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Sections on "The Kingdom" and "Last Things" from The Baptist Faith and Message (2000)
(10) The Kingdom
The Kingdom of God includes both His general sovereignty over the universe and His particular kingship over men who willfully
acknowledge Him as King. Particularly the Kingdom is the realm of salvation into which men enter by trustful, childlike commitment
to Jesus Christ. Christians ought to pray and to labor that the Kingdom may come and God's will be done on earth. The full
consummation of the Kingdom awaits the return of Jesus Christ and the end of this age.
Gen. 1:1; Isa. 9:6-7; Jer. 23:5-6; Matt. 3:2; 4:8-10, 23; 12:25-28; 13:1-52; 25:31-46; 26:29; Mark 1:14-15; 9:1; Luke
4:43; 8:1; 9:2; 12:31-32; 17:20-21; 23:42; John 3:3; 18:36; Acts 1:6-7; 17:22-31; Rom. 5:17; 8:19; 1 Cor.15:24-28; Col. 1:13;
Heb. 11:10, 16; 12:28; 1 Peter 2:4-10; 4:13; Rev. 1:6,9; 5:10; 11:15; 21-22
(11) Last Things
God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end. According to His promise, Jesus
Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge all men in
righteousness. The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment. The righteous in their resurrected
and glorified bodies will receive their reward and will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord.
Isa. 2:4; 11:9; Matt. 16:27; 18:8-9; 19:28; 24:27, 30, 36, 44; 25:31-46; 26:64; Mark 8:38; 9:43-48; Luke 12:40, 48; 16:19-26;
17:22-37; 21:27-28; John 14:1-3; Acts 1:11; 17:31; Rom. 14:10; 1 Cor. 4:5; 15:24-28, 35-58; 2 Cor. 5:10; Phil. 3:20-21; Col.
1:5; 3:4; 1 Thess. 4:14-18; 5:1 ff.; 2 Thess. 1:7 ff.; 2; 1 Tim. 6:14; 2 Tim. 4:1, 8; Titus 2:13; Heb. 9:27-28; James 5:8;
2 Peter 3:7 ff.; 1 John 2:28; 3:2; Jude 14; Rev. 1:18; 3:11; 20:1 to 22:13
Eschatology sections from the SECOND LONDON CONFESSION OF FAITH
31. Man's State After Death and the Resurrection
1.The bodies of men after death return to dust, and undergo corruption, but their souls, which neither die nor sleep,
having an immortal subsistence, immediately return to God Who gave them. The souls of the righteous are then made perfect
in holiness, are received into paradise where they are with Christ, and look upon the face of God in light and glory, waiting
for the full redemption of their bodies. The souls of the wicked are cast into hell, where they remain in torment and under
darkness, reserved to the judgement of the great day. The Scripture acknowledges no other place than these two for souls separated
from their bodies.
2.At the last day, those of the saints who are still alive shall not sleep but shall be changed. And all the dead shall
be raised up with their own, same bodies, and none other, although with different qualities, and these bodies shall be united
again to their souls for ever.
3.The bodies of the unjust shall, by the power of Christ, be raised to dishonor. The bodies of the just shall, by His
Spirit be raised to honor, and made conformable to His own glorious body.
32. The Last Judgement
1.God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness, by Jesus Christ, to Whom all power and judgement
is given by the Father. In this day not only the apostate angels shall be judged, but also all people who
have lived upon the earth. They shall appear before the tribunal of Christ to give an account of their thoughts, words,
and deeds, and to receive according to what they have done when in the body, whether good or evil.
2.The end of God's appointing this day is for the manifestation of the glory of His mercy in the eternal salvation of
the elect, and also His justice, in the eternal damnation of the reprobate, who are wicked and disobedient. Then shall the
righteous go into everlasting life and receive that fullness of joy and glory with everlasting reward in the presence of the
Lord. But the wicked, who know not God and obey not the Gospel of Jesus Christ, shall be cast aside into everlasting torments,
and punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.
3.As Christ would have us to be certainly persuaded that there will be a day of judgement, both to deter all men from
sin and to give greater consolation to the godly in their adversity, so also He will have the date of that day kept unknown
to men, that they may shake off all carnal security, and always be watchful, because they know not at what hour the Lord will
come. Also, so that men may be affected in such a way that they ever say, "Come Lord Jesus, come quickly!" Amen.
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