CHRISTOLOGY  The Deity of Christ  The Humanity of Christ  The incarnation  The proofs of His humanity  The Union of Deity and Humanity of Christ  The Kenosis of Christ ???  The impeccability of Christ  The earthly life of Christ  The Events of His life  The Offices He occupied  The Resurrection and Ascension of Christ  The fact of the Resurrection  The nature of the Resurrection  The significance of the Resurrection  The importance of the Ascension  The Present Ministry of Christ  The Future Ministry of Christ

The Future Ministry of Christ OVERVIEW  1 The Second Coming  2 The Rapture of the Church  3 The Wrath of the Lamb during the Tribulation  4 His Millennial Reign  5 His Everlasting Reign

The Wrath of the Lamb during the Tribulation  Arthur Pink ( ) said, “many there are who turn away from a vision of God’s wrath as though they were called to look upon some blotch in the Divine character, or some blot upon the Divine government. But what saith the Scriptures? As we turn to them we find that God has made no attempt to conceal the fact of His wrath. He is not ashamed to make it known that vengeance and fury belong unto Him. His own challenge is, "See now that I, even I, am He, and there is no god with Me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal; neither is there any that can deliver out of My hand. For I lift up My hand to heaven, and say, I live forever, If I whet My glittering sword, and Mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to Mine enemies, and will reward them that hate Me" (Deut. 32:39-41). A study of the concordance will show that there are more references in Scripture to the anger, fury, and wrath of God, than there are to His love and tenderness. Because God is holy, He hates all sin; And because He hates all sin, His anger burns against the sinner: Psalm 7:11.

God’s Wrath - Hell  In 1 Thessaonians 5:9 Paul wrote, “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  The Greek word translated to wrath here is orgēn which means, anger, wrath, passion; punishment, vengeance.  D.E. Hiebert reveals that "Orgē comes from the verb oragō meaning, 'to teem, to swell'; and thus implies that it is not a sudden outburst, but rather (referring to God's) fixed, controlled, passionate feeling against sin... a settled indignation.  In light of this information, the wrath talked about here by Paul refers to hell, where God’s wrath is fixed and a settled indignation that cannot be changed. It is true God did not appoint us to suffer His wrath in hell.

God’s Wrath - Anger  Revelation 16:1 “Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, "Go, pour out the seven bowls of God's wrath on the earth.”  The Greek word translated to wrath here is thymós which means an outburst of passion, fury or wrath.("expressed passion") it indicates rage (personal venting of anger).  It in no way expresses a fixed wrath as does the word orgēn. This is important because an argument for the rapture of the church being before the tribulation is that God does not appoint us to suffer His wrath.

The Wrath of the Lamb  Revelation 6:15-16 “Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!’”  The word for wrath here is orgēn and it is the word which is used by those who had rebelled against God and hated Jesus Christ.  The word is used to indicate that they have finally realised that Jesus Christ is real and therefore hell is also real, and in an effort to flee God’s Eternal wrath (orgēn) they attempt to hide from God.

The Wrath of the Lamb  In Revelation 19:15 it describes the battle of Armageddon a battle which Jesus Himself fights: It reads, “Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. "He will rule them with an iron scepter." He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.”  When it says, “He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.” the word translated fury is thymós and the word translated wrath is orgēn so it is clear that at this battle God will execute His eternal judgment of hell upon them with fury, fierceness and finality.

Goshen Protection  God’s wrath, which He pours out on earth, is thymós, and it is a wrath which flares up but eventually goes away, like the anger of man.  In this sense, we know that the great tribulation is three and a half years long, so God’s wrath will come and go.  When God poured out His wrath on Pharaoh and Egypt, it eventually achieved its objective and then ceased, and during the thymós wrath, God protected His people in Goshen, and they were unharmed.  I believe the great tribulation will be executed in a very similar way.

His Millennial Reign  The issue of the millennial reign of Jesus Christ is a cut a dry matter when you take a literal hermeneutic of the Bible.  I will give you however a brief overview of the 3 positions held in the Church in relation to the Millennial reign of Christ.  To look into this subject in more depth go the itunes store and search for the sermon by Joe Schimmel ‘The Revelation Series: Kingdom When? Blessed Hope Chapel’  Also, to get a deeper insight into preterism and its dangers go the itunes store and search for the sermon by Joe Schimmel ‘The Revelation Series: Soon and Very Soon Blessed Hope Chapel’

Postmillennialism  Postmillennialists teach that the second coming of Christ will occur after or post the millenium (1,000 years of peace).  They teach that the Church will bring about the 1,000 years of peace and not Christ by His second coming.  The problem with this view is the Great Commission is changed from making disciples of nations and winning the lost to Christ, to ruling all the nations.  Therefore a postmillenialist will have a Kingdom now mentality, and preach world peace, whereas Jesus said, “I did not come to bring peace but a sword.”

Amillennialism  This view teaches that there will not be a 1,000 years of peace at all in the future, the Kingdom of God is now and Christ reigns now from Heaven over the Church.  They believe that the general state of the earth will get increasingly worse and end with the great tribulation, after this Christ returns and judges the living and the dead and then we enter into our eternal state.  To believe this view an amillennialist has to spiritualise away the clear references in Scripture of the 1,000 years of peace.

Premillennialism  A premillennialist believe that Jesus Christ returns to reign upon the physical throne of David from Jerusalem to commence the 1,000 years of peace.  The return of Christ will put an end to the tribulation period on earth and commence the millennium and Christ will rule the nations.  This view is the most literal and obvious interpretation of the Scriptures upon the reading of our text Revelation

His Everlasting Reign  After the millennial reign of Christ is complete, satan will gather an army against the Lord and attack the city He loves (Jerusalem) but their end will be swift as God will destroy them all by fire from heaven. Revelation 20:7-10  This will usher in the Great White Throne Judgment and all those who rebelled against God will be judged and condemned. Revelation 20:11-15  After this the New Jerusalem will descend upon earth and God Himself will come to earth and dwell with men, and we will live forevermore in the presence of God the Father, God the Son, filled and perfected by the Holy Spirit. Revelation 21:1-8

Coming Up in Critical Doctrine  Christology - Jesus Christ  Eschatology – End Times  Theology Proper – Attributes of God  Pneumatology – Holy Spirit  Bibliology – The Bible  Angelology – Angels, fallen and unfallen  Anthropology – Man  Soteriology – Salvation  Ecclesiology – The Church  Israelology – Israel