Sunday, August 28: Doctrine

Eschatology

We are talking about the end times this week!

What does that make you think of? A guy with a sandwich board and a megaphone, prophesying that the end is near?

A complicated chart outlining the seventy weeks of Daniel and the seven trumpets of Revelation?

A warning about the antichrist and the mark of the beast?

Unfortunately, there will not be any of that this week. While it is fun to wrestle with the more difficult end times images in the Bible, the most important theology about the future is very straightforward—Jesus is coming back and sin and death will be abolished! That’s what we’re going to focus on this week.

We are going to be in 1 Corinthians 15, in which Paul tackles the importance of eschatology (a fancy word that means “theology of the last things”). There were a lot of issues in the Corinthian church, but one of their biggest theological errors was a denial of resurrection. The Corinthians believed that our bodies would not be resurrected, but rather our spirits would be liberated from our bodies at death.

Now, this might sound like splitting hairs, but in chapter 15, Paul explains some grave implications of this theology—if there is no resurrection, then not even Christ was raised. If Christ wasn’t raised, then the gospel isn’t true!

After correcting the Corinthians on the resurrection, Paul reminds them of our hope. Since Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, we, too, will be raised to a new heaven and a new earth. In that day, every enemy of God will be subjected to Christ. That includes death itself!

Join us this week as we remind ourselves of our hope. The grave does not get the last laugh. Jesus has defeated sin and death and we will be raised with him!

See you on Sunday!

Service times are at 9:30 & 11:00. If you can’t make it in person, you can watch live at those times.