In this Bible teaching, Shawn delves into the New Testament passages that suggest Jesus’ second coming was imminent and occurred in 70 AD. He emphasizes the urgency and immediacy of Jesus’ return as described in the writings of Paul, Peter, and the book of Revelation. Shawn also connects this understanding to the concept of resurrection, suggesting that believers experience their own spiritual resurrection at death, similar to the events that occurred in 70 AD.

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Hebrews 6:3 Part 10 Bible Teaching Script

Hebrews 6.3 J
December 29th 2013
Welcome.

Being that the New Year is only two days away I figured we ought to take a few minutes and contemplate on what we want to accomplish this year, what we want to overcome – to set some goals, to get ourselves into financial, or physical, or emotional shape as a means to be more pleasing to the LORD . . . just kidding.

The only part I was serious about was “Welcome.”

If you haven’t been here before please know we record all our gatherings and place them on the internet for you and those who do not have the physical ability to be with us.

Additionally we sing the Word of God set to music. This takes some effort but its worth it.

After this we’ll sit for a few minutes in silent pray and reflection and when we come back we will get into the Word – today we pick it back up at John 6:15.

Let’s pray.

Music
Reflection

Okay. A slight change. Actually a major alteration.

I reviewed the amount of information available to answer the singular question:

“When does the Bible say Jesus should return again?”

And I figure it would take me another 12 to fifteen weeks to present it – like I present information. That is too much.

In fact, not wanting to labor over a Milk item for too much longer, like the writer of Hebrews warns about I am going to wrap this up today.

On the back table of the room is a sign-up sheet for a book titled Christianities Great Dilemma by Pastor Glenn Hill in North Carolina.

If you want to pursue this topic more exhaustively sign up there and we will group order the book.

In the meanwhile I am going to present an expedited view of the most significant passages in the New Testament that support the notion that Jesus return was imminent in that day . . . and occurred in 70 AD.

Before we get to the best examples in the New Testament supporting this view, this is my understanding of it all.

God had been promising the Nation of Israel a Messiah for 1500 years and when He came He came to the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel.

Their rejection of Him culminated in the end of their world or age. The New Testament is a series of letters (epistles) to the nascent Christian church (composed MOSTLY of converted Jews who believed on the Messiah) and includes warnings from both King Jesus and His twelve disciples on how to do church, how to walk the Christian walk, and on what to look for when it came to all the prophecies Jesus has made about the things that would come upon “that very generation,”
which, as Matthew 24 says, included woe, false prophets coming in Jesus name, famine, earthquakes, desolation, war, Jerusalem surrounded, the destruction of the magnificent temple, death AND an escape plan for those who were faithful and enduring to the end.

This is a very, very pragmatic, reasonable, and historically applicable explanation of the New Testament narrative and is consistent.

The question is, do these things described also have application to our day?

Partial preterists say, “Yes, they do.”
Full preterists say, “No, they don’t.”

I remain open to either stance. But remember this has not been our focus. Our purpose and focus of all of this is to better understand resurrection. Almost every Christian agrees that the First resurrection of the dead (meaning The Resurrection of those who are God’s) began when Jesus rose from the dead (as the first-fruits of the grave) and would commence upon His second coming.

Since I am certain that Jesus second coming occurred in 70 with the judgment and destruction of the world (or age) of the Nation of Israel and its temple, I would also suggest that the resurrection of the dead has been occurring since that time in the following ways:

That Jesus “returning in the clouds” (not on the land) gathered up the redeemed in 70 AD and this initiated the continuation of the First Resurrection.
That since this time, whenever someone dies, they are either part of the first resurrection, and receive their spiritual, heavenly equipped body at the death of their physical body of flesh OR they go to sheol (hell) the dark holding tank and are there awaiting the second resurrection (or the resurrection of the damned).

I realize, very well, I may be wrong on this – but I don’t think so with God as my witness and judge.

I base my opinion on factors we have already discussed in Matthew 24 and on the rest of the bullet-point facts I am going to cover in sort of a rapid fire succession today – wrapping our study of Resurrection up this year of 2013 – so we can, beginning the first week of 2014, to (the writer of Hebrews describes it)

“go on unto perfection . . .” (or completeness in our walk with Him).

I am going to handle the book of Revelation first. Please turn to it.

I want to say from the onset that the book is very difficult to understand. And while many people have presented some amazingly intricate and apparently lock-tight theories on its content, I think most skip one of the most fundamental aspects of the Revelation –

Jesus gave it to John so he would deliver it to seven genuine, real, brick and mortar churches in Asia minor.

There are three overarching views of Revelation existing within Christianity:

The Preterist view (which says the events have already taken place).

The Futurist view (who state that the book forecasts a “universal history’) and an

Eclectic view, which essentially spiritualize the contents (and therefore make understanding them concretely difficult).

Along with my view of the rest of scripture, I am not resistant to the notion that Revelation has a “near and far” element to it, with the near being the primary description of what was going to happen to the early church and the far describing what could happen in the future, but what I stand firm on is something we do know –

The primary purpose of Revelation was to the church prior to the destruction of Jerusalem.

The biggest argument against this view is the dating of the writing of Revelation.

Obviously, if it was written after 70 AD by John on the Isle of Patmos then the book is entirely futuristic – and if this is the case my teachings in this area are all washed up.

I believe that the Revelation of Jesus Christ was written in 67-68 AD. I believe this because the proposed purpose of the book is lost if it was written after.

I just want to point out a couple of things within the Revelation that show it served a very important purpose to the early church.

First of all, John tells us who this revelation was written to, saying:

“John to the seven churches which are in Asia.”

We can spiritualize this line, we can read into it and give it application in our day and age (and be correct) but the primary, literal purpose of the revelation was to the SEVEN Literal churches in Asia (which we learn are Christian churches in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatyra, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.

Secondly, Revelation is the only book that comes with a promise to obedient readers. The promise is found in chapter 1:3, saying:

“Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.”

I personally believe in God’s word and when it says (to those believers in the Seven churches to whom it was addressed)

“Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.”

If we allow ourselves to step back and think, “what would the believers of that day think when they read or heard passages like this?” we might be able to get over what modern Christianity has done with Revelation and see it for what it really was – a final warning to the churches and its members that Christ’s return was eminent.

Appealing to the eminency of His return, Revelation, more that any other New Testament book begins and ends with a profound sense of urgency.

Imagine the scene.

John the beloved, an original apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ is still alive. The year is 67 or 68 AD and the Lord gives Him a revelation who the Lord Himself says is for seven specific churches in that area.

The revelation is given, written, copied, and then sent to these churches and when it is received it is read to the believers at that time.

And at that time, believers are watching as “the world that they have known,” falling apart. Not only are the Jews persecuting Christians the Romans have joined in.

Heresy is running amok. False Christs, earth-quakes (read the history of an earthquake that essentially destroyed Laodicea in 61 AD) and trials are abounging.

And then John himself offers up this new revelation which He says Jesus gave it to him Himself!

And this is how it opens:

Revelation 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:

The Greek word for shortly is tachos – it means “shortly, quickly, speedily.”

We’re reading and mapping out the book today like mad scientists in possession of some sort of alchemic formula but the simple clearest fact it the Lord said the revelation was to show his servants THINGS WHICH WERE TO SHORTLY COME TO PASS.

Then we get to verse three which contains the promise (we’ve covered) and it says (to the believers in the seven churches):

Revelation 1:3 “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.”

Then we drop down to verse seven of the first chapter and again, we read even more detail, where it says:

Revelation 1:7 “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.”

Futurists like to suggest that since we all have sinned when this passage says, ”and they all which pierced Him” it applies to the world today when He returns.

Unfortunately for them, the Greek means, “and the VERY ones” or the actual ones who pierced Him,” not the figurative but the actual.

Then in verse nine, John adds something in verse 9 that gives us context and setting, saying:

Revelation 1:9 “I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation . . .”

So there is the introduction to the mysterious book of Revelation. What did these words mean to the believers in the seven churches, folks? Nothing? Or did they take what was said and really believe them, only to discover that Jesus didn’t mean what He said and the word were really supposed to have application not decades later, not hundreds of years later, and quite frankly not even thousands of years later?

The Revelation then goes on and depending on the view, is explaining things that had happened or were still going to happen (I agree with the former).

But throughout it there is a continued thread of Jesus saying:

“Get ready – I am coming.”

Revelation 2:5 – “I will come unto thee quickly.”
Revelation 2:16 – “I come unto thee quickly.”
Revelation 3:11 “Behold I come quickly, hold fast to thy crown.”
Revelation 16:15 – “Behold, I come as a thief.”

And then we get to the conclusion – or the last chapter (22). Again, Jesus is wrapping this specific letter up to the seven churches that He wants them to hear.

What does He say?

In verse 6 of chapter 22 John write:

Revelation 22:6 And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.

This is a direct reference to the stated purpose of the book – to warn the seven churches of what was about to happen.

Then verse 7, Jesus says:

“Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.”

He’s reminding them to hang on – He is coming as promised – as He promised when He was alive, as His apostles have promised and reiterated throughout their epistles and writings.

“Keep the teachings of this book,” the Lord tells them through John, “Don’t give up!”

(Verse 10 of chapter 22)

Revelation 22:10 And he saith unto me, “Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.”

Two verses later He reiterates this, saying:

Revelation 22:12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

And then the second to the last verse of the day Jesus says to the seven churches (Revelation 22:20)

He which testifieth these things saying, “Surely I come quickly. Amen.” John finishes the verse by adding:

“Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

To summarize the Gospel accounts, let me say this (if you want the specific analysis of each verse place your order for the book I’m recommending) but in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 Jesus said:

He would come during the time frame of God’s judgment on the nation of Judah (and these judgments culminated in 70 AD) and that

His coming would occur in the generation of the people to whom He had preached to when He was on earth.

Why so?

This is important:

God elected the Nation of Israel to be His chosen people. He promised them not only a relationship and blessing if they obeyed Him (and gave them the same even when they disobeyed) but through the prophets foretold of the promised Messiah.

When Jesus came, He said that He came only for the Lost sheep of the House of Israel.

His prophecies, warnings, rebukes were to Israel, specifically upon Jerusalem, the temple, the priests, and the religious leaders.

When it come to His second coming (with the first being, of course, His physical arrival to earth specifically for the House of Israel) it only makes sense that it would be TO the house of Israel and that it would be the physical ending to their age of heavenly preference.

Additionally, I have long maintained that Jesus work when He was on earth (in terms of miracles) not only fulfilled ancient prophecy that the promised Messiah would cause the blind to see, the deaf to hear, and would raise the dead, but when it came to the rest of the world, such miracles are played out in a spiritual way, meaning where He literally gave sight to the blind when He came to the House of Israel, He now opens the spiritual eyes of any and all who are seeking truth. And where He literally raised the dead then (to prove His Messiah-ship) He literally gives all new life spiritually who desire it of Him.

This perspective is vitally important to what I believe is the best contextual understanding of the resurrection – which I will present momentarily.

But let me first give a summary of the rest of the Gospels, of Paul, Peter, and the writer of Hebrews comments on when Jesus should return.

In Matthew 16:27-28 Jesus actually said that the time was approaching for His return and that some of the people to whom He was preaching would still be alive when He came back.

In John 21 Jesus responds to a query Peter asks which was rather self-serving. The Lord has told Peter something about his future that was not so pleasant and Peter responded by asking:

“Well, what shall this man do?” There is a debate actually of who “this man” actually was – John or Lazarus – but that doesn’t really matter.

It’s Jesus response that matters because He said to Peter: “If I want this man to tarry until I come again, what business is it of yours, Peter? You just follow me.”

Now, to a futurists, and to biblical spiritualists, they believe Jesus was speaking in SUPERNATURAL terms here.

Meaning He was saying, “Listen Peter, if I will that John lives another 2000 plus years, it’s no business of yours. But I would strongly suggest that this very line clearly intimated to the apostles that Jesus was telling them He was coming back within the generation, and they did not hear Him and believe His second coming was so far away that John wouldn’t be able to be living a long but natural life.

In Matthew 26 Jesus told Caiaphas, the high priest and the Sanhedrim that they would see His coming (meaning some of them would be alive for it) and in

Matthew 10:23 the Lord told the disciples that at the time of His coming some of them would still be preaching and fleeing from city to city due to persecution.

How did Paul and Peter intimate when Jesus should return?

Let me give you a few passages to consider:

In his letter to the Romans, Paul writes:

Romans 8:18 “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”

That seems pretty vague unless we consider the Greek word that the King James replaces with “shall be.” What word is it?

Mello – remember we talked about that word and how it means “about to be” must “shortly be revealed in us.”

Peter concurs with Paul when addressing the church leadership writes in 1st Peter 5:1

“The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed.”

Again, the Greek for shall be? “Mello – is about to be, will shortly be revealed in us.”

What did Paul mean when he wrote this to the church at Rome and more importantly what did the readers of His words THINK he meant when they read:

Romans 13:11-12 “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. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.”

Admittedly, if Paul was telling the believers in Rome that that their salvation was nearer than they believed and it wasn’t true, or that the day wasn’t at hand as he said it was, then he was certainly deluded.

But let God (and his servants) be true and every man a liar. Paul new the signs and knew, by the holy spirit to buoy up the church, and that the time was at hand.

Again, was Paul being deceitful when he wrote to the church at Corinth (in 1st Corinthians 7-8)

1st Corinthians 1:7-8 “So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

He was if none of them were going to be around “in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Let me read you those passages from Weymouth’s Literal New Testament. It’s a little more clear, saying to the believers at Corinth

“So that there is no gift of God in which you consciously come short while patiently waiting for the reappearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also keep you stedfast to the very End, so that you will be free from reproach on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Why would the Holy Spirit get Paul to write such words to the believers at Corinth if they had no applicability – if they were still unfulfilled in this day and age?

In 1st Timothy 4:8 Paul wrote

“For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.”

Guess the Greek word translated “which is to come.” That’s right mello. Which again means, “is about to come.”

If he wasn’t about to come, Paul, once again was deluded and wrong and mislead the people.

Again the literal translation helps with clarity as it reads:

“Train yourself in godliness. Exercise for the body is not useless, but godliness is useful in every respect, possessing, as it does, the promise of Life now and of the Life which is soon coming.”

Obviously, Paul believed that his protégé Timothy would be around when the Lord returned. Expectations were high of his return as the Lord had equipped them with knowledge of the signs. Paul passed this expectation right along to Timothy here.

Again, to Timothy, Paul said:

1st Timothy 6:13-14

“I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession; that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Again, I believe these verse clearly suggest that Paul expected Timothy to be around at the time of His return.

Paul wrote Titus about 64 AD. In that epistle he says, encouraging the Saints:

Titus 2:11-14

“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ;
14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”

If Jesus did not appear soon, as Paul clearly suggests here, then CS Lewis was right – the apostles were deluded by their master, who was wrong, and didn’t know any more about His second coming that anyone else.

Most scholars – if not all – agree that 1st Corinthians 15 speaks of the resurrection and to the second coming of Jesus Christ.

When the saints who sleep will be resurrected.

Some of the passages say this, actually:

1st Corinthians 15:51-52 says:
“Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”

For years and years and decades and centuries and even millennia churches and pastors have passed these passages along to unsuspecting believers telling them to look for Jesus coming.

I’ve heard hundreds of well intentioned believers just pleading from their hearts for Jesus to come, so they could be raptured and “changed in a twinkling of an eye.”

Paul was writing here about 57 AD to the Christians at Corinth about the resurrection.

He told THEM (not us, THEM) –

“We shall not all sleep.” Whatever you think of the biblical term sleep relative to the dead, it is agreed that it means people who have died physically.

But Paul tells them (THEM) “WE . . . shall not all sleep,” meaning “We shall NOT all die” before the Lord returns.

Have you ever considered this? As recipients of Paul’s epistles, reading them in your little house church, how comforting the words would be to hear:

“And we shall not all die before the Lord’s coming?”

Paul was writing to the Corinthians, friends, NOT to me and you – to them. Then in verse 52 he reiterates the point, saying:

“In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”

Either Paul was wrong, or He and Jesus and Peter were right.

Now, also, take note of Paul’s use of the words here “the last trump” here in 1st Corinthians 15.

It describes the coming of the Lord. Well there is another place in scripture most pre-tribers use to bolster their argument that Jesus has not yet come and we are still waiting His arrival.

It’s found in 1st Thessalonians 4:13-18.

Now there are a lot of passages in 1st and 2nd Thessalonians that speak to when Jesus should return.

I’m going to hit on the big one, and then try and wrap this up once we’ve examined it.

Let’s read 1st Thessalonians 4:13-18 where Paul writes:

“But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

I would suggest that in the early church some of the believers at Thessalonica were awaiting Christ’s eminent return and were upset that some of their brothers and sisters were dying before He arrived.

Many were dying by the hand of persecution and while this was troubling the Saints were of the opinion that those who died were going to miss out on something when Jesus actually returned.

Paul’s message was the same that he delivered to the Saints at Corinth, where he promised the living that they will not all die before He comes and that the dead (in Christ) will be raised at His coming.

In other words the order of events here in 1st Thessalonians is the same order Paul gives in 1st Corinthians –

The dead in Christ will rise first and the second, the living in Christ will be changed.

These words were written to the believers at Thessalonica, not to us. These promises were made 2000 years ago.

And Paul tells them not to worry about their dead loved ones – “not to sorrow” for the dead shall rise in Christ and then (again) Paul adds:

“and WE who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord will be reunited with our loved ones” and he adds:

“and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

Then the passage ends saying (to the believers reading them at that time:

18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

Duplicitous words if they were not applicable to them and their situation, I would say.

Now I want to wrap all of this up with an illustration of a growing urgency found in the New Testament relative to Jesus return and then I will conclude with my final estimation on resurrection.

In our first discussion I mentioned that the New Testament produces for us an ever increasing urgency of passages relative to Jesus second coming.

Let’s look at this white board to understand it better.

(go to board)

Alright. So what does this all mean relative to resurrection for us?

I would humbly submit to you that just as the Word was made flesh and came to the House of Israel specifically, that His interaction with them first and specifically was materially based.

Theirs was a material economy, with blessings given here for obedience and cursings here for disobedience.

Jesus was a literal, material manifestation to them first.

His miracles were literal and material.
His love tangible and literally seen.
They watched Him rise with His body from the grave, and then with that body rise into the heavens.

When He returned (with His physical body (again, in the clouds) everything was still physical.

Resurrection was a change from the physical to the spiritual in the twinkling of an eye.

Judgment was physical, with Jerusalem and the temple literally being destroyed.

When it was done, His Kingdom and efforts toward Israel were established.

That epoch of time (or the age was completed). And He now reigns over His kingdom (which is NOT of this world) spiritually.

Believers are members of His spiritual body and He reigns by the spirit over our spirit lives.

Where He, (spirit-God) who became flesh, was raised from the grave, proving Himself the Messiah they killed, we, (being flesh) are raised up spiritually at death, with this being our resurrection and second coming.

You see, to the gentile world, who had not law given, to relationship to the living God of loving fire, our everything is spiritually based, a product of faith.

There is no material wealth component for the truest believer, only death to the material through the life of the Spirit.

And so just as the nation of Israel, in flesh, in the material, were visited a second time by Jesus in 70 AD and the judgment and resurrection was literal and material, so does every person face their own second coming spiritually at our deaths.

And we either escape the judgment of God (like the early Christian’s escaped Jerusalem) and are taken into His presence and care, or we face judgment – death.

In other words, I would suggest that in the dispensation of grace extended to Gentiles, each of experience our own 70 AD at death and if believers, a spiritual resurrection where we are immediately equipped with a body in the twinkling of an eye, only to them be forever with the Lord in His kingdom.

Questions.
Comments.