Article 15: The Final Consummation

What We Believe

“Living in the Light of Eternity”

Summary

We believe that at death the unsaved enter into everlasting punishment and the saved into the eternal presence of Christ, who is coming again. He will rise the dead, transform the living, sit in judgment, and bring in God’s everlasting kingdom.

Psalm 139 (NLT)
Highlighting:
1 O Lord, you have examined my heart
    and know everything about me.

7 I can never escape from your Spirit!
I can never get away from your presence!

16 You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.

• God Sees All and Knows All
  • Psalm 139:23-24 (NLT)
    • ²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart;
          test me and know my anxious thoughts.
      ²⁴ Point out anything in me that offends you,
          and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

“This is a grand mark of a Christian, not merely a life of morality, a life of integrity, a life of holiness, but a life of all these in connection with Christ.”

Charles Spurgeon

"Better to Lose Than Be Lost"   Mark 9:42-48
"Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus"   Luke 16:19-31

“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.‘”

C.S. Lewis “The Great Divorce”

• Eternity is Real and Choices Matter
  • 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:8
  • 1 Thessalonians 4:13 (NLT)
    • ¹³ “And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope.“
• The Hope of Believers
  • 1 Thessalonians 5:2 (NLT)
    • ² “For you know quite well that the day of the Lord’s return will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night.“
• The Return of Christ
  • 1 Thessalonians 5:8 (NLT)
    • ⁸ “But let us who live in the light be clearheaded, protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation.“

Eternity is More Real Than This World