knock and the door will be opened, vs, the door is closed, any second chances?

[ViaCrucis]

Not debating, just curious ... If it's not too much trouble, could you elaborate?

You use some terms I'm not familiar with, and skip over some pretty huge chunks of Scripture.

What is Parousia? Is it Him coming for the church, or His second coming in judgment?

The word "parousia" is the Greek word that means "appearing", "arrival", or "coming". It's a word that is often used in the New Testament to speak of Christ's return. So for example in 1 Corinthians 15:23, "οἱ Χριστοῦ ἐν τῇ παρουσίᾳ αὐτοῦ" (hoi Christou en te parousia autou, "those that are Christ's at His coming"), or in 1 Thessalonians 4:15 "τὴν παρουσίαν τοῦ κυρίου" (ten parousian tou kuriou, "the coming of the Lord"). One can get some sense of the word by imagining someone appearing from a distance and approaching. A returning king coming back to his city would have a parousia, he would appear as he returned. Which is the sense Paul is using in 1 Thessalonians 4, where the returning Christ is greeted by the royal entourage of the saints, hence we go up to meet Him in the air, our glorious returning King.

I don't make a distinction between Jesus coming for the Church and Jesus coming in judgement. That is a a peculiar Dispenationalist teaching.

Where and when does the judging of the living and the dead take place?

At Christ's coming on the Last Day, when the dead are raised.

What means "deliver all things to the Father?"

Christ is currently reigning at the right hand of the Father, having been given all power and authority. At the consummation of history, when Christ comes, He delivers all things over to the Father. Exactly what all that entails and how that ultimately all looks like is anyone's guess.

What means "God will be all in all?"

I'd hazard a guess that it means that in the end, there is nothing left remaining in opposition to God (as the last enemy to be defeated is death, and death is destroyed at the resurrection of the dead at Christ's return), and so God's glory and fullness fills all things in a way that we cannot currently comprehend.

When do the events of Revelation take place in your belief?

Primarily two thousand years ago during the reign of Domitian. The major point of the Revelation is to preach the hope and victory that is in Jesus Christ, even in the midst of the world and the oppressive powers--which for John and the seven churches was the Roman Empire. The reign of Domitian was the second time the Church had had to endure persecution, and for many it was as though Nero had come back from the dead. But the text looks beyond the current circumstances, toward the ultimate triumph of God--when Christ returns as judge, and God makes all things new.

When do those who die outside of Christ get cast into the Lake of Fire?

Thank you for your time.

At the Last Judgment. But like virtually everything in the Revelation of St. John I don't take the lake of fire as literal. I avoid taking apocalyptic language literally, since the whole point of apocalyptic as a literary genre is that things are usually being said hidden under big, loud, graphic imagery.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[_Dave_]

ViaCrucis, thank you for taking the time to answer.

That's all I've got.

Take care.

 

[parousia70]

It is widely accepted that the church of Laodicea represents the current, nearly apostate church denominations, having many non-saved sitting in the pews.

It may very well be widely accepted but such is NOWHERE taught in the pages of Scripture. Such is PURELY the later addition of Man-made tradition applied to the text, in complete and total absence of any scriptural instruction to do so.

I wonder which Biblical Hermeneutic you can point to, that instructs you to apply such extra-biblical, man-made tradition to the text in this (or any) way?