Eternal life resides in Jesus and in Him alone. No one else! This is true now and will also be the case after Jesus removes His true church from the earth.
In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
What do people need the most? The answer remains the same as it’s always been: A clear understanding of the Gospel. By this I mean that people need Jesus, not the one that so many today create in their mind but but the One revealed on the pages of Scripture.
The massive influx of people from Muslim nations explains the anti-Semitic demonstrations in major cities across Europe and the U.S., but why the intense hatred such as at Cornel University in New York where Jewish students are forced to hide from danger?
The silence of churches concerning Israel’s right to the Land leaves a vacuum that the devil fills with murderous hatred.
The woke culture that’s invaded many churches thrives on promoting a Jesus that’s far different from the One we read about in the New Testament, which always begins when a church discounts the meaning of words in the biblical text.
The words of Scripture matter. One cannot devalue their meaning without opening to door to false teaching.
It seems harmless to most Christians today. Many pastors who promote this teaching also adhere to the Gospel of grace. Although the danger remains hidden, it’s real.
This is because churches with a lengthy history of denying a future restored kingdom for Israel are those that today promote Wokeism and proclaim the tenants of cancel culture rather than the saving message of the cross.
Revelation begins with these words: “The revelation of Jesus Christ.” The book is all about Jesus’ magnificence and power. From beginning to end, Revelation glorifies our Lord Jesus Christ.
Revelation is more relevant than ever before as we watch a great many of its prophecies came into sharper focus.
Amillennialism dominated the church during the dark ages and persisted long after the Reformation. The reason for this rests with three factors that fueled this teaching for well over a thousand years and remain in place today, at least to some degree.
It’s vital to our faith that we understand the errant foundation of amillennialism so we can recognize the error and defend the integrity of Scripture when others seek to lead us astray.
Life in the eternal state will undoubtedly be spectacular,. Randy Alcorn, in his book Heaven does an excellent job of expanding our imaginations regarding what life might be like on the new earth and in the New Jerusalem. We have much to look forward to when the words of Revelation 21-22 ring true throughout the earth and universe.
If such is the case, does it matter what I believe about the millennial reign of Jesus? Absolutely!
However, many pastors today insist that prophetic texts that refer to the restoration of a kingdom for Israel, the tribulation, and Jesus’ future reign are allegory, symbolical of another reality. This discrediting of the words of the Bible, however, is like a loose thread on a knit sweater. If one pulls at it long enough, it unravels the entire sweater.
Covenant premillennialists believe Jesus fulfilled all of the Old Testament during His first coming; this includes all of God’s covenants with the nation of Israel including the promise of the Land, which the Lord says is an “everlasting covenant” (Psalm 105:8-11).
Their claim to be premillennial obscures their denial of a literal thousand-year reign of Jesus over the nations of the world.
While Scripture alone must be our sole source for faith and practice, the study of church history does serve a couple useful purposes. First, it helps us understand the historical background for what we believe. And second, it refutes those who use church history against what we believe. This last point is especially true in the realm of future things.
The scoffers of our day love to tell us that no one believed like we do until the late nineteenth century.
Why do we believe that the rapture will happen before the tribulation? There are a number of signposts in Scripture that point us in the direction of which I will write about in the coming weeks. I will start with premillennialism.
Premillennialism is the belief in the thousand year reign of Jesus before the eternal state (see Rev. 20:1-10). Those who hold to this position believe in a literal seven year tribulation after which Jesus returns to earth to setup His kingdom and rule over the nations from Jerusalem.
We all know the story of the tortoise and the hare. We instinctively understand this did not actually happen; it’s an allegory representing a moral. C.S. Lewis wrote The Chronicles of Narnia as an allegory to illustrate biblical truths. The characters are fictional, but they tell a story rich with spiritual truth.
Is biblical prophecy written as an allegory with a hidden meaning for us to find? Or can we take the words of Scripture at face value?
When it comes to the book of Revelation, many divorce the opening chapters from the remainder of the book. They do so by regarding the opening chapters as “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” (1:1), but not the remainder of the apocalypse.
Jesus’ words to the seven churches, for example, represent not only Jesus’ message to a sampling of current congregations, they also reveal the future of the church. This article provides a few examples of how we can connect the dots from the introduction to the remainder of the book of Revelation.
While most Christians agree on the fulfillment of prophecy relating to Jesus’ first coming, such harmony quickly disappears when one turns to prophecies related to His return to earth.
As one who has spent much time in the midst of the fray, I can attest to the pressing need to defend all that we hold dear. Attacks against our beliefs in the rapture, a literal tribulation, the second coming, Jesus’ reign seated on the throne of David, and the eternal state not only come from outside the church, they also emanate from Bible-believing pastors, writer, and teachers.
