Oras ng Pag-aaral | 4th Quarter | Ang Pag asa ng Bagong Tipan | Lesson 8

THE NEW TESTAMENT HOPE

Memory Text
Memory Text: “And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life”
1 John 5:11, 12, NKJV

INTRODUCTION:
By STRESSING that ONLY those WHO are IN CHRIST have ETERNAL LIFE(1 JN. 5:11, 12), JOHN DISPROVES the THEORY of the NATURAL IMMORTALITY of the SOUL. There is NO ETERNAL LIFE apart from a SAVING RELATIONSHIP with JESUS CHRIST.

Here are the THREE POINTS that SUMMARIZE our lesson this week:

1. HOPE OF THE RESURRECTION (SUNDAY & WEDNESDAY)
LIFE can be HARD enough EVEN if we BELIEVE in GOD and in the HOPE of ETERNITY. Then, how HARD it is for THOSE who have NO HOPE of anything BEYOND this SHORT and often TROUBLED EXISTENCE here. SECULAR WRITERS have commented on the MEANINGLESSNESS of HUMAN EXISTENCE, since we all die. In CONTRAST to this view, we have the BIBLICAL PROMISE of ETERNAL LIFE in JESUS. And that is the KEY: we have this HOPE in JESUS and what HIS DEATH and RESURRECTION offer us.

In 1 THESS. 4:13-18, PAUL corrects a MISCONCEPTION. It is the TENDENCY to READ into the EXPRESSION “bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus” (1 THESS. 4:14, NKJV) MORE than what the TEXT is SAYING. Many who ACCEPT the THEORY of the NATURAL IMMUNITY of the SOUL suggest that CHRIST, at HIS SECOND COMING, will BRING with HIM from HEAVEN the SOULS of the RIGHTEOUS DEAD. Those SOULS can thus be REUNITED with their respective RESURRECTED BODIES. If the SOULS of the RIGHTEOUS DEAD were ALREADY with the LORD in HEAVEN, PAUL would NOT NEED to mention the FINAL RESURRECTION as the CHRISTIAN HOPE. But, instead, he says that “those who sleep in Jesus” (1 THESS. 4:14, NKJV) would be RESURRECTED from the DEAD at the END of TIME.

2. HOPE OF THE IMMORTAL