- 888-ASK-HANK. Let's go to Sam in Romania, listening on the web. Hi Sam.
- Oh hi, hi. Thank you for taking my call.
- You're welcome.
- Yes, my question is um,
how do we have to understand Jesus's words when he says that he's gonna come back?
Will he appear, and what does that mean that everybody will observe this? And uh,
does that mean that he will appear physically? And maybe it sounds stupid
but I will see him on the streets and I will know that he is back or how do we
have to interpret?
- Sure, well ...it doesn't sound stupid, but I mean here's what you
have to understand is when Jesus appears a second time, as the Scriptures tell us
that Jesus will appear a second time, you will know that he has appeared because
when he appears he will put all things to right. Which is to say that the universe
that now groans in travail will be liberated from its bondage decay to
decay as Paul points out in Romans chapter 8. When Jesus appears a second
time, the problem of sin and Satan will be fully and finally resolved. When Jesus
appears a second time, we who are his followers will then be in his presence
in the presence of God - the one God revealed in three persons eternally
distinct. Now Jesus appears physically - of that there is no doubt. The Christian
faith is not platonic, it's physical. That is one of the reasons God uses physical
objects on this earth to point to spiritual verities. The Christian faith
is very, very physical. That's why in certain traditions
there are bones and altars. Why? Because we believe in resurrection. Now Christ
was raised physically from the dead, he ascended physically into heaven, now that
means he transcends time and space, and he will return again physically and we
will be resurrected physically. And how that works as those who are absent from
the body, present with the Lord, will be caught up in the air
with those who are living at the time that Jesus Christ has returned. In other
words, we will welcome in the master to a restored universe. And the way that this
is explained by John in Revelation chapter 21 is that God Himself will be
with us. He'll wipe every tear from our eyes, there'll be no more death or
mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things will have passed away so
how do you know that Christ has appeared? The old order of things will have passed
away, and all things will have become new. Not only will you, as a follower of Jesus
Christ have a resurrected body, and you'll look at that and say, "Whoa,
something has happened!" Jesus has appeared a second time because
I am now resurrected according to the promise of Jesus. So you will know not
only by your own physical appearance, but by the transformation of the universe.
And I oftentimes try to explain this Sam, by talking about a caterpillar that
goes through what's called "metamorphosis." So the caterpillar changes. It dies, as
it were - it devolves into this mysterious molecular mixture, and out of that comes
a new creature. And the differences are palpable. Think about the caterpillar - all
it does is crawl. The butterfly flies. The caterpillar has eyes that can only
distinguish between light and dark. The caterpillar has a field of vision in
color acuity that exceeds that of a human being the caterpillar eats in one
way the butterfly indulging in the nectar of life through a proboscis.
So you have the same physical-- the same physically, but they're different
organizationally. And how that will be, I can't say. I mean I can
only use an illustration like the one I just did, but how we will be the same
physically but different organizationally again is beyond my ability to describe. I
know that it will be wonderful, because the Bible describes it as glorious. But
how we will look, I do not know. That we will know that Jesus has returned, we
will know because we will be transformed and the universe will be transformed
along with us.
- I see, but an atheist said that, "How is that possible that everybody
will be resurrected? That means millions and trillions of people coming alive?"
- Yeah. That's exactly what it means, and you know the atheist starts with a
materialist presupposition. The Christian worldview
on the other hand, starts with the presupposition of the supernatural. The
universe itself is a supernatural effect that cries for an explanation.
So, the presuppositions are very, very different. The atheist starts with the
idea that nothing creates everything, life comes from non-life, and the life
that comes from non-life produces metaphysical realities. The Christian
starts from a completely different vantage point. So you have to ultimately
look at what corresponds to reality. And if you look at that closely, you find out
that every effect has to have a cause equal to or greater than itself, and
therefore if you have an effect like the universe, there has to be a cause of that
universe. An uncaused first cause, which we describe as God.