So another new year has dawned, I wonder if it will be our last one. We are told that Christ will come back for us at a time we think not. The open door of the Church and the way back to God through the preaching of the Gospel, as we know it, will have finished. A new way to God will be available, but through the Tribulation time it will often result in an execution imposed by the Antichrist and his regime. However we go ahead of ourselves. With things as they are, I feel it right that this year, God willing, for us to go through the “things to come” as prophesied in the Scriptures, as simply as possible.
When studying prophecy it is necessary to remember several things; [1] Bible Prophecy is open to some difference in interpretation. And with prophecy a little knowledge is a dangerous thing and many facets of the study of Scripture can be varied in their final conclusions. However in most cases it follows a definite pattern which is taught by most well-known Biblical scholars. The three main different interpretations are [a] a pre Tribulation Rapture, [b] a post Tribulation Rapture , and [c] the world will get better and better, so there will be no Rapture and the world will go on until the coming of the New Heaven and the New Earth. The most commonly held interpretation is [a] a pre- Tribulation Rapture, and we will look at the reasons for this at a later date. [2] Very little prophecy is written in the Bible in chronological order. It is like an ancient picture where there was no perspective, it is dotted about the Bible in some books more than others, and a prophecy coming later is often recorded earlier. It is only when a substantial knowledge of prophecy is obtained, that the timing often can then be determined. [3] One prophecy overlaps another, for example the prophecy referring to Antiochus Epiphanes in Daniel chapter 11, then goes on to refer to the coming Antichrist of the Tribulation time. Another example is in Matthew 24 where Christ is explaining to the disciples the details of the future, and refers to the destruction of the Temple in AD70 by Titus, and then goes on to describe His second coming to take His people home, and into the future.
One of the positive prophecies to give us some sort of timing of events is in Daniel Chapter nine where Daniel gives the timing of the 70 weeks. For a long time no one could make it work out, but when worked out in solar or Luna years, it was found the dates tied up with history. In fact only the first 69 years has been fulfilled, with the last 7 years, situated the other side of a silent gap which is the Church age, where after the time of the Apostles, there will be no more revelation from God until the Tribulation period starts. We will deal more with that in later articles.
The other problem found in prophetic teaching is the one of “Replacement Theology” where certain teachers proclaim that when the Jews rejected Christ as the Messiah, the mantle of God transferred to the Christian Church and the Jewish people were removed from blessing, with all the prophesies concerning the Jews being transferred to the Christian Church. This teaching was not in the early Church but seems to become present when the Roman Catholic Church was formed. They blamed the Jews for killing Jesus, which was not at all true, as the Lord needed to be crucified and die and rise again to secure the Salvation of you and me. As we study the Bible it becomes apparent throughout the Scriptures and history, that Satan has one plan, to destroy the Jewish people, initially to stop Christ being born in Bethlehem, and since Satan was totally defeated at Calvary and the Resurrection, he has set out to persecute and destroy the Jews so as to see to it, that there is no Nation of Israel in future days and nowhere for Christ to return to. Why is it? That there is so much hate for the Jewish people in the world and so much desperation to destroy Israel by its Arab neighbours. It is hate instilled by Satan to try and overthrow the Nation of Israel.
Of the prophetic information given in the Old Testament some is for the future of Israel, some are prophecies concerning the coming of Christ, both the first time, and the final time when He returns as King of King and Lord of Lords. Some is giving details of the 1000 year reign of Christ as the Millennium, also the state of the world at that time. It is given for correction and teaching. In the New Testament details are given of the state of the world, the Church, the second coming of Christ and His 1000 year reign, plus the happenings of the last days, the cleansing of the world and the future New Heaven and the New Earth.
The accuracy and clarity of the prophetic messages in the Old Testament which have been fulfilled as prophesied, not only makes it very clear that prophecies regarding the future will be just as accurate and clear, they are not a collection of allegories which can be ignored as too varied in interpretation.
The presence and prophecy fulfilled concerning Christ and His life here on earth and Crucifixion and resurrection, is an essential tool for bringing the Bible as the divine Word of God to an un-saved world. It seems to me that out there among the people of the world there is a desperate longing and fear of what’s going to happen next, where as in the Christian Church, we sit in a huddle singing hymns and feeling happy and secure in Jesus, sometimes oblivious of the desperate need outside and in some cases inside, to know that if “God has got the whole world in His hands” then what is He up to?
Brian D. Papworth
P.W.M.I. Representative in New Zealand, Australia and the South Pacific