Christ Jesus Our Hope

Julia Hans, Ravi Hans

Description

Inheritance. Rewards. New bodies. The prize and crown. Learn more about the Christian’s great hope and why it matters!

Have you ever wondered what the Bible teaches about the return of Christ? Perhaps you know about the Gathering Together and meeting the Lord in the air upon his return. But do you know what the Scriptures teach about the Christian’s inheritance, future reward, or the prize and crown? Is gaining knowledge of the Hope just an intellectual exercise, or does it impact your day-to-day living? Christ Jesus Our Hope: Living in Light of Christ’s Return answers these and other questions. At more than 400 pages, covering some 700 verses, this book considers the Christian’s hope in great depth. Eight appendices convey important ancillary information about the Day of the Lord, the Judgment Seat of Christ, the New Body, and more. The book concludes with a comprehensive FAQ section, where we answer 40 of the most commonly asked questions from attendees of our seminars. Our goal in writing this book is to help Christians remain faithful to God’s calling and set their priorities on things above, not on things of this earth, for Christ is our life.

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Christian Living
• Personal Growth
• Philosophie et théologie
• Premio
• Prize

Informations

• Publié par: WestBow Press
• Date de parution: 16 mai 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781664294585
• Langue: English

Extrait

CHRIST JESUS Our HOPE
 
 
 
Living in Light of Christ’s Return
 
 
Ravi Hans & Julia Hans
 
 
 
 
 
Copyright © 2023 Ravi Hans & Julia Hans, Ph.D.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.
 
 
 
WestBow Press
A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.westbowpress.com
844-714-3454
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
ISBN: 978-1-6642-9459-2 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-9460-8 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-9458-5 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2023904295
 
 
 
WestBow Press rev. date: 10/26/2023
 
 
The following list of Bible translations are in the public domain:
(ASV) American Standard Version
(Darby) Darby Translation
(D-R) Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
(KJV) King James Version
(WEB) World English Bible
(WEY) Weymouth New Testament in Modern Speech
(YLT) Young’s Literal Translation
(HNV) Hebrew Names Version
(GEN) 1599 Geneva Bible
 
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.
 
(AMP) Amplified® Bible Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
 
(BSB) Berean Study Bible © 2016 by Bible Hub and Berean Bible. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
 
(CSB) The Christian Standard Bible, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers. All rights reserved.
 
(GNT) Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition), Copyright © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
 
(HCSB) Scripture quotations marked HCSB are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Holman CSB®, and HCSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.
 
(ISV) The Holy Bible, International Standard Version® Release 2.1, Copyright © 1996-2012, The ISV Foundation. All rights reserved internationally. Used by permission.
 
(NASB) Scripture quotations are taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
 
(NET) New English Translation Bible®, Copyright ©1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.
 
(NIV) The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used with permission. All right reserved worldwide.
 
(NKJV) Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
 
(NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, IL 60188. All rights reserved. New Living, NLT, and the New Living Translation logo are registered trademarks of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
 
Septuagint, edited by Alfred Rahlfs, Second Revised Edition, edited by Robert Hanhart, © 2006 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.
 
(WT) A Journey Through the Acts and Epistles: The Authorized King James Version with Notes and a Working Translation, Vols. 1 and 2, Copyright © 2006 by Walter J. Cummins. All right reserved.
Dedication
To Cliff and Eileen LoVerme
Contents
Dedication
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1:   Christ Jesus Our Hope
Chapter 2:   The Return of Christ
Chapter 3:   The Inheritance
Chapter 4:   The Reward
Chapter 5:   Reward and Grace
Chapter 6:   The Crown
Chapter 7:   The Nature of the Reward
Chapter 8:   The New Authority Structure in Christ
Chapter 9:   Running the Race to the Finish
Appendix A:   The Day of the Lord
Appendix B:   Four Apparent Contradictions about the Inheritance
Appendix C:   The Judgment Seat of Christ
Appendix D:   The New Body
Appendix E:   Jesus Christ’s Teachings on Reward
Appendix F:   “Lest I Be Disqualified”-A Study of 1 Corinthians 10:1-14
Appendix G:   A Study of Kathizō (Seated)
Appendix H:   Some Words and Expressions that Signify Reward
Appendix I:   Frequently Asked Questions
Bibliography
About the Authors
Preface
How the Book Came to be Wri tten
More than twenty years ago, I (Ravi) began a detailed study of the Hope in the Scriptures. I read from Matthew to Revelation, listing everything that spoke about the future. This process was repeated many times and the scope expanded to include the entire Bible. The wealth of information surprised me. God’s Word not only has a lot to say about “things to come,” but it contains countless exhortations to live in light of the Hope. In other words, the Hope is very practical. I learned that having a firm grasp of the Hope greatly helps Christians to remain faithful despite the trials and tribulations of life.
As I began to understand that the Christian’s hope is a living hope, something that impacts his daily life, I found myself more excited about the things of God than ever before. Studying the topic had a transformative effect on me, and my priorities soon shifted from earthly things to seeking things above. As the song “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” vividly captures, “the things of earth grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.”
In 2006, I taught the first seminar on the Hope material. In the years that followed, I taught numerous seminars in Canada and the U.S. and continued to develop the topic. During one of these seminars, someone suggested that I put the material down in book form.
My initial attempt failed miserably. At the risk of frightening the reader, I must admit that my writing skills are mediocre at best. I made numerous attempts to write down what I was learning but would inevitably give up, feeling that I was not equipped for the task. So, the project languished. Two things kept me going: the exhortation in God’s Word to freely give what I had freely received and knowing how much a deeper understanding of their hope would bless God’s people.
Some years later, God put it on Julie’s heart to help me with the book, which completely changed the project’s direction. Julie is a professional writer who excels at making complex subjects easy to understand. She took the disjointed materials and helped me organize and clarify the many topics that make up the Christian’s Hope. But it would be erroneous to assume that she merely edited the book. She contributed significantly to the material with her understanding of and reverence for God and His Word. What you hold in your hands is the result of our combined effort. It is safe to say that without Julie’s help, this book may not have seen the light of day, so I am immensely grateful for her assistance.
I have been a student of God’s Word for more than 40 years. Being an engineer by profession where details are so crucial, one of the things that first thrilled me about God’s Word is its remarkable precision. Engineers rely on principles and laws every day to do their work. God’s Word far surpasses the details and precision of any engineering endeavor. It is 100% reliable and worthy of our complete trust. And so when the Scriptures promise that Christ is coming back and that great blessings await those who love his appearing, we can wholly rely on that information.
How the Book Came to be Ed ited
I (Julie) jumped into this project about seven years ago when I realized that Ravi had enough material on the Hope to fill a warehouse and that he would need help organizing and writing up all those notes. While I have written several books, I have not co-authored anything.
Yet, in many ways, my experience as a writing professor uniquely qualified me for this task. After all, what does a writing professor do but help students revise, reorganize, and improve their work? And for much of this book, that’s what I did—revise material Ravi had already written. Sometimes that meant rewriting a few paragraphs; sometimes, overhauling a whole chapter. In not a few cases, that meant studying and researching the topics myself so that I could understand them better and work them into readable prose. Along the way, Ravi and I carved out a process that seemed to work. He would compile his research notes, review the material with me, and I’d reorga