God and His Revelation - Creation, Man and Sin - Christ and Redemption - Justification by Faith - Good Works and Prayer - The Means of Grace - The Church and its Ministry - The Church and the State - Jesus' Return and the Judgment


Jesus' Return and the Judgment

  1. We believe that Jesus, true God and true man, who rose from death and ascended to the right hand of the Father, will come again. He will return visibly, in like manner as His disciples saw Him go into heaven (Acts 1:11).

  2. We believe that no one can know the exact time of Jesus' return. This knowledge is hidden even from the angels in heaven (Matthew 24:36). Nevertheless, our Lord has given us signs to keep us in constant expectation of His return. He has told us to take heed to ourselves and to watch lest that day come upon us unexpectedly (Luke 21:34).

  3. We believe that at Jesus' return this present world will come to an end. "But in keeping with His promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness" (2 Peter 3:13).

  4. We believe that when Jesus returns and His voice is heard throughout the earth, all the dead will rise and together with those still living appear before His throne of judgment. The unbelievers will be condemned to an eternity in hell. Those who by faith have been cleansed in the blood of Christ will be with Jesus forever in the blessed presence of God in heaven (John 5:28,29).

  5. We reject every form of millennialism, since it has no valid Scriptural basis and leads Christians to set their hopes upon the kingdom of Christ as an earthly kingdom. We likewise reject as unscriptural any hopes that the Jews will all be converted in those final days, or that all people will ultimately enjoy eternal bliss.

  6. We reject any denial of a bodily resurrection and of the reality of hell.

  7. We reject as contrary to the clear revelation of Scripture all attempts to interpret symbolically the New Testament facts of the end of the world, of Jesus' second coming, and of the judgment or to see these events taking place, not in the end of time, but concurrently with history.
This is what Scripture teaches about Jesus' return and the judgment.
This we believe, teach and confess.


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