The rest of these should be shorter, and to some degree are more minor than the first four. I could have stopped at four, and it probably would have been fine, but seven were on my heart, even though the first four, the first three especially, are more central to the core of basic Christian belief, not based on modern theology, but based on the testimony of the Bible itself.
And it should be self-explanatory to mention that all of these are interrelated. They are interdependent. As I’ve explained before, teachers love to break down to explain, but please do not be misled that all truth is truly in a Person, and that Truth cannot be divorced from other aspects of Himself. He is at once a lion and a lamb, not both separately. And although manifested in different ways, “the Lord is one.” And His truth, especially core truths like these that deserve a strong stand, is the same.
From the time of Jesus’ ministry in the Gospels through Revelation (duh), there is a clear doctrine that Jesus will return, in person, at a specific time in the future. I don’t feel I need to take time to detail this doctrine, but His return, correlating with a day of judgment upon the whole earth, was a central belief of the early Church.
So central, in fact, that it became one of the first major issues for them to deal with. They taught that Jesus would return, probably soon. And that anyone who repented to follow Jesus would receive eternal life, looking forward to that return. Then time passed. People died.
This became a test of the doctrine of eternal life and His return. What did Jesus teach? What did He mean?
Paul deals with it in 1 Thessalonians 4, where he says, “I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.” The result of now believing that Jesus wasn’t going to return and that they wouldn’t live forever was a complete lack of hope unto sorrow. The rest of 1 Thessalonians 4 deals with a quick doctrine on the personal return of Jesus to re-establish that hope.
One of the earliest letters, 1 Corinthians, finishes with an amazing chapter 15, which deals specifically with the necessity of believing, in hope, of the resurrection of all believers after death unto a spiritual inheritance. Paul even states, if there is no resurrection, then we of all men are most pitiable, that we would live a life this way and not realize the hope we preach.
2 Peter 3 instructs us that in the last days, scoffers will come, saying, “Where is His return?” and question the validity of Jesus’ return and the resulting judgment. Peter reminds them that Jesus is not slow in His coming; He will consume the whole earth in fire by His word, and His purpose in patience is out of love, to see more come to repentance.
Peter says that the reason these scoffers deny the return of Christ is so they can walk in their own lusts, willfully forgetting because at that time God will judge ungodly men. Peter reiterates that the Day will come “like a theif in the night”, and that since that Day is coming, it should cause us to act as holy and righteous people in our conduct, to be diligent to be found by Him, “in peace, without spot and blameless.”
An important aspect of this, as implied in the preceding scripture, is that Christians will also be judged for what they have done. The letters of the early apostles repeatedly remind believers, disciples, that upon their death or the return of Jesus, all men will be judged according to their works done while alive.
Hopefully I’m making this brief and clear. To deny the return of Christ is to deny that all will be judged, and to deny a judgment means that we are free to live as we please, which despite how you define it religiously, is not Christianity. Paul’s preaching at one point to a worldly ruler in Acts was, “self-control, righteousness, and the judgment to come.”
Now the question becomes, is this still a problem today? Well, among many evangelicals, the basic belief of Christ’s return is sound and at least taught as a foundation. But many Christian groups teach that Christians will not be judged at all, which explains, biblically speaking, why the Church today is so carnal in so many areas. And there are doctrines floating around that teach that Christ has already returned or even will not return at all.
Those that teach Christ has already returned in some way usually have some historical interpretation of events such as the destruction of the Judaic Temple in 70 AD or the persecution of Christians by Nero or the state’s acceptance of Christianity by Constantine.
Those that teach Christ will not return explain away such verses as ignorant or fully realized in the current age of the Church. A close companion to these teachings is usually some aspect of extreme focus on social justice that equates the return of Jesus and His reign as a progression to a Utopian world usually through worldly political means (mostly liberal theology but conservative evangelicals get to this place, too).
There are specific and explicit (and implicit) scriptures that they have to explain away or find hidden meanings beyond the clear statements they hold, but people have been twisting words to believe what they want for two thousand years. As the Bible says, it will only get worse as time goes on.
Of course I haven’t touched on specifics or details on timing (there’s a warning in the Bible there, too … if anyone tells you that he or she knows exactly when Jesus is coming back, rebuke him or her sharply … they didn’t get it from God) or the rapture or place. Not that I don’t have beliefs there, and that even some of those beliefs have righteous or unrighteous consequences, only that the apostles don’t seem to have split hairs on these things, so I choose not to, as well.
So my encouragement to all who desire truth is to stand fast that Jesus Christ will come in a very personal way, glorify the Father, Himself, and those that follow Him at some time in the future, and at that time the world will be shaken as never before and be judged in “fervent heat” and “fire.” Hold on to that hope. Look forward to it with all you can, because something eternally better is to be revealed. Don’t seek it through the establishment of worldly organizations, philosophies, or political perspectives (or political figures, especially). You have a King. You are a citizen of a much higher Kingdom than anything than can be established in worldly terms, and that Kingdom will be established in full glory one day.
Peace.