A Resurrection Gospel The Glorious Simplicity Of Biblical Eschatology

The Christian gospel is good news precisely because it proclaims Christ's victory over death. A resurrection motif runs through every part of the apostolic gospel, like a golden thread that ties a garment together. As he works his way through the primary ""resurrection"" passages in God's word, Joe Holder explains how the literal, historical fact of Christ's resurrection underpins not only the Biblical doctrine of salvation, but also the doctrine of the end-times, as well as its teaching on Christian ethics. In a word, Biblical eschatology does not have to be as complicated as some teachers make it. Biblical teaching on the end-times, in fact, is marked by a refreshing simplicity, by virtue of the centrality of the bodily resurrection of the dead. The good news of the gospel is ""Because He lives, we shall live also ""

In The Last Things Donald G. Bloesch takes up difficult and sometimes controversial themes such as the coming of the kingdom of God, the return of Jesus Christ, the life hereafter, the millennial hope, the final judgment, hell, heaven, purgatory and paradise. Wrestling with biblical texts that often take metaphorical form, Bloesch avoids rationalistic reductionism as well as timid agnosticism. While he acknowledges mystery and even paradox, Bloesch finds biblical revelation much more than sufficient to illuminate the central truths of a Christian hope articulated throughout the history of the church. The Last Things is not just a review of past Christian eschatology but a fresh articulation of the grace and glory of God yet to be consummated. The triumph of the grace of Jesus Christ and the dawning of hope beckon us to reach out in the power of the Spirit to receive that blessed future and the promise to renew the life of the church universal today.

There is knowledge, understanding, and spiritual illumination in this book never seen or written, ever, in the recorded commentary of biblical history. This is a phenomenon of the moment arising out of Words in Daniel's book that have been "closed up and sealed till the time of the end". The challenge confronting every Christian, regardless of his spiritual age or position, is in recognizing that there is much more to know about God than we know but to know more we must be willing to continually repent and change our minds when the Lord allows us to see a clearer vision of the Truth. Those who set aside every influence outside of the simple literal Words of inspired scripture receive knowledge and understanding unavailable from any other source. Theologians of every degree have never seen the thoughts and observations illuminated in the precept upon precept chapters of this book. If we allow the theologian, tradition, or the worldly church to control our mind, we will miss the blessing of simply believing the purity of the Word. God gave us a good mind and He expects us to use it to His glory by understanding the Words He wants us to hear. The In-Visible Truth is an immeasurable blessing, hidden in simplicity. Identifying doctrinal errors in the church along with seeing biblical specifics of RAPTURE carries the believer far beyond the significance of knowing when Jesus will come again. The Lord is right on time every time and it is now time that we understand many things that the He did not allow us to understand in the past. Be blessed. James Scott Rollo

Rupturing Eschatology is Eric Trozzos constructive retrieval of Luthers theology of the cross seeking to establish a contemporary Lutheran and emerging account of the cross, silence, and eschatology. The book explores Luthers early theology of the cross and divine hiddenness in concert with the work of the Lutheran mystical tradition and modern Lutheran theology. Trozzo argues for an account of divine possibility oriented around a contemporary theology of the cross marked by reclamation of the biblical and mystical practice of silence as the space that creates hope.

N.T. Wright takes us on a fascinating journey through ancient beliefs about life after death, from the shadowy figures who inhabit Homer's Hades, through Plato's hope for a blessed immortality, to the first century, where the Greek and Roman world (apart from the Jews) consistently denied any possibility of resurrection. We then examine ancient Jewish beliefs on the same subject, from the Bible to the Dead Sea Scrolls and beyond. This sets the scene for a full-scale examination of early Christian beliefs about resurrection in general and that of Jesus in particular, beginning with Paul and working through to the start of the third century. Wright looks at all the evidence, and asks: Why did the Christians agree with Jewish resurrection belief while introducing into it - across the board - significant modifications? To answer this question we come to the strange and evocative Easter stories in the gospels and asks whether they can have been late inventions. Wright seeks the best historical conclusions about the empty tomb and the belief that Jesus really did rise bodily from the dead, recognizing that it was this belief that caused early Christians to call Jesus 'Son of God'. In doing so, they posed a political challenge as well as a theological one. These challenges retain their power in the twenty-first century.

What happens at the end of our lives and of the course of history? Will God bring about a just and peaceful world? What lies beyond this realm, and what can we know of the beings who dwell there? In Death, the End of History, and Beyond, Greg Carey offers resources for understanding multiple, even conflicting, ways that the Bible imagines these ultimate realities. Carey opens the Scriptures with a breadth of insight that acknowledges its diversity of viewpoints about what lies beyond the veil, centering hope in God’s action to bring good out of evil in our lived realities, in our personal journeys through death, and in visions of resurrection and justice restored. An appendix on preaching also invites clergy to help their communities imagine when and how eschatology can inform our lives today.

This work is organized as follows: I. The Structure of the Pauline Eschatology II. The Interaction Between Eschatology and Soteriology III. The Religious and Ethical Motivation of Paul’s Eschatology IV. The Coming of the Lord and Its Precursors V. The Man of Sin VI. The Resurrection VII. Alleged Development in Paul’s Teaching on the Resurrection VIII. The Resurrection-Change IX. The Extent of the Resurrection X. The Question of Chiliasm, in Paul XI. The Judgment XII. The Eternal State Appendix: The Eschatology of the Psalter