Let's finish up our time together tonight by talking about immortality first of all Under death and the intermediate state. We talked about death the intermediate state now the subject of immortality There's much confusion concerning this Let me say a few things to try to clear up some of it only God is inherently inherently immortal That is we are not teaching Plato's notion That believer that that human beings are inherently immortal our immortality is derived It's a gift from God so first Timothy 6 16 says of God speaks of God who alone possesses immortality Who alone is immortal and so forth God alone is immortal the meaning is inherently intrinsically Secondly, he has granted immortality to human beings How do I know that well from a passage such as the end of Matthew 25 Where we learn that the wicked will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life That is because the Bible teaches ever lasting heaven and hell human beings last forever as well So because I believe in eternal destinies for every person I believe in the immortality of every person I don't reason to the eternal destinies based upon some theory of immortality But I reasoned from the Bible's plain teaching about those destinies being ever lasting To the fact that well the people therefore must live forever Thirdly, it seems better to talk about the immortality of whole human beings than about the immortality of the souls I believe in the existence of the soul or spirit or intermediate part in material parts already in the intermediate state But I believe in the immortality of the entire person I think it's better to talk like that in light of the language of 1 Corinthians 15 Which in the context only speaks of the righteous but which speaks of the perishable clothing itself with imperishable and the mortal with immortality So it's the immortality of our entire persons including our bodies They will be fitted to live forever So I do affirm immortality with some careful qualifications We're not immortal in and of ourselves God grants us immortality He grants it to everybody. How do we know it because human beings live forever? And it's better to talk about the immortality of the entirety of human beings in body and soul Than just the immortality of souls. That's a Greek teaching and not a biblical one Christ's second coming is a worthy topic of study I might mention one more thing one of the arguments that annihilation is used against The traditional view of the Christian Church that is eternal conscious punishment is the argument from based on immortality and pages 176 to 178 of hell on trial deals with this Maybe I should just point you there Because the argument is greatly overrated and it's really not hard to answer If we really think through the issues Christ's second coming Let's talk about its manner It's timing And it's function its manner is personal visible and glorious The manner of the second coming is personal remember acts one Which is a visible public Ascension of Christ Return of Christ from earth to heaven for the sake of the disciples My understanding was Jesus had gone in and out of the Father's Presence Ever since his death he didn't need to do this public deal, but he did it for their six So they would know at this time when he leaves them. He's not gonna. He's good. He's leaving They can't expect to see him the next day other than in his second coming and they did have a hope of that of course Men of Galilee the angel said Why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven He'll return publicly and visibly too, but the main thing I want to show at this point is It's a personal second coming this same Jesus Negatively what I mean is the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is not the second coming of Jesus. Okay, it's wonderful It's a fulfillment of the work of Jesus, okay? But the second coming of Christ is the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and not the Holy Spirit That is not Jesus second coming furthermore Jesus death. I'm sorry. Jesus second coming will be visible Revelation 1 7 says That every eye will see him in his return It'll be a visible second coming What this means negatively is the notion that some people have That when a believer dies and Christ comes for them at death That is not the second coming of Christ indeed when a believer dies to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord So it's wonderful But that's not the second coming Because the second coming is not a spiritual notion like that But it is visible. So it's personal It's visible and unlike his first coming Which was a coming in humility and ended up becoming in humiliation The second coming will be glorious When the Son of man comes In all his glory and The angels with him When the Son of man comes Matthew 25 31. Let me read it correctly When the Son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him he will sit on his throne in Heavenly glory. Here is not the baby in the manger Here is the king sitting down on his throne and humanity is before him and he separates them like a sheep As the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. We're talking about The Lord of glory is come back This is personal visible and glorious basic facts, but You'd be surprised one of the values of systematic theology is It puts things into categories patterns are thinking and then it really helps us under Do better Bible study because we have those categories in patterns Which reminds me of this next notion of timing This information which has been gleaned from the good notes of David Jones as most of my good stuff has in some of these areas pertaining to this course in particular This information on the three aspects of the timing it's imminent the three three sorry the three types of Passages pertaining to timing is so helpful see if it helps you as much as it has helped me and some others To understand the timing of the second coming we have to deal with all the information God gives us and that information falls into three categories Three types of passages there are imminent passages Which cause people to look for Jesus to come there are interval passages which indicate certain things have to happen before he comes And most importantly there are ignorance passages Which tell us that we do not know nobody knows the day or the hour Oh my we've had these predictions 88 reasons why Jesus coming back in 1988 we left But at times and it is funny. It's ludicrous, but tragedy has resulted sometimes People have sold their possessions. I knew of some Believers, and I hope they were true believers who felt such a sense of shame I think a minute suicide over one of these false predictions Even good people have been known to make the predictions and I I'll tell you I have little patience for those who say well You don't know the day of the hour, but you can know the month for the year. Oh my goodness Did Jesus really have to say you don't know the second the minute the day the hour of the year the month? You know all we have to the decade that now that's absurd. He means no one knows the time But you can just bet your booties that as we get near the year 2000 Oh boy, they're gonna be some powerful book out there. Don't buy them Don't waste your money Remind people of the ignorance passages. It seems to me if we hold these three things together will be much better off Let me show you what I mean first of all And I'm relying on hookamas outstanding work the Bible in the future, which you have been reading To give me a lot of guidance at this point There are imminent passages Passages that teach the church to look for Jesus to come again
Mark 9-1 There Jesus says In the first verse of Mark chapter 9. I Tell you the truth some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power These are all difficult these passages, but it looks like an example of what hookama calls prophetic foreshortening That is it links the resurrection of Christ and the second coming together You know the old mountain range illustration is used There are passages in the Old Testament that speak of Christ two Cummings and Looked at from afar the mountain ranges look like they're right next to each other and you drive there And you see there's many miles in between okay? It's only when you get close that you see the distance in between the peaks the peaks look like Right in a row from a distance in the same way Resurrection and second coming could be viewed That it could be telescoped as it were in view together and so the resurrection is a An anticipation of the second coming of Christ But it certainly is a passage that looks that would cause people to look for Jesus to come. Yes well It's a possibility But Pentecost only exists because of the resurrection of Christ So we're not far afield anyway if that is the case. It's part of the same Complex if you will Same group of things that are tied together Hukama 114 at the bottom specifically ties it to the resurrection. I
Think he's probably right but the idea the comment was made that Someone has seen mark 9-1 as more closely speaking of the Pentecost and the father and son pouring the spirit out on the church then it then to Jesus resurrection itself And I say that they're both together. So it's not a big deal of a difference if that were the case Yes, sir Someone else that suggested That it may have to do with a transfiguration that follows I chuckle because that's what I thought myself But in balance, I think Hukama might have the best idea better idea any of these whether it pertains to the resurrection Resurrection whether the transfiguration resurrection or the event at Pentecost It's the same idea of prophetic foreshortening It could be and an anticipation of the second coming of Christ. So they're not crazy ideas and Maybe it's hard to pin it down particularly. Yes, sir Okay, another suggestion is made of John of Jesus Revelation to John that is recorded in the book of Revelation I'll just say as I want to move along here. I really do that perhaps that's another possibility Matthew 1023 Is pretty emphatic when it says You will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the son of man comes Jesus says when he sends out the 12 What do you do with this This is even before His resurrection and so forth He say well, it's speaking of their immediately going out but also of their ministry after his resurrection even if he said that still It would have to be another example Hook him up the Bible and the future page one 19 of prophetic foreshortening he says it means and I agree that Israel will continue to exist until the second coming of Christ Matthew 24 and verse 34 Is it third one of these? Listen, these kind of passages have led some in the history of the church to say That Jesus thought he was coming back right away and he was wrong Albert Schweitzer comes to mind The problem is I would say that's an example of taking the first group of passages and not the second group Okay, the interval passages and maybe not giving proper way to that third group the ignorance passages Which might be the most important of all Matthew 2434 says This generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened if you translate that way you really have a problem on your hands The word is the Greek word Genia and according to the standard he does a dictionary pages 153 154 This generation can mean a Generation or contemporaries of people this word sorry Genia could mean a generation or contemporaries. It could also mean age The time of a generation, but the first meaning given is clan race or kind and Hukamah takes it to mean the rebellious Jewish people That is this Race of people will certainly not pass away There are certainly eminence passages in the Bible and We need to live in light of Jesus second coming Okay, I'll be to the get to those when we talk about spiritual readiness on page 67 But first of all interval passages if the eminence passages say Jesus is coming soon Or at least that he can come soon The interval passages say something's going to happen has to happen before he comes Matthew 24 and 14 an earlier part of the Passage from which we just quoted says and this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as A testimony to all nations and then the end will come this is the most important interval passage it speaks of the universal gospel Proclamation it says something's going to happen before the end Likewise, we won't need we don't need to turn to it, but Luke 21 24 says Jerusalem will be overrun by the Gentiles before Jesus Came comes back that is he predicted the overthrow of Jerusalem in Between 66 and 70 AD some think it even speaks of a future Overrunning of Jerusalem by the Gentiles. I'm not sure of that, but from this perspective that had to happen first before Jesus came back His words of prediction had to be fulfilled Thus we have eminence passages and interval passages I'll try to put things all together By emphasizing that there are ignorant passages Jesus said some remarkable things But I would have to regard as the most important in this regard in Matthew 24 in the same passage we have all three types of sangs That should caution us of the need to hold them all together Matthew 24 36 says no one knows about that day or hour Not even the angels in heaven nor the sun, but only the father The point of the comparison with Noah I've heard some preachers really do a job on this as it for as it was in the days of Noah So it'll be at the time the coming of the son of man For in the days before the flood people were eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage And I've heard it said that these things are such terrible things, you know marrying and giving in marriage like that Did you eat a drink today? You know many of us are married and we would certainly give our children a marriage to the person we thought was God's You know choice for them. No, the meaning is life will go on as it normally does Okay, that is it's going to be unexpected That's the sense and they knew nothing about what would happen verse 39 until the flood came and took them all the way This is how it will be at the coming of the son of man first 42 therefore keep watch and The mark 13 passage parallel is this one when it says you do not know when the time will come So how in the world do we put together the fact that Jesus could come?
Soon or he wants us to live expecting his coming better way to say it imminent passages at least certain things had to happen And maybe Wickliffe's count of the unreached people groups. It's not the same as the lords but You know there were interval passages and then ignorance passages well the ignorance passages ought to really chastise us Chastise anybody who sets dates. Okay, it is it is flat out wrong to set dates of Jesus second coming because nobody knows The Bible tells us that It doesn't give us this information that we would set dates. It's a misuse of the Bible's teaching in this regard The imminent passages keep us on our toes. We should live in the light of the second coming He wants us to be ready He wants us to be morally prepared the interval passages teach us That the second coming could be a thousand years from now if that's God's will So we don't set dates We don't pretend pretend to know that which is not given to us to know We live in the light of his coming But if Jesus decides to wait another hundred years in order for the task of world evangelization to go on So be it praise his name The function of Christ's second coming and these three types of passages in particular are chiefly and the purpose of his telling us about a second coming It's chiefly to promote spiritual readiness It is not primarily that we might get our prophecy charts down with great precision and Please don't use that type of thing to exclude other believers from your fellowship That that that greaves me Matthew 24 again Matthew 24 what a passage this is concerning these matters Keep watch verse 42 Because you do not know on what day your Lord will come Keep watch Verse 44 so you also must be ready Because the Son of man will come at an hour when you do not expect him How about Mark 13 you don't have to turn I will just read from the passage be on guard be alert keep watch watch I Get the point Lord It's like you know the I love the boy scouts so I have this saying but the old be prepared business That's what Jesus wants us to be spiritual boy and girl scouts if you will he wants us to be ready The hope of the second coming should purify us. It should urge us on to share our faith It should fill us with joy. It's a it's a blessed hope Paul says in Titus chapter 2 I believe it is in Luke 21 36 we have be always on the watch and pray The function of the second coming is not that believers would Fight other believers over some of the details. Okay, there are a number of purposes That we might have joy in our lives That we might purify ourselves as we look for his coming that we might have hope in death First that's Lonean's for therefore encourage one another with these words Because we do not sorrow as the unsaved do who have no hope We know Jesus coming again and he'll bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus Gonna bring the souls back And he's gonna raise the dead and get soul and body together again. We're gonna go to be with the Lord and so forth the function of The Bible's teaching us about the second coming of Christ in terms of these different types of passages is to promote Spiritual readiness the application has to be made to all of our lives is The purpose of the second coming being fulfilled in our lives. Are we on our toes spiritually? Do we love his appearing and does it make a difference in our lives? May it be so I appreciate your work and your diligence and good attention go in peace