Why I Kneel

I've been doing it for years at bedtime with my kids. I've been doing it other places for about the last year and a half. At home, at church during Bible class and worship and committee meetings, even occasionally at a restaurant before a meal.

It's awkward. My knees complain about it. I usually only go down on one knee, since it was injured several years ago and doesn't always submit to the "unbend" request and I need the other one to get back up.

I'm not really sure what started it. I had been doing some self-study about prayer, and began noticing how many good people in scripture knelt to pray: from Ezra to Daniel, to Jesus Himself, to Stephen while being stoned, to Peter, to Paul, to the disciples (including their wives and children) on a beach to send Paul off for the last time with prayer.

I also caught mentions of it with regard to people in the Bible when appearing before their kings and masters.

Then I began to notice how many people knelt when they encountered Jesus with a heart-wrenching need or a word of praise: a man possessed by a legion of demons; a leper; a ruler whose daughter had just died; a rich young ruler; the apostle Peter.

And, while - throughout scripture - good-hearted people pray while standing (Hannah; various leaders of Israel; the sinner who stood and prayed at a distance), for one reason or another I have tended to associate the practice with the Pharisee who stood praying to be seen.

I don't kneel to be seen. I kneel out of respect for God, for His Son, for His Spirit.

Something my friend Bob McClanahan said twenty years ago about piloting a plane has long seemed relevant: "Your altitude has a lot of effect on your attitude." While he was talking about roll, pitch and yaw - and the fact that a pilot is more keenly aware of them when she/he's closer to the ground - I've found that my altitude has had an effect on my attitude in prayer too.

I don't know whether kneeling is a right or wrong way to pray. God loves us, and He listens. Jesus bears the message to Him. His Spirit groans for us when we lack the words.

Kneeling in prayer often feels especially right for me. When my knees give consent, so do I.

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
~ Ephesians 3:14-21

Hungry

I've just finished eating lunch, but I'm still hungry. A different kind of hungry.

I didn't get to commune Sunday, you see. In my fellowship, we celebrate eucharist each week. Sunday morning, my 12-year-old son was feeling queasy right after his Bible class and we went home before worship.

How do folks of other fellowships get by without that communal meal each week?

It's all a matter of what you're used to, I suppose. If I were reading this as a Catholic, I might be thinking, "How can he stand to not go to confession? I would feel so guilty; so dirty." If I were from a church that sings with an organ or an ensemble, I might be thinking, "How can he bear to just sing, and not hear the fullness of the music? It would feel so incomplete." If I were from a charismatic church, I might be thinking, "How can he pray only with his head bowed in silent assent? I would feel like I wasn't participating."

I could have sneaked a wafer and a cup later, I suppose. But it wouldn't have been the same. It would have been like standing at the cross alone; or at the tomb by myself. Lonely. Empty.

When I drink and eat this special meal, it's a tiny fellowship meal that recognizes the body of Christ in all of its meanings - including my church family around me.

And it seems that with each passing year, when I miss a chance to recline at that table, the hunger goes a little deeper.

A Common Theme

If two or more of my frequently-read blogs seem to be unrelatedly following the same theme, I take special note. There's probably something to it.

Rusty Peterman notes in his entry this weekend The Apostles' Teaching that what the early church doubtless heard was the Story of Jesus.

Similarly, Greg Kendall-Ball ponders one of the Unexpected Blessings that he and Sara received at the Global Missions Conference in Arlington: a message from minister Rich Little recommending an emphasis on teaching Christ rather than moral codes, the Bible or a particular church brand.

And finally, on the New Wineskins site, managing editor Greg Taylor recounts how his mission efforts in Uganda some years ago did that very thing: focusing on Christ when asking Questions About the Gospel of Mark.

I commented on Rusty's blog:

"For I resolved to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified ..."

Still a great rule of thumb.

Those who haven't heard of Him need to, and the rest of us never get tired of hearing more about Him.

Is it really possible to exhaust the subject of Jesus Christ, even in a lifetime of sermons, Bible classes, misson conferences, coffee-shop encounters, or anonymous notes of encouragement?

'Both/And' Eschatology

Last night I finished teaching my series on Jesus' parousia or second coming, with a wonderful group of brothers and sisters who had great questions and some great answers to match them. A lot of my answers were multiform, sharing several possibilities or interpretations and concluding - as all of scripture does - that the important thing is to watch, be ready, be prepared.

Yesterday afternoon our church laid to rest the body left behind by one of our elders - O.V. "Bud" Holeman - when he went to be with the Lord. I saw very little sorrow or grief on the faces of those who emerged from his memorial service; he was dearly loved and his destiny certain. He had suffered from cancer several months; had agreed to be moved to hospice care recently to ease his transition in a comfortable surrounding where he could enjoy short visits from his church family members. He was ready. It made our discussion about eschatology more urgent in class last night.

I tip my hat to Edward Fudge, whose gracEmail today includes this quote about different views of eschatology from N.T. Wright - neither of whom obviously has any truck with the limitations of "either/or" thinking and who embrace "both/and":

"If you think simply of souls ending up in a disembodied heaven, you will anticipate that in the present by a life of quietist, detached spirituality, denying all those things that speak of the universe of space, time and matter. That is Platonism, not Christianity. If you think simply of helping people to improve their social, cultural and societal lot in the present world, you have nothing to say . . . . If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But if, instead, we set our gaze firmly on God's promise of new heavens and new earth, of the whole creation renewed from God in Christ, we see that our anticipation of that future in the present is to be a rich mixture of what we have called 'spirituality' and what we have called 'kingdom-work.' They go together, because together they anticipate that time when the earth shall be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea." (Dr. N.T. Wright in sermon "Christ the Power of God and the Wisdom of God" (July 2, 2005), at www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_Christ_Power_Wisdom.htm.)

'Telling the Story of Mark's Gospel' Posted

My second article for New Wineskins opens the July/August issue, themed around the Gospel of Mark.

As the issue "unfolds" in the days to come, a fine article by fellow blogger David Underwood is in queue.

Mark's gospel is a simple, fast, active read. It's meant, I think, to be read in one sitting - something I've done a few times now, and have really been blessed in doing it.

Aliens and Strangers

I watch too much HGTV. I am abnormally curious about other peoples' home decor. I like visiting tour homes when I'm on vacation. I mail-ordered a video of Hearst Castle as a gift for Angi years ago, but I've probably watched it twice as many times as she has.

I like my home. I like living there. I liked working there. I don't like it when I don't have time or money to keep it up, fix its plumbing, mow its yard, repaint its trim, clean its gutters.

I am not an alien and a stranger.

I'm talking about I Peter 2:11 here, and Hebrews 11:13, and all the way back to I Chronicles 29:15.

I'm talking about Elijah, and John the Baptist, and Jesus.

And Jesus. And Jesus. And Jesus.

And His disciples, of course. Paul. Many others.

I know Jesus didn't call everyone to be a homeless person.

But sometimes I am too much "of" this world as well as "in" it.

The Temple: A Great Place for Murder

They had a suspect. They dragged her into the temple courts where Jesus was teaching. She was accused; caught in the act of adultery; condemned by the law. They asked this young Rabbi's approval. He baffled them. They slunk away, all but her. After a few words with Jesus, she left too.

But He went right on teaching, and baffling - right there close to the place where the cash offerings were thrown in. He still had a crowd, including some Pharisees who said His testimony wasn't valid because He testified about Himself. He said He was testifying about His Father, whom they did not know. But nobody put a hand on Him, because it wasn't His time yet.

Yet even some who believed in Him were offended when He said His words would set them free. They countered that they were Abraham's children and had never been slaves. Pretty funny, when you think about it ... as close as the temple was to the Roman garrisons. It wasn't funny to them. They were ready to kill Him.

Instead of backing off for His own safety, He told them that God should be their Father; that before Abraham existed, He had been with the Father. For that blasphemy, they took up stones to kill Him ... but He slipped away. (John 8)

After that, He moved cautiously - but couldn't help having compassion on a man born blind, and couldn't help but heal him and teach His followers that physical handicaps aren't punishments for sin; they are opportunities to glorify God. After the poor man and his parents had been grilled about the healing, Jesus sought him out to leave a few words of teaching with him. But, overheard by some Pharisees, He replied to their retort that they were the blind ones. (John 9)

By the time He finished explaining His role as a shepherd, they were convinced He was possessed by a demon.

Then winter came, and He returned to the temple - to Solomon's Colonnade - to teach. When pressed to be the kind of Messiah that others wanted, He refused. And once again they picked up stones to throw at Him and kill Him. And once again He escaped their grasp. (John 10)

Right there in the temple. Just the place to kill someone. Not outside the city or camp, as commanded by God in Leviticus 24:14 or Numbers 15:35. No; right there in God's house ... right on the doorstep of God's sanctuary.

They had probably been incensed when Pilate had mixed the blood of some Galileeans with their sacrifices there (Luke 13:1). But this was different. This was a case of a blasphemer who healed on the Sabbath. The two wrongs made it right, right then and there.

I don't know how He got away; whether by divine intervention or miraculous transport or swift stealth and strength. I do know He escaped because it wasn't His time. And it was His place.

We would never think of doing such a thing. We'd never assassinate someone in our sanctuaries. Not literally; not figuratively. Those places are too holy to accuse and condemn another soul who claimed God as Father; to cast aspersions on their character; to consign them to hell and demand their penitence and apology before us. We wouldn't dare to do it in His place.

Would we?

The Holy Grail is Half Full

That's the phrase that was in my head this morning when my watch awakened me at 6:00 a.m. because I stupidly forgot to turn off its alarm last night.

For a few moments, I wondered what I meant by that - before drifting back to sleep for another hour and half.

"The Holy Grail is half full."

I don't blog about the church very much; I've resolved not to. Other folks, like my blogging buddies Fajita and Neal and John and Brian cover the territory so well I would feel redundant. Sometimes I'll comment on their blogs, but usually not.

If the Holy Grail phrase refers to my confidence in the church, then I think it's accurate. I choose to see the church as blessed by Christ's blood about half as much as it could be ... rather than seeing the cup half-empty, as in the old saw.

The power; the potential is there. We just haven't imbibed as much as we could. If we drank deeply, we could forgive ourselves as well as others, just as we have been forgiven. We would be free to respond to full forgiveness with full confidence, full hearts, full gratitude. We would give each act of kindness and mercy and love in full measure, not half-heartedly. We would have an unquenchable thirst for the new wine; a hunger to be the new wineskins for it.

We would long to see the Grail - not half-empty - but completely empty because we drank it dry.

Just to see the miracle of it refilling with exactly what we need in the measure we need precisely when we need it.

Method of Biblical Interpretation

I've rediscovered a radical method of biblical interpretation that I must confess I like very much. I like its simplicity. I like the limitations it places on interpretation. I even like and respect its origin.

It's found in I Corinthians 4:6, and apparently was taught by Paul and/or Apollos:

"Do not go beyond what is written."

I find hints of it in other places: I Thessalonians 2:13, Revelation 22:18-19, I Corinthians 2:2, Galatians 1:8-9 .... and so on.

Yet I'm drawn to the simplicity of "the saying" in I Corinthians 4:6.

(As if it isn't challenging enough just to go with what is written!)

Half-Century of Nostalgia

Somewhere in the wee hours of this morning, I turned 50.

I went to bed regretting a boneheaded thing I did the night before when I was 49 - I forgot that the class I'm teaching at church started at 6:30, showing up at the 7:00 time that is normal for the other 9 months of the year. When I woke up this morning, I was a year older and it was too late to correct the error or let it waste today in regret.

Life is that way, and you don't have to be 50 to know that. You make choices. Some are good; others aren't. You remember things. You forget others.

And beyond whatever control you try to exercise over it, life doesn't seem to turn out the way you expect it to.

When I was a kid, I loved writing; I loved reading the Bible - especially those passages about Christ's return in the Thessalonian and Corinthian letters, and the colorful imagery of heaven in the Revelation. I didn't understand it all, but I got the main points:

• Satan loses.


• God wins.


• And Jesus comes to take us home.

When I went to college, I loved reading and writing so much that I tended to overdo it, adding to that mix a good deal of conversation with my roommates about life, resurrection and the universe - and drinking a lot of late-hour coffee. My ticker began acting up around the time of my first freshman finals. I was diagnosed with Wolf-Parkinson-White syndrome - an extra pacemaker nerve in the heart which can misfire after too much stress and stimulation (like caffeine).

So I cut out the caffeine, but by the end of my sophomore year the stress caught up with me. My resistance was low and I caught epididymitis, a kind of mumps that doesn't settle in the throat but in glands farther down. During my two-week hospital stay, my doctor told me I would never sire children of my own.

I recovered. After graduation, I married a young lady to whom that sterility didn't matter; someone I thought I'd spend the rest of my life with. But that marriage ended badly after seven difficult years - including a tense wait for biopsy results on the kind of cancer that bikng champion Lance Armstrong suffered (at a time when there was very poor rate of survival). Fortunately, that tumor was judged to be "benign," and excision took care of it.

I poured myself into work - which wasn't the writing I wanted to do - but setting other people's writing in type. I stopped going to church. Not only did I feel hopelessly tainted by what felt like the unforgivable sin of divorce, I was once again (as I had in college) having a crisis of faith about some of the very passages I had loved to read as a boy. The ones in the gospels made it sound as if Jesus' return would occur at any moment - during the writers' lifetimes in the first century. Why hadn't He returned, then? Was it all a lie? My prayer life fell flat.

Occasionally, I would slink into a church for a visit. Because I had filled out a "guest" attendance card, I was visited by two young single ladies from my home church - one of whom brought a boyfriend who wasn't a church-goer, just so that no one one would feel uncomfortable with the visit. I could tell that my divorce made no difference to them, and they assured me that I would always be welcome at my home church. They were right.

I made my church home there. I made friends who encouraged me. I started praying again. I went back to those crisis-causing scriptures, and I began to wonder if perhaps Christ's return was more than a single cataclysmic event; if it was also, perhaps, a process. Perhaps heaven's eternity, I reasoned, is outside of our notion of time entirely. After all, if no one comes to the Father but by the Son, how else could Jesus have met Moses and Elijah in the transfiguration? He had to be the One who had come to take them home to heaven. How else could God be the "I AM"; who was, and is, and is to come? Maybe - as Job discovered at the end of his dark time of the soul - I didn't have to understand everything ... just believe.

After all the ways that my life seemed to have gone wrong, that seemed right. And I began to experience a sense of peace in the soul again that I hadn't felt since childhood. Not all at once, of course; and not without some times of doubt. But when I doubted, I had a church home that gathered me in with no prejudice about my marital status or my unorthodox views of eschatology.

I had become a copywriter, and felt groomed for a more advanced creative position where I was working. The job went to someone else, someone who didn't want to retain the current writers in his stable. I had to take a position doing something other than writing just to stay employed.

But I had met a godly young lady at my home church who inexplicably consented to become my wife; someone who would fast and pray with me that God would give us children by adoption - and He did.

What an extraordinary blessing!

This morning, their three birthday cards were at my breakfast table by my coffee.

These days, I enjoy my coffee as frequently as I like and I rarely stress out - even when I forget what time I should be teaching class.

I know my story is pretty trivial compared to many others I could tell; some from among my church family that would absolutely melt your heart. But I'm convinced that "the peace that surpasses all understanding" is available to all who seek it. Life turns out the way we should expect, in the largest sense.

Because in the end, what I understood as a child will still be true for all time: Satan loses. God wins.

And Jesus comes to take us home.

We Learn By Doing

Thank Aristotle for the quote, but remember that it's a Biblical principle.

"Although he (Jesus) was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek." - Hebrews 5:8-10

"Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me - put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you." - Philippians 4:9

"But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it - he will be blessed in what he does." - James 1:25

Aristotle's maxim may not be at the heart of what these verses say, but the thought is there.

Remember Matthew 10? Mark 6:7-13? Luke 9:1-6? And Luke 10:1-17?

Did Jesus think His followers needed to learn to go on missionary journeys without Him - even while He was still around? Is that why he sent them out by twos, first twelve and then 70 or 72?

Did He think they needed to learn dependence on God through others by sending them off without a change of clothing or a wallet?

Did He believe they needed to experience what it was like to be despised and rejected by instructing them to shake the dust off their feet when they left such a town?

Did He feel they needed to experience the joy of God working through them when He sent them with power to heal and cast out demons?

Did Jesus expect them to simply repeat the phrase "Repent! for the kingdom of heaven is near," or did He want them to learn to tell of its truth that they had seen and heard and participated in?

Did He want them to learn to give their own answers when people asked the tough questions of life, rather than sending scrolls of lesson plans and sermon outlines with them? to learn to let His Spirit speak through them?

Is it possible that the answers to many of the tough questions we have - even philosophical or spiritual ones - could be learned by doing?

One Transforming Moment of Grace

My preaching minister shared it with his church family this morning as he closed his remarks on the topic "Draw Near To God" that he had chosen many weeks ago, and delivered in the aftermath of Friday morning's tragic accident that took a dear sister from among us.

He had tried to relate what had happened that morning; how he and his wife had been called and arrived minutes later ... how he had pleaded with God from the driveway to intervene, but that Kim was already gone. He told how the day had progressed with ambulance, police, and family arriving ... how the gathering of church family on the lawn had meant so much ... how difficult it was to accompany a grieving husband through the process of planning a funeral, and then selecting a casket for his beloved ....

Then my minister lost all composure and wept openly with us, able to speak only a few more words of truth from his heart that were angry and defiant and empathetic and pure gospel: "A man should not have to choose a casket for his wife."

One of our elders shared in that moment of grace as well, coming up to stand behind him and lay hands on his shoulders, silently strengthening our minister so he could complete his simple invitation: "Draw near to God."

He's absolutely right. A man should not have to choose a casket for his wife. Nor vice versa, nor a parent for a child, nor a child for a parent, nor a minister for an estranged member, nor a mortician for a penniless complete stranger. There shouldn't be death anymore; Jesus conquered it once and for all ... but there is still sin in the world, and sinleadstodeath sinleadstodeath sinleadstodeath.

Somehow, after all that has transpired since Friday morning, two of our ministers managed to conduct a funeral this afternoon and several elders extemporaneously took responsibility for conducting worship this evening.

I've been to churches where pew-warming scorekeepers might grade down a minister for such a moment of grace; they would think him weak in character and profession and faith. I don't think we have any of them left at our church anymore; judgmental attitudes are never really at home in an environment of loving community, and they don't tend to stay.

But this morning I saw a servant for whom death is more than an intellectual exercise in scriptural interpretation. I saw someone willing to weep with those who weep and mourn with those who mourn. I saw a shadow of One weeping at the tomb of His dear friend Lazarus.

And in spite of human despair, I saw divine hope.

Second Coming, Part XIII: Epilogue

Part I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX | X | XI | XII | XIII

There's a lot of ground I didn't try to cover in this study.

For instance, I didn't try to go into the heresy of Hymenaeus and Philetus, who said that the resurrection had already come. It would seem that these two had the same conception of a much more spiritual interpretation of parousia that some Thessalonian Christians had. (I think it's intellectually dishonest to accuse preterists of this heresy and of hypocrisy, when it's pretty obvious that these two "godless chatterers" lived before the time that preterists think Jesus was revealed, at the destruction of the temple in AD 70.)

I didn't try to give definitive answers to troubling questions. True to my nature, I just raised more of them. But as don pointed out in a comment a few posts back, it's the questions that help us think and pray and propose our own interpretations - rather than just gobbling up the latest theory in paperback and, having no time to research others, accept it at face value as the truth.

I didn't mean to slight tumultuous events in the world today (like the London transit bombings) which make folks wonder if we're living in the last days.

And I didn't point out why I thought it was important to spend all these pixels on this study.

What we believe about Jesus' parousia affects every other aspect of our belief: our theodicy, our views of servanthood, fellowship, grace, love and faith itself. Most importantly, it affects the way we respond to God's love toward us. It even affects our personalities.

I occasionally used to read the content of a preterist-view Web site operated by a brother in my fellowship. Though I disagreed (and still do) with many of the conclusions there, I was always impressed by the scholarship; the passion for truth, for scripture, for others and their beliefs on the matter. Lately, though, the personality of the site's caretaker seems to have changed, and it saddens me. Recent posts there exult in the cowardice of disagreeing brethren in refusing to publicly debate him. The site has become more about him than about eschatology and the parousia of Jesus.

It's not a subject about which we should be choosing up sides and smelling armpits. What we know about it is what God has revealed through His Spirit in His Word. Whether my interpretation, or this brother's, or that sister's, is correct really doesn't matter one atom; it will be fully revealed in God's time.

We need to preach what we know. Christ promised to return for us. We need to watch, anticipate, be alert, be ready, look forward to it, pray for it, and bless again as Christians once did with the phrase maranatha:

Lord, come quickly!

Part I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX | X | XI | XII | XIII

Second Coming, Part XII: The Revelation to John

Part I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX | X | XI | XII | XIII

Nothing makes the study of Jesus' parousia more real than the death of a Christian friend.

Tonight her family, church family, neighbors and friends - about 250-300 of us - gathered on the front lawn of her home where the shotgun fell from its case this morning and discharged. We sang softly, prayed, and wept together. She, her husband and two sweet children came to our Church of Christ as Baptists a couple of years ago and stayed where they were loved - and they have returned that love many times and many ways.

None of us has any doubt that Jesus receives her with joy into His eternal kingdom.

Standing there, I wondered if she could see us; if she wished she could share words of hope with us, but would have to wait a nanosecond of eternity until we all join her and therefore know those comforting truths first-hand.

Time and Tense and Tension

I hesitate to quote this since I haven't been able to track down and read the entire essay, but I've read in several places now this heartbreaking quote from a theologian whose work has so often inspired me:

"The apocalyptic beliefs of the first Christians have been proved to be false. It is clear from the New Testament that they all expected the Second Coming in their own lifetime. And, worse still, they had a reason, and one which you will find very embarrassing. Their Master had told them so. He shared, and indeed created, their delusion. He said in so many words, 'this generation shall not pass till all these things be done.' And he was wrong. He clearly knew no more about the end of the world than anyone else. This is certainly the most embarrassing verse in the Bible." (Essay "The World's Last Night" (1960), found in The Essential C.S. Lewis, p. 385)

"Heartbreaking" I've called it because this same C.S. Lewis authored the extraordinary children's fantasy The Chronicles of Narnia about a world where time passes more swiftly than in ours ... yet he didn't seem to realize that God's eternity and our world's continuum could experience time very differently, too - and that God is Lord of both.

I haven't tried to be comprehensive in this study, or to quote all of the passages I'd like to. But I've included others that I think most folks would leave out, because I see something relevant in them. That's the case with these excerpts from the first part of the Revelation to John of Patmos. I think we make a great mistake to study this work, skipping the opening seven epistles. Because the language used seems to get progressively more urgent:

Revelation 2:5, 16; 3:3, 11, 20 - "Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. ... Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. ... Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. ... I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. ... Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me."

Did you catch it? "I will come" ... "I will soon come" ... "I will come like a thief" ... "I am coming soon" ... "Here I am!"

Chapter 20

This is the chapter so many focus upon when expounding their eschatological views. It does indeed have to do with judgment, but beyond that goes way beyond my wisdom or understanding:

Revelation 20: "And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.

"I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.

"When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth - Gog and Magog - to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God's people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

"Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."

If you've come this far to find out what I think the Abyss is, or who Gog and Magog are, or whether the thousand years is literal or symbolic or past or present or future, you are about to be disappointed.

What I try to remember when reading Revelation is that it was - like all of the books of the New Testament - written by men with a specific audience in mind. While the Holy Spirit inspiring them may have nudged them to include eternal truths, the writers' primary concern was to encourage, admonish and offer hope to the persecuted believers of the first century.

I don't have an answer about conditional resurrection as opposed to eternal punishment for all non-believers. I don't have any comment about the martyrs of century one being promised special honor. I don't have any clever conclusions to draw about the various tenses in which Revelation is written or decryptions of apocryphal symbolism.

And for those who insist on taking every word in Revelation 20 literally, may I point out that right next door is the beautiful wedding story of Revelation 21 in which a cubic New Jerusalem is presented - coming out of heaven - to the bride by the groom - and it is big enough to barely fit inside a sphere the size of the moon. Far too big to land on this earth without considerable landing gear, rather than gemstone foundations! (Though I'm open to the idea that the new earth may not be like this one at all, including a shape other than spherical ....)

Judgment

What stands out to me in chapter 20 is that "...the dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books."

I don't have a problem with that.

It is perfectly - and disturbingly - consistent with what Jesus said in Matthew 25.

I think Christianity has pendulum-swung a little too far by backing away from the truth of these passages. I'm well aware that there was probably an over-emphasis on them for perhaps hundreds of years (the last part of which includes my childhood!). I agree that there was probably not enough emphasis on grace and the power of Christ's blood in forgiveness and the loving sovereignty of God.

But I believe, and have blogged many times before, that God is not an either/or proposition. He is love; He is also justice. He is mercy; He is also righteousness. If He were all righteousness, He would never have sent His Son to be tortured and die in place of those of us who deserve punishment. If He were all love, He would never have needed to send His Son to be stripped, spat upon, pierced, slugged, flailed and crucified in our place; he could have just extended blanket forgiveness to all who sin.

That's why there is a chapter 20 and a chapter 21 - where God is pictured descending with His temple in the New Jerusalem to dwell on the new earth with his new creation in their incorruptible bodies, stooping down to wipe away the tears of His beloved children. (Tears of grief for loved ones lost? Perhaps. Maybe we'll understand then that there were some who were never willing to believe and love and serve God in spite of what their lives seemed to be. But God might also wipe away tears of inexpressible joy so that we can see Him face-to-face, in all His glory. Just a thought from someone who has shed a few today.)

John closes the record of his vision with the "maranatha" blessing of other epistles. I don't know how many years I read this, thinking that the call to "come" was solely a call to those who do not yet believe. (Too many years of singing invitation songs and hearing altar calls, I suppose!) The call to come is also clearly from God's Spirit and the church (the bride) to the groom, Jesus. He will come - like the groom in his Matthew 25 parable of the ten virgins - to claim His bride at an unexpected hour of the night to sweep her off her feet and carry her to the home that He and His Father have prepared for them; for a feast and a celebration and a reunion of far-flung family. It is the ultimate in romance; the epic among love stories.

No wonder the bride should be eager for Him to come!

Revelation 22:17, 20 - "The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come!' And let him who hears say, 'Come!' Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life. ... He who testifies to these things says, 'Yes, I am coming soon.'

"Amen. Come, Lord Jesus."

Part I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX | X | XI | XII | XIII

Today I Mourn

A young mother - a sister in Christ at the church I attend - perished this morning in what is described as a freak handgun accident.

She was a stunningly lovely and achingly spiritual person.

She was an assistant instructor in gymnastics at the Christian school where my children attend. She leaves behind a husband and two children, the same age and gender as ours.

I'm at home with my kids today because little Laura is sick with a fever. But we're all sick at heart from this turn of events, and a little empty in the place this sweet young lady uniquely filled in our lives.

Tonight we'll gather on their lawn with our church family to pray.

Tomorrow we'll look at each other differently, with renewed love and passion for life, thinking of hers.

Sunday morning I will deliver a call to worship, a call to submission, a call to draw closer to God. I will pray for the words that need to be said to my church family.

But today I mourn.

postscript:
Gun slips, kills Maumelle woman
By Daniel Nasaw, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Saturday, July 9, 2005

A Maumelle woman was killed Friday morning after a shotgun she was retrieving from her attic slipped from her grasp and discharged, police said.
   Kim Evans, 38, was packing items for her nine-year old daughter to go to church camp at about 7 a.m. and was unloading belongings from an attic over the garage at the family's home at 24 Chicot Dr. when the accident occurred, said Maumelle police spokesman Lt. Mike Wilson.
   Evans had asked her husband, Travis, if he wanted her to bring down a shotgun stored there. He replied that he did, at which point Kim Evans partially removed the gun from the case and began pulling it down, Wilson said.
   Travis Evans told police he then turned around to set down a cup of coffee and heard his wife gasp, suggesting she'd lost her grip on the gun, Wilson said. The gun then discharged a round of birdshot, striking her in the neck at close range, he said.
   No one else was injured, and when police arrived they woke the still-sleeping children and took them outside the house before beginning their investigation, Wilson said.
   The couple moved to Maumelle with their son and daughter about two years ago from College Station, Texas.
   About 200 friends, neighbors and relatives gathered Friday evening for a tearful vigil on the Evanses' front lawn on a quiet street in the Little Rock suburb.   Wilson said an investigation has turned up nothing that would lead police to suspect foul play, although "we're certainly not ruling anything out."
   "It was a very tragic and very horrible scene," Wilson said. "It was the perfect family and the perfect couple."

Second Coming, Part XI: Hebrews, James, Peter and Jude

Part I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX | X | XI | XII | XIII

The writer to the Hebrews makes a mention of the last days, pointing out that Jesus was around for the first days as well:

Hebrews 1:1-2 - "In the past God spoke to our forefathers 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 he made the universe."

Reinforcing a "once and for all" theme throughout the epistles, the Hebrews writer repeats the pattern "creation," "end of the ages" and "a second time." This is also as close as we get to the phrase "second coming" in scripture.

Hebrews 9:26-28 - "Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him."

Can there be any mistake about the plainness of the expression "... man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment"? Can there be any exceptions? When Paul writes of "those who remain (alive)" being raptured away, hasn't the end of this life come for them? Is that why they will not precede the dead, who will be taken first - yet all will (timelessly?) meet Christ together?

Have you ever noticed that New Testament writers chronicling events after Christ's resurrection rarely use the words "die" or "death" with regard to a believer? They use what may seem like euphemisms instead - "fallen asleep," for instance (taking a cue from Jesus' diagnosis of Jairus' daughter?). Were they trying to express the truth that when Jesus claims a believer, death cannot take him or her away?

James, the Lord's half-brother, was very pragmatic - and not surprisingly, very reminiscent of Jesus - in his general letter, and also uses the term "last days." If he wasn't speaking specifically to people of his time and their particular sins in those "last days," to whom was he speaking? He echoes Jesus' description of moth and rust corrupting clothes and metal coinage. And he compares their gluttony and greed to "fattening" themselves - not a calf - "in the day of slaughter."

James 5:1-9 - "Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.

"Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near. Don't grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!"

His warning is also a lot like Jesus' warning: Stand firm! Be patient! Wait for it! Or you will be judged.

Peter declares the same timeless nature of Jesus Christ, using the same term "creation" compared with "these last times" to illustrate it:

I Peter 1:20 - "He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake."

And now the fisherman-turned-fisher-of-men speaks plainly. The end is imminent:

I Peter 4:7-11 - "The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen."

But his advice is timeless: Love deeply. Serve willingly. Speak wisely. Praise God through Christ.

He continues with the term "last days" and "day of the Lord" in his second letter, predicting (as Paul did to the Thessalonians) skepticism and confusion about Jesus' parousia. His answer, once again, cites the timeless, eternal nature of the Lord, from creation to judgment. He might even be citing Paul's letters to Thessalonica; we can't know for sure.

II Peter 3:1-18 - "Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.

"First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, 'Where is this coming he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.' But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

"But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

"But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.

"Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

"So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

"Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen."

Peter confirms a cosmic dimension to the day of the Lord; those who will be skeptical about its occurrence are correct in thinking of it in those terms. They're just wrong to conclude that it won't come because it hasn't yet come.

Trying to make the some occurrences of the words "heaven" and "earth" and "elements" take on new meanings (in order to conclude that Christ's presence was revealed by the destruction of the temple as He prophesied and no further "coming" can take place) is a difficult task. Many have tried their hand at it, and skilfully. But I'm not convinced.

To me, the simple interpretation is that "parousia" means both "coming" and "presence." He is present in the believer's life through His Spirit. He is also coming for each of his beloved at the time that death would otherwise claim them. There will come a time when - through cosmic catastrophe, divine intervention, possibly even the simple fact of entropy - the earth and all that's in it will be destroyed. It wasn't made to last forever in this form.

In this way of thinking, Jesus' parousia is both an event and a process. The event may have been the destruction of the temple in AD 70; it may have set into action a chain of consequence reaching forward and backward in time throughout eternity. It may well be that this day of the Lord is not just a thousand years - or a thousand millennia - but much, much, much longer. And we could still be connected with it, by God's patient grace ... through Christ's loving sacrifice ....

One day.

What all of these writers, over and over again, realize is that the HOW and WHAT and WHEN of our reunion with Christ is not nearly so important as the HOW we live now and WHAT we're willing to give and WHEN we are ready for that reunion.

Because that determines whether He meets us in joy, or in judgment.

Part I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX | X | XI | XII | XIII

Second Coming, Part X: Paul to Two Cities and Timothy

Part I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX | X | XI | XII | XIII

Paul had lots of nice things to say to the Christians of Philippi. And, since he was talking to faithful Christians who had already repented, his mention of the "day of Christ Jesus" is full of hope and joy - as compared to the warnings of Jesus prior to His crucifixion and resurrection to an unrepentant Israel.

Philippians 1:4-11 - "In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

"It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

"And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ - to the glory and praise of God."

When Paul writes to Thessalonica, he seems to be answering a question they had about Jesus' parousia and the resurrection to come with it - and he makes it clear that there is still a strong element of warning to those who do not believe:

I Thessalonians 4:13-5:11 - "Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.

"Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, 'Peace and safety,' destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

"But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing."

Paul echoes the image of the pregnant woman Christ used in illustrating the suddenness of the day to come. The image also calls to mind His warning in Luke to the women who wept as He trudged to Calvary.

He confirms Jesus' words that the day will come like a thief in the night - unexpectedly - but to those who belong to the day would be watching.

Paul's answer seems to be that there is an order to the resurrection: the dead will be raised before the living ascend, but they will be caught up (raptured?) together to meet Him in the air - right after the trumpet call Jesus described in Matthew 24.

Is this a literal description? Is it accurate? Poetic? Apocryphal language? The best description available given the limitation of language? All of the above?

In the letter we number as second, Paul again seems to be answering questions. This answer brings more questions to my mind:

II Thessalonians 2:1-15 - "Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come. Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for (that day will not come) until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God.

"Don't you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.

"But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter."

What understanding did the Thessalonians have of the parousia that made them wonder if it had already happened? If it is an earth-shattering, sky-darkening, once-in-a-creation event, how could they have thought it was all over?

Who answers the description of the "man of lawlessness" and who was holding back his power and why?

Does God really send powerful delusions so unbelieving people will believe a lie? Like the Old Testament "lie" that there's a huge army when it's really just a few Israelites with lanterns, clay pots and horns?

Did God choose some he loved from the beginning of time to be saved? Or just from the beginning of the ministry of the gospel?

Paul talks to Timothy about the last days. The "last days" - wherever they're mentioned - seem consistently to precede "the day of Christ." Other descriptions are more cataclysmic than this one - but if this were the only one, I can understand why some folks think we must be living in the "last days":

II Timothy 3:1-5 - "But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God - having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them."

Are we in the last days?

I don't believe so. It's a little arrogant to think that our little span of eternity is somehow worse than any previous one, or picked out to be specially treated because of the herculean efforts of Christians against such wickedness to force God's hand in their lifetimes. I also think it's too late to be living in the last days. That dubious distinction belongs to the pioneers of the faith in the first century.

We live in the era ushered in by the coming of the kingdom. We live in the kingdom age. Oh, it's not here in it's fulness; believers don't have incorruptible bodies (yet); and a lot of other things are yet to come. But we haven't been left behind, either.

Death has been conquered, once and for all. He's out of a job. Now Christ and His angels gather believers home - and exact justice upon those who will not believe.

Stick with me now. Hear me out.

Almost all of the current interpretations of eschatological scripture are right about some things and wrong about some others. That kind of thing happens when you mismatch scriptures or insist on only one method of interpretation or wrest old words into new meanings to fit your own perception.

The one and only value that I can attach to this interpretation is that it satisfies Occam's Razor. It's the simplest explanation that fits all of the available facts. So I prefer it.

If you declare that all prophecy was fulfilled at the revealing of Jesus when the temple was destroyed and that this life is "eternally" blessed by His presence through His Spirit, you take all of the power out of the anticipation (or dread) of real eternal life.

If you insist that all prophecy is yet to be fulfilled in the future - probably in our own time - but only foreshadowed by the events of AD 70, you imply that the "in this generation" imminence that Jesus and His followers identified with the coming of His kingdom was a cosmic fib.

If you insist that all prophecy was simply metaphorical, apocryphal language you preserve is poetry but destroy its power to warn and encourage for all generations.

If you panhandle your interpretation of prophecy uncaring whether you destroy the faith of others or to make a few bucks or to advance some political agenda, you are of all people the most pitiful.

But if you accept that God reveals what He wishes to reveal, trust His mercy and righteousness to do so adequately, praise His Lordship of heaven and earth and space and time - that's the attitude that inspires me to live out my hope, my faith, my love to others.

I could be wrong about this. As I've said before, I'd be happy for God to prove me wrong in His own way and His own time.

Because He has a much more exciting imagination than mine!

Part I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX | X | XI | XII | XIII

Second Coming, Part IX: Paul to Rome and Corinth

Part I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX | X | XI | XII | XIII

This part of the study I like to think of as "Six Authors In Search of an Ending." They are Paul, Peter, James, Jude, John of Patmos and the writer to the Hebrews. They all have something unique to add to the discussion - and they frequently reinforce each other with Jesus' words and concepts.

Paul warns Christians in Rome with the urgency of an imminent parousia:

Romans 13:11, 12 - "And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light."

It doesn't seem as pressing early on in the letter to Corinth, but it's still on Paul's mind:

I Corinthians 1:8 - "He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ."

When he responds to the idea of some Corinthians that there is no resurrection, the subject gains importance - and urgency. Paul connects the subject directly with the parousia of Jesus:

I Corinthians 15:12-58 - "But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.

"But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he ?has put everything under his feet.? Now when it says that ?everything? has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.

"Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? I die every day - I mean that, brothers - just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, 'Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.' Do not be misled: 'Bad company corrupts good character.' Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God - I say this to your shame.

"But someone may ask, 'How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?' How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.

"So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: 'The first man Adam became a living being'; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.

"I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed - in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory.'
'Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?' The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

"Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."

So Paul tantalizes us, describing with beautiful words of poetry the indescribable transformation to an incorruptible body. It is no mere floating, ghostly spirit he describes - but a realness that is, if anything, MORE real and substantial than the bodies we now have. They are so real that they are immortal, incorruptible, imperishable. The essence of us that lives now in these bodies will be "clothed" with new and better ones. Now we occupy the seed; then, the flower. Now we are dirt; then, we'll be heaven. Now we are tiny points of light; then, we will shine like the sun.

Is Paul describing the same kind of body in which Jesus appeared for forty days after His own resurrection; a body with scars in hands and feet; a body which ate fish?

And the change is instantaneous - in the "twinkling of an eye."

Darkening the explanation are questions for which we have no clue: Did Paul really fight wild beasts at Ephesus? If the question was hypothetical, why did he specifically mention Ephesus, instead of just saying "in the arena"? Was he describing as beasts the chanting mobs at Ephesus who praised Artemis/Diana and demanded criminal action against the Christians?

What is the meaning of "baptism for the dead"? Did it mean "on behalf of the dead"? Was Paul tacitly approving the practice of being baptized in behalf of someone who had passed away? Or had he already taught that such baptism was unnecessary; that the dead are left to God's grace and He would judge them righteously and mercifully? In that case, was he citing their desire to perform that baptism as evidence of their belief in the resurrection?

Who blows that last trumpet? And where did the teaching of a last trumpet come from? (John of Patmos picks it up in the Revelation!)

Paul uses the teaching to urge Corinthian Christians to live worthy lives; to watch and not be caught asleep at the wheel - just as Jesus did with His followers.

But maybe the most heartfelt of Paul's defenses of this doctrine of hope is the simple logic of his saying: "If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men."

Part I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX | X | XI | XII | XIII