Kim Riddlebarger - Eschatology
Pre-millennial -
Christ comes back before the millennial age and He will set up a semi renewed kingdom on the earth where Jesus will be reigning over the earth from Jerusalem on David's throne. People on earth will be pro-creating alongside those who have been resurrected and glorified - for 1000 years.
Problem:
But everyone is judged when Christ comes back
Wheat/Tares Sheep / Goat Elect / Reprobate
1 How do you get anybody through that judgement who isn't cast into Hell or resurrected?
It's hard to find a category for people who aren't resurrected or judged. Where do they come from, it's impossible.
2 Jesus rules from David's throne in Jerusalem, after the millennial reign, people revolt again, a second fall. Evil in the millennial age is big problem, where does it come from? Where is that defended in scripture?
3 You have people on earth in resurrected bodies, who can no longer pro-create living next to people with natural bodies that can pro-create.
Post-millennial -
The millennium occurs before Christ comes back
Some point before Christ comes back the Gospel will succeed in converting the nations to Christ so the earth is essentially saved and this will have economic, political and religious impact on all aspects of life so in essence the world is Christianized before Christ comes back.
A-Millennial - 1000 year period between Christ's first coming and second coming.
Preterist view - (All prophecy has been fulfilled before 70 AD)
All prophecy has been fulfilled up until the coming of Christ. There is no more eschatology. All we're waiting for is the second coming. Christ came in judgement in AD 70.
Partial preterist - most Reformed and Orthodox agree - Kim disagrees
Full preterist - Heresy - Christ came in judgment in 70 AD and so there is no bodily resurrection of Christ or the believer.
No Secret Rapture - Return of Christ comes at the second coming. No such thing as a 7 year tribulation period taught anywhere in the Bible. Taken from Daniel 9:24-27 70th week of Daniel. That prophecy was fulfilled in the life of Christ, the last 1/2 week of that remains.
When Christ returns it is always visible time when the saints will be caught up with Christ in the air, so there is no secret rapture7 years ahead of Christ's bodily return. It's all one event. 1st Cor 15 and 1st Thess 4 the language says that this event is going to be a well-known universal event. It's not a cosmic dog-whistle where only believers hear the 2nd coming. Everyone will know when Christ appears.
Michael Horton - Word Faith
Besides throwing out doctrines like the Trinity and confusing ourselves with God, the movement teaches that Jesus went to the cross not to bring forgiveness of our sins but to get us out of financial debt, not to reconcile us to God but to give us the power to claim our prosperity, not to remove the curse of death, injustice and bondage to ourselves but to give us our best life now. Jesus is "not the only begotten son of God," just the first. We're all divine and have the power to speak worlds into existence.
RC Sproul - Roman's 8:28
For we know that all things work together for good for those who are the called according to God's purpose.
For we know... (not maybe, not I think so). For we know!!! It is a certainty!
This is in the midst of affliction that God is for us and God is working all things, He is not absent.
Remember who you are in the midst of your pain and suffering from before the foundation of the world He has chosen you to be redeemed. It show's God's profound care for his children.
Golden Chain: Foreknew>>Predestined>>Called>>Justified>>Glorified
The reason for predestination is to be conformed to the image of God.
Ordo Salutis - Order of Salvation
John Piper - Hebrews 10:26-27
If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgement and raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.
1 - Do these verses teach that we can lose our salvation?
No, I don't think genuine believers in Christ lose their salvation.
2 What does Hebrews 10:26 mean by referring to "sinning deliberately" (or "willingly")
since in one sense all sin is an act of the will and thus deliberate?
I think there is a kind of sinning that is more deliberate, more eager, more persistent than
the way genuine believer sins - sins that are confessed and forgiven.
Pelagius Denied Original Sin
Adam sinned for himself alone and was no way imputed to the rest of mankind. Adam set an example and humans after him, all people followed in sin.
Original sin - The doctrine of original sin teaches that people sin because we are sinners. It's not that we are sinners because we sin, but rather, we sin because we are sinners; that is, since the fall of man, we have inherited a corrupted condition of sinfulness. We now have a sin nature.
Pelagius gave enormous power to man's will by rejecting original sin.
If God gives a command - man must be able to and capable in and of himself to perform such a command. God would never command man to do something he couldn't do.
(Augustine - Give what you command; command what you will.)
If man's will is free, then there is no need for divine grace. Grace can assist a sinner but not necessary. Man's freedom would be undermined if divine grace was necessary.
Grace - that which reveals right and wrong and further illuminating man's obligation to obey the law of God and follow Christ's example.
Christ did not atone for our guilt but set an example. Man in and of himself can attain heaven. He believes in monergism, but human monergism.
Arminians refer to infant baptism and people who never hear the gospel that Adam's sin was not imputed to them so then they are absolved. But the obvious refutation of the Arminian view unfortunately is the grim fact of infant death. If infants cannot sin - which leads to death - why then do infants tragically die? The Arminian must state that infant death results from human finitude or from the sins of another against the infant. Yet scripture clearly teaches that death is a result of sin!
From R.C. - Adam and Eve did not sin personally. Adam - man, Eve- Mother of all, - both stood as supreme representatives before Almighty God .
Michael Horton - Sanctification needs our involvement
Regeneration - Passive, we're acted upon
Conversion - Active, Repentance and Faith
Justification - Passive, we're declared righteous
Sanctification - Active - we're being made righteous
All is of God, all is of Grace. It is because we're united with Christ that we bear fruit, but
we are active for the first time in this process.
Michael Horton - The Need for Doctrine
A lot of people say that the Christian faith is about deeds not creeds. It's about what we do, not about doctrine.
The Gospel is a doctrine. An announcement what God has done to save us. It's not good advice. It's not good principles for living. The Gospel is Good News .
If you don't know the doctrine that Jesus was crucified for our sins and raised for our justification, then Christianity is nothing more than a self-help program or bland moralism. But Christian deeds are rooted in the Gospel. I want to know about Jesus, I want to KNOW Jesus. The more we know about God, who He is, what He's done for us, the more we fall in love with Him. The more we entrust our lives to Him, our faith grows and out of faith our love grows and out of love come works.
Genuine Christian piety, truly good works that come from faith which come from doctrine.
The 4 D's
Drama - what God has done
Doctrine - How that relates to us
Doxology - Emotion, Thanksgiving, Experience
Discipleship -Our lives in the world
If we remove one of those, we have an incomplete Christianity.
Christian Liberty
With respect to those things about which God has not spoken about explicitly.
Believers are free to act according to conscience in areas where Scripture is silent.
Eating meat sacrificed to idols is ok according to Paul because we have nothing to do with pagan gods. But if a weaker brother still thinks it's a sin to eat meat sacrificed to idols, then the stronger brother should not eat the meat in deference to the weaker brother.
1 Cor 2:2
I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Paul was a man of many talents and had acquired much worldly wisdom and religious knowledge. Paul was a logical thinker and had plain common sense and yet as he grew in grace, he determined to know nothing other than Jesus Christ and Him crucified. In five short words, Paul gave the foundational truths contained in the glorious gospel of God -JESUS CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED.
For I determined He determined. He made a resolution, This was my fixed and deliberate purpose when I came here. Not to know I resolved not to give my time and attention while among you to the laws and traditions for the the Jews; to your orators, poets, philosophers, to the beauty of your architecture Anything among you Anything while I was with you or anything that may exist, Save Jesus Christ Except Jesus Christ. This the only thing of which I purposed to have any knowledge among you . And Him crucified He determined to make the Messiah a "crucified" Messiah who died for the sins of the world.
From RC Sproul.
The answer is obvious. Paul was saying that in all of his teaching, in all of his preaching, in all of his missionary activity, the central point of importance was the cross. In effect, this teacher was saying to his students, “You might forget other things that I teach you, but don’t ever forget the cross, because it was on the cross, through the cross, and by the cross that our Savior performed His work of redemption and gathered His people for eternity.’”
Luke 9:62
Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."
#1- Jesus replied - The statement to which Jesus is replying is "I will follow you Lord; but first let me go back and say good bye to my family."
#2 - "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back..." - It could be Jesus is saying that if he goes back to say "goodbye" to his family that he will have second thoughts and bring judgement on himself,. Obviously, there is nothing wrong with bidding farewell to one's family, but Jesus discerns in all these excuses a halfhearted attempt to follow Him without laying down their life in a way necessary to truly receive the Kingdom of God.
#3 "... is fit for service in the kingdom of God." - Being "fit for service" in God's kingdom is to live utterly in the alternate reality that is the rule and reign of Christ in the midst of the current dominion of darkness on the earth. It is to be in the world, but radically not of it. Jesus commands not just loyalty to Himself, but a whole new kind of existence.
Supralapsarianism / Infralapsarianism-
When did God decide to elect people to salvation?
Was it before God made the decision to create the world and permit the fall (supralapsarianism)
or
After His decision to create the world and permit the fall. (infralapsarianism)
The order of things happen in God's mind. not in time.
Which came first, the decree of election and reprobation or the decree to create the world and permit the fall.
Supralapsarianism view - has God's sovereignty in mind
Infralapsarianism view - has God's mercy in mind (most Reformed hold to)
Laps - means the fall.
The order
Covenant Theology
Covenant of Redemption- Agreement before creation
The Son's agreement - perfect obedience in death promised to the Father
The Father's agreement - promised to the Son 1) all the Son's needs to be met 2) Holy Spirit given to the Church 3) salvation to all believers 4) exaltation of the Son
Covenant of Works - Lasting from creation to the fall
Man's condition - Adam must obey God
God rewards obedience with eternal life, disobedience with death.
God told Adam that he could eat from any tree in the garden except the tree of the
knowledge of Good and Evil. If Adam disobeys, he will surely die.
Covenant of Grace - Lasting from the fall until the second advent
Man's condition - saving faith issuing in obedience
God's response - salvation in all its phases
Dispensational Theology
Dispensation of Innocence - Untested Holiness
Creation > Fall
People could have direct fellowship with God, but they must not eat from the Tree
of the Knowledge of Good and Evil
Final judgment: People expelled from the Garden
Dispensation of Conscience - Cain and Abel
Fall > Flood
People were responsible to live according to their God-given conscience
Final judgement: Universal flood
Dispensation of Government - Noah
Noah(Rainbow covenant) > Tower of Babel
People were to follow God both through their own conscience and by establishing just
government
Final judgement: The Tower of Babel- confusion of tongues
Dispensation of Promise - Abraham
Calling of Abraham > Exodus
The Covenant people were to remain faithful to Yahweh alone and practice
circumcision's
Final judgement: Slaves in Egypt
Dispensation of Law- Moses
Law and Moses > Second advent of Christ
The Covenant people were to be faithful to Yahweh through obeying the Law
Final judgment: The great tribulation (notice that the church age is inserted as an unforeseen hiatus
in the midst of the dispensation of law. The church is therefore removed in the rapture before things revert to the conditions as they were in the Old Testament period)
Dispensation of Grace or the Church
Last from the day of Pentecost > Rapture
The church is to render saving faith in following Christ
No ending judgement for this dispensation except for the counterfeit church, which goes into the
tribulation with the rest of the world.
Dispensation of Kingdom
Corresponding roughly to the Millennium
People are to obey Christ who reigns on earth
Great White Throne`
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Lives on the distinction of a program for Israel and one for the Gentiles. The point of Christ coming is that there is only one program.
Michael Horton: Working for God's Glory (youtube 32:27) - IF you're not a Sunday Christian, then you can't be a Monday Christian.
Double Imputation
From RC Sproul
“This is the very heart of the gospel. In order to get into heaven, will I be judged by my righteousness or by the righteousness of Christ? If I have to trust in my righteousness to get into heaven, I must completely and utterly despair of any possibility of ever being redeemed. But when we see that the righteousness that is ours by faith is the perfect righteousness of Christ, we see how glorious is the good news of the gospel. The good news is simply this: I can be reconciled to God. I can be justified, not on the basis of what I do, but on the basis of what has been accomplished for me by Christ.”
“Of course, Protestantism really teaches a double imputation. Our sin is imputed to Jesus and his righteousness is imputed to us. In this twofold transaction, we see that God does not compromise his integrity in providing salvation for his people. Rather, he punishes sin fully after it has been imputed to Jesus. This is why he is able to be both ‘just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus’ as Paul writes in Romans 3:26. So my sin goes to Jesus and his righteousness comes to me.”
“This is a truth worth dividing the church.”
1 Peter 2
24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”
Christ's Righteousness - Proof text
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Cor 5:21)
30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”
4 Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. (Rom 10:4)
9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.(Phil 3:9)
10 I delight greatly in the Lord;
my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. (Isa 61:10)
He descended into Hell.
Jesus told the thief that today he would be with Him in paradise. Also Jesus said on the cross "It is finished".
Jesus’ spirit never went to hell, but on the cross He suffered the full wrath of God that is poured out in hell. True, the scourgings of the guards, the nails in Christ’s hands, and the other physical pains Jesus suffered manifested God’s wrath. Nevertheless, the most intense suffering Christ experienced was spiritual in nature, the hopelessness of losing the gaze of His Father’s blessing and the torment of experiencing God’s wrath for the sins of His people (Mark 15:34). John Calvin comments, “After explaining what Christ endured in the sight of man, the Creed appropriately adds the invisible and incomprehensible judgment which he endured before God, to teach us that not only was the body of Christ given up as the price of redemption, but that there was a greater and more excellent price — that he bore in his soul the tortures of a condemned and ruined man” (Institutes 2.16.10). Threefold uses of the law -
Is first function is to be a mirror reflecting to us both the perfect righteousness of God and our own sinfulness and shortcomings. As Augustine wrote, "the law bids us, as we try to fulfill its requirements, and become wearied in our weakness under it, to know how to ask the help of grace." The law is meant to give knowledge of sin (Rom. 3:20; 4:15; 5:13; 7:7-11), and by showing us our need of pardon and our danger of damnation to lead us in repentance and faith to Christ (Gal. 3:19-24).
A second function, the "civil use," is to restrain evil. Though the law cannot change the heart, it can to some extent inhibit lawlessness by its threats of judgment, especially when backed by a civil code that administers punishment for proven offenses (Deut. 13:6-11; 19:16-21; Rom. 13:3, 4). Thus it secures civil order, and serves to protect the righteous from the unjust.
Its third function is to guide the regenerate into the good works that God has planned for them (Eph. 2:10). The law tells God's children what will please their heavenly Father. It could be called their family code. Christ was speaking of this third use of the law when He said that those who become His disciples must be taught to do all that He had commanded (Matt. 28:20), and that obedience to His commands will prove the reality of one's love for Him (John 14:15). The Christian is free from the law as a system of salvation (Rom. 6:14; 7:4, 6; 1 Cor. 9:20; Gal. 2:15-19, 3:25), but is "under the law of Christ" as a rule of life (1 Cor. 9:21; Gal. 6:2)."
Antinomianism - Free from the Law O blessed condition, I can sin as I please and still have remission.
The First Death - When people die the first time. Physical death.
The Second Death - Exclusively for people who reject Jesus Christ. They die physically the first time, then at the end of the age: the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars – their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
What Happens to Us When We die
Where did God come from? (Kent Hovind)
Which god are you talking about? The Creator of the Universe. Well the God of creation is not affected by time space or matter. If he's limited by one of those then He is not God. This is a continuum, they all have to come to existence at the same instant. If you have time but no space where would you put it, if you have space and matter but no time, when would you put it. The Bible explains the continuum in 10 words. "In the beginning" (time), God created the heaven (space) and the earth (matter). Time is past present future, space is length width height and matter is liquid solid gas. And God is outside of the continuum or he is not God, He has always existed. If a spiritual force cannot affect a material body, then how do you explain the feelings of love, hate, envy, jealousy, rationality. God is not a limited god.
Council of Trent - Justification by Faith Alone
CANON IX.-If any one saith, that by faith alone the impious is justified; in such wise as to mean, that nothing else is required to co-operate in order to the obtaining the grace of Justification, and that it is not in any way necessary, that he be prepared and disposed by the movement of his own will; let him be anathema.
Christ' Incarnation -
Christ had to take on human form because we as humans die. So Christ had to die also.
Hebrews 2:14. 14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16
RC Sproul - Faith Defined
The Protestant Reformers
recognized that biblical faith has three essential
aspects: notitia, assensus, and fiducia.
Notitia. Notitia refers
to the content of faith, or those things that we believe. We place our faith in
something, or more appropriately, someone. In order to believe, we must know
something about that someone, who is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Assensus. Assensus is
our conviction that the content of our faith is true. You can know about the
Christian faith and yet believe that it is not true. Genuine faith says that
the content — the notitia taught by Holy Scripture — is true.
Fiducia. Fiducia refers
to personal trust and reliance. Knowing and believing the content of the
Christian faith is not enough, for even demons can do that (James 2:19). Faith is only effectual if,
knowing about and assenting to the claims of Jesus, one personally trusts in
Him alone for salvation.
Coram Deo
Do
you know the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you know about the sinless life He led and
the work He did on the cross? Do you believe that He is who He says He is and
does what He says He does? Have you trusted in Him alone to save you from the
wrath of God? Take some time to ask yourselves these questions today. If you
have never believed in Christ, believe today. If you have been a Christian for
some time, ask God to increase your faith in our all-sufficient Savior.
Imprecatory PsalmsImprecatory Psalms, contained within the Book of Psalms of the Hebrew Bible (Hebrew: תנ"ך), are those that imprecate – invoke judgment, calamity or curses upon one's enemies or those perceived as the enemies of God. Major imprecatory Psalms include Psalm 69 and Psalm 109, while Psalms 5, 6, 11, 12, 35, 37, 40, 52, 54, 56, 57, 58, 59, 79, 83, 94, 137, 139 and 143 are also considered imprecatory. As an example, Psalm 69:24 states toward God, "Pour out Your indignation on them, and let Your burning anger overtake them."
Covenant of Redemption
The covenant of redemption is the agreement made between the members of the Trinity in order to bring us salvation. We find allusions to it in several biblical texts. Under this covenant, the Father plans redemption and sends the Son in order to save His people. The Son agrees to be sent and to do the work necessary to save the elect (John 10:17–18)17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”, and the Spirit agrees to apply the work of Christ to us by sealing us unto salvation (Eph. 1:13–14).13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
