Category: Return of Jesus – Book
Key Truths about Heaven
This is another in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon.
The New Testament reveals many truths about the intermediate state – the time between physical death and future resurrection. Further, it shows us a seamless transition from the intermediate state to the eternal state as the intersection between heaven and earth is restored, with God bringing down his throne to rest among the redeemed. Consider several key truths regarding heaven.
First, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit reside in heaven, yet they have immediate access to earth. This is seen, for example, in Matthew’s account of Jesus’ baptism, where all three members of the Trinity appear together (Matt. 3:16-17).
Second, God’s will is done completely in heaven – and one day will be done on earth as well. In his model prayer, Jesus expresses this desire for God’s kingdom to come in its fullness (Matt. 6:9-10).
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The Renewal of All Things
This is another in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon.
All works of art suffer the ravages of time. Museum curators and patrons go to great lengths to preserve masterpieces left in their care. When we see Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night, or Michelangelo’s David, we appreciate the care with which these timeless treasures have been handled.
At the same time, some classic paintings and sculptures have fallen into such disarray that they require the expert touch of restorers. Even then, their work often attracts controversy. For example, art lovers continue to debate whether the restoration of the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel between 1980-1994 was a triumph or a travesty.
Sometimes, however, it’s plain to see when a restoration effort has run horribly off the rails. Take the statue of Virgin Mary and Child Jesus in Sudbury, Canada. Vandals lopped off Jesus’ head, prompting local artist Heather Wise to sculpt a new head of clay.
When she placed it on the existing stone body, perhaps the only happy person was Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons. The restored head resembled Maggie Simpson far more than the Son of God. The faithful were so horrified, the original stone head was recovered and put back in place.
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Could Satan be Saved?
This is another in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon.
There doesn’t appear to be any scriptural support for a reversal of fortune in hell. Once there, Satan, demons, and the unrepentant wicked spend eternity without a chance for redemption. Nevertheless, some in the early church took a different view.
Clement of Alexandria, for example, thought there was hope for the devil based on God’s limitless mercy. Clement’s pupil, Origen, took it a step further. He argued for apocatastasis, or the idea that all things made by God return to him. He once wrote, “We believe that the goodness of God through Christ will restore his entire creation to one end, even his enemies being conquered and subdued.”
In Origen’s view, everyone – including Satan, evil spirits, and the most wicked humans – ultimately submit to God’s sovereignty and are saved. Thus, Satan ceases to be evil, and his angelic nature is restored.
Origen’s view never gained much traction. Jerome and Augustine countered it. And the Council of Constantinople II in A.D. 553 anathematized the idea that the demonic could revert to the angelic in nature. In Against the Darkness, Graham Cole summarizes, “The darkness won’t extinguish the light. The destiny of the darkness is its destruction. Fallen angels will experience the eternal fire. The devil may be the prince of this world. Be that as it may, in the next he has no kingdom.”
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Unreformed and Undeterred
This is another in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon.
After Satan’s release from the abyss, which John depicts in Revelation 20:7, the evil one proves himself unreformed and undeterred. He immediately returns to his life of crime, setting out to deceive the nations once again and gather them for battle against Christ and his followers. As soldiers of this newly formed axis of evil surround the encampment of the saints, fire from heaven consumes them (Rev. 20:7-9).
Then, we read: “The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Rev. 20:10).
In this verse, John describes Satan’s ultimate destination as “the lake of fire and sulfur.” In Matthew 25:41, Jesus calls it “the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Jesus and the New Testament writers also describe this place as “outer darkness,” “eternal punishment,” and “the second death” (e.g., Matt. 22:13; 25:46; Rev. 21:8). But there’s an even more descriptive term for this place: gehenna, or hell.
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Satan and the Abyss
This is another in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon.
Before Satan is cast into the lake of fire to be tormented forever, he’s imprisoned for a thousand years, as Revelation 20:1-3 records:
“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven holding the key to the abyss and a great chain in his hand. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the abyss, closed it, and put a seal on it so that he would no longer deceive the nations until the thousand years were completed. After that, he must be released for a short time.”
The Greek word abyssos, rendered “abyss,” “pit,” or “bottomless pit” in many English translations, occurs nine times in the New Testament. In most cases, it refers to a place of temporary confinement for certain evil spirits. For example, in Jesus’ encounter with Legion, the demons who possess the Gerasene man beg Jesus not to banish them to the abyss – no doubt a place evil spirits fear (Luke 8:31).
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