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BIBLICAL
PROPHECY - PROPHECY QUESTIONS |
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Does Jesus
promise that He will return some day? |
| Dr.
John Ankerberg: Look at John 14:1-3: "Let not your
heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In my Father’s
house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to
prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will
come again and receive you unto Myself that where I am, there you may be
also." Now here Jesus makes several promises. 1.) He
says, "In my Father’s house are many mansions." Notice, He mentions a
specific location around which this whole prophecy revolves. Let me ask you,
"Where is the Father’s house?" In Boston? No. The Father’s house is in
Heaven. 2.) Jesus said, "I go to prepare a place for you." Where is that
place? Boston again? No, that place is in Heaven. 3.) Jesus said, "I will
come again." Here’s the Rapture. Jesus said that He will come again to get
us. 4.) He says, "And I will receive you unto myself." When He comes again,
where do you think He’s going to take us? He said, "I will receive you unto
myself, that where I am"—Heaven—"there you may be also."
Now, when will Jesus take us to Heaven to be in the
Father’s house? Well, at the time that He returns for us. If that’s not what
these verses are saying, then these words are nonsense. The post-tribulationists
say that when Christ comes, believers will be raptured off of the earth,
they’ll meet Christ in the air, and immediately they’ll return directly to
earth. We will not go to Heaven; rather, we will stay on earth when Jesus
establishes His thousand-year reign on earth. But if they’re right, then
what is Jesus encouraging us about in this passage? He must be involved in a
futile building program because how long has Jesus been gone? He’s been gone
for 2000 years. That’s some building program. Now keep in mind that Jesus is
saying that when He comes back for us, He’s going to receive us unto Himself
that where He is, in Heaven and that’s where we’re going to be, He’s going
to take us to the Father’s house and the place He’s been preparing for us.
Now, look at 1 Corinthians 15:51, 52 where it reads,
"Behold," Paul says, "I show you a mystery." What is a mystery? An Agatha
Christie novel? No. It’s the Greek word mysterion, which means
"something not previously known." This is something that God reveals to us
and without God revealing it to us, we wouldn’t know. It’s revealed to the
true believer. Paul is going to reveal a new truth that was not known
before. Well, what is it? The mystery was not that the Lord would return to
earth. The Apostles already knew this. Remember, Jesus had told them He
would return in Acts 1:9-11. He said, "And when He had spoken these things,
while they beheld He was taken up and a cloud received Him out of their
sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven, as He went up,
behold, two men stood by them in white apparel which also said, ‘Ye men of
Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken
up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go
into heaven.’"
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ANKERBERG SHOW |
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DR. JOHN ANKERBERG'S RESPONSE TO CREATION QUESTIONS
Dr. John Ankerberg answers your
questions on creation in the following article available both as
a downloadable PDF and broken down into individual questions for
online reading. Click the link below to read:
Does Scientific Evidence Today Show
that God Created the Heavens and the Earth? And What Does the Bible Say
About When He Created?
Facing Financial Facts -
How to Kill the Debt Monster
AUTHOR:
Riser, Dr. Steven C.
For an increasing number of people, debt is becoming a real monster. The fear and dread that comes from debt is just as real as a predator in the home. So how can you dispatch the debt
monster?
The Coalition of Nations
in Daniel 11
AUTHORS:
DeYoung, Dr. Jimmy
One of the major trends for the last days is a coalition of nations that will come against Israel. Dr. Jimmy DeYoung describes those nations and what brings them together.
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Copyright 2006, Ankerberg Theological Research Institute
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