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Project: Your Statement of Faith - Lesson 10

Article Nine: Eschatology (doctrine of last things)

This lesson provides an overview of Eschatology, or the Doctrine of Last Things, as it is found in the Bible. It covers the theological implications of the End Times, as well as the events that will take place in the End Times. It also examines ways in which the doctrine can be applied to life and how to prepare for the End Times.

Bill Mounce
Project: Your Statement of Faith
Lesson 10
Watching Now
Article Nine: Eschatology (doctrine of last things)

TH099-10 Article Nine: Eschatology (Doctrine of Last Things)

I. Overview of Eschatology

A. Overview of End Times

B. Theology of the End Times

C. Significance of Eschatology

II. Events of the End Times

A. The Return of Christ

B. The Judgment of Believers

C. The Judgment of Unbelievers

D. The New Heaven and New Earth

III. Application of Eschatology

A. Hope in the End Times

B. Living in the End Times

C. Preparing for the End Times


Lessons
About
Transcript
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  • You will learn the definition, purpose, and components of a statement of faith, as well as how to create one by considering a set of questions and following a process.
  • You will gain an understanding of the Bible, its authority, interpretation, and its relationship with science, as well as an exploration of contradictions in the Bible and how to resolve them.
  • This lesson teaches you about God's nature, character, and activity, including his oneness, triune nature, attributes, holiness, love, sovereignty, and his activity in creation, providence, and redemption.
  • This lesson explores the person and work of Jesus Christ, providing a comprehensive understanding of His divine and human natures, humiliation, exaltation, redemption, and resurrection.
  • You will gain knowledge about the nature, work, and experience of the Holy Spirit from this lesson, including its definition and names, its relationship to the Father and the Son, and its baptism, filling, and gifts.
  • Gain insight into the doctrine of man and its implications, including the Biblical anthropology, the image of God, and the consequences of sin, and how it affects our daily lives and understanding of the human condition.
  • You will gain an understanding of the doctrine of salvation and its implications in this life and afterlife.
  • You will gain a better understanding of the doctrine of sanctification and its importance in the life of a believer. You will learn the definition of sanctification, the distinctions and degrees of sanctification, and the progressive nature of sanctification. You will also learn the means of sanctification and the goal of sanctification, which is transformation, holiness, and glorification. Finally, you will understand the significance of sanctification, which is to live a life of obedience, experience joy and abundance, and represent Christ in the world.
  • This lesson examines the doctrine of the church, exploring its definition, purpose, and mission. It also examines the relationship between the church, the Kingdom of God, and the Bible.
  • This lesson explores the Doctrine of Last Things, helping you to understand the theological implications, events, and applications of Eschatology.

Now that you have listened to the lectures it is time for you decide on the three things enumerated above: What you believe; What your church needs to believe; What is primary and secondary.

The best way to for this is to write out and then explain your own statement of faith. In this class you will see how Bill Mounce, the President of BiblicalTraining, does this for himself and his church. After listening to what he has to say, then your project is to do the same for yourself.

Dr. Bill Mounce
Project: Your Statement of Faith
TH099-10
Article Nine: Eschatology (doctrine of last things)
Lesson Transcript

[00:00:00] Okay. The final article on our statement of Faith is on eschatology, The Doctrine of Last Things. What's going to happen at the end. And again, this statement of faith is a lot like the one in the Holy Spirit. There are certain things that we believe. These are the major things the evangelical church believes, and we're going to agree to disagree on a lot of other things. When we were writing this, we got dispensation lists and non dispensation lists together, and we'll say, let's not focus on the things we disagree about. Let's focus on the things we agree on. And that's where this statement came from. So here it is. Here's what we believe about the end of time, Jesus will return. I almost put a period there and just left it at that and thought, no, that probably wasn't a good idea. But that's basically what the statement of faith is. At some time, Jesus is coming back again. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Anyway, Jesus will return personally, visibly to all. Suddenly we'll come back and look at that. And all disciples living and dead will be bodily caught up to meet him. That's the rapture. We don't say when the rapture is going to occur, just that it's going to occur. At the final judgment, the unrepentant will be raised to the resurrection of judgment and everlasting punishment. And hell, we believe that hell is a very real place, and you don't want to go there. Believers while already having passed from darkness into light some of the wonderful language in the Gospel of John that these believers will be raised to the resurrection of life and will enjoy the everlasting personal presence of God in His heavenly Kingdom and God's plan of creation and redemption and glorification will be complete.

[00:01:42] This is the hope for which we long, which helps to motivate us now towards godly living and which propels us to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the lost and dying world. Now, you may some of you may be saying, oh, there's so much more. Yes, there is. But there's secondary things. They just. Well, they just don't matter as much. And I know for some people these things do matter a lot and I don't want to devalue that. But when compared to the fundamental truth that Jesus is actually coming again and that time will cease and this world will cease and there will be a judgment and we will be held accountable for our lives and we will be judged and some people will go to hell and some people will go to heaven. You know, whether it's Preacher Madrid proposed trip, it doesn't really matter. I don't think and we don't think that's what we've decided. We're going to agree to disagree on some of these issues. But I do want to stress what's up in the beginning that Jesus will return personally, visibly to all suddenly. There have been a lot of heresies and a lot of bad teaching done through the history of the church that started with the understanding, the interpretation that Jesus returned, that he returned silently or he returned in secret, or he returned to the outer parts of the heavens or the outer parts of the Earth, but not all the way here. Or he returned. But it was hidden from all of us until certain things happened. We chose words here that would say Absolutely not. Jesus's return is personal. It's not the return of some great idea. He's coming again as a person, as a person of the Godhead, as a person who is fully human, he's going to be visible to all people.

[00:03:45] It's not going to be a secret little thing. But if you read the passages as far as the pieces from the West, the trumpets are going to sound and the and the angels are going to go out and are going to gather the electrons of themselves. It's always an interesting verse for people who don't belong in the election, but that's a different statement of faith. Okay. Anyway, a different article is going to be sudden. The the nations are going to mourn when he comes. Why? Because there's no time to repent. So these were words that that emphasize the center of evangelical thought that Jesus is coming. Everyone's going to see it is going to be, bam, he's here. It's all over. And then comes the judgment. And that's what we wanted to stress. And if somebody wants to be post millennial and biblical. That's also a statement of faith. We're going to agree to disagree on those things. Now, if you go to the class on Revelation, you're going to hear more details. And. That's okay because we can talk about these things, but these are the things that we've agreed to disagree on and the things we've agreed to agree on. So anyway, that's our statement of faith. Again, it's a little more complete than most churches. It's less than some. But really my prayer in this statement of faith and I'm so thankful for the chance to talk to you this way is so that you can read it. You can look at the verses you can think through. You can come and talk to me, to the other elders, to the teachers in this church or other leaders in your church. You can get explanations. But Paul tells Titus that that especially the elders have to be devoted to Scripture, able to teach the truth and refute error.

[00:05:33] And if you understand this statement of faith, you will be able to explain the main things in Scripture and you will have been given the biblical arguments that you can use to refute heresy. So my prayer is that you spend time with the statement of faith and you make it your own. Thanks for the chance to be with you.

 

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