Basic Christian Doctrines 47
1. Good and Evil Will Continue.
God foreordained the future and knows what will happen. He has revealed some of these events to us in advance. The Parable of the Weeds in Matthew 13 tells us that weeds will grow in the field with the wheat until the harvest. That is, there will be unbelievers and believers in the world until the end. Some Christians optimistically think that Christianity will be so successful that there will be virtually no unbelievers left when Christ returns. Others think the opposite - there will be almost no Christians left. The truth is that both will continue.
2. There Will Be a Great Revival of Jews
Coming to Christ.
Romans 11 describes a significant aspect of how the world will continue until the Second Coming. God promised that many of Abraham's descendants would be blessed and through them the whole world would be blessed. The primary fulfillment of this is through Christ (Gal.3). Then there is the way in which the Church fulfills this as the spiritual children of Abraham. There is yet a third way this will be fulfilled. One day, God will stir up large numbers of Jews to a kind of jealousy as they reclaim Jesus as their Messiah. Many, perhaps most, Jews will become Christians. In turn, this will stir up the Gentiles at large to come to Christ in large numbers. This has not yet happened, but must happen before Christ returns. In this way, the Abrahamic Covenant is fulfilled through Christ and the New Covenant. Israel will not be specially blessed merely because of race, but by faith in Christ.
3. There Will Be a Time of Great Persecution.
Various texts predict that persecution will continue to the end. We have seen periods of greater and lesser persecution. Many scholars interpret some of these texts as predicting a time of Great Tribulation, in which Christians are severely persecuted right before the end. Much of the question revolves around Matt.24. Some think this refers to the seige of Jerusalem in 70 AD; others see it as all future; still others as both; and yet others as symbolic of church history in general. The best answer is that there was great tribulation for Israel in 70 AD. There has been recurring tribulation for the church throughout history. But there will yet come a time of one last major tribulation right before the end.
4. Antichrist Will Be Revealed.
Christ said many false prophets and false messiahs would come. 2 Thess. 2 predicts a special one called the Man of Sin. I John 2:18 says there will be one main Antichrist and many lesser antichrists. Some would identify this person with the Beast of Rev. 13 and other figures. Others say he is not an individual but a system, like the Papacy. It would seem that he is the Satanic counterpart of Christ: a sort of incarnation of Satan. Much of the world will follow him in his assault on God's people, but he is doomed to be defeated by Christ at the Second Coming.
5. Christ Will Remove Christians from the
World.
Right before He returns to Earth, Jesus will take living Christians to Heaven without dying, like Enoch and Elijah. We call this the Rapture. See I Thess.4, I Cor. 15, John 14. It is an instantaneous transformation and glorification. Some think this will happen 7 years before Christ returns (i.e., before a future 7-year Tribulation), but that would mean 2 Second Comings. Christ does this immediately before He comes.
6. Dead Christians Will Be Raised from the
Dead.
Moments
before He takes living Christians from the Earth, Christ will raise up all dead
believers, including OT believers. They receive new bodies that are perfect,
immortal and without sin. Their resurrection and the Rapture of living saints
both happen in a split-second. Just as angels assist in our deaths, so they
will assist in this great event as they announce His coming and come with Him.
No Christian will be left out, regardless of whether he was buried, cremated or
eaten by lions. We will enter eternity with those new bodies. We will not marry
or procreate, nor feel pain or death in them. They will be like the perfect
body in which the Lord Jesus was raised. I Cor. 15 describes this.
7. Christ Will Rule on Earth for 1000 Years.
Rev. 20
is the classic place in the Bible on this. While some Christians think this
period is symbolic of church history at large, or maybe the great revival of
Jews and Gentiles toward the end, the plain meaning of the text is
straightforward. Christ returns, defeats His enemies, reigns personally with
His people for 1000 years, then defeats an enemy uprising, followed by the
resurrection of the lost and the Last Judgement. The key is the two separate
resurrections. The resurrection of Christians (the First Resurrection) is
explicitly said to be separate from the resurrection of unbelievers by 1000
years. Since both are future events, the conclusion is that the interval is
also future.
8. Unbelievers Will Be Raised from the Dead.
John 5:25, Dan. 12:2, Rev. 20 and other passages say that all people will be raised up one day, including unbelievers. Those who die in their sins will be taken out of Hades, reunited with their bodies, and stay in those bodies forever in Hell. Their bodies will be different than those of Christians. Their bodies will be corruptible, filled with pain and ugliness, always dying but never ceasing to exist. They used their bodies for sinful pleasure, therefore it is fitting that they pay for those sins by physical torment. None will be excluded.
9. All Will Appear Before the Last Judgement.
After the Millenium, all people will have been raised and will appear before God. Everyone who has ever lived will be there. All history has been recorded and will be replayed as evidence. Believers will be exonerated, not because they are innocent, but because their names are in the Book of Life: elected, redeemed, saved. They will receive extra rewards according to how they served Christ. Unbelievers, however, will be damned. Their names are not in the Book of Life. They have no excuse or escape, no second chance or higher appeal. Before they are executed, they will be forced to bow before the Lord Jesus and confess that He is Lord after all. Then they will be sent to Hell forever. The Last Judgement is predicted over and over in Scripture, such as in Matt. 25 and Rev. 20. Christ will be the Judge, Jury and Executioner.
10. God Will Refashion the Universe.
Immediately after the Last Judgement, God will cleanse the universe of the effects of sin. The curse on Creation will be lifted. It will be a sort of cosmic resurrection. 2 Peter 3 describes it like a great meltdown, after which it will be re-molded into something even greater. Rev. 21 and Isa. 66 describe it as "New Heavens and New Earth". Other texts call it the "reconciliation of all things". It is the last main event in time as such, and the beginning of the eternal state. The glory of God will shine through this Creation as never before.