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16 results for “Church”
Clear searchEarth-dwellers, heaven-dwellers, and the literary structure of the Apocalypse
Where Is the Church during Revelation's Judgements? Earth-dwellers, heaven-dwellers, and the literary structure of the Apocalypse The argument that the word church disappears after Revelation 3 is often…
Read article →Unity in Christ and distinction in God's purpose
Are Israel and the Church Really the Same? Unity in Christ and distinction in God's purpose The New Testament teaches a unity so profound that it would have startled the ancient world. In Christ, Jewish and Ge…
Read article →The question reaches beyond prophecy to the faithfulness of God
Israel and the Church: Why This Series Matters The question reaches beyond prophecy to the faithfulness of God Has the Church replaced Israel in the purpose of God? Some Christians answer yes, although the…
Read article →Divine judgement, the character of God, and the promise of escape
Is the Church Appointed to the Tribulation's Wrath? Divine judgement, the character of God, and the promise of escape The claim that the Church is not appointed to wrath is sometimes answered too q…
Read article →What the historical evidence proves—and what it does not
…at pretribulationism cannot be apostolic. Two questions are being confused. Did the early Church possess a settled system identical to modern dispensational pretribulationism? No. Did Darby invent the resurrection of dead believers, the transformation and catching up of the livin…
Read article →What Jesus promised the apostles about Israel's future
…kward text for any theology in which national Israel has permanently disappeared into the Church. The promise names the rulers, their thrones, the time of their rule, and those over whom they exercise authority. Each part should be allowed to retain its natural force. The promise…
Read article →Defining the position before testing it
…t it can also conceal important differences. Many Christians accused of teaching that the Church replaced Israel would reject that wording. They believe that the Church is the fulfilment, continuation, or expansion of Israel rather than its substitute. The discussion should there…
Read article →The positive argument of the whole series, brought together
…whole doctrine. Together they form a coherent movement: Christ completes and gathers His Church, resumes Daniel's unfinished programme concerning Israel and Jerusalem, judges the beast's world while saving a multitude within it, and later returns with His redeemed people to deli…
Read article →The event is explicit; the real dispute is its timing
…r the sequence while belonging to the same Lord. The issue matters because it affects the Church's expectation, its reading of prophecy, and its understanding of the coming wrath. It does not determine whether Christ has saved a person. That distinction allows the argument to be…
Read article →A sign of Israel's renewal, not Israel's disappearance
…me also there is a remnant according to the election of grace." —Romans 11:5 The earliest Church was born from that believing remnant. Jesus, the apostles, the women who followed Him, the believers gathered before Pentecost, and the thousands added in Jerusalem were Jewish. Genti…
Read article →A forensic reading of Christ's Olivet Discourse
…nt applies the language of election to Christians, so the elect in Matthew 24 must be the Church. If they are gathered after the Tribulation, the passage appears to place the rapture there as well. The first premise is possible. It is not yet proven. "Elect" can describe the Chur…
Read article →Signs, expectancy, and the event the Church is told to await
…christ Must Come First, Is Christ's Coming Imminent? Signs, expectancy, and the event the Church is told to await Imminency does not mean that Christ was required to return within the apostles' lifetime. It means that no revealed prophetic event must first occur before the Church…
Read article →Why the final seven is unfinished, future, and centred upon Israel and Jerusalem
…'s measured programme for Israel and Jerusalem awaits its final phase while God forms the Church from Jew and Gentile in one body. The length of the interval is not a defect in God's promise. Scripture repeatedly joins divine patience to the apparent delay of judgement (2 Peter 3…
Read article →Why apantēsis does not settle the timing of the rapture
…o second comings? The objection is sometimes restated rhetorically: if Christ gathers the Church and later descends in judgement, pretribulationism has invented two second comings. That misdescribes the claim. Pretribulationism sees one future advent with distinguishable movement…
Read article →The gathering of the elect, one taken and one left, and Paul's revealed mystery
…hered as the kingdom approaches. These features do not make the passage irrelevant to the Church. All Scripture instructs the Church, and Christians living before the destruction of Jerusalem could heed Christ's warning. They do show that the discourse is operating within Israel'…
Read article →The man of sin, the last trumpet, the first resurrection, and the last day
…the KJV and reaches back naturally to the day in verse 2. Paul does not plainly say, "The Church must see the man of sin before it can be gathered." The apostasia should not be forced to mean a spatial departure. It normally denotes rebellion or defection. The restrainer is more…
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