2. Christian Revival
The great need of the Christian church today is revival — not from apostasy, but from apathy and compromise. Apostate churches, denying the basic doctrines of Christianity, are not real churches, but mere socio-religious clubs, and their members still need to be saved. There are multitudes of generally sound churches and believers, however, that have become neutral in their stance, whenever they face the controversial issues that require them to choose between conformity to and confrontation with the world system that surrounds them.
Such churches are typified by the church at Laodicea (Rev. 3:14–22), the last of the churches addressed in the seven letters of Revelation 2–3. This church represents a real Christian church, with its candlestick still in place (Rev. 1:20; 2:5), one which seems to be doing well outwardly, in “need of nothing” materially, but one which is “lukewarm,” and therefore “wretched” spiritually (verses 15–17). Such churches are urgently in need of revival, not a revival of mere emotional activity, but one of real substance and truth (verse 18) — that is, repentance (verse 19).
It is significant that the Lord Jesus Christ, in addressing the Laodicean church, begins with an emphasis on the creation and ends with the Resurrection and promised consummation. These are the most fundamental of all doctrines, consequently the ones most resisted by the world, and thus the doctrines on which there is the greatest temptation to become “lukewarm.” The Lord calls such churches first of all to recognize Him as the “Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God” (verse 14). He concludes by reminding them that His Resurrection and ascension provide the only assurance of their own future resurrection for the coming kingdom. “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne” (verse 21). How urgent is it for churches today, with all their emphasis on self-centered spirituality and so-called abundant living, to get back to an understanding and proclamation of the bedrock doctrines of creation and Resurrection.
3. Christian Witness
When a Christian has firm assurance of his own salvation and is properly motivated in terms of God’s eternal purposes, then it is his responsibility to bear witness to others who need this great salvation, wherever and by whatever means he can, as God leads and enables.
No doubt the greatest Christian witness was the apostle Paul, and his example surely deserves study and emulation. It is significant that Paul always began where his listeners already were, in their own prior understanding of God and His purposes. When they already knew and believed the Old Testament Scriptures, he would show them from the Scriptures that Christ was the promised Messiah, going on from there to the Resurrection as the conclusive proof. When, however, his listeners neither knew nor believed the Scriptures, he would start with the evidence of God in creation, which they had distorted into a pantheistic polytheism. The classic example is that of the Greek philosophers at Athens (Acts 17:15–34). Note his words:
Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth . . . giveth to all life, and breath, and all things (Acts 17:23–25).
Then, in anticipation of the natural question as to how one would know which of the “gods” was really the God who had created all things, the Apostle first had to point out that the Creator of all men must also be the Judge of all men, and that all men needed to repent and turn back to Him.
Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead (Acts 17:31).
This two-fold testimony — creation pointing to the fact of God and the Resurrection identifying the person of God — constitutes an irrefutable witness, so that God in perfect equity on this basis, “commandeth all men every where to repent” (verse 30). Even though death triumphs over all other men, it could never defeat the Creator of life, and no one who believes in creation should ever stumble at the Resurrection. As Paul challenged King Agrippa, “Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?” (Acts 26:8).
By the same token, one who accepts the factuality of Christ’s Resurrection should never stumble over God’s record of creation. Yet there seem to be multitudes of compromising Christians today who are willing to believe that Christ was raised from the dead but who still reject His testimony about creation. “From the beginning of the creation God made them male and female,” He said (Mark 10:6, referring to Gen. 1:27). Not after 18 billion years of cosmic history and 4.5 billion years of earth history, but from the beginning of the creation, God made man and woman. In fact, the very purpose of the earth’s creation was that it should be a home for “the children of man” (Ps. 115:16). How can a Christian believe Christ’s words and then reject Moses’ words?
For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? (John 5:46–47).
The Lord Jesus said, in two of the great “I am” passages of the Book of Revelation:
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending . . . which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty (Rev. 1:8).
And then He also said:
I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore. Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death (Rev. 1:18).
He is both “before all things” and the “firstborn from the dead” (Col. 1:17–18). Therefore, He is “able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him” (Heb. 7:25).
1 Many volumes have been written on the evidences for Christ’s bodily resurrection. For a brief summary of these evidences, see Henry M. Morris’ book, Many Infallible Proofs (Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 1974), p. 88–97.
Chapter 10
Creation and the Eternal Kingdom
The Creator, being both omniscient and omnipotent, cannot fail in His purpose in creating the universe, life and man. He has allowed sin and death to come in for a little time, but these will soon be removed, and all the redeemed will have the endless ages of eternity to enjoy the fellowship with God for which they were created. “In the ages to come, he [will show] the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:7). Because our Creator has loved us so much that He died for our sins, and then rose from the dead, our future (if we have believed on Him as our Savior and Lord) is secured. “Because I live,” He has promised, “ye shall live also” (John 14:19).
The Bondage of Decay
Right now, the world doesn’t look very promising, however. In addition to the moral chaos that seems to be engulfing the earth, the very earth itself is in the grip of what the Bible calls “the bondage of corruption,” or decay (Rom. 8:21). The great curse pronounced on the earth in the garden of Eden, because of Adam’s sin (Gen. 3:19), has taken a terrible toll over the years. As noted earlier, this “bondage” is actually recognized by scientists as a law of nature, the law of increasing entropy, or the second law of thermodynamics. By any definition, this is one of the best-proved and most widely applicable laws of science.
According to the second law of thermodynamics, this planet on which we live is going to die. The sun which supplies its energy will someday burn out and the entire solar system will then quickly perish.