Edwards Class Eschatology Questions

You found the right place to post your questions about Eschatology. Click on "Links to This Post" below this text, and you'll be in the section to review and post comments. You can look through questions that have already been posted and you can post your question by clicking there on "Post a Comment".

The Gospel According to John (Mayer)

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments on today's lesson on "Waiting on the World to Change." I'm curious to know how you responded to it.

I've certainly enjoyed my time with the EPIC class. I'm afraid it may be a while before I get a chance to be with you all again. The teacher rotation probably means that I have many other classes to teach in before I get back to be with you again. Please know that you're in my heart until then, and I look forward to seeing you around OMPC.

Theology and the I35W Bridge Collapse

I've had several good comments on yesterday's lesson about the bridge collapse in Minneapolis. I'm glad to hear that--I actually was feeling out of it and didn't think the lesson went well. Please post here any questions or comments you have on the lesson (or anything else you want to bring up).

The Bad Theology of Evangelism (LindsAy's Story)

Please let me know any follow-up thoughts you have on yesterday's lesson on evangelism. The lesson seemed to go well; the looks on people's faces made me think a lot of processing was going on. Click the title of this post to go to an on-line commentary on Question 67 from the Westminster Larger Chatechism; that may be helpful to some of you. Also, feel free to post a question if you have one.

Any thoughts?

Didn't have time to post a debrief of Sunday's lesson (The Bad Theology of Serendipity). Please use this thread to post any thoughts you have about that lesson, about possible topics for future lessons, or anything else you'd like to talk about.

Me & God

Great being back with the EPIC class this morning! I hope you all got something out of the lesson. I was a little pressed for time; so, we weren't able to go at the relaxed pace I had planned.

Did I come across as critical of Josh Turner? I apologize if I did. That wasn't my intention. Instead, I was hoping to get across how theology is everywhere, and we have to have insight and wisdom as we walk through this life. I'm glad several of you pointed out the good theology in portions of the song.

I think immanence and transcendence were new terms to some of you. That's probably a portion of the lesson where we could have used more time to unpack the theology there. I did find something from J. I. Packer that may help if you want to go further with those ideas. I've only quickly scanned through this document; so, let me know any feedback you have on how appropriate it is.

http://www.nbs.edu/pages/willsey/recovering_transcendence_and_immanence.pdf

Please post any comments or questions you have. I'll be checking back here throughout the week, especially to see if you have any questions that you'd like me to answer. Also, keep on the lookout for bad theology in pop culture, and let me know anything you see. I'm still looking for topics for future lessons.

Cheat Code for Tomorrow's Lesson

If you're seeing this and you're in the EPIC class, I'm impressed that you remembered about this blog, and I think you deserve a reward. Tomorrow, we're going to be looking at Josh Turner's song "Me and God." If you're not familiar with it, click the link in the title of this post and look a the lyrics. Then, click the sidebar link to the reformed confessions and find section II of the Westminster Confession of Faith (under the Westminster Standards). That should give you some help in figuring out the bad theology of the song. Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow.

Oh, and you can't tell anyone else that this post is up. This will be our secret until tomorrow.

The Sweet Things in Our Lives

Click the title to see your posts from the beginning of the last week's lesson.

Eschatology Q&A

If you have a question about eschatology, please post it here by clicking the comments counter just below on the right. (It gives the total number of comments made thus far by saying "0 comments," "1 comments," "2 comments," etc.) Then, check back in a day or so for my response.

Revelation Song

I hope you enjoyed this morning's worship service as much as I did. For me, it was really special hearing so much of eschatology at the center of the worship service, after all the time I've spent studying and teaching the topic. I was moved throughout the whole service, but it was mainly joy upon joy.

I wanted to hear any thoughts you had regarding how the worship connected with our study together.

EPIC class (Singles): I'm especially interested in how you reacted to the musical since you just completed the study with me on eschatology. Was it a richer experience because of our study together?

Tyndale class (60's +): Did it make you more intereted in our study together over the next several weeks? Did it raise questions.

When you answer, please consider identifying which class you belong to since we may have a mix of the two classes answering.

An Opening Challenge

You're on one of OMPC's ministry teams, and you've struck up a new friendship with one of the singles who attends the EPIC Sunday School class. You're having lunch together one day, and your new friend says, "I'm confused on something. I grew up in a Southern Baptist church, and I can't figure out how to make any sense of Revelation. When he taught our class, Lee said that covenantal theology gives pretty much a totally different view of Revelation because it doesn't allow a special emphasis on the nation of Israel. I don't get that. Can you explain that to me?"

How would you answer? Here's how to post a reply:

Click the blue line below on the right that says "0 Comments." (It may have a number different than 0, depending on how many people have posted before you.)
Type your comment in the box.
Click on the circle besdied "Anonymous" (unless you create a Blogger identity) underneath the comment field.
Click on Publish Your Comment.
You've just blogged!

The 7 Trumpets

I hope today was beneficial for you. (If you missed this week and last week, take a look at the link to see the cheat sheet I've developed on symbols in Revelation.) Let me know if you have any questions, especially about specifics of Revelation 8-11. I'm curious if any of you saw the connection between my lesson and Bob's sermon on evangelism. Were any of you thinking about us as the 2 Witnesses as Bob talked?

We only have one more week together. We'll go to the end of the book and look at our future in the New Heavens and Earth. I hope it's a really special way for us to wrap up our study of Hope for the Future.

Teaching this Sunday

We're going to go with the Q&A approach this Sunday. If we have more time, we'll look at Revelation 13 & 14, which we didn't have time to finish a couple of weeks ago. We'll have a smaller crowd, because of those gone to retreat, but I'll try to plan to make sure the interactions are still rich.

4 Horseman & 144,000

I hope today's lesson was meaningful for you. We were moving fast (again!), and I couldn't tell what you are were thinking. Your faces seemed to say that it was all new information. As always, I look forward to your questions or comments on the lesson.

Please help me out with next week's lesson. We can either go forward to the next section of Revelation or slow down for some Q&A. My sense is that Q&A would be good; we probably need to process through the material I've covered in the last 3-4 weeks. I need to hear from you, though, if that's the direction you want to go (by either commenting here on the blog or e-mailing me). If I don't that you want to spend some time on Q&A, then I'll move on to the 7 Trumpets section of Revelation (see link).

It's a joy being with all of you. Thanks for the many things you've said to encourage me about how you value my teaching. I appreciate that more than you'll know.

Teaching this Sunday

(Update on the question I had asked below: We'll be looking at Revelaton 6 & 7, and what better passage to use to think about missions!)

Phil Chambers caught me last night at session meeting and told me that he doesn't think that he'll have a missionary to speak in the EPIC class. So, unless you object, I'll teach on Eschatology this Sunday, rather than focusing on missions.

Reformed Herme...what?

This morning didn't really go as well as I had hoped. I think I had two lessons packed inside of one, but I didn't realize it until we were in the middle of it together. I hope you got something out of it. Tackling the reformed hermeneutic in 30 minutes is pretty tough! As always, I'm open to your questions here. I'd much rather answer your questions as you raise them than have you wait a week, especially if you're confused.

Can I give you a task for this week? We didn't get into Revelation 13 like I wanted to. Would you take a look at that chapter and see how you do with interpreting it? Here's what you need to know: the first beast, the one out of the sea, is a symbol for political and societal persecution. The second beast, the one out of the earth, is a symbol for religious and philosophical deception. Neither beast is any kind of wacky, weird, end-of-time monster yet to descend upon us. Instead, they're symbols of the persecution and deception that will be in play throughout the last days (i.e., the time between Jesus' first and second advents.) See how you do with taking that and using it to read Rev. 13 for hope for today.

Let me know your thoughts or your questions. I hope you all have a good week.

The Prophetic Perspective & Old Testament Hope

I hope today's lesson was meaningful to all of you from the EPIC crew. I didn't realize until we were in the middle of it how much technical information I needed to go over: the prophetic perspective, the now and the not yet, the 2 mountains analogy, and how to read Old Testament prophecy. Might be a good week for us to bounce some questions back and forth, especially if I didn't clear everything up for you.

If you missed, click the link or post title to go to the handout from the lesson. You can spend a little time looking at how some OT prophecy focuses on blessings we already have because of the first advent (now), blessings we will have at the second advent (the not yet), and passages that mix the two (under the And column).

I'd also be interested in your intial reactions to the thought of beginning a study of Revelation next week. Feel free to post and let me know if the thought of studying Revelation causes you to be afraid or worried. Maybe you think you're about to spend weeks in confusion. Any thoughts you share will help me get a sense of how to start of next week's lesson. Remember, you can post anonymously.

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

Missed being you guys this Sunday, but the trip with Ben went well. I enjoyed having this long block of time with my son and seeing the young man he's becoming.

This week might be a good time for us to kick around anything that's in your mind about eschatology. Let me know questions you have or maybe just thoughts that you're having. Hearing from you will give me a better sense of where you are as I prepare for Sunday. (Oh, and please tell me that you get the joke of the title of this post. Please tell me that I'm not that much older than all of you!)

New Testament Hope

Being with the EPIC crew was again a privilege this morning. I appreciated very much the way everyone participated in the lesson and all the questions that people asked. I enjoyed the interaction.

I read a quote this morning from Anthony Hoekema, and I thought you might want to see it written down. "The Christian hopes for far greater blessings in the future, not because he now has so little, but because he already has so much," (The Bible and the Future).

This morning challenged me to think about a narrow view of worship. I stumbled around trying to answer one of the questions asked in class, and I think it's because my thinking on worship is too restricted. Ever worshipped God in the middle of a basketball game because the game was so fantastic? Ever been in a conversation so rich that it made you worship? How about seeing a piece of art that made you love God more because of its beauty? I'm pondering whether one of the reasons we have a hard time imagining life in the New Heaven and Earth is because we don't think about worship in broad enough categories. Please add to these thoughts with a comment or a question.

I probably won't be with you next Sunday (Feb 4). My older son, Ben, is hoping to play football in college, and this weekend he has official visit in Virginia. We tried to get a flight back on Saturday night, but couldn't. When I'm back with you, we'll take a look at Old Testament prophecy before diving into the book of Revelation as we continue to find Biblical reasons for hope for the future.

Is this thing on?

You EPIC'ers seemed to be really thinking this morning as we talked about the new heavens and the new earth. The looks on your faces said to me that most of you were processing a lot, maybe even a whole new picture of what eternity is going to be like. Let me know any thoughts or questions you have on today's topic.

Also, I would appreciate your feedback on how quiet you guys are at times. I made the standard joke of "Is this thing on?" this morning, but often when I ask questions, you don't have anything to say. What's going on? How I am missing yo?. I wondered if you're not used to interacting with your Sunday School teacher or if I've done something to get off on the wrong foot with you. Please let me know any input you have on why things are so quiet. You can post anonymously; so, I encourage you to be honest. I want my teaching in EPIC to work well for you.

The Second Coming

It was good being with all of you from OMPC's EPIC class again this morning. I couldn't tell exactly what you were all thinking about what I was teaching on, but my sense was that you were kind of taking it all in. I'm still remembering several of your, "Wow"s as I talked through what the Bible tells us about the end of time. Bottom line: if you're feeling more hopeful, then I'm doing my job.

Please let me know any comments or questions you have. I'll check in here once or twice daily through the week to see if you've posted anything, and I look forward to being with you next Sunday. We'll be looking at the New Heavens and the New Earth.

I forgot to mention in class the red sheet that I had put on your chairs. It's an Amazon list of books (and a CD) that I think go well with eschatology. I tried to link to it in this post, but I'm not sure if it's going to work.

Help with the Reformed Confessions?

If you're not sure about the reformed confessions and catechisms, follow the link (or click the title of this post) to get to a page that should hep you get started. Feel free to post a question here, using the Comment button, and I'll get back with you.

EPIC Eschatology

Well now, "EPIC Eschatology" has a little bit of nice sound to it! It was going being with all of you in the EPIC class this morning, and I look forward to being with you for the next 7-8 weeks as we study eschatology together. Hopefully, you can see from this morning that, if nothing more, our study together will be engaging. Please let me know anything I can do for you along the way to help you learn better, especially in making sense of what the Scriptures mean in the daily wolrd of your life. Also, let me know any questions or your concerns that you have. The previous classes I've worked with haven't really wanted to interact much via this Blog; Crissy tells me you guys will be different!

As I mentioned in class, I'd like to hear from you questions that you'd like me to address during the unit. If I can give you a quick answer here, I will. If I don't answer you this week, it means that you've raised a good question, and I'll plan to address it in the weeks ahead.

So, post your questions by making a comment. Also, use the link (or click the title of this post) if you want to get to a copy of the Belgic confession (or other reformed confessions since the link takes you to a page I built to collect together confession resources).