God in his sovereignty has allowed Satan to be the "god of this world."
What do you think this verse means?
Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Powers? Rulers of the darkness of this world? Spiritual wickedness in 'high places'?
Satan is the god of this world, and obviously more.
Who Has Part in The First Resurrection?
Discussion in 'Baptist Theology & Bible Study' started by OldRegular, Apr 27, 2014.
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Actually, although the word Trinity does not appear in Scripture, the Triune Nature of God can readily be established by Scripture.
That cannot be said of the so-called Rapture or the "snatching away" of the Church. There is not a single verse of Scripture or a collection of Scripture that establishes a pre-trib "snatching away" of the Church. The Church will be on earth until the visible Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
After the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is the First Resurrection and only resurrection to date we have the following:
Matthew 28:16-20
16. Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.
17. And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.
18. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
19. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
At that time the eleven disciples constituted the Church in its New Covenant form. Jesus Christ makes two essential points to the Church
1. All power is given unto Him in heaven and in earth. For those who are confused about who reigns over God's creation.
2. and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. A clear an unequivocal promise that He will be with His Church until the end of the world. And not the Church "snatched out" of the world but a Church teaching and baptizing! This is completely consistent with the Promise of Jesus Christ when He revealed the Church in its New Covenant form:
Matthew 16:15-18
15. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
16. And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
17. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
18. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
The gates of hell, hades, the grave, whatever. Nothing will ever prevail against the Church of Jesus the Messiah, the Christ!
Strange isn't it that the Gospel "some claim is written for the Jews" is the Gospel that records these two significant Promises of Jesus Christ, Jesus the Messiah: Matthew 28:16-20 and Matthew 16:15-18.
And then there is this from the Book of Revelation:
Revelation 22:16. I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, [and] the bright and morning star.
Strange isn't that Jesus Christ would testify to His churches those things written in the Book of Revelation when they supposedly have nothing to do with the Churches? -
Jesus rose from the dead. Then for a period of 40 days he made himself known to many. More than 500 witnessed him in his resurrected body. Then just before he ascended into heaven he gave the apostles the Great Commission which you have quoted.
Where you have gone astray however is going back in time to Matthew 16:18. Jesus gave the Great Commission at the time of His ascension right before Pentecost, not somewhere near the beginning of his ministry where Peter gave his Confession.
The Church Age began at Pentecost. The First Baptist Church was formed that day when 3,000 were saved, baptized and added to the Jerusalem assembly. The word "church" or ekklesia is assembly, and was never meant to by used as "the Church" or in a RCC sense. It means local church or assembly, such as the one that was at Jerusalem, then Antioch, etc.
When Christ comes, he will come for His Bride. He is the bridegroom. Afterward the wedding feast will take place which is also referred to in Revelation.
Coming to the Book of Revelation the key verse is this one:
Revelation 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
--Jesus Himself divides the book into three parts: the past, the present, and the future.
1. That which John had just seen was Jesus Christ.
2. That which is--the seven churches of chapters 2 and 3.
3. The future is most of the rest of the book.
There are seven letters written by Jesus and addressed to seven messengers or pastors of seven churches in chapter two and three. These are actual historical churches--churches that existed at that time.
It is interesting to note that from the end of chapter three the church is not heard of again until after chapter 19. No church is.
Chapters four and five are heavenly scenes.
From chapters six through nineteen describe the Great Tribulation, with chapter 19 describing the Second coming of Christ to save Israel, defeating her enemies. He comes with his saints that is us, believers who have already been raptured.
After that He will set up his Kingdom.
Chapter 20 describes the two resurrections and leads into the final Great White Throne Judgement.
Chapters 21, 22 describe the New Jerusalem, while John in the last chapter records the promise of Jesus "Behold I come," three times. That coming is the rapture that we are to eagerly anticipate.
His last prayer, the last recorded prayer of the Bible:
"Even so come Lord Jesus." -
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Why do the pretribbers think they know more than Jesus?
Angels aren't humans, they are spirits. They may look like us, when they appear, but they aren't physical beings.
Rev 1:12-17
12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;
13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;
15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
16 And he had in his right hand seven stars:and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword:and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.
17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:
John is shown a mystery.
Rev 1:20
20 The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches:and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.
Jesus reveals the mystery.
The stars are representing angels.
There is no further mystery, nor revelation.
The mystery was stars in His hand, and candlesticks, and The Revelation of the mystery is Angels, and churches.
Rev 1:1
1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
Angels are spirits, ministers for our sake, messengers, who bring messages to man.
An angel brought the message to John.
Heb 1:7
7 And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.
Heb 1:14
14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
No wonder we can't get doctrine right. -
Also, where was the kingdom offered? Book, chapter and verse please.
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Excellent comments RLB. One I really believe is appropriate is:
Dispensationalism teaches that an intrinsic and enduring distinction exists between Israel and the Church. The dispensationalist believes that throughout the ages God is pursuing two distinct purposes: one related to the earth with earthly people and earthly objectives involved, which is Judaism; while the other is related to heaven with heavenly people and heavenly objectives involved, which is Christianity [Lewis Sperry Chafer, Dispensationalism ]. Charles C. Ryrie in his book Dispensationalism writes about the above statement [page 39]: "This is probably the most basic theological test of whether or not a person is a dispensationalist, and it is undoubtedly the most practical and conclusive. The one who fails to distinguish Israel and the Church consistently will inevitably not hold to dispensational distinctives; and the one who does will."
Dispensationalism denies that the church is included in prophecy. Rather, the claim is made that Jesus Christ came to establish the Messianic kingdom for the Jews, that they rejected Him, and that He established the Church instead [Herman Hoyt, a dispensationalist, in The Millennium, Four Viewpoints, by Clouse, pages 84-88]. The Church is often referred to as the ‘mystery parenthesis’ form of the Kingdom; mystery in that there is no prophecy in the Old Testament regarding the Church and parenthesis in that God found it necessary to interrupt His program for the Jews because their leaders rejected Jesus Christ as the Messiah and He was unable to establish the Messianic kingdom.
Yet Jesus Christ before His sacrificial death on the cross told God the Father:
John 17:1-5
1. These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
2. As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
3. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
4. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
5. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
Now did Jesus the Messiah, Jesus the Christ, finish the work He came to do. He tells God the Father that He did. But if He had come to establish the earthly Messianic Kingdom then He had not finished that work. Every person born into this world will die unless the return of Jesus Christ brings death to an end. However, in all of time only one person was born to die; that person was Jesus Christ.
He came to die for the people God had given Him.
Hebrews 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
Revelation 1:5-7
5. And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
6. And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
7. Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
1 Corinthians 15:3, 4
3. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4. And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
He came to die for His Bride, the Church.
Acts 20:28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. -
There is also the issue that when the people WANTED TO MAKE HIM KING, that is an earthly Messianic King LIKE THEY WANTED, the Lord fled and hid himself.
Jhn 6:15 NASB - So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone. -
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John 1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
The Jews rejected Him. Not only did they reject Him they rejected His offer of the Kingdom. Had they received Him as their Messiah He would have given them the Kingdom as well. But they didn't. It was complete rejection.
You cannot reconcile 1Thes.4:16-18 (rapture) with 2Thes.1:7-10. They aren't the same event. The first speaks of comfort of the believers (4:18). The second describes vengeance on unbelievers--two events with two different purposes. They cannot be reconciled as the same event. One of them is obviously the rapture.
The Bible says: "There is no God." (Psalm 14:1). Do you believe it teaches that?
The world will end but one time, and then the Lord will make a new earth and a new heaven. Even then, the end of the earth is described better in references outside of Revelation. -
From: http://www.baptistboard.com/showthread.php?t=93101&page=14
This is what you call personal attack!
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I never said that one wasn't the rapture. It however is not a pre-trib rapture. You are apparently willfully blinded by the fact that 2 Thess 1 says that when Jesus returns "in flaming fire taking vengeance" on the wicked, he also is coming to "be glorified by His saints and to be admired by all those who have believed." 2 Thessalonians 1 is a clear depiction of the Lord's ONE, single return for the purpose of punishing the wicked and gathering his elect. One event at one time, not two separated by years.
You can't honestly think that I believe the world ends multiple times. It's pretty obvious that I said the world ends 3 times in Revelation, not that it will actually end three times. (Hint: That means the visions in Revelation aren't chronological, but repeatedly cover the same event from multiple perspectives.) -
It is not questioning your salvation, but rather you logic!
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There is a general chronology to the book, but there are places where things are not chronological. I have admitted to that.
The chronology is given in the first chapter:
Revelation 1:19 Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;
--That is chronology. It is basic to the book. Jesus commanded him to write things in order. It has a general order to it.
They crucified Christ because He offered to be their King. He claimed to be the Messiah. That fact alone implicated Him as the one that would set up the Kingdom. Read the gospels, especially Matthew.
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It is utter nonsense to say that because the word Church does not appear in Chapters 6-19 of the Book of Revelation that establishes the doctrine of a pre-trib "snatching away" of the Church. In fact the Bride of jesus Christ is mentioned in Chapter 19 and the word Israel appears only one time in Chapters 6-18; the word Jew not at all.
I posted the following earlier but it bears repeating in the face of such claims.
I would also note that the words church or churches are not mentioned in 1st & 2nd Peter, 1st & 2nd John, and Jude. Does anyone want to argue that the Church was missing at that time in history. The words are also absent from the first 15 chapters of Romans and occur only twice in Hebrews. it is likely that only the hyper-dispensationalists would take comfort in that since they are only concerned with the prison Epistles of Paul.
It is also worth noting that the argument presented by Walvoord above is typical dispensational spin, worse yet it is totally false as I show. -
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