Part 3. Pentecostalism

It is so easy to live in the present and forget our heritage. Especially in these frantic days of speed, immersed in a consumer society, with all the wonders and delights (!) of modern technology at our finger tips, we tend to lose sight of our national background, and the meaning of the present in terms of the activities of the past. Our American friends have two days in the year in which they stop for a moment and reflect – Independence Day, and Thanksgiving Day. Here in Britain we do not have such days, but in November we have Armistice Day, in which we remember those who died in two world wars. [Read more…]

Part 2. The Millennium

Frequently these days I receive papers, or read articles, which fight shy of accepting the thousand-year reign of Christ, as stated in Revelation 20. It is as though a new consensus of opinion is gaining ground amongst evangelicals and charismatics, whereby it is now in vogue to spiritualise the words of Rev.20, so that the “thousand years” can mean any length of time, as long as it’s not 1,000 years. In this article I wish to give my reasons for maintaining a belief in a literal Millennium. The reason for this may be seen as a first necessity in our study of the days “before He comes.” [Read more…]

Part 1. Setting the Scene

This series, following on directly from the last, is in reality a necessary appraisal of all that the Bible declares will happen prior to resurrection. In this first number we shall seek to set the scene in a very general fashion. Most people would imagine that I should start by looking at the Olivet Discourse, found in Matthew 24, Luke 21, and Mark 13. But this is not considered the best place to start, simply because much of the material in those chapters related to events that befell Jerusalem in the Roman war under Titus. [Read more…]

Part 16.  Final “summing up.”

Today is Pentecost Sunday, and from the point of view of this series, it is a good day on which to conclude the study. We have seen that the Feast of Pentecost is very much connected with resurrection, and so it might be a good day to pray that the Lord’s purposes will soon be filled up in connection with the calling out of His elect, and so bring in “the times of restitution of all things”, and the resurrections connected with the Kingdom age. [Read more…]

Part 15. “Then comes the End.” (1 Cor.15:24)

“Every man in his own company, Christ the Firstfruit, afterwards those who are of Christ at His coming. Then the End, when He delivers the Kingdom to God the Father, when He abolishes all rule, authority and power. For He must reign until He puts all enemies under His feet.” (1 Cor.15:23-25)

I have tried to convey the original Greek of the above passage. It gives the impression of a lengthy period of time, after the Lord’s coming, when the Kingdom of God operates on earth, and by degrees the opposition to His rule weakens until He has reached the climax of God’s purpose, that no enemies shall be left. [Read more…]

Part 14. Passover & Pentecost

In the last number I showed what I believed to be fairly convincing evidence for the existence of two resurrections. If this be so, then can we find substantiating evidence within Old Testament Law to uphold that assertion?  I believe a positive answer may be found in the laws relating to Passover and Pentecost, each of which is said to be a “firstfruit” occasion. [Read more…]

Part 13. “Accounted worthy.” (Luke 20:35)

In Part 12 we saw something that is not commonly appreciated, in other words, that there are two distinct resurrections of the saints, one which is guaranteed to all believers, and which Paul speaks about in I Cor.15 and 1 Thess.4, and the other something to strive after, which is referred to as a prize, and which Paul wrote about in Philippians 3. It is this latter resurrection which interests us particularly in this number. [Read more…]

Part 12. The Prize of the High Calling. (Phil.3:14)

“That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.”  (Phil.3:10-11)

There is something about Paul’s emotive earnestness in this chapter that captures our attention.  There is something here that doesn’t seem to fit into a neatly formed theory about the time of resurrection. Notice in the above reference his use of the expression “if by any means.”  Does that imply that believers do not in fact possess a certain hope to be included in that great event?  Didn’t Paul tell the Corinthians about the orders of resurrection –  “Christ the Firstfruit, then those who are of Christ at His coming”?  Doesn’t that mean everyone who is a Christian?  Why is Paul saying something different to the Philippians, years later, when he was a captive in Rome? [Read more…]

Part 11. “Life from the Dead.” (Rom.11:15)

Paul’s teaching in Romans 11 concerning the Olive Tree has often caused difficulties for students of the Scriptures. In particular the position of Israel, both throughout the Christian era, and afterwards, seems to present problems that are difficult to solve. I must confess that through the years I have myself been puzzled sometimes. Let me put it this way. There are currently two schools of thought about Israel. One is called Replacement Theology, (i.e. the Church replaces Israel) whilst the other, though nameless, strives to maintain that Israel was, is, and ever shall be God’s chosen people. [Read more…]

Part 10. “Meeting the Lord in the Air”

“We who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.” (1 Thess.4:17)

There are three items in this verse which need some clarification. Let’s start with the last item first – the “Air.”  Are we really expecting to be hoisted aloft into the aerial regions?  I know that many take these words in a very literal way, saying, “Well, it happened like that when the Lord ascended, so why not us?”  This has led to the “Left Behind” series of 16 fictional books by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, which have become so popular that sales have topped the millions, making the authors extremely rich. [Read more…]