Sunday Sermons
The Final Judgment
The Final Judgment
Think the concept of a “Judgment Day” is a New Testament or purely Christian concept? Think again. While the New Testament definitely stresses the truth that there will indeed be a final judgment (Matthew 25:31-32; Acts 17:30-31; 2 Corinthians 5:10), God has been making this truth known long before the First Century.
· “About these also Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done” (Jude 14-15).
It's amazing that back to virtually the very beginning God was making it clear that there will be a final judgment. Don't miss the specifics of Enoch's message: The Lord will actually come in person. He will come with many angels (1 Thess. 4:16). The judgment will be universal. And people will be judged on the basis of what they did.
Certainly these truths have never been unclear or hidden in times past. It's good to know that people in the past, rather than having little access to truth, actually had, like us, all the truth they needed to serve God and make informed decisions.
For example:
· When the question was asked concerning the birth place of the Messiah, the Jewish leaders knew actually where the Messiah was to be born and which passage taught such (Matthew 2:5).
· When Jesus arrived and preached, there were people who already believed in the doctrine of the resurrection at the last day (Acts 23:8).
In addition, history confirms that even pagan nations from all over the world held to the idea of a past universal flood, as well as the concept of a final judgment and destruction of the world. The Sumerians, Persians, Greeks, Arabs, Eskimos, Norsemen, Lithuanians, Irish, Aztecs, Chinese, Mayans, North American Indians (Huron, Mandal, Sioux, Chickasaw, Hopi), South American Indians (Guarani, Inca, Tuscarora)—all have a flood story and teaching concerning a final judgment—simple proof that people passed down this truth originating with those to whom God revealed it.
Common Mistakes about the Final Judgment
· Things are Getting Really Bad—Jesus Must Be Near
This has been a common assumption throughout time. An abbot of the monastery at Cluny who lived from 879-942 A.D. felt that the end was near because of the excessive evils of the age in which he was living.
· The Expression “Last Days” Refers to a Time Right Before the End:
When Paul told Timothy, “But realize this that in the last days difficult times will come” (2 Timothy 3:1), Paul was not giving a “sign” that would precede the return of Christ. He is not saying right before Jesus arrives that life will be exceptionally hard beyond the difficulties of any other time, for in other passages Paul clearly taught that there are no signs or indicators of the Second Coming (1 Thess. 5:1-3). The expression “last days” actually applies to the entire time between Jesus’ resurrection and His return. We know this because Peter said that Joel’s prophecy that was set to happen in the “last days” was being fulfilled on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 (2:16)— early in the First Century. Furthermore, the Hebrew writer said that God had spoken to us through Jesus “in these last days” (Hebrews 1:2).
· There are Seven One Thousand Years of History that Parallel the Days of Genesis One:
This theory is called the “six-day theory” in prophecy circles. A number of Jewish rabbis and some who professed to be Christians (1st-6th century A.D.) promoted the idea that God would allow man to work for six thousand years, then establish an earthly kingdom. This idea was then added to James Ussher’s date of 4004 B.C. for the creation of Adam and Eve. Of course, many groups have given different calculations for the end from this theory. Some ancient writers thought the six thousand years would end in 500 A.D. The origin of this false idea is very old. It first appeared in the Secret Book of Enoch, an uninspired Jewish work written after the close of the Old Testament. It then found its way into the Epistle of Barnabas, a letter that some tried to pawn off as being written by the Barnabas of the New Testament. Of course the same letter taught that the hyena changes sex every year, that God hates the weasel and that Jews rejected the gospel because of the influence of an evil angel, so the book is anything but credible. Nowhere does the Bible teach that the days of Genesis parallel the lifetime of the planet. Rather, the Bible plainly teaches that the days of Genesis parallel an actual week (Exodus 20:9-11). Neither does the Bible teach that every “day” mentioned in the Bible was actually a thousand years in length, rather it teaches that time has no effect on God and the certainty of His promises being fulfilled (2 Peter 3:8).
· The Prophecies in the Old Testament All Apply to Our Own Time:
First, Jesus and His apostles made it clear that the Old Testament prophets were predicting events that happened in their life-time:
1. “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled” (Luke 24:46). Then observe the next verse, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day” (Luke 24:46). Those are the events that the Old Testament was predicting, Jesus’ first arrival on this earth.
2. “And likewise, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and his successors onward, also announced these days” (Acts 3:24). "these days" being the days in which Jesus was raised up (3:22) and the time period in which the gospel would be preached (3:26).
· Modern "Bad Guys" are the "Bad Guys" in Scripture:
For example, Ezekiel 38-39 is a section of Scripture that is routinely interpreted in such a way as to place the end of the world in our century. Many people have been told that the terms “Gog” and “Magog” refers to the Soviet Union, and the chapters are teaching that the end of the world will follow a Russian invasion of Israel. The first problem with this interpretation is that this invading army is said to come wielding swords (38:4) and riding on horses (38:15). Second, just because this horde comes from the north does not mean that they are located north of Israel. Many armies that had invaded Israel came from the north, even those many of these nations were located east of Israel, like the Assyrians and Babylonians. Thirdly, with the collapse of the former Soviet Union, many have had to find another modern “bad guy”, such as Communist China.
Another example of this misunderstanding is with the term “Anti-Christ”. The first mistake is that people think that when the Bible uses the term it is describing a single person and secondly, that such a person has not arrived until our life-time. The Bible actually teaches that there are many “anti-christs” and they have been in existence for some 2000 years (1 John 2:18). In addition, the “anti-Christ” is not some single, evil, and powerful person (1 John 4:3).
· The Formation of the Nation of Israel in 1948
Many have argued that this event is the time period of which Jesus was speaking in Matthew 24:34 when He said “this generation will not pass away until all these things take place”. They argue that the phrase “this generation” refers to the generation arrive when Israel gained statehood in 1948. Thus, that event signaled that the Second Coming would arrive within that generation. Of course, many from that generation are growing older and various authors who used to say that a generation is 40 years are now saying is it more like 100 years. The Jehovah Witnesses had their own twist on this, saying that World War I and the year 1914 was the beginning of the “generation” of Matthew 24:34. Of course all of this ignores what Jesus was teaching. He was not referring to some far distant generation in the future, He does NOT say, “that generation”, but “this generation”, that is, the generation He was a part of (Matthew 23:29-36). Added to this, Matthew 24 says nothing about the rebirth of Israel, but rather, the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem then standing.
Jesus will come again, and we must stand ready to meet our God at all times. May our focus be on our holiness rather than grasping for knowledge that belongs only to the Father.
Mark Dunagan | Beaverton Church of Christ | 503-644-9017
www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net | mdunagan@frontier.com
