Last week, we saw that in the popular passage about the resurrection of the dead in Christ and the rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18), Paul essentially repeated the very words of Jesus regarding His return in Matthew 24:29-31. In both passages, Jesus and Paul gave the unique characteristics that will mark Jesus’ initial return to the […]
The Scriptures foretell two very distinct public comings or appearances of Jesus from heaven to earth, following His ascension into heaven. These two appearances have distinct purposes and mutually exclusive characteristics, which exclude every possibility of merging both comings into one. The first of these two appearances is at the rapture, where Jesus descend from
If our future sins have already been forgiven by God as some say, then it makes no difference whether you repent or ask God for forgiveness when you sin since all those sins would have already been forgiven even before you commit them. However, 1 John 1:9 shows that God expects His children to confess
The Role of Repentance in the Preaching of Salvation and Christian Living – Conclusion Read More »
There are a number of nice sounding phrases that have been accepted as doctrine in some circles although these phrases contradict the Scriptures and can lead many astray. One of such phrases is “if you are saved, then all your future sins are forgiven”. The problem with this phrase is that there is no verse
The Role of Repentance in the Preaching of Salvation and Christian Living – Part 2 Read More »
“And He (Jesus) said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day; and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (Luke 24:46-47). In stark contrast to the exclusion of repentance in
The Role of Repentance in the Preaching of Salvation and Christian Living – Part 1 Read More »
In Matthew 7:24-25, Jesus taught that His words constitute the safe and secure foundation upon which we ought to build. To neglect to do this is to build on dangerously shaky ground and be eligible for a great fall (Matthew 7:26-27). Jesus iterated this same truth when He rose from the dead and ushered in
Another sure way to know our time of visitation is to follow the peace of God in our hearts. Colossians 3:15 says, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful”. This also translates from the Greek as “Let the peace of God
Knowing the Time of Your Visitation – Part 2 Read More »
In Luke 19:41-42, we read the following about Jesus, “When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your
Knowing the Time of Your Visitation – Part 1 Read More »
In the words of Jesus, it is when the abomination of desolation, as spoken of by Daniel, shows up in the holy place (a designation in the Jewish temple—1 Kings chapters 6–8, Hebrews 9:1–5), that the great tribulation starts (see Matthew 24:15–21). Now, if it is in the middle of the last seven years that
Jesus’ return to this very earth and the catching up and gathering together of His saints to Him is a certainty (see Matthew 24:29-31 which Paul precisely iterates in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17; see also Hebrews 9:28, Acts 1:11, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4). So is the great tribulation, which Jesus defined as the greatest and most intense