Archives for 2012

When God raised Jesus from the dead, it was as if he called out "Number One" and the Resurrection began. Then he paused -- for a length of time no one knows but God alone. One day he will announce, "Number Two!" and Resurrection will continue. That will mark the End of the world, and Judgment Day will follow. Yet because of Jesus' resurrection and the descent of the Holy Spirit, we see that the End has begun -- although the world still goes on. Jesus' apostles and earliest disciples grasped both these truths as paradox. The End has come, they proclaimed -- and the End is still coming. The … [Read more...]

I recently noted that, in the person of Jesus Christ, the End of the world has come to us in advance, and that those who finally will be saved were both judged and acquitted in Jesus their representative. Bible scholars sometimes call this "realized eschatology." A Texas brother inquires whether I agree with the notion held by some, that Jesus' Second Coming occurred in its fullness in A.D. 70, so that nothing remains for the future. He asks the question because proponents of that doctrine also call it "realized eschatology." * * * The interpretation to which you refer was popularized by Max … [Read more...]

A gracEmail subscriber asks, "What does the Bible mean when it says that we are living in the end-time? How is that true since we live almost 2,000 years after such statements were first made? If this is the end-time, how should that affect the way we live?" * * * The resurrection of Jesus and the pouring out of God's Spirit on believers were two of several eschatological or end-time events foretold by the Hebrew prophets. The end-time has begun although it has not yet reached its finale. How should we live in this interim between the Messiah's first and his final appearing? How should we … [Read more...]

A gracEmail subscriber asks, "What does the Bible mean when it says that we are living in the end-time? How is that true since we live almost 2,000 years after such statements were first made? If this is the end-time, how should that affect the way we live?" * * * First-century apostles and prophets repeatedly declared that the end-time had begun. Paul writes that the night is almost gone and the day is at hand (Rom.13:12). James and Peter say that the End is near (James 5:3, 8-9; 1 Pet. 4:7). Yet it would be a mistake to read these as "calendar" statements, as if Paul and Peter and James … [Read more...]

A gracEmail subscriber asks how the New Testament writers could say that the end is near, since 2,000 years have now gone by and world history still continues. * * * The Jews in Jesus' day expected Messiah to come at the End of world history. This End would not be recognizable by a calendar but by End-time events. When Messiah came, God would make atonement for sin, raise the dead and pour out his Spirit on his people in a new creation. To their surprise, in the midst of time and history Jesus appeared -- whom the Apostles declared to be God's Messiah (Christ, Anointed One). God raised him … [Read more...]

A gracEmail subscriber reacts to a recent column: "This line caught my attention, 'during this pause in the End of the world . . . .' With all that is happening what insights might you offer? I've always thought the Lord could come back in my lifetime." . . . And well he might, for Jesus himself urged: "Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect" (Matt. 24:44). Events unfolding in our own day do not excite me nearly so much as the things that happened 2,000 years ago and which are reported in the gospel story. For those things -- the Messiah's … [Read more...]

A gracEmail subscriber asks what Peter meant when he said: "Therefore repent and turn back so that your sins may be wiped out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and so that he may send the Messiah appointed for you -- that is, Jesus. This one heaven must receive until the time all things are restored, which God declared from times long ago through his holy prophets" (Acts 3:19-21 NET). * * * Peter and John have just healed a lame man in the name of Jesus Messiah and the Jewish leaders have asked for an explanation. The ensuing conversation mentions three … [Read more...]