The Hour is Coming!
By
Shelby G. Floyd
There is a false doctrine being pedaled on those who are naïve and believe without checking the evidence to back it up. People searching for the truth should be like the Christians at Berea, who searched the scriptures daily to make sure Paul and Silas were teaching them the gospel of Christ (Acts 17:11).
Premillenialism
Premillenialism is being taught in most denominational churches as the truth about the end times. The teaching is that Christ will come back and set up an earthly kingdom and reign for a thousand (1,000) years on the earth. They also teach that the dead in the graves will be raised at different time intervals.
This teaching was refuted and demolished years ago by Foy E. Wallace Jr. and other faithful preachers. I heard Wallace define Premillenialism like this: pre—means before; millennial—means a thousand years; and ism—means that it is not so. It is false just like most “isms.”
Concerning the Day of Judgment, Jesus Christ made this statement: “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation” (John 5:28-29, NKJV). There are several points here that need to be amplified:
The When—the Hour
1. There is a definite time when all of the dead will be
resurrected. “…for the hour is coming in
which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth…” The words “the hour” can be used in several
different ways, but here in this context [hour-wra-hora], refers to “any definite time, point of time, moment”
(Thayer, p. 679). The definite time period here is when “all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth”
(John
The Who--All
2. Notice who it is that will come forth in “the hour.” It will be “all that” are in the graves. Who is to be resurrected at “the hour” that is coming? The answer is “all!” All is translated from [pas-pas], and means “all, every, every one, any one.” Literally, it is “all the ones in the tombs” will hear his voice and come forth—be resurrected.
The Sound—Hear His Voice
3. When our Lord comes back every person in the tombs will
hear his voice. Paul advises us that he will come audibly: “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command,
with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead
in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will
be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And
so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these
words” (1 Thessalonians
The Resurrection—Shall Come
Forth
4. So far we have noticed the time—the hour; the who—all the
ones in the graves; the sound—the command of Jesus, the angels and the trumpet;
and now we will notice what will happen when all of this takes place—they will
“come forth.” Jesus said plainly, “Do not
marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will
hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of
life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation” (John
5:28-29, NKJV).
“Come forth” is from [ekporeuomai-ekporeuomai], and means “to go forth, go out, depart” and properly means “to come forth, of the dead who are to be restored to life and leave the tomb” (Thayer, p.199). This is a third person plural future indicative verb that refers to all who are in the graves that will come forth at the last day. This universal class is now broken down into two groups.
Who will come forth? It will be
The Resurrection of Life
Jesus described this coming forth of, “those who have done good, to the resurrection
of life” (John
The Resurrection of Damnation
Those who have done evil will also be raised at the last
day, for Jesus declared, “and those who
have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation” (John
“The Hour is Coming, and Now
Is”
The
difference at the last day is whether we will hear the voice of Christ now and
live or whether we will wait and hear the voice of Christ in judgment and be
separated from God forever. In the very context we have examined, Jesus
declared that we can hear his voice now—“The
hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of
God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself; so
hath he given to the Son to have life in himself” (John