The End Times Class Introduction Trinity Presbyterian Church

The End Times: Class Introduction Trinity Presbyterian Church (PCA) Adult Sunday School Fall 2016

Class Overview � Week � Week � Week � Week 1: Introduction to the End times 2: Understanding the Book of Revelation 3: Views of the Millennium (Pt. 1) 4: Views of the Millennium (Pt. 2) 5: Dispensationalism 6: The Church as the Israel of God 7: The Two Ages: A Biblical View of History 8: The Signs of the Times 9: The Olivet Discourse 10: The Final Judgment 11: From Eden to the New Jerusalem 12: Open Class 13: Open Class

Recommended Books

What Is Eschatology? �Eschatos = last things | Logos – word or doctrine • Eschatology – an account of last things �Two ways to think about eschatology • Future eschatology – the second coming, the final judgment, the consummation

What Is Eschatology? � Two ways to think about eschatology • Inaugurated eschatology – the new and final age has already begun in Christ �Understanding the present in light of the end �The resurrection of Christ signals that the victory has already been won by Christ who has defeated sin, death, and the devil �D-day/V-day �Believers are partakers of the age to come �Hebrews 6: 5: “…and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come. ” � 2 Corinthians 5: 17: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come. ” �The kingdom of God has come in the person and work of Jesus, but it is yet to be fully manifested �Matthew 12: 28: “But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. ” �Matthew 6: 9 a, 10 a: “Pray like this…Your kingdom come. ”

The Big Story of Eschatology The Big Story of eschatology is God’s purpose of renewing and perfecting creation by dealing with sin. Ø Romans 8 creation groans Ø Revelation 21 -22 – New heavens and new earth Ø 2 Peter 3: 13 – we are waiting for a new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells

The Value of Eschatology � Eschatology the Bible helps us see the unified message of • Begins and ends with a garden • Promises made = promises kept � Eschatology Christian life helps us understand the nature of the • The Christian is caught up in the tension of the already and not yet • 1 John 3: 2: “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. ” � Eschatology helps us understand history • History is not cyclical; history is headed to a goal

The Value of Eschatology � (Biblical) Eschatology fixes our attention on Jesus, our ruling, reigning, conquering King. • The study of eschatology should not turn us into speculative or argumentative theologians, but greater lovers of Jesus. � Eschatology gives us a theology of hope in the a world of false hopes (political ideologies, materialism) or no hope • Titus 2: 13: “Our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. ”

The Second Coming � 1 Thessalonians 4: 13 -18: “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are 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. ”

The Second Coming � Terms related to the second coming • Parousia – an official, royal arrival �The King comes in judgment and salvation (Revelation 22: 7 -21) • Epiphaneia – appearance �Jesus is going to appear; he will be visible �Matthew 24: 30: “Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. ” • Apokalupsis – unveiling, uncovering � 2 Thessalonians 1: 7: “to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. ” �Illustration: unveiling ceremony

Characteristics of the Second Coming �Revelation • The present splendor, honor, and authority that belong to the risen and ascended Lord will be visibly, personally, and publically displayed. • What today we know by faith – that the Father has given Christ a name above all names – on that day will be an object of sight • Those who love him and those who are his enemies will all see him in his splendor and authority on that day.

Characteristics of the Second Coming � Personal • Acts 1: 11: “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. ” • Colossians 3: 4: “When Christ who is your life appears, then you will also appear with him in glory. ” • Hebrews 9: 28: “so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. ”

Characteristics of the Second Coming �Physical • Acts 1: 11: “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. ” • Where will this be? How will everybody see him? The Bible doesn’t say. • But it does say his return will be physical. People will see his human body (not a divinized body).

Characteristics of the Second Coming �Visible • 1 John 3: 2: “Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. ” • Revelation 1: 7: “Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. ”

Characteristics of the Second Coming � Time unknown • Harold Camping, 1994 & Are You Ready? Taught that we must try to determine the date of Christ’s return �Predicted September, 1994 then May 21, 2011, and then October 21, 2011. • Jerry Falwell predicted in 1999 that Jesus would return in 10 years. • Personal account � Warnings about predicting the hour • To the disciples’ question about timing, Jesus answered "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority” (Acts 1: 7) • Mark 13: 32: “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ”

Characteristics of the Second Coming � Imminent • 1 Thessalonians 5: 2 -8: “For yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, "There is peace and security, " then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4 But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. 5 For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. 6 So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. ” • We should live our lives with the thought that Christ could return in our lifetime. • The imminence of Christ’s return is meant to encourage and warn us

Characteristics of the Second Coming �Consummating event • Dispensational premillennialism – the second coming happens in two stages • Christ’s coming entails the general resurrection, the final judgment, and the establishing of a new heavens and a new earth (2 Peter 3: 3 -13).

Characteristics of the Second Coming �Triumphant • 1 Thessalonians 4: 16: “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. ” • Not a “secret rapture” • It’s a loud, triumphant event.

Questions Surrounding the Second Coming �Is it a single or twofold coming? �What will the world be like when Jesus returns? We’ll look at premillennial, amillennial and postmillennial answers. �Are there signs that suggest the Second Coming is imminent?