Category Archives: Soteriology

End of the world- As we know it

Hmm… What to write as the last day of the earth approaches. Well, how about this: 

“Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.” (Matt 24:32–25:13 KJV)

There is a lot of talk going around about the end of days. My advise is this: Only God knows the day and hour that Jesus Christ is to return for His church. The Mayan calendar will not tell us this date. In fact, the Gregorian calendar will not tell us this date. Neither will discerning this date via the stars reveal the date that Jesus is to return, but when we look and see what is going on around us, then we can discern that the time is close.

Are you prepared? If you have the slightest doubt if you are prepared or not, now is the time to make sure your salvation.

Phil. 2:12   Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

Rom. 13:11   And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.

Eschatological Jesus or Non-Eschatological Jesus

While reading Four Portraits, One Jesus some time ago, I read the arguments for and against an eschatological kingdom as preached by Jesus.  The author breaks this down into five portraits of Jesus as painted by various scholars. These are:

  1. Cynic-like philosopher (proponents, most of the Jesus Seminar).
  2. Spirit-endowed holy man.
  3. A social revolutionary
  4. An eschatological prophet
  5. Messiah

The cynic-like philosopher portrays Jesus as a poet-peasant who challenged the social conventions of His day. The largest advocate of this theory is the Jesus Seminar.

The spirit filled holy man theory states Jesus was able to perform extraordinary things due to His close intimacy with God. The biggest proponent today is Geza Vermes who wrote the book Jesus the Jew.

Jesus as a social revolutionary is a modern conception which describes Jesus as a revolutionary seeking the violent overthrow of the Roman rule of Israel. They view Jesus as a grass roots sort of person trying to over throw oppressive Roman rule. Richard Horsley‘s Jesus and the Spiral of Violence describes this view.

One of the more widely held views today is the portrait of Jesus as an eschatological prophet heralding the coming end of the world. J. Weiss was a founding father of this view of Jesus.

Messiah views Jesus as a man who came to fulfill a specific task i.e. the redemption of man.

Which view do you hold?  I’ll be examining each view more completely in upcoming posts, so stay tuned!

Source:

Definitions taken from Four Portraits, One Jesus by Mark L. Strauss copyright 2007 published by Zondervan Press

Baptism in Jesus name

Water baptism is a necessary part of being saved in accordance with the Scriptures.  Mark 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.  Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

John the Baptist took the Laws of Jewish purity that were so well ingrained into the consciousness of the Jew and used it to take one’s life and elevate it to a higher plane.  He specifically used the mikveh to wash away the sins of the unregenerate people.  John knew that he was preparing the way for the Christ.  In order to accomplish this he took the concept of niddut (being unclean and separated by sin) and using mikveh he elevated them from the unclean state to a state of kodesh (being holy or purified, separated as in consecrated).

Peter knew that Jesus commanded his disciples to baptize new converts as symbolic of Jesus’s burial.  He also knew that those whom John the Baptist had baptized needed to be rebaptized in the name of Jesus Christ for Jesus Himself had commanded it as a part of the great commission.

Paul met new believers and rebaptized them in Acts 19.  Acts 19:1   And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,  2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.  3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism.  4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.  5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Death, Burial and Resurrection

The word gospel means ‘good news’ and is a translation of the Greek word evangelion.  This is the same word we take our English word evangelist from.  Thus proclaiming the good news of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection is the true job of an evangelist.

1Cor. 15:1   Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 1Cor. 15:3 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: The good news as preached by the disciples of Christ was the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We must identify with Jesus’ death.  Are ‘old man’ must be crucified.  The ‘old man’ is our old life before Christ and before we had faith n Christ.  What this means is we must forgo the sin that we had in our life before Christ, repentance is a key part in the death.  To repent means one must turn completely from our sinful ways and follow Christ completely.  As was told in the parable of the rich man, the one thing he lacked was to sell all his possessions and follow Christ.  He could not do this for he did not have full commitment to Christ.  Whatever things we are holding onto must be let go in order to grab a hold of Jesus and follow Him completely.

Rom. 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?  4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.  This is the teaching of Paul to the church in Rome concerning baptism.  When a man/woman is baptized in Jesus’ name by completely immersing him or herself in water they are symbolically being buried just as Jesus was.  This represents the death of sin in our life.  Sin is buried and should no longer have an affect on our lives after our conversion experience described in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4.

The resurrection happens when the Spirit of God enters a body to quicken or bring to life that body.  Rom. 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.  5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Again Paul describes the resurrection in Rom. 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Oneness in Exodus

Exod 20.1   And God spake all these words, saying, 2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. The first and foremost of God’s commandments is stated here in Exodus verse 20:1-2. God is a jealous God and will not share His glory with another. There can be no doubt that a monotheistic teaching was infused into the thinking of Moses. From the time of his forefathers, Moses was taught that there is only one God, the God revealed as the I AM in Moses’ encounter with God in the burning bush.

Korban Pesach
The korban pesach or קרבן פסח “sacrifice of Passover” also known as the “Paschal Lamb” is the sacrifice that the Torah mandates to be brought on the eve of Passover, and eaten on the first night of the holiday with bitter herbs and matzo.1 This feast and holiday is described in Exodus chapter 12.

God restructured the Jewish calendar after this holiday. God made this the first month. An unblemished lamb of one year old was to be sacrificed for a single household. The Jewish household was considered a single entity lead by the patriarch or oldest male of the house. This was done in the home privately. The sacrifice was to be consumed in a single day, and the whole entity eaten. It was not to be soaked in water where it would disolve, but rather eaten whole as a single piece.

 

Consider some of its laws: a one-year old animal eaten in one group within one house; consumed as a whole entity without breaking any bone, and roasted that kept the meat as one entity rather than cooked where the meat disintegrates. Performed by Israel just prior to the Exodus, the unity within korban pesach unequivocally attests to G-d’s Oneness (Maharal, Gevuos Hashem Ch.36 & Ch.60).2

 

As can be seen, the ancient Israelites believed in their one true God. They believed so much in their monotheistic faith that they were willing to venture out into the unknown, face certain death, in order to place complete trust in the one true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob despite being surrounded by the polytheistic spread of Gods from Egypt. They knew the power of God and united behind Moses and stated “ALL THAT THE LORD hath spoken we will do.” This monotheistic nature of God continues to be one of the greatest attributes we know and understand about God. The incarnation of God made manifest in Jesus Christ does nothing to change the fact that there is only One God in heavenDue 6:4, and only One God who is saviour of all peoplesIsa 43:11.

 

Footnotes
1. Taken from Wikipedia article on Korban Pesach accessed on 29 May 2011.
2. Taken from The Living Law- Parshas Vayikra, a blog provided by Torah.org and accessed on 29 May 2011.

The Law of Sin or Death

Romans 8 gives us an exposition on the law. While the law was passed down from generation to generation, the Spirit of the law was not. It eventually reached a point where no one knew what the original intent of the law was. The priests did not even know what the purpose of the law was.
Paul states “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” Galatians 3 expounds more upon what the original intent of the law was. Jesus Christ did not come to eradicate the law, but rather He came to fulfil the law. By this I mean that the law was completed because it has fulfilled it’s intended purpose. The law was our schoolmaster; it taught us many things concerning faith and believing in God.
Unfortunately by the time Jesus Christ came to walk on this world, the law was of very little effect. People may have outwardly espoused the law of Moses, and outwardly obeyed the 613 mitzvot that was taught in the schoolhouse, but it was not applied to the heart and people obeyed out of custom rather than out of a fear of God. By fear of God I mean a deep love and respect of our creator. This condition of society has been coined Phariseeism today.
The same condition that exsisted back then is flourishing today. People call themselves Christian because it is the politically correct thing to say today. A majority of Americans today will claim to be a Christian in name, yet they do not know what the first 5 books of the bible are, they cannot name 4 of the 12 Apostles, they do not know the order of the gospels, and they attend church rarely (usually on special services such as Easter).
God is coming back for a bride without spot or wrinkle. Most today will ignore this warning, however that does not change the fact of His soon return for His bride (the church). Do not lay your lot with the five foolish virgins who were not prepared for the master’s return. There is a hell, and people will be sent there whom Jesus does not know. Make yourselves ready!