Understanding the New Testament Gospel Differences (Part 5)

Understanding the New Testament Gospel Differences (Part 5 --- A Future Salvation, Endurance and Being Overcomers)

We continue with the comparison of the gospel of God and the gospel of Christ by looking at key elements that distinguish them from each other. I recommend to start at the beginning of this comparison to gain the necessary context of this series of posts.

Salvation was Future

A simple fact that does not need much proof is that in the gospel of the Kingdom, and the gospel of God, the hope of salvation lay out in the future. This of course is very different to the gospel of Christ (or the Grace gospel), where salvation is not a hope out in the future based on one's works and the conditional requirement to endure to the end, but rather an immediate, factual, and unconditional sealing of one's salvation by the Holy Spirit because of the cross work of Christ.

Biblical cycles of 7-years, called: "Shemitah's"

In the Bible, a 'type' is a divinely purposed illustration of some truth and is often a prophetic foretelling of future events. 

The 'type' can be:

1. a person (Rom.5:14)
2. a thing (Heb.10:19-20)
3. an institution (Heb.9:11-12)
4. a ceremonial (1 Cor.5:7)
5. an event (1 Cor.10:11)

The Greek word týpos, meaning "example", describes a model or pattern in the Old Testament that is fulfilled in scripture, often typifying the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. The word týpos (in the KJV Bible) is also translated as "pattern" (Titus 2:7; Hebrews 8:5), "form" (Romans 6:17), "print" (John 20:25), "ensample" (1 Cor.10:11), "fashion" (Acts 7:44), "figure" (Acts 7:43; Romans 5:14), and "manner" (Acts 23:25).

The Stages of Christ's Ascension and Return (Part 4)

In Part 3 of this post series, we had a look at the continued ascension of Jesus from the clouds (the position in which Stephen saw Jesus in Acts 7:55-56), to the position in light which He occupied according to 1 Tim.6:16. Between these two scripture references, it clearly identified Jesus in two different places. However, I won't be dogmatic and claim that these two positions are separated by the "waters above the firmament", but based on my current convictions, I'll illustrate it as such in my diagram below. (The purpose of the diagram is simply to show the eventual symmetry between Christ's ascension and return. I don't claim it to be accurate in depicting locations or positions in the heavenly ascension). 

The Stages of Christ's Ascension and Return

Acknowledgement:
When we delve into future events in the Bible, like the rapture, the tribulation, and Millennial Kingdom, one has to understand that there is a measure of assumption based on what the scriptures say, and how one interprets it. Even though the Bible provides details of the future, we do not fully understand how these events will play out, and in what order they will occur. We know from scripture that the Tribulation will happen. We know what the Tribulation is and we know its purpose. We know there will be an Antichrist and we know he will rule the world for a set period. But, although the scripture makes some things clear, there are still guesses around some cryptic details regarding this time, (see Deut.29:29). The fact remains that not even the best Bible scholars can accurately instruct us of exact times and details of future events in prophecy. It remains up to us to study the Word as best as possible and piece together multiple scriptures to build a picture based on how we interpret what will happen. In this series of articles, I plan to do exactly this. I'd like to build a picture of what I can see the Bible says about Jesus' ascension and return. How you receive the information I lay out here is up to you. I'm not claiming to be dogmatic and theologically correct. My only hope is that it will inspire you to delve into the scripture and see for yourself what it says. If I can encourage and inspire you to read the Word and become excited about it, then I have succeeded in my primary aim regarding this post and upcoming posts in this extended article.

The Bible still has SECRETS!

The Bible still has SECRETS!

With regards to the gospel of our salvation, there is absolutely no doubts about the clarity of the message that we all need to hear and respond to. But, there are other parts of the bible that we will never fully understand. There will always be several interpretations, by several different persons, on certain passages of scripture. Which passages you might ask? That's easy to answer. Passages that deal with trans-dispensational events, and passages that deal with future events. Since these parts of scripture deal with happenings in the past or the future, there will never be perfect consensus on these, so we don't know exactly how things developed, or will play out. Anyone is welcome to dispute this (heeding the advice in 2 Tim.2:23), but for me, it is a fact that settles it.