In the New Testament, the return of Jesus at the “end of the age” is portrayed as a singular event of great finality. His “arrival” or ‘Parousia’ will be accompanied by celestial and terrestrial upheaval, the appearance of the New Creation, the resurrection of the righteous dead, the judgment and punishment of the ungodly, the “gathering of his elect,” and the cessation of Death itself. Decay and mortality will be replaced by immortality, and nothing will ever be the same again!
Continue readingCorinthians
The Spiritual Man
The spiritually minded man understands that the proclamation of Christ Crucified is God’s power and wisdom – 1 Corinthians 2:14. Overused today by both the church and society, the English term ‘spiritual’ has become virtually meaningless. To some people, it is synonymous with the word religion. To be religious is to be spiritual. To others, it refers to things that are not of this physical universe, things and beings that are supernatural, otherworldly, noncorporeal, invisible, and timeless.
Continue readingThe Ends of the Ages
The Apostle links the start of the “last days” with the death and resurrection of the Son of God. The time of fulfillment has arrived, and all God’s promises now find their “yea and amen” in him. “In these last days,” God has “spoken” His definitive “word” in His Son.
And Paul declares that the church consists of those men and women upon whom the “ends of the ages have come.” While the term “last days” is not frequent in his letters, the Apostle does demonstrate his understanding that History’s final era has commenced with the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth; therefore, nothing will ever be the same again.
Continue readingRedemption or Abandonment?
Central to the doctrine of salvation is the promise of REDEMPTION. God will not abandon what He created. And “redemption” means recovering that which was enslaved by sin and sentenced to decay and death. And in His redemptive plans, the end state of the things and persons will be vastly superior even to their original state. This principle is epitomized in the promise of bodily resurrection.
Continue readingFinal Events
In his letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul outlines the events that will occur at the “arrival” or ‘parousia’ of Jesus, one of several Greek terms applied by him to Christ’s return. But regardless of which term he employs, he always speaks of one “coming,” “revelation,” or “appearance” of the Lord at the end of the age.
In the New Testament, the resurrection of the righteous, the final judgment, and the New Creation are all linked to his return, and this is also the case in the Apostle’s first letter to the Corinthians:
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