His Return

Resurrection and Redemption

/ David R Maas / Leave a comment

Salvation includes the bodily resurrection of the saints and life in the New Creation, which will occur when Jesus arrives.

Central to the doctrine of salvation is the promise of redemption. God will not abandon what He first created, and both the term and the concept mean the recovery of what was lost. The universe is enslaved by sin and condemned to decay and death. In God’s redemptive plans, the end state of redeemed things and persons is vastly superior to their original state, and this principle is epitomized in the promises of bodily Resurrection and New Creation.

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The Death of Death

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Some members of the congregation in Corinth were denying the future bodily resurrection of the righteous. Paul responded by stressing the necessity for it. Moreover, he appealed to the past resurrection of Jesus as the precedent for the coming resurrection of believers from the dead. The followers of the Nazarene will be raised bodily when he “arrives” at the end of the age, an event that will signal the termination of death – DEATH WILL BE NO MORE.

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COMING ON THE CLOUDS

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The whole earth will observe the “Son of Man” arriving on the clouds to gather his “elect” to himself –Mark 13:21-27.

The ‘Olivet Discourse’ now takes us beyond the destruction of the Temple to the return of the “Son of Man” to gather his saints. How much time will pass between the demise of the Temple and Christ’s arrival in glory is not provided, but during the interim, the church must beware of deceivers that disseminate false information about his coming.

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EPILOGUE – REVELATION

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If anyone fails to keep the words of the book, he will be excluded from citizenship in the city of New Jerusalem – Revelation 22:6-21. 

The Book of Revelation concludes with an epilogue that recalls the earlier promises to “overcoming saints,” reiterates warnings against faithlessness, summons believers to render homage to God alone, and calls for Jesus to “come quickly.” Testimony and assurances from uncontestable sources attest to the trustworthiness of the “words of the book,” which are “prophecy” and the “testimony of Jesus.”

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END OF THE AGE – PAROUSIA!

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The New Testament presents the return of Jesus at the “end of the age” as an event of great finality and power. His “arrival” in glory will be accompanied by celestial and terrestrial upheaval, the ushering in of the New Creation, the resurrection of the righteous, the judgment of the ungodly, the “gathering of his elect from the four corners of the earth,” and the cessation of death. Nothing will ever be the same again!

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