Since publishing the previous post "Are We In the Last Days?" I have been asked to write a bit more about "The Last Days mentioned in the Bible".
This is a huge topic as it is mentioned in so many of the Biblical Books and raises several questions about what Christians often refer to as the "second coming" of Christ.
I won't repeat the references from the previous post that showed that most of the New Testament writers were aware they were living in the last days, which I suggested were the last days of the Old Covenant or Mosaic era - I'll just add a few more.
The writer to the Hebrews opens his letter with:
In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. [Hebrews 1 : 1 - 2 NIV]
And a bit later added:
But he (Jesus) has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. [Hebrews 9 : 26b NIV]
It seems clear that the time of Christ's arrival, ministry, death and resurrection was considered to be in the last days of the "wrapping up" or climax of the Mosaic ages.
When we consider what Jesus taught about "the last days" or "the end", we see an interesting mix of reward and punishment in store for the nation of Israel.
In the explanation of the Parable of the Weeds in Matthew 13, the end of the age is truly in focus.
Jesus identifies the generation in which he is living as the one that will be experiencing God's judgement. (Matthew 23 : 36)
And Matthew chapters 24 and 25 give vivid predictions of the destruction of the temple, the sign of Jesus' coming and the end of the age, and the rewards and punishments of those in that generation.
Secular history confirms the physical fulfillments of these predictions, and debates have raged for centuries over the non-physical - preterist, futurist, pre-mill, post-mill, a-mill discussions abound. (But those debates are well outside the focus of this BLOG.)
Hope that's enough to tempt you to put your study specs on and satisfy your curiosity about "the last days". I'll get back to our usual theme of the extravagant grace of God in the next post.
Blessings, Barry
Because this Blog is centred around God's extravagant grace, most of the posts touch on some aspect of the eventual, universal, reconciliation of mankind to God; which fulfills God's role as the Saviour of the world. (1 Tim 4 : 10)
Today's post highlights the salvation of Israel, a step on the way to the salvation of the world.
There are many references to this event in the Old Testament, like Psalm 130 : 8 and Psalm 103 : 2 - 3, together with King David's confidence of his expectation to be "dwelling in the house of the Lord for ever" in Psalm 23.
In the New Testament, the most descriptive mention of this event is in Romans 11, just after Paul illustrates God's faith community using his wonderful Olive Tree allegory.
He tells us that although Israel has stumbled, she will not be rejected, nor has she fallen beyond recovery.
In fact, God has used her stumbling to bring salvation to the Gentile, the non-Jewish, nations in order to make Israel envious or jealous.
Paul then says ...
"Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way, all Israel will be saved."
So Israel will be saved after the full number of Gentiles has come in.
Come in to what?
The context of Romans 11 is the Body of Christ, the disciples or followers of Jesus, part of God's faith community that is illustrated by an olive tree.
So when the Body of Christ is complete, then all Israel will be saved.
(Paul is not talking here about the salvation of the world at the end of time, at the consummation of the ages.
He is talking about the Body of Christ, the Church, the believers who are chosen as a first group, before the kingdom ages begin, for life and administration responsibilities in those coming ages.)
And we are living in the era or age when the Body of Christ is being filled; so at the end of this age, when this filling is completed, all Israel will be saved.
Looking at the world situation, and the Middle East in particular, it is difficult to imagine how this event might happen.
I certainly don't know *how* it will happen: all I know is that it will - because God's Word has declared it. And even that is a strain for many people.
Let me illustrate.
Suppose a mother says to her child, "You will be in bed by 7.30 pm.".
The child starts thinking, "How does she know that? There's no way that's going to happen. I still haven't finished my homework, I haven't fed the dog yet, or cleaned my teeth."
So how does mother know?
She knows because she has previously made that decision and will make sure that it happens.
So how does God know that all Israel will be saved?
He knows because he has previously made that decision and will make sure that it happens.
We have a role to play in completing the Body of Christ. That's one of the reasons we have been called, chosen early, before the rest of the world who will come to God later.
One aspect of that role is sharing the good news that God loves us and does not count our sins against us - because Jesus has already died for the sins of the world.
When we share God's good news, others who have been chosen to complete the Body of Christ will hear it, be given the faith to believe it, be drawn to Christ and added to his Body - in the same way we were.
Each time that happens the Body of Christ will get that bit nearer to completion and Israel's salvation will be that bit nearer too.
When all Israel are saved, the next part of God's plan for his creation, the kingdom ages, will commence with the Olive Tree having administration responsibilities that we are currently in training for.
Blessings, Barry
At the beginning of Chapter 5 in "The Really Good News About God" I mention preachers who ask their congregations, "Where will you spend eternity?"- a question designed to prepare the audience for a "fake news" promotion.
If those preachers understood that Jesus died for the sins of the world (1 John 2 : 2),
that God is the Saviour of the world (1 Timothy 4 : 10),
that Jesus came to save the world (John 3 : 17) and
that God no longer holds people's sins against them (2 Corinthians 5 : 19),
then they would not ask such a silly question.
They should all just know the answer: we'll all be together with God.
Eternal life is a given for everyone because of what Jesus achieved on the cross.
An interesting way of saying this is : If you are a descendant of Adam, then you have eternal life.
Really?
Yes, 1 Corinthians 15 : 22 says, "For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive."
(Beware of people, including some translators, who change the order of the words in this verse to support their claim that not all who die because of Adam will be made alive because of Christ.)
I like using the CEV version of this verse, because it makes the order of the words harder to change, "Adam brought death to all of us, and Christ will bring life to all of us."
For many people this will not happen until the conclusion of the ages.
They will live their life on this planet giving God no consideration at all, will die, will remain asleep until the resurrection at the end of the realm of time, when, among other things, death is abolished and only life remains - eternal life with God.
Now, about this fake news or fake sales promotion.
Preachers who are trying to sell "eternal life" are trying to promote something to people they already have.
"You need to confess your sins, you need to repent, you need to be baptised, you need to join our church, you need to ... and you will be saved, get eternal life," is a frequent line of approach.
But the fact is: we don't need to do anything now to get eternal life - it's a done deal, for all descendants of Adam.
So what justification is there for preachers to offer eternal life to people?
Unfortunately, poor translation of our English Bibles.
Most of our popular translations of the New Testament mention eternal life 42 times which gives preachers the Biblical backing for asking their question.
However in all of those 42 occasions, the underlying Greek word is aionian, which means "belonging to/during the eon or age", not "eternal". **
For example, look at 2 Peter 1 : 11 from two popular translations (ESV and NIV) and two literal translations (YLT and CLV).
- For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (ESV)
- and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (NIV)
- for so, richly shall be superadded to you the entrance into the age-during reign of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. (YLT)
- For thus will be richly supplied to you the entrance into the eonian kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. (CLV)
Given that Jesus is going to hand over His kingdom to the Father at the end of the ages (1 Cor 15 : 24), it is impossible for His kingdom to be eternal, just age-during or eonian, showing how obvious is the translation error in our popular translations.
So the offer really being made is for eonian life, life during the ages, life in the kingdom of Christ, life in the Body of Christ during the remaining eons, and not having to wait till the end of the ages when all will receive eternal life.
So what about those verses that say you have to be a believer to have eternal life?
Correctly translated, they are saying you have to be a believer to be in the Body of Christ, to have life and rule with Christ through the coming ages.
And what a blessing that will be!
Blessings, Barry
** To read more about this wrongly translated word, go to our webpage at www.ibtechservices.com.au, enter Main Website, click on The Bible image, click Bible Background, click on Translations, and read about Nouns and Their Adjectives.
John 3 : 16 is probably the best known verse in the Bible and has been committed to memory by millions.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
(As long-time readers of this blog will know, "eternal" is not a correct translation of the Greek in this verse, but we won't focus on that in this post.)
Clearly this verse states that belief is needed for anyone to attain life.
So this restricts life to those to whom God has given belief (faith).
Now let's look at the next verse (sentence).
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. [John 3 : 17]
This verse claims that God is going to save the world, for this is the reason Jesus came.
So let's put these two claims together.
Belief (faith) is needed to attain life AND God is going to save the world (everyone).
These two claims can only be consistent with each other IF God is going to give belief to the world, to everyone.
And if he hasn't done so by the time anyone dies and leaves this planet, he must be planning to do so in the ages still ahead of us.
One of our most-quoted verses shows this link ...
For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.
[1 Timothy 4 : 10]
So to understand God's plan for everyone we can't afford to consider John 3 : 16 on its own. We need the next verse with it to complete the picture.
Blessings, Barry
Several years ago, I posted "Jottings from John" on the blog, which included several verses that described God's inclusive and universal plan to save all his creation through the death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ.
Today let's discuss John 3 : 36, a verse usually promoted to disprove this plan.
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them. [NIV]
As usual, I need to challenge the translation of the Greek "aionian" into the English "eternal" and replace "eternal life" by "life in the ages". I will also add "this" to help link the second reference to this life later in the verse.
So my adjusted NIV translation becomes ...
Whoever believes in the Son has life in the ages, but whoever rejects the Son will not see this life, for God's wrath remains on them. [BV]
which is not far from the Young's Literal Translation ...
He who is believing in the Son, has life age-during; and he who is not believing the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God does remain upon him. [YLT]
So we see that this verse is not referring to the eventual outcome of God's plan, with many of his creation lost forever, but to the kingdom stage where only those chosen to believe in the ages (during the realm of time) will be experiencing life, while the others not seeing life until the consummation of the ages.
And this conclusion is consistent with what John said earlier in Chapter 3 (verse 17) ...
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. [NIV]
I am much more comfortable believing our God of love and mercy will fully achieve his purpose for the world than believing many of his creation will overturn his plans for them through their current unbelief.
Blessings, Barry
Recently I was asked, "Could you help me through the scriptures with how the unbelievers will be saved?"
I have replied and thought I would share the reply with you for your consideration and feedback.
I am happy to journey through the Scriptures with you on this, although I have to admit, before we commence, that there are not too many clues in the Scriptures about HOW God does most things, including the saving of unbelievers, whether they are on this planet, or have left it.
In many cases we know WHAT he does/did, but not HOW he does/did it.
For example,
We know that God implanted Jesus into the womb of the virgin Mary, but no clues are given about how he did it?
We know that Jesus turned water into wine, but no clues are given about how he did it?
We know that Jesus raised the widow's son in Nain from the dead, but no clues are given about how he did it?
You and I received faith in God and Jesus' sacrifice for our sins, but I, for one, cannot explain HOW we got that faith?
We, as the creatures, will never understand how he, the Creator, does such things, unless he tells us, or we make guesses from clues sprinkled through the Scriptures.
So let's start with the WHAT, about the fate of those who leave the planet as unbelievers, which is well documented in the Scriptures.
Col 1 : 19 - 20 : God will reconcile all things, in heaven and on earth, to himself. The same sacrifice of Jesus that got you and me reconciled to God will reconcile the rest of his creation.
2 Cor 5 : 19 : God is no longer counting our sins against us - any of us.
1 John 2 : 2 : Jesus paid for the sins of the whole world.
1 Tim 4 : 10 : God will save all people, not just believers.
Romans 11 : 32 : God will have mercy on us all.
Ephesians 1 : 10 : The end result will be the unity of all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
HOW God will save unbelievers beyond their time on this planet is just as difficult to explain as the HOW he saves those who become believers while still here (people like us).
We are made aware of our sin, God's provision for dealing with it, and his being reconciled to us.
God gives us the faith to believe these truths, as Jesus draws us to himself.
We respond by confessing our faith in Jesus and his completed work for us.
We are reconciled to (at peace with) God, and express our appreciation and devotion.
This happens in a multitude of ways and circumstances and places - it's all God's doing and timing.
Those who leave this planet as unbelievers will be reconciled to God through a similar series of "steps" that converted unbelievers experience in their lifetime here - awareness, faith, drawing, confession, reconciliation, appreciation and devotion.
Here are my guesses .....
Because God is already reconciled to these unbelievers when they show up before him, they will discover that God holds nothing against them and does not need to be feared (because of the completed work of Jesus in dealing with their sin).
Believing these truths will be easy in the presence of Jesus; they will be drawn to him, confessing their conviction that he is their Lord and their God.
This will happen far too late for them to experience governing with Christ and previous believers in the kingdom age, but will carry them reconciled into eternity.
So what clues have I based these guesses on?
One way or the other God's plan (the WHAT above) must be fulfilled. [ Psalm 135 : 6 ; Isaiah 46 : 9 - 11 ]
Jesus came into the world to save it, not judge it, and he is the same yesterday and today and into the ages. [ John 12 : 47 ; Hebrews 13 : 8 ]
God is already reconciled to all of us and holds nothing against us. [ 2 Cor 5 : 19 ]
The experience of Thomas. [ John 20 : 24 - 29 ]
Jesus' parable of the prodigal son and how his loving and merciful father dealt with him. [ Luke 15 ]
Well, that's where I'm up to on this topic. What are your thoughts?
Blessings, Barry
Do you lovely bloggers have any thoughts on this? I'd love to explore this with you too.
Blessings, Barry
One of the most interesting positions taken by many Christians is that Jesus Christ is their Saviour ONLY when they believe that he is.
To generalise this position ..... a fact is only true when we believe it is true .......
For example, centuries ago most of the world believed that the earth was flat. Although this belief had an important influence on the people of the time, especially on ocean-faring merchants and sailors, it had no bearing on the actual shape of the earth, on the facts.
In other words, beliefs can never determine facts. Rather, facts must already be true (in existence) before they can be the subject of belief.
Now let's consider the facts about Jesus and salvation.
For God was pleased to have all his fulness dwell in him (Christ), and through him (Christ) to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
[ Col 1 : 19 - 20 ]
God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them.
[ 2 Cor 5 : 19 ]
These are the facts. Whether they are believed or not will not alter them.
As Jesus himself said, " I will draw all people to myself." [ John 12 : 32 ]
He is the Saviour of the world, of all people. That is a fact.
So what role does belief play?
Firstly, there is the obvious one .....
Those who believe in the Son of God (Jesus Christ) accept this testimony (of the facts about Jesus). Those who do not believe God have made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son.
[ 1 John 5 : 10 ]
Secondly, the one where people have been led astray by poor English translations .....
And this is the testimony: God has given us life in the ages (NOT eternal life), and this life is in his Son.
Those who have the Son have this life; those who do not have the Son of God (Jesus Christ) do not have this life.
[ 1 John 5 : 11 -12 ]
And that is another fact. Believers have life in the ages (the current age and those ages still to come), while unbelievers wait until the ages are completed for their "drawing to Jesus" to occur.
All will be reconciled to God eventually, but there is something special for believers - they will rule (govern) with Christ in the ages.
The Apostle Paul hints at this in his encouragement to Timothy .....
That is why we labour and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Saviour of all people, and especially of those who believe.
[ 1 Tim 4 : 10 ]
Believing doesn't alter the facts; but believing the facts about Jesus and salvation has special (first-fruit) benefits.
Blessings, Barry.
Many Bible translators have been making their translations fit the teachings of mainstream christianity for a long time.
Most of us are aware that words like 'hell' and 'eternal' that appear regularly in the most popular (and therefore the most influential) English translations have little or no relation to the underlying words in the original languages of the Bible.
But just recently, two new translations have become even more accommodating to mainstream teachings, and in more subtle ways.
The International Standard Version (ISV) is already available on the web in electronic format and will be on the market in print editions before the end of the year.
Have a look at 1 Timothy 4: 10. Properly translated this verse says
That is why we labour and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Saviour of all people, and especially of those who believe.
Now let's see what the new ISV says
To this end we work hard and struggle, because we have set our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, that is, of those who believe.
The meaning of "especially" has been changed to mean "exclusively."
The new NIV (2011 edition) has a subtlety all of its own. It's 1984 version translated Titus 2: 11 as
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.
which is pretty close to a literal translation. But have a look at the new edition (the only edition you can now purchase)
For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.
What was to be 'brought' to all men is now only going to be 'offered' to all men.
Subtle, eh?
It's no wonder we have to spend some time in the strictly literal translations if we're going to properly understand God and his plans.
Blessings, Barry
