the grave, but it is not a hopeful event. Those that have not followed Jesus will be thrown into the lake of fire. This may not seem fair that this would happen, but God is a just and jealous God. For those that refuse to follow Him, they will have their punishment for spitting in the face of God.
These are essentials, hills worth dying on. You may not agree with me but the bible is clear. What we can learn from this is that There are things that we need to take a stand on no matter the cost to our lives or relationships. Stand firm on the word of God and the truths that we find in the scriptures.