The Temple

ht: Tim Bagdanov, Jessica Baird
Technorati Tags: Left Behind, Eschatology, Science Fiction

Virgil Vaduva over at Unfinished Christianity posted this video…great. I remember feeling just like this as well. Randy Bonifield is the singer.

Technorati Tags: Eschatology, Left Behind, Rapture, Randy Bonifield,

We celebrate Christmas. We celebrate Easter. We celebrate Good Friday. We celebrate the important events of the life of Christ. Why don’t we celebrate the Ascension of Jesus? Certainly the Ascension is as important as the Incarnation. I contend that our ignorance of the Ascension has adversely affected our theology, especially our eschatology.

The Ascension is recorded in Luke 24:50-51 and Acts 1:9-12. See post on Acts 1:1-11.

Part of our prejudice toward the Ascension is that we regard it as only a physical movement of Jesus into heaven. The incarnation is the physical movement of Jesus to the earth, but additionally, actually primarily, we ascribe theological meaning to the Incarnation. We do not afford the Ascension the same privilege. So it is relegated to any other physical movement of Jesus, say his travels from Galilee to Jerusalem. This is a major mistake for our theology.

The doctrine of the Ascension has its roots in the military movements of the Old Testament culture and the priestly movements approaching the temple for worship (Exodus 34:24). The Psalms of Ascent are found from Psalm 120 - 134, these are possibly the hymns sung in approach to the temple and the temple mount.

But the real foundation of the doctrine of the Ascension is found in Psalm 110:1: “the Lord said to my Lord; Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”

Here are some passages of Scripture for your own study of the Ascension: Luke 24:50-53; Acts 1:6-11; John 6:62; 14:2, 12; 16:5, 10, 10, 17, 28; 17:5; 20:17; Ephesians 1:20; 4:8-10; 1 Timothy 3:16; Hebrews 1:3; 4:14; 9:24.

Here are some important elements of the doctrine:

1. It is the capstone of the resurrection. We believe that the resurrection affirms the work of Christ on the cross, it is God’s stamp of approval on what Christ has done. In like manner, the ascension cumulatively continues this affirmation, and elevates Christ to His appropriate place of adoration.
2. It shows that the kingdom of Christ is a universal kingdom and not simply the kingdom of the Jews. He ascends and takes the eternal throne of David, and its realm includes the heavens and the earth. The kingdom is an eternal one, never to end, and Christ will not be replaced or superseded.
3. In his work as King he sends the Spirit by whom He rules and guides and protects his Church.
4. It points the believer to the true nature of the kingdom, and the true focus of his attention. Now the mistake that is made in most eschatalogical systems is the missing of this very point. The kingdom of Christ extends to the earth, even now, as we express and obey the gospel. So it puts our proper focus on the life which we have here and now, a new creation in us. It pushes us back to the original mandate of the book of Genesis, to subdue and fill the earth. The focus of our work is the work of redemption and the sharing of life. Here and now. Many, who still see major kingdom work left for Christ to accomplish, adopt a pessimistic view of the world and church - hence tend to be inappropriately “other-worldly”.
5. It includes his work of mediation and intercession for us.
6. It is expressed in the squashing of his enemies. In this sense it would include his judging activity in the events surrounding AD 70.
7. It will culminate in total justice.
8. It is included in however you define the “second coming” of Christ. The Second Coming is considered a part of the exaltation of Christ, which is a subset of the Ascension of Christ.

I will expand on these ideas in future posts.

Technorati Tags: Ascension, Christianity, Resurrection, Christian Holidays

This post is a follow up on the Second Coming post a few days ago. I asked the question what is the real meaning of “coming on the clouds”? Here I want to relate the saying to the real meaning of the ascension. It is my opinion that too much emphasis is placed on the physical movement of Christ as it is described here, as opposed to the significance of the picture as it is set up for us in the Old Testament. Read more »

Well there you have it, Jesus is here.

I haven’t written a lot about eschatology, but this may lead me into it. Here is a start. What does the Bible mean when it talks about Jesus “coming” on the clouds.

Revelation 1:7 BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.

Daniel 7:13 “I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. 14 “And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.

Isaiah 19:1 The oracle concerning Egypt. Behold, the LORD is riding on a swift cloud and is about to come to Egypt; The idols of Egypt will tremble at His presence, And the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.

Matthew 24:30 “And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory.

Acts 1:9 And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.

Psalm 97:2 Clouds and thick darkness surround Him; Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.

Psalm 104:3 He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters; He makes the clouds His chariot; He walks upon the wings of the wind;

What does coming on the clouds mean? Look before you answer.

Assumptions and preconceived notions too often determine our understanding of a particular text of Scripture. So the modern Christian may be unduly influenced by childhood sermons or pictures, even a movie like “Thief in the Night,” as to the meaning of “coming on the clouds.” That meaning becomes encoded in my brain, then every time I read that passage I conjure up that picture.

The question becomes, is that the intended picture. If you looked at the passages in the last “coming on the clouds” blog entry I hope you noticed Isaiah 19:1. In Isaiah 19 we have words of judgment upon the nation of Egypt. The LORD is described as “riding on a swift cloud” as he comes to judge Egypt. He does so not personally but through an intermediary: Assyria. Does the LORD visibly appear in the cloud? apparently not. The imagery speaks of judgment, power and glory.

By the way, since Isaiah mentions Egypt, look back into the Exodus story about God and his usage of the cloud imagery in guiding Israel and especially as it relates to the tabernacle: Exodus 40:34-38.

More later…

Technorati Tags: Antichrist, Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda, Second Coming, Coming on the Clouds

I am re-posting this old post from my previous blog - I was reminded of it looking at the last two posts. From the sublime to the mundane. Alvin Plantinga is a premier philosopher, the flip side is Darren Daulton. To follow up on stupid things heard on the radio and the definition of a prophet this post will also include those wacky predictions of the end of the world/rapture.

Darren Daulton was a former Major League Baseball player with the Philadelphia Phillies who is now waxing poetic on the end of the world and “metaphysics.” Here are some quotes from Mr. Daulton:

“That will be the end of this dispensation. I really don’t know how to explain it. I don’t know what words to use so people won’t think I’m goofy. But by Dec. 21, 2012 [the last day recorded on the Mayan calendar], people will have a pretty good idea. It’s all about consciousness and love. We have the ability to create whatever we want. We’re all made of energy.”

“There is no good or bad,” he says, explicating the Dutch Theory of Being. “We’re all the same, but we’re all different. The higher we ascend, the more the same we are.” (Daulton was known as “Dutch” during his playing days).

When I share my thoughts and experiences with them, I tell them there’s absolutely no way their minds can comprehend what I’m trying to relate,” he says. “My friends are limited to the five senses.”

Darren claims to be dealing with the area of “Metaphysics” which is a branch philosophical studies that strives to explain the nature of being, or reality. It really is a legitimate study, but as with all arenas of life, there are fringe elements and extremists.
Of all the things he says in the article, most interesting to me (today) was his claim regarding the end of the world according to the Mayan calendar.

Good to see that date setting loonies are not just of the Christian variety. Here is a hall of fame of recent Christian date setters:

• Emil Gaverluk of the Southwest Radio Church (still on the air in the LA area, it is out of Oklahoma) predicted that the rapture would occur by 1981
• Edgar Whisenant wrote a book: “88 Reasons the Rapture is in 1988.” Estimates of his book sales range from 4-6 million copies. He actually set September 9-11 as the actual dates.
• Paul and Jan Crouch (Trinity Broadcasting Network) were so enamored of Whisenant’s theory that they cancelled all live broadcasting of their program and aired tapes of programs having to do with the rapture, in case unbelievers might tune in to “understand” what happened.
• In 1989 Whisenant wrote a follow up explaining why he was a year off
• Hal Lindsey (he denies that this qualifies as date setting) wrote:

“When the Jewish people, after nearly 2,000 years of exile, under relentless persecution, became a nation again on 14 May, 1948 the “fig tree” put forth its first leaves. Jesus said that this would indicate that He was “at the door,” ready to return. Then He said, “Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” (Matthew 24:34 NASB). Obviously, in the generation that would see the signs — chief among them the rebirth of Israel. A generation in the Bible is something like forty years. If this is a correct deduction, then within forty years or so of 1948, all these things could take place. Many scholars who studied Bible prophecy all their lives believe that this is so. (The Late Great Planet Earth, pp. 53-54).

• Charles Taylor wrote in the Bible Prophecy News that Jesus would return in 1992 writing:

“What you are starting to read probably is my final issue of Bible Prophecy News, for Bible prophecy fulfillments indicate that Jesus Christ our Lord will most likely return for us at the rapture of the Church before the Fall 1992 issue can be printed.”

• Grant Jeffrey wrote that A.D 2000 is the “probable termination date for the last days.”
• Lester Sumrall also chose 2000,
• Harold Camping published a book entitled 1994,
• Jack Van Impe has generalized dates like the late 80’s or the 90’s look good. Recently he is claiming 2011 as the rapture, with the return of Christ in 2018.
• Chuck Smith told a 1981 New Year’s Eve audience “If we’re here next year at this time, I will be very surprised.” This was after publishing 1981 as a date he was convinced was the time of the rapture.

Kooky. Is that a word?? People believe weird things.

Technorati Tags: Eschatology, Darren Daulton, Metaphysics, Rapture, End of the World, Mayan Calendar