Category: Return of Jesus – Book
Glory in Restoration
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.
When we read the post-resurrection accounts of Jesus’ life, we see that his glorified body is able to navigate the ravages of a world still under the curse of sin. Jesus eats our food, travels our roads, speaks with befuddled eyewitnesses of his death and resurrection, passes through closed doors, transports himself effortlessly from one location to another, and finally launches from the Mount of Olives into heaven.
Our resurrected bodies are destined to have many of the same capabilities. Yet there’s still something missing in God’s redemptive work. The world in which we live is still fallen, a reminder of the full effects of sin. So, a day is coming when our sovereign Lord reverses the curse and makes all things new (Rev. 21:5).
Jesus refers to this as “the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne” (Matt. 19:28). Peter urges us to wait for “new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness dwells” (2 Pet. 3:13). And in his vision of the world to come, John says he sees “a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more” (Rev. 21:1). These passages refer to the future glorification of the created order, a world purged of sin and its stain, where the pristine innocence of all creation is restored.
Continue reading Better by Far
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.
As wonderful as the intermediate heaven is, our ultimate destiny is the new heavens and new earth, which Peter and John describe as a place of righteousness and restored innocence (2 Pet. 3:10-13; Rev. 21-22). Christ returns, resurrects and judges all people, establishes his kingdom in fullness, creates new heavens and a new earth, and gives us roles to play in the administration of his eternal kingdom.
John begins Revelation 21 with these words: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth ….” There are two words translated “new” in the Greek New Testament: neos and kainos. Neos is an adjective describing the age of something or someone. But John uses kainos, which means “different from the usual, impressive, better than the old, superior in value or attraction.”
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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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