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The Pre-Tribulation Rapture of the Saints and Revelation 6:17
Does Revelation 6:17 support, or undermine, a pre-Tribulation Rapture of the saints? We have considered other Rapture positions in relation to passages in the book of Revelation in other posts on this blog. Consider the context:
Rev. 6:12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
Rev. 6:13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
Rev. 6:14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
Rev. 6:15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
Rev. 6:16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
Rev. 6:17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
Rev. 6:12 Καὶ εἶδον ὅτε ἤνοιξε τὴν σφραγῖδα τὴν ἕκτην, καὶ ἰδού, σεισμὸς μέγας ἐγένετο, καὶ ὁ ἥλιος ἐγένετο μέλας ὡς σάκκος τρίχινος, καὶ ἡ σελήνη ἐγένετο ὡς αἷμα,
Rev. 6:13 καὶ οἱ ἀστέρες τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἔπεσαν εἰς τὴν γῆν, ὡς συκῆ βάλλει τοὺς ὀλύνθους αὐτῆς, ὑπὸ μεγάλου ἀνέμου σειομένη.
Rev. 6:14 καὶ οὐρανὸς ἀπεχωρίσθη ὡς βιβλίον εἱλισσόμενον, καὶ πᾶν ὄρος καὶ νῆσος ἐκ τῶν τόπων αὐτῶν ἐκινήθησαν.
Rev. 6:15 καὶ οἱ βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς, καὶ οἱ μεγιστᾶνες, καὶ οἱ πλούσιοι, καὶ οἱ χιλίαρχοι, καὶ οἱ δυνατοί, καὶ πᾶς δοῦλος καὶ πᾶς ἐλεύθερος, ἔκρυψαν ἑαυτοὺς εἰς τὰ σπήλαια καὶ εἰς τὰς πέτρας τῶν ὀρέων,
Rev. 6:16 καὶ λέγουσι τοῖς ὄρεσι καὶ ταῖς πέτραις, Πέσετε ἐφ’ ἡμᾶς, καὶ κρύψατε ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ καθημένου ἐπὶ τοῦ θρόνου, καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ὀργῆς τοῦ ἀρνίου·
Rev. 6:17 ὅτι ἦλθεν ἡ ἡμέρα ἡ μεγάλη τῆς ὀργῆς αὐτοῦ, καὶ τίς δύναται σταθῆναι;
Rapture / Tribulation Views and Revelation 6:17: Wrath “is come” means what?
Some opponents of the pre-Tribulation Rapture argue from Revelation 6:17 that the wrath of God has not started yet; after all, the verse says that the “great day of His wrath” is only come now at this point, and this is the sixth seal. Thus, they would say, God’s wrath does not come with the start of the Tribulation, but only here, with the sixth seal, and so a “pre-wrath” Rapture, or maybe, if this is the midpoint of the Tribulation, a “mid-Trib” Rapture here, or perhaps, if one distorts the sequence of events in the book of Revelation so that the seals, bowls, and vials are not sequential (although they actually are), even a post-Trib Rapture. What do you think?
Note that the verb translated “is come” in Revelation 6:17 is ἦλθεν, a 3rd singular 2nd aorist active indicative of ἔρχομαι, “to come” or “to go.” What would we expect for an aorist in terms of the time of the action? The most common use, at least, is that the action would have started in the past: “Generally, the aorist looks at an action as a whole and does not tell us anything about the precise nature of the action (constative)” (Basics of Biblical Greek, WIlliam Mounce, chapter 22; note that this blog post is an adjusted devotional that I prepared for my Greek students as we were studying chapter 22 on the aorist in Mounce’s grammar). A constative aorist-the most common category for the aorist–would support God’s wrath starting earlier in the chapter, before the sixth seal, namely, at the first seal at which the Tribulation began. However, there is also a rare category called a “proleptic” aorist, which could suggest that the wrath here had not yet started but was only about to begin now; maybe the aorist here is proleptic, leaving room for anti-pre-Tribulation Rapture views?
In response, we should first consider that the constative aorist, the aorist for summary past action, is much more common than a proleptic aorist. The English “whom he justified, them he also glorified” (Romans 8:30) certainly shows that an “-ed” verb in English can be used for something that is yet future, because it is so certain to God, but how often do we speak that way in English, in comparison to using the past tense to describe an event that is actually in the past? Thinking that the aorist here portrays an action that has already started before this point is the natural assumption. To assume that God has not yet started to pour out His wrath in the first five seals (even though things like ¼ of the world’s population dying have already taken place—that is like every single person in North and South America suddenly dropping dead–But is that God’s wrath? Oh no—of course not!) is an unnatural assumption.
We also need to consider who is speaking. Revelation 6:17 is not a statement that God makes; it is not a statement a holy angel makes; it is one the unregenerate earth-dwellers make, the same people who say things like “Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?” (Revelation 13:4). If we concede that wicked and unregenerate mankind now begins to understand that God’s wrath is being poured out, that does not mean that this point is when His wrath actually begins; as those who did not have all their thoughts set on God, they did not see His wrath in the famines, the plagues, the Antichrist, the wars, the death all around—but the first six seals actually already were God’s wrath, although wicked men did not see it.
Revelation 6:17: The “Come” verb in Revelation 6
Note as well an important tie-in with the same verb,erchomai, earlier in the chapter:
.
Rev. 6:1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see
Rev. 6:1 Καὶ εἶδον ὅτε ἤνοιξε τὸ ἀρνίον μίαν ἐκ τῶν σφραγίδων, καὶ ἤκουσα ἑνὸς ἐκ τῶν τεσσάρων ζώων λέγοντος, ὡς φωνῆς βροντῆς, Ἔρχου καὶ βλέπε.
Rev. 6:3 And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.
Rev. 6:3 Καὶ ὅτε ἤνοιξε τὴν δευτέραν σφραγῖδα, ἤκουσα τοῦ δευτέρου ζώου λέγοντος, Ἔρχου καὶ βλέπε.
Rev. 6:5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
Rev. 6:5 Καὶ ὅτε ἤνοιξε τὴν τρίτην σφραγῖδα, ἤκουσα τοῦ τρίτου ζώου λέγοντος, Ἔρχου καὶ βλέπε, καὶ εἶδον, καὶ ἰδού, ἵππος μέλας, καὶ ὁ καθήμενος ἐπ’ αὐτῷ ἔχων ζυγὸν ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ.
Rev. 6:7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
Rev. 6:7 Καὶ ὅτε ἤνοιξε τὴν σφραγῖδα τὴν τετάρτην, ἤκουσα φωνὴν τοῦ τετάρτου ζώου λέγουσαν, Ἔρχου καὶ βλέπε.
Rev. 6:17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
Rev. 6:17 ὅτι ἦλθεν ἡ ἡμέρα ἡ μεγάλη τῆς ὀργῆς αὐτοῦ, καὶ τίς δύναται σταθῆναι;
As Christ breaks each of the first four seals we see the living creature or beast say, “come!” And then what happens? A judgment! The Antichrist takes power with the first seal, the rider on the white horse, conquering and to conquer; then the second seal, the wars after the short-lived peace of the Antichrist; then the world-wide famine of the third seal; then the death of 25% of the world’s population in the fourth seal. The fifth seal is obviously different, as we see there the martyred saints crying out for vengeance on the wicked, which God promises them He will enact. And then we have the sixth seal here:
In Revelation 6:17 the expression “the day … has come” is an acknowledgment by all people in the context of the heavenly and earthly disturbances of 6:12–14 and the flight to the mountains and caves in 6:15–16. However, within the literary structure of this unit—the breaking of the seven seals—the “has come” (ēlthen) in the sixth vision is an acknowledgment of the results of the summons to come (erchou), which is repeated four times at the beginning of the series. The summons “come” calls forth elements of the day of the Lord. The declaration “has come” looks back over all these elements and acknowledges what has in fact come to be.[2]
This usage also suits Old Testament Day of the Lord prophecies.
So in Revelation 6:17 even the unregenerate earth-dwellers finally recognize what has been going on since the first seal—the wrath of God poured out upon the earth, wrath which started with the first seal, which comes immediately after the pre-Tribulation Rapture.
We deserve the judgments of the Tribulation for our sins. That is how horrible they are. We deserve the eternal torment in the lake of fire described near the end of Revelation. But the Son of God, by His grace alone, took that very wrath that we deserve upon Himself, suffering and satisfying our infinite debt of sin. By being our blessed sacrificial Lamb He has eternally delivered us from the future wrath of the Lamb on those who reject His glorious sacrifice. For delivering us from the wrath to come, let us say with all the saints: “Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.” (Revelation 5:12-13).
[1] William D. Mounce, Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar. 3d; Accordance electronic ed. (Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 2010), 202.
[2] Craig Blaising, “A Case for the Pretribulation Rapture,” in Three Views on the Rapture: Pretribulation, Prewrath, or Posttribulation, ed. Stanley N. Gundry and Alan Hultberg, Second Edition., Zondervan Counterpoints Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2010), 61.
–TDR
2 Thessalonians 2:3 & Pre Trib Rapture: “Day Shall not Come”
People that deny the pre-Tribulation Rapture of the saints sometimes use 2 Thessalonians 2:3 to argue for their position. Let us examine this verse in its context:
1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. 5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? 6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Opponents of the Biblical doctrine of the pretribulational, premillenial Rapture of the saints may argue that “the day of Christ” cannot be “at hand,” that is, it cannot be about to take place, until there “come a falling away first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.” That is, the Antichrist has to be revealed before the Rapture can take place, according to this argument.
However, this argument against the pre-trib Rapture is clearly invalid. The phrase translated “the day of Christ is at hand” in 2 Thessalonians 2:2 comes from the Greek hoti enestēken hē hēmera tou Christou. The word enestēken comes from the Greek enistēmi, meaning “to be present”; the sense in 2 Thessalonians 2:2 is that “the day of the Lord has come” (BDAG). Some at Thessalonica thought that they were already standing in the time of the Day of Christ; they thought they were already in the Tribulation period, and so they were doing things like no longer going to work at their lawful employments. Paul explains that if they were already standing within the Day of Christ, if they were already present in the Tribulation, then they would see the Antichrist ruling the world, as he is the one who takes power immediately after the Rapture (Revelation 6:1-2). No Antichrist ruling the world? Then they were not in the Tribulation, argues Paul.
The other texts in the New Testament with the verb enistēmi verify this interpretation:
Rom. 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
1Cor. 3:22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;
1Cor. 7:26 I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress, I say, that it is good for a man so to be.
Gal. 1:4 Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:
2Th. 2:2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. [“the day of Christ is present.”]
2Tim. 3:1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come [Greek future tense: “perilous times shall be present in the future.”]
Heb. 9:9 Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;
While in English we use the phrase “at hand” in a variety of ways, the Greek word in 2 Thessalonians 2:2 and its uses elsewhere in the New Testament demonstrate that Paul was warning that if one was actually in the Tribulation period, he would already see the Antichrist in power. Paul was not saying that the Antichrist would arise and then the Day of Christ would start at some point afterwards. Indeed, in the following context, Paul identifies the Holy Spirit as the Restrainer who is holding back the Antichrist until He is taken out of the way (2 Thessalonians 2:6-7). Notice that the Holy Spirit is referred to with a neuter (KJV, “what” withholdeth, to katechon) in 2:6 and a masculine (KJV, “he” who now letteth/restraineth,” ho katechōn) in 2:7. The neuter is used because pneuma, “Spirit / breath / wind,” is grammatically neuter word in Greek (as are all words ending in –ma), but because the Holy Spirit is a Person, He is referred to with a masculine form in 2 Thessalonians 2:7. When will the Spirit be taken away? When the saints are taken away in the Rapture–and then the Antichrist, no longer restrained, will be revealed.
Thus, in context, 2 Thessalonians 2 supports a pre-Trib Rapture, and nothing at all in 2 Thessalonians indicates that the Antichrist must start ruling before the Rapture can take place.
Many other passages support the pre-Tribulation Rapture of the saints, and refute a mid-Tribulation or post-Tribulation error, including passages such as 1 Thessalonians 4, which have been discussed in other articles on this blog.
–TDR
Eschatology and Political Activism from the Right and the Left
Living in the Last Days
If you travel in evangelical circles, you might hear language especially today that says, “We’re living in the last days.” Those words, “last days,” occur eight times in the King James Version. These are two prominent usages:
2 Timothy 3:1, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.”
2 Peter 3:3, :”Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts.”
“Last days” in the Bible is not very specific. When the Apostle Peter uses the words in his sermon on the Day of Pentecost, he refers them to a partial fulfillment now over 2,000 years ago:
Acts 2:17, “And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.”
The phrase, “living in the last days,” did not start appearing in written material until the middle of the nineteenth century, when men would write something like the following:
There are features of the last days of the last times, and they are characteristic of these days and these times; we are therefore, living in the last days of the last times, and, consequently, expect the speedy appearance of the coming of the Son of Man.
This was from an article, “Elements of Prophetical Interpretation,” by J. W. Brooks in a book, The Literalist, published in 1841. As popularly used, most refer these “last days” to a seemingly very short time before the rapture from the earth of the saints.
A Vision of the Reign of God on Earth
Many, many and from various factions oppose the literal approach to biblical prophecy and that everyone presently abides in the last days as such. They reject the concept that the world will degenerate until the return of Christ. If that be the case, political activism is of little point. On the other hand, if persistent human effort might bring the reign of God on earth, then reasons exist for lobbying, campaigning, protesting — violent or non-violent, community organizing, and political action.
Early Roman Catholicism by envisioning the church as New Testament Israel also saw the church as the kingdom of God on earth. Instead of circumcision as the entrance requirement to the kingdom, water baptism became that, a New Testament circumcision. A false form of millennialism, this position says the church is already God’s kingdom with a view toward its ultimate perfection on earth. Roman Catholic theologian Augustine in AD413 wrote in his City of God:
The Church is already now the kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of heaven. Accordingly, even now His saints reign with Him. . . . It is then of this kingdom militant, in which conflict with the enemy is still maintained, and war carried on with warring lusts, or government laid upon them as they yield, until we come to that most peaceful kingdom in which we shall reign without an enemy.
Spiritualizing Old Testament Israel and finding in its Old Testament prophecies a fulfillment in the New Testament church subscribes to advocation of positions of power for realizing God’s kingdom on earth. According to this eschatological position, the church inherits Old Testament mandates for domination over the earth.
Postmillennial Liberation and Dominion Theologies
Mirroring Viewpoints
The left and the right both compete for power with the divine charge of liberation on the left and dominion on the right. These two mirroring viewpoints easily find support for the replacement of Israel. This might also adapt into justifiable eradication with an underlying disposition of antisemitism. Both acquire their ordination from a form of postmillennialism and a hermeneutic of spiritualization and allegorization, the latter the rationalization for Roman Catholicism.
The left and the right become strange bedfellows with relationship to Israel under the same umbrella of eschatology. Palestinian Liberation Theology buttresses a decolonization theme and advocates Palestinian freedom “from the river to the sea.” Thomas Ice writes then concerning postmillennial reconstructionism:
The danger lies in their misunderstanding of God’s plan concerning the future of the nation Israel. Reconstructionists advocate the replacement of Old Testament Israel with the church, often called the “New Israel.” They believe that Israel does not have a future different from any other nation.
Corrupted Views of Israel
Ice continues:
While Reconstructionists do believe that individual Jews will be converted to Christ in mass in the future, almost none of them believe that national Israel has a future and thus the Church has completely taken over the promises of national Israel. In contrast to the eventual faithfulness and empowerment by the Holy Spirit of the Church, Reconstructionist David Chilton said that “ethnic Israel was excommunicated for its apostasy and will never again be God’s Kingdom.”
John MacArthur also tied together these two theological ideologies, saying:
There is another kind of theology that’s existing today, it’s called Liberation Theology. It is a form of theology that says that the church is to take dominion over the institutions of the world. That’s another form of dominion theology or kingdom theology. And what it basically says is that the church’s mandate is to take over the institutions of the world. That’s the liberation theology side. And what dominion theology says is that we are to take over the powers of darkness.
Dovetailing of Leftist and Rightist Values
Harvey Cox writes in an article in The Atlantic:
By far the most striking discovery I made . . . was the remarkable similarity between the rhetoric . . . of liberation theology. Both (postmillennial dominion theology and liberation theology) focus on continuing the ministry and work of Jesus. Both place the concept of the Kingdom of God, albeit interpreted quite differently, at the center of their respective theologies.
Leftist and rightist values dovetail around eschatological belief. Neither provide a true and real solution for the present or for the future. Instead of depending on a plain reading of the text of scripture, they spiritualize it and read into it a false vision of the future. This then reflects on a relationship with Israel.
Judaizers followed the Apostle Paul into his churches after his first missionary journey and attempted to turn the churches of Galatia into a form of New Testament Israel. They removed required distinctions between the church and Israel to make the church into Israel. This confused the real solution for man’s problems found only in Jesus Christ. It corrupted the church. A kind of Judaizing continues perverting the church through its insidious false eschatological vision for the world. In so doing, it also assaults Israel and annuls the promises God will still fulfill for this chosen nation.
The Purposeful Contortion and Confusion of End Time Truth (Part Two)
No explanation of origins succeeds at explaining how everything got here, including how people got here, except for the biblical one. And the biblical one makes sense, because it fits everything that we see. Evidence also confirms the Bible.
An explosion turning into terrific, complicated design, either physical or biological, just can’t be true. We have no basis for believing that, and people really don’t. They opt for the explanation, but not because it is true. It is convenient for personal autonomy. It’s a method for blocking God out of the psyche.
Naturalistic End Time Belief
On the other end, people invent an ending too. It says, everything will burn out and turn into free floating space junk. The universe will go silent. Despite Star Trek, Star Wars, and any other fictional alien story, no life will exist.
How it ends is some kind of global warming, global freezing, collision of an asteroid, called an “impact event,” a world wide nuclear holocaust, or the spread of a incurable deadly disease that kills everyone (pandemic). The latter probably doesn’t work, because it probably just kills people. Animals of many different varieties survive, running around and doing what animals would do without people here. Perhaps they wait for the inevitable evolution into something closer to people.
The avoidance of end time catastrophe in this naturalistic sense means people doing a better job of not destroying the planet. They do that apparently by adapting. This means the soon end of carbon emissions.
Apocalypse
People call the planet ending catastrophe, “apocalypse.” Those who know the Bible might find this ironic, because that’s the Greek word for the Book of Revelation. Revelation doesn’t provide such an ending as what men call an apocalypse. People don’t even know what the apocalypse of Revelation is.
Apocalypse is Jesus coming back to earth with unveiled glory. He came the first time as Savior and He appears the second time as Judge. People are basically correct in that apocalypse is end time destruction, but it is an angry God judging the world because of sin.
The world’s population doesn’t promote talk about sin. People don’t want to hear about sin. They hate that. People want to hear good news, but not what the Bible says is “good news,” the gospel. Good news to the people of the world would be living however they want without destruction. They despise any warning of destruction that comes because of sin. People revel in the idea that destruction might come because of carbon emissions. No problem there.
Preachers and theologians cooperate with the naturalistic end time viewpoint, the cataclysmic ending of the planet, by confusing and contorting what the Bible says about the end. Their views show very little urgency. The true view of the end is urgent. Many Bible preachers today mock any kind of urgency as kooky, elevating instead their spiritualized, allegorical, and subjective positions. Why not opt for a naturalistic view, if the people who are supposed to know the Bible aren’t themselves clear about how everything ends?
Eschatological Boldness
Christians today are very often afraid to make a statement about naturalistic end time views. They are so unsure about how the world will end that they most often stop telling the world what the Bible says. Professing believers are not really that offended about the naturalistic explanations like climate change. They don’t think Christians should speak in dogmatic fashion about what the Bible says.
Even professing Christians consider biblical end time teaching to be questionable. They diminish it to something on the level of art on the other side of the campus from the engineering department. It can’t be viewed like science. Someone cannot trust the Bible that much, especially for prophecy. As a result, Christians themselves and then especially the world is not prepared for how the world will really end.
The shame felt over eschatological beliefs debilitates Christians. They won’t talk about those beliefs in public. Instead, they leave conversations about the end for very private enclaves of the few like minded. This is not the will of God. God expects boldness on talk of the future. The Bible portrays a clear picture of what to expect for the future.
Christians should unequivocally reject the naturalistic end times explanations. They are repugnant and an offense to God. Naturalistic eschatology capitulates to the world system. What the Bible says about the end is not a mere theological position. It is the truth. Everyone around needs to hear what will really occur in the future. They need a thorough debunking of the modern false views of how the world will end.
Scriptural Authority
People want to live like they want. A major contributing factor eliminates future judgment of God. Satan and his minions attack the teaching of the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Confusion over the second coming, when Jesus comes and judges the world, takes away a major motivation for salvation and personal purity. If people don’t think Jesus is coming, they can or might live however they want. They don’t consider the consequences of their sin.
Christians with boldness must stand on the teaching of creation and of the end of the earth. They must embrace what scripture teaches. Satan told Eve in the Garden of Eden, “Thou shalt not surely die.” The capitulation to the world on the end times offers a similar lie to the people of the world. They miss the blessing (Revelation 1:3) of an important warning of their dire future without Jesus Christ.
The Purposeful Contortion and Confusion of End Time Truth
A primary way Satan keeps people deluded about life and the world is by his contortion and confusion of either origin or end time truth. God reveals with pristine clarity the beginning and ending of everything. Both of these revelations are vital for faith and practice. Satan wants people deceived on how they got here and what will happen to them in the future.
Naturalism breeds more lust. I like to say, it means we got here by accident. No one’s your boss, so you’re your own boss. That sounds great to most people, doing what they want to do. Since they just happened, no design, they aren’t accountable to anyone or anything. They live like they want, which, based on the nature of man, means following lust.
Origins
Even if someone contemplates a possibility of God, that isn’t strong enough to replace the dominion of lust in a life. All the truths about God transmit from Him as origination of everything. Other truths about God diminish when He didn’t create us. The elimination of God creating man for HIs glory greatly decreases the power and importance of everything else scripture says.
The perversion of beginnings relates most to its compatibility with the theory of evolution. Modernists of the nineteenth century began rethinking the meaning of Genesis to fit with Darwinism. An allegorical interpretation of the first three chapters of the Bible allows to read evolution and an old earth into Genesis.
With people unsure about the beginning, it’s no wonder they doubt the ending. Even theologians turn eschatology into a non-essential now. They relegate prophecy to ambiguity. Many churches have removed most of their eschatology from their doctrinal statements. You don’t need a position to fit into a church. It’s too uncertain to require for even professing Christians.
Endings
On a recent prophecy post I wrote here, an anonymous commenter (whom I did not publish) called crazy (he used “nutjobs”) churches that talk about or preach prophecy. Opinions and speculation abounds on end time events.
The doctrines of Christ, salvation, man, and angels dovetail with prophecy. When Jesus arrived in the first century, very few were ready or awaited His coming, because they had detached from prophetic reality. The promises of God become of no effect as people falsify what He says will happen in the future. This then deadens their anticipation and smothers their hope.
History functions in a chiliastic manner. You could call it “going full circle.” Paradise lost and paradise regained. The destruction of the first necessitates the destruction of the last. This renders meaningless everything in between. Why believe anything if you can’t know how it starts and how it ends?
Many theologians and church leaders have capitulated to the attack on the origin and the ending. This relegates most everything to what people call, living in the present or living in the moment. I understand that concept in a positive way to a certain degree. Living in the moment requires mindfulness and focus on the task at hand and perhaps gratefulness for what you’re experiencing in the present. However, God wants futuristic living for the saints, an outlook of expectation.
A Forward Look
Scripture requires a forward look. Paul in Philippians said, “reaching forth unto those things which are before” (3:13) and “we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (3:20). Jesus said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God” (Matthew 6:33). If we can’t know our beginning or ending, we lose the basis for living like scripture says. An ultimate motivation for Paul was “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:10).
‘Putting on the helmet of salvation’ (Ephesians 6:17) relates closely to last days events. Salvation is complete in the future. If people can’t be sure about most of the details, what can and do they mean? How would we be sure that these uncertain things could be true? This is where it stands in most ways today in eschatology.
Spiritualizing
The fastest growing view of the future is to spiritualize or allegorize the future. People allegorize almost all of the prophetic passages and they take on numerous different possible meanings. This has become not just possible but the preferred take in many places.
Now men spiritualize and allegorize the first few chapters of the Bible and the last book of the Bible. People can make it mean what they want. It’s no wonder people won’t take God’s Word seriously and churches are apathetic. If people can’t really know the beginning and the ending, why care about everything in between?
I Don’t Want to Scare You But This Could Scare You
Artificial Intelligence
I was preparing to write about AI (Artificial Intelligence) today, something I started last week, before I even heard about the public interview with Elon Musk. What he said added to what I will write here. In general, I’m following two threads of thought. The first is the potential control of AI or whoever possesses the keys to AI. It relates to eschatology.
Many of you already think about it or thought about it. Maybe you already don’t put very much trust in institutions. I typed “human institutions,” but there isn’t any other kind. Every institution is a human one. How “off the grid” could any one person live and still fulfill his purpose for existence?
Dependence
Would I be wrong to say that something like 99% plus of people today depend on electronic systems? I draw a circle around myself and start working my way out. To start, I’m typing this on a laptop computer connected by WIFI through a router to the internet. As you read this, it started here where I sit and reached you through an amazing pathway at maybe something like the speed of light.
The power grid now depends on massive computers. The decision to bring generators on line or cut off an overloaded portion was not long ago done by people. In congested areas, computers control automobile traffic. Close to 90% use a mobile phone for that communication. These too are powerful computers.
Money
Even if only 40-50 percent of people use mobile banking, me included, all banking is computerized. Like probably all of you, I don’t see my money, if currency is money. Currency isn’t money, when it’s worthless as paper and ink. Some of you reading have gold somewhere, actual physical gold, in what you hope is a safe place. I hope that will work for you if or when everything breaks down. Maybe someone will trade you something you need for the gold you possess.
I hate to say this, but almost all of my money could disappear in less than one second of the time computers started controlling everything. Or, more likely in my opinion, when someone controlling all the computers took control of everything with the computers. I did not earn much in my lifetime, but I did relatively well with stewardship of the small amount. Still, all of that wealth over my entire lifetime could vanquish in one brief moment. How do I or how would I stop it?
Diversification?
The adage, don’t put all your eggs in one basket, I think I follow it. However, I have all of those eggs under the dominion of computers in some fashion. I own property. A computer says I own property. Maybe a piece of paper sits in a file somewhere too, but I’m really not sure on that. When computers take over, can I use a computerized mobile phone to talk to a real person about my ownership of that property?
I was thinking about this subject as it related to college loans. I finished college and graduate school with zero debt. Other people out there have huge money they owe. A few people could in essence push one button and all of that debt disappears. Someone got paid. Instead of the student or his parents paying, everyone shares in the elimination of their debt in a computer. That’s you and me. We’ll pay that modern art professor or critical theory instructor with higher expense for eggs and milk.
How to Prepare?
Much more could be said. What we know from the Bible is that at some future time on earth, a few people will control everything on earth by controlling the power to buy or sell. It’s much easier to see how they can do that. If anything close to that occurs before that future time, like a dress rehearsal, how should I prepare for that?
Programmed to Deceive
This year at Easter time, and I prefer Resurrection time, I prepared a resurrection sermon. In doing so, I read what ChatGPT, an AI, wrote about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I read this article with eagerness, because I thought that the AI would write without bias. AI would take all the information on the internet and tell the truth. It did not.
As a disclaimer, ChatGPT was relatively objective. It said the resurrection of Christ had historical evidence. However, it called it still a matter of faith, differentiating that from, what we might call, a historical event. That part of the ChatGPT’s assessment others programmed into it. They would not allow ChatGPT to call the resurrection true, just function according to all the information out there.
Present powers don’t want an objective AI presence. They want to program parameters and algorhythms for purposeful misinformation, a bias that supports their view of the world. Scripture indicates that in the future deceit will increase to all time proportions. A few people could easily use a ChatGPT to fool more people than the lies already occurring.
Peter Ruckman: Multiple Ways of Salvation Heresy part 1 of 2
You are out of town and are looking for a good church. After doing online research, you find one and visit. The church says “Baptist,” “independent.” They go soulwinning, telling people to repent and be saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. They all have King James Bibles. They say nothing about Ruckman. They reject Jack Hyles’s anti-repentance heresies. They reject CCM, Contemporary “Christian” Music. They believe in eternal security but are not Calvinist. They dress modestly and believe in gender distinction. They reject the charismatic movement. They reject covenant theology and are dispensational, premillennial, and pretribulational. Truths such as the resurrection of Christ, the Trinity, etc. are, of course, all believed. The people are friendly and the pastor preaches with conviction and makes application. Everything looks great!
You go to the tract area to pick up some gospel tracts. The content seems fine for most of them. Then you find a pamphlet about the future. On one side it says: “Very soon millions of people shall suddenly disappear!” Everything that it says in that part sounds fine. But on the other side it says “Why have millions of people suddenly disappeared?” and in that section you are shocked when you discover statements that deny the gospel! In this section, which is addressed to people who miss the Rapture, appear statements such as: “Remember, to be saved you must put all your faith and trust in Jesus Christ and keep the commandments of God,” and “You can only enter [God’s] Kingdom if you have put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ and … by … keeping the commandments.” What is going on here?
You look at the pamphlet a bit more carefully. You notice within it a drawing of people going up in the Rapture; one of the graves with a person going up says “Peter Ruckman.” Hmm.
Then you see that it is published by one “John Davis” who runs a “Time for Truth!” website and helps lead “The Oaks Church.” You discover that these sectaries are significant publishers of Ruckmanite literature.
The church you thought was fine turned out to be one where Peter Ruckman’s heresy that there are different ways of salvation in different time periods is being believed and practiced, although they did not openly proclaim their Ruckmanism. That is bad. It is really bad. Such a church is not one to go back to unless they repent and renounce their heresy on the gospel. Multiple (alleged) ways of salvation is a false teaching to tolerate “not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you” (Galatians 2:5). Ecclesiastical separation is commanded by God (Romans 16:17; 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1; Ephesians 5:11; 2 Thessalonians 3:6, 14).
Ruckman believed an eternally secure salvation by grace alone through faith alone is only for the church age; supposedly in past times for Israel and in future times such as the Tribulation period salvation is not by repentant faith alone, but by faith and works. What are some questions you can ask someone who believes or is being influenced by this heresy? Here are a few.
1.) Does the fact that Genesis 15:6 is referenced in Habakkuk 2:4, and these two verses are themselves referenced in James 2; Romans 4; Galatians 3; and Hebrews 10-11 show that justification has always been by faith alone, rather than by works? (The extremely powerful nature of this development of salvation by faith alone from the patriarchal times of Abraham, through the Mosaic dispensation, into the New Testament is developed in the study “The Just Shall Live by Faith”). Why does Paul prove his teaching of justification by faith alone with these kinds of Old Testament texts? Don’t these passages show that Abraham, Moses, Habakkuk, James, and Paul all taught the same human response was required to be saved—faith, and faith alone?
2.) For century after century the Jews were singing Psalms with many verses such as: “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him” (Psalm 2:12). If salvation was ever by works in the Old Testament, why would God command them to sing that ALL who trust in God’s Son are blessed (not “some” are blessed, those who trust and also do enough works to be saved?) Is the Psalter deceiving Israel when it regularly teaches salvation by faith alone?
3.) Why does Peter testify that ALL God’s OT prophets witnessed to justification by faith alone in the Messiah? “To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins” (Acts 10:43).
4.) Why is the Old Testament full of the truth of salvation by grace alone? (For example, the Sabbath teaches salvation by faith and resting from works, according to Paul in Hebrews 3-4, so from the very seventh day of creation God’s resting taught man: “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his” (Hebrews 4:9-10). One major reason working on the Sabbath deserved the death penalty was to teach Israel what a grave sin it was to seek to enter God’s salvation rest by effort instead of resting in Jehovah and His provided atonement alone. Likewise, Moses told Israel that their being chosen was sheer and totally undeserved grace (Deut 7:6-8); the very preface to the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-2) indicates that Israel was to obey because they were already a redeemed people, not in order to merit salvation, just as believers today obey because they are already a redeemed people, not to merit salvation. There are many texts such as: “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price” (Isaiah 55:1-2); how? Through the Messiah, in the immediate context—Isaiah 52:13-53:12; 55:4.
Read part two on Peter Ruckman’s Multiple Ways of Salvation Heresy by clicking here.
–TDR
Simeon and Anna As Examples of Looking and Waiting for the Coming Lord
Believing in Jesus Christ is looking for Him. If you are not looking for Him, then you are not believing in Him. He is real. What is looking and waiting for Jesus Christ?
Jesus Christ is coming back. That is His plan for the earth. True believers fit into that plan. They want that.
Believing in Jesus Christ means believing in His Person, receiving Him as Lord, God, and Savior. John 20:31 explains it as “believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and the believing yet might have life through His name.” “Christ” carries with it the three: Lord, God, and Savior. You believe that “Jesus is the Christ.”
Part of being “the Christ” is coming back and setting up a kingdom on the earth as part of the completion of salvation. Salvation includes the kingdom. When a believer lives His life, He lives it looking forward to the Christ setting up His kingdom. The coming of Christ arrives between this life and the kingdom. No kingdom comes without the coming Lord.
How do we believe in the Christ? By looking and waiting for the coming Lord. We have examples of those looking and waiting for the first coming of the Lord. We don’t know almost anything about the life of Simeon except that he looked and waited for the coming Lord, which is described in Luke 2:25-35:
25 And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.
26 And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.
27 And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,
28 Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,
29 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:
30 For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
32 A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.
33 And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him.
34 And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against;
35 (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
Simeon looked for the “Lord’s Christ.” This is the true Christ, the one the Lord would anoint as King over all the earth in fulfillment of the Davidic covenant (2 Samuel 7:12-13). Simeon knew he would see Christ, but we should still take this belief as a model. We know that Simeon’s looking changed his behavior, because he was “just and devout,” the former being toward man and the latter toward God. True faith endures. Simeon kept looking and waiting for the Lord’s Christ, because true faith endures. Enduring faith in the coming Lord sustains just and devout living.
The Greek word “devout” is eulabes, a compound Greek word with eu (“good”) labes (from lambano, “taking” or “receiving”), which means “taking hold well.” This is to be careful and sure in the reception. Someone who stops looking and waiting for the coming Lord is not being careful or sure in his reception. He is not taking hold well. Simeon did take hold well and then he literally took hold of the Lord’s Christ in his own arms.
Looking and waiting for the Lord’s Christ in a major way means identification. Someone has to be right about who the Christ is. He must take the right view about the history of the world: how it started, what went wrong, and what the future plan is. This is the message of scripture and someone must acquiesce to the Bible as God’s Word and then surrender to its message. It centers on the Christ. If someone sufficiently ignores the message of the Bible, doesn’t humble himself before it, not adequately recognizing its divine origin, he will not look and wait for the Christ.
Looking and waiting for the Lord’s Christ is more than just identification, but it is at least that. If you get the wrong identification, then you will miss the Christ. Your Christ must be the true Christ. He can’t be a Christ of your own choosing, but the actual, true Christ predicted in scripture. That’s the one for which Simeon looked and waited.
Anna provides an example too for looking and waiting for the coming Lord in Luke 2:36-38:
36 And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity;
37 And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.
38 And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.
Even though Anna’s life dramatically changed with the death of her husband, when she was very young and only seven years married, she sustained purpose in life by looking and waiting for the coming Lord. Her life wasn’t over. She still had much for which to live. She “looked for redemption in Jerusalem.” Jesus was that redemption.
For Anna, looking for that redemption in Jerusalem meant not departing from the temple and serving God with fastings and prayers. Like Simeon, she instantly recognized the Lord’s Christ and gave thanks. Only those thankful for the future kingdom, which is under Jesus as Lord, will look and wait for the coming Lord and that coming kingdom.
Simeon and Anna provide two good examples and looking and waiting for the coming Lord. The Lord is coming back. That expectation should drive all of us to a right belief and practice and affection.
The Chiastic Structure of the Bible and History and an Immediately Appearing Earth (Young Earth)
How did the physical universe get here? When you read Genesis 1, it reads like what I am titling, an “Immediately Appearing Earth” (IAE). In other words, the creation of or origin of the earth wasn’t a process. You will find many arguments for the young earth or immediately appearing earth. What does the Bible say? Or what does God say? Let’s admit, no one was there to see it, except for God, so we should trust what He said. God created the universe and He gave the account of what He did. If we believe He created it, we should also believe how He said He did it.
Genesis 1 doesn’t indicate a process to the origin of the earth. What we read is immediate appearance. The grammar and syntax of Genesis 1 show this, but the structure of the entire Bible also portrays it. The biblical authors very often wrote the narratives of Old Testament or Hebrews texts or passages in what is called a chiastic structure, also called an inverted parallelism.
The entire book of Lamentations takes the chiastic structure as well as it’s middle chapter. The chiastic structure of the whole book emphasizes the third chapter of five, and then the third chapter, the lengthiest of the five, three times longer than the other chapters, is also chiastic, giving a clue to the point of Lamentations. The central axis of the book is Lamentations 3:22-36. With none to comfort Jerusalem in her affliction, she comforts herself when she remembers that the LORD is merciful and compassionate, faithful and good to those who seek Him.
The Bible also point to an immediately appearing earth as seen in its structure. One could go much more detailed than the following, but consider this schematic.
The Bible starts with creation and ends with creation. The chiastic structure moves forward from the first creation, which is the doctrine of first things, and moves backward from second creation, the doctrine of last things. The Bible and history pivots on Jesus Christ. He is the beginning and the ending, the alpha and omega, but He is also everything in between. In the diagram above, the chiasm forms an apex, where Jesus stands at the top. That’s what this structure shows more than anything.
God creates in the first creation and in the second creation. They are parallel in the chiasm. If the second creation is an immediate appearing earth, which it is, then the first also is. It must be. Other parallels indicate all this is an existing structure. One that supports the position of an immediate appearing earth is that God provides the light for both the first creation and the second creation. It’s a kind of tip that says God doesn’t need our science. He does want our faith though.
Does anyone question the immediate appearance of the second earth? Does anyone posit a process for the future earth? They argue for a very slow process for the first earth and for reasons unnecessary if they believe in creation in the first place.
The ground out of which God formed Adam in Genesis 2:17 is the same ground out of which He formed the animals in Genesis 2:19, both Hebrew words for ground related to the Hebrew word for man, Adam. Animals appear instantaneously, as does Adam. None of this is a process. None reads like a process.
What makes Adam unique to the animals is the breath of God, the spirit in man (Genesis 2:7), breathed into him, which is the image of God in man (Genesis 1:26). This is not a development. Both animals and man appear with age at a necessary degree of difficulty, one of impossibility without the power of God, that is the same as the original appearance of the heavens and the earth. The Hebrew verb bara, to create something out of nothing, is used with heavens and earth (1:1), animals (1:21), and man (1:27).
Hebrews 11:3, “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.”
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I wanted to have the above post out last night and wasn’t sure I could write more. I want to point out at least one more chiastic structure that relates, I believe, to an Immediately Appearing Earth. Man immediately appeared with his own creation in Genesis 1 and the expansion on that account in Genesis 2. Man immediately is recreated in his resurrection and glorification. This structure matches that of the earth. Man waits for His redemption as does creation groan for its day of redemption (Romans 8:22).
Pre or Post Tribulation Rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4 and Revelation 20? Part 2 of 2
In part one of this series, I mentioned that I was discussing last things–eschatology–with someone who strongly asserted that 1 Thessalonians 4 and Revelation 20 refuted the pre-Tribulation Rapture position. He argued that 1 Thessalonians states that the dead in Christ shall rise first, and then the Rapture takes place, but the first resurrection, when the dead in Christ rise, takes place in Revelation 20 at the end of the Tribulation period; a post-Tribulation Rapture. Therefore, he concluded, the pre-Tribulation Rapture position was false. We looked at 1 Thessalonians last week. We will look at Revelation 20 now. Does Revelation 20 teach a post-Tribulation Rapture?
Rev. 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
Rev. 20:6 μακάριος καὶ ἅγιος ὁ ἔχων μέρος ἐν τῇ ἀναστάσει τῇ πρώτῃ· ἐπὶ τούτων ὁ θάνατος ὁ δεύτερος οὐκ ἔχει ἐξουσίαν, ἀλλ’ ἔσονται ἱερεῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καὶ βασιλεύσουσι μετ’ αὐτοῦ χίλια ἔτη.
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