End Days - He Will Come Back (b)

Last week we looked at a an article about a documentary that, according to the article, was supposed to have been released this past Monday — I think it must have been released Monday before last, March 19th.

I was curious about how the documentary was received and read a couple of articles to try to understand.

First of all the so-called documentary was shown at an international documentary film festival in Copenhagen. (News to me!)

So I read an article in Variety Magazine from this past Saturday, March 25.

It seems to primarily be the same stuff we saw in the previous article.

The Copenhagen festival says on their web site that this is a:

Hard-hitting docu-thriller about an influential movement of Christian fundamentalists in the US, who with millions of dollars in backing and threads into the government are fighting for the end of the world. Power, money and religion in a terrifying insider’s report from a closed world.

Since I didn’t see much more than the original article, I don’t know that it has gained any traction amongst people who can actually think.

One of the areas I did not cover last week was what the article said about the Seven Mountains prayer mandate.

It seems to terrify the world, so it might be an indicator of how important it is to PRAY over these areas — to pray for the people leading and involved in these areas.

Article: Politics is not the only arena where fundamentalist Christians are attempting to transform society. Televangelist Paula White, a spiritual advisor to Trump during his presidency, is among the adherents of the Seven Mountains Mandate, a movement that began in the mid-1970s with the intent to take over seven “spheres” of society.

“They want to take control of the most important institutions in the U.S.,” Schei says, including education, religion, family, business, government/military, arts/entertainment and media. “There is this mandate and there seems to be sort of an overarching plan that they are working towards.”

For more information:

https://www.compellingtruth.org/seven-mountain-mandate.html#:~:text=Those%20who%20advance%20the%20seven%20mountain%20mandate%20tend,over%20and%20govern%20nations%20according%20to%20biblical%20principles.

Take control?

No!

Pray that those involved in these areas realize their accountability to God for that area?

Yes!

Pray it be restored to a godly foundation?

Yes!

Would Jesus encourage or forbid prayer in these areas or consider it a complete non-issue to be ignored/avoided?

Why?

Matthew 6:9–10 (LSB) “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.

What about?

1 Timothy 2:1–8 (LSB) First of all, then, I exhort that petitions and prayers, requests and thanksgivings, be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. 3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the witness for this proper time. 7 For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying) as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. 8 Therefore I want the men [people] in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension.

For many years I have promoted praying for the 7 Mountains of Culture.

In 1975 Loren Cunningham and Bill Bright, founders of Youth With a Mission (YWAM) and Campus Crusade for Christ (CRU) respectively, and their wives were visiting together on the Front Range of Colorado. Without either one's prior knowledge they almost simultaneously pulled out sheets of paper that explained what they each felt God had just shown them about how to more effectively reach both America and the nations for the Kingdom of God.

Shortly thereafter Darlene, Loren's wife, viewed Dr. Francis Schaeffer (well known author and teacher from L'Abri in Switzerland) on TV where he shared the same ideas. The word "spheres" came from II Corinthians 10:13+, relating to "spheres" of ministry that Paul had been called to.

2009 - (before I was here) I asked our church to pray for the 7 mountains of culture:

Here at NLFC Prayer List in 2020: 7 Mountains of Culture

Please pray for these 7 “mountains” of our culture: GOVERNMENT | MILITARY| MEDIA | BUSINESS |

EDUCATION| CHURCH | FAMILY.

May God restore a Biblical foundation to our society so that once again we can be a Christian nation

SUPREME COURT COURT - 1892 - CHURCH OF THE HOLY TRINITY VS U.S.

Involved the application of a federal law forbidding the importation of foreign contract laborers in a church hiring a pastor from England.

Justice David J. Brewer declaring that the United States is a “Christian nation.”

He provided an overview of references to God in official documents from U.S. history, beginning with the commission to Christopher Columbus and continuing through colonial charters, state constitutions, and oaths of office.

He wrote:

"Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind, and it's impossible that it should be otherwise: and in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian."

But we have lost this in U.S. culture. We have lost a Biblical foundation.

The 7 mountains prayer is for a recovery of Biblical foundations — not whatever they mean by “control.”

Wednesday Bible Study End Times -He Will Come Back

March 29, 2023

The word heaven brings various images to people’s minds. An old Christian song says, “This world is not my home. I’m just-a passing through. My treasures are laid up, somewhere beyond the blue.”

Group Discussion: What thoughts and feelings do the words of this song evoke?

Personal Reflection:In Robert Frost’s poem “Death of the Hired Man,” the hired hand Silas comes home to die. The old farmer, reflecting on the inconvenience this will mean, says:

“Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.”

The farmer’s wife had a better grasp of the matter when she replied,

“I should have called it something you somehow haven’t to deserve.”

What thoughts and feelings does the word home awaken in you?

I had a dysfunctional home growing up, and I am sure the home I tried to create is far-far from what it should have been — but I guess I have a romanticized version of home in my memory:

A place where people love one another

Care for one another

Make allowances for one another

Purpose: To explore the relevance of our present experience of the Holy Spirit to the process of waiting for the Second Coming of Jesus.

In this study we discover how Jesus in his farewell address promises an eternal home to his followers. Remarkably, in John’s Gospel the time between the farewell of Jesus in his earthly body until his Second Coming is not a time of empty waiting.

If we will one day have an eternal dwelling with God, we may immediately have a real experience of the presence of Jesus through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, called the Comforter or Advocate in John’s Gospel.

John’s special contribution to end-times living is his emphasis on the continuity between life in Christ now (through the Spirit) and the life we will have when the end fully comes.

In both cases our home with God is “something you somehow haven’t to deserve”—a matter of sheer grace.

*** Read John 14:1–14.

1. What indications does Jesus give that our ultimate destiny is much more than a mere place like an unassigned hotel room (vv. 1–4)?

Question 1. Remarkably Jesus stresses the ministry of preparing heaven for us rather than merely preparing us for heaven!

The meaning of monai (“rooms,” v. 2) is not entirely clear.

Only used in John 14 (also in verse 23)

While some have translated this “mansions” or “resting places,” it appears from the context that permanent abodes are meant.

While nothing is said about the nature of the place being prepared, it is enough to know that the believer will be with Jesus.

In this passage “where” gives way to “how” and ultimately to “who.”

Even the Second Coming, which has a lesser place in the fourth Gospel in comparison to the others, is presented in these personal, Christ-centered terms:

Christ must come again to take us to our ultimate home.

2. What reason does Jesus give here for the importance of his coming back a second time after his death and resurrection?

That where He is WE will be.

He longs for and WANTS us to be with Him.

3. How is it possible for true disciples of Jesus to decide not to be troubled as they face the unknown future, even the prospect of death?

We get to decide?

How?

By choosing upon what we focus:

Psalm 43:5 (LSB) Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me? Wait for God, for I shall still praise Him, The salvation of my presence and my God.

**** By choosing to focus and stand upon the promises of God revealed in His Word:

Isaiah 43:1–2 (LSB) But now, thus says Yahweh, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! 2 “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you.

Does promises made to Jacob or Israel apply to us?

Romans 2:28–29 (LSB) For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. 29 But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.

Romans 11:11- 24 - speaks of being “grafted in.”

Jesus does not make this statement in a vacuum.

Question 3. In John 13 Peter has just heard that he will deny the Lord three times.

A great trial is imminent.

And now Jesus is speaking of his departure.

They have left everything to follow him and now he is leaving them.

So Jesus is not speaking to people who are untroubled, but rather to those racked with anxiety.

The reasons for faith offered in this chapter are not merely rational but include their experience of the Spirit, who will be given when Jesus leaves.

So great is this coming assurance that Jesus dares to say, “If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I” (Jn 14:28).

4. How does this promise of Jesus (to prepare a place for us) help you to face your life-challenges with faith rather than fear?

The future is NOT an unknown.

It is a place my loving Savior, who died on the Cross for MY sins, has prepared for me.

We KNOW (Know fully; understand, recognize) that through the Holy Spirit given to us. The Holy Spirit places a CERTAINTY within us:

1 Corinthians 2:12 (NLT) And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.

1 Corinthians 2:12 (AMP) Now we have not received the spirit [that belongs to] the world, but the [Holy] Spirit Who is from God, [given to us] that we might realize and comprehend and appreciate the gifts [of divine favor and blessing so freely and lavishly] bestowed on us by God.

Not “hope so” — Know fully; understand, recognize

5. What deep need does Jesus claim to meet through his answer to Thomas’s question (vv. 5–7)?

Question 5. Often the claims of Jesus to be the way (and not merely to show the way), to be the truth, and to be the life are taken to be exclusionary, and Christians are criticized for their bigoted claims.

However, it is important to note that it is Jesus who makes these claims for Himself and not merely Christians who are making statements about their religion.

In contrast to the claims of religious leaders who offer hope and blessing for the spiritually enlightened, Jesus offers relationship with Himself as an all-sufficient way that could potentially include everyone.

Philip’s question (14:8) is a veiled request for a revelation of God such as occurred occasionally in the Old Testament (Ex 24:10; 33:17; Is 6:1).

Jesus’ answer is that the Father and the Son live in such mutual interpenetration that Jesus is truly the full and final revelation of the Father.

To see Jesus is to see the Father (Jn 1:18; 12:45; 13:20).

As Leon Morris says, “Faith that there is a mutual indwelling of the Father and the Son is part of the faith whereby a man commits himself to Christ. If there is no such indwelling there can scarcely be full commitment” (Morris, Gospel, p. 645).

6. What ultimate desire does Jesus claim to satisfy through His answer to Philip’s question (vv. 8–10)?

To see the Father.

Read John 14:16–27

7. What fresh meaning does Jesus now bring to the statement “I will come to you” (14:18)?

Question 7. This question has led many scholars to argue that for John’s audience, now discouraged that Christ has not come back soon after his ascension, the real hope is their present experience of the Holy Spirit.

This is the Second Coming.

And in a limited sense this view is partly correct.

As “another” paraclete (meaning comforter or legal friend), the Holy Spirit is, as it were, another Jesus to the disciples. In John’s Gospel the Spirit is closely linked with the work of Jesus—making Jesus present and interpreting his words.

The Spirit is the presence of Jesus when Jesus is absent.

C. K. Barrett says, “The Spirit’s work is to bear witness to Christ [and] to make operative what Christ had already effected.

The Spirit is thus the eschatological continuum in which the work of Christ, initiated in his ministry and awaiting its termination at his return, is wrought out” (quoted in Gary M. Burge, The Anointed Community: The Holy Spirit in the Johannine Tradition [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1987], pp. 83–84).

The coming of the Holy Spirit continues and completes the ministry of Jesus.

This is expressed in the five sayings of the Spirit in John:

(1) “he lives with you and will be in you” (14:16–17);

(2) he “will teach you all things” (14:26);

(3) “he will testify about me” (15:26);

(4) “he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment” (16:7–11);

and (5) “he will guide you into all truth” (16:13–15).

But to the question “Is the paraclete in fact Jesus returned?” we must answer no, even if only John’s Gospel were considered. Jesus’ use of the words going and coming have a double reference: to the coming of the eschatological Spirit, and to his final coming in glory.

8. What new dimension of the meaning of “home” does Jesus now explore (v. 23)?

Question 8. This is the only use of monē (“room”) other than verse 2.

And here it is reinterpreted to point not to a heavenly dwelling but to a present indwelling of the Father and the Son in the believer through the Spirit (v. 17).

As Gary Burge shows, Judas’s question in verse 22 points to the expectation of a personal, visible return of Christ in the clouds so that every eye will see him.

“But John 14 presents a new definition. Jesus’ personal indwelling along with the Father (vv. 23–24) will be Judas’s own personal epiphany” (Anointed Community, p. 144).

9. In what ways will the presence of the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, be an appearance of Christ?

Question 9. John’s special contribution to living in the end times is this double “coming” of Jesus, first in the Spirit, who is in a real sense Jesus come back. Indeed, while the disciples might have been satisfied with fellowship with Jesus alone, it would not be possible to have a permanent indwelling of Jesus without the coming of the Spirit (Jn 20:22). From our postascension perspective one cannot be a Christian without an encounter with the dynamic Spirit.

Why will the coming of the Spirit not be the complete Second Coming of Jesus?

Question 9. But the second meaning of “coming” points to Christ’s final coming that is suggested when Jesus speaks of “my Father’s house” (14:2) and promises to take the disciples to be with him (14:3). Having the Spirit is even better than having Jesus in the flesh. And having Christ come again visibly and finally in history is best of all!

10. How does your present experience of the Spirit affect your time of waiting for Jesus to come back?

He comforts me and gives me an awareness of Jesus’ presence WITH me in difficult times.

11. What prerequisites must be met to be “at home” with God?

John 16:8–11 (LSB) “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; 11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

Fire Bible:

(1) The Spirit’s work of convicting operates in three areas.

(a) Sin. The Holy Spirit will expose sin and unbelief in order to awaken in an individual a consciousness of guilt and a need for forgiveness. Conviction also makes clear the tragic results of rejecting Christ and persisting in sin (i.e., going our own way apart from God). After experiencing the Spirit’s conviction, each person must make a choice about Christ. The hope is that this leads to true repentance and a turning to Jesus as Savior and Lord—the Forgiver of one’s sins and the Leader of one’s life (Ac 2:37–38).

(b) Righteousness. The Spirit convinces the spirit of a person that Jesus is the Son of God who came and showed the right way to God. He reveals that a right relationship with God does not depend on our own good works or efforts, but on Christ’s death on the cross for our sins. If we accept his forgiveness and turn over the rule of our lives to him, his Spirit will empower us to do what is right by God’s standards and to overcome the ungodly ways and temptations of the world (Ac 3:12–16; 7:51–60; 17:31; 1Pe 3:18).

Ephesians 2:8–10 (LSB) For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

(c) Judgment. The Spirit convinces people of Satan’s defeat, which Christ secured and guaranteed by his death on the cross for our sin (12:31; 16:11). The Spirit also makes people aware of God’s present judgment of the world (Ro 1:18–32) and the future judgment of the entire human race, including each individual’s personal accountability to God (Mt 16:27; Ac 17:31; 24:25; Ro 14:10; 1Co 6:2; 2Co 5:10; Jude 1:14).

Unbelievers: Revelation 20:11–15 (LSB) Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sits upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 Then I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them, and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Believers 2 Corinthians 5:10 (LSB) For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

Thank the Father, Son and Spirit for making a home in you.

Now or Later

The passage as a whole provides multiple reasons for believing in Jesus:

(1) To believe in Jesus is the same as to believe in God (v. 1), that is, faith in Jesus is not something additional to believing in God since there is no other way to God than through Jesus (v. 6).

(2) The words of Jesus are not his own but are the true words of God (v. 6).

(3) The works that Jesus does are signs that point to God who is working through him. The “greater works” that will be accomplished by disciples when Jesus leaves are most probably centered in the mighty works of conversion that will be accomplished through the Spirit.

The coming of the Holy Ghost was not merely to supply the absence of the Son but to complete His presence.

Bishop Gore[1]

Stevens, R. P. (2004). End Times: 13 Studies for Individuals or Groups: With Notes for Leaders (pp. 68–70). IVP Connect: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press.