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Six Reasons For Wanting Jesus To Return: 3
Six Reasons For Wanting Jesus To Return: 3
Six Reasons For Wanting Jesus To Return: 3
By Nathan Jones
Did Jesus also die for the redemption of the Creation?
New Year's greetings to all of you! To ring in this new year, Dr. David Reagan, Dennis Pollock of Spirit of Grace Ministries and I discussed on television's Christ in Prophecy six reasons why all who profess to be Christians should earnestly desire that this year would prove to be the year when the Church will be raptured out of this world.
Reason #3: The Creation is Restored
Dr. Reagan: A third reason I want to see the Lord come back is because He is going to fulfill promises He has made to the Creation. What would those be, Nathan?
Nathan Jones: The Bible, especially in Romans 8, talks about the Creation being under bondage. It is under the curse of God. It is suffering just as much as we humans are.
If the Creation had consciousness, which it doesn't, it too would yearn too for the time when it would be redeemed. That time can only happen when the Sons of God are revealed (Rom. 8:19). Believers in Christ are considered the sons of God. We are the ones who will get our glorified bodies one day. The Earth during the Millennial Kingdom of Christ will get you could say its glorified body in a way as the curse will be lifted. That's when we get to those verses where it says the lion will eat straw and the wolf will lie down with the lamb. What a wonderful picturesque time period this will be when the Earth will be restored! Then, afterwards during the Eternal State, the Earth will be totally restored in what's called the New Earth.
Dennis Pollock: I don't know whether Global Warming is a reality or not, but one thing I do know is that the world has a bigger problem than Global Warming, and that is the problem of sin and decay that is all over our world.
Nathan Jones: The Law of Entropy.
Dennis Pollock: No matter what you are looking at, it will decay and it will grow old. It will eventually dissolve and be annihilated. Nature is in bondage to the process of decay. Only when Christ returns will that process be reversed.
It's amazing that in the original first few generations of man you read in the Bible that these guys lived to be around 900 years old. Then, suddenly after the Flood and man doing some more damage to the Earth and to himself, you can look at the life spans and they drop quickly down to 500, then down to 400. Within a few generations when we are down to where Abraham starts, then it became a big deal for him to father a baby at 100 years of age. But, back in Noah's day and before that it was no big deal at all to have a baby at 100 years of age. Those guys did it all the time.
Yes, the very Earth itself and the process of our own growth has all been corroded and corrupted by sin and the process of decay.
Dr. Reagan: The whole of Creation is in bondage to decay. That is part of the curse that came as the result of sin entering this world.
I find that most people are not aware of the fact that when Jesus died on the cross, He died not only to redeem mankind, but He also died to redeem all of Creation. This was indicated in Old Testament times when the High Priest would go into the Holy of Holies once a year and he would sprinkle the blood on the Mercy Seat. This was a symbol that one day the Messiah would die and through His blood we would be able to cover the Law of God and the demands of the Law of God. By grace we could finally be reconciled to God.
What most people ignore is that it says the High Priest always stepped back and he sprinkled the blood on the ground in front of the Mercy Seat. That was a symbol that the blood of the Messiah would also make it possible for all of Creation to be redeemed. God loves His creation.
When I was growing up in the church I was taught that when the Lord came back there was going to be a big explosion and the whole Creation would cease to exist. We would go off into a never-never world and exist as spiritual beings floating around on a cloud playing a harp. We wouldn't be tangible nor have bodies or be on the Earth.
But, the Bible teaches just the opposite. Again, God loves His creation. He's going to redeem His Creation. In the original Creation there were no poisonous plants, no poisonous animals, and no meat eating animals which are all part of the curse. The Bible says the lion will eat straw with the ox. It says a little boy will play in the hole of the adder because the snake will no longer be poisonous. I believe those are real promises that God is going to redeem and refresh and return this Earth to what it was at the original time of the Creation.
Dennis Pollock: Yes! Christians aren't anti-environment. Some people have accused us all of being the people who throw our garbage out of the car and just don't care about our environment. We do care and we should care, but we are realistic enough to know that this world and the environment will never be what it should be until Christ returns.
Review
Dr. Reagan: Okay, let's take a moment for review. We are discussing six reasons why Christians should desire the soon return of Jesus and thus far we have mentioned three.
Nathan Jones: The first is that Jesus might receive what He has been promised; namely honor, and glory, and power over all the kingdoms of the earth.
Dennis Pollock: The second is that Satan might receive what He deserves; namely total defeat, dishonor, and humiliation.
Nathan Jones: And the third is that the Creation might receive what it has been promised; namely regeneration, restoration and refreshment.
In the next part of our discussion on six reasons why believers in Christ should be anxious for Jesus' return, we'll continue on to reasons four and five.
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Gal3:3 "Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?"
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