Questions and Answers
A fundamental statement of John the Baptist can be found in John 3:36 to the effect that he who believes Jesus Christ will inherit eternal life, but that God’s wrath rests upon a person who does not “obey” Christ (compare the correct rendering in the Revised Standard Version). John had refused to baptize those who came to him without having shown fruits of repentance, challenging them with the question as to who had warned them to flee from the wrath to come (Matthew 3:7-12; Luke 3:7-17). In Matthew 23:33, Christ reiterated John’s warning, ultimately equating the wrath of God with the condemnation of hell fire. That is, if someone refuses to repent and obey God, ending up in committing the unpardonable sin, he will be destroyed in the lake of fire. Colossians 3:6 tells us that the wrath of God will come upon the children of “disobedience.” 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9 adds that Christ will take vengeance on them that “do not obey” the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is important to realize that we are going to face God’s wrath if we refuse to obey Him. The book of Revelation announces in vivid terms what will happen to mankind… In a previous Q&A we discussed the meaning of grace. We pointed out that grace does not dispense with individual responsibility. In this Q&A, we will show in more detail what God expects of us. It is claimed that the New Testament teaches that we are no longer obligated to keep God’s Law, and that especially Paul made clear that the Law is no longer binding for us. This is a terrible and, quite frankly, abominable doctrine stemming from demons. An important tool for right Bible study is to look first at the clear and plain passages, before trying to understand the more difficult ones. Even Peter said that Paul wrote a few things, which are difficult to understand, and that the unlearned try to misinterpret and twist them for their own purposes (2 Peter 3:16). Let’s not make the same mistake, but look at Paul’s clear and plain statements. And so, Paul is telling us in Romans 2:13 that the doers of the law, and not the hearers, will be justified. (James 1:25 says the same thing, and James 2:8-12 shows that the law is a reference to the Ten Commandments, and that we are guilty of the transgression of the… In 2 Thessalonians 2:3 there is a falling away (“apostasia”) mentioned, which is defined by Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries (G646) as “defection from the truth, falling away, forsake.” This verse is in the section of Scripture (2 Thessalonians 2:1-4), which reads as follows in its entirety: Simply put, God’s grace is God’s unmerited favor. It is the gift of God. It includes manifold facets of God’s undeserved pardon and forgiveness, His mercy and His compassion. For instance, our heart is established and made firm and becomes totally convicted through grace, preventing us from accepting wrong doctrines (Hebrews 13:9). It is grace with God when we suffer wrongfully for righteousness’ sakes (1 Peter 2:19); after all, when we experience wrongful persecution, our reward will be great (Matthew 5:10-12). We are to grow in the grace of or favor with Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18), as Jesus Himself grew in the Father’s grace or favor (Luke 2:52). And so, John wishes that the grace of Jesus Christ would be with all of those who read and keep what is written in the book of Revelation, and who do His commandments (Revelation 22:7, 14, 21). Paul adds in Ephesians 6:24 that God’s grace will be given to all those who love Jesus Christ in sincerity, and Christ told us that we love Him if we keep His words and commandments (John 14:15, 23). God called us out of this world because of His grace—not because of anything we might have… It does not. Please look carefully at the context of the passage in light of other Biblical evidence. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 reads: “But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” Some Bible commentaries conclude from the words “shall be caught up… in the clouds,” that those in Christ will be secretly transported to heaven, and then later return visibly–together with Christ–to rule the world. Notice, for… Numerous theories exist as to what happened to the Old Testament Ark of the Covenant. Some claim, based on the uninspired Second Book of the Maccabees, that Jeremiah hid it in a cave on Mount Nebo in Jordan when the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem. The non-inspired book of 1 Esdras claims that the Babylonians carried the “ark of God” to Babylon. There are also those who say that it is located today beneath the Temple Mount. Others state that it was transported to Ethiopia, South Africa or another African country. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church claims to possess the Ark of the Covenant not far from the border with Eritrea. It states that the object is currently kept under guard in a treasury, and that it was allegedly brought to Ethiopia by Menelik I, who, it is postulated, left a forgery in the temple of Jerusalem. Some Shiite Muslims believe that the Ark of the Covenant will be found by the Mahdi at the Lake of Tiberias, while some Catholics believe that it is kept in the Vatican’s Basilica of St. John Lateran, after having survived the pillages of Rome by Genseric and Alaric I. The Bible does not confirm that any… Revelation 19:7-9 states the following about the marriage between Christ and His Church: “Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb [Jesus Christ, compare Revelation 5:1-14] has come, and His wife [the Church, compare Ephesians 5:31-32] has made herself ready. And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, ‘Write: “Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!”‘…”
Please note that this Scripture does not say where the marriage supper will take place. Other Scriptures strongly imply that it will take place here on earth, after Christ’s return.
Christ gave a parable of the wedding feast in Matthew 22, presupposing that the wedding feast or marriage supper will take place here on earth. We read in verse 11: “But when the king [who had arranged the marriage for his son, verse 2] came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment.” In the parable, “the king” represents God the Father, and “the son” represents Jesus Christ. If… The Bible teaches indeed that we are going to enter the kingdom of heaven, but this does not mean that we will go to heaven. We need to understand what is meant by the term, “kingdom of heaven.” First of all, we should note that only Matthew uses this expression. The other gospel writers use consistently and exclusively the term, “kingdom of God.” It is therefore obvious that both terms describe the same thing. We explain in our free booklet, “The Gospel of the Kingdom of God,” that the kingdom of God is the Family of God, ruling over others, consisting at this point of two members of the God Family—God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son. Every Christian in whom God’s Spirit dwells is a begotten member of the Family or Kingdom of God, but he is not yet a born-again member. He will be born again at the time of the return of Jesus Christ, when he will be changed to immortality. We read in 1 Corinthians 15:50 that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, and that we must be changed to incorruptibility and immortality (verses 51-54). Before that time and occurrence, a human being cannot… In the two previous Q&A’s, we explained that the Bible does not teach that we go to heaven upon death. The last Q&A began to discuss passages, which are sometimes quoted to teach the opposite. We continue to discuss additional passages in this Q&A. Last time, we explained John 14:1-4, stating that in the Father’s house there are many mansions, and that Christ is preparing a place for us and that He will return and receive us to Him. We showed that Christ, while in heaven, prepares individual positions of responsibility for each of His disciples, depending on their works (Revelation 22:12). But they all will be in God’s Kingdom (Matthew 25:34)—part of the Family of God and the Bride having made herself ready—born-again members of God’s spiritual Temple—the Father’s house—comparing it with the physical temple with mansions or chambers. When Christ returns to this earth to establish God’s rule and kingdom over all of mankind, His disciples will be with Him here on earth also—in the Kingdom of God—ruling under Christ in their respective functions and positions as kings and priests over ten cities or five cities or two cities—which fact is signified by the different chambers in the Father’s… As we explained in the previous Q&A, the Bible teaches nowhere that we ascend to God’s third heaven after we die. Some insist on the opposite, quoting a few passages which supposedly support their belief in an afterlife in heaven after death. One of those passages is Philippians 1:23-24. They claim that Paul said that he wanted to die, depart from this earth and be with Christ in heaven. The Nelson Study Bible interprets the passage to mean that “he wanted to go right away to heaven and be with Christ.” But Paul did not say that he wanted to be with Christ in heaven. As we explain in our free booklet, “Paul’s Letter to the Philippians,” Paul did not believe that he would join Christ in heaven. Paul raised the thought that it would be better for him to depart from this life and this physical mortal body, by falling asleep at the time of his death. He concluded, however, that it was better for the church’s sake to keep on living for a while. He knew that once he died, he would be in the grave in an unconscious state until the resurrection from the dead at the time…In the last Q&A, we showed that the New Testament did not abolish the Law of the Ten Commandments. In this Q&A, we will continue to show that God commands us today to keep His Law.
Since we are under grace, are we no longer obligated to keep God’s Law and be obedient to Him?
What is the apostasy mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 2:3? Is it a continuation of wrong teachings by a revised orthodox Christianity?
“Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”
The context of these verses is interesting. This is talking about a falling away from the truth, and it is the only place in the Bible where the word “apostasia” is used. The apostle Paul is addressing “brethren” (verse…What exactly is God’s grace; what does it do for us; and what are we to do, if anything?
Does 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 Teach a “Secret Rapture”?
Where is the Ark of the Covenant today? Will it be found prior to Christ’s return?
Where will the marriage supper between Christ and His Church be held?
Doesn’t the Bible say that we will enter the kingdom of heaven? Doesn’t this show that we will go to heaven when we die?
How do you explain certain passages in the Bible suggesting that we go to heaven when we die?
Do certain biblical passages tell us that we go to heaven when we die?
