eschatology

Why Eschatology Matters

Posted on August 17, 2019August 17, 2019 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

I am a fervent believer in the sufficiency of and the importance of all of scripture. Around a quarter to a third of all scripture deals with last things, known as the study of Eschatology. That’s a lot.

I am also a believer in the clarity of the Word. This is known as the doctrine of the Perspicuity of Scripture.

In other words, God didn’t set down His clear revelations to us throughout the Bible only to purposely muddy Last Things. It’s ALL clear, if one studies hard and remains submitted to the illumination of the Spirit. Eschatology can be understood, if not 100% just like any other doctrine, at least with a high degree of confidence, just like any other doctrine.

Therefore, since it comprises so much of the Bible, we should be studying it. Since the Spirit promised to illuminate the Word to us, (Psalm 119:130) we should be studying it with the expectation that we can know to such a degree that we can and will cling to the promises made in the doctrine of Last Things, and obey the commands within them.

Because there are promises and commands within the study of Eschatology, it is doubly critical that we consider the Doctrine of Last Things just as important as the rest of the Doctrines of God, such as the Doctrine of Man, the Doctrine of Sin, the Doctrine of Angels, and so on. Eschatology should not be relegated to a back room because it’s allegedly too hard. I want to encourage you all to read and study with confidence and joy.

My own personal testimony regarding this issue is:

It has brought me bountiful awe. I read Revelation and literally sometimes my breath is taken away with the majesty of Jesus. Nowhere in scripture is He seen as He is now except in Revelation, and it’s simply awe inspiring. And yet for all His glorious majesty seen in that book, including His righteous wrath, when we further realize He is friend and father too, it brings me to my knees.

It has given me a perspective of eternity that helps me in the present. For example when an enemy sees to take my job or malign my reputation with heinous slander, (and these things have actually occurred in my Christian life), I look to last things and realize this IS but a short affliction. This perspective helps.

Knowing what is going to happen to the ungodly gives me a gratitude I can’t even express in words. I was a sinner who justifiably would receive the wrath we see in the prophetic books and other verses. There but for the grace of God go I, said John Bradford in the mid-sixteenth-century, seeing prisoners led to execution.

It enhances my love for first things. My favorite books in the Bible are Genesis and Revelation. Seeing God’s activity from beginning to end allows me a perspective of His work I would otherwise miss, I think, if I did not study Eschatology as much as I do.

And there are so many more benefits to studying it than these I’ve shared from my own life.

Remember, Last Things is the only doctrine and Revelation is the only book where Jesus promises that if one reads it you will receive a blessing. This promise is made twice in the book, once at the beginning and once at the end.

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. (Revelation 1:3).

Behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of prophecy in this book. (Revelation 22:7).

He would not have made that promise of blessing while tricking His children by making it impossible to understand it.

Dr. Nathan Busenitz delivered this “Premillennialism and History” lecture (also below embedded video) at The Master’s Seminary Chapel last year. He began with the following premises:

Why does eschatology matter?

1. Hermeneutics. One’s view of last things reveals his approach to interpreting the scriptures.

2. The issue of hope. God has given promises in His word as to what the future entails. These promises are the substance of our hope. We as believers are called to pace our trust in those promises.

3. Holiness. Last Things, the truth about what us to come are revealed to us in the scriptures to impact and motivate our lives in the present. An accurate understanding of last things is necessary to equip us to obey in the present. Our future hope promotes present obedience.

It isn’t just theoretical theology, eschatology matters.

Here is the video if you care to watch. Enjoy His word, all of it, including Last Things!

“Premillennialism and History ” by Dr. Nathan Busenitz – TMS Chapel – February 6, 2018 from The Master’s Seminary on Vimeo.

eschatology, theology

Eschatology is more than “Jesus Wins”

Posted on January 16, 2019 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

I taught kids at church on Wednesday nights. I loved their conversations and their thoughts and their joy. I remember one night, they were asking about Jesus and heaven. They got so excited when they figured out that their friends will be in heaven too. They practically jumped out of their seats when they made the connection that they will actually see Jesus and hang out with Him. They started making plans, clapping their hands … It reminded me of Mark 10:13-16, “suffer the little children to come unto Me, do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” Boy, does it ever. Let US be excited, innocent, planning, expectant, too. Are we? We should be!

I become so sad thinking about a similar joy that adults should display when thinking of the “Last Things.” Many adults don’t want to talk about eschatology because it’s “controversial” and “divisive.” It shouldn’t be. Jesus talked about it a lot. The disciples were eager to hear and asked Jesus to explain it. They had a long sit-down. (Matthew 24-25). The last things are not complicated, and in my opinion, are laid out pretty clearly in scripture. In any case, for people who hold opposite interpretations, (and only one can be right) we can and should share in the joy of our eager anticipation of Jesus’s return and our glorified state.

I read this article from Challies, his book review of a Dayton Hartman’s book Jesus Wins:

It’s ironic and more than a little pathetic that a doctrine as glorious and comforting as Christ’s impending return has been a source of such vehement disagreement among Christians.

I do not agree with the author’s premise that we should all return to the common eschatology expressed in the Apostle’s Creed, (which is watered down and amenable to everyone from Catholics to Unitarians to Ecumenical partnerships). Nor do I agree with Hartman that the exact details are unimportant (they are crucial because the details are the difference between hope and fear, AND because the Spirit wrote them down). “Jesus Wins” isn’t enough, not when those details are given to us for a hope and-

so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. (1 Thessalonians 4:13)

Paul urged the brethren to “stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.” (2 Thessalonians 2:15). The teachings to which he refers are the Gospel, of course, and also the eschatological teachings Paul is reminding them of in 1 Thessalonians and 2 Thessalonians.

‘Jesus Wins’, yes, but how? Why? In what manner? Reducing your eschatology to ‘Jesus wins’ is like saying all one needs to know about the Son is that “He died and rose again.” There’s so much more!

Speak of the glories of His victory, diligently study the last things so you will know, and proclaim His last days plans to one and all. Don’t settle for a simplistic ‘Jesus Wins.’ There is so much more to it than that, and all of it glorious. Fight for it!

Here are 7 Reasons Your Church Should Take Eschatology Seriously

It is concerning that some churches today don’t take eschatology seriously. The very fact that God has revealed so many details about events to come in both testaments tells us that it is important. At the center of biblical eschatology is the blessed hope of the appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13). Not only should we be interested in prophetic events to come, we are also looking for our Savior, with whom we will spend eternity.

The 7 reasons are short and easy to read. Enjoy!
4 aseity thursday

eschatology, prophecy, rapture, second coming, tribulation

12 Things to Know about the Antichrist, or, Why Prophecy is Important

Posted on April 2, 2016May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

There are niche segments of study within the theological world that are more valued than others. Discernment gets a bad name, often rightly, because many discernment writers tend to drift toward a more “censorious spirit” as Gill said in his Exposition, stating, “Censorious persons rarely have the good will of their fellow creatures” in mind. However as the pendulum tends to swing, it makes a full arc and for a while discernment receives a poor reputation in total, even while there are good discernment writers and speakers out there (Justin Peters comes to mind) mixed in with the cranks and angry ones.

Though all Christians are called to discern between right and wrong, some have been given extra discernment as a gift of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:10). While on the one hand it’s not to be abused, it’s also not to be dismissed. (FMI on the gift of discerning of spirits, go here).

Eschatology is another area of study which also receives a poor reputation, in no thanks to many Christians themselves. Eschatology is the study of last things, AKA, prophecy, especially the period since the First Coming of Jesus Christ. Though it’s forbidden, some date-set and of course the end date at which their predictions pass with no fulfillment make a mockery of Christ’s name to unbelievers and a disappointment to the believers who were drawn in. Others who study eschatology badly simply perpetuate ridiculous theories concerning the end times. Others wrongly insist that eschatological subjects are biblically unknowable.

My blog covers three areas; discernment, prophecy and encouragement. I’ve seen the pendulum swing from side to side in each of these areas over the last 7 years of daily blogging here at The End Time. I have maintained from the beginning of my blogging life and my Christian witness in real life, that prophecy is important – because it was important to Jesus. Last days are spoken of in almost every book of the New Testament. Paul spent a good deal of time teaching it to the Thessalonians. Even as the babes in Christ that they were, Paul pulled out all the stops to ensure that these Thessalonian Christian babies knew the importance of living with a very present knowledge of Christ’s imminent return. Doing so gives us a heart for the lost, a fervency in life, and a strength to look forward beyond persecution or trouble. I refuse to marginalize prophecy as a legitimate area of study.

Here is Michael Holst stating the point of eschatology so much better than I ever did.

12 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE ANTI-CHRIST
by Matthew Holst • April 01, 2016

One of the Apostle Paul’s great preoccupations in both of his letters to the church at Thessalonica is the second coming of Christ. He was not only concerned with getting the doctrine “right” but also with the great pastoral implications of such teaching. In 1 Thessalonians he writes concerning the second coming of Christ in relation to the resurrection of the dead and the gathering together of saints who are alive at that time. In 2 Thessalonians he reinforces what he had already taught at Thessalonica (2 Thess. 2:5) concerning the dangers of the last days, specifically with regard to the great apostasy in the church induced by the revelation of the Man of Lawlessness.

Depending on your eschatological framework, your identification of the Man of Lawlessness and his activities may differ from what I wish to offer in this post. Coming to terms with the fact that there will indeed be a Man of Lawlessness plays an important role in the life of the believer as he or she eagerly waits for the day of Christ’s coming. In days of relative peace, we must ready ourselves and forthcoming generations–especially our own children–for the days of anarchic deception that will accompany the Man of Lawlessness.

We, in the Calvinistic and Reformed church, have not done justice to the Scripture’s teaching on this matter. We often rightly respond to the “Left Behind” industry with dismay and sarcasm. In so doing, however, we have, perhaps inadvertently failed to sufficiently and soberly grasp Scripture’s teaching on this period of history which will be instrumental in bringing about a catastrophic and irreversible apostasy. Here then, are twelve biblical observations about the Man of Lawlessness (MoL) to help prepare us for that day.

For the rest of Mr Horst’s essay, go to the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals.

I’d like to reiterate that the Rapture (when Christ calls for His Bride in the air, 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17) and the Second Coming (when His feet touch down at the Mount of Olives at the end of the Tribulation, Mt 16:27, Zechariah 14:4) are two separate events.

Book of Revelation, eschatology, prophecy, revelation

Is Revelation the most difficult book in the Bible to understand?

Posted on July 20, 2015May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

John the Apostle on Patmos by Jacopo Vignali

No.

The Book of Revelation is not the most difficult book in the Bible to understand.

Is it possible to be dogmatic about this? So certain?

Yes.

First, some background. The Book of Revelation is the last book in the Bible. Chronologically it’s the last book as well because it is devoted almost exclusively of what is to come at the end of time. It is also the last book to be written, being finished by about 96AD by the last of the eyewitness Apostles to have walked with Jesus: John son of Zebedee, the Beloved Apostle. John had been exiled to the rocky, barren isle of Patmos off Greece,

“I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus, (Revelation 1:9).

He had come onto the bad side of Emperor Domitian for the word of God, and the Emperor had exiled John, a common punishment.

Patmos is part of the Greek chain, sitting in the Aegean Sea but closer to Turkey than Greece. It is small, just 7.5 miles tall by 6 miles wide. Today, Forbes magazine voted Patmos as “Europe’s Most Idyllic Places To Live.” Back in 96AD it was barren, rocky, treeless, and hot.

John was an old man by 96AD. Perhaps he had thought his usefulness to the Lord was concluded. Perhaps he wondered why he had been kept alive long after his fellow disciples had been privileged to die a martyr’s death. And then one Lord’s day when John was in prayer and reverie, Jesus spoke to him.

Just as Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12:2 that he was caught up to the third heaven but whether in the body or out of the body he knows not. John described the circumstances of his surroundings and activities upon receiving the visions, said he was in the Spirit, but then simply begins to record when he was given to see without saying if he was actually in heaven or how he it was possible to hear Jesus and see these things.

What amazing, wonderful and terrible things John was given to see. Daniel was given a vision of the end and afterward he was sick many days. (Daniel 8:27). John concludes chapter 1 with a description of Jesus, the appearance of whom caused John to fall at his feet as though dead. So did Daniel (Dan 8:18).

Chapter two and three encompass personal messages Jesus wanted John to write and send to the 7 churches of Asia (Province of Rome, not the entire continent). These were Pergamum, Thyatira, Philadelphia, Smyrna, Sardis, Laodicea, Ephesus.

Wikipedia summarizes the flow of these early chapters in Revelation,

The letters follow a common pattern. For example: the Lord first addresses each church and identifies himself, then defines things that he knows about the church in question. After this a challenge or reproach is given, followed by a promise. In all seven cases the admonition is included, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches”, although sometimes this comes before the promise and sometimes after.

What is interesting, and what would require study, is how Jesus identified Himself to each church. In one He says He is the Amen, to another, the Holy One, to another, the One who walks among the 7 lampstands, to another Him who has the sharp two-edged sword. It would take study, prayer, and thought to determine why Jesus identified Himself in these unique ways to certain churches and why this name matched the message He gave them. But that is regular Bible study, just like in any other book of the Bible. Revelation chapter 4 has John receiving a vision of heaven! This includes seeing those majestic, strange creatures with six wings and four faces and eyes all around. That’s deep! Yet Isaiah and Ezekiel also saw the throne room, these creatures, the rainbow, and flashes of fire and peals of thunder as John did We can compare those prophets’ previous texts and John’s text so scripture can interpret scripture. Just like we do for any book. Though the creatures are strange and the throne of God awesome in the word’s truest sense, these things are hard to comprehend, but not especially difficult to interpret. Especially when there are two other texts to help us.

Patmos. Wikimedia Commons

So why do people say Revelation is hard? Marginalize it? Ignore it? Dismiss it?

In his sermon “How to Study Your Bible” John MacArthur writes,

Perhaps if we asked people who have some familiarity with the Bible, “What would be the most difficult book in the Bible? What would be the hardest book of the Bible to understand?” they would probably say Revelation. Probably most people would say that the book of Revelation is hard to understand. I know many preachers, who throughout the life of their ministry, would never preach on the book of Revelation because they don’t think they can understand it. And that’s because they have abandoned the proper hermeneutics to interpret it. Because if they interpret it with the right hermeneutics they have to interpret it literally, and if they interpret it literally it goes against their historic theology. And they really don’t want to do that so they just don’t know what to do with the book of Revelation and they leave it out.

Actually, in my opinion, the book of Zechariah is theologically dense, and pound for pound contains more prophecy and symbolism than Revelation does. Revelation is pretty clear. MacArthur again:

Now I believe that the book of Revelation can be understood. It can be understood if you just read it; it’s very clear what it says. It’s only when people get mystical about it that it becomes confusing. Obviously there are some elements of the prophecies there that we will never understand until they actually come to pass, but that’s true of all prophecy. But the message of the book, exalting Jesus Christ, speaking about the glorification of the saints and the judgment of the ungodly is very clear in the book of Revelation.

I’d opened with a dogmatic statement that the book of Revelation can be understood, at least as much as any other book of the bible and as much as any prophecy can be before it is fulfilled. I say this for two reasons.

Reason #1: The book is called The revelation. Revealed. It is not the book of Confusion. It isn’t the book of Mystery. It isn’t called The Really Hard Book We Should Stay Away From. The first line in the book, Revelation 1:1, says

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place.

Jesus chose to reveal things, for the purpose of showing us. Rather than being cloaked in mystery, the statement about itself is one of understanding.

Reason #2: “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.” (Revelation 1:3)

It is the only book of the Bible in which His servants are promised a blessing just for reading it. THAT is how important this book is to Jesus, and thus to all of us. He did not choose to reveal, to show, and to bless, and then do a takes-back by cloaking it in mystery, hide, and curse.

Now, in one sense, of course the entire bible is the revelation of Jesus Christ. Matthew Henry says in his commentary,

This book is the Revelation of Jesus Christ; the whole Bible is so; for all revelation comes through Christ, and all relates to him. Its principal subject is to discover the purposes of God concerning the affairs of the church, and of the nations as connected therewith, to the end of the world. … This blessing seems to be pronounced with a design to encourage us to study this book, and not be weary of looking into it upon account of the obscurity of many things in it; it will repay the labour of the careful and attentive reader.

Reason #3: If Revelation is the only book in which the reader will receive a blessing for reading, what is the one book satan is going to concentrate on getting us NOT to read? Of course. He has done a good job in getting Seminary Professors not to teach it, and a generation of pastors coming up have not learned it well. Satan has spent a good deal of time getting pastors, teachers, and lay people to doubt their ability to understand it. That old serpent has done a good job of clouding our judgment when it comes to the Book of Revelation. The devil has been successful in getting to see this book almost as a curse, not a blessing. So reason #3 in which we can say with certainty is that we are not unaware of the devil’s schemes (2 Corinthians 2:11).

With that encouragement, I do encourage you to read Revelation, study it, enjoy it. It is magnificent book, relating to us the things of our end, the final state of this present age. Eden will be restored! The Holy City will have none to defile it! Wow! Blessing is pronounced, not just the one in chapter 1 but another in chapter 22:7

“And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”

——————————-

Why prophecy is important (The world is unraveling)

Posted on December 27, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

I love prophecy. To me, it is the clearest identifier of God as sovereign over the universe, the earth, humans, and time. He writes history in advance, because He is king of all, and what He says will come to pass.

I also love studying the bible. I believe it is the highest and best use of time, to get to know the attributes of the LORD, to seek His face through what He has told us. If you want ‘direct revelation’, the bible cannot be beat for informing us of our Lord and King, Jesus.

The bible is knowable and understandable to the Christian. We have the Holy Spirit in us to illuminate His word to us. (Ephesians 1:17-18). The Holy Spirit teaches us spiritual things. (1 Corinthians 2:10-13). Of course there are some things in the bible we cannot understand, such as the Trinity, One God in three Persons. We cannot understand the Spirit’s overcoming Mary and producing a child. We do not understand all the ways in which God thinks. However, for the most part, the doctrines upon which He has given to us, are understandable.

One such doctrine is the doctrine of eschatology. This is the doctrine of ‘last things’, or end times. Just because there are many people who won’t or can’t understand the various threads of prophecy does not mean there exists confusion about what He plans to do. The pre-tribulation rapture is one of these understandable doctrines, clearly outlined in the bible to those who care to learn. Some people say Revelation is difficult, I find it easy to understand. I do find Daniel difficult, but that does not stop me from studying it, nor from turning to other scripture to help me interpret Daniel’s book. It can be done, and it has been done. Oliver B. Greene’s commentary on Daniel is wonderful. John MacArthur’s book “Because the Time is Near” is a clear explanation of Revelation.

Even this is a doctrine! It is called the Perspicuity of Scripture. According to the Theopedia, the perspicuity of scripture means,

The doctrine of the clarity of Scripture (often called the “perspicuity of Scripture”) teaches that “the meanings of the text can be clear to the ordinary reader, that God uses the text of the Bible to communicate His person and will.”

“The witness of the Church throughout the ages is that ordinary people, who approach it in faith and humility, will be able to understand what the Bible is getting at, even if they meet with particular points of difficulty here and there.”

Yet there are some people who refuse to believe the doctrines of last things, because so many other people are mixed up over them. ‘They can’t be understood, so why try?’ I was told by one man in church. “I’m a pan-tribber, it’ll all work out in the end,” he said.

Illustrator, Chris Koelle, The Book of Revelation

That is a highly offensive statement, and I said so to his face. It is a blight on Jesus, the Spirit, and God who inspired it, and all the Apostles who wrote the inspired word, and all the martyrs who protected it, to be so blatantly dismissive of 30% of God’s holy doctrines. Jesus did not reveal last things to John, nor the angel to Daniel, so God’s people could mock them.

Did you know that every NT book except Philemon mentions last things?

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, (2 Timothy 3:16)

So I was so pleased when John MacArthur was asked about eschatology in his latest Q & A session at Grace Community Church. In Q&A session #62 it was stated by the interviewer that they had received more than a dozen questions regarding eschatology.

First, MacArthur noted that a church without a solid understanding of eschatology has got a huge loose end. Here are MacArthur’s words on the importance of the church understanding and teaching last things:

a church without a solid biblical eschatology, meaning understanding of the end of history has got a huge loose end. It’s huge. I said something about that this morning when I was kind of wrapping up. I said, the Jews wanted to force all the prophesies regarding the Messiah into His first coming. We have Christians who want to take all the prophesies concerning Christ and push them back into His first coming. They’re called pretrerists, amillenialists. So they have this theology with this totally open end. It just has no closure. They don’t seem to care particularly. It’s almost like a badge of Reformed loyalty to be unsure about how everything ends.

I am running into this attitude more frequently, the badge of loyalty to uncertainty. “I’m super-spiritually humble because I refuse to state how things will end.” Or, “I’m super tolerant of all the different interpretations, because who am I to say dogmatically? It’s all just beyond little ole me.” Uncertainty is the new loyalty. But is that right? Is that honoring to Jesus? Here’s more from MacArthur.

I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t work well with me. First of all, I don’t think God gave a clear beginning and just kind of lost Himself at the end. I don’t think if Genesis 1 says that God created in six days and there’s no question about it, and He lays out exactly how He did it; and you get to the book of Revelation and you hear about periods of certain weeks and certain months and certain years and a thousand year millennium, and then an eternal state. I don’t think God lost His way at the end. I don’t think He was confused at the end. I think the end is as precise as the beginning. To be honest with you, I am far more concerned about the end than I am the beginning. The beginning is over. I’m glad it was what it was, and it explains why things are the way they are.

This is an important point. God did not state it clearly in the beginning and then back away from clarity for the end. He is just as clear in Revelation as He was in Genesis.

Source

As for the people who say, ‘There are so many interpretations, it’s just best to let go and let God. It’ll all work out in the end, anyhow,’ I say that’s just a bunch of lazy hooey. There are not many views of last things. There is only one view, God’s view, and He has shared it with us.

But I don’t think you can over estimate the value of a church with a clear ecclesiology and a clear eschatology. Clear understanding of the church, and a clear understanding of what the Bible says about how things are going to end. It does say something. It doesn’t say everything, and it doesn’t say whatever you want it to say. It doesn’t have ten views or five views or four views. There’s just one view.

MacArthur went on to describe a wonderful moment in Kazakhstan some years ago. Kazakhstan is east of Mongolia and north of Turkey. It is around the world. He was asked to teach 1600 men at a pastor’s conference. MacArthur taught 8 hours a day for 6 days a week. The men were hungry for the word, to be taught. They had been behind the Iron Curtain and now were released into more freedoms, including the freedom to practice religion, and to gather. They’d been denied a congregation, education, commentaries, access to internet or anything resembling study aids. They had each other, and the bible…and the Holy Spirit. So they wanted to know about all the doctrines, including eschatology.

MacArthur said,

I laid out; I went through the book of Revelation systematically and showed them the end. They said to me after that – I took a day to do that. The end of that day they said, “You believe what we believe.” I said, “I believe what you believe?” Same Bible. Guess what? It’s so clear that people with no training, no seminary, and no commentaries could understand what the book of Revelation said.

The reason I gave you the illustration about Kazakhstan is because that is as alien a place as you could ever be. Thirty-five hours to get there. You step off the plane. I’ve never been there. I don’t know what’s going on. I teach them a whole day on the end times, and they tell me that’s exactly what they believe. How did they come to that? They don’t have seminaries. They don’t have books. They don’t have anything. That’s what the Bible says. You have to go to school and listen to somebody who deceives you to undo that because that’s what’s there.

MacArthur has said before that any believer who landed on a desert island with nothing else except his bible can and would understand eschatology. The 1,600 Kazakhstan men were as close to desert island as you can get in this modern world, and eschatology was made understandable to them- because they studied it.

Source

As a note, what a glory it is that we believers have this unifying thread! What a moment of recognition between a Scottish-descended pastor from Sun Valley CA and Kazakhstani men isolated behind the iron curtain, to know each other as brothers! This unifying thread is the holy word, the Bible.

For men to say, ‘Ack, it’s all too much for me, it’ll all work out in the end, anyway,’ is a direct rejection of the wonder of being able to recognize and commune with brothers via a common and eternal understanding of God’s word, wherever you are on earth.

Rejecting eschatology is also a rejection of the work that the Spirit has done in men that He has raised up. Many resources are out there, as I mentioned, commentaries, sermons, books, timelines…it is all there for us.

To continue what MacArthur said about eschatology,

I think it matters how it all ends. I think God is glorified when we acknowledge Him as the Creator, the beginning; and I think He is glorified when we acknowledge Him as the consummator, the end. I think that’s a huge benefit for Christians looking at the world and wondering where is this going? Where is this going?

In talking to Al Mohler when I was back there a few weeks ago, he said he’s more eschatological than he’s ever been. He’s almost apocalyptic because he sees a world that just there is no way to reverse this. This thing is in a massive free fall, and there is no way to stop this. He’s pretty well-attuned to the way things are, and he says, “I’ve never felt so eschatological, so apocalyptic about the way the world is going.” Well, if you want to understand where the world is going, you can as a believer. That gives us such a powerful confidence that all that is coming is laid out for us on the pages of Scripture. I think that’s a treasure that a church can’t underestimate.

Do not reject the treasure of eschatology. It is just as much a treasure as the Psalms and the Gospels. Do not reject the work we are to do through eschatology. We have the answer to how it will all end. Lost people are confused and frightened about where this world is headed. We know it. Do not be afraid to study, and then to share.

What message does it send when a mature man of the faith in church makes a public statement dismissing eschatology? It tells the next generation that it is not worth studying, and bible illiteracy increases, just at the time when the next generation may be the very generation to see these things come to pass and could have been more fervent and diligent about sharing the truth with lost and confused people.

John MacArthur is a unique individual and is in a unique position. It was common in the old days for a pastor to stay for decades. Not so any more, where the average pastoral stay is 5 years or less. MacArthur has been at Grace Church for 46 years. He is 75 years old. He has seen history unfold, prophecy fulfilled and apostasy rise. He said,

I’m seeing this world unravel. There doesn’t seem to be any way back. I mean this is totally out of control. This is a free fall down a black hole. So, you can’t just say, “Well, eschatology doesn’t matter.” That is not helpful. People want answers. Where is this thing going? It’s not fair to God, it’s a dishonor to God to say, “Well, the Bible is not clear.” It is clear. It is absolutely clear.

Yes, it is sad and offensive that there are so many people who refuse to study last things. Those who dismiss the Spirit’s work in inspiring that portion of the bible are simply missing out on so much glory. It is also sad that so many brethren have unfortunately come to different understandings of what God clearly laid out. But does that mean we reject it all? Does that mean that is is useless for us individually to study it? No.

I just wish that the church was unified on what the Bible says. I don’t like it that there are Christians who don’t believe in Creation, but believe in some form of evolution. I think that dishonors God and confuses people. I don’t like it that there are Christians who don’t accept what the Bible says about the end either. But I think it’s wonderful that we do, and the answers are there.

God’s word has all the answers, including last things. Please do not be afraid to jump in and read, learn, pray, and receive illumination from the Spirit. Do not be afraid to seek credible, quality study aids. Always remember the perspicuity of scripture. The bible is clear.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rapture is an economic juggernaut, fodder for the unsaved in titillating scenarios they will all too soon live out themselves

Posted on July 8, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Mr Jay Parini, a poet and novelist who teaches at Middlebury College in Vermont, just published “Jesus: The Human Face of God,” a biography of Jesus. He has some opinions about the doctrine of the Rapture.

Even Jesus wouldn’t buy ‘the rapture’

The rapture concept is relatively new. It started with an Anglo-Irish theologian, who in the 1830s invented the concept. This may come as a shocker to many, but it’s a fact: Before John Nelson Darby imagined this scenario in the clouds, no Christian had ever heard of the rapture.

Said no Christian ever.

Not my grandmother

BAH HA HA [wiping eyes] Anyways, whaddya gonna do? as my Italian grandmother used to say. This is what non-saved people believe. They say things with such assurance, and such force, as if they know. But it is only godless chatter, (1 Timothy 6:20). Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up (1 Corinthians 8:1)

Though Mr Parini calls himself an Episcopalian who is “a regular church-goer” not one person who is saved by grace of Jesus would ever say this as Mr Parini did:

“For instance, when Jesus says, ‘repent, and you will be saved.’ What He’s really saying, if you read the Greek, is: open your mind to the light. Go beyond yourself into the larger mind of God, and you will experience enlightenment and reconciliation with God,” he explained.

Oh, how easily the blinded twist sin, judgment and damnation into Light, ‘duality’ and New Age self-god concepts!

I’m not so aggravated at the usual blasphemy regarding the mystery of the rapture that Paul unfolded for the precious brethren, (WAAAAY before Darby or Scofield) as I was surprised to find myself agreeing with his statement from the article:

“The famous “Left Behind” series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins was already out there. It consisted of 16 best-selling novels on the same premise, and it’s about to come to the big screen again, in a film starring Nicholas Cage. The original film adaptation (of three) appeared in 2000. And then there is the Christian real-time strategy video game called “Left Behind: Eternal Forces.” If anyone hasn’t noticed, the rapture has become a commercial juggernaut, endlessly shape-shifting, finding new and highly entertaining outlets.

The rapture and apocalypse in general has become an economic juggernaut, just as Peter wrote that it would. (2 Peter 2:3).

The co-opting of Christianity for entertainment and mocking purposes is age-old. Every Christian sentenced to die in the Roman Ampitheater was part of Rome’s economic juggernaut. Christians and Christianity being fodder for entertainment through martyrdoms, or torture, or today through debates, TV shows of movies, is par for the course.

I wrote about the economic exploitation of God’s biblical doctrines earlier this year here:

Is the fact that 2014’s been dubbed ‘Year of the Christian movie” a good thing? Well, was Ahaz redecorating the temple a good thing?

In the above piece, I listed all the movies and television shows I could find being released on the Christian themes. One of the new economic juggernauts was a video game of the rapture I found especially horrifying. I’d posted the summary of the game:

Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture video game PS4, “The game will take place in a village in Shropshire during the apocalypse.”

In that piece I focused on the movies coming out that took biblical doctrines and presented them to a secular world for monetary gain. I’d mentioned movies like Noah, Exodus, TheBible, Left Behind, Son of God, Heaven is for Real and the smaller and well-intentioned movie God’s Not Dead but I missed the television series of The Leftovers and the video game “Left Behind: Eternal Forces.”

Photo by Kevin King. Wikipedia Creative Commons

The rapture certainly is one of the most fascinating doctrines in the bible. The encouragement of it, the reason for it, the science behind it (or supernatural science), the imminence of it, the suddenness of it, the fact of it. Additionally I find it fascinating that the Holy Spirit waited about twenty years after Jesus’ ascension to reveal this to the brethren. Paul revealed the mystery around 55AD on his 3rd missionary journey in a letter to the Corinthians,

Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet... (1 Corinthians 15:51)

In 1 Corinthians 2:6-8 Paul explains to the church that some things on God’s plan were kept secret so that satan and his unholy angels would not try to thwart what must be done. In those verses Paul says that the reason for the cross was kept secret. Not that satan and his angels could thwart anything, but God does not reveal absolutely everything all at once.

About 20 years after the cross, Paul’s Thessalonians letters and the Corinthians letters explained the new doctrine of the rapture. It was planned from the beginning of time, but satan didn’t know about it until the Corinthians and the Thessalonians did. Satan still only knows what we do: it will happen … sometime.

What’s on the other side? Everyone is curious. Everyone.

That the rapture is equally fascinating to the lost is surprising, but if we think about it not so surprising after all. It’s a puzzle, a great and mystifying puzzle. And really, who wants to die? Just knowing that in the generation in which God ordains it to happen, all the living Christians will never see death but will be changed in the twinkling of an eye. For the lost, great minds have always pondered the supernatural, wondered about other dimensions, secretly wanted to step behind the veil and peek at the heavenly machinery. They have tried divination, seances, hypnotism, peyote, astral projection…anything to solve the mystery.

And all along, Paul had revealed it. It is plainly able to know…for anyone who first repents of sins and turns to Jesus as Lord and Savior, that is. He then opens up the mind to the Holy Spirit’s wisdom in illuminating the bible for us.

What I wonder is…with the sudden glut of movies and TV shows devoted to the subject of the rapture, does satan know something? He isn’t omniscient nor is he omnipresent. Also, he doesn’t know for sure any more than we do about the timing of it. But he does have the advantage of having seen human history from the long point of view, he knows how human hearts work, he’s in the thick of the spiritual battle and as its general he knows how it’s going, and having access to heaven he sees what is going on up there. I just wonder…

Anyway it is surely a heartbreak to see someone who is so puffed up with vain knowledge writing biographies of Jesus and claiming biblical things about the rapture that aren’t biblical at all. I am so grateful to my King that he elected me to salvation and opened my mind to the scriptures. In this way I get to know Him and His will for man by reading them. I learn about His character, and about how to live. I can be assured of my eternal destination. I can even be encouraged by Paul’s words, that we may be the generation that sees the Lord in the air and are translated alive into glory.

Maranatha!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rapture!

Posted on June 12, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

This is one of the biblical passages that teach us the great doctrine of the rapture:

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

Let’s encourage one another with these words! How do we do that? I’m sure you have your ideas, but one way is simply to speak of this beautiful doctrine frequently. We must not be uninformed.

S. Lewis Johnson, who taught a pretribulation rapture, said of the text,

“Then last time in our study we took a look at the calendar of future events. I hope we found it. I know it is exciting and thrilling, moving from the coming apostasy in the church — a measure that is already with us — through the advent of the Lord Jesus to the eternal state. We who are believers surely have a great hope – I’m not at all sure that we speak of it too much – in fact probably under the influence of criticism we do not speak of our heavenly hope enough.”

The rapture is getting such a terrible knock these days, and in some, it actually sparks anger! Johnson made that statement in 1976 that due to criticism sometimes we are too gun-shy to speak of it, and look at the growing apostasy now in 2014 and the anger and fervent hatred the doctrine brings up, even among “brethren”. An example of it happened to me just yesterday.

This man named Justin W. White, who in his bio says he “loves theology”, tweeted a response to my tweet regarding the Southern Baptist Convention’s resolution to affirm that God-ordained gender is God’s will and it’s sin to change it (RE: transgenderism). I’d not mentioned rapture AT ALL, but in his response, he brought it up and used profanity too.

#SBC14 opposes “Heaven Is For Real” because it is non-scriptural, but they buy into a literal rapture? Yeah. about that.
I replied, “Because heaven tourism isn’t biblical, but rapture is. (no the English word ‘rapture’ isn’t in the bible, but the concept is)“
He answered: “the rapture is not a historical/orthodox doctrine of the church. It is modern bs made to scare people into moralism.”

I seriously wonder how someone could be a Christian and NOT be comforted by the promises that Jesus is coming soon to gather His church to Himself!

How beautiful are the doctrines of His second return. Though the rapture isn’t the Second Coming per se, it is a doctrine of last things which precedes His second and final return to earth to judge the living and the dead. He will call us up to Himself and we will always be with the Lord. How encouraging to look forward to!

John 14:1-3 says,

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; a believe also in me. 2In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?b 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

Just reading those words are so very comforting. Knowing that the Lord is preparing a place for us, that He is returning for us, that He will resurrect our loved ones alive and dead, and bring up the ancient saints who died even during the apostolic age, that we will be given our glorified (sinless!!) bodies, that we will be with Him…there are so many encouraging things to look forward to!

S. Lewis Johnson, who taught a pretribulation rapture, said,

Lake Como: Garden, Villa Arconati, 1905

“The doctrine of the rapture of the church is an important doctrine for us. I say doctrine that suggests for us faithfulness in service. It should be a motive and incentive to give ourselves to devotion to the Lord Jesus. It should also have tremendous motivation in evangelistic activity. I refer to our own personal testimony. It also should be a comforting doctrine.”

There is an old story about a man who visited the Villa Ara Connate in Italy. He saw the gardener. The grounds were kept in beautiful shape, speaking to the gardener he said, “When does the owner of this villa come here?”

He said, “Well, I’ve been working here for 20 years, and he’s only been here four times.”

“When was the last time that he was here?”

“12 years ago.”

“Who takes charge? To whom do you report?”

He said, “I report to a steward in Milan.”

“Why, you keep these gardens as if you were expecting the owner tomorrow.”

And the gardener replied, “Today, sir. Today.”

“That really is the kind of attitude provoked by the doctrine of the rapture of the church as the next significant prophetic event. I think that on balance the Scriptures teach that the Lord Jesus to come again for the church imminently, and that we have reason from Scripture to look for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and savior Jesus Christ.”

So this great prophetic message has tremendous moral value. We should never think of the doctrines of the word of God with reference to the future as simply doctrines that tickle our curiosity. They are doctrines that are designed to affect our spiritual life. They are designed to make us more moral, more spiritual, more Christian in all of our activity. ~S. Lewis Johnson
“…to be with the Lord.” Now, THAT is heaven. Do not let satan steal your hope. Do not let criticism suppress your encouragement of the brethren. Do not let liberal seminaries forget to teach this important doctrine. Do not be shushed in church.

“knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.” (2 Peter 3:3)As one of the commenters said, “Their very scoffing shall confirm the truth of the prediction.”

_____________________

The thought police are alive and well in San Antonio

Posted on August 13, 2013 by elizabethprata

Christians who speak of sin and exhort non-believers to repent is called hate speech by the secular world. And it is hate speech. The secular world hates it and wants to stop us from speaking it. Here are two current examples. This first one is from March of 2012 but is representative of how the media treats any Christian today:

Ann Curry: Your religious beliefs represent hate speech!
“Make no mistake about it, this is all about going after the Christian Church. Same-sex marriage, GLAAD’s fascist rampages, and all of this Orwellian political correctness is part of long-term goal — and that’s to make Christian beliefs a form of bigotry and to force a left-wing agenda on the church all under a Trojan horse labelled “discrimination.”

“In many respects, Obama forcing the Catholic Church to violate its conscience with respect to providing birth control and abortion drugs through their social service institutions, is a dry run for this. The left wants to know if they can persuade the American people that a non-existent right (in this case, free birth control) trumps a First Amendment that declaratively restricts the government from impeding on the free exercise of religion.”

“The obvious next step will be to attempt an end-run around the First Amendment by declaring as bigoted the Church’s refusal to marry same-sex couples. They will also attempt to declare as hate speech any belief held by the church that in any way angers GLAAD.”

And they have done just exactly that. In San Antonio, this week Hal Lindsey reported there is a new kind of ‘thought police’–

Unprecedented ordinance bans Christians from serving on city council
“We hear a lot about the positive things happening in that great bastion of conservatism known as Texas, but even there we are occasionally reminded that the disease of progressivism is present. The latest example of the liberal precept that government is greater than the individual can be found in San Antonio, where city leaders believe true equality is just an ordinance away.”

The city is looking to update its anti-discrimination policies by adding sexual orientation and gender identity as protected categories, and plans to punish those who speak out against homosexuality. According to a draft of the revised policy, One News Now reports, no one who has spoken out against homosexuality or the transgender lifestyle can run for city council or be appointed to a city board.

Or, in other words, Christians need not apply. The exact language as proposed:

“No person shall be appointed to a position if the City Council finds that such person has, prior to such proposed appointment, engaged in discrimination or demonstrated a bias, by word or deed, against any person, group or organization on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, age, or disability.”

“The ordinance also says that if you have at any point demonstrated a bias – without defining what a bias is or who will determine whether or not one has been exercised – that you cannot get a city contract,” pastor Charles Flowers told One News Now.

Alliance Defending Freedom has taken a look at the ordinance. “They said they’ve never seen this kind of language in any other ordinance in any other city that they’ve dealt with,”

There are many ways to try and quiet the Christians. In Egypt, for example, they just shoot them outright as they walk home from bible class. In America, they cleverly formulate laws and ordinances that quietly squeeze Christians from public life, and where they have a voice and influence. Where the Christian blogging world was shocked by street preacher Tony Miano’s arrest off the street corner outside Wimbledon last month for preaching sexual purity, that kind overt and deliberate squelching is here in America too, just disguised under the misnomer of political correctness or the more current phrase ‘tolerance’.

In my opinion, this means two things. The rapidity with which we have seen an erosion of free speech under the US Constitution is gaining speed each day. This kind of hatred of Christians expressed in no uncertain terms in the public square has gone from quiet mumbling in back rooms just ten years ago to blatant discrimination and muzzling today. Each day it gets worse. Like compounding interest, expect each day from her on forward to get that much more overt and constricting.

That means we should pray for a proportional amount of increase in courage and boldness. It means we should know our bible and be ready to proclaim Him. It means that we should actively and daily think about what we can do in our own spheres to maximize our influence. It means ever increasing reliance on the Lord.

Secondly, it means the time is growing nearer. As the world moves toward the time when the word of Jesus will be fulfilled, “When the Son of Man returns, will He find faith upon the earth?”

That verse is the last line in the short parable of the Persistent Widow. Jesus tells the disciples about the coming of the Kingdom and the Tribulation of those days in Luke 17. He concludes with the parable as a lesson to always pray and not lose heart. Here is it is in full–

1And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” 6And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

This is a persistent prayer for the Lord’s return. The widow was grieved by the injustice in the world and the failure of earthly courts to rectify it. She hated the corruptness and cried out for someone to fix it. The complete indifference of the Judge to the suffering of this defrauded, needy and destitute woman, the fact that he didn’t fear God or man, and his unwillingness to take up the case of a woman who was so alone that she didn’t even a man to come to court for her is representative of the world today (and back then). The world was this woman’s enemy, and it had abused her.

Jesus gave two commands and comforts. He said to always pray. And He said to not lose heart. Even in the midst of the time when the widow was persisting in obtaining justice and it didn’t look like anything was ever going to happen, she kept on.

Eventually, there will be justice.

The Parable of the Persistent Widow as explained by John MacArthur-

“It says at the end of verse 8, “However, when the Son of Man comes will He find faith on the earth?” Will He find this kind of persevering faith? Will He find this kind of persevering prayer? Will He find this kind of enduring confidence? This is definitely eschatological praying. No one of us knows the time of the Rapture. We don’t know when the events that are the Second Coming will be launched. We don’t know when the day of the Lord is going to come, but two thousand years have passed by, believers have been waiting and waiting, and suffering at the hand of sinners. Sin escalates, evil men grow worse and worse and worse. We see the pollution inside and outside Christendom. False teachers abound everywhere.

We’re endeavoring to endure true and faithful, trusting in the Word of God. We have been promised that He will come. We believe that He will come. And here He says, “Keep praying for that event.” He will come but part of the means of that coming is our prayer life. Prayer moves God to accomplish His work and therefore having accomplished His work, bringing it to its great culmination in His Second Coming. He will come. He promises He will come. He will be faithful to His elect. He will bring judgment to the ungodly. He will vindicate the saints. He will exalt Himself. He will establish His throne on earth. He will reign in a Kingdom on earth and He will establish the new heaven and the new earth. And that is what we are to pray for relentlessly.“

There is a movement outside of Christianity but also inside Christianity to muzzle Christians from speaking these things. Just as the secular world tries in all ways to squelch the potent word of the boldly proclaiming Christian, so some Christians dismiss the eschatological prayer and speech of the boldly proclaiming end times-minded brother and sister. Don’t let them do it. Point to the persistent widow, and say, “She didn’t give up. Jesus told us to pray always and not lose heart.”

Speaking of His coming and the justice that will be rendered for His name’s sake is one of the greatest comforts of all. Some ‘brothers’ sneer at our fervency, saying we are cowards wanting to be gone from this world. Some ‘sisters’ mock when we speak of His soon return, saying that we are so heavenly minded we are no earthly good.

Well, the widow persistently called for justice, and Jesus commended her for it. I side with Jesus, not the mockers and sneerers.

Being with Him is something that we look forward to with all that we’ve got and all that we are. Who wouldn’t want to cling to these hopes and future promises? Who wouldn’t want to take the commands of Jesus to heart, and pray always for His return and to not lose heart?

Ultimately we who pray for His return and we who speak of it, and we who see the signs of the dying world, know that what we pray for is from a heart that mourns in seeing the sins pile up against Him. We see the blots and blasphemies against His pure name, and we hate it. We see a young Egyptian girl shot dead simply because she was holding a bible, and we fall to our knees in grief. We see child after child neglected because their parents have succumbed to drugs, and we are horrified. We see the hatred of an evil world against all that is holy and pure, and we weep. We see children dying, martyrs killed, and we cry out. We see the Holy Spirit grieved and we lament. We keep ‘coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ Who wouldn’t want that to all end?

Somewhere in the world, there is a chorus of widows. Keep it up, my brethren. Call for the Righteous Judge to render justice. Take heart, He hears you and He is coming.

eschatology, israel, jews, replacement theology, temple

Messianic return from Jewish point of view

Posted on July 20, 2013 by elizabethprata

A Haaretz (Israel daily newspaper) article today. It is interesting to read of Messianic prophecy from the point of view of a person who does not believe the New Testament, but should have a better grasp of eschatology than is evidenced in this article. It is rife with errors but also contains some truth.

Why do many Christians believe Jesus will appear after Jews rebuild the temple?
“These are the same Zionist evangelicals who oppose any peace agreement in which Israel will cede parts of the homeland, and who customarily make donations to various right-wing associations in Israel. For them, Israeli sovereignty over the Holy Land is fraught with redemptive meaning. Only the continuing and eternal covenant between the Jewish people and its God in heaven can lend a messianic significance to its deeds on earth.”

“It was such a frame of mind that prompted the well-known evangelical preacher Jerry Falwell to assert, back in 1988, that “the most important date we should remember [since the Ascension] is May 14, 1948.” The reason is because, in his view, the creation of the State of Israel “is the greatest single sign indicating the imminent return of Jesus Christ.”

“But there’s a snag. Two months ago we celebrated the 65th anniversary of Israel’s creation, and for some reason Jesus has not yet appeared.”

Oh, but He will. They should know better than anyone about the Lord’s plans mean nothing in man’s scale of time. He sent the Jews into a 70 year exile. They wandered 40 years in the desert. A Jubilee Year comes around once every 50. They spent 400 years waiting for a prophet to speak (Malachi to John the Baptist). The Egyptian captivity was 400 years. And they scoff at 65?

Yes, they scoff.

The article calls the 15-million seller book The Late great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey (an eschatological view of the run up to the Tribulation and the last 7 years of punishment upon the Jews) as a “mythical best seller.” The article repeats the old chestnut that John Darby started the notion of the rapture, even though Paul taught it and the earliest church fathers believed it.

The article goes on,

“The relationship between Christian evangelicals and Temple activists is warmer today than ever. It is a strange alliance, in which each side is using the other to further its own redemptive goals, knowing full well that the other has a completely alternative, indeed opposite, picture of the way redemption will look.”

Why can’t they see the clear and plain truth in the bible? That the rapture will sweep the church from the earth and that those who remain will be left to deal with God’s anger on His unbelieving people, the Jews? Because they can’t. Paul explained it all in Romans 11. Opening that wonderful chapter, Paul said,

“I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.” (Romans 11:1-2)

That should silence the replacement theologians who said that the Jews are done and the church is all that God cares about now. Paul goes on to explain the program and plan of God in the Age of Grace that we are in now:

“What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, as it is written,
“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
eyes that would not see
and ears that would not hear,
down to this very day.”” (Romans 11:7-8).

The Jews rejected Jesus when He appeared. Originally the Jews were supposed to be the Light to the world and instruct the Gentiles about God. But they clung to the law, turned insular, and then used the law for their own gain, coasting on the covenant promise and failing to share the Light with the pagans.

Jesus charged them: “You that make your boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonor you God? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you.” (Romans 2:23-24).

“But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spoke against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing you put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, see, we turn to the Gentiles. For so has the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set you to be a light of the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 13:45-47)

Paul explains that the Gentiles are grafted in so as to make Israel jealous.

“So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous.” (Romans 11:11).

Paul says it again, explaining the ‘mystery of Israel’s salvation’.

“Lest you be wise in your own sight, I want you to understand this mystery, brothers:d a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in” Romans 11:25).

They have been partially hardened. The most difficult mission group to reach is the Jew, because they have been made hard of heart and blind so that they cannot see. That is why we wind up with articles that state the redemption plan between the Jew and the Christian are opposite. They aren’t , but the hardened Jew see it that way.

All Israel will be saved. Jesus preserves a remnant throughout the Tribulation. He uses the Jew once again as His light to bring salvation, supernaturally sealing 144,000 Jews to witness for Him, 12,000 from each tribe. (Revelation 7:6-8).

He will punish His people, that is what the Tribulation is all about. It is called the Time of Jacob’s Trouble. Yet in the end, all Israel will be saved! (Isaiah 53)

“I will no longer hide my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit on the people of Israel, declares the Sovereign LORD.” (Ezekiel 39:29)

“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn” (Zechariah 12:10)

The LORD is grace and mercy. He loves His people. Punishes for idolatry, yes. He does this because He is holy. Even though punishment tough, He will not break His promise to His covenant people the Israelites. He will be as overjoyed as anyone on earth or in heaven when His people cry out to Him as Messiah.

“And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one.” (Zechariah 14:9)

caleb schumacher, end times, eschatology, rapture

In Defense of Eschatology

Posted on February 24, 2013 by elizabethprata

Eschatology gets a bad rap. People don’t like it. And I am not talking about lost people, but Christians. Most Christians would be happy if no other Christian ever mentioned the rapture, judgments, second coming, or any of the other last things.

I personally have been told that I focus too much on the “negative.” Well, call me crazy but I happen to think that being left behind during the most horrific judgments the world has ever known or will ever know is kind of negative. I happen to think that being chased and bitten by an actual demon from the abyss and writhing in agony for five months is sort of a downer. That sulfur raining from the sky would put a crimp in my day. That standing before Holy God in His wrath would be sort of a bummer. So I mention these “negative” things in hopes that someone, somewhere would heed the words and repent and live in the positive hope of His appearing.

By the way, Jesus spent more time talking about hell than heaven. Was He too “negative”? Hardly.

Not that we don’t want to preach the whole counsel of God. That is important, and with only a few immature Lively eschatological hope is not escape from the troubles of the world but stubborn insistence that God’s mercy will have the last word- and lived defiantly in light of that hope.exceptions, we end timers do. What I see in my friends who proclaim last things is that they DO speak and live the whole counsel of God. These are some of the most buoyant, faithful, mature Christians I know, yet they and me are deemed ‘negative’. That is because as I said a moment ago, the brethren at large wish us not to speak of these things AT ALL, not that we exclusively speak only of them.

In David Lyon Bartlett ‘s “Feasting on the Word”, we read in an essay by Martha L. Moore-Keish that eschatology has gotten

“a bad reputation among some, who hear it as pointless speculation about future events, having nothing to do with the present. Lamentations shows us that eschatology can have imminently practical implications for how we live. In the midst of the ruined city, the writer proclaims that the LORD has been and will be faithful, then he sits down to wait for that salvation to show up. This shows fierce faith that all appearances to the contrary, God will not abandon God’s people. Not affliction, but mercy is the enduring character of God. Hope for salvation even in the darkest days, is this “pie in the sky, by and by”? Not if it leads to resistance amid the ruins. Not if it leads to genuine ability to survive and even thrive, in the midst of the rubble. Lively eschatological hope is not escape from the troubles of the world but stubborn insistence that God’s mercy will have the last word- and lived defiantly in light of that hope.”

Terrance Brownlow-Dindy of Kinder, Louisiana writes in his essay “Jeremiah, The Message“

“Not a few gospel preachers determined to “declare the whole counsel of God” exclusively, even when it means negative proclamation, have been characterized by those of the liberal and ecumenical elements as harsh, unloving, cold, and sectarian. If this is an accurate assessment of those who stand for the truth, the whole truth, and nothing less than the truth, then some ‘well-knowns’ of the cold, unloving and sectarian genre of gospel preachers would include men like — Jesus Christ (first and foremost), John the Immerser, Noah, Elijah, and the man whose message will be the focus this study – Jeremiah. Often, Jeremiah is deemed “The Weeping Prophet,” which is clearly a designation denoting his loving, compassionate character. How do we reconcile that description of Jeremiah with the predominantly negative message that he was commissioned to preach? The fact of the matter is, being a preacher who is truly caring of the souls of others always entails preaching a message that has some negative aspects in addition to the positive. Jeremiah’s message to the children of Israel residing in the southern kingdom of Judah during the 7th and 8th centuries B.C., in fact, was two-thirds negative. Jeremiah was appointed by God to verbally “build and plant,” (positives) but only after obeying the commands to “root out…pull down…destroy…and to throw down” (Jeremiah 1:10).”

Those of us who live with a very palpable sense that the Lord is about to return do so knowing that this changes the way we live. Embedded in the future prophecy, last days verses, are exhortations for us to DO certain things. Verses tell us that in light of His appearing, we should live Godly lives, diligently. (2 Peter 3:11,14). We should encourage each other ‘with these words‘ (1 Thessalonians 4:18). With what words? Rapture words. We should not forsake assembling – even more so as we see the day approaching. (Hebrews 10:25). We should pray eschatalogically. Did you know that the parable of the Persistent Widow (Luke 18:2-5) is an appeal by Jesus for us to persistently pray for His return? Listen to this sermon or read the transcript to find out why. In Matthew 6:10 in the Lord’s prayer He teaches us to pray “His kingdom come”. It is clear that there are exhortations throughout the bible for a certain standard of holy living that is pleasing to God, and many of those standards include living in light of the last days doctrines. Ignoring the last days doctrines ignores the warnings about how to live in light of them.

And now, one caveat. For eschatology, and us, to be taken seriously, we can’t make rookie mistakes. That means, not assigning a day to His return. (Harold Camping and his ilk do a lot to injure us). We cannot make vain speculations. We should not add to the general confusion. We should not connect dots that shouldn’t be connected. We should not be cavalier about the lost or their left-behind status. In reference to the Peter verse, when He asked ‘how then, shall we live?” he said it should be with attentiveness, diligence, holy conversation and without spot and blameless.

“Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot and blameless.” (2 Peter 3:14).

Do you see the promise and the warning there? We look for such things- good! But be diligent also. Don’t go beyond scripture, we must be without spot.

John MacArthur was asked about eschatology. He gave this story:

“The Bible’s eschatology is clear and I remember, perhaps the most interesting experience, eschatological experience I ever had was I got on an airplane one time down at LAX and I flew to Kazakhstan and it was 35 hours of flying to get to the back side of central Asia for a pastors conference with 1600 central Asian pastors who had just been liberated from the Russian Federation, the USSR because it had broken up under Perestroika Glasmus and they had the first central Asian pastors conference, there were 1600 Christian pastors there and they asked me to come and teach.

“I remember, I flew 35 hours, got off the flight at seven o’clock and I was speaking by eight and I didn’t stop till six days later. They were so hungry for the truth and they wanted me to teach about the church.”

Well they came to me and they said, “Will you teach the future? Would you teach us eschatology? Teach us what the Bible says about eschatology?”

I said, “Okay, Friday we’ll do that.” And from Friday morning about seven-thirty or eight, until late Friday night, I taught these 1600 people biblical eschatology. Here’s the amazing part. I never knew any of these people, never met any of these people, they didn’t know anybody I knew, they hadn’t been exposed to any books that I knew about or any schools. When the day was over, they all came in, they sat down with me and they said, “You believe exactly what we believe.”

I said, “Really?” Down to a pre-tribulational Rapture, you believe exactly what we believe. And I said, “Well, that’s amazing on the one hand, but on the other hand, if all you have is the Bible, that’s where you’re going to end up.” I think the reason people are confused about eschatology, Christian people, is because Christians with bad eschatology have made bad eschatology acceptable. But your problem is, even worse, non-believers mock Christianity because of the ridiculous and bizarre things that these false teachers do. This is satanic, I believe, this is lie and deception to discredit the simple, clear, truth of Scripture. It confuses people, there’s no question about it.”

There are two things to take away from that story. First is that people who have been isolated from all except the bible and read the bible diligently come away with a clear understanding of the pre-tribulation rapture and the importance of end time things. And second, that mucking it all up with stupidness puts a stumbling block in front of the lost and the weak.

Caleb Schumacher is one of the most deep and knowledgeable pastors I have ever read. He holds a Ph.D. in New Testament and an M.A. in Christian Apologetics. He says in his essay ‘Why I believe in the Second Coming‘, “God brought me to Christ through the study of eschatology, or the study of “last” or “end” things.”

Here is why, he says, prophecy is important:

–fulfilled prophecy demonstrates the omniscience of God,
–fulfilled prophecy demonstrates that the bible is a supernatural book,
–fulfilled prophecy demonstrates that Jesus is the Messiah and God,
–fulfilled prophecy instills confidence in the Christian as to future predictions that the bible makes.

FYI, 109 predictions concern the Messiah’s 1st coming. Over 200 deal with His Second Coming!

Go on and read the rest of the piece by Schumacher below. I hope it will be encouraging. Stick with it end time proclaimers!! What I have found is rather than make me negative, the knowledge of His return and the wonder of His prophetic works in the world makes me love Him all the more. The more I love Him the more “positive” I become!

The Creed – I Believe In Christs Return from Robin Schumacher