Creekside Church, Sunday, March 6, 2022
What's Next?
Locations & Times
Creekside Church
660 Conservation Dr, Waterloo, ON N2J 3Z4, Canada
Sunday 9:00 AM
Sunday 10:30 AM
There are key elements we need to define and understand to help us embrace the future as God has revealed it to us in the bible. So, let’s take a look at them.
FIRST, WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THE TIMING AND THE NATURE OF THE RETURN OF JESUS:
Jesus is going to return bodily, literally, personally, actually . . . This is the repeated teaching of Scripture and the ongoing promise held by the followers of Jesus.
“Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!”
Acts 1:11b NLT
15 We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died.16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves.17 Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.18 So encourage each other with these words.
1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 NLT
The Latin translation of verse 17 uses the word rapturo in place of the two words “caught up”. It means to snatch or take away. It is from this Latin word that we have created the English word Rapture.
SECOND, WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THE MILLENNIUM:
Millennium is a compound of two Latin terms, mille (thousand), and annus (year). Technically then millennium means 1,000 years. However, when applied to the biblical context, millennium has been used specifically as a title for the 1,000-year time frame repeatedly referenced in Revelation 20.
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.2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.3 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.
4 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 about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.5 (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection.6 Blessed and holy are those who share 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.
7 When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison8 and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth.
Revelation 20:1-8a
So, in the biblical context, the millennium refers to the 1,000-year reign of Christ as described in Revelation 20. Among evangelical Christians the exact timing and nature of what is meant by the Millennium is debated.
1. Postmillennialists believe we are living in the millennium right now. Postmillennialists believe that Christ returns at the end of the millennium. This position teaches that the world will get better and better as the gospel is shared with others. Jesus will return when the millennial dream of peace and salvation reaches and is embraced by most of the world.
2. Amillenialists do not believe in a literal, open, visible, one-thousand-year reign of Christ on earth. The 1,000 years is seen as figurative. A better title for this position would be “Realized Millennialist”. The millennium is realized right now. We are living in the millennium today. To the amillennialist the millennium is the time period between Jesus’ first coming and Jesus’ return.
3. Premillennialists teach that Jesus must return before the millennium can occur. The millennium will be a time of peace and prosperity that will last approximately 1,000 years.Before the millennium starts there will be a tribulation period of about 7 years in length. This will be a time of great turmoil and trouble. The rapture will occur before the 7-year tribulation period (some hold to a mid-tribulation rapture and others to a post-tribulation rapture).
THIRD, WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND SATAN’S SITUATION:
2 He (an angel) seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.3 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.
Revelation 20:2-3
Notice that Satan is bound during the millennium. There are different understandings among the three millennial positions as to what the binding of Satan means.
THERE ARE FIVE KEY AREAS IN WHICH ALL FOUR VIEWS ARE IN AGREEMENT.
1. There will be a rapture.
2. Jesus will physically return to earth.
3. Everyone will experience a bodily resurrection.
4. Satan will be bound during the millennium, ultimately defeated and constrained forever.
5. There will be a final judgment in which believers join Christ for eternity while nonbelievers are separated from God’s presence.
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE MILLENNIUM?
BELIEVERS’ JUDGEMENT –
For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.
Romans 14:10b
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
2 Corinthians 5:10
UNBELIEVERS’ JUDGMENT –
11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 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. 13 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 they had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
Revelation 20:11-15
FIRST, WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THE TIMING AND THE NATURE OF THE RETURN OF JESUS:
Jesus is going to return bodily, literally, personally, actually . . . This is the repeated teaching of Scripture and the ongoing promise held by the followers of Jesus.
“Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!”
Acts 1:11b NLT
15 We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died.16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves.17 Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.18 So encourage each other with these words.
1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 NLT
The Latin translation of verse 17 uses the word rapturo in place of the two words “caught up”. It means to snatch or take away. It is from this Latin word that we have created the English word Rapture.
SECOND, WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THE MILLENNIUM:
Millennium is a compound of two Latin terms, mille (thousand), and annus (year). Technically then millennium means 1,000 years. However, when applied to the biblical context, millennium has been used specifically as a title for the 1,000-year time frame repeatedly referenced in Revelation 20.
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.2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.3 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.
4 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 about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.5 (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection.6 Blessed and holy are those who share 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.
7 When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison8 and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth.
Revelation 20:1-8a
So, in the biblical context, the millennium refers to the 1,000-year reign of Christ as described in Revelation 20. Among evangelical Christians the exact timing and nature of what is meant by the Millennium is debated.
1. Postmillennialists believe we are living in the millennium right now. Postmillennialists believe that Christ returns at the end of the millennium. This position teaches that the world will get better and better as the gospel is shared with others. Jesus will return when the millennial dream of peace and salvation reaches and is embraced by most of the world.
2. Amillenialists do not believe in a literal, open, visible, one-thousand-year reign of Christ on earth. The 1,000 years is seen as figurative. A better title for this position would be “Realized Millennialist”. The millennium is realized right now. We are living in the millennium today. To the amillennialist the millennium is the time period between Jesus’ first coming and Jesus’ return.
3. Premillennialists teach that Jesus must return before the millennium can occur. The millennium will be a time of peace and prosperity that will last approximately 1,000 years.Before the millennium starts there will be a tribulation period of about 7 years in length. This will be a time of great turmoil and trouble. The rapture will occur before the 7-year tribulation period (some hold to a mid-tribulation rapture and others to a post-tribulation rapture).
THIRD, WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND SATAN’S SITUATION:
2 He (an angel) seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.3 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.
Revelation 20:2-3
Notice that Satan is bound during the millennium. There are different understandings among the three millennial positions as to what the binding of Satan means.
THERE ARE FIVE KEY AREAS IN WHICH ALL FOUR VIEWS ARE IN AGREEMENT.
1. There will be a rapture.
2. Jesus will physically return to earth.
3. Everyone will experience a bodily resurrection.
4. Satan will be bound during the millennium, ultimately defeated and constrained forever.
5. There will be a final judgment in which believers join Christ for eternity while nonbelievers are separated from God’s presence.
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE MILLENNIUM?
BELIEVERS’ JUDGEMENT –
For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.
Romans 14:10b
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
2 Corinthians 5:10
UNBELIEVERS’ JUDGMENT –
11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 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. 13 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 they had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
Revelation 20:11-15