The End Times, Israel, the Jews, the Rapture, the Tribulation and so on.

I have to admit before I write anything on this topic that I am not very qualified to do this. I haven't been keeping up with it much; what I know I gleaned over the last twenty years or so in bits and pieces, from various books and ministries; I'm aware of many different points of view on it, none of which I've studied in any depth; and it's been a long time since I spent any time learning and thinking through the issues.

Nevertheless, I'm prompted to write on this subject by the panel discussion on Bible prophecy I just linked, hosted by a Jewish Christian ministry, Olive Tree Views, which I recently discovered through an email sent by a friend. My excuse is that we ARE in the last days and it's arguably better at least to keep the subject alive than wait until I can take the time to become an expert on it -- which I know I'm not going to do for a while yet if ever. I can also of course refer people to others who ARE experts -- but even that is going to take a little time and research at this point, so for now I'm just going to wing it.

I'm surprised to find myself appreciating so much a Jewish Christian ministry as a matter of fact, since what I've seen of the Messianic (Jewish) churches over the last decade or so is a move to a form of Judaizing that I have to reject, such as the Hebrew Roots Movement, insistence on obeying all the Jewish commands, using Jewish forms of worship such as the yarmulke and the prayer shawl, and even objections to the Name of Jesus and the like.* In fact most of the email forwards I get from the Messianic point of view tend in that direction.

I might not even have paid attention to this one except that the topic was the Glenn Beck rally that I'd just been posting on, and it turns out I really appreciate their analysis. As I've checked out the site I've liked most of what I see there.

All that said, I just want to write a bit of orientation to the end times issues being discussed. And again, keep in mind that I'm pretty fuzzy on most of it, but even my fuzziness may contribute some kind of perspective to someone who doesn't even know enough to be fuzzy about it. That's my main aim, to introduce some of the ideas, fuzzy though they may be, to people who know nothing at all about them.

Here again is that three-part panel discussion of end times events from a Jewish Christian pre-trib point of view that I linked in the previous post.

[UPDATE: I added a note to this effect at the bottom of this post too, linking to a letter written by Corrie Ten Boom in 1974: While this panel all seem to agree that Christians are going to be removed from earth before the tribulation occurs, this idea has never seemed to me to line up with the fact that Christians have always been severely persecuted in this world, from the time of the early church when the Romans threw them to the lions, through the Inquisition and other persecutions down the ages in the west (read Foxe's Book of Martyrs) and more recently in other parts of the world such as China and India and the Middle East. So the expectation of being raptured away from the Great Tribulation to come has little to stand on. We'll ALL go through the tribulation, both Jew and Gentile.

BUT very little is said in this panel discussion about the rapture, and the part of it that refers to Israel and the Middle East as the centerpiece of prophecy related to the end times, along with other signs of the times such as the growth of false movements in the churches, are still important and valid:]

This group all clearly share the end times point of view called the Pre-Tribulation Rapture, which understands prophecy to show that just before the return of Jesus Christ to earth there is going to be a time of severe tribulation for the saints/believers in Christ but that these will be (mostly?) Jewish saints/believers who convert to Christ during that period. This is to be a period in which God resumes His dealings with the Jews after some 2000 years (so far) in which He has been bringing nonJews into His Kingdom and His church, the "times of the gentiles" according to the Bible. The Book of Revelation deals with this period most specifically, but there are also important passages in the books of Daniel, Ezekiel, Zechariah and others that relate to it, as well as short passages in some New Testament books.

Just before this period of history begins, the church, that is, the believers in Jesus Christ now living, will be "raptured" or removed from the earth to rise to be with Jesus while the tribulation unfolds. ** This is supposedly to be an invisible and silent event, except that of course the people who are raptured will be certainly recognized as missing from earth. (Then there will probably be all kinds of wild speculations and theories to explain the disappearance of so many people).

There are different ideas about when this rapture is to occur but all seem to agree that it will occur before the tribulation sufferings begin. There's a period of seven years that's understood to be the time frame in which ALL the end times events are to occur -- if you know when it begins then you should be able to predict its end from various scripture passages which refer to it, something the people suffering through this period will need to know in order to persevere through it without losing heart. The rapture could occur seven years before Jesus returns to earth or it could be three and a half years before Jesus returns, with a first three and a half years being a period of relative peace. All of these things should become clearer in the light of scripture as the events themselves unfold.

A character known as the Antichrist is to come to a position of power over the entire world during this period. He will cause terrific suffering to the people who choose to follow Christ -- but they have an eternity of joy to look forward to in exchange for their suffering, while those who choose to follow the Antichrist will be facing an eternity of suffering in exchange for the peace and prosperity he allows them during this short period on earth.

That's the briefest possible sketch of what I understand of the Pre Trib point of view. It used to be the most popular view in evangelical circles. I heard it everywhere when I first became a believer in the late 80s. Hal Lindsey's Late Great Planet Earth was THE big source of this eschatalogy (end times) vision.

Then it fell out of favor to some extent and I started hearing other points of view contending against it being aired on Christian radio and promoted in books.* One view puts all the prophetic verses in the past, claiming they are all already fulfilled and there is nothing yet to be fulfilled in the future, for instance, the Antichrist was Nero and that's the end of that (seems to me there have been many antichrists throughout history and Nero was one of them -- others include Antioches Epiphanes and Hitler -- but there is still THE Antichrist yet to come who will bring the world to an end). One view completely substitutes the church for "Israel" in all the scriptures that are taken by the Pre-Trib people to refer to literal Israel, and in that way finds most or all of the prophecies already fulfilled and nothing left to be fulfilled by literal Israel or the Jews. Some views pivot on the question whether there is to be a literal "millennium" in which Jesus rules and reigns over the earth, some saying that's the period we've been in since His first coming so that it too is not future but already fulfilled.

I did dutifully pay attention to these ideas as I encountered them but the upshot for me was that none of them did any more convincing a job of interpreting the relevant Biblical texts than the Pre-Trib idea did. I did at least step back from that view a bit and take the position that there could be some validity to some of the objections, but I remained convinced that there is still unfulfilled prophecy so that SOME of it HAS to be yet future. However, among the pre-trib people there are some who focus so completely on literal Israel as God's chosen people that the church is treated as a meaningless nonentity, and that can't be the case --I went to Ephesians to reassure myself: it's very clear, we're all ONE in Christ Jesus, one body of Christ, no more Jew nor Gentile but one people, the wall of separation between us having been eradicated by His sacrifice. In other words, SOME passages that refer to Israel DO mean to refer to the church (composed of Jew AND Gentile, remember, and even when we're talking about earthly Israel and Jews who may come to belief during the Tribulation we're still talking about people being added to the body of Christ -- I mean there are NOT two different bodies of saved people no matter how it all sorts out in historical time and geographical place). Sometimes there is a dual reference to both the church and literal Israel just as other prophecies often have a dual reference to different events in different time periods; and there MAY be some unfulfilled prophecies that refer exclusively to earthly Israel, though I'm not prepared to argue any of this yet.

This is all rather vague in my mind, now, sorry to say, I'm merely remembering how I sorted it out in times past and maybe I will get back to it some time and renew my thinking on it. Where I stand at the moment is sort of suspended in midair on some of these questions, but I know I can at least say I'm sure that SOME of the prophecies are yet to be fulfilled, and I'm sure that earthly Israel is definitely on God's agenda for the last days -- This has to be so because God has had literal dealings with this planet from the beginning -- Eden is a literal place, Adam and Eve were our first parents, they really did disobey and plunge the world into death, and God really did promise them that He would send a Savior from that condition. The Flood really did happen and the scars from it are quite visible all over the planet if you learn how to see. Abraham was a real person who came from a real Ur at God's command and founded a real people for God's purpose of producing the Messiah. God gave His people a real piece of land on the planet as their own -- HIS own for His purposes. That plan didn't just disappear with the advent of the Messiah. True, the land was destroyed, the temple destroyed and the people were scattered for the next two thousand years, to such an extent that it was quite reasonable to suppose that it would never be restored despite prophecies that tantalizingly said it would be. And now they are back on that very same land since May 14, 1948. This is no accident. It was prophesied and the last days more or less begin with this historical fact. It makes no sense to think that God would utterly change His method of operation and change an earthly Israel into a spiritual Israel -- though this isn't to deny that there can be at least two levels of meaning to the term. No, the angels who were with the disciples when they watched Jesus ascend into heaven said clearly that He would return the same way they saw Him leave. He is to return to the Mount of Olives. If He really ascended in time and space, then He will really return in time and space. "And every eye will see Him, and every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is LORD."

That part of the prophetic picture I am sure of. The rest of it, the rapture of the church, the tribulation, all that is still very unsettled in my mind.** Even after watching this panel discussion it still remains unsettled in my mind. But I think it's a very good discussion by people who really know their stuff so I strongly recommend it and others may come away with a more solid understanding than I have.

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* It is simply not possible to easily identify the true Church or true doctrine these days because there are so many competing points of view and heretical movements -- and these two I've starred -- both the Messianic Jewish errors and the multiplied end times interpretations -- are very recent, within a decade or so. This in itself is a sign that we are in the end times, the devil making redoubled efforts to confuse issues to mislead people and make work for believers. Jan Markell comments on this in this panel discussion video, specifically the trend in some churches to ignoring the importance of earthly Israel in eschatological thought.

In fact there is a veritable labyrinth of proliferating versions of Christianity out there right now that must be very daunting to anyone just entering. The churches that call themselves evangelical these days are just as likely to be heretical as any pseudoChristian cult. I'm very fortunate that I did a lot of studying from the beginning and have a pretty decent sense of what's orthodox so that when something new pops up I can pray about it and have scripture come to mind that applies to the situation. That way I can make my way through the labyrinth with the Lord's guidance. Not that I don't make wrong turns of course -- sidled into the charismatic movement for a few years for instance -- and I know one can't ever become complacent about any of this as error is always the easiest route for human beings, but a good knowledge of scripture is indeed a light unto my path when I am being obedient and trusting in the Holy Spirit to lead.

I feel sorry for those just starting out in this labyrinth now because of the dizzying array of apostasies that call themselves Christian churches, but the methods of getting through it are still the same: know the scripture, know the scripture, know the scripture, pray pray pray and trust the Holy Spirit for guidance.

BUT, I realize that the BIGGEST hindrance to negotiating this obstacle course is one's own mind. We are our own worst enemies. That is, for instance, you can know the scripture very well but misread it if you let your own prejudices lead instead of subordinating your thoughts and letting the Bible lead. ALL error, ALL heresy, ALL apostasy comes from reading your own preconceptions into the scripture instead of submitting to it to be guided by it. We ONLY get to the truth by becoming "as little children," by looking to God and NOT to our own understanding. People with a strong intellectual bent who come to Christ HAVE TO LEARN TO REIN IT IN to follow scripture wherever it leads. If you have a death-grip on some political or philosophical tenet, or on some Bible-defined sin that you refuse to call sin; or if you are attracted to new ideas, to things that sound sophisticated or "progressive," and you stubbornly follow those attractions against what scripture teaches, you are going to end up in some part of the labyrinth designed by Satan and not by God. Learning to yield our own notions to God is possibly as much as 99% of the Christian life, maybe 100% rightly understood.

As a beginner in Christ there were parts of the Bible I couldn't accept in my own intellect because of my previous prejudices. But God graciously allowed me just to keep all that on hold while He let me absorb the parts I could accept, until finally the parts I couldn't accept also yielded. If you say "Thy will be done, not mine" even if you don't understand or like some of it at first, eventually you'll be given light to see what you need to see. This is faith and it IS evidence, it IS the substance of things unseen, and the more faith you have the more you will be given -- this is a law of the spiritual life.

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** IMPORTANT UPDATE: Here is Corrie Ten Boom on why the pre-tribulation rapture is FALSE, part of the apostasy. Yup, I knew there was a reason I was resistant to the rapture idea and the idea that we'd escape tribulation.