Jesus Is Coming Back to Earth Again!

Pamphlet Reference:
Jesus Will Come Again (p.8)
Jesus Will Come Again (p.9)

Please take some time to read the given material. It will give us a background on one of the most interesting topics of Scripture: Eschatology is the Doctrine of Last Things (Future Events).

The Resurrection and Ascension

Pamphlet Reference:
The Resurrection and Ascension (p.7)
The Resurrection and Ascension (p.8)

"The Christian faith stands or falls on whether or not Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Our faith is either based on historical facts or it is only fairy tales.
If Christ had not risen from the dead our faith would be a mere delusion and we would still be lost in our sins (1 Corinthians 15:17). But the truth is that Christ did rise from death, and because He did He is able to put us right with God (Romans 4:25).
The resurrection of Jesus Christ completed His earthly work of redeeming mankind. His victory over sin and death was the ultimate proof here on earth that He is who He said He was – the Son of Man and the Son of God (Mark 9:9; Romans 1:4)." - From our Basic Doctrine Pamphlet

1. What shows us that Jesus appeared physically, as a real person, not a ghost? Luke 24:36-43
   Note that there are three very important phrases in this passage:
   
   1. "Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, "Peace to you." " This teaches us that the resurrected body can pass through walls. John 20:19 says, the door to the room were shut tight because the disciples feared the Jews, so nobody can go in or out of that room unless they opened the door.
      
   2. "Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have." This clearly teaches us that the resurrected body which all Christians will have after mortal death is SOLID. It can be touched. We can still feel each other and enjoy touch. According to Christ it is made of at least flesh and bones but can still pass through walls and can travel at the speed of thought!
      
   3. " "Have you any food here?" So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. And He took it and ate in their presence. This tells us that we can still continue to eat and enjoy food in our resurrected body. Note that although Jesus would not tell us everything about heaven and our new bodies, He took advantage of this unique situation to show us glimpses of what it would be like. We will not really be like "angels playing harps in the clouds" like Hollywood tries to portray out of their ignorance. In John 14:2, Christ says that he would be preparing mansions or dwelling places for us and that doesn't sound like a piece of cloud at all! Imagine that. We will have our very own piece of Real Estate in heaven!
      


2. How many others saw Jesus after His resurrection? 1 Corinthians 15:5-8
   Cephas is the Aramaic name for Peter, the "twelve" refers of course to the rest of the disciples where Judas Iscariot was replaced my Matthias (Acts 1:23-26). There were 500 others who witnessed the resurrected Christ and apparently experienced not only hearing Him speak or preach again but also touched Him and see Him eat with them. James, in this passage, refers to the earthly half-brother of Jesus Christ and not James the Apostle (The gospels say that Mary had other children, in fact, other sons and daughters [see Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3). Finally, Paul himself saw Him on the Damascus road (Acts 9:1-7).
   The implications of these number of witnesses cannot be overemphasized. Today we know about people like Alexander the Great, Confucius, Cleopathra, etc because of the account of ONLY one or two witnesses. The resurrection of Christ had MORE THAN 500! Most of the news that we read everyday normally have only the reporter and one or two other witnesses to the event and we all accept what they say without a doubt. Isn't it really surprising that with the preponderance of witnesses and a lot of corroboration, many people still doubt that Jesus Christ actually died, was buried, and rose from the dead as He promised?!!!
   
3. For how many days after His death did Jesus appear to His apostles? Acts 1:3
   Forty days. Remember that Christ was tempted by Satan in the desert also for 40 days. Like the numbers 1, 3, and 7, 40 seems to be a divine number. I would surmise that the underlying connotation of 40 is intensity. The fact that Christ was tempted by Satan for 40 days implies that He was tempted intensely to the point that had He been any less than God, Christ would have succumbed and fallen to temptation. In the same way, the fact that Christ spent 40 more days on earth after His resurrection and before His ascension signifies the intensity of His proving His being alive by His continuing presence and perhaps the intensity of His re-education of His disciples in preparation for the Great Commission. Note that Christ wanted to prove to His disciples that they were not dreaming. Otherwise, they would have had 40 days to wake up! Jesus Christ indeed is risen from the dead!
   
4. How would your faith in God be affected if the resurrection of Christ were not true? On the other hand, how does the truth of the resurrection affect the way you believe or live?
   Recall 1 Corinthians 15:17-19. "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable". If Christ is still dead like Confucius, or Buddha, or the other religious founders of the world, I would not be a Christian today. I have always hated the futility of religion. I have always looked at religious people especially those who are not Christian to be wasting their life away. Why believe on something that has no life nor future? Why believe on someone who is dead? For what? If Mohammed promised a paradise of 72 virgins or Buddha promised Nirvana, WHAT IS THEIR PROOF??? THEY ARE VERY VERY DEAD!!! However, my Jesus Christ rose from the dead. It is an irrefutable historical fact. It proved once and for all that He is who He claimed to be, My Lord and My God!!! I have hope, I have a future. I can look forward to heaven because Christ has gone ahead to prepare my mansion for me. If He claimed that He can rise from the dead three days after He was killed and then literally fulfill it, then we can believe Him for ANYTHING and EVERYTHING He says and promises. He claimed to be God Himself. His resurrection has proven it.
   

The Bible clearly teaches that upon the completion of His work on earth, the Lord Jesus Christ returned to His place at the right-hand side of God in heaven. The event of His ascension is recorded in Mark 16:19, Luke 24:50,51 and Acts 1:9-11.- From our Basic Doctrine Pamphlet
Please read and answer the last questions on this section from the Basic Doctrine Pamphlet. Nevertheless, I would like us to focus on the following questions:

1. Whom did Jesus send to take His place? John 15:26
   The Holy Spirit. An entire lesson will be devoted to this. It would be appropriate to point out that whereas the divine salvation plan included the accurate portrayal of a very concrete and personal God Who we can look up to and gaze and worship and bow down to, perhaps to capitalize on man's idolatrous nature; this same salvation plan seeks to portray God's omnipresence which can be individually experienced and enjoyed. Note the following key words in the given text: Helper, Truth, Testify (prove, give evidence of).
2. What is Jesus' position in heaven? Matthew 28:18; Ephesians 1:20-22
   This passages describe the opposite EVENTS of what happened at the Kenosis (Christ emptying Himself before or at the Incarnation) which we discussed in the earlier topic on Jesus Christ. Christ has taken back ALL of his powers! Note that He actually forfeited and LOST some of His powers. These passages show how He got them back: "ALL authority WAS GIVEN (back) to Him by the Father; God the Father RAISED Christ up from the dead, God the Father SEATED Christ at His right hand, God the Father PUT ALL THINGS under Christ's feet, God the Father GAVE Christ to be Head of the church. Paul was NOT playing with words here, he cannot. Otherwise, the Bible becomes quite vague in many of its wordings. Paul meant exactly what He said and what was revealed to him by the Spirit of Truth.
   
3. What is His ministry there for those who follow Him? Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25; Hebrews 9:24; 1 John 2:1
   Very simply put, Christ has now become our Intercessor and Advocate before the Father. If we are already saved, why do you think we still need an intercessor? Why is this concept NOT in the past tense (neiter aorist nor present perfect nor past perfect) but has a present continuing nature? If Christ's work for our salvation is finished at the cross as the traditional view puts it, why is He continuing to work for us?
   The answer is what sets Creative Love Theism apart from Calvinism. God is not only interested in the legal aspects of salvation. He is actually just as concerned, if not more so, with the reality of our continuing relationship with Him. He is not just concerned with our justification. There are a lot more passages in Scripture that concerns our sanctification. We will deal with this in detail when we get to these subjects in future lessons.
   Read Hebrews 4:14-16. Through the cross and the atonement, Christ has opened the door for man to eternity in His presence. However, He continues His work as our Intercessor because He intends to take care of us, His sheep, while we are not yet in heaven.