Mathew 24: The Olivet Discourse
Matthew 24 is an important Chapter as Jesus himself specifies and testifies in detail to the sequence of events that will lead to His coming. This portion of scripture was referenced to in conjunction with Daniel's prophecies and will be covered again in Chapter 4, “The Book of Revelation”.
The
suddenness of His coming.
Jesus
said in Matthew 24:36-44 "But
of that day and hour no one
knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.
37
But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of
Man be. (aren't these days similar to
that of Noah? Blatant disregard to God's commandments, sins of the flesh, revelries,
corruption, senseless killings, etc? In gospel of Luke Jesus includes comparison to the days of Lot)
38
For as in the days before the flood, they were eating
and drinking, marrying and giving in
marriage, until
the day that Noah entered the ark, v39. and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so
also will the coming of the Son of
Man be.”
Then in verse 40 onwards of in the same chapter Jesus details what happens at the 'Rapture", the catching up of people to meet the Lord in the air. The Rapture is expected to take place suddenly and before the commencement of the 7-year Tribulation period. Some scholars predict that it would take place around mid-Tribulation while some others, Post-Tribulation. (More on this 'rapture' follows)
40
Then two men will be in the field: one
will be taken and the other left.
41
Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the
other left.
42 Watch therefore, for you
do not know what hour your Lord (Jesus
Christ) is coming.
43
But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour
the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house
to be broken into.
44
Therefore you also be ready, for the
Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
The Book of Revelation will explain more on what Jesus meant by the “end”.
Luke 17
Cross referencing Matthew's account above, to what Luke says (Luke was a doctor by profession and generally very accurate in his writings):
Luke
17:25-36
26 And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man:
26 And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man:
27 They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.
28 Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built (instilled doctrine);
29 but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.
30 Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.”
Jesus
used two Old Testament events to illustrate the certainty and the
suddenness of His coming: the Flood (Gen 6-8) and the destruction of
Sodom (Gen 19). In both examples, the people of the world were caught
unprepared as they engaged in their everyday activities of eating and
drinking, marrying, buying, and selling. Noah witnessed to his
generation in the years preceding the Flood, but his preaching did
not convert them. Noah and his wife, his three sons, and their wives-
only eight people- were saved from destruction because they entered
the ark.
Both Noah and Lot lived in days of religious
compromise and moral declension, not unlike our present time.' During
"the days of Noah," population growth was significant,
lawlessness was on the increase (Gen 6:5), and the earth was given
over to violence (Gen 6:11,13). In Lot's day, the unnatural lusts of
Sodom and Gomorrah were so abhorrent to God that He completely
destroyed the cities. Only Lot, his two daughters, and his wife (who
later was turned into a pillar of salt because she looked back at the
destruction taking place) were saved from the terrible judgment.
The Rapture
Harpazo in Greek
Hilton Sutton, in his book Rapture: Get Right or Get Left, mentions seven raptures: the raptures of Enoch, Elijah, Jesus, the church, the tribulation saints, 144,000 Jews and the two witnesses.
Although the term rapture has no root in Greek the concept is biblical, like the word trinity. The word rapio from which we get the English word rapture is not in the Bible because it is Latin. Rapio means 'snatching away', or 'catching up' or 'rescuing' of the believers.
In 2 Thessalonians 4:15-17, the Greek word for 'caught up' is harpazo meaning “to seize, to catch (away, up), to pluck, pull or to take out, even by force."
There are many references to the Rapture in the Bible. Here's the first of them.
1
Cor 15:51-55
51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all
sleep, but we shall all be
changed (glorified
bodies)
52 in a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet (The word "last" here
does not imply that any trumpet shall have been before sounded at the
resurrection, but is a word denoting that this is the consummation or
close of things; it will end the economy of this world; it will be
connected with the last state of things.)
For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we (those who are alive at the time of rapture and who are believers) shall be changed. (1Thess 5 adds that we will rise up to meet the Lord in the air)
54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory."
55 "O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?"
The
trumpet, as in the Old Testament, signalled the appearance of God (cf.
Ex 19:16). It is the last blast for the church because this
appearance shall never end. (“There is no basis for
post-tribulationists equating this trumpet with the seventh trumpet
in Rev 11:15-19. The trumpets in Revelation pertain to judgments
during the Tribulation, whereas the trumpet in 1 Cor 15:52 is related
to the church.” Bible Knowledge Commentary)
The
heavenly kingdom is not made for the kind of bodies we now have,
bodies of flesh and blood. So when Jesus returns, the bodies of
living believers will instantly be transformed to be like His body (1
John 3:1-3), and the dead believers shall be raised with new
glorified bodies. Our new bodies will not be subject to decay or
death.
Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychiatry, wrote: "And
finally there is the painful riddle of death, for which no remedy at
all has yet been found, nor probably ever will be."
Christians have victory in death and over death! Why? Because of the victory of Jesus Christ in His own resurrection. Jesus said, "Because I live, ye shall also" (John 14:19).
The event is also stated by Paul to the Thessalonians.
"1
Thess 4:15-18
"15
For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are
alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means
precede those who are asleep.
16 For the Lord Himself will
descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and
with the trumpet of God. And the
dead in Christ will rise first.
17
Then we who are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air. And thus we
shall always be with the Lord.
18 Therefore comfort one another
with these words."
"Paul applied the word sleep to those believers who died. Jesus used the same expression (John 11:11-13). Paul was careful to state that Jesus died; the word sleep is not applied to His experience. It is because He died that we need not fear death.
However, Paul did not say that the soul went to sleep at death. He made it clear that the soul of the believer went to be with the Lord: "them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him" (1 Thess 4:14). He cannot bring them when He returns unless they are with Him. It is not the soul that sleeps; it is the body. The Bible definition of death is given in James 2:26 - "For as the body without the spirit is dead." At death, the spirit leaves the body, and the body goes to sleep and no longer functions. The soul-spirit goes to be with the Lord, if the person has trusted Jesus Christ. "Absent from the body, and.. present with the Lord" (2 Cor 5:8).
Jesus Christ will return in the air, and this is where we shall meet Him. Suddenly, millions of people will vanish! One summer a church camp staff staged an elaborate "rapture" while the camp director was off the grounds. When he returned, everybody was missing, clothing was on the ground as though people had "passed through" it, a motorboat was circling on the lake without pilot or passengers, and everything in the kitchen was functioning without a cook. A carefully timed phone call from town ("Hey, what's happening? Everybody's missing over here!") only added to the effect. "I've got to admit," said the director, "it really shook me for a minute." Just think of what effect this event will have on a lost world!"
To
quote from The Bible Exposition Commentary:
"How Are
the Dead Raised? (1 Cor. 15:35-48)
Being philosophers, the
Greeks reasoned that the resurrection of the human body was an
impossibility. After all, when the body turned to dust, it became
soil from which other bodies derived nourishment. In short, the food
that we eat is a part of the elements of the bodies of generations
long gone. When the body of the founder of Rhode Island, Roger
Williams, was disinterred, it was discovered that the roots of a
nearby apple tree had grown through the coffin. To some degree, the
people who ate the apples partook of his body. At the resurrection,
then, who will claim the various elements?
Paul's reply to this
kind of reasoning was very blunt: "You fool!" Then he made
the important point that resurrection is not reconstruction.
Nowhere does the Bible teach that, at the resurrection, God
will "put together the pieces" and return to us our former
bodies. There is continuity (it is our body), but there is no
identity (it is not the same body).
Paul knew that such miracles
cannot be explained, so he used three analogies to make the doctrine
clear.
Seeds
– (1 Cor 15:vv. 35-38, 42-48). When you sow seed, you do not
expect that same seed to come up at the harvest. The seed dies, but
from that death there comes life.
(See John 12:23-28 for our Lord's use of this same analogy.)
You may sow a few grains of wheat, but you will have many grains when
the plant matures. Are they the same grains that were planted? No,
but there is still continuity. You do not sow wheat and harvest
barley.
Furthermore, what comes up at the harvest is usually
more beautiful than what was planted. This is especially true of
tulips. Few flings are as ugly as a tulip bulb, yet it produces a
beautiful flower. If at the resurrection, all God did was to put us
back together again, there would be no improvement. Furthermore,
flesh and blood cannot inherit God's kingdom. The only
way we can enjoy the glory of heaven is to have a body suited to that
environment.
Paul discussed the details of this marvellous change
in 1 Cor 15:42-48. The body is sown (in burial) in corruption,
because it is going to decay; but it is raised with such a nature
that it cannot decay. There is no decay or death in heaven. It is
buried in humility (in spite of the cosmetic skill of the mortician);
but it is raised in glory. In burial, the body is weak, but in
resurrection, the body has power. We shall be like Jesus
Christ!
Today, we have a "natural body," that is, a
body suited to an earthly environment. We received this body from our
first parent, Adam he was made of dust, and so are we. But the
resurrection body is suited to a spiritual environment. In His
resurrection body, Jesus was able to move quickly from place to
place, and even walk through locked doors; yet He was also able to
eat food, and His disciples were able to touch Him and feel Him (Luke
24:33-43; John 20:19-29).
The point Paul was making was simply
this: The resurrection body completes the work of redemption and
gives to us the image of the Savior. We are made in the image of God
as far as personality is concerned, but in the image of Adam as far
as the body is concerned. One day we shall bear the image of the
Savior when we share in His glory.
First Corinthians 15:46
states an important biblical principle: first the "natural"
(earthly), and then the "spiritual" (heavenly). The first
birth gives us that which is natural, but the second birth gives us
that which is spiritual. God rejects the first birth, the natural,
and says, "You must be born again!" He rejected Cain and
chose Abel. He rejected Abraham's firstborn, Ishmael, and chose
Isaac, the second-born. He rejected Esau and chose Jacob. If we
depend on our first birth, we shall be condemned forever, but if we
experience the new birth, we shall be blessed forever.
Flesh (v. 39). Paul anticipated here the discovery of science that the cell structure of different kinds of animals is different; and therefore, you cannot breed various species indiscriminately. The human body has a nature of one kind, while animals, birds, and fish have their own particular kind of flesh. The conclusion is this: If God is able to make different kinds of bodies for men, animals, birds, and fish, why can He not make a different kind of body for us at the resurrection? (Pet lovers take note: Paul did not teach here that animals will be resurrected. He only used them as an example.)
Heavenly
bodies (vv. 40-41). Not only are there earthly bodies,
but there are also heavenly bodies; and they differ from one another.
In fact the heavenly bodies differ from each other in glory as far as
the human eye is concerned. Paul is suggesting here that believer may
differ from believer in glory, even though all Christians will have
glorified bodies. Every cup in heaven will be filled, but some cups
will be bigger than others, because of the faithfulness and sacrifice
of those saints when they were on earth.
These illustrations may
not answer every question that we have about the resurrection body,
but they do give us the assurances that we need. God will give to us
a glorified body suited to the new life in heaven. It will be as
unlike our present body in quality as the glory of the sun is unlike
a mushroom in the cellar. We will use this new body to serve and
glorify God for all eternity.
We must remember that this
discussion was not written by Paul merely to satisfy the curiosity of
believers. He had some practical points to get across, and he made
them very clear in 1 Cor 15:29-34. If we really believe in the
resurrection of the body, then we will use our bodies today to the
glory of God (1 Cor 6:9-14).
Finally, the lost will be
given bodies suited to their environment in hell. They will suffer
forever in darkness and pain (Matt 25:41; 2 Thess 1:7-10; Rev
20:11-15). It behooves us, who are saved to seek to rescue them from
judgment! "2 Cor 5:11 “Since, then, we
know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are
is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your
conscience.” NIV.
If you have never trusted the
Savior, do so now, before it is too late!" (from The Bible
Exposition Commentary)
Now
to what Paul said, to the Thessalonians, on when the day of Rapture
was expected:-
2 Thess 2:1-4
1 Now,
brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our
gathering together to Him, we ask you,
2 not to be soon shaken
in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if
from us, as though the day of Christ had come.
3 Let
no one deceive you by any means; for
that Day (day
of the rapture) will
not come unless the falling away¹ (rebellion
against God and Apostacy) comes
first, and the man of sin (anti
christ) is
revealed², the son of perdition (lawlessness;
one who brings destruction; man of rebellion; son-of-hell),
4
who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that
is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God (exactly
what Daniel prophesied- abomination of desolation),
showing himself that he is God.
¹ There is scarcely any passage of the New Testament which has given occasion to greater diversity of opinion than this. Though the reference seems to be plain, and there is scarcely any prophecy of the Bible apparently more obvious and easy in its general interpretation
(from Barnes' Notes)
Paul appealed to them to "calm down" on the basis of the truth he had taught them in his first letter: the Lord would return and catch up His own to meet Him in the air. This is "the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and.. our gathering together unto Him". Not two separated events, but one great event that will occur suddenly and without warning.
Once the church is out of the
world, Satan and his forces will unfold their program.
The
Day of the Lord (defined
further below) is the period that follows the Rapture of the church.
It will be a time of Tribulation for the people on earth: Satan and
his hosts will be working on earth, and God will send righteous
judgments from heaven. Rev 6-19 describes this period for us.
"Why
is Satan unable to reveal his "man of sin" sooner? Because
God is restraining the forces of evil in the world today. (More on
this Restrainer in the next topic).Satan cannot do whatever he wants
to do, whenever he pleases. Our sovereign Lord is able to make even
the wrath of man to praise Him; "Man's
futile wrath will bring you glory. You will use it as an
ornament!" (Psalm 76:10)" TLB
The Antichrist and The Restrainer
As
mentioned in the previous topic and the Rapture and explanations
therein to 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4, there are two specific conditions for
the Day to take place:
1. The falling away- Apostasy
2. The
Anti Christ revealed.
There are however other conditions too
which must be fulfilled, in particular two,
That the Gospel to be preached to all nations and,
when there is Peace and Security in the Middle East.
The Anti Christ will not be revealed as long as the Restrainer (Holy Spirit) is present on earth.
5 "Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?
Who or what is this restrainer? Paul told the Thessalonians when he was teaching them personally, but he did not put this information in either of his letters. This restrainer is now at work in the world and will continue to work till it (or he) is "taken out of the midst" (literal translation of 2 Thess 2:7 b).
Notice that in 2 Thess 2:6 Paul referred to this restrainer in the neuter gender ("what restraineth"), while in 2 Thess 2:7, he used the masculine gender ("he who now hindereth"). The restrainer is a person who is today "in the midst," but will one day be "taken out of the midst."
Many Bible students identify this restrainer as the Holy Spirit of God. Certainly, He is "in the midst" of God's program today, working through the church to accomplish God's purposes. When the church is raptured or taken away, the Holy Spirit will not be taken out of the world (otherwise nobody could be saved during the Tribulation), but He will be taken out of the midst to allow Satan and his forces to go to work. The Holy Spirit will certainly be present on the earth during the Day of the Lord, but He will not be restraining the forces of evil as He is today.
“The Day of the Lord”
Paul's epistle to the Thessalonians.
"But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you.
2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.
3 For when they say, "Peace and safety!" (when Peace and Safety/Security is established in Palestine. It is assumed that the Antichrist establishes Peace in the region during the first half of the 7 seven year period) then sudden destruction (start of the Tribulation period of 3.5 years) comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. (“This day will begin when world conditions appear calm rather than calamitous. This peace will come with the signing of the seven-year covenant, predicted in Dan 9:27. Note that Paul did not include himself and his readers with the group who would see the day of the Lord, as he did when describing the Rapture (1 Thess 4:15,17). Evidently "them" refers to those left behind at the Rapture, that is, non-Christians.” - from Bible Knowledge Commentary)
4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief.
5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.
In
the Bible, the word 'day' can refer to a twenty-four-hour period, or
to a longer time during which God accomplishes some special purpose.
In Gen 2:3 the word means twenty-four hours, but in Gen 2:4 it
describes the entire week of Creation.
The Day of the Lord is
that time when God will judge the world and punish the nations. At
the same time, God will prepare Israel for the return of Jesus Christ
to the earth to establish His kingdom.
Another term for this
period is "the time of Jacob's
trouble" as mentioned earlier on.(Jeremiah
30:7). Many prophetic students also call it the Tribulation and point
to Rev 6-19 as the Scripture that most vividly describes this
event.
Nearly twenty centuries have come and gone since
our Lord gave the promise of His return, and He has not returned yet.
This does not mean that God does not keep His promises. It simply
means that God does not follow our calendar.
"One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand
years as one day" (2 Peter 3:8).
Paul compared the
coming judgment to "travail upon a woman with child". Even
with our modern medical skills, birth pangs are very real and very
painful. They accompany the muscle contractions that enable the
mother to give birth to the baby. The Prophet Isaiah used this same
picture when he described the coming "Day of the Lord" (Isa
13:6-13). The early part of this Day of the Lord was called "the
beginning of sorrows" by the Lord Jesus (Matthew 24); and the
Greek word translated "sorrows" actually means "birth
pangs."
PERILOUS TIMES: Condition of men.
Written
2000 years ago, by Paul; doesn't this passage sound all too familiar
when applied to today's world?
2
Tim 3: 1b -7
1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times
will come:
2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers
of money, boasters,
proud, blasphemers, disobedient
to parents, unthankful,
unholy,
3 unloving,
unforgiving, slanderers, without
self-control, brutal, despisers of good,
4 traitors, headstrong,
haughty, lovers of pleasure
rather than lovers of God,
5 having a
form of godliness but denying its power. And
from such people turn away!
6 For of this sort are those
who creep into households and
make captives of gullible
women loaded down with sins,
led away by various
lusts,
7 always
learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.8
Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist
the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; 9
but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest
to all, as theirs also was.
At least eighteen different characteristics are listed here, and Paul probably could have listed more. There is an emphasis on love: "lovers of their own selves," lovers of money ("covetous"), "lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. "The heart of every problem is a problem in the heart. God commands us to love Him supremely, and our neighbours as ourselves; but if we love ourselves supremely, we will not love God or our neighbours.”
Paul warned Timothy about the collapse predicted for the last days , a term which includes the entire period between the first century and Christ's return. During this interim, according to the prediction, the world will see terrible times of social degeneration, which is at it's worst probably in our generation.
False Teachers
"2
Peter 2:1-3
1. But there were also false prophets among the
people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who
will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the
Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift
destruction.
2 And many will follow their destructive ways,
because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.
3 By
covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words;
for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their
destruction does not slumber."
"A false teacher forces you to make a choice between his doctrines and the doctrines of the true Christian faith. In 2 Peter, Peter pointed out that the false teachers used "feigned words." The Greek word is plastos, from which we get our English word plastic. Plastic words! Words that can be twisted to mean anything you want them to mean! The false teachers use our vocabulary, but they do not use our dictionary. They talk about "salvation," "inspiration," and the great words of the Christian faith, but they do not mean what we mean. Immature and untaught believers hear these preachers or read their books and think that these men are sound in the faith, but they are not. Satan is a liar and his ministers are liars. They use the Bible, not to enlighten, but to deceive. They follow the same pattern Satan followed when he deceived Eve"
False teachers are better known for what they deny than what they affirm They deny the inspiration of the Bible, the sinfulness of man, the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the cross, salvation by faith alone, and even the reality of eternal judgment. They especially deny the deity of Jesus Christ, for they know that if they can do away with His deity they can destroy the entire body of Christian truth. Christianity is Christ, and if He is not what He claims to be, there is no Christian faith.
Pernicious ways simply means "licentious conduct." Jude accused the false teachers of "turning the grace of God into lasciviousness" (Jude 4). Now we understand why they deny the truths of the Christian faith: they want to satisfy their own lusts and do it under the guise of religion. The false prophets in Jeremiah's day were guilty of the same sins (Jer 23:14,32).
False teachers are interested in one thing: making money. They exploit ("make merchandise of") ignorant people and use their religion as "a cloak of covetousness" (1 Thess 2:5)." (from The Bible Exposition Commentary.)
2 Peter
3:3-7
3 "First, I want to remind you that in the last days
there will be scoffers who will
laugh at the truth and do every evil thing they desire.
4
This will be their argument: "Jesus promised to come back, did
he? Then where is he? Why, as far back as anyone can remember,
everything has remained exactly the same since the world was first
created." (We
have Christians by birth currently, who have given up the
faith of their fathers, and have gone the New Age way!)
5
They deliberately forget that God made the heavens by the word of his
command, and he brought the earth up from the water and surrounded it
with water.
6 Then he used the water to destroy the world
with a mighty flood.
7 And God has also commanded that the
heavens and the earth will be
consumed by fire on the day of judgment, when ungodly people will
perish. " NLT
Having established the fact that God has in the past "interrupted" the course of history, Peter was then ready for his application in 2 Peter 2:7. The same word that created and sustains the world is now holding it together, stored with fire, being preserved and reserved for that future day of judgment. God promised that there would be no more floods to destroy the world (Gen 9:8-17). The next: judgment will be a judgment of fire.
Modern atomic science has revealed that the elements that make up the world are stored with power. There is, enough atomic energy in a glass of water to run a huge ocean liner. Man has discovered this great power and, as a result, the world, seems to teeter on the brink of atomic destruction. However, Peter seems to indicate that man will not destroy the world by his sinful abuse of atomic energy. It is God who will "push the button" at the right time and sum up the old creation and all the works of sinful man with it; then He will usher in the new heavens and earth and reign in glory.
(from The Bible Exposition Commentary.)
2 Peter 3:3-7
4 This will be their argument: "Jesus promised to come back, did he? Then where is he? Why, as far back as anyone can remember, everything has remained exactly the same since the world was first created." (We have some Christians in name, who have given up the faith of their fathers, and have gone the New Age way!)
5 They deliberately forget that God made the heavens by the word of his command, and he brought the earth up from the water and surrounded it with water.
6 Then he used the water to destroy the world with a mighty flood.
7 And God has also commanded that the heavens and the earth will be consumed by fire on the day of judgment, when ungodly people will perish. " NLT
Having established the fact that God has in the past "interrupted" the course of history, Peter was then ready for his application in 2 Peter 2:7. The same word that created and sustains the world is now holding it together, stored with fire, being preserved and reserved for that future day of judgment. God promised that there would be no more floods to destroy the world (Gen 9:8-17). The next: judgment will be a judgment of fire.
Modern atomic science has revealed that the elements that make up the world are stored with power. There is, enough atomic energy in a glass of water to run a huge ocean liner. Man has discovered this great power and, as a result, the world, seems to teeter on the brink of atomic destruction. However, Peter seems to indicate that man will not destroy the world by his sinful abuse of atomic energy. It is God who will "push the button" at the right time and sum up the old creation and all the works of sinful man with it; then He will usher in the new heavens and earth and reign in glory.
(from The Bible Exposition Commentary
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