Call For The Church To Rediscover Our Christian Hope
Traditionally, advent is a time of looking forward not only to Christmas and the celebration of Christ's first coming, but also to his second coming. How often these days does your church talk about the second coming? And if they do, do they address Biblical prophecy in any kind of detailed way?
Because of their discomfort with biblical prophecy, many churches say little about the future, and have over-simplified the Gospel. The simplified Gospel tells us to turn from our sin, believe in Jesus, that life will then be so much better, and when we die we will go to heaven to be with Jesus for ever. What's wrong with that, you might ask? Well, for example, how does Jesus coming back to Earth to rule as a resurrected human king fit into all of that? Does your church try to explain that. And what really happens when you die? Does your church really try to explain that, beyond the basic concept of heaven and hell. In the New Testament, our hope of a bodily resurrection, the literal physical return of Jesus to the Earth, and other associated events, are absolutely core elements of the Gospel.
In my opinion, if the Church pays little attention to the future, it fails to give Christians a healthy diet of hope. And so we end up with faith that is focused on past and present, but lacking with regard to the future. We end up with faith as an assurance, but not so much as 'the assurance of things hoped for' (Heb 1:1).
If your faith is lacking in hope and is mainly an assurance based on the past, then when things happen to you which seem to contradict God's love and goodness towards you, you are vulnerable and your assurance may easily be shaken. Doubts set in, and before you know it, you are depressed. James 1:6 says "he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind". I quote that, not as a criticism of the depressed Christian, for I have been there myself. The place of doubt and depression simply is not a nice place to be. My point is that the Church must regain its faith in biblical prophecy, and provide Christians with a healthy diet of hope.
There are 1189 chapters in the Bible, of which about 150 focus primarily on future events, although from a casual reading, it is not always obvious whether a prophetic passage is speaking about past or future events. In many cases it speaks of both, for prophesies often have dual fulfilment. They speak of future end-time events but were relevant and meaningful to the generations that received them, and may have already been fulfilled in varying degrees in the past. There are also many other chapters that contain minor references to the future. But if about 88% of the Bible focusses on the past or present, and about 12% on the future, isn't it time we began to explore the 12%? Given that the four Gospels amount to only 89 chapters, 150 chapters on the end times are not to be ignored. You can download a list of them here.
Because of their discomfort with biblical prophecy, many churches say little about the future, and have over-simplified the Gospel. The simplified Gospel tells us to turn from our sin, believe in Jesus, that life will then be so much better, and when we die we will go to heaven to be with Jesus for ever. What's wrong with that, you might ask? Well, for example, how does Jesus coming back to Earth to rule as a resurrected human king fit into all of that? Does your church try to explain that. And what really happens when you die? Does your church really try to explain that, beyond the basic concept of heaven and hell. In the New Testament, our hope of a bodily resurrection, the literal physical return of Jesus to the Earth, and other associated events, are absolutely core elements of the Gospel.
In my opinion, if the Church pays little attention to the future, it fails to give Christians a healthy diet of hope. And so we end up with faith that is focused on past and present, but lacking with regard to the future. We end up with faith as an assurance, but not so much as 'the assurance of things hoped for' (Heb 1:1).
If your faith is lacking in hope and is mainly an assurance based on the past, then when things happen to you which seem to contradict God's love and goodness towards you, you are vulnerable and your assurance may easily be shaken. Doubts set in, and before you know it, you are depressed. James 1:6 says "he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind". I quote that, not as a criticism of the depressed Christian, for I have been there myself. The place of doubt and depression simply is not a nice place to be. My point is that the Church must regain its faith in biblical prophecy, and provide Christians with a healthy diet of hope.
There are 1189 chapters in the Bible, of which about 150 focus primarily on future events, although from a casual reading, it is not always obvious whether a prophetic passage is speaking about past or future events. In many cases it speaks of both, for prophesies often have dual fulfilment. They speak of future end-time events but were relevant and meaningful to the generations that received them, and may have already been fulfilled in varying degrees in the past. There are also many other chapters that contain minor references to the future. But if about 88% of the Bible focusses on the past or present, and about 12% on the future, isn't it time we began to explore the 12%? Given that the four Gospels amount to only 89 chapters, 150 chapters on the end times are not to be ignored. You can download a list of them here.