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

Reformation Apocalypticism: Münster’s Monster or Christian Nationalism

Reformation Apocalypticism: Münster’s Monster THE YEAR IS 1530. Protestant thought sweeps like a tornado across a European terrain that has altered little for a thousand years. Caught in the storm, the influential town of Strasbourg (now in France) is gripped by the same fears rampaging through Germany and the Netherlands. The stage is set for revolution. Melchoir Hoffman, a furrier, mounts the pulpit to preach another of his fiery apocalyptic sermons. The New Revelation is about to be unleashed... most agree Melchoir Hoffman’s preaching was the most significant factor in launching the radical wing of the Reformation. His emphasis on a literal millennial reign of Jesus Christ on earth gripped the imagination of the Anabaptist movement... Matthys proclaimed he was none other than Enoch, the second witness of the Book of Revelation. With a flowing black beard, the tall, gaunt figure was now the bearer of prophetic authority. Doubters were confronted with threats and intimidation. Tho...
Read more

I pray for them: I pray not for the world; destruction at work in the world outside

Image
     He brings princes to naught (Job 12:18; Isa 34:12) and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. (Job 12:19; Am 2:3) No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff. (Job 24:24; Isa 41:2) TNIV.   I pray for them: I pray not for the world , but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. John 17:9 KJV The world seems here to signify all mankind, for whom Christ in this place doth not pray; though some interpret it of reprobates, others of unbelievers. Christ afterward prayed for the world, Jn.17:20; that is, for such who, though they at present were unbelievers, yet should be brought to believe by the apostles’ ministry .  But to teach us to distinguish in our prayer, our Saviour here distinguishes, and prayeth for some things for his chosen ones, which he doth not pray for on the behalf of others: these he des...
Read more

Theonomy: Sanctified by Law reconstructionism; or the Tower of Babel

Image
Justified By Grace, Sanctified by Law.  Theonomy reaches to the Christian’s personal life and then to the nations of the world through the church’s work and witness.  On the personal level, reconstructionism strikes a welcome note against the antinomianism inherent in much of modern evangelicalism, particularly in dispensationalism.  But it goes too far.  According to Rushdoony, “Man’s justification is by the grace of God in Jesus Christ; man’s sanctification is  by means of the law of God ” (Institutes of Biblical Law, p. 4). Again,  “The law is the way of sanctification”  (p. 3). These statements set law as the antithesis of grace. They present a theory of sanctification that is not by grace but by  works of law . (Alan Cairns, Dictionary of Theological Terms (Belfast; Greenville, SC: Ambassador Emerald International, 2002), 367.)  Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses?  Of course...
Read more

“But I [Jesus] say to you...until everything is fulfilled.”

Image
  When a man is humbled by the law, and brought to the knowledge of himself, then follows true repentance (for true repentance begins at the fear and judgment of God), and he sees himself to be so great a sinner that he can find no means how he may be delivered from his sin by his own strength, endeavor, and works.(Romans 3:19; 7:14; 11:32; Galatians 3:22 ) Martin Luther Elliot Ritzema, 300 Quotations for Preachers from the Reformation, Pastorum Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2013). Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1:24 Jewish writers knew Wisdom was grammatically feminine in Hebrew (“she”; “her”). This was the  reason for the use of feminine pronouns in descriptions of Wisdom. Some Jewish theologians  made much of the fact that the word for “law” (torah) was also grammatically feminine. This led  some to identify the Law itself as Wisdom. This meant that, to many Jews, the Torah (Wisdom)  was divine.   Consequently, whereas Ne...
Read more