part 1: What the bible really says about the end of the age
puzzled about the end of the age, April 15 2020
“I love puzzles! Ever since I was a little kid doing them with my grandfather…I love the determination, the concentration, the searching, and the satisfaction of finding that next piece! They also satisfy my analytical mind. ”
Main Texts: 1 Peter 1:3-16; 2 Peter 1:19-21, 2:1-3
A) Introduction:
I love puzzles! Ever since I was a little kid doing them with my grandfather… I love the determination, the concentration, the searching, and the satisfaction of finding that next piece! They also satisfy my analytical mind. But puzzles require great patience. And what if the puzzle you are working on is missing pieces, or if there have been extra pieces added in from another puzzle without you knowing it? What if you’re missing the box lid and you aren’t even sure what the finished product is supposed to look like? Then puzzles can become an exercise in frustration! In fact, the Spanish word for “jigsaw puzzle” is rompé cabeza, which literally means “broken head”!
I believe that the study of the end of the age is like a jigsaw puzzle. It is incredibly challenging (and also very controversial). I have had a “broken head” many-a-time trying to sort it all out! And sadly, most people have given up trying to understand (the end times) because it seems so overwhelming and frustrating. I believe that the main reason for this is because we don’t have a clear picture from the Scriptures to work with (no box lid) and we have had “extra pieces” added that don’t belong.
“What if God didn’t mean for it to be so complicated? What if He gave us a “picture” in the Scriptures that helps us “frame” the end of the age so that all the pieces fit together? ”
How do you start a puzzle? If you’re like me, you sort out all of the edge pieces and corner pieces first. Putting these together will provide a frame of reference into which all the other pieces will fit. So it is with the Scriptures: we will begin with the “corner pieces” and “edge pieces” first. We will need great care and patience, since this is a vast topic spanning all of Scripture! But I believe if you patiently stick with me, this will be a very satisfying journey and you will begin to see for yourselves the “blessed hope” that we have throughout all the Bible!
B) My Testimony:
“God, I want to know the truth!” God brought me to saving faith in Jesus Christ in the early 2000’s as a result of reading the Left Behind series, which clearly portrays the Premillennial Pretribulation rapture view. Definitions:
I. Millennium: The 1,000-year period at the end of this age when Christ will set up His earthly kingdom, prior to the eternal state (Rev. 20:1-10).
1. Premillennial: Believes that Christ returns before (pre-) the millennium and at the end of the Great Tribulation (Daniel’s 70th week) to set up His kingdom. This is the majority view in the church and the view that I hold to.
2. Postmillennial: Believes that Christ comes after (post-) the millennium once the church has established His kingdom on earth. This would be a minority view among the three as it denies the future judgments and warnings of the church falling away in the last days.
3. Amillennial: Believes that there will not be a literal 1,000-year reign of Christ (a-). This position tends to spiritualize the millennial kingdom and suggests we are in the kingdom already. This view is growing in popularity.
II. Rapture: This word is not found in the New Testament, but is a transliteration of the Latin translation of the Greek term “harpazo” (translated “caught up”) in 1 Thess. 4:17. This refers to the final gathering of the saints from the ends of the earth on the Day of the Lord.
III. The Tribulation (or Great Tribulation): The 3.5-year (42 month) period during which the Antichrist/Beast will exercise his authority and campaign of terror over the earth prior to the coming of the Lord in blazing glory to destroy him.
1. Pre-tribulational rapture: Believes that the Church will be taken in a “secret coming” of the Lord prior to (pre-) the tribulation period and the coming of the Antichrist.
2. Mid-tribulational rapture: Believes that the Church will be “raptured” at the midway point of the final “week” (7 years) when the Antichrist is revealed. Few hold to this view today.
3. Pre-wrath rapture: Believes that the Church will go through the tribulation period and face the Antichrist, but will be “raptured” to heaven prior to God’s wrath being poured out upon the earth near the end of the Antichrist’s 42-month reign of terror.
4. Post-tribulational resurrection-rapture: Believes that the Church will go through the tribulation period and face the Antichrist. Those who survive to the day of the Lord will see the glorious return of Christ on the last day to resurrect the saints who have died and translate (glorify) our mortal bodies. At this time we will be gathered to Christ as He descends from heaven to pour out final judgment on the kingdom of the Beast. This is the view that I hold to and that I believe is the biblical and Apostolic teaching.
The premillennial/pre-tribulation view was the dominant view that was affirmed by every church’s doctrinal statement that I attended, and by all of my favourite Bible teachers. I just naturally accepted what they taught without question because I assumed that they were right.
Several years ago, when the Lord began calling me into pastoral ministry and I was studying the Word in order to teach it to others, I came to a moment of personal crisis: as I read and went deeper in the Word for myself, I became increasingly alarmed and confused because I could not see the pre-tribulation rapture doctrine for myself—a doctrine that other well-educated, well-respected Bible teachers so confidently affirmed and assured me was there. Surely so many couldn’t be wrong…or could they
I came to the point where I had to know the truth for myself. I could no longer believe simply because someone else said it was true; I needed to conduct my own study and research into thepre-tribulation rapture and end times teaching. What I found was shocking! I discovered that the pre-tribulation rapture had never been taught in church history prior to the 1830s, when a Bible teacher named J.N. Darby began teaching it throughout Britain. He allegedly received this teaching from a Scottish youth named Margaret MacDonald, who claimed to have a vision from God in which she received this “new teaching” that the church would be “raptured” to heaven in a “secret coming” of the Lord before the coming of the Antichrist and the Great Tribulation. (It should be noted that MacDonald was close friends with another young woman, Mary Campbell, who through occult practices regularly received ecstatic utterances and visions from demonic spirits. I mention this because I believe the pre-tribulation rapture doctrine is a doctrine of demons injected into the Body of Christ to pervert the true teaching that the Church will face the Antichrist and go through the Great Tribulation. (1 Tim. 4:1; 2 Tim. 4:3-4; 2 Pet. 2:1-3; 1 John 4:1) Darby helped spread this false teaching throughout Britain, eventually bringing it to America (C.I. Scofield & Scofield Reference Bible, Dallas Theological Seminary, Left Behind series, etc.)
I begged God for wisdom and understanding (Jas 1:5). Once I tested this teaching and found it wanting, I rejected it (1 Thess. 5:20-21) and read my Bible with fresh eyes and a hunger to know the truth, often on my face weeping with an open Bible in front of me. If I was wrong, I wanted to know; but if what I was learning was the truth, the implications were staggering to me—millions of Christians have and are being DECEIVED and set up for great CONFUSION, DISSILLUSIONMENT, and OFFENSE that will potentially lead to their FALLING AWAY from the faith in the days of Antichrist and his Great Tribulation!
Why am I teaching these things now? Admittedly, I am doing this with great fear and trembling! Who am I? I feel so weak and overwhelmed at the task! But I am reminded of these Scriptures:
1 Corinthians 1:26-29 “Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.”
Daniel 11:32-33 ESV “He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action. And the wise among the people shall make many understand, though for some days they shall stumble by sword and flame, by captivity and plunder.”
Matthew 24:45-46 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.”
C) 1 Peter 1:3-16
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things. 13 Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. 14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
Note: The focus of this passage and the “blessed hope” that Peter speaks of is our coming salvation and inheritance (our glorification) when Jesus Christ is revealed from heaven in the last time (1:5,7,13).
Verses10-12: The prophets are commended as men who searched the Scriptures carefully and intently (Prov. 25:2). To them, its secrets were revealed, secrets that “even angels long to look into.” This is a strong encouragement and exhortation to us to have the same attitude today!
Verses 13-16: Let us be alert, fully sober, obedient children walking in holiness before the Lord as a result of His Coming!
D) 2 Peter 1:19-2:3
“We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 2:1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3 In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.”
Peter says the prophetic Scriptures are “made more certain” because of how Christ had fulfilled many of them in His 1st Coming. Therefore, how much more we ought to pay attention to prophecy—as to a light shining in a dark place—in the days leading up to His 2nd Coming!
Verses 20-21: Above all else, writes Peter, we must understand that Scripture is not open to anyone’s private interpretation. The Holy Spirit who authored the Holy Scriptures must also be the final interpreter of the Scriptures to us—Scripture interprets Scripture!
Verses 1-3: Peter spends much of his letter warning that “there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies… and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.” They do this by distorting the Scriptures to their own destruction (2 Pet. 3:16)! Let us be men of Issachar (1 Chron. 12:32)! Let us be noble Bereans (Acts 17:11)!
Next Week: “The Four Corner Pieces (Part A) - A study on the Rapture
(1) matt. 24:29-31
(2) 2 thess. 1:4-10, 2:1-8
(3) 1 Thess. 4:13-18
(4) 1 Cor. 15:20-28, 50-55