Berean Bible Church

 

Berean Bible Church

The Rapture -- Physical or Spiritual?



We talked last week about the passing away of the old heaven and earth and the establishment of the new heaven and earth. I stated that we are NOW living in the new heaven and earth. Obviously I don't view the new heaven and earth as physical, we are certainly not living in a physical paradise. I believe that the new heaven and earth is a spiritual reality. I believe that Isaiah 65-66 and 2 Peter 3 and
Revelation 21-22 speak of spiritual truths not physical truths. Am I spiritualizing too much of the Bible? Is it wrong to make spiritual application to things or is it the way that things should be interpreted?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Natural Theology: The Apocalypse Now

Image
  “A concept which takes over where our comprehension ceases,”  C. v. Orelli, D. hebr. Synonyma d. Zeit u Ewigkeit (1871), 70. I know there is nothing in the word or in the works of God that is repugnant to sound reason, but there are some things in both that are opposite to carnal reason as well as above right reason; and therefore our reason never shows itself more unreasonable than in summoning those things to its bar that transcend its sphere and capacity. John Flavel (Elliot Ritzema and Elizabeth Vince, eds., 300 Quotations for Preachers from the Puritans, Pastorum Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2013).) Whatever a man knows and understands is mere vanity, if it is not grounded in true wisdom; and it is in no degree better fitted for the apprehension of spiritual doctrine than the eye of a blind man is for discriminating colors. We must carefully notice these two things—that a knowledge of all the sciences is mere smoke where the heavenly science of Christ is w...
Read more

Martyrs rule because the Martyr rules: The good news of the Apocalypse

Image
  The church of Christ has been founded by shedding its own blood, not that of others; by enduring outrage, not by inflicting it. Persecutions have made it grow; martyrdoms have crowned it. Jerome Elliot Ritzema, 300 Quotations for Preachers from the Early Church, Pastorum Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2013). Jesus is the witness, the faithful and true one (cf. Rev.1:5). μάρτυς-witness again edges toward its later meaning of “someone who dies for his faith.” Jesus has been faithful to death, and proven that the Father raises the faithful dead. He is the model for martyrs like Antipas (“in place of the Father”), who died in a Christlike way, and he is also the model for the two witnesses (Rev.11:3) and the witnesses  whose blood the harlot drinks .  Jesus’s blood, like Abel’s and like that of later martyrs’, witnesses against those who kill the saints, crying out for vindication and justice. Peter J. Leithart, Revelation, ed. Michael Allen and Scott R. Swain, vol. ...
Read more

Justification by Faith Alone (The Relation of Faith to Justification) by Joel Beeke

  Justification by Faith Alone (The Relation of Faith to Justification ) Dr. Joel R. Beeke Justification by faith alone was Martin Luther's great spiritual and theological breakthrough. It did not come easily. He had tried everything from sleeping on hard floors and fasting to climbing a staircase in Rome while kneeling in prayer. Monasteries, disciplines, confessions, masses, absolutions, good works-all proved fruitless. Peace with God eluded him. The thought of the righteousness of God pursued him. He hated the very word "righteousness," which he believed provided a divine mandate to condemn him. Light finally dawned for Luther as he mediated on Romans 1:17, " For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith ." Justification by Faith Alone (The Relation of Faith to Justification) by Joel Beeke
Read more

Babylon the Great: The Great city

Image
  For these are days of vengeance, as a fulfillment of all that is written.  Isa 63:4; Dan 9:24–27; Zech. 11:1 Lk 21:22 Come out of her, my people Then he shall confirm a covenant Is. 42:6 with many Matt. 26:28 for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate.” Dan.9:27 Through the preaching of the Gospel he kept his promise —first to the Jews, and afterward to the Gentiles. Christ fulfilled this through his death and resurrection. This means that Jerusalem and the Sanctuary would be completely destroyed because of their rebellion against God and their idolatry; or, as some read it, the plagues will be so great that all will be astonished by them. (Geneva Bible: Notes, vol. 1 (Geneva: Rovland Hall, 1560), 363.) Babylon the great/the great city is the highest achievement of humanity, but it...
Read more