“It’s a bird, It’s a plane… No, it’s a Missionary!”
In the early 1990’s my wife and I (along with our infant daughter) were young missionaries with a large world-wide organization living in Budapest, Hungary.
While there we saw the effects of what I call “missionary supremacy” first hand. We first noticed it when some of our local Hungarian friends asked us why we lived in Pest (the flat, blue collar, industrial side of Budapest) because “All the other missionaries lived in Buda” (the affluent side of Budapest in the hills and amongst the greenery).
It was a true statement at that time but thankfully much has changed in Hungary over the past 20 years… Budapest is now a world-class city and both sides of the Danube are magnificent! But the idea of “missionary supremacy” still lives on in the least developed nations on earth.
Not too sure about that? Read on…
Emerito P. Nacpil, a missionary in the Philippines, has seen the following among young Filipinos:
”When they see a missionary, they see green—the colour of the mighty dollars. They see white, the colour of western imperialism and racism. They see an expert, the symbol of western technology and gadgetry. They see the face of a master, the mirror of their own servitude. They do not see the face of a suffering Christ but a benevolent monster.”
I know that many of you reading this article feel that I am stating my position too negatively and that I should concentrate on the positive examples. Of course there are many encouraging stories taking place right now all over the planet…
But my optimism is tempered by 25 years – on and off – of living overseas in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
What’s My Best Advice?
Three Words: “Follow Paul’s Example”
We must return to the apostolic model/method of church planting as seen in the New Testament, both power and practice!
Many overlook the Pauline pattern and suggest that they follow Jesus! Well, when it comes to following the Biblical record of starting house churches that multiply like rabbits throughout the Roman Empire of the 1st Century, the apostle Paul is our God-inspired example.
”When the Lord Jesus was personally on earth, the Church was not yet ordered, according to the form which He intended it to assume among men. He was engaged in collecting, rather than in arranging, the materials for His spiritual house; in preparing the living stones, not in building them together. (B.W. Newton 1843)
But if you think I am too pessimistic, hold onto your hat, because there is so much good news to report in this area:
> The huge (early) success of church planting movements (CPMs) by the Southern Baptists.
> The overwhelming support and embrace of missionaries across all denominational lines of the house church/simple church movement.
> Of late I am very impressed with Avant Ministries, a mission agency that is promoting “short cycle church planting teams”. The teams they send out to the far corners of the globe must complete their task within five years!! (Sounds like Paul to me! Jesus too!!)
With such a short cycle paradigm “missionary supremacy” (dependency and paternalism) hardly becomes an issue as from the VERY beginning they are planning their exit strategy!! I cannot tell you about their doctrine or beliefs but I love their emphasis of “get in and out” AS SOON AS POSSIBLE — something all missionaries give lip service to but most are woeful in terms of practice!
I close with one last quote from a missionary in Africa, Robert Reese, who also calls for a return to a New Testament pattern for fulfilling the Great Commission:
”It is necessary in the postcolonial period to return to basic New Testament patterns of missions. It is time to uncouple political power and military might from the spread of the gospel, as it was in the early church. There we find that missionaries did not create dependency except the importance of depending totally on God to supply needs. They regarded all wings of the body of Christ as equal despite long histories of racial discrimination among both Jews and Gentiles. They understood the primary task of missions as being to plant dynamic churches of the Saviour.”
Yours for the least in the Kingdom,
Jeff and Maria Gilbertson
“Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” (Rev 5:2)
One of the most beautiful portions in all of Scripture is the scene in heaven of God on His throne surrounded by the worshipful four living creatures and the 24 elders from Revelation 4 – 5. In the midst of the creatures and the elders we see the Lion of the tribe of Judah, Who is also seen as the slain Lamb!
Songwriters for centuries have powerfully portrayed this scene with songs such as: “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty; The Lamb Who is Worthy; Worthy, O Worthy are You Lord, Revelation Song, etc”
Here is one such example:
”Worthy is the Lamb, Seated on the throne,
Crown You now with many crowns You reign victorious,
High and lifted up, Jesus Son of God
The Darling of heaven crucified,
Worthy is the Lamb, Worthy is the Lamb”
Most often the Lamb is seen as above: “slain for the sins of the world” and therefore most worthy. However, in Rev. 5 (which is the source of all these songs) the Lamb, because He was slain, is found worthy to open the scroll and break open its seals!
The focus is on the sealed-up scroll in the Father’s right hand and Who is worthy to break its seven seals!!
Right here is where, I believe, God is sovereignly shifting the focus of the church from looking backward to the cross to looking forward to the scroll.
His First Coming was about mercy, His Second Coming is about judgment.
I say “Halleluiah” to that!
You see, the scroll is the “title deed of earth” and as Jesus takes it from His Father’s right hand the creatures and the elders fall down in worship! All of heaven (and earth for that matter) recognize what is taking place: Jesus will break the 7 seals and open the scroll, the title deed of earth, and bring to an end “this present age” and usher in Eternity – “the age to come”.
Prior to this point, no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was found worthy to open the scroll. This fact sent John weeping greatly… Finally one of the elders told him to stop weeping for there is One who is worthy to open the scroll and break open it seals.
“Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” (Rev 5: 5)
Sadly, one of the most beautiful (and real) scenes in the Bible lies buried under clouds of confusion and uncertainty. And this all because the devil has misled the church over the past centuries into quarreling over the timing of the rapture!!
God forgive us and have mercy!
Can I say it again:
There is no portion of Scripture more disputed and dissected than the last book! There is no other book in the Bible that we allow ourselves the “freedom” to say that “We don’t get it…” or that you can interpret it as you want to! We even teach classes on the four “accepted” different interpretations of the book of Revelation!
Dear Saints, Don’t we understand what we are saying?
> Can there really be four different interpretations of the book of Revelation? Why don’t you use that same symbolism and approach with the cross? That’s what the Muslims and Hindus do…
> Can you really live at peace with your Creator and say to Him: “That stuff at the end of the ages– I just don’t get it!“
Might I suggest the unthinkable: Just read the book!
Read with me Revelation 5
Then I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?”
But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”
Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He came and took the scroll from the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. And when He had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song:
“You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”
And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.”
And the four living creatures kept saying, “Amen ” And the elders fell down and worshiped.
Now go to the Lord in prayer and in humility and ask Him for insight and understanding. Read it again and again… Read more and more. You will be stunned when you see that by breaking open the seven seals, Jesus releases judgments on the earth in real time and space like Moses released God’s judgments upon the Pharaoh and the people of Egypt.
Maybe you want to fast. That’s what Daniel did!
“So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes…. Now while I was speaking and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God, while I was still speaking in prayer, then the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision previously, came to me in my extreme weariness about the time of the evening offering. He gave me instruction and talked with me and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with understanding.” (Daniel 9:3, 20-22)
Actually, I am pointing to Daniel here very purposefully as Daniel unlocks our understanding of the book of Revelation. The two books must be treated as companion volumes.(i.e. Apocalyptic I, Apocalyptic II)
Much of the poor exegesis currently in vogue comes from not reading Revelation in context with Daniel and the other 100 plus End Time Scriptures scattered throughout the Bible. For a case in point, try reading Zechariah 14, Psalm 48, Isaiah 63 and Joel 2-3 and see if you can make any sense out of them!!
You might find out that you have a huge gap in your belief system…
Yours Until He Comes Again,
Jeff Gilbertson
The doctrine of the Second Coming is deeply “offensive” to the developmental character of modern thought.
C.S. Lewis, of the Chronicles of Narnia fame, has written about this shying away from the study of the 2nd Coming of Christ:
The doctrine of the Second Coming is deeply “offensive” to the whole evolutionary or developmental character of modern thought. We have been taught to think of the world as something that grows slowly towards perfection, something that “progresses” or “evolves“.
Christian “end of the world” teaching offers us no such hope! It does not even foretell (which would be more tolerable to our habits of thought) a gradual decay. It foretells a sudden, violent end imposed from without; an extinguisher popped onto the candle, a brick flung at the gramophone, a curtain rung down on the play “Halt!”
I want to write here as briefly as possible and as accurately as I can what the book of Revelation tells us about the Last Days and the 2nd Coming. Jeff Gilbertson
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The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His bond-servants, the things which must shortly take place; and He [Jesus] sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John. (Rev. 1:1)
The book is better called “The Unveiling” because we get caught right at the first page thinking this is something too difficult for us to understand… too “spooky” or bizarre. It is the unveiling of Jesus Christ! It is a unique disclosure of Him, different than we read about in the previous 65 books!
The book of Revelation is one of the most exciting books to read in the whole Bible once you get past the fog of mystery and controversial and conflicting opinions. There is a blessing promised to those who do read the book and keep its words!
Here is what I understand and believe it says and I hope you can follow along.
Ch 1 is the call and background of John. He wrote the book while a prisoner from the small island of Patmos, right off the coast to Asia Minor. He was in his 80s most people believe! Exiled and elderly, just like another prophet of old who wrote “the book of revelation in the Old Testament”, Daniel.
Ch 2-3 are 7 letters of reproof and encouragement that Jesus dictated to John in a vision for 7 specific churches in Asia Minor.
“Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches…” (Jesus in Rev 1:11)
Ch 4-5 paints one of the most beautiful pictures of heaven in print! Here we read of God Almighty sitting on the throne of Heaven, encircled by 4 living creatures. Around them the 24 elders sit on their thrones — these signify the “12 tribes of Israel” and the “12 disciples”.
“Day and night they do not cease to say: Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty, Who was and Who is and Who is to come…” (Rev 4:8)
In the midst of this scene of “day and night worship” John sees that the One sitting on the Throne has a small scroll in His right hand…
Believe it or not, this scene is the crowning scene of Heaven and of all human history!
This small scroll is sealed up with 7 seals and is the “Title Deed” of Earth. As Jesus takes this small scroll from His Father, all of Heaven (millions of angels!!) falls before the Lamb and sing: “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to break the seals…”
Ch 6 – 8 is the Lamb, Jesus, breaking the 7 seals of the scroll — the “title deed” of earth and releasing 7 judgments on the earth. The first four seals are the famous “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse”.
What is going to happen here, until the end of the book, is that God is going to transition the two ages of human history. Jesus spoke about these two ages as :
1. “this present age” – from Adam to the Return of Jesus.
2. “the age to come” – from Jesus’ Return to Eternity.
Things happen quickly now!! After the four seals are broken and the judgments released over 1/4 of mankind will be killed!
The 7th seal is not a separate judgment but is the opening of the scroll when all the seals are broken off. The scroll unfolds and inside the scroll are found the 7 trumpets.
It is at this point that there is complete silence in heaven for about 30 minutes as all the “heavenly host” consider the astounding judgments to come and the final ushering in of the Return of Christ to earth!
Things happen even quicker now!!
Jesus liken this time to “birth pangs” and we all know that once they start they only grow in intensity and frequency! Taken together, the opening of the 7 seals and the blowing of the 7 trumpets will take exactly 3 1/2 years.
Then trumpets bring even greater judgment to the earth. 1/3 of the earth is stricken with hail and fire, 1/3 of the sea becomes like blood, 1/3 of the earth is in darkness. If this sounds a lot like the judgments on Egypt and the Pharaoh it is because they are! This was a foreshadowing of what will take place on earth during the Great Tribulation (Mtt 24:21) at the end of this present age.
(Please notice that the children of Israel were protected from the 10 plagues released by Moses- even though they were living right amongst the people of Egypt! – see Exodus Ch 7 -11)
Once the 6th trumpet ( Rev 9) is sounded 1/3 of mankind is destroyed by 3 plagues of fire and smoke and brimstone. (Together with the 4th seal and the 6th trumpet, 1/2 of mankind is killed!) Incredibly, the total of deaths during this “great tribulation” will equal 3 million deaths per day for duration of the 3 1/2 year period.
This is what the book of Revelation clearly says and most scholars say it that plainly. But there are some Bible experts who cannot believe what is written will happen and so they treat the whole book of Revelation in a symbolic manner. I cannot agree with this position.
And Now For the Good News.
Here is the most dramatic event in the history of the world and yet sadly the church and the world are confused and sleepy about it: the 7th trumpet.
When the 7th trumpet is blown Jesus Christ returns to earth!! Rev 11: 15-18
Rev 10 sets this up very well for us and says that when the 7th trumpet is blown that the “mystery of God is finished as He preached to his servants the prophets.” (Rev 10: 7)
This moment is the famous Rapture of the believers from the earth.
“…in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.” I Cor 15: 52
Jesus will come “with the clouds and every eye will see Him”. (Rev 1:7)
Once the believers are taken from the earth and meet the Lord in the air with the “dead in Christ”, Jesus will return to the earth and NEVER LEAVE! He will now complete His Father’s will and personally carry out the last remaining judgments: the 7 bowls of wrath. (Rev 15-16)
As these 7 bowls are poured out and bring 100% complete destruction to the earth, the only people left on earth now are all those people who have sided with the Antichrist and the false prophet (for more on this: Rev 13). They must have already received the mark of the beat “666″ sometime during the great tribulation period. This is a willful act on the part of masses of humanity. This is not something that happens “while you are sleeping” or you don’t know if you have the “mark” or not!
Rev 13:8 says that “All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written in the book of Life…”
The End Is Near ( or should I say: The Beginning is Near!)
As the 7th bowl of wrath is poured out, a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying “IT IS DONE!” (Rev 16:17) Very similar to what Jesus spoke from the cross: “It is finished!” (John 19:30) Only John — same author — records this statement from Jesus’ lips in the his Gospel!
This is the Final Battle recorded in Rev 19 where John sees Jesus on a white horse, His eyes are a flame of fire and a sharp sword come out of His mouth to “smite the nations”.
At this Final Battle (known incorrectly as the Battle of Armageddon) all humanity is killed except for those who have NOT received the mark of the beast. They are called by some “the Resisters”. The Antichrist and the false prophet are thrown alive into the lake of fire. (Satan will join them there 1000 years later!)
Jesus now will reign on earth with the saints for 1000 years! (Rev 20:4) He will establish the kingdom of God back on this earth as it was in the garden of Eden.
The last book of the bible takes us back to the first book!
It is during this Millennium period that “the lion will lay down with the lamb”. (This is an inaccurate, though well known, quote of Isaiah11.)
Isaiah 11:6 “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.”
Satan will be bound in the Abyss for those 1000 years, yet at the end he will be released for a short time and will try, once again, to fight against God!! He will assemble an army of those humans who survived the Great Tribulation (i.e. the resisters’ children) but his end will happen without a battle. He will join his friends in the lake of fire for eternity, to be tormented forever and ever! (Rev 20:10)
Now comes the Great White Throne were all those dead without Christ in their hearts are judged. “You must be born again to enter the Kingdom of God” Jesus told the people Whom He lived amongst. Those who were never “born again are right now waiting in hell to be judged at this great white throne. The book of life will be opened “and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books” (Rev 20:12)
When the books are closed and all the dead are “dead again” and thrown into the lake of fire, the earth is FINALLY ready to receive the Father! God himself will once again walk here on earth! Just like He did with Adam and Eve.
The New Jerusalem
John now sees a “New Jerusalem” coming down from heaven (Rev 21-22), “made ready as a bride adorned for her husband [Jesus].” (Rev 21: 2)
This moment is the ” restoration of all things” ( Acts 3:21) when Jesus “delivers up the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule, and all authority and power.” (I Cor 15: 24)
> The New Jerusalem will have no temple because God and the lamb are its temple!
> The New Jerusalem will have no need of sun or moon for its light is the Lamb!
> The New Jerusalem will have gates that never shut! (These are the “pearly gates” by the way!)
It is a huge city measuring over 1400 miles wide, long and high! Artists are not able to accurately depict this city. I can show you its size however. (Make a mental note that it is 1400 mile high — planes fly about 7 miles high!)
In the middle of the city is the tree of life, which we first saw in the Garden of Eden! It will bear fruit every month! From this tree we can eat!!
To him who overcomes and makes it into the New Jerusalem, Jesus said he “will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God!” (Rev 2:7)
All Christians will have renewed bodies once the “rapture” takes place at the 7th trumpet. (Those “waiting in heaven” like Abraham, Isaiah and Daniel, Peter, James and John, will have risen first to meet him “in the air”. I Thess 4:16-17) We will be like Jesus was when He showed Himself bodily alive after His resurrection. He could eat, He could walk though walls! We will be the same…for all eternity!
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” (Rev 21: 2-5)
There it is in all its beauty and splendor. Take it or leave it, this is what the book of Revelation really says and this is what will happen.
Yours,
Jeff
Three Parts of the Second Coming: Rapture, Reward and Return
When the subject of the Second Coming came up amongst the Twelve disciples, Jesus was quick to reply that they should:
“See to it that no one misleads you…”(Mtt 24: 4, Mk 13: 5, Lk 21:8)
Well, two thousand years later this word from Jesus still remains “living and active”. One of the biggest parts of not being misled is to know for yourself where you are headed!
We must “take pains with these things” so that when false teaching creeps in we can recognize it and refute it. We must “search out the Scriptures daily” and fill our hearts with the truth so we will be ready and awake in “that day”.
The apostle Paul went so far as to “beg” the Thessalonians not to be quickly shaken or disturbed from false teachers who went about purportedly in Paul’s name teaching a different doctrine and urged them to hold fast to what he had taught them and that they were to “encourage each other with these things”. (I Thess 4:15-18; 2 Thess 2:1-3)
If the body of Christ can grasp the timing and the magnitude of the Second Coming with these three words – Rapture, Reward and Return – I believe that we will be well on our way to standing strong when all else about us is falling.
Right now we are far from being able to edify each other about the Blessed Hope of His appearing. To put it plainly, the deadlock is this:
First Christ “comes on the clouds” to gather His bride in the air and then He “comes on a white horse” to wage war with the Antichrist and his armies back on earth. Not seeing these two separate events, which are seen clearly in the book of Revelation, has resulted in a church caught in a “chess-like stale mate”! Neither side seems willing to budge…
If I were to describe the end times scenario with a few more words it would look like this:
”At the Last Trumpet we will be ‘caught away’ to meet Christ in the air (Rapture); He will reward all saints of all time at this meeting in the clouds (Reward); then ‘heaven will invade earth’ as the armies of God follow their leader who is riding on a white horse with a sword in His mouth to execute judgment on all the nations.”
There it is in one (long) sentence… what has been debated, disputed and hacked up for 2000 years.
1. Rapture “He is coming with the clouds”
”Behold, He is coming with the clouds and every eye will see Him.” Rev 1:7
When Jesus left this earth last time, He was standing on the Mount of Olives and a “cloud received Him out of their sight”. (Acts 1: 9) In the same way He will come again – with the clouds. (Mtt 24: 30, 26:64; Dan 7:13)
Paul also saw this vision even before John on the island of Patmos:
”For the Lord 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. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up (Latin ‘rapture’) together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.” (I Thess 4: 16-17)
Jesus is currently seated in heaven at His Father’s right hand. He must remain in heaven UNTIL the “period of restoration of all things”. (Acts 3:21) At the last trumpet, which is in a series of seven (Rev 8-9) “the time has come for the mystery of God to be finished” (Rev 10:6-7) and for “the dead to be judged… and to destroy those who destroy the earth” (Rev 11:18)
Jesus Himself told His disciples that He would come “on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.” And right at that moment He would “send forth His angels with great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from one end of the sky to the other. “ (Mtt 24: 30-31; Mk 13: 26-27)
In the beauty and majesty of God this heavenly scene was not only shown Paul and John but also Daniel in a “night vision” about 2700 years ago!!
”And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like the Son of Man was coming and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented to Him, And to him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.” (Dan 7: 13-14)
2. Reward “He is coming with His rewards”
”Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me.” Rev 22:12
At this incredibly grand meeting “in the air” with Jesus, the angels will gather with the dead in Christ with their new transformed bodies. These are joined by those who have just been caught up from earth and given “changed bodies” (I Cor 15:51-52).
At this glorious moment, unequaled in human history, Christ will reward His servants:
”The time [has come] for the dead to be judged, and the time to give their reward to Thy bond-servants the prophets and to the saints and to those who fear Thy name, the small and the great. (Rev 11:18)
Once again Paul understood this moment and remarked to Timothy at the end of his life:
”I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.” (2 Tim 4:7-8)
3. Return “He is coming on a white horse”
”And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon is called Faithful and true; and in righteousness He judges and wages war… And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following with Him on white horses.” (Rev 19:11,14)
After the vast “gathering in-the-air”, once the saints have been rewarded, Jesus will mobilize this huge army to return to the earth and finish the last battle for ownership of earth with the Antichrist and his armies. This battle is commonly know as the Battle of Armageddon.
What most people can not imagine is that the saints are riding with Jesus on white horses as He brings the final judgments on the earth. We will not be fighting but we will be “following Him” as seen in Rev 19: 14.
For further clarification of this please notice that in Rev 17 we are also shown as being “with Jesus” as he wages war on the beast (the Antichrist)
“The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast. These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful.” (Rev 17: 12-14)
I know that for many of you this thought of Jesus reigning on earth for 1000 years is new and even more stunning is that after He “delivers up the kingdom to God when He has abolished all rule and all authority“ (I Cor 15: 24), God Himself will come down from heaven with the New Jerusalem and together He and His Son will rule and reign here on earth forever! (Rev 21-22)
To solidify that last scene, I want to close with this quote from George Ladd, esteemed professor of New Testament and Greek at Fuller Seminary and one of their original faculty members:
”Throughout the entire Bible, the ultimate destiny of God’s people is an earthly destiny. In typical Greek thought, the universe was divided into two realms: the earthly or transitory, and the eternal spiritual world… However, biblical thought always places man on a redeemed earth, not in a heavenly realm removed from earthly existence.” (A commentary on the Revelation of John)
Yours for the least in the Kingdom,
Jeff Gilbertson
Corrie ten Boom’s “Great Tribulation Perspective” (1974)
In the early 1970’s Corrie ten Boom’s book THE HIDING PLACE became a best seller and World Wide Pictures released the major motion picture “The Hiding Place.” Corrie went on to write many other inspiring books and make several evangelical videos. Corrie was a woman who was faithful to God. She died on her 91st birthday, April 15, 1983
The world is deathly ill. It is dying. The Great Physician has already signed the death certificate. Yet there is still a great work for Christians to do. They are to be streams of living water, channels of mercy to those who are still in the world. It is possible for them to do this because they are overcomers.
Christians are ambassadors for Christ. They are representatives from Heaven to this dying world. And because of our presence here, things will change.
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There are some among us teaching there will be no tribulation, that the Christians will be able to escape all this. These are the false teachers that Jesus was warning us to expect in the latter days.
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My sister, Betsy, and I were in the Nazi concentration camp at Ravensbruck because we committed the crime of loving Jews. Seven hundred of us from Holland, France, Russia, Poland and Belgium were herded into a room built for two hundred. As far as I knew, Betsy and I were the only two representatives of Heaven in that room.
We may have been the Lord’s only representatives in that place of hatred, yet because of our presence there, things changed. Jesus said, “In the world you shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” We too, are to be overcomers—bringing the light of Jesus into a world filled with darkness and hate.
Sometimes I get frightened as I read the Bible, and as I look in this world and see all of the tribulation and persecution promised by the Bible coming true. Now I can tell you, though, if you too are afraid, that I have just read the last pages. I can now come to shouting “Hallelujah! Hallelujah!” for I have found where it is written that Jesus said, “He that overcometh shall inherit all things: and I will be His God, and he shall be My son.” This is the future and hope of this world. Not that the world will survive – but that we shall be overcomers in the midst of a dying world.
Betsy and I, in the concentration camp, prayed that God would heal Betsy who was so weak and sick. “Yes, the Lord will heal me,” Betsy said with confidence. She died the next day and I could not understand it. They laid her thin body on the concrete floor along with all the other corpses of the women who died that day.
It was hard for me to understand, to believe that God had a purpose for all that. Yet because of Betsy’s death, today I am traveling all over the world telling people about Jesus.
There are some among us teaching there will be no tribulation, that the Christians will be able to escape all this. These are the false teachers that Jesus was warning us to expect in the latter days.
Most of them have little knowledge of what is already going on across the world. I have been in countries where the saints are already suffering terrible persecution.
In China, the Christians were told, “Don’t worry, before the tribulation comes you will be translated – raptured.” Then came a terrible persecution. Millions of Christians were tortured to death. Later I heard a Bishop from China say, sadly, “We have failed. We should have made the people strong for persecution rather than telling them Jesus would come first. Tell the people how to be strong in times of persecution, how to stand when the tribulation comes – to stand and not faint.”
I feel I have a divine mandate to go and tell the people of this world that it is possible to be strong in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are in training for the tribulation, but more than sixty percent of the Body of Christ across the world has already entered into the tribulation. There is no way to escape it. We are next.
Since I have already gone through prison for Jesus’ sake, and since I met the Bishop in China, now every time I read a good Bible text I think, “Hey, I can use that in the time of tribulation.” Then I write it down and learn it by heart.
When I was in the concentration camp, a camp where only twenty percent of the women came out alive, we tried to cheer each other up by saying, “Nothing could be any worse than today.” But we would find the next day was even worse. During this time a Bible verse that I had committed to memory gave me great hope and joy. “If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you; on their part evil is spoken of, but on your part He is glorified.” (I Peter 3:14) I found myself saying, “Hallelujah! Because I am suffering, Jesus is glorified!”
In America, the churches sing, “Let the congregation escape tribulation,” but in China and Africa the tribulation has already arrived.
This last year alone more than two hundred thousand Christians were martyred in Africa. Now things like that never get into the newspapers because they cause bad political relations. But I know. I have been there. We need to think about that when we sit down in our nice houses with our nice clothes to eat our steak dinners. Many, many members of the Body of Christ are being tortured to death at this very moment, yet we continue right on as though we are all going to escape the tribulation.
Several years ago I was in Africa in a nation where a new government had come into power. The first night I was there some of the Christians were commanded to come to the police station to register. When they arrived they were arrested and that same night they were executed. The next day the same thing happened with other Christians. The third day it was the same. All the Christians in the district were being systematically murdered.
The fourth day I was to speak in a little church. The people came, but they were filled with fear and tension. All during the service they were looking at each other, their eyes asking, “Will this one I am sitting beside be the next one killed? Will I be the next one?”
The room was hot and stuffy with insects that came through the screenless windows and swirled around the naked bulbs over the bare wooden benches. I told them a story out of my childhood.
“When I was a little girl, “ I said, “I went to my father and said, “Daddy, I am afraid that I will never be strong enough to be a martyr for Jesus Christ.” “Tell me,” said Father, “When you take a train trip to Amsterdam, when do I give you the money for the ticket? Three weeks before?” “No, Daddy, you give me the money for the ticket just before we get on the train.” “That is right,” my father said, “and so it is with God’s strength. Our Father in Heaven knows when you will need the strength to be a martyr for Jesus Christ. He will supply all you need—just in time…”
My African friends were nodding and smiling. Suddenly a spirit of joy descended upon that church and the people began singing, “ In the sweet, by and by, we shall meet on that beautiful shore.” Later that week, half the congregation of that church was executed. I heard later that the other half was killed some months ago.
But I must tell you something. I was so happy that the Lord used me to encourage these people, for unlike many of their leaders, I had the word of God. I had been to the Bible and discovered that Jesus said He had not only overcome the world, but to all those who remained faithful to the end, He would give a crown of life.
How can we get ready for the persecution?
First we need to feed on the word of God, digest it, make it a part of our being. This will mean disciplined Bible study each day as we not only memorize long passages of scripture, but put the principles to work in our lives.
Next we need to develop a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Not just the Jesus of yesterday, the Jesus of History, but the life-changing Jesus of today who is still alive and sitting at the right hand of God.
We must be filled with the Holy Spirit. This is no optional command of the Bible, it is absolutely necessary. Those earthly disciples could never have stood up under the persecution of the Jews and Romans had they not waited for Pentecost. Each of us needs our own personal Pentecost, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We will never be able to stand in the tribulation without it.
In the coming persecution we must be ready to help each other and encourage each other. But we must not wait until the tribulation comes before starting. The fruit of the Spirit should be the dominant force of every Christian’s life.
Many are fearful of the coming tribulation, they want to run. I, too, am a little bit afraid when I think that after all my eighty years, including the horrible Nazi concentration camp, that I might have to go through the tribulation also. But then I read the Bible and I am glad.
When I am weak, then I shall be strong, the Bible says. Betsy and I were prisoners for the Lord; we were so weak, but we got power because the Holy Spirit was on us. That mighty inner strengthening of the Holy Spirit helped us through. No, you will not be strong in yourself when the tribulation comes. Rather, you will be strong in the power of Him who will not forsake you. For seventy-six years I have known the Lord Jesus and not once has He ever left me, or let me down. Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him, for I know that to all who overcome, He shall give the crown of life.
Hallelujah!
Reading the “love chapter” in its original context
1 Corinthians 13 is probably the best known chapter in the Bible and is often read at weddings and such. However, in its original context, this chapter was written to balance the Corinthian Christians’ knowledge of gifts (read abuse) with a reminder of the love’s importance!
I have written an article some years ago called Kingdom Math: 12+13=14that looks into this sequence given to us in Chs 12-14: gifts + love = functioning. This is what God wants us to balance in our expression of “church” as we come assemble together.
You can really not underestimate reading verses and chapters in their context. It is so important!
If you cut and paste 1 Cor. 13 and put it on your refrigerator you can miss the deeper/fuller meaning of a body “out of balance” during a gathering of the believers.
I would like to jar your thinking with a classic example of a taking a verse “out of its context”!! It is the following very famous verse from the book of Revelation:
‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.’ (Rev 3:20)
Try as we might, the real context and therefore its real meaning of this scene is so difficult to comprehend because of decades of faulty interpretations. Honestly, can you think of this verse and not hear Billy Graham or countless others using this in an evangelistic setting??
Here are just three points I can see quickly where we can come up with a faulty meaning:
1.This verse was written to the church in Laodicea and not to the unsaved! It was a “lukewarm church” but nevertheless a church, full of believers.
2. Jesus is shown here “knocking at the door” of the church! He had just told them that ‘Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.’ He was knocking at the door for anyone in the church who would respond to his loving discipline and repent of lukewarmness and with zeal open the door and let him in!
It only took ONE person to usher Him back inside!
3. When it comes to our salvation, it is we who do the knocking! Jesus is the door! It is OUR knocking that invites Him into our hearts. He is not shyly standing at the knocking and knocking for us to open to Him for salvation… Well if you believe He is, then use another verse and NOT THIS ONE for your text!
Whew!! Do you now see how misguided interpretations we can come up with just as easily as breathing…
I wanted to share this excellent quote regarding our subject that I found in the April 09 edition of The Atlantic magazine. I thought the author does a wonderful job of putting these verses from 1 Cor. in their proper context:
Consider that famous ode to love in 1 Corinthians. Paul wrote this letter in response to a crisis… Many in the church believed themselves to have direct access to divine knowledge and to be near spiritual perfection. Some thought they needn’t accept the church’s guidance in moral matters. Some showed off their spiritual gifts by spontaneously speaking in tongues during worship services—something that might annoy the humbler worshippers and that, in large enough doses, could derail a service.
In other words: they lacked brotherly love. Hence Paul’s harping on that theme in 1 Corinthians, and especially in chapter 13. It is in reference to members’ disrupting worship by speaking in tongues that Paul writes, “If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” And when he says, “Love is not envious or boastful or arrogant,” he is chastising Corinthians who deploy their spiritual gifts—whether speaking in tongues, or prophesying, or even being generous—in a competitive, showy way… In the case of 1 Corinthians, chapter 13, the result was some of Western civilization’s most beautiful literature—if, perhaps, more beautiful out of context than in. (Robert Wright, “The Evolution of God”)
My continual prayer is for a generation of men and women with discernment and insight, who will be “ready and able” to give understanding to many:
“Those who have insight among the people will give understanding to the many… Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven.” (Daniel 11:33;12:3)
Yours for the least in the Kingdom,
Jeff Gilbertson
Daniel, the “missing link” to understanding the End Times
In my journey to comprehend the enormous subject of the End Times and to open up my heart to the book of Revelation (and all the end time passages — there are over 150 chapters in the Bible that deal with the subject!), I can honestly tell you that one verse has stirred my thinking like none other. That verse is Matthew 24:15.
Here is the verse in its larger context. Read it slowly and out loud:
14 “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. 15 “Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16 then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains… 21 “For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. (Mtt 24:14-15, 21)
In Matthew chapters 24 – 25, we find Jesus describing to His disciples “the sign of His coming” (parousia) and the keys to being victorious at His Second Coming. IN the middle of this passage, Jesus abruptly shifts the storyline to the prophet Daniel.
Why Daniel of all the Old Testament prophets?
Jesus could have mentioned the prophetic books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, etc. but He pointed to instead to Daniel and to the reference there of the “Abomination of Desolation”. Curiously enough, it is in Daniel (and only Daniel) we read about the Abomination of Desolation in the Old Testament. Jesus pointed His disciples back over 500 years to help the gain understanding on what would happen over 2000 years in the future.
I believe that it is right here — in the “red letter” words of Christ — that we have our “Missing Link” to unlock the End Times!
“Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand) (Mtt 24:15)
In the parallel passage in Mark a small caveat is added: “But when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION standing where it should not be (let the reader understand ), then let those in Judea flee to the mountains. ” (Mk 13:14)
The “It” that Jesus indicated will one day stand in the holy place, “where it should not be” is the Antichrist. Jesus said that when you see “It” — also called the “beast” in Rev. 13 — standing in the holy place (and that place is the temple in Jerusalem!), then that is like the “CRACK” of the starter’s pistol. The “man of lawlessness” is being revealed (2 Thess 2) and the end of all things is just around the corner…
”It is called the Abomination of Desolation because it is an Abomination to God that results in the Desolation of the nations by His Great Tribulation judgments. The Antichrist brings tribulation to the saints using his worldwide government (Rev. 13). God brings tribulation against the people in the Antichrist’s empire by the 21 numbered judgments.“ (Mike Bickle)
To fully grasp the context of the above quote, I want to review with you briefly what I believe is the setting of the last 3 1/2 years (1260 days) of earth as we know it, during what Jesus called the Great Tribulation:
There will be 21 consecutive judgments, growing in intensity and frequency. Jesus takes the scroll, sealed up with seals, from His Father and opens the 7 seals judgments, which in turn opens the scroll to release the 7 trumpets judgments. Finally, the 7 bowls of wrath are poured out on the earth. At the last trumpet, Jesus will return to earth with the dead in Christ and we who remain will be caught up together with Him. When the last of the “Bowls of Wrath” is poured out, a loud voice cries out from the throne in heaven: “IT IS FINISHED!” (Rev 16:17)
Before the 7th trumpet sounds and Christ returns “coming with the clouds and every eye will see Him” (Rev 1:7), a staggering number of people on earth will be killed — over 1/2 of the world’s population (as you can ascertain from the judgments of the 4th seal and the 6th trumpet).
Jesus tells us that if we are to comprehend all of this we need to go back into the book of Daniel and look for answers.
Who (or what) is the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION?
When you turn to the book of Daniel you read about this “abomination of desolation” in three main passages:
Daniel 9:27 “And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”
Daniel 11:31 “Forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the abomination of desolation.
Daniel 12:11 “From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days.”
It would takes pages and pages to explain who “he” is and who “he” is not… My desire is to whet your appetite and get you reading for yourself. In Daniel we have the clearest picture of the Antichrist and his character to be found anywhere in the Bible.
Before we go any deeper into this subject I want to clear up one little-known fact:
The name “Antichrist” is really a misnomer.
If you do a word study on the name “antichrist”, remarkably you will find that it is only cited five times and all of those are in the epistles of I and II John .
“Little children, these are the end times, and as you heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen. By this we know that it is the final hour.” 1 John 2:18
For more light on this I want to turn you to the NIV Study Bible:
“John assumed his readers knew that a great enemy of God and His people will arise before Christ’s return. That person is called ‘antichrist’ (vs. 18), ‘the man of lawlessness’ (2 Thess 2: 3) and ‘the beast’ (Rev 13:1-10). But prior to him, there will be many antichrists.”
In Daniel not only do we read about the abomination of desolation but also we see an “unveiling” of the Antichrist. In the following passage from Dan. 7 you can read about him symbolic language. Don’t be dismayed by the symbols (i.e. 4th beast, ten horns.) As you will see, the context will usually give the meaning: “the ten horns are ten kings”.
Symbols describe realities!
“The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it. As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings. He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time [3 1/2 years]. But the court will sit for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever. ” (Dan 7:23-26)
Here is the Antichrist and THIS is what Jesus wanted us to understand!
Truth be told, we need to read and re-read Daniel as it is the Old Testament’s equivalent of the New Testament’s book of Revelation. Perhaps this is where the trouble of our “muddled interpretations” of the Last Days! These two books are “center stage” and yet most of us are content with knowing about Shadrach and Meshach in a fiery furnace and Daniel in the lion’s den and that Jesus will return on a white horse and save the world someday…
Take this one example:
“Now I [Gabriel] have come to give you [Daniel] an understanding of what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision pertains to the days yet future.” Dan 10:14
Surely you know of the spiritual warfare in connection with Daniel’s three weeks of prayer and fasting BUT did you also know that the answer Gabriel brought him was two chapters on the Antichrist!
The Antichrist IS the Timeline.
What I find most compelling in Daniel is the accuracy of the “length of days” and timing of the end of the age. In Daniel we find the BEGINNING, MIDDLE and END of the Last Days. You can read it all in one verse straight from the mouth of Gabriel. (Please do a study someday of who Gabriel talks to in the Bible!!)
“He will confirm a covenant with many for one ’seven.’ In the middle of the ’seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.” Dan 9:27 (NIV)
1. BEGINNING
The Antichrist will “covenant with the many” for seven years Dan 9: 27a
2. MIDDLE
The “abomination of desolation” will come in the middle of those seven years (i.e. 3 1/2 years or 1260 days) (Dan 9: 27b, Mtt 24:15/ Mk 13:14, 2 Thess 2:4 Rev 13:5)
3. END
The Antichrist’s destruction in the lake of fire (Dan 9: 27c, 2 Thess 2:8, Rev 19:20)
I found an excellent graph for this exact timeline that I think will be helpful. (Please note that they use the title “Rule of the Prince” for the Antichrist.) It shows the correct place for the 1260, 1290 and 1335 days of Daniel 12:7, 11-12. You would laugh your head off if I told you of all the confusion and contradiction from just these three verses you can find in one hour on the Internet!!
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Part 2
The Type, or the Antitype.”
In closing, I want to touch briefly on one of the main struggles you can experience in trying to “rightly divide the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15) about the End Times. I am not trying to be too cryptic here but I feel I need to use these two words to help us move forward.
1. TYPE – A type is a person, place, thing, or event that is a foreshadowing of a future person or event.
2. ANTITYPE – The antitype or thing the type foreshadows is greater and clearer to understand.
“For example, a rubber stamp is a type. It is not clear and simple to understand. However, its antitype, that print that appears when the rubber stamp is pressed on paper, is much clearer than the type. The type was a shadow, or promise of the revealed antitype to come. We must never expect the type and antitype to be the same… Remember too, that the antitype is always superior to the type. If it were not, there would be no need of the type. The antitype is always clearer and more revealing. ” (by Grady Scott)
In the following verse I think you will agree with me that Moses is the type and that Jesus is the antitype:
“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” (John 3:14).
Melchizedek, the “king of peace” (Heb. 7:2), is another the type of a Jesus, a Man who would be called “Prince of Peace”, the antitype, who is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him.
I like how A. W. Pink has developed this thought in this quote:
“As it is in the natural world, so it is in the spiritual: there is first the blade, then the ear, and then the full corn in the ear. So there is first the shadow, and then the substance; the type, and then the antitype.”
Well, dear brothers and sisters, we ALSO have type/antitype of the Antichrist!
Pharaoh was a striking and accurate type of the Antichrist.
“Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go?” (Ex. 5:2). The Pharaoh had magical resources at his disposal (Ex. 7:11), but not as great or powerful as the antitype, the Antichrist; the lawless one (2 Thess. 2: 8-9)
Many see in Nimrod an obvious type of the Antichrist.
Gen. 10:10 informs us that the beginning of Nimrod’s kingdom was Babylon and we all know where that led. Fast-forward to the end of the Bible and we see Babylon again, this time depicted as the Great Harlot sitting on a scarlet beast, “drunk with the blood of the saints”! (Rev 17)
In 168 B.C. Antiochus IV was a type of the Antichrist. The Jewish holiday Hanukah commemorates the re-dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem after its desecration by the forces of Antiochus IV. He exalted himself by using “divine epithets”, which no other Hellenistic king had done, such as “Theos Epiphanes” which means “God Manifest”.
In 70 A.D. armies from another type of the Antichrist, the Roman Emperor Titus, completely destroyed the temple in Jerusalem. Josephus claims that 1,100,000 people were killed during the siege, of which a majority were Jewish.
Both of these men were not the fulfillment but the foreshadowing!
So was Nero, Napoleon, Hitler, Saddam Hussein…
If the church could grasp this one truth much insight and strength would come to the body. But since we have already a doctrine / theology that splits into “a, pre, and post”- millennium and splits again into “past, present, future and symbolic” interpretation camps, we are weak and fractured!
God help us!! (If what I just wrote makes no sense at all consider yourself one of the fortunate ones.)
Church, take courage and strength from Daniel!
“Those who have insight [at the end of the age] will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.” Dan. 12:3
Yours for the least in the kingdom,
Jeff Gilbertson
P.S. Just to good to leave out:
“Almost everyone looks at the book of Daniel with a sense of wonder and anticipation, because this is usually regarded as a prophetic book foretelling the future. This is true. The book of Daniel, together with the book of Revelation, marvelously unfolds future events as God has ordained them in the program of history. By no means has this book yet been fulfilled, neither has the book of Revelation. These two books, one from the Old and one from the New Testament, remarkably complement each other in their symmetry and harmony. The book of Revelation explains the book of Daniel. The book of Daniel lays the basis for the book of Revelation. If you would like to know God’s program for the future, it is essential that you understand this book of Daniel.”(Ray Stedman)
Sample chapter from Future History: Understanding the Book of Daniel and End Times Prophecy
He will come like a thief in the night!
There is so much bewilderment about the “How and When” of the promised return of the Lord Jesus that I hardly know where to start. Many people that I talk with often say that they just can’t get “sidetracked” by the End Times since it is so muddled. As if studying the Second Coming is “off on a tangent“!
Nevertheless, I feel an urgency in my heart to keep “chipping away” at the faulty theology imbedded at large in the body of Christ on the Last Days. I want to examine with you one of the verses that I believe has been appallingly misunderstood in regards to the Second Coming:
“The day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.”
1 Thess 5: 2
For decades the church has fed itself the continuous line that the “Day of the Lord” would come unexpectedly — like maybe even before I finish typing this sentence… AAAAHHHH!
This “sudden and sneaky” Rapture fever has served the church quite well in evangelism, I guess. Have you not seen the portrayals of lightening flashing in a crowded church service and then after the smoke clears a few are “left behind”, broken and repentant and start to REALLY seek the Lord, etc.?? You might have read the popular book series touching on these themes.
Well, it might make for good “YouTube” hits, but it is poor theology.
Yes, Jesus will come like a thief in the night… to those who are not watching!! To those who are asleep.
Read it for yourself:
I Thess 5:4-6 “But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day [of the Lord] would overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober.”
Revelation 3:3 “So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.” — Jesus
Revelation 16:15 “Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.” — Jesus
Matt 24:33,36 “Even so, you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door… But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.” — Jesus
Just to be clear on this last verse, which seems to be is the fountainhead of the confusion, we WILL NOT KNOW “that day and hour” — which is an oft repeated theme of the New Testament — BUT we are to know that “He is near”. Jesus went on to compare it to watching the trees budding in spring and showing a “hint of green” in their leaves and recognizing that summer is near! (Mtt 24: 32)
Thankfully, more and more believers are “waking up” to the truths of these and other scriptures. Believers are finally taking the time to seriously think through their faulty theology of a God who wants to “catch the world by surprise”. The following is a quote from one such believer:
“We all ‘know’ that when Jesus returns, it will be ‘as a thief in the night’, a totally unexpected surprise, about which He has given us no clues about what to watch for and expect. This is the ‘doctrine of imminence’, the foundation of the pre-tribulation rapture error. We have also repeatedly heard that God has no interest in, or intention of, revealing His timing to us, preferring, if you will, that He might catch us all by surprise. It has also been well ingrained into our minds that any form of ‘date setting’ is not only foolish, but forbidden. But are these commonly held beliefs necessarily valid? Or have we misapplied what Jesus was trying to convey to His disciples? Is He really trying to sneak up on everyone to catch them unaware?” ( For the entire article see: Ed Spurlin)
The dreaded problem of “Dual Application”
Before we can look deeply into the End Times we must all have a clear understanding that when the Scriptures speak of “the last days” there is often little or no more clue than just that: “In the last days” or “In that day” or “ A day of the Lord is coming. (see Isaiah 2: 2-4,11,17, 20; Micah 4:1-7; Zech. 14: 1-9)
Many times there is a dual application that is unspoken or hidden and we need to “search out the matter” to know if the writer is speaking of a day soon to come in his generation or if this was fulfilled in the cross or will be fulfilled in the Second Coming!
A well know example would be Isaiah 9:6-7
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.”
Certainly much of this was fulfilled in the first coming of Jesus but there is still “a day coming” when Jesus will rule the nations from David’s throne in Jerusalem with a rod of iron and the government of the whole world will rest on His shoulders. Hallelujah!!
As I now describe the coming birth pangs that Jesus gave us to “recognize the times“ we need a clear understanding that this passage may have a dual application to a time to come shortly in Israel ( 70 A.D.) and a second, broader application to come “at the end of the ages”. I always find that Jesus Himself is the key to unlocking the most difficult passages!! (e.g. Mtt 24: 15)
Here is a complete list of the “Birth Pangs” that Jesus spoke of in the Gospels. (Mtt 24; Mk 13; Lk 21)
1. wars and rumors of wars
2. nation will rise against nation / kingdom against kingdom
3. plagues
4. famines
5. terrors (“fearful events” NIV)
6. great signs from heaven
7. earthquakes
8. they will deliver you to tribulation and will kill you
9. you will be hated by all nations because of My name
10. many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another
11. many false prophets will arise and will mislead many
12. lawlessness is increased
13. most people’s love will grow cold
14. gospel must first be preached to all the nations
The whole point of Jesus telling us to “watch and pray” is that we would watch the obvious signs in the world and in the church and pray for His wisdom and guidance. In Mark, Jesus distinctly told His disciples to “Be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.” (Mk 13: 23)
Dear Saints, Jesus wasn’t keeping them in the dark, like a “cloak-and-dagger” spy novel! That was not and is not the heart of God!! He let them know “IN ADVANCE”, step by step, point-by-point, what would take place.
As it was in the days of Noah
“For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. ” Mtt 24:37
In Matthew 24, we see that Jesus said that His second coming, His “parousia”, would be just like the days of Noah. Just days before the world-wide flood, the people of Noah’s time were carrying on with “business as usual”. We know that Noah built his ark for at least 100 years but he did not know when it was going to rain until God told him that it would come in just seven days.
The significance I want to draw out of the parallelism to Noah and the Second Coming is two-fold:
#1. We need to be like Noah “alert and sober” and careful to be walking in righteousness before our God.
Gen 7:1,4 Then the LORD said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time…For after seven more days, I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights.”
#2. The “sleepy” people of Noah’s day were “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage” right up until the very day Noah entered the ark, even though the “sign” of pending judgment grew daily right before their eyes! For them “that day” came like a thief in the night!
Mtt 24:39 “And they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.”
Finally, I want to close with one last encouragement from noted Bible teacher Rick Joyner who has summed up these thoughts very well about knowing the times you are living in:
“Even the best map is useless unless you know where you are. Every Christian should know where they are on the path of life, and they should also know the signs of the times in which they live.”
Yours for the least in the Kingdom,
Jeff Gilbertson
Remember Lot’s Wife
The Lord spoke to me quite clearly the other morning. It seems sleep “escaped me” and I woke rather early and was stirred to look into the metaphor or “word picture” that Jesus left His disciples in talking about His Second Coming: “Remember Lot’s Wife.”
Here is the passage in its immediate context from Luke 17:
”It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, the one who is on the housetop and whose goods are in the house must not go down to take them out; and likewise the one who is in the field must not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.” Luke 17: 28-33
To give my own context, I was preparing a seminar on Eight End Times Essentials that my daughter and I were doing for two local churches, when the Lord directed me to Luke 17 and these short cryptic words: ”Remember Lot’s Wife”.
If you “Google” this verse you will find thousands of hits and most of them are directed at the unsaved — as though we can “scare folks toward Christ”! After all, the image of a pillar of salt is quite graphic! Here is just one example: ”Do not delay, trust Christ today! Obey the Lord.”
I don’t blame or judge those who would use this passage for a call to conversion but I would ask us all to look closer to find the true meaning of these words. Please notice that Jesus was talking to Peter, James, and John – the 12 apostles: And He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it…. And just as it was in the days of Noah..” Luke 17:22, 26
Therefore we need to first of all look at the church in these verses.
– Why is Jesus bringing us the word picture of Lot’s wife?
– What is there in her “looking back” that we need to take to heart?
In these three short words ”Remember Lot’s Wife” I believe Jesus has given us a library to explore concerning the Last Days and His Return!
1. “Head for the Hills”.
To start with we must see that Jesus spoke this to His disciples as pertaining to events surrounding His Second Coming and as a warning of urgency!
“On that day” there is no time to “go back and get your goods”!
Whether you are on the rooftop or out in the fields on “that day”, the message is the same – “Flee! Don’t go back.” In the broader context of Luke 17, we see that Jesus spoke of “that day” as when the “Abomination of Desolation” stands in the holy place. This is seen in the parallel passages from Mtt 24:15 and Mk 13:14.
“Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak.” Mtt 24: 15-18
It will take the utmost of urgency and resolve for the world-wide Bride of Christ in “that day” to move quickly and without regard to the “things of this world”. Alfred Plummer has written tersely about this verse to “Remember Lot’s wife”:
“The application is to absolute indifference to all worldly interests as the attitude of readiness for the Son of Man”.
The great question I believe for this generation, for this hour, is how do we know that we will not follow Lot’s wife example? The only answer is that we are living NOW the life that will endure to the end THEN!!
We need to be like Daniel and the Hebrew youths!
They came as captives from Jerusalem into a difficult setting — Babylon under the rulership of an anti-christ figure Nebuchadnezzar– but they never wavered. They CAME prepared! They came with an understanding of their time, an awareness of their time! They did not learn in Babylon, “on-the-job”, the lessons of faith and trust that would see them through the fiery furnace and the lion’s den.
They came prepared to face the giant.
We need this same sense of urgency that Jesus left as an example for His disciples. We must be prepared on short notice to “head for the hills”, having made the decision in our hearts years earlier to “absolute indifference to all worldly interests”.
Many believers will be offended by GOD in the last days. “And then shall many be offended…” (Mtt 24: 10) As Mike Bickle from IHOP has shared many times:
”The prepared, prophetic church ALONE will have the answers to keep multitudes from being offended at God in the End Times.”
2. Don’t look Back.
Here we see the real tragedy of this situation. Just before the goal-line (i.e. the small city of Zoar) Mrs. Lot lingered, tarried, hesitated… “remembered” and looked back! Her own husband and daughters were just a FEW meters in front of her in the safety of the city limits
of Zoar.
The angel had just told them the night before that they must– “Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Well, true to his word, as soon as Lot reached Zoar with his two daughters “the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven.” (Gen 19) At this point, Lot’s wife revealed her true heart as she turned her head to “look behind” at the burning memories of Sodom.
“And she became a pillar of salt” Gen 19:26 And a memorial that stood most likely for generations! The famous 1st century Jewish historian Josephus reports that he saw this pillar of salt in his time! It must be noted here that Lot’s wife was “touched by an angel”. She was directed by an angel to head for the hills and to not look back. Few of us have had such divine intervention (let the reader understand).
If we study closely the life of Lot, we will see that this “looking back” of his wife’s did not happen with out some gradual decline. I believe we can see a slow, steady turning, like a giant ocean liner at sea making a U-Turn. Lot intended at first, when he separated from Abraham, to live in his tent apart from the people of Sodom (Genesis 13:12). But he was gradually drawn away, moved to the city, and was connected with the citizens there by marriage. Lot moved further and further from the Kingdom of God and settled in closer and closer in the kingdom of this world.
He too “hesitated” and “lingered” when it came his time to “Flee!”
Gen 19: 15-16 “When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, ‘Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.’ But he hesitated. So the men seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters, for the compassion of the LORD was upon him; and they brought him out, and put him outside the city.”
What was the big lure of Sodom?? Was it the blatant lust and living for the flesh? Don’t be too quick to judge!
“Now this was the sin of Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.” Ezekiel 16:49-50
Someday, possibly in the not-too-distant future, we will also be told to “head for the hills”! Saints, we need to wake up out of the “fog” of fear of the End Times, the book of Revelation and the proclaim the Return of the King!
I will close with one last quote from CS Lewis’ classic The World’s Last Night:
“He shall come again to judge the quick and the dead“’ says the Apostles’ Creed. “This same Jesus’ said the angels in Acts, “shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” “Hereafter’ said our Lord him self (by those words inviting crucifixion), “shall ye see the Son of Man . . . coming in the clouds of heaven.” If this is not an integral part of the faith once given to the saints, I do not know what is.
Yours for the least in the Kingdom,
Jeff Gilbertson
The Influence of Greek Ideas on Christianity (1888)
by Edwin Hatch
No sooner is any new impulse given either to philosophy or to religion than there arises a class of men who copy the form without the substance… So it has been with Christianity. It came into the educated [Greek] world in the simple dress of a Prophet of Righteousness. It won that world by the stern reality of its life, by the subtle bonds of its brotherhood, by its divine message of consolation and of hope. Around it thronged the race of eloquent talkers who persuaded it to change its dress and to assimilate its language to their own.
It seemed thereby to win a speedier and completer victory. But it purchased conquest at the price of reality. With that its progress stopped!
There has been an element of sophistry in it ever since; and so far as in any age that element has dominated, so far has the progress of Christianity been arrested. Its progress is arrested now, because many of its preachers live in an unreal world. The truths they set forth are truths of utterance rather than truths of their lives.
But if Christianity is to be again the power that it was in its earliest ages, it must renounce its costly purchase… The hope of Christianity is, that the class which was artificially created may ultimately disappear; and that the sophistical element in Christian preaching will melt, as a transient mist before the preaching of the prophets of the ages to come, who, like the prophets of the ages that are long gone by, will speak only “as the Spirit gives them utterance.”
