Post by Michael James Stone on Jul 16, 2012 13:23:24 GMT -8
There's a War on, Folks!
I have been intending to write this material up for well over a year and finally decided I should not put it off any longer. There is nothing new here that my mentor the late Ray C. Stedman did not teach, but I gained a new perspective on Bible Prophecy a year ago while preparing to speak at a prophecy conference in Modesto. (Tapes: ldolphin.org/audio.html). The general subject has to do with the role of the church during the coming tribulation period. Ray Stedman is a much neglected Bible scholar so it my hope that more people would search out the profound things he wrote about--in this case on the subject of Bible prophecy.
Some of you may not have the foggiest idea of what this is all about! For background I suggest you read the book Ron Graff and I put on Internet two years ago. It's an overview of Bible prophecy for the ordinary person--with lots of more advanced notes in the Appendices. "Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will be Done..." is available in printed form if you prefer. The online edition is on my web page, ldolphin.org/kingdom. In addition the Prophecy Section of my web site library has a collection of articles on the topics below.
The subject of Bible Prophecy (Eschatology) is VERY important as I see it--more so now than ever before--because governments and churches and countless individuals make decisions, choices, and investments based on their understanding of how the future will unfold. The majority of churches in this country today are Amillennial nowadays--wrongly believing that the church has replaced Israel in the plan of God and that God has no special future in mind for the nation of Israel. (See ldolphin.org/IsChUS.html for a comparison and contrast of Israel and the United States; and the Church). Other churches ignore eschatology altogether, feeling the subject is too difficult to understand and to unravel--(no one has a clear understanding of the correct interpretation so why bother?)
I'll assume the reader has a working knowledge of prophecy and knows something of the various schools of thought on prophecy. This short paper is intended to be a "think-piece" to stimulate discussion and hopefully a renewed interest in that neglected 20% of Scripture which deals with the future. That future--the end of the age--is crashing in on us rapidly now. It's not a good idea to be ill-prepared for what's coming down!
The Usual Pretribulation, Premillennial view
Summary: The next event in history will be the Rapture of the Church. It will be unannounced and could happen at any time. This event is described in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11. For two thousand years God has been calling out a special class of people for Himself, a people separate and distinct from the nation Israel--a heavenly people with a different calling from Israel's. Ray Stedman (commenting on Ephesians 3) once said that God is today building one new man. Like the First Adam, the New Man will have body, soul and spirit. Israel corresponds to the body of the New Man, the church to the soul, and God Himself is the new Spirit. Israel relates best to earthly issues, the church to emotional and spiritual issues--the two groups have different callings and are given different promises. But in no way has the church "replaced" Israel in the plan of God. Paul emphasizes this at length in Romans 9, 10, and 11.The plan to create a church was not revealed in the Old Testament. God's plan to build a church was first announced by Jesus at Banias (Caesarea Philippi) fairly late in His ministry:
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do men say that the Son of man is?" And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 16:12-19)
The clear intention of Jesus was an offensive not a defensive posture--the church would assault the very gates of Hell and the forces of evil would not be able to withstand this assault. The Church has been a-building for 2000 years now, since the Day of Pentecost. When the last of the chosen have been brought in to the church, God will turn His attention once again to Israel.
The Rapture of the church will be accompanied by the removal from earth of much of God's restraint of evil (which presently comes by the Holy Spirit through the salt and light functions of the church). This is described in 2 Thessalonians 2. Meanwhile the Church will (supposedly) be caught up into heaven and there experience (a) the Judgment Seat of Christ, and (b) the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Meanwhile down on earth, the "man of sin" (the final Antichrist) will rise to power in Europe in cahoots with a false Messiah in Israel. Together they will negotiate a phony peace settlement in the Middle East (Isaiah calls this faulty treaty Israel's "Covenant with Death"). A world-wide false (harlot) church will rise to temporary power in this time frame--and enjoy the support of a united Western-world coalition whose power center is in Europe. The Jews will build and put into service their long-awaited Third Temple with a functioning priesthood and sacrifices. The removal of the church from the earth marks the end of a long interval of history following the death of Christ, ("the great parenthesis"), between the 69th and 70th weeks of Daniel. Thus Israel will return to the center stage of world history once again, and the God of Israel will at last fulfill His unconditional covenants with the patriarchs of Israel.
The tribulation period, seven years total, will change radically in character after 3.5 years of apparent world peace--especially in the Middle East. At that time a false Messiah in Israel will appear on the scene of history (he is the Second Beast of Revelation 13 fulfilling the warning of Jesus, John 5:43, "I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.") This "man of sin" will enter the Holy of Holies of that Third Temple and declare to the world that He is God. He erects an image of the "First Beast" who heads up the political, military and commercial power of Europe. This awful desecration of the temple was predicted by Jesus and is compared by Jesus (Mt. 24:15) to a similar, earlier desecration of the Second Temple by Antiochus Epiphanies (175-163 BC). The mid-trib point is the time for true believers in Jesus who are living in Judea at that time to flee for safety to nearby Jordan where they will be safely guarded by the Lord--while all hell breaks loose back in Israel.
"For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been shortened, no human being would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened." (Matthew 24:21-22)
A great and final war will break out in the Middle East in the second half of the tribulation period. Many details are given in the Bible. The principal powers involved are Egypt and allies, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Russia and armies from both the West and the East. It is quite likely that nuclear, biological and chemical weapons will be unloosed. In fact, at mid-trib, the God of Israel will personally intervene decisively in human affairs bringing great and terrible judgment on the nations of the world--including Israel. The second half of the tribulation period is variously called "the GREAT tribulation," "the Day of the Lord," and "the time of Jacob's trouble." (The term "the last days" refers to the entire time period between the First and Second Advents of our Lord). The period of history we live in now could be called "man's day," since to a large extent God allows man to have his own way. Apart from common grace to all men, and much restraint of evil, God now rules the universe but does not yet reign on earth--but this will soon change drastically, (see ldolphin.org/DayLord.html).
Yet at this approaching darkest-of-all times in history, God (in mercy and grace) will place into service 144,000 trained Jewish evangelists who will have the zeal and vitality of the Apostle Paul. They will travel around the world, preaching the gospel of the kingdom to those who have never heard the good news--with the result that many millions will come to Christ. Animosity against God will, however, be so high that these new converts (the "tribulation saints") will be quickly put to death (martyred). The judgments of God in the second half of the tribulation period will be a combination of horrendous man-made, and terrible natural disasters, cascading in rapid succession--with the end result that the planet will be totally laid waste and devastated. The majority of people on earth will be killed. (The book of the Revelation goes into detail about all these things. Ray Stedman, again is the best, pbc.org/dp/stedman/revelation/).
Near the end of the seven year tribulation period, while World War III is raging out of control in the Middle East, Jesus Christ will return in power and glory to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem from whence He departed 40 days after His resurrection in AD 33. Jesus will bring with Him at His epiphaneia "the armies of heaven" --which includes all of us, i.e., his saints. Together with Jesus we Christians will participate in the establishment of world-wide righteous government on earth. Thus the devastated planet will be rebuilt and repopulated under the Kingly rule of Jesus. Our Lord will sit on the throne of David in Jerusalem and reign on earth 1000 years. The believing Jews of the Old Testament will be resurrected at the end of the tribulation (Daniel 12, Hebrews 11:39-40) and God will at long last fulfill His literal promises to the nation Israel, promises made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, and to Jesus.
"Lest you be wise in your own conceits, I want you to understand this mystery, brethren: a hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles come in, and so all Israel will be saved; as it is written, "The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob"; "and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins." As regards the gospel they are enemies of God, for your sake; but as regards election they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable. Just as you were once disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may receive mercy. For God has consigned all men to disobedience, that he may have mercy upon all. O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?" "Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?" For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory for ever. Amen." (Romans 11:25-36)
As mentioned, during the thousand-year reign of Christ in earth, Christians will work together with the believers who survive Word War III (Mt. 25:31-46) to rebuild the earth. Then the judgment of all the wicked dead (the "Great White Throne" judgment) will occur (Rev. 20:11-15). Finally, God will renovate the heavens and the earth, by fire, (2 Peter 3:10-12, Rev. 21:1ff) removing all sources of evil sin permanently from both the heavens and the earth.
Very often books and lectures presenting this view of prophecy will be accompanied by a chart showing history from the time of Christ on into the future. My version of this chart is on my web site at ldolphin.org/eschat.html. I have made some subtle changes to the usual view, as will be explained below. At the time of the Rapture, the so-called "time line of history" on a typical end-time chart divides into two parallel sections. Christians are supposed to have been taken off far beyond the clouds to a land of clouds and beauty, bliss and tranquility, fully isolated forever from the terrible judgments of God taking place on earth. In other words, God will come to save us and take us out of this awful, sinful world to our just reward for living "good Christian lives." The implied view of heaven as a place of bliss and contentment in this scenario also suggests perpetual boredom and satiation with heavenly delights. But surely we shall soon miss the dynamics, the tensions, and the adventure of life back on earth? Are we not being trained for a more dynamic destiny than Sunday-school picnics in the clouds?
Because the above view of "going to heaven" when we die, or at the Rapture, is so lacking in realism and appeal, a good many people have decided that the church WILL go through the tribulation after all. This view is basically flawed because the tribulation period is basically a time of judgment on the unbelieving world, and Paul clearly says in 1 Thessalonians (5:9) that we (the church) have not been "appointed to wrath but to obtain salvation..." The church is the Bride of Christ. Christ is the Bridegroom, so the Lord will remove His bride to a place of safety before the "great and terrible day of the Lord." Why should only the last generation of Christians go through the tribulation when no other generation of believers have been asked to do this?
With these very brief remarks in mind, may I raise the following set of problems with the usual PreTrib PreMill point of view? I have not in any way abandoned my view of eschatology--I still agree with all the arguments that point to the Premill-Pretrib position being the correct interpretation of Scripture.
What I do believe is that we may have missed some key issues which deserve rethinking.
To keep this article short, I'll first raise a set of questions about the above conventional scenario and then offer my speculative comments.
Every week some new prophecy buff emails me with his (or her) new interpretations of prophecy and/or date setting. I have read almost all of the standard books on the shelves by prophecy experts, new and old--those who I agree with and those I don't. What I would like provoke is some new thinking on old doctrines, not a new interpretation altogether. I have come to think that there is much in the currently-preached Pretrib, PreMill position which is a cop out--resulting from a failure to think things through a bit more carefully.