Christ’s Victory and Reign

/ David R Maas / Leave a comment

Jesus triumphed on the Cross and began implementing his kingdom following his resurrection. He is not waiting for any future event to begin his messianic reign.

Did Jesus conquer his enemies on Calvary as Scripture declares or not? Most of us would respond to this question in the affirmative. “Yes! Of course, he did!” Yet popular preaching often denies this by teaching that his reign will not start until his future return, and thus, denying his past victory on the Cross, intentionally or not.

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His Return

/ David R Maas / Leave a comment

The arrival of Jesus will mean the resurrection of the dead, the commencement of the New Creation, and the final judgment.

Several Greek terms are applied by the New Testament to the return of Jesus, including ‘Parousia’ (“arrival”), ‘erchomai’ (“coming”), ‘apokalupsis’ (“revelation”), and ‘epiphaneia’ (“appearance”). Regardless of which one is used, it is always singular in number, it always refers to only one future “arrival,” “appearance,” “revelation,” or “coming.”

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The Days of Noah and Lot

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Just as unprepared men were destroyed by the Flood, so unrepentant men and apostates will be overtaken by destruction when Jesus arrives.

Jesus compared the final years before his return to the days before the Great Flood. “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be” when the “Son of Man” returns. In the account in Luke’s Gospel, Christ also equated this future period with the “days of Lot.” Both analogies stress the same point – (Luke 17:26-30).

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The Way of the Cross

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To follow Jesus requires a lifetime of self-denial and sacrificial service for others and a willingness to lose everything for the Gospel.

When Jesus dispatched his disciples to announce the “Good News” to the “lost sheep of Israel,” he warned that they would find themselves as “sheep among wolves.” Hostile men would haul them before “councils and whip them in their synagogues,” and they would be hated “by all men for my sake.” That was the harsh reality Christ’s disciples discovered when they proclaimed his message to the world.

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The Mind of the Spirit

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The man with the mind of the Spirit understands that Christ Crucified, the Word of the Cross, is the Power and Wisdom of God.

Overused by the Church and society, the English term ‘spiritual’ has become meaningless. To some, it is synonymous with religion. To be religious is to be spiritual. To others, it refers to supernatural things not of this physical universe, creatures that are otherworldly, noncorporeal, invisible, and live beyond the realm of time.

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