21: End-Time Viewpoints

Why are there so many different concepts?

I almost gave up studying Bible prophecy the very first week I started. I was turned off by the vocabulary.

I kept running across terms like Premillennial, Amillennial, Postmillennial, Chiliast, and Anti-Chiliast. It sounded to me like much of prophecy was written in tongues!

Thankfully, the Holy Spirit encouraged me to stick with the task, and before long I began to realize that the terms really were not all that difficult to understand.

Basically, there are four major end-time viewpoints. Or, to put it another way, there are four different interpretations about what the Bible says concerning end-time events.

Historic Premillennialism

The oldest viewpoint is called Historic Premillennialism. It is termed “historic” for two reasons: to differentiate it from Modern Premillennialism and to indicate that it was the historic position of the early Church.

It is called “Premillennial” because it envisions a return of Jesus to earth before (pre) the beginning of the Millennium. The word, millennium, is a combination of two Latin words — mille annum — which simply mean one thousand years.

This viewpoint prevailed among the early Church Fathers and is presented below. It divides the future of the world into four periods:

1)​The current Church Age.

2)​A seven year period called the Tribulation.

3)​A reign of Christ on earth lasting one thousand years (the Millennium).

4)​The Eternal State when the Redeemed will dwell forever with God on a New Earth.

This view is based on a literal interpretation of what the Bible says will happen in the end-times. One of its distinctive features is that it places the Rapture of the Church at the end of the Tribulation, combining it with the Second Coming.

According to this view, the Church will remain on earth during the Tribulation. At the end of that period, Jesus will appear in the heavens and the Church will be caught up to meet Him in the sky. The saints will be instantly glorified, and then they will immediately return to the earth to reign with Jesus for a thousand years.

The Church Fathers

This is the only systematic view of end-time events that existed during the first 300 years of the Church. With only a couple of exceptions, all the Church Fathers who expressed themselves on the topic of prophecy were Premillennial until 400 AD. Justin Martyr, who was born in 100 AD, went so far in his writings on the subject as to suggest that anyone with a different viewpoint was heretical!

Those today who disagree with this view respond to the near unanimity of the early Church Fathers by saying they were simply wrong in their interpretation of the prophetic Scriptures.

It certainly should be noted that these early church leaders were not prophetic scholars. They wrote very little on prophecy, and what they wrote was sketchy. Their main concern was not prophecy, but the deity of Jesus, the oneness of God, the practical problems of church organization and survival amidst persecution.

Yet their concept of end-time events should not be dismissed out of hand as crude and primitive, for anyone who has studied the prophetic Scriptures will have to admit that the Church Fathers’ viewpoint presents a plain sense summary of the Bible’s teachings about the end-times.

The Challenge

The person who laid the groundwork that produced a major challenge to the Premillennial view was Origen of Alexandria, Egypt (185-254 AD). His approach to all of Scripture was either to spiritualize it or allegorize it. He therefore denied the literal meaning of prophecy. He looked upon its language as highly symbolic and expressive of deep spiritual truths rather than of future historical events.

Origen’s allegorical approach was specifically applied to prophecy by a man named Tyconius (died about 400 AD). He argued that the prophecies concerning the Millennium were being fulfilled in the Church Age and that the thousand year period of time was not literal. He also argued that the first resurrection mentioned in Revelation 20:4 was a spiritual resurrection — namely, the new birth.

The greatest of the Church Fathers, Augustine (354-430 AD), popularized the views of Tyconius. In the process, he developed a whole new scheme of end-time events. This new view was presented in his book, The City of God, published in 426 AD.

Amillennialism

The concept formulated by Augustine is called Amillennialism. This strange name derives from the fact that in the Greek language a word is negated by putting the letter “a” in front of it. Thus, amillennial literally means “no thousand years.”

The term is misleading, however, because most Amillennialists do believe in a millennium, but not a literal, earthly one. They argue that the millennium is the current spiritual reign of Christ over the Church and that it will continue until He returns for His saints. They thus interpret the thousand years as a symbolic period of time.

One appealing aspect of the Amillennial view is its simplicity. The Church Age comes to a screaming halt as a result of the Second Coming of Jesus. There is no Tribulation, no literal earthly Millennium, and no eternity on a New Earth. Augustine spiritualized everything, arguing that the kingdom is the Church, the Millennium is the current Church Age and the New Earth is symbolic language for Heaven.

Augustine’s view of end-time events was endorsed by the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD when the Council condemned the Premillennial view as “superstitious.” The view became Catholic dogma and remains so to this day. It is also the current majority viewpoint among the liberal, mainline Protestant denominations. In other words, the Amillennial viewpoint is the one that is held today by the vast majority of all those who profess to be Christians. 

Postmillennialism

The third view of end-time events, called Postmillennialism, did not develop until the mid-seventeenth century, long after the Reformation. The Reformation had little impact on prophetic views because the Reformation leaders had their attention riveted on the questions of biblical authority and justification by faith.

The Postmillennial view was a product of the rationalistic revolution in thinking. It was developed in the mid-1600s by a Unitarian minister named Daniel Whitby. It was immediately dubbed “Postmillennialism” because it envisioned a return of Jesus after (post) a literal thousand year reign of the Church over all the earth.

Postmillennialism spread quickly within the Protestant world, probably for two reasons. First, it gave Protestants an opportunity to differ from the Catholic position. More importantly, it was a theological expression of the prevailing rationalistic philosophy of the age, a philosophy that boldly proclaimed the ability of Mankind to build the kingdom of heaven on earth.

The Postmillennial view holds that the Church Age will gradually evolve into a “golden age” when the Church will rule over all the world. This will be accomplished through the Christianization of the nations.

To its credit, it can be said that this viewpoint served as a mighty stimulus to missionary efforts during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Missionaries were seized with the vision of speeding up the return of the Lord by preaching the Gospel to all the world.

A Sudden Death

By 1900 nearly all segments of Protestant Christianity had adopted the Postmillennial viewpoint. But the view was to be quickly dropped.

Postmillennialism died almost overnight with the outbreak of the First World War. The reason, of course, is that this great war undermined one of the fundamental assumptions of the Postmillennial viewpoint — the assumption of the inevitability of progress. This had always been a fatal flaw in the Postmillennial concept, due mainly to its birth in rationalistic humanism. Its visions of the perfectibility of man and the redemption of society were destroyed by the atrocities of the war.

Another fatal flaw of the Postmillennial viewpoint was its lack of a consistent biblical base. To expound the view, it was necessary to literalize some prophecies (those concerning the Millennium) while at the same time spiritualizing other prophecies (the personal presence of the Lord during the Millennium). Also, it was necessary to ignore or explain away the many prophecies in the Bible that clearly state that society is going to get worse rather than better as the time approaches for the Lord’s return (Matthew 24:4-24 and 2 Timothy 3:1-5).

The sudden death of Postmillennialism left a prophetic vacuum among Protestant groups. Since the Postmillennial view was based to a large extent upon a spiritualizing approach to Scripture, most Protestant groups returned to the spiritualized Amillennial viewpoint they had abandoned in the 1700s.

However, the most fundamentalist Protestant groups turned to a new prophetic viewpoint that had been developed among students of Bible prophecy throughout Europe during the 17th and 18th Centuries. It was a view that was systematized and popularized in the early 19th Century by a man in England named John Darby. It was technically called “Dispensational Premillennialism” because Darby was associated with a group that had been nicknamed “Dispensationalist.” I call it the Modern Premillennial viewpoint.

This viewpoint revives the Historic Premillennial view except for its concept of the Rapture of the Church. The Plymouth Brethren envisioned two future comings of Jesus – one for His Church and one with His Church. Their concept of the Rapture has since come to be known as the “Pre- Tribulation Rapture.”

This viewpoint has been attacked as being “too new to be true.” But its advocates are quick to point out that the Bible teaches the principle of “progressive illumination” regarding prophecy (Daniel 12:4 and Jeremiah 30:24). What they mean by this is that the Bible itself indicates that end-time prophecy will be better understood as the time nears for its fulfillment.

Comparisons

Looking back over these four views of the end-times, we can see some significant differences. But let’s not overlook the similarities. 

All agree that Jesus is coming back for His saints.

All agree that the Redeemed will spend eternity in the presence of God.

These two points of agreement are far more important than the many points of disagreement.

Still, the areas of disagreement are significant. Two of the views (the Amillennial and Postmillennial) deny that Jesus will ever manifest His glory before the nations in a world wide reign of peace, justice and righteousness. The Postmillennial view also denies the soon coming of the Lord, for according to this view, the Lord cannot return until His Church has ruled over the world for a thousand years.

The key to the differences is the approach to Scripture. If you tend to spiritualize Scripture, you will end up with an Amillennial or Postmillennial viewpoint. If you tend to accept Scripture for its plain sense meaning, you will have a Premillennial viewpoint.

A Plea

I urge you to accept the plain sense meaning of Scripture. Don’t play games with God’s Word by spiritualizing it. When you do so, you can make it mean whatever you want it to mean, but in the process you will lose the true meaning that God intended.

Remember, the First Coming prophecies meant what they said. That should be our guide for interpreting the prophecies of the Second Coming.

When you accept the plain sense meaning of Bible prophecy, you will clearly see that there is going to be a time of great tribulation lasting seven years which will be followed by a one thousand year reign of Jesus over all the nations of the earth. You will also understand that the Redeemed are destined to live eternally on a New Earth. The only question you will have to struggle with is the timing of the Rapture. (This issue is dealt with in chapters 15 and 26.)

22: Amillennial Problems

Are we really in the Millennium now?

A friend of mine enrolled in a prominent seminary where the amillennial viewpoint was taught. When he attended his first class in Bible prophecy, the teacher began the class by saying, “There is one fact you must keep in mind about prophetic literature and that is that it never means what it says. So, for example, if you are reading a prophetic verse and it mentions a cow, the only thing you can know for certain about that verse is that the cow is not a cow!”

Such an interpretive approach makes a mockery of the Word of God. It allows individuals to plan god by giving a verse any interpretation they desire. The only limit is one’s imagination. Yet, this is the interpretive principle that serves as the foundation for the Amillennial viewpoint.

Augustine’s Spiritualizing

The culprit behind this travesty is St. Augustine, the man who formulated the Amillennial viewpoint around 400 AD. Augustine “platonized” the prophetic Scriptures, reading and interpreting the words of the Bible’s Hebrew writers as if they had been written by Greek philosophers.

Keep in mind that the Greeks had a creation-negating viewpoint. They viewed the material world as essentially evil. In contrast, the Hebrew view contained in the Scriptures is a creation affirming one. To the Hebrew mind, the creation was originally perfect and still is good, even though it has been corrupted by the curse. Thus, the psalmist writes: “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands” (Psalms 19:1).

Whereas the Greeks looked toward the dissolution of the universe, the Hebrews yearned for the redemption of the creation. Isaiah dreamed of “the new heavens and the new earth” (Isaiah 66:22), and Paul wrote that the whole creation is longing for its redemption so that it will “be set free from its slavery to corruption” (Romans 8:18-21).

Augustine’s Greek world view would not allow him to accept at face value what the Bible said about end-time events. What the Bible prophesied was too much tied to this world – a future kingdom of Christ on this earth and eternity with God on a New Earth.

Using the spiritualizing approach, Augustine tried to explain away the Tribulation, the Millennium and the New Earth. The result was the Amillennial viewpoint of end-time events which holds that the current Church Age will end abruptly with the Second Coming of Jesus.

At that point the Redeemed will be resurrected in spiritual bodies, the unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the material universe will cease to exist and the Redeemed will take up residence with God in an ethereal Heaven.

The Impact of the New View

This view caused a considerable stir when it was originally presented by St. Augustine because it differed so drastically from the Premillennial view of the early Church.

The Premillennial viewpoint envisioned that the Church Age would end with the start of a seven year period of Tribulation, which would be followed by a thousand year reign of Christ upon the earth. Eternity would be spent in glorified bodies on a New Earth, not in an ethereal Heaven.

Augustine’s view was adopted quickly by the Catholic Church at the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD because it gave enhanced importance to the Church. Based on this new view, the Church could claim that it was the fulfillment of all the kingdom promises in the Bible and that it had a right to rule over the nations.

But Augustine’s view raised some serious problems of biblical interpretation.

Where is the Millennium?

Augustine argued that we are currently in the Millennium! He said the Millennium began at the Cross and would end a thousand years later with the return of Jesus. To him, the establishment of the Church constituted the founding of the Millennial Kingdom. There would be no future kingdom of Jesus on this earth.

When people asked how they could be in the Millennium when there was so much evil in the world, Augustine responded that the level of evil is relative. He said we are in the Millennium because the Holy Spirit is in the world restraining evil. If the Holy Spirit were not here, things would be much worse. Thus, relatively speaking, we are in the Millennium.

For Augustine, the thousand year length of the Millennium was no problem because he lived in 400 AD. When the year 1000 passed and the Lord did not return, Amillennialists simply spiritualized the number. Since that time they have argued that the number is symbolic and thus represents the period from the Cross to the Second Coming, regardless of how long that may be!

Where is the Tribulation?

Augustine responded to this question by arguing that we are simultaneously in both the Millennium and the Tribulation!

We are in the Millennium because the Holy Spirit is in the world restraining evil, but we are also in the Tribulation because the Church will suffer persecution until the Lord returns.

When it was pointed out that the Bible says the Tribulation will last only seven years, Augustine dismissed the number as symbolic. He argued that the number seven represents a complete period of time, and therefore it (like the number one thousand) represents the period from the Cross to the Second Coming.

Is Satan Bound?

Revelation 20:1-3 reveals that when the Millennium begins, Satan will be bound. This fact forced Augustine to argue that Satan was bound at the Cross. But was he?

Satan was certainly defeated at the Cross due to the power of the resurrection. But that victory at the Cross has not yet been manifested in history in all its aspects. The curse continues. Death stalks the earth. Satan still retains his dominion over the world (1 John 5:19).

The ultimate destruction of Satan is yet future. That’s why the Bible speaks of the “crushing” of Satan as a future event that will take place at the Second Coming of Jesus (Romans 16:20). At that time, Satan will be stripped of his authority and bound for a thousand years. AT the end of the Millennium, he will be cast into the lake of fire where he will be tormented forever (Revelation 20:7-10).

Amillennialists often respond to these points by quoting Mathew 28:18 where Jesus said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” But what they overlook is that although Jesus has been given all authority, He is not yet exercising it. That’s why the world is still in such a wretched state.

Jesus is now serving as our High Priest before the throne of God (Hebrews 8:1). When He returns, He will come as the King of kings, and He will begin to exercise in full the authority He won at the Cross (Revelation 19:16). Thus, the writer of Hebrews says that although everything has been put in subjection under the feet of Jesus, “we do not yet see all things subjected to Him” (Hebrews 2:5-8). In fact, 1 Corinthians 15:23-26 teaches that everything will not be put under the authority of Jesus until the end of His millennial reign when Satan is crushed and death is destroyed.

If Satan is bound now, then he is bound on a very long chain, because he is always nipping at my heels, chewing on my leg and lunging for my throat! He is portrayed in 1 Peter 5:8 as an “adversary” who “prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.” He sure doesn’t sound very “bound” in that passage!

There is certainly a sense in which Satan was limited by the Cross, because since that time believers in Jesus have received the indwelling power of the Spirit, enabling them to be overcomers in their combat with Satan (1 John 5:1-5). But the limitations which the Cross placed on Satan do not constitute the binding of Satan that the Scriptures say will take place at the beginning of the Millennium.

Revelation says Satan will be bound so that he can no longer “deceive the nations” (Revelation 20:3). How can anyone argue that the nations of the world are not deceived today?

Where are the Resurrections?

Another problem with the Amillennial viewpoint is that is does not provide for the two resurrections which the Bible says will occur in the future. These are the resurrections of the just and the unjust (Acts 25:15).

As will be pointed out in this book’s chapter on resurrections (chapter 38), the Premillennial view provides for two resurrections. The first, the resurrection of the righteous, takes place in three stages – the resurrection of Jesus, the resurrection of the Church at the time of the Rapture and the resurrection of Tribulation martyrs and Old Testament saints at the time of the Lord’s Second Coming. The second resurrection, the resurrection of the unrighteous, takes place all at once at the end of the Millennium. 

But in the Amillennial view, there is only one resurrection. It takes place at the end of the Church Age when history comes to an end. Both the just and the unjust are resurrected at the same time. Where are the two resurrections?

Augustine “solved” this problem by spiritualizing the first resurrection. He said it is a spiritual resurrection that occurs when a person accepts Jesus as Lord and is born again! The second resurrection is a literal one that occurs when everyone is raised from the dead at the Lord’s return.

The two resurrections are spoken of specifically in Revelation 20:4-6. The passage says the resurrections are separated by a thousand years. When a person chooses to interpret one of these spiritually and the other literally, he is playing games with words that render them meaningless.

Where is the New Earth?

Augustine completely spiritualized the concept of a New Earth that is promised to believers as their eternal abode (Revelation 21:1). His Greek mindset kept him from accepting the truth that the Redeemed will live eternally on a New Earth. He equated the New Earth with Heaven.

From his Greek perspective, it was impossible to mix perfected, holy beings with an evil, material creation. The creation had to cease to exist. Eternity would be spent in an ethereal spirit world.

A Liberal View

To summarize, the Amillennial view is based on a spiritualizing approach to Scripture which contends that the bible does not mean what it says.

This is a consistent view for theological liberals who also spiritualize the creation, the miracles, the virgin birth and the resurrection of Jesus. But what is astounding is the number of Evangelicals who endorse the Amillennial view. In effect, they take the position that the Bible always means what is says unless it is talking about the Second Coming of Jesus!

The Church and the Kingdom

One final point. There is no doubt that the Church is the current manifestation of God’s kingdom in the world today. But to say that the kingdom is the Church is not the same as saying that the kingdom is only the Church.

The Scriptures clearly teach that the Church is God’s current kingdom. But they do not teach that the kingdom is only the Church. Consider these references to the kingdom in the Scriptures:

1)   The kingdom is identified with the creation itself, for God is sovereign over the creation. See Psalm 93:1-2 and 1 Chronicles 29:11.

2)   The kingdom is expressed in the nation of Israel. See Exodus 19:6 and 1 Samuel 8:7.

3)   The kingdom is equated with the Church. See Colossians 1:13 and Revelation 1:9.

4)   The kingdom is viewed as something more than the Church, yet to come in the future. See Matthew 8:11, Luke 22:28-30, Acts 14:22, 1 Corinthians 6:9 and 2 Peter 1:11.

5)   The kingdom is yet future, to take the form of a Jewish kingdom here on earth in which Jesus will reign in glory through the Jewish people, with the assistance of His Church Age saints. See Daniel 7:18,27, 2 Timothy 2:12, Revelation 3:21 and Revelation 20:6.

6)   The kingdom is yet future, to take the form ultimately of a reign of God over the Redeemed upon a New Earth. See 1 Corinthians 15:24-28 and Revelation 21:1-4.

The Unity of the Kingdom Concept

I believe these scriptures teach that God has always had a kingdom upon this earth, but it has been manifested in different ways. The kingdom was originally expressed in the creation itself, in its perfect obedience to God’s will. With the corruption of the creation through the sin of man, the kingdom was expressed in the lives of the Patriarchs who, like Job, responded obediently in faith to God’s will. The kingdom became focused in a more tangible manner after the call of Abraham and the emergence of the nation of Israel.

Since Pentecost, the kingdom has been expressed in the institution of the Church. But the Bible promises different expressions of the kingdom in the future – first, in the form of a thousand year rule of Jesus upon this earth, and second, in the form of an eternal rule of God upon a New Earth.

Notice that the progression here is both circular and expansive. It is circular in that it begins and ends with the reign of God over a creation that is in perfect submission. It is expansive in that after the Fall, it constantly expands in scope from a few Patriarchs and their families, to the nation of Israel, to the Church and finally to all the nations of the world.

The kingdom is thus past, present, and future. It is currently expressed in the Church, but it is like a rose in the bud, yet to bloom in its full glory. The kingdom has always been coming, and it will continue to come until God’s will is done perfectly on earth as it is in Heaven.

Even during the Millennial reign of Jesus the kingdom will be coming, for the Bible teaches that rebellion will be lurking in the hearts of men.

The Consummation of the kingdom will not come until all enemies of God have been subdued. That will occur at the end of the Millennial reign of Jesus (Revelation 20:7-15) at which time He will surrender the kingdom to His Father who will reign forever over a redeemed creation (1 Corinthians 15:24-28).

Summary

The Premillennialism of the early church was rejected because of the development of the allegorical approach to scripture interpretation and because of the invasion into Christianity of Greek philosophy.

A third reason was because Amillennialism gave the Church increased significance over the nations of the world by emphasizing that it is God’s kingdom to which all nations should submit.

There was a fourth reason for the rejection of Premillennialism. It had to do with the fact that the Bible’s prophecies clearly indicate that the Millennium will be primarily a Jewish kingdom in which Church Age saints will participate in a secondary way. Jesus will reign from Jerusalem. Israel will be the prime nation of the world, and all the blessings of God will flow to the nations through Israel.

The rapidly increasing anti-Semitism in the first three centuries of the Church made it impossible for Christian leaders to accept the idea of such a Jewish kingdom.

The Test of Reality

The Amillennial view does not stand the test of either the Scriptures or reality. How can anyone truly believe that we are currently living in the Millennium? The Bible says that during the Millennium, “the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9). Does that sound like the world we live in?

Let’s not sell God short. When He promised a world characterized by peace, righteousness, and justice (Isaiah 2:2-4), He surely did not have in mind the corrupt world system we are living in now. To characterize this age as the Millennium is to render meaningless some glorious promises of God. Don’t surrender our promises to a spiritualizing approach.

23: Postmillennialism

Will the Church convert the world?

I never thought I would live long enough to see the revival of the thoroughly discredited doctrine of Postmillennialism. But it has occurred, and it has happened quickly.

The doctrine is sweeping through Christendom today, and strangely enough, it is appealing primarily to two segments at opposite ends of the spectrum – namely, the Charismatics and those with a heritage of Reformed Theology.

The doctrine is being presented in new clothes. Although it appears under many different names – Restoration, Reconstruction, New Wave, Latter Rain and Manifests Sons of God – the two most frequently used titles are Kingdom Now Theology and Dominion Theology.

Characteristics

Regardless of the name, the various groups advocating this confused doctrine hold certain beliefs in common:

1)   The Church has replaced Israel, and God has no purpose left for the Jews. Accordingly, some of the proponents are virulently anti-Semitic, even to the point of arguing that the Jewish people are the Antichrist.

2)   The Church is destined to take over the world by itself, either through evangelism or politics, or a combination of both. The Church will then reign over all the nations for at least one thousand years.

3)   Jesus cannot return for the Church until the Church has completed its reign and is ready to present the kingdom to Him.

The Birth and Death

Postmillennialism was born in the middle of the 17th Century as a product of the rationalistic revolution in thinking that produced Humanism with its belief in the goodness of Man. If Man is capable of perfection through education, as the Humanists believed, then surely Mankind is capable of building the kingdom of God on earth.

Such was the reasoning of a Unitarian minister by the name of Daniel Whitby (1638-1726). He envisioned the Church converting the world and then reigning over a kingdom of Christianized nations for a thousand years, at which time the kingdom would be presented to the Lord. Since his scheme of end-time events had Jesus returning at the end of the Millennium, it came to be known as Postmillennialism, meaning “after the millennium.”

This viewpoint was adopted quickly by the mainline Protestant denominations, and it served to fuel their zeal to send forth missionaries to convert the world to Christ. By the end of the 19th Century, most Protestant Christians were expecting the 20th Century to be the “Christian Century” when the Christianization of the world would be completed and the Church’s reign of worldwide peace would begin.

World War I quickly shattered the hopes and dreams of Postmillennialists. This horrific war made it very difficult, if not impossible, to believe in the inevitable progress of Mankind. When the War was followed quickly by the Great Depression and then the Second World War, the Humanistic foundation of Postmillennialism was revealed to be a delusion.

The Resurrection

From the First World War until the 1980s, only one major popular book was written which advocated the Postmillennial view. Published in 1957, it was entitled The Millennium. The author was a Reformed theologian by the name of Loraine Boettner (1901-1990).

When I read this book, I concluded the author probably lived on an isolated island cut off from all news sources. The reason is that he spent a good portion of the book trying to convince the reader that the world was getting better!

Boettner’s book had little impact. The real resurrection of Postmillennialism took place in the decade of he 1980s, when the market was suddenly flooded with Postmillennial books. The two most prolific and influential authors were Earl Paulk (1927-2009) and David Chilton (1951-1997).

Two Flavors

Although Paulk and Chilton both came to the same erroneous conclusion that the Church will take over the world without the presence of Jesus, their reasoning and methods differed rather drastically.

Paulk’s approach was a natural outgrowth of the confused hyper-faith doctrines that had come to characterize much of the Charismatic movement at that time. Paulk asserted that Christians are “Little gods” with the authority of Christ. We can therefore confess dominion over the earth and, through faith, what we confess will come to pass. Paulk’s theology is the one referred to as Kingdom Now.

The other major flavor of the Postmillennial revival is called Dominion Theology. Its roots are very different. It is advocated by non-Charismatic, Calvinist theologians.

The philosophical father of Dominion Theology was Rousas John Rushdoony (1916-2001). Although he was on the scene for a long time, his writings were obtuse and were therefore popular among only a handful of intellectuals. But in the 1980s, his theories were popularized by his son-in-law, Gary North of Tyler, Texas and by David Chilton, a Presbyterian preacher in California.

Dominion Theology differs from Kingdom Now not only in its roots but also in its methods. Kingdom Now supposedly relies on supernatural methods. Believers, as “little gods,” assert their godhood by speaking dominion over the nations.

Dominion Theology, in contrast, relies on more traditional methods. The world is to be claimed for Christ through missionary efforts and political activism.

A Newer Flavor

A more modern version of this Postmillennial viewpoint can be found in the writings of Rick Warren, the Pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. In 2005 he announced his P.E.A.C.E. Plan, which was a misguided concept of motivating churches all over the world to launch programs to transform the world by overcoming the problems of society. The anagram, PEACE, stood for Plant churches that promote reconciliation; Equip servant leaders; Assist the poor; Care for the sick; Educate the next generation.

As Warren put it, “Our goal is to enlist one billion foot soldiers for the Kingdom of God…to take on the five 'global giants’ …of spiritual emptiness, self-serving leadership, poverty, disease and ignorance.”

It amounted to just new window-dressing for the discredited concept of Postmillennialism.

Scriptural Arguments

There are three cornerstone scriptures that are often used to justify the Kingdom Now/Dominion doctrines. The first and foremost is Acts 3:21.

This verse is usually quoted to say, “Jesus must remain in heaven until all things have been restored.” Therefore, the argument goes, Jesus cannot return until the Church has emerged triumphant over the world and has restored God’s creation through a reign of peace, righteousness and justice.

The problem with this very neat argument is that the verse does not say what the Dominionists quote it to say. Instead, the verse says, “Jesus will remain in heaven until the time for the restoration of all things.” What the verse actually says is therefore drastically different from the subtle Dominionist paraphrase of it.

The verse means exactly what it says: Jesus must remain in Heaven until it is time for the restoration of all things. He will then return and restore the creation and restore God’s dominion over the creation, just as prophesied by the Hebrew prophets (see, for example, Isaiah 11:3b-9).

The second scripture text which Dominionists often point to is Matthew 24:14, which says that the gospel of the kingdom must be preached in the whole world before the end will come. This verse, they say, requires that the world be converted to Christ before He returns.

But this verse does not say that the world must be converted. It says only that the Gospel must be preached to all the world.

The Church is preaching the Gospel all over the world today, but even so, not every person will hear it until the end of the Tribulation period when an angel of God will be sent forth to proclaim the Gospel “to every nation and tribe and tongue and people” (Revelation 14:6I). Then Jesus will return in triumph to establish His kingdom from Mt. Zion in Jerusalem (Revelation 19 and 20).

A third text sometimes used by the Dominionists is Romans 8:19 which says that “the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.” This is interpreted to mean that the creation will be redeemed as the Church matures, purifies and spreads its influence over the earth.

But the context of this passage makes it very clear that the verse is talking about the resurrection of the saints, not the maturing of the saints. The resurrection will reveal those who are truly the sons of God (verse 23). It is at that time that the curse will be lifted from the creation, not before (verse 21).

Unscriptural Conclusions

The lack of scriptural foundation has led the Kingdom Now/Dominion theologians to conclusions that are completely unbiblical. Let’s consider these conclusions one by one:

1)   The Jews – Has God washed His hands of them? The Dominionists claim He has, but Romans 9-11 clearly teaches that the Jews are still the Chosen People of God and that God intends to bring a remnant of them to salvation in Jesus Christ. The disobedience of the Jews has not annulled God’s promises to Israel because “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29).

2)   The World – Will the world be converted to Jesus as these revived Postmillennailists claim? The Bible teaches that the vast majority of people will always reject the Gospel. This is one of the points of the parable of the sower (Matthew 13). Jesus said, “The gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it” (Matthew 7:14).

3)   The Church – Is the mission of the Church to convert all nations? Again, that’s what the Dominionists claim. But the Bible teaches that it is the responsibility of the Church to preach the Gospel, not to convert the world (Mark 16:15).

4)   The Kingdom – Does the Church establish a kingdom without a king? This is the view of the Dominionists. The Bible teaches that Jesus will present the kingdom to the Church (Daniel 7:13-14,18,27). The Church is never pictured as presenting the kingdom to Jesus. Furthermore, the Church is always portrayed as reigning with Jesus and not as reigning alone (Revelation 3:21).

5)   Imminency – The Bible teaches we are to be alert and sober, watching for the imminent return of the Lord for His Church (Matthew 24 and 25). The new Postmillennialists deny that the return of Jesus is imminent. In fact, they say He cannot return until the Church has reigned for at least one thousand years.

6)   Jesus – The Kingdom Now advocates of the revived Postmillennialism not only replace Israel with the Church, they also replace Jesus with the Church. Paulk went so far as to say that the Church is “the ongoing incarnation of Christ.” This is blasphemy. There is only one Christ and that is Jesus of Nazareth. The focus of God’s plan of redemption for all of His creation is not the Church – it is Jesus (Hebrews 1). And any doctrine that causes us to take our eyes off the Lord is profoundly false.

Compounding the Errors

Postmillennialism was originally founded upon an assumption that was fatally flawed – namely, the essential goodness of Man. The Bible teaches exactly the opposite. The Scriptures assert that Man is born with a sin nature that renders him a naturally evil being (Romans 3:9-18). In fact, the Bible states that there is nothing as “deceitful” and “desperately sick” as the heart of Man (Jeremiah 17:9).

The errors of the viewpoint began to compound when the proponents of Postmillennialism started asserting that it is possible for the Church to Christianize the world. Again, this is a very unbiblical concept. Bible prophecy never predicts the existence of such a world apart from the physical presence of Jesus ruling from Mt. Zion as King of kings and Lord of lords.

End-time Deception

The Bible prophesies that the end-times leading up to the return of Jesus will be an era of wide-spread deception and apostasy (1 Timothy 4:1 and 2 Timothy 3:13). I believe that Postmillennialism is a part of that end-time deception.

We have been in the concluding years of the end-times ever since the re-establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. We are currently on the threshold of the Tribulation, as all the nations of the world come against Israel over the issue of Jerusalem (Zechariah 12:2-3). As we shall see in later chapters, everywhere one looks today, there are signs of the Lord’s soon return.

In a time when we should be preparing earnestly for the Rapture of the Church at any moment, the Postmillennialists are telling us that there is no possibility that the Lord can return for at least a thousand years! Satan must love that message.

A Warning

Postmillennialists dream of the Church ruling over the world in its own power. They seem to for get that every time the Church has sought political power, it has ended up being corrupted by the political system. This happened when the Church was wed with the Roman Empire, leading to the spiritual darkness of the Middle Ages.

The deadest churches in the world today are the political, state churches of Europe. They have the form of religion, but they have denied its power (2 Timothy 3:5). They have political power, but they do not have the power of God’s Spirit.

Do not be deceived by those who urge the Church to change the world through the pursuit of political power. It is true that a day will come when the Church will reign over all the world, but that reign will be conducted in person by Jesus through His glorified saints. A perfect kingdom requires a perfect king ruling through perfected subjects. 

24: Preterism

Has the Second Coming already occurred?

Preterism is a system of interpretation for the book of Revelation. Its strange name comes from a Latin word meaning past tense. The word is appropriate because this view holds that either all or most of the book of Revelation was fulfilled in the First Century!

The Origin of the Viewpoint

The view was developed in the 17th Century by a Jesuit priest named Luis de Alcazar (1554-1613). His purpose was to defend the Catholic Church against the attacks of the Reformers. He denied the Reformers' charge that the book of Revelation was a prophecy about the apostasy of the Roman Church. Instead, he argued that the book was a prophecy about the Church's struggles during its early years.

According to Alcazar, chapters 4 through 11 of Revelation depict the Church's fight against Judaism, culminating in the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Chapters 12 through 19 were viewed as the Church's struggle against paganism, ending with the fall of Rome in 476 AD. Chapters 20 through 22 were interpreted to be a symbolic description of the glories of papal Rome. Using this clever approach, Alcazar was able to limit the range of Revelation's prophecies to the first 500 years of the Christian Era.

Forms of Preterism

The most popular type of Preterism today is a so-called "mild" form that gained popularity in the latter part of the 20th Century. It sees nearly all the prophecies of Revelation as fulfilled in the 70 AD destruction of Jerusalem, except for the resurrection of believers and the Second Coming of Jesus.

Mild Preterism assigns the Tribulation to the fall of Israel, the great apostasy to the First Century Church, and the last days to the period between Jesus' ascension and the destruction of Jerusalem. The Antichrist is viewed as a symbol of Nero in particular and the Roman Empire in general. The False Prophet is equated with the leadership of apostate Israel. Needless to say, many of the spokesmen for this viewpoint are anti-Semitic.

There is a more extreme form of Preterism whose advocates con- sider themselves to be "consistent Preterists." They take the position that all so-called “'end-time prophecy" was fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD – including the Second Coming and the bodily resurrection of believers! They do not look forward to any future resurrection or any end of history. They believe we are currently living in the eternal state and that believers experience a spiritual resurrection at death and will live eternally in spiritual bodies.

The rejection of a future bodily return of Jesus and any future physical resurrection of believers puts this camp of Preterism outside of Christian orthodoxy.

The Cornerstone of the Viewpoint

The cornerstone of the Preterist position is a belief that the book of Revelation was written before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. This belief flies in the face of strong evidence to the contrary.

The internal evidence of the book regarding the Roman Empire and the external testimony of the Church Fathers both point to a date of authorship around 95 AD, 25 years after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.

The type of widespread Roman persecution of the Church that is pictured in Revelation did not occur until the reign of Domitian (81- 96 AD). The persecutions of Nero were limited to the area of Rome. One of the Church Fathers, Irenaeus (c.130-c.202), wrote that the book of Revelation was authored by the Apostle John toward the end of Domitian's reign." Irenaeus was discipled by Polycarp (c.70- c.155 AD) who, in turn, had been discipled directly by John himself.

References to the Temple

One of the arguments for an earlier date is based on a reference to the Jewish temple in Revelation 11:1-2. John is told to measure the temple, which in this case seems to be a command to assess the temple's spiritual condition. This reference to the temple, it is argued, must mean that the book was written before the temple was destroyed in 70 AD.

But this argument ignores the fact that the Scriptures teach there are going to be two future temples, one during the Tribulation which the Antichrist will desecrate (Daniel 9:27 and 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4), and another during the Millennium which Jesus Christ will consecrate (Ezekiel 40-46).

The temple mentioned in Revelation 11 must be the Tribulation temple since the passage says it will be trampled down by the Gentiles for 42 months (the last half of the Tribulation). It also says this will be immediately preceded by the testimony of the two witnesses for 1,260 days (the first half of the Tribulation).

The Issue of Matthew 24

Another cornerstone of Preterism is its belief that the prophecies contained in Jesus' Olivet Discourse, as recorded in Matthew 24, were all fulfilled in 70 AD.

Is Matthew 24 history or prophecy? It is a crucial prophetic question. The passage clearly portrays a period of intense tribulation that will precede the Second Coming of Jesus. Has this terrible period of tribulation already occurred or is it yet to occur? Is it past or future? History or prophecy?

I believe Matthew 24 was only prefilled in symbolic type in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD and is therefore yet to be fulfilled in history. And I think I can prove that from the passage itself.

Daniel's Prophecy

To begin with, consider verse 15. It says the period of intense persecution of Jews will begin when "the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel, is seen "'standing in the holy place."

We have no historical record of such an event taking place in 70 AD. Unlike the Greek tyrant, Antiochus Epiphanes, who desecrated the temple's holy place in 168 BC by erecting within it an altar to Zeus, Titus took no such action in 70 AD before his troops destroyed the city and the temple.

The Intensity of the Tribulation

The second point to note is found in verse 21. It says that the period of Jewish persecution that will follow the desecration of the temple will be the most intense in all of history, "since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall [be]."

These words were not fulfilled in 70 AD. The persecution which the Jews experienced under Titus was severe, but it pales in comparison to what the Jews suffered during the Nazi Holocaust of World War II.

Josephus says the Romans killed a million Jews in the 70 AD siege of Jerusalem. Historians are convinced that this number is greatly exaggerated. But even if it is true, it is nothing compared to the six million Jews who perished at the hands of the Nazis.

Furthermore, the prophet Zechariah tells us that during the Tribulation, a total of two-thirds of the Jewish people will die during that period of unparalleled calamity (Zechariah 13:8-9). In other words, there is a period of Jewish persecution yet to occur that will even exceed the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust.

Consider verse 21 again: “for then there will be a great tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall." Did Jesus mean what He said or not? Surely this is example of hyperbole, of exaggeration to make a point. Everything in the passage seems to demand that we are to take Jesus' words literally.

The conclusion is inescapable. The tribulation experienced by the Jews in 70 AD was not the greatest “since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall be."

The Severity of the Tribulation

The third piece of evidence is found in verse 22. Jesus says that the period of "great tribulation" (verse 21) that He is talking about will be so severe that all life will cease unless the period is cut short.

You and I live in the only generation in history when these words could be literally fulfilled. There was no possibility in 70 AD that the siege of Jerusalem would lead to the extinction of all life. But that is a very real threat today due to the development and deployment of nuclear weapons.

The best selling book of 1982, The Fate of the Earth, proved that if there is ever an all out nuclear exchange between the United States and Russia, all life on earth will cease to exist.

The Proximity of the Tribulation

The fourth clue that Matthew 24 is yet to be fulfilled is found in verse 29. It says the Lord will return "immediately after the tribulation of those days." How can we escape the impact of the word "immediately"? I don't think we can. It clearly ties the preceding events to the immediate time of Jesus' return.

Radical Preterists deal with this problem in a fanciful way by claiming that the Second Coming of Jesus actually occurred in 70 AD when He returned "spiritually" to pour out the wrath of God on the Jewish people.

That, of course, is ludicrous, but it shows the extent to which some people will go to try to make Scripture conform to a particular doctrine. The Bible teaches to the contrary that Jesus will return physically and visibly, just as when He ascended into Heaven (Act 1:10-11).

The Context of the Tribulation

The final evidence that Matthew 24 was not fulfilled in 70 AD is to be found in verses 32-35, where Jesus says that all the things He has spoken of concerning the Tribulation will be fulfilled during the generation that sees the "fig tree" re-blossom. Here is the key to the timing of the prophecy's fulfillment.

What is the "fig tree? Think back for a moment to what had happened the day before. Jesus had put a curse on a barren fig tree (Matthew 21:18-19), causing it to wither. It was a prophetic sign that God would set the Jewish nation aside because of their spiritual barrenness - that is, their refusal to accept Jesus as their Messiah. The fig tree is a symbol of the nation of Israel that is used throughout the Scriptures. (Hosea 9:10, Jeremiah 24:1-10, Joel 1:7 and Luke 13:6-9).

Now, the next day, Jesus calls the fig tree to mind and says, "Watch it. When it re-blossoms, all these things will happen."

The setting aside of Israel occurred in 70 AD. The re-blossoming took place in 1948 when the nation of Israel was re-established.

A Fact to Ponder

Matthew 24 is not history. The terrible events of 70 AD were a classic prefillment in type of the ultimate fulfillment that will occur immediately before the Lord returns.

Matthew 24 is prophecy yet to be fulfilled. It is going to be fulfilled soon, for Israel has been regathered, the nation has been re-established and the nations of the world are coming together against the Jewish state. The wrath of God is about to fall. We are on the threshold of the Great Tribulation.

Unfulfilled Prophecies

The basic problem with the Preterist viewpoint is that it requires a spiritualization of prophecy. This is necessitated by the fact that the prophecies contained in the book of Revelation were not fulfilled in any literal sense in the First Century.

Think about it for a moment. There is no historical record of the two witnesses of Revelation 11 appearing in Jerusalem and preaching for three and one-half years. There was no worldwide time of tribulation. Nero did not rule the world, as Revelation 13:8 says the Antichrist will. Nor was Nero served by any individual equivalent to the False Prophet described in Revelation 13:11-15.

There is also no record of any implementation of the “mark of the beast" to control buying and selling (Revelation 13:16-18). And the headquarters of the Antichrist (which in the Preterist view would be Rome) was not destroyed in one hour of one day as prophesied in Revelation 18:8-10.

When the radical Preterists argue that even the Second Coming occurred in the First Century, they deny the promise that was made to the Apostles at the time of Jesus' ascension. As I pointed out earlier, the Apostles were told by supernatural agents of God that Jesus would one day return in just the same manner as He had ascended - that is, bodily and visibly (Acts 1:10-11).

The Preterist claim that the Second Coming of Christ occurred in 70 AD is preposterous. It is reminiscent of two fellows in the time of Paul-Hymenaeus and Philetus - who argued that the resurrection had already taken place (2 Timothy 2:17-18). Paul dismissed their claim as "worldly and empty chatter" that will "lead to further ungodliness" (2 Timothy 2:16).

An Eclectic Observation

Nonetheless, I can agree with the Preterists when they insist that the book of Revelation contained a message of encouragement to First Century Christians, assuring them that the Church would ultimately triumph over the Roman Empire.

I can also relate to the Historicists when they argue that the prophecies of Revelation relate to the corruption of the Roman Church and its persecution of true believers.

In other words, I believe the book of Revelation has always had a continuing relevance as a source of encouragement to suffering Christians throughout the history of the Church. It has always served as a reminder that the Church will ultimately triumph over all its oppressors.

That's why I can even agree with the liberal, Idealist viewpoint when it argues that the ultimate message of the book is that good will triumph over evil. How can anyone argue with that conclusion when the book clearly teaches that Satan will be crushed, Jesus will emerge totally triumphant and believers will win in the end?

But I also believe in the Futurist view that most of the book of Revelation is yet to be fulfilled and is to be fulfilled in its plain sense meaning. In other words, I believe there's going to be a real Antichrist and not just a symbolic Antichrist. Yes, there have been symbolic antichrists in the past, but there is going to be a fulfillment in a literal Antichrist in the future. I also believe the Tribulation, Millennium and Eternal State are all yet future.

Relating the Views to Each Other

As I look at these four systems of interpretation (Preterist, Historicist, Idealist, and Futurist) and consider their relationship to each other, I am reminded of how an overhead projector works. You can put a transparency on the projector that shows the land of Israel in the time of Joshua. Then you can lay on top of that transparency another one that shows the boundaries of the land at the time of Jesus. Another overlay could show the land's boundaries during the time of the Crusaders. A final overlay could outline the boundaries as they exist today. Each transparency contains an element of truth about the land. The light shines through all the transparencies to give you the full picture, showing you how the boundaries have changed over the years.

I think that's the way these schools of interpretation relate to each other. Each one of the four contains an element of truth. The problem comes when you accept only one and reject all the others.

We must never forget that the book of Revelation contained a very relevant message for First Century Christians. It assured them of their ultimate victory over the Roman Empire. We must also remember that the book has been given relevant application to the struggles of the Church throughout history.

Looking to the Future

But we must also keep in mind that the Futurist view is correct when it says that the ultimate fulfillment of the book's prophecies is yet future.

Our hope is future, not past, and that is why the Apostle Paul urged us to live "looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus" (Titus 2:13).

25: The Return of Jesus

Will it be one event, or will it occur in stages?

When you think of the coming of the Lord, what do you think of. What is your image? Is it positive or negative? Is it a return in love or in wrath? And what do you feel? Fear or joy? Comfort or anxiety?

How would you characterize your overall attitude about the Lord's return? Desire or apathy? Do you pray for it? Or, do you try not to think about it? Are you enthusiastic or passive?

Finally, how would you describe the Lord's coming? How would you explain it to someone who knows nothing about it?

The Scriptural Images

There are two detailed descriptions of the Lord's return in the New Testament, one written by the Apostle Paul and the other by the Apostle John. These descriptions are reproduced below (One description is found under 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, and the other one under Revelation 19:11-16). Stop for a moment and read them carefully.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

13) But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope.

14) For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.

15) For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, and re- main until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen

asleep.

16) For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first.

17) Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.

18) Therefore comfort one another with these words.

Revelation 19:11-16

11) And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war.

12) And His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head are many diadems; and He has a name written upon Him which no one knows except Himself.

13) And He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of God.

14) And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses.

15) And from His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may smite the nations; and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.

16) And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, "KING OF KINGS.

AND LORD OF LORDS."

Now, let me ask you another question. How can these two descriptions be reconciled? I ask that because they are as different as night and day. Did you notice that?

Look again and make a careful comparison. Notice that they have absolutely nothing in common except that they both focus on Jesus. Beyond that common fact, they are totally incompatible.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

In First Thessalonians Jesus appears in the heavens, bringing with Him the spirits of those who have died in Him. There is the blowing of a trumpet and the shout of an archangel. The dead in Christ are resurrected. Their supernaturally reconstructed bodies ascend to meet the Lord in the sky, where their spirits will be reunited with their bodies and their bodies will be glorified (see 1 Corinthians 15:42-44, 51-58). The living in Christ will follow, and on the way up, they will be translated from mortal to immortal.

In Matthew 25:6 Jesus indicates that the archangel will shout, “Behold, the Bridegroom!" That would be appropriate, for the image in First Thessalonians is that of a bridegroom coming for his bride.

What an exciting passage! It is no wonder that it ends with the statement, "Comfort one another with these words." The dead in Christ will be resurrected and glorified (made immortal). The living in Christ will be instantly translated (changed from mortal to immortal). That means there is a whole generation of Christians who will never die - the generation that is alive at the time the Lord appears in the heavens.

A Summary Comparison

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

1)  Jesus appears in the heavens

2)  Jesus appears for His Church

3)  Jesus appears as the Deliverer

4)  Jesus appears in grace

5)  Jesus appears as a bridegroom.

Revelation 19:11-16

1)  Jesus returns to earth.

2)  Jesus returns with His Church

3)  Jesus returns as a Warrior.

4)  Jesus returns in wrath.

5)  Jesus returns as a king.

Revelation 19:11-16

The image of the Lord's return contained in Revelation 19 presents a startling contrast to the one in First Thessalonians.

As Revelation 19 opens, we have come to the end of the seven years of the Great Tribulation. All the angels and saints in Heaven are shouting "Hallelujah!" because the kingdom of the Antichrist has been destroyed and the time has come for Jesus to return to the earth (Revelation 19:1-6).

But first, Jesus celebrates His union with His bride, the Church (Revelation 19:7-10). He does this by treating His bride to a great wedding feast.

At the end of this meal, the heavens open, and Jesus and His bride return to earth in glory, riding white horses (Revelation 19:11-14). He returns as a warrior to judge and wage war" against the enemies of God. He returns as an avenger to pour out the wrath of God on those who have rejected God's love and grace. And He returns as a king to strike down the nations" and "rule them with a rod of iron" (Revelation 19:15-16).

Comparison and Contrast

The passage in First Thessalonians presents a scene of love, mercy and grace. The picture that is painted in Revelation is one of vengeance and wrath. In the Thessalonian passage, the Lord appears in the sky, but does not descend to the earth. In the Revelation account, he comes to the earth, in accordance with Zechariah 14 which says He will return to the Mount of Olives from which He ascended into Heaven.

One of the most significant differences between the two passages relates to the Church. In the Thessalonian account, the Lord appears for the purpose of taking His Church, both the dead and living members, out of this world. In Revelation, by stark contrast, He returns with His Church. This is indicated in Revelation 19:14 where it says that the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean were following Him on white horses." We know these people constitute the Church, because the same group is described a few verses earlier (verses 7 and 8) as being the bride of Christ.

In Paul's description of the Lord's return, Jesus is portrayed coming for His Church, to deliver believers from the "wrath that is to come" (1 Thessalonians 1:10). But in John's description, Jesus is portrayed as returning with His Church in great wrath. In Thessalonians Jesus appears as a Deliverer. In Revelation He comes back as a Warrior. In one scene He comes to claim the righteous; in the other, He returns to condemn the unrighteous.

A Problem in Reconciliation

What is going on here? How could these two passages be talking about the same event? How can they be reconciled?

I believe there is only one way to reconcile them and that is to conclude that they are describing two separate events. That, in turn, implies rather clearly that there are going to be two future comings of the Lord.

One of those - the one described in 1 Thessalonians 4 – will be more of an appearing than a coming, for the Lord will not actually return to the earth. He will, instead, appear in the heavens and supernaturally draw the Church, living and dead, to Him.

The second future appearance of the Lord - the one described in Revelation 19. will be the true "Second Coming," for the Lord will actually descend to the earth to pour out the wrath of God and establish His reign over all the world.

This means the “Second Coming" of the Lord is going to be in two stages. The first stage will be what has come to be known as the Rapture - the snatching of the Church out of the world. The second stage, which will occur later, will be the return of the Lord to the earth.

The Issue of Imminence

This method of reconciling these passages solves a serious problem that emerges when you think of only one future coming of the Lord. That problem relates to the emphasis that the Scriptures give to imminence.

What I am referring to, of course, is the constant warning of the Scriptures that the Lord may appear any moment and, therefore, we are to always be ready for the Lord's return (Matthew 24:36,42,44, 50 and 25:13).

If there is only one future coming of the Lord, then these warnings are a waste of time and there is no imminence because there are many prophecies that are yet to be fulfilled before the Lord can return to this earth. For example:

1. A peace treaty must be signed that will guarantee Israel's peace with all of its Arab neighbors (Daniel 9:27).             
2. The Jewish temple must be rebuilt in Jerusalem (Matthew 24:15, 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 and Revelation 11: 1-2).         
3. The Great Tribulation must begin and run its seven year course, resulting in the death of over half the world's population (Revelation 6-18).                                 
4. The Antichrist must reveal himself and begin an unprecedented persecution of the Jews - one that will result in the death of two-thirds of all the Jews (Revelation 12:13-17 and Zechariah 13:7-9).                                     
5. The Gospel must be preached to every person on the earth (Matthew 24:14 and Revelation 14:6-7).                       
6. An unprecedented system of economic control must be established that will prevent persons from buying or selling anything unless they can display on their right hands or foreheads the mark or name of the Antichrist (Revelation 13:16-18).                                                     
7. The worldwide kingdom of the Antichrist must be destroyed in "one hour of one day" (Revelation 17 and 18).

These are all events that are clearly prophesied in Scripture as occurring before Jesus returns to earth. None of them has yet been fulfilled in history. If there is only one future coming of the Lord, and it must take place after these events, then why should we be looking for Jesus Christ? We should be looking instead for the Antichrist!

Living with Expectancy

The only way that the imminence taught by the Scriptures can be maintained is to believe that Jesus can return any moment. The only way to maintain that belief is to conclude that the Lord's appearing for His Church (the Rapture) is an event that is separate and apart from the Second Coming and is an event that can occur any moment.

That is what I have concluded from my study of prophecy, and I therefore live looking for the Rapture to occur any moment. This is exactly what Paul commands us to do when he writes that we are to live "looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus" (Titus 2:13).

I therefore do not believe there is one prophecy in the Bible that must be fulfilled before the Lord appears for His Church. He can appear any moment. And the imminence of His appearing becomes increasingly apparent as the signs of the time point to the events that will culminate with His Second Coming. Those signs include, among others, the re-establishment of the state of Israel, the Jewish reoccupation of the city of Jerusalem, the reunification of Europe and the rise of Arab militancy in the Middle East.

Keep in mind that the Rapture is not the event that will kick-off the Tribulation. That event is the signing of a peace treaty that will guarantee the peace of Israel and will allow the Jews to rebuild their temple (Daniel 9:27). The Rapture could occur years before the Tribulation begins, although it is most likely to occur near the beginning because the Tribulation is the time for the pouring out of God's wrath, and 1 Thessalonians 1:10 says that Jesus will "deliver" His Church "from the wrath to come."

A Signless Event

Since the Rapture is imminent, and always has been, there are no signs that point to it. The signs of the times that the Bible gives us to watch for relate to the Tribulation and the Second Coming. But when those signs start accumulating, as they are doing so today, we can be assured that the Rapture is going to occur any moment.

I once heard Tim LaHaye describe the relationship between the Rapture and the signs of the times in a very unique way. He said he and his wife were walking through a shopping mall in October when she suddenly stopped him and said, “Look around and tell me what you see that is different from the last time we were here."

Tim surveyed the mall, and responded, "The only thing I see that is different from normal is people putting up Christmas decorations."

That's right," she said, "and what is that a sign of?"

"Well." Tim responded, "it's a sign that Christmas is coming soon."

Yes," she replied, "but it is also a sign that Thanksgiving is right around the corner!"

In like manner, we see increasing signs today which indicate the Tribulation is about to begin. And that means the Rapture is "right around the corner."

Hope or Terror?

To summarize, we should be looking for two future comings of the Lord - one at the beginning of the Tribulation, the other at the end. The first, the Rapture, will be the appearing of the Lord for His Church. The second, the Second Coming, will be the return of the Lord to the earth to "judge and wage war" against the enemies of God (Revelation 19:11).

The signs of the times point to the fact that we are on the threshold of the Tribulation. The Jews are back in their land and their sacred city, and the whole world is coming against them over the İssue of the control of Jerusalem. Jesus must be at the very gates of Heaven, waiting for His Father's command to appear for His Church. The Rapture is more imminent than ever before.

Are you ready? Will Jesus appear (the Rapture) as your Blessed Hope? Or, will He return (the Second Coming) as your Holy Terror? The choice is yours.

26: The Rapture

When is it most likely to occur?

I have already discussed the nature and meaning of the Rapture in chapters 15 and 25. Our focus here is on the timing of this important event.

This is a very controversial issue because the timing of the Rapture is not specifically revealed in the Scriptures. We are simply told repeatedly that it is imminent, meaning it can happen at any moment.

Specific concepts of timing - whether it will happen before, during, or at the end of the Tribulation - must be based upon inferences of Scripture, and thus there is room for honest differences of opinion.

I believe the best inference of Scripture is that the Rapture will occur before the Tribulation begins. Let's consider the evidence.

Scriptural Evidence

The Olivet Discourse, as recorded in Matthew 24, is for the Jews who will experience the horrors of the Tribulation. The same speech is recorded in Luke 21 for the Church, and it contains clues about the timing of the Rapture. For example, after mentioning a bunch of end-time signs that we are to watch for, Jesus says, "When these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near" (Luke 21:28 - emphasis added).

In the same passage, Jesus proceeds to urge us to pray that we might “escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man" (Luke 21:36 emphasis added).

The Word promises over and over that the Church will be delivered from God's wrath. Romans 5:9 says that "we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him [Jesus]."

1 Thessalonians 1:10 states that we are waiting for His Son from heaven who will deliver us from the wrath to come." The promise is repeated in 1 Thessalonians 5:9 "God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." Keep in mind that the Tribulation is the period of time for the pouring out of God's wrath.

In Revelation 3:10, the church at Philadelphia, which is representative of faithful Christians, is told that those who persevere in the Lord will be kept "from the hour of testing," that hour which will “come upon the whole world."

Paul's Assurance

An interesting argument in behalf of the Pre-Tribulation timing of the Rapture can be found in 2 Thessalonians. The church at Thessalonica was in a turmoil because someone had written them a letter under Paul's name stating that they had missed the “gathering to the Lord" and were, in fact, living in "the day of the Lord” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-2).

Paul attempted to calm them down by reminding them of his teaching that the day of the Lord would not come until after the Antichrist is revealed. He then stated that the Antichrist would not be revealed until a restraining force "is taken out of the way" (2 Thessalonians 2:3-7).

There has been much speculation as to the identity of this restraining force that Paul refers to. Some have identified it as the Holy Spirit, and since the Holy Spirit indwells believers, it is argued that He will be removed from the world when believers are taken in the Rapture.

It is true that believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit in a special way, but that does not mean that when the Church is taken out of the world, the Holy Spirit will be also. The Holy Spirit is omnipresent. Furthermore, we know that there will be people saved during the Tribulation, and no one can be saved apart from the testimony of the Spirit (John 16:8-11 and 1 John 5:7).

Others have identified the restrainer as human government. It is true that government was ordained by God to restrain evil (Romans 13:1-4). But the governments of the world are in rebellion against God and His Son (Psalm 2), and they are therefore a contributor to the evil that characterizes the world. Furthermore, the Tribulation will not be characterized by a lack of government. Rather, it will feature the first true worldwide government (Revelation 13:7).

In my opinion that leaves only one other candidate for Paul's restrainer - and that is the Church. It is the Church that serves as the primary restrainer of evil in the world today as it proclaims the Gospel and stands for righteousness. When the Church fails in this mission, evil multiplies, as Paul graphically points out in 2 Timothy 3:1-5, Paul says that society in the end-times will be characterized by Chaos and despair because "men will hold to a form of religion but will deny its power." When the Church is removed from the world, all hell will literally break loose.

Symbolic Evidence

There are several prophetic types that seem to affirm the concept of deliverance from Tribulation. Take Enoch for example. He was a prophet to the Gentiles who was raptured out of the world before God poured out His wrath in the great flood of Noah's time. Enoch appears to be a type of the Gentile Church that will be taken out of the world before God pours out His wrath again. If so, then Noah and his family are a type of the Jewish remnant that will be protected through the Tribulation.

Another Old Testament symbolic type which points toward a Pre-Tribulation Rapture is the experience of Lot and his family. They were delivered out of Sodom and Gomorrah before those cities were destroyed.

The Apostle Peter alludes to both of these examples in his second epistle. He states that if God spared Noah and Lot, then He surely “knows how to rescue the godly from trial and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment" (2 Peter 4-9).

Another beautiful prophetic type is to be found in the Jewish wedding traditions of Jesus's time. After the betrothal, the groom would return to his father's house to prepare a wedding chamber for his bride. He would return for his bride at an unexpected moment, so the bride had to be ready constantly. When he returned, he would take his bride back to his father's house to the chamber he had prepared. He and his bride would then be sealed in the chamber for seven days. When they emerged, a great wedding feast would be celebrated.

Likewise, Jesus has returned to Heaven to prepare a place for His bride, the Church. When He returns for His bride, He will take her to His Father's heavenly home. There He will remain with His bride for seven years (the duration of the Tribulation). The period will end with the marriage supper of the Lamb" described in Revelation 19. Thus the seven days in the wedding chamber point prophetically to the seven years that Jesus and His bride will remain in Heaven during the Tribulation.

The Structure of Revelation

The structure of the book of Revelation also implies a Pre-Tribulation Rapture in a symbolic sense. The first three chapters focus on the Church. Chapter 4 begins with the door of Heaven opening and John being raptured from the isle of Patmos to the throne of God in Heaven. The Church is not mentioned thereafter until Revelation 19:7-9 when it is portrayed as the "bride of Christ" in Heaven with Jesus celebrating the marriage supper of the Lamb." At Revelation 19:11 the door of Heaven opens again, and Jesus emerges riding a white horse on His way to earth, followed by His Church (Revelation 19:14).

The rapture of the Apostle John in Revelation 4 appears to be a symbolic type of the Rapture of the Church. Note that it is initiated by the cry of a voice that sounds like the blowing of a trumpet (Revelation. 4:1). Since the Tribulation does not begin until Revelation 6, the rapture of John in Revelation 4 appears to be a symbolic type that points to a Pre-Tribulation Rapture of the Church.

Some counter this argument by pointing out that although the Church is not mentioned in Revelation, during that book's description of the Tribulation, there is constant mention of "saints” (for example, Revelation 13:7).

But that term is not used in the Bible exclusively to refer to members of the Church. Daniel uses it to refer to Old Testament believers who lived long before the Church was established (Daniel 7:18). The saints referred to in the book of Revelation are those people who will be saved during the Tribulation, after the Church has been taken out of the world.

Logical Evidence

The Bible teaches that when Jesus returns, He is going to judge all people on earth and consign unbelievers to death. The judgment of the Gentiles is portrayed in Matthew 25:31-46; the judgment of the Jews, in Ezekiel 20:33-38. In Luke 17:37 we are told that the bodies of unbelievers will be fed to the vultures. Revelation 19:17 calls this “the supper of God." It is presented in contrast to the marriage feast of the Lamb to which believers will be invited (Revelation 19:6-10).

Once these judgments are completed, all believers left alive at the end of the Tribulation - both Jews and Gentiles - will be allowed to enter the Millennium in the flesh. This group will then begin to propagate, and through them, the earth will be re-populated. These are the people that the glorified saints will reign over for a thousand years. Since death will be curtailed and life spans will be extended during the Millennium, the population of the earth will grow exponentially.

Now, if the Rapture is combined with the Second Coming as all one event at the end of the Tribulation, then all believers will be glorified and there will be no one left in the flesh to enter the Millennium! The only way to come up with a millennial population is to place the Rapture before the Tribulation. Those saved during the Tribulation, and who live to the end of it, would then go into the Millennium in the flesh and serve as the nucleus group to repopulate the world.

The Purpose of the Tribulation

Another argument based upon logic is the fact that there is no purpose for the Church to be on the earth during the Tribulation. The purpose of the Tribulation is to provide a period of time for the pouring out of God's wrath. The Church is immune to the wrath of God (1 Thessalonians 1:10). There will be people saved during the Tribulation, but they will be saved by the witness of the Holy Spirit through reading the Bible, experiencing the Tribulation judgments and hearing the messages of God's two witnesses in Jerusalem.

Some have argued that the Church must go through the Tribulation in order to purify it for its presentation to the Lord. True Christians need no such purification, for their sins have been purged by the blood of Jesus. Asserting that this is a purpose of the Tribulation has the effect of converting that time period into a Protestant Purgatory!

Furthermore, it makes no sense to say that Jesus is going to beat up His bride for seven years during the Tribulation before coming to fetch her for the wedding! What kind of bridegroom would do such a thing? What bride would look forward lovingly to being united to such a bridegroom?

The Logic of Imminence

Perhaps the strongest argument in behalf of a Pre-Tribulation Rapture is one based on logic. It is the argument of imminence.

We are told repeatedly in the Scriptures that the coming of the Lord is imminent - that it can take place any moment. We are warned "to be ready" (Matthew 24:44), "to be on the alert" (Matthew 24:42), "to be dressed in readiness" (Luke 12:35), and to “keep your lamps alight" (Luke 12:35). The clear force of these persistent warnings is that Jesus can appear at any moment.

Only the Pre-Tribulation concept of the Rapture allows for the imminence of the Lord's appearing for His Church. When the Rapture is placed at any other point in time, the imminence of the Lord's appearing is destroyed because other prophetic events must

happen first.

For example, if the Rapture is going to occur in mid-Tribulation, then why should I live looking for the Lord's appearing at any moment? I should be looking instead for an Israeli peace treaty, the rebuilding of the Jewish temple and the revelation of the Antichrist. Then and only then could the Lord appear.

We are exhorted to live looking for Jesus Christ, not the Antichrist (Titus 2:13).

Counter Arguments

The first rebuttal argument that is usually presented by people who reject the Pre-Tribulation Rapture is their contention that there is no mention of the Rapture in Matthew 24 where Jesus presents a sweeping survey of end-time events. The Tribulation is described by the Lord in detail in verses 9-24. Then we are told in verses 25-31 that “immediately after the Tribulation," the Lord will return and will “send forth His angels to gather together His elect." Where is the Rapture?

Again, we must keep in mind that the book of Matthew was written to the Jews, and Matthew's recording of Jesus' speech in chapter 24 focuses on the Jews in the Tribulation, not the Church. As to the "elect" who will be gathered at the end of the Tribulation when Jesus returns, they would be those who were saved during the Tribulation, after the Rapture of the Church.

Keep Reading!

But Matthew 24 does not end with the description of the Lord's Second Coming. In verse 36 the writer suddenly shifts gears and starts recording the words of Jesus concerning an event that has to be something other than the Second Coming. He quotes Jesus saying, "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone."

This could not be a reference to the Second Coming because the Bible makes it crystal clear that Jesus will return to this earth exactly 2,520 days (Revelation 11:3 and 12:6) or seven years (made up of 360 day prophetic years) after the Tribulation begins. It seems apparent that at this point in Jesus' discourse, He shifts His focus from the Second Coming to the Rapture.

Further evidence that this is true can be found in the next verse (verse 37). Jesus says, “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah." He proceeds to explain that when the flood occurred, people were going about their daily lives with no sense of concern, "marrying and giving in marriage" (verses 38-44). This is anything but a description of the nature of society at the end of the Tribulation. By that time, the whole earth will be engulfed in chaos. People will be in a perpetual state of panic rather than going about their lives in peace and calm.

So, the Rapture can be found in Matthew 24, in verses 36-44. And two times in this section of the chapter, Jesus warns to "be on the alert for you do not know which day your Lord is coming" (verses 42 and 44). Once again, since the day of the Second Coming can be precisely determined, this passage must be speaking of the Rapture and the fact that it is an imminent event that could occur any moment.

The Newness of the Concept

Another common rebuttal to the Pre-Tribulation Rapture is that it is "too new to be true." This argument is based on the assumption that the Pre-Tribulation concept of the timing of the Rapture was not developed until the early 1800s by a man named J. N. Darby who was a leader among the Plymouth Brethren in England.

This assumption is not correct, but even if it were true, it would not invalidate the concept. That's because the Bible makes it clear that Bible prophecy will not be fully understood until the end-times. For example, when Daniel asked God the meaning of end-time prophecies he had been given, the Lord told him that the prophecies were not for him to understand. "These words are concealed," said the Lord, "and sealed up until the end-time" (Daniel 12:9).

Modern day historical events, like the re-establishment of Israel, and modern day technological developments, like the invention of nuclear power, are helping us to understand Bible prophecies that have never been understood before.

But the most important key has been the revival of literal interpretation. From 400 AD to about 1700, Bible prophecy was spiritualized and interpreted allegorically. Many new discoveries have been made in Bible prophecy since the 1700s, simply because people started accepting the prophecies to mean what they say.

So, we are not talking about novel new truths. We are talking instead about the discovery of truths that were always in the Scriptures but which were muddled by spiritualization.

The Origin of Pre-Trib Viewpoint

But let's return to the original allegation - that the Pre-Trib Rapture originated in the early 1800s in England among a group called The Plymouth Brethren. This allegation simply is not true.

Expressions of imminency abound in the writings and sermons of Church Fathers like Clement of Rome and Ignatius of Antioch, both of whom lived in the First Century. Statements about the Lord's imminent return can also be found in early publications like The Didache (60-100 AD), The Epistle of Barnabas (130-131 AD), and The Shepherd of Hermas (110 AD). This latter publication actually contains a pre-tribulational concept of escaping the Great Tribulation:

If then you prepare yourselves, and repent with all your heart, and turn to the Lord, it will be possible for you to escape it [the Tribulation], if your heart be pure and spotless...

In a Latin manuscript dating from the 6th Century the sermon derived from Ephraem the Syrian (306-373 AD), who was one of the major theologians of the early Byzantine Church. The sermon speaks of the Lord's return as being imminent or "over- hanging." It then states: “All the saints and elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our Sins,”

These quotations leave no doubt that there was a definite concept in the early Church of an imminent return of Jesus before the Tribulation. But with the adoption of Augustine's Amillennial view by the Roman Catholic Church in 431 AD, the literal interpretation of prophecy was cast aside, and the concept of a Pre-Trib Rapture fell into obscurity.

The Development of the Pre-Trib Viewpoint

After the Reformation, when people got copies of the Bible in their own languages and started once again interpreting the Bible literally, the concept of a Pre-Trib Rapture began to be revived. The Puritan leader, Increase Mather (1639-1723), attempted to prove in his writings “that the saints would be caught up into the air beforehand, thereby escaping the final conflagration." Likewise, Peter Jurieu, in his book, Approaching Deliverance of the Church (1687) taught that Christ will come in the air to rapture the Saints and return to Heaven before the battle of Armageddon.

In the 1740s, a Baptist pastor in England named Morgan Edwards began to espouse a Rapture 3½ years before the beginning of the Millennium. Although his concept was really a mid-Trib Rapture, it clearly shows that there were people at that time who taught a Rapture separate and apart from the Second Coming.

We now know from recent historical research revealed in a book titled Dispensationalism Before Darby (2015) that the idea of a Pre-Trib Rapture had been around a long time before John Darby systematized it and began to popularize it in the early 1800s.

The book's author, Dr. William Watson, is a professor of History at Colorado Christian University. He used more than 350 primary sources from the 17th and 18th Centuries in compiling his new book.

He points out that most of the sources that he quotes in the book have not been previously cited in the debate about the origin of the Pre-Trib Rapture most likely because they have not been read for centuries.

Concerning the concept of a Pre-Tribulation Rapture, he concludes that "very little of what John Nelson Darby taught in the mid-nineteenth century was new."

His research clearly shows that by the end of the 17th Century, the idea of a Rapture that is separate and apart from the Second Coming had become a commonplace concept. He names seven authors who held a "pre-conflagration" view of a rapture that would take the saints out of the world before it was consumed by fire. He identifies six other authors who were "clearly Pre-Trib." And he names four who were not Pre-Trib but who refer in their writings to the existence of others who were.

He notes that the use of the word, Rapture, was also widespread, with some even referring to those who would be "left behind," This interpretation of a Rapture, separate and apart from the Second Coming, continued to be espoused by Bible prophecy experts throughout the 18th Century. Their timing of the Rapture varied, but by the end of the 18th century, "more than a generation before Darby, belief in a Rapture of the Church before a great tribulation was commonplace in Britain."

In fact, Dr. Watson demonstrates that "the belief was held not only by Baptists … but also by leading Anglicans … and even by Scottish Presbyterians…”

Without all of Dr. Watson's detailed evidence, secular historian Dr. Paul Boyer had already come to this conclusion in his book, When Time Shall Be No More; Prophecy Belief in Modern American Culture, which was published by Harvard University Press, in 1994. He wrote:

In a sense, Darby's system contained nothing new. His focus on the future fulfillment of prophecy followed the eschatology of the early Christians. Premillennialism had been an option for Protestant evangelicals since Joseph Mede's day (1586-1639), while rudimentary forms of "Dispensationalism" go back at least as far as Joachim of Fiore (1135-1202).

Even Rapture doctrine . . . can be found in the writings of early interpreters, including Increase Mather (1639-1723). But Darby wove these diverse strands into a tight and cohesive system that he buttressed at every point by copious biblical proof texts, then tirelessly promoted through his writings and preaching tours.

The point is that the concept of a Pre-Trib Rapture did not simply drop from the sky into John Darby's lap in the 1830s. It was a concept that had been slowly developing over several hundred years in the writings of Bible prophecy scholars from a variety of Christian traditions.

The Pre-Trib Rapture doctrine quickly spread around the world through publications like William Blackstone's Jesus is Coming (1878), The Scofield Study Bible (1909), Hal Lindsey's book The Late Great Planet Earth (1970) and Tim LaHaye's Left Behind series of books (16 volumes from 1995 to 2007).

The Bottom Line

Actually, the historic development of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture doctrine is irrelevant. The only thing that is important is whether or not the doctrine is scriptural. Is it based on the Scriptures? The answer is Yes!"

27: The Tribulation

What's it all about?

I receive several phone calls each year from people - some of them ministers asking me if I think we are in the Tribulation. I always respond by telling them that when the Tribulation begins, the people who are on earth will not have to call anyone to find out for sure whether or not it has begun. The Tribulation will be a living hell with a degree of violence that is unparalleled in all of history.

The Bible gives us a lot of information about this horrible period of seven years that is fast approaching. The entire book of Zephaniah is devoted to it. In addition to many other Old Testament passages, like Isaiah 24, fourteen chapters in the book of Revelation focus on it (Revelation 6-19). But despite all this information, there are many myths concerning the Great Tribulation that circulate among Christians. For example, many argue that the first half of this time period will be peaceful and that only the second half will be characterized by intense warfare. Other misconceptions relate to the Antichrist and the Church.

The Concept

Before we consider some of these myths and misconceptions, let's familiarize ourselves with the concept of the Tribulation. Where does the idea come from, and what does it mean?

The first mention of the Tribulation in the Bible is found in Deuteronomy 4:27-30. Before the Children of Israel entered the Promised Land, Moses warned them that if they were unfaithful to God, they would be scattered among the nations. He then prophesied that “in the latter days" they would come under "distress," and the result would be their “return to the Lord.”

Centuries later, Jeremiah used the same terminology when he referred to the Tribulation. He called it “the time of Jacob's distress" (Jeremiah 30:7). In like manner, Daniel called it "a time of distress " and he prophesied it would be the worst period of trouble in the history of the Jewish people (Daniel 12:1). Malachi stated it would be a time of refining for the Jews, as when silver is purified by fire (Malachi 3:1-4). And Zechariah used the same imagery when he prophesied that two-thirds of the Jewish people will perish during this time. Of the remnant remaining, he wrote, I [the Lord] will bring the third part through the fire [and] refine them as silver is refined . . .” (Zechariah 13:8-9).

The Scope

The Jews will not be the only ones to suffer during this period of unparalleled trouble. The Bible makes it clear that all the nations of the world will experience catastrophic calamities.

Isaiah says it will be "a day of reckoning" for all the nations. (Isaiah 2:10-17). Zephaniah says that "all the earth will be devoured in the fire of God's jealousy" (Zephaniah 1:18). Here's how the psalmist Asaph put it: “A cup is in the hand of the Lord, and the wine foams . . . surely, all the wicked of the earth must drain and drink down its dregs" (Psalm 75:8).

The Length

The prophet Daniel defined the length of the Tribulation. He said God would accomplish all His purposes for the Jewish people during a period of 70 weeks of years (490 years). Sixty-nine of those weeks of years (483 years) would lead up to the death of the Messiah. The final week of years would occur at the end of the age, right before the return of the Messiah (Daniel 9:24-27). This concluding week of years (7 years) corresponds to the Tribulation for it will mark the time when “the prince who is to come will "make desolate" - a reference to the Antichrist (Daniel 9:26-27).

The timing established by Daniel is confirmed in the book of Revelation where the Tribulation is divided into two periods of 3½ years each (Revelation 11:3,7 and 13:5). The dividing point between the two halves of the Tribulation will occur when the Antichrist reveals himself by entering the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, stopping the sacrifices and declaring himself to be god (Matthew 24:15, 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 and Revelation 13:5-6).

The Starting Point

When will this terrible period begin? The Bible says in general terms that it will start after the Jews have been regathered and have been re-established in their homeland and in their sacred city of Jerusalem.

Specifically, the Bible says it will begin at a time when all the world comes together against Israel over the issue of who will control the city of Jerusalem (Zechariah 12:2-3). In short, we are on the very threshold of the Tribulation today as we witness the United Nations, the European Union, the Vatican and the Arab nations demanding that the Jews surrender their sovereignty over Jerusalem.

The specific event that will mark the seven year count down of the Tribulation will be the signing of a treaty between Israel and the Antichrist. Although the Scriptures do not specify the nature of this treaty, there is an implication that it will constitute the Antichrist's guarantee of the peace of Israel and will allow the Jews to rebuild their temple (Daniel 9:27).

The Nature

The unparalleled horror of the Tribulation is spelled out in detail in both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament. Isaiah wrote that it will be a day of "the terror of the Lord" when the pride of men will be abased" (Isaiah 2:10,17,19). Zephaniah proclaimed that it will be “a day of wrath," “a day of trouble and distress," and "a day of destruction and desolation" (Zephaniah 1:15). Men will stumble around like they are blind, and "their blood will be poured out like dust" (Zephaniah 1:17).

This dreary picture is echoed in the New Testament. Jesus said it will be a time of tribulation “such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall" (Matthew 24:21). In fact, Jesus said it will be so terrible that if it were not stopped at the end of seven years, it would result in the destruction of all life (Matthew 24:22). The Apostle John states that the chaos will be so great that the leaders of the world will crawl into caves and cry out for the rocks of the mountains to fall upon them (Revelation 6: 15-16).

Misconceptions

With this biblical background, let's turn our attention now to some of the misconceptions that exist regarding the Tribulation. Five of the major ones that I would identify are listed below:

1) The Antichrist will rise to world power through cunning, flattery and deception.

2) The whole world will flock to the Antichrist in awe and adoration.

3) The Jews will accept the Antichrist as their Messiah. There will be 3½ years of peace followed by 3½ years of war.

5) The Antichrist will be the most brilliant and effective leader in world history.

6) The Church must go through the Tribulation in order to be purified.

The Antichrist's Rise to Power

The idea that the Antichrist will rise to world power through shrewdness and skilled diplomacy is based on Daniel 8:23-25a. These verses say a king will arise who is “skilled in intrigue" and who “will succeed through the practice of deceit."

But the same passage also says that he "will destroy to an extraordinary degree." He will destroy both “mighty men and the people of the saints." Many of these he will destroy while they are at peace" (Daniel 8:24-25a).

These verses make it very clear that the Antichrist is going to use both diplomacy and military power to gain control of the world. The likeliest scenario is that he will initially rise to power in Europe through his charismatic personality, his great wisdom and his shrewd diplomacy. But he will extend his power from his European base through war.

I believe his conquering of the world through the use of military power is what is pictured in Revelation 6:1-8. This passage pictures the Antichrist going forth at the beginning of the Tribulation with a bow "to conquer." A red horse representing war “takes peace from the earth." The result is widespread suffering and the death of one- fourth of humanity by the sword, famine, pestilence and wild beasts.

The World's “Acceptance" of the Antichrist

I think it is a misconception to believe the non-European world will flock to the Antichrist in awe and adoration. The world outside of Europe is not going to submit willingly to the control of the Antichrist, no matter how charismatic and dynamic he may be.

Keep in mind that the nations of Asia, Africa and Latin America have fought for the past 100 years to rid themselves of European colonial rule. They are not going to passively submit themselves to a renewal of that rule. Neither will the Muslim nations willingly submit to the autonomy of a European, non-Muslim leader. All these nations will fight, and the result, as Revelation 6 so clearly indicates, will be a horrible world war of unprecedented magnitude.

Acceptance of the Antichrist by the Jews

The idea that the Jews will accept the Antichrist as their Messiah during the Tribulation is based upon a statement by Jesus that is recorded in John 5:43. Jesus said, "I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another shall come in his own name, you will receive him."

But the relevant end-time passages in Daniel and Revelation seem to make it clear that the acceptance of the Antichrist by the Jews will be as a political redeemer who miraculously works out a peace settlement that will guarantee their safety and will enable them to rebuild their temple.

There is no indication that they will ever accept the Antichrist as a spiritual redeemer - as their Messiah. In fact, when the Antichrist enters the temple in the middle of the Tribulation and declares himself to be god, the Jews will revolt against him (Revelation 12:13-17).

When the revolt occurs, the Antichrist will become obsessed with annihilating the Jewish people. That is when the "great tribulation" spoken of by Jesus in Matthew 24 will begin.

The Tribulation Holocaust that will occur during the last 3 ½ years of that terrible period will be far worse than the Nazi Holocaust. Two-thirds of the Jews will be killed (Zechariah 13:8-9). The Antichrist will be possessed by Satan (Daniel 8:24), and Satan is determined to annihilate the Jews.

Satan's obsession with the Jews stems from the fact that he hates them with a passion. He hates them because they gave the world the Bible. He hates them because the Messiah came through them. He hates them because God loves them, and because God chose them to be a witness of what it means to have a relationship with Him. And Satan hates the Jews because God has promised over and over in His Word that at the end of the Tribulation, He is going to bring a great remnant to salvation through faith in their Messiah, Yeshua (Romans 9-11).

The First Half of the Tribulation

Another misconception relates to the nature of the first half of the Tribulation. Many believe that this period of 3½ years is going to be a time of peace that will be followed by 3½ years of war. Some feel so strongly about this that they use the phrase, "great tribulation," to apply only to the second half of the seven year period.

This view is based primarily on a statement Jesus made that is recorded in Matthew 24. According to this passage, Jesus referred to the last half of Daniel's 70th week of years as "the great tribulation" (Mathew 24:21). But it must be kept in mind that these words of Jesus were directed specifically to the Jewish people.

The second half of the Tribulation will truly be the “time of great tribulation" for the Jews. That's because they will live in peace during the first half of the Tribulation under a covenant guaranteed by the Antichrist. During that time, the Antichrist will be focused on conquering the world. Once he has accomplished that goal as he will (Revelation 13:7-8) - he will go to Jerusalem, enter the temple, stop the sacrifices and desecrate the temple by erecting a statue of himself (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).

The Jewish people will be outraged and will respond in a revolt. When they do this, the Antichrist will become obsessed with destroying them. That will be his primary goal during the second half of the Tribulation.

So, to summarize, the Jews will live in peace during the first half of the Tribulation, but not the Gentile nations of the world. The wars of the Antichrist will devastate the world. One-fourth of humanity will die in the initial war of the Seal Judgments (Revelation 6:8). Then, in Revelation 8-9, the conventional war appears to morph into a nuclear one called the Trumpet Judgments. This results in the deaths of one-third of those left alive after the initial conflict.

Let's think about those numbers for a moment. Assuming the world's population is about 7.5 billion at the time of the Rapture and 1.5 billion are taken in the Rapture, that will leave 6 billion to enter the Tribulation. One-fourth of that number will die in the Seal Judgments, equaling 1.5 billion people. The subsequent Trumpet Judgments will result in the death of one-third of the remaining 4.5 billion, equaling another 1.5 billion. That means one-half of the population of the world - a total of 3 billion people - will die in the first half of the Tribulation.

The first half of the Tribulation is going to be anything but a time of peace. It will, instead, be a time of unimaginable carnage.

The Quality of the Antichrists Leadership

The erroneous concept that the Antichrist will be the world's most brilliant and glorious leader is based on Revelation 13:7. where it says he will gain authority over "every tribe, people, tongue and nation” on planet earth - something no other person has ever done.

But the evidence of prophecy points to the fact that his reign will be anything but brilliant and glorious.

For example, his conquest of the world will devastate the earth. It will be like Napoleon's “victory" in Russia – he will win the battle and lose the war. The Antichrist will end up with a world that is devastated and polluted beyond imagination. Furthermore, the world's subservience to him and worship of him will be based mainly on force, deception and terror - not just genuine admiration.

Also, his obsession with the Jews will undermine his kingdom and ultimately lead to its destruction. Daniel 11:40-45 indicates that when his attention is diverted to the destruction of the Jews, a worldwide revolt will break out against his kingdom. Nations will send armies against him from the North, East and South.

The Antichrist may prove to be a successful military conqueror. but he will be a miserable leader whose world wide empire will last only 3½ years - and during that time, it will be constantly ravaged by internal revolt.

A Misconception Concerning the Church

Another popular misconception about the Tribulation is that the Church will go through it and suffer mightily at the hands of the Antichrist. This concept is based upon verses like Revelation 13:7 which says that the Antichrist will “make war with the saints.”

But I believe the saints referred to here are those who are saved during the Tribulation. The Bible makes it clear that there is going to be a great harvest of souls during the Tribulation. Some will be saved in response to the Rapture. Others will respond to the preaching of the Two Witnesses in Jerusalem (Revelation 11). The response of others will be stimulated by the Tribulation judgments which will motivate many to repent. Still others will respond to the special angel who will be sent by God near the end of the Tribulation to proclaim the Gospel to every living creature (Revelation 14:6-7). Many will be saved, but most of these will be martyred for their faith (Revelation 7:9-17).

There is no purpose for the Church during the Tribulation. This will be a time of God's judgment upon the unbelieving Gentiles and Jews who have rejected God's grace, love and mercy expressed in Jesus.

Some argue that the Church must go through the Tribulation to be purged or cleansed. But the true Church has already been purified by the blood of Jesus (Ephesians 5:25-27, 1 John 1:7 and Romans 8:1). The Tribulation is not a Protestant Purgatory.

The Grim Purpose

What's it all about? Why is there going to be such carnage? How could a God of grace, mercy and love allow such an outbreak of unbridled terror and bloodshed?

One reason is to satisfy the justice of God. Yes, God is characterized by grace, mercy and love, but He is also a God of perfect justice, righteousness and holiness. Therefore, He must deal with sin. His justice demands it. Even His love compels it. How could a God of true love simply overlook the actions of a murderer or a pedophile?

The prophet Nahum understood the true nature of God. He wrote that "The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knows those who take refuge in Him" (Nahum 1:7). That is the love and mercy of God. But in that same chapter, he wrote:

2) A jealous and avenging God is the LORD;

The LORD İS avenging and wrathful.

The LORD takes vengeance on His adversaries,

And He reserves wrath for His enemies.

3) The LORD İS slow to anger and great in power,

And the LORD will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.

Truly, the Lord is “slow to anger." He allows the iniquities of Mankind to accumulate over long periods of time because He does not wish that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9). His desire, instead, is that all should come to repentance. But there is always a day of reckoning, just as there was in the days of Noah, and such a day has been set for this age. Paul referred to it in his sermon in Athens when he said, “He [God] has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness" (Acts 17:31l).

A Glorious Purpose

A second reason for the Tribulation is to bring people to salvation. Amazingly, even when God pours out His wrath, His fundamental purpose is not to destroy but to save. Isaiah 26:9 explains it this way: "When the earth experiences Your judgments, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness."

The brutal fact is that God often has to hit us over the head with a two-by-four in order to get our attention and motivate us to repentance. The equally brutal fact is that most people respond to such discipline by either cursing God or continuing to ignore Him (Revelation 9:20-21). But some people always respond in humility and are saved. As Billy Graham used to put it: “The same sun that melts the butter, hardens the clay."

When God's wrath is poured out during the Tribulation, some hearts will be melted, but most will be hardened, illustrating once again that nothing is as "deceitful" and “desperately sick" as the heart of Man (Jeremiah 17:9).

Man is frivolous about sin. God is serious. The Tribulation will be a graphic expression of how serious God is about Mankind's rebellion against Him.

The Message

The signs of the times are shouting that we are standing on the threshold of the Tribulation. The message of the Holy Spirit is "Come out of Babylon" (Revelation 18:4).

That message means for us to separate ourselves from the love of this world and prepare ourselves for eternity. For believers, it means a commitment to holiness and evangelism. For unbelievers it means a commitment to Jesus as Lord and Savior before He returns as God's avenger.

The time remaining is short. The time for action is now.

28: The Millennium

Why must Jesus reign for a thousand years?

When I first began studying Bible prophecy, the question, “What purpose would the Millennium serve?" really bothered me. The Word clearly taught that the Lord is coming back to this earth to reign for a thousand years. But I kept asking, "Why?"

I have since discovered that most Amillennialists feel that same way. "Why," they will ask, "would the Lord want to come back to this rotten world? What could possibly be His purpose in returning to this world to reign for a thousand years? Why does the Lord or the world need a Millennium?"

My study of the Word has led me to conclude that God has several vitally important purposes for the Millennium.

Promises to the Jews

The first reason there must be a Millennium is that God has made promises to the Jews which He will fulfill during that time.

God has promised that He will gather to the land of Israel the remnant of Jews who accept Jesus as their Messiah at the end of the Tribulation (Ezekiel 36:22-28 and Zechariah 10:6-9). He will pour out His Spirit upon this remnant (Isaiah 32:15 and 44:3), greatly expand their numbers and their land (Ezekiel 36:10-11 and 48:1-29) and make them the prime nation in all the world (Isaiah 60-62).

They will serve as an object lesson of the grace and mercy which God bestows upon those who turn to Him in repentance. The prophet Zechariah put it this way: “And it will come about that just as you were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you that you may become a blessing" (Zechariah 8:13)

Zechariah says the blessings of God upon the Jewish remnant will be so great in those days that “ten men from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you" (Zechariah 8:23).

Promises to the Church

A second reason for the Millennium relates to a promise which God has made to the Church. God has promised that the Redeemed in Christ will reign over all the nations of the world.

This promise was given through the prophet Daniel in the following words (Daniel 7:27):

Then the sovereignty, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.

In the New Testament, Paul repeated the same promise in the simplest of terms: "If we endure, we shall also reign with Him" (2 Timothy 2:12). Jesus affirmed the promise in His letter to the church at Thyatira when He wrote, “And he who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron . . . “ (Revelation 2: 26-27).

When John was taken to Heaven for a visit to the throne room of God, he heard a heavenly host singing a song that contained the following verse: “And You have made them [the Redeemed] to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth" (Revelation 5:10).

This promise to the Church of worldwide dominion is going to be fulfilled during the Millennium. That is what Jesus was referring to in the Sermon on the Mount when He said, “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5).

Jesus will reign as king of the world from Mt. Zion in Jerusalem (Isaiah 24:23 and Zechariah 14:9). The Redeemed, in their glorified bodies, will help Him with His reign by serving worldwide as administrators, judges and spiritual tutors to those who enter the kingdom in the flesh - and to their children (Daniel 7:18,27, Jeremiah 3:15 and Luke 19:11-17).

Promises to the Nations

Another reason for a Millennium is that God has promised that a time will come when the Nations will be provided with their greatest dream - namely, worldwide peace. This has been an international dream of mankind since the beginning of time, but it has proved to be impossibly elusive because of man's sinful nature.

Peace conference after peace conference has been held. Multiple treaties have been signed. World organizations have been formed. Yet, war continues to ravage the nations.

God has promised to give Mankind and the earth a rest from its wars. But that peace will not come until the Prince of Peace returns. Only then will the nations "hammer their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks." Only then will we realize the dream of a world where "nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they learn war" (Isaiah 2:4).

God has promised that He will flood the earth with peace, righteousness, justice and holiness: "The earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9). Even the bells on the horses' bridles and the pots in the kitchens will bear the inscription "Holy to the Lord" (Zechariah 14:20-21).

These glorious promises of peace and righteousness will be fulfilled during the Millennium.

Promises to the Creation

God has also made promises to His Creation which He will fulfill during the Millennium.

God has promised to remove the curse which He placed upon the Creation due to the sin of Man. He has promised to deliver the Creation from its bondage to decay and to restore it to its original beauty, balance and peace (Romans 8:18-23).

The carnivorous animals will become herbivorous (Isaiah 11:67). The deadly animals will cease to be dangerous (Isaiah 11:8-9). The plant kingdom will flourish and produce bountifully (Isaiah 35 and Ezekiel 34:25-31). The land of Israel will be so radically transformed that visitors will proclaim in amazement: “This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden" (Ezekiel 36:35).

Promises to Jesus

The most important reason for the Millennium is that God is going to use it to fulfill promises which He has made to His Son.

God has promised Jesus that He will be glorified in history to compensate, in part, for His humiliation in history. The Bible says point blank that Jesus will return to manifest His glory (Isaiah 24:23, 66:18-19 and 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10).

God has also promised that He will give Jesus dominion over all the world and that He will reign over the nations from Mt. Zion in Jerusalem (Daniel 7:13-14, Isaiah 2:2-4 and Zechariah 14:1-9).

Psalm 2 presents a good summary of these promises. It begins by surveying the rebellion of the world's political leaders against God and His Son, referred to in the passage as “His Anointed" (verses 1- 2). It describes their contempt for the Lord (verse 3).

But the psalm says that God sits in the heavens and laughs and scoffs at them because He has appointed a day of reckoning when He will "terrify them in His fury" (verse 5). That will be the day when He installs Jesus as “King upon Zion” (verse 6).

Jesus then speaks and tells of the promise that His Father has made to Him:

7) “I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.

8) 'Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession.

9) ‘You shall break them with a rod of iron . . .’”

It must be kept in mind that Jesus is currently a "king-in-waiting." Like King David, who had to wait many years after he was anointed before he became king of Israel, Jesus has been anointed King of kings and Lord and lords, but He has not yet begun to rule.

He is currently serving as our High Priest before the throne of God (Hebrews 8:1). He is waiting for His Father's command to return and claim all the kingdoms of this world (Hebrews 2:5-9 and Revelation 19:11-16).

A Final Reason

There is one other purpose for the Millennium that should be noted. I believe God is going to use the Millennium to prove to Mankind once and for all that Satan's religion of Humanism is totally bankrupt.

All Humanists, regardless of their political or theological labels, are agreed that the source of evil in the world is external to Man. They view evil as rooted in the corruption of society. They believe that the solution to all Man's problems can be found in societal reform.

Take, as an example, their attitude toward crime. They believe society is the root cause of crime. All we have to do to eliminate crime, they argue, is to provide people with a guaranteed job that will supply them with sufficient income so that they will be able to live in a nice suburb.

But such reforms do not transform the basic nature of people. In the ghetto a man will pay 25 dollars to go to bed with a prostitute. In the suburb he will chase his neighbor's wife. In the ghetto he will throw a rock through a window and steal a TV set. In the suburb he will put on his three piece suit, go to the office, manipulate the computer and embezzle a million dollars.

You do not change people's basic nature by changing their environment. Changing their environment simply converts them into more sophisticated sinners.

The Humanist view is absolutely contrary to Scripture. The Word of God teaches that the source of evil is rooted within Man's fallen nature, and that it is Man, and not society, which needs to be changed (Genesis 8:21, Jeremiah 17:9-10 and Mark 7:20-23). The Word also teaches that the only way this change can take place is through the work of the Holy Spirit within a person who has put his faith in Jesus.

God is going to prove this point by using the Millennium like a great experimental laboratory. He is going to place Mankind in a perfect environment of peace and prosperity for a thousand years. Satan will be bound. Righteousness will abound.

Yet, at the end, when Satan is released, most people will rally to him when he calls the nations to rebellion against Jesus (Revelation 20:7-10). The Millennium will prove that what Man needs is not a new society but a new heart.

Essential to the God's Plan

The Millennium is essential for the fulfillment of all the promises that God has made to the Jews, the Church, the Nations, and the Creation.

It is also essential to His determination to prove that the source of all evil is the fallen nature of Man, not the corruption of society, and that the only hope for this world is Jesus, not political reform.

Most important, the Millennium is essential to God's purpose in glorifying His Son. He is going to manifest the glory of Jesus before His redeemed saints and before all the nations of the world. Here's how it is described in Psalm 22:

27) All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, And all the families of the nations will worship before Him.

28) For the kingdom is the LORD'S, And He rules over the nations . . .

30) Posterity will serve Him; It will be told of the Lord to the coming generation.

31) They will come and will declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, that He has performed it.

God's Faithfulness

The Creator of this universe is a covenant making God who is faithful to all His promises. He cannot lie (Hebrews 6:18). He cannot forget a promise (Deuteronomy 4:31). He is faithful even when we are unfaithful (2 Timothy 2:13).

Just as He fulfilled all the promises related to the First Coming of His Son, He is going to fulfill all those that relate to His Second Coming, including the promise of a millennial reign.

Many in the Church may be ignorant of His unfulfilled promises. Others may have forgotten them. But God has not. He intends to fulfill every one of them.

Forgotten Promises

There are two very important promises the Church has forgotten and needs to be reminded of. They are contained in a series of promises that were made to the virgin Mary, when the angel Gabriel appeared to her and informed her that she would be the mother of the Messiah. Those promises were as follows (Luke 1:31-33):

1) Mary would conceive and give birth to a son.

2) His name would be Jesus.

3) He would be great.

4) would be called the Son of the Most High.

5) God would give Him the throne of His father David.

6) He would reign over the house of Jacob forever.

The first four of these promises were all literally fulfilled. What about the last two? Amillennialists claim these have been fulfilled spiritually in the establishment of the Church. But why would the first four be literal and the last two symbolic?

Further, Jesus is not on the throne of David today. He sits at the right hand of His Father on His Father's throne. The throne of David has always been in only one place, the city of Jerusalem.

With regard to the promise that the Messiah will rule over the house of Jacob, Amillennialists argue that this is being fulfilled in His current reign over the Church. But the house of Jacob is the Jewish people, not the Church. This prophecy will not be fulfilled until the Lord's reign over Israel in Jerusalem during the Millennium

The only reason Amillennialists spiritualize the last two promises made to Mary is because they do not believe that Jesus is ever going to return to establish a Jewish-based kingdom from which He will reign over all the earth for a thousand years. So, they spiritualize these two promises and interpret them to mean what they want them to mean.

Conclusion

We are privileged to live in a time when we can witness God orchestrating the events of this world to the fulfillment of all the promises in His master plan.

3) . . . Ascribe greatness to our God!

4) The Rock! His work is perfect. For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He.

Deuteronomy 32:3b-4