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Dear Arul, reference to your comment, ‘would prepare to receive Jesus by living holy & godly lives’ is important and noteworthy. Apostle Paul gives three interesting metaphors for our preparation. “A soldier on duty doesn’t get caught up in making deals at the marketplace. He concentrates on carrying out orders. An athlete who refuses to play by the rules will never get anywhere. It’s the diligent farmer who gets the produce” (2 Tim. 2:7). My prayers are for you as a fellow citizen of the kingdom of God. Mohan Sunderaraj
Dear Prem, in reference to your comment, “I prepare others by teaching them the truths of the gospel”, this is the challenge placed before us. Just as we have the privilege of being part of God’s kingdom, we also have the responsibility to teach the truth with clarity and passion. Mohan Sunderaraj
How will you prepare yourself to receive Jesus when he returns?
i. First, be totally obedient to where God will place us to go and serve in the days to come in Sri Lanka.
ii. Portray Christ through our compassion to whomever we come in touch with. We want to give hope to those who are suffering due to the pandemic during this time by partnering with local Pastors.
iii. Live a life of godliness particularly being watchful over what comes over the visual media.
iv. We want to be a source of encouragement for all those who are labouring in the kingdom of God particularly around Kilinochchi, North of Sri Lanka where we are living presently.How will you prepare others to meet Jesus at the second coming of Jesus?
i. Build close relationships with people to persuade them about the imminent coming of Jesus.
ii. We are planning to move to Trincomalee to a Christian residential vocational training Centre to care for the students. This will also involve presenting Christ, disciple and equipping for their future bi-vocational ministry.
iii. Make every effort to bring about unity within the Christian community in Trincomalee who are divided on ethnic, caste, class lines and immaturity. This will involve us by being like Christ, mature, speak the truth in love with a spirit of reconciliation.
iv. Give hope in a hopeless situation. Sri Lanka faces a deep debt crisis (105% of GDP). Further, there is widespread hopelessness due to unemployment with the demise of the tourist industry which was a major income for the nation.Dear Ajith,
your comment that “If God could replace the Church as his treasured possession instead of the Jews, we need to be careful to fully obey His commands” cannot be emphasized more. In Ex. 19 it was a covenant relationship,
“5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured
possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy
nation.’ … 8 The people all responded together, “We will do everything the
LORD has said.” So Moses brought their answer back to the LORD.
Mohan SunderarajDear Hepzibah,
Reference to your comment ‘the Church and the so-called believers have failed in their mandate miserably’. I like to add two aspects which could remedy the situation.
a. Understand the reason we have to do it. First, the gospels are clear that we should take the gospel to all nations. This is not a command to the early disciples as some claim but to each believer today. Secondly, we should develop a love for people, despite their lives are marred by sin. We need to remember that they are also Christ’s people. Thirdly, there needs to be jealousy as God’s Holy name just as apostle Paul felt in Athens among of plethora of ‘gods’.
b. There are many methods of evangelism today. However, there are two fundamental aspects we need to adhere to. First, we need to develop an intimate relationship with people. Secondly, we need to intimately know our God otherwise we will be faking our witness.Mohan Sunderaraj
Since the Kingdom of God is already in operation, what should be our attitude towards ourselves as believers and the church?
Our attitude as believers towards the kingdom of God should be:
1. We are his subjects therefore our attitude towards him should be that of a servant.
2. We need to also have a kingdom perspective and not be concerned about our own little thing.
3. Our attitude towards our master should reflect integrity, transparency and accountability. in whatever we
are called to do.
4. Our life should characterize that of a pilgrim and a stranger and not seek to put down roots in this earth
as we are awaiting a future kingdom.
5. Since we live in a world of decay our life should reflect the qualities of ‘salt’ which thwarts decay.What must be done to see ‘God’s will is done on earth as it is heaven’?
1. We must grow in wisdom, stature in relationship with God and man, which will restore us to be truly human.
2. We are also to be good stewards in whatever sphere he has placed us and be totally be depended on him to
accomplish his purposes.
3. We are to be his witnesses to the reality of the king and his kingdom.
4. See our vocation as something that could contribute to the extension of his kingdom.
5. Our lives must be characterized by love in a hopeless world. This means getting close to people to listen
and give hope in their pain.Dear Prem,
Dear Prem, reference to the spiritual interpretation of Revelation 20, I wonder how we could reconcile the following:
1. Isaiah seems to suggest it will be visible.
“Many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4 He shall judge between the nations and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. (Is. 2:3-4) ESV2. Apostle Paul’s idea that the believers will reign with him as suggested in the following passages. “Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world?” (1 Cor. 6:2) and 2 Timothy 2:12 (ESV) — 12 If we endure, we will also reign with him … (2 Tim. 2:12)
3. Isaiah’s view of a reborn nature. “The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus;” (Is. 35:1) and other passages 55:13; 11:6-9; 65:25
Mohan Sunderaraj
Dear Hema, reference to your comment, Whichever interpretation the church chooses …. should not divide the church is pertinent to us. I think we should take time to understand another person’s view and be broad enough to accommodate other biblical views. This will breed fresh thinking on difficult passages in the scriptures. The Church is immensely enriched by diverse comments on various issues of the scriptures. Divisiveness within God’s body is self-defeating and we need to understand there is an evil one who is waiting for cracks within our walls to divide and conquer us. Mohan Sunderaraj
How do you see the literal and symbolic interpretations of the passage, Rev. 20: 1-10, in the light of this lesson?
(I) Thousand Years Reign of Christ: the six references in Rev. 20 give me the impression the thousand years are literal. Further, Jesus second coming to this earth gives me the impression gives me that he is also
going to rule the earth politically.
(ii) Binding of Satan: Looking at it literally does not make sense as to how can Satan be bound as he is a spirit. However, I also find it difficult to understand he is spiritually bound as he is quite alive and kicking in this world and this may be attributed to a future event.
(iii) First Resurrection: Rev. 20: 4-6 context, martyrdom due to non-worship of the beast suggest it as a literal and not believers born again experience.
(iv) Releasing of Satan: I see a literal release of Satan after 1000 years
(v) The Final Battle: I see it as literal after the invasion of Gog and Magog.
(vi) Devil Thrown into the Lake of Fire: I see this as a literal incidence.How should the church engage itself with the world now, in the light of literal interpretation of Rev. 20:1-10?
• Take a long-term view of life: not just escape the fires of hell but be servants of God during the
millennial rule.
• Develop a sharp eye to detect the presence and the role of the evil one in the world.
• Make up our mind that to follow Christ is to be willing to die.
• Be aware that even during the millennium to the lure of the evil.
• Total dependence on God even when the whole world seems to be against us.
• Celebrate that there is a solution to the problem of evil.Dear Prem, reference to your convictions on the amillennial view, some of the issues I face are:
1. The equating of the church age with the millennium. If so, how do we explain the passage in Revelation, “Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.” (Rev.12:15)
2. The belief that God is finished with Israel as a national entity. If so, how do we understand the rebirth of the nation of Israel in 1948 after 2,000 years against all odds? How do we explain the 6th Century B.C prophetic prediction (Ezekiel 37:1-14) of a people with a land?
Mohan Sunderaraj
Dear Johan Jeyasekar, I too share your views; however, we need to address some of the objections to this view. Firstly, some say millennium is mentioned only once in the Bible (Rev. 20) and is not important teaching but there are more than five references to the millennium. Secondly, the promises to Abraham and David ‘are forever’ so how could that be reconciled to 1000 years? However, a close look at Rev. 20: 4-6 suggest an end to the millennium. Thirdly, the allegation that there is an inconsistency in their interpretation of the symbols: sometimes literally, sometimes figuratively. It must be remembered that literal interpretation is not contrary to figures of speech. Further, symbols represent literal people, things and events. Mohan
Please share your personal preference among the millennial views and offer the reasons for your preference.
I believe in premillennialism for the following reasons.
1.It sees biblical interpretation in terms of historical and literal.
2.It treats the Church and Israel and separate entities.
3.It takes into account God’s covenant promises made to Israel.
4.In the final battle Satan and his army will be defeated by fire from heaven and judged.
5.The beginning of new heaven and earth after putting to end evil as seen in Rev. 21, 22.
6.Restoration of harmony that will be brought between human beings and nature just as it was in the garden of Eden.In the light of a detailed study of the millennial views in the previous lessons, how do you see this controversy now?
First, I see the immense complexities involved and want to give weight to each of the different biblical perspectives.
Secondly, I would not treat any of the millennial views as a heretical doctrine as they each have a biblical basis for their perspective. However, if anyone teaches Christ has already come, he will never return or sees his return as spiritual, I will see it as a contradiction to what the Bible teaches.
Thirdly, the differences in the millennial views are mainly about the chronological order of the end-times events. Therefore, I would stick to the biblical narrative of unknowability rather than imminence.Dear Lee, before the time of Augustine in the fifth century, premillennialism dominated the early church. Most of the early church fathers voiced a strong belief in a future one-thousand-year reign of Jesus. Although on the surface it might seem to be an insignificant change, amillennialism profoundly changed the church in the centuries after Augustine. For instance, it led to anti-Semitism within the Church and there seems to be a connection between amillennialism and anti-Semitism in history. One example would be Marin Luther, though God greatly used him, his anti-Semitism caused great harm to the Jewish community of his day. Mohan Sunderaraj
Dear Dhanaseelan, reference to your comment, “God will restore Israel and there must be a literal, physical kingdom on this earth”, Ezekiel in his vision in chap 37 seems to speak of the restoration of Israel and sees the revival of Israel’s lost national hope. The passage deals with the “bones are the whole house of Israel” (v. 11), that is, the whole nation looked upon as not divided or “halved” into two separate kingdoms (v. 22), the drying up of these bones means complete loss of that status in national and spiritual death (v. 11). Further, in his vision, he states, “… I’m taking the Israelites out of the nations in which they’ve been exiled. I’ll gather them in from all directions and bring them back home (v.21). It will be difficult for the Gentile nations as well as some Christians to see how a hated, distressed, selfish group of people could end up as God’s chosen people. Mohan Sunderaraj
• What is your take on amillennialism?
Someone wisely said, “that the millennium is a thousand years of peace that Christians like to fight about”. My issues with amillennialism are centered around the claim that ‘Church has replaced Israel”. How do we then explain passages like Gen. 17: “I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. 8 I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” (7-8)?
• In the light of amillennialism, how the church (believers) must engage the present world?
Amillennialism sees Jesus’ imminent return and makes live in the light of eternity by being good stewards of everything he has placed in our hands. Further, as it sees the present millennium as spiritual it makes us be less watchful of what is happening in the middle east and Israel. It gives each believer in Christ a unique identity as an Israelite (as the Church is the new Israel). -
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