Think Wink.

I have been very worried as of late, particularly because of this Lebanon-Israeli conflict. It is a terrible one to be sure, but there is way to much one-sidedness from what I have heard from the church–not here but on the radio. This past week, a guy I work with at Sam’s Club asked me if I thought it was Armageddon. I was listening to the radio and heard a lady proclaiming it is biblical prophecy come to pass in our life time. The evidence she cited was one morning, she was reading Psalm 83. In Scotland or Ireland, an ancient copy of the Psalms were found. The text it was open to was Psalm 83. There is much what I call Newspaper Eschatology.

I believe this is impart due to a eschatological system known as dispensationalism. It takes the Old Testament prophecies and shapes the New Testament around them, thus making the primary source of Scripture the Old Testament and not the New. It is my heart to help people understand that our eschatology, our views of the end times and of the return of Christ, must be routed in acceptable and appropriate exegesis and hermeneutics, not upon the Newspaper. The Dispensational system does is not Newspaper based. However, Dr. Adrian Rogers, former president of the SBC and a godly preacher who rarely said the word “um” in his sermons, said something to this effect (I paraphrase) in his series on Revelation, “You can take he Bible in one hand, open your newspaper in the other hand, and see prophecy coming to pass.” The former president of my denomination said that. I know that he was meaning not to get our eschatology from the papers but rather to see it happening in our lifetime. But that makes me uncomfortable and disappointed because the focus of interpretation for the common lay-person (I hate the term ‘laity’) not exegeting the texts but finding a newspaper clipping to fit the description, or worse, find a verse to fit the newspaper.

What I would like to do on this blog is to discuss these eschatologies and see if they hold up to the bar of exegesis. My Jesus coming back is what gives me hope in this world. To know that He is coming to take me to be with him is a great source of strength. Therefore, I want to know as much as Scripture will let me know about the Parousia (Second Coming) as possible. If you find yourself matching up with dispensational theology, feel free to comment on what I say so that I am not misrepresenting you. But I want to explore this often misunderstood and mis-studied branch of theology because that’s where my hear it.

Israel, John Hagee, and Eschatology

Eschatology and Quizfarm.com

BW3 and The Seer’s Tower

I have spent this past weekend on vacation. It was wonderful. As I shared in a comment, I was wonderfully upset at the idea of getting plagiarized. I saw Chicago and it was wonderful. During the trip, I had some time with my Bible to read. I had my computer with me so I started writing. So far, I have almost 10 full, single-spaced, pages of thoughts centering on Revelation 20:1-6 (another post) and its application to today. But in the course of reading and studying that, I began to turn my thoughts on what has really bothered me this summer. I love to listen to Christian talk radio on the Bott Radio Network. It has some of my favorite preachers (ie John Piper, Chuck Swindoll, RC Sproul, Alistar Begg). But for some reason, it seemed like every time I turned on the radio, some preacher, except the aforementioned, were preaching on Revelation. They were firm dispensationalists. It was guys like Dr. Adrian Rogers, Dr. David Jeremiah, Dr. Woodrow Kroll, and Dr. Michael Yuseff. I have much respect for these guys and love to listen to them. Dr. Rogers (I pick on him again because he is in my particular denomination of Southern Baptist) said Revelation 4:1 is the rapture. That is ludicrous. That text does not teach anything about rapture. Revelation 4:2 seems to indicate a trance or a state in which John was able to receive the visions. That is not a rapture.

So I ask the question, does the Bible really teach this rapture that all of these preachers, good respected men with the title “doctor” in front of their names, are saying it does? Let us examine the main passage and see if that is true.

First Thessalonians 4:16-17 from the ESV says,

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

Now the idea of the rapture comes out of v. 17 and “caught up” or ἁρπαγησόμεθα in the Greek. The Latin translation of that word is where we get rapture. So what I am disputing is not necessarily the existance of the rapture or the event’s biblicality. What I dispute is the nature of it, or is it pre- or mid- or post-tribulational?

I opt for the post-tribulational, though I do not hold to a seven year tribulation, view of the rapture in this text for two reasons: v. 16 indicates a different scene than what pre-tribulationalism paints; in v. 17 there is a Greek word, ἀπάντησιν, that does not seem to indicate pre- or mid-tribulational interpretations.

1.) Look at v. 16, “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.” What about that seems quiet? The cry of command-which the Greek word there refers to a military command, the voice of an archangel, the trumpet of God; which of those is a quiet event? Paul says that when Jesus comes back, he is going to give a shout like a military commander, like the angel heralding news, like the sound of a trumpet blasting. What is the result of this noise, “the dead in Christ will rise first.” It will be so loud that the dead will literally come to life. The saying, “You’ll wake the dead” will literally happen here. This idea is what is spoken of in John 5:28-29, “Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.”

2.) Based on the Greek, we know that there is some kind of rapture that will occur. I have demonstrated that it will not be some secret rapture. So then what is it? The word Greek word ἀπάντησιν or “to meet” gives the answer. This Greeks used this word to describe the coming of a king to a city, let us say the capital city after a long time away. When he comes to the city, he declares to the gatekeeper that he is the king. The watchmen at the gate announce to the city heralds that the king has come. The heralds bring the good news to the city and a welcoming party is formed. The party goes to the gates “to meet” the king. They welcome him into the city as while the party is formed, the king remains outside the city. They then escort him to his destination in the city, in this example his palace. Thus Paul’s idea here is not so much we, both dead Christians and living, go up in the air and return with Christ to heaven and await the end of the Tribulation. Instead, Paul is saying that we shall go up to meet Christ, who is waiting in the air, outside of the city, and welcome him to earth. We go up, we are transformed, we meet Christ, we immediately escort him back down to earth. It is in that sense we will be with Christ forever, we will live with him in the New Jerusalem, the new heavens, and the new earth.

This text really does not lend its way to pre-tribulationalism and to dispensationalism. It actually points the other way. It seems to skip over mid-tribulational rapture and goes to post-tribulational rapture. Thus in conclusion, I think that looking forward to the rapture does not look forward to the real hope. We must look to Christ’s second coming in which all his enemies, last of all death, are made footstools under his feet. We look forward to that coming in which our lowly bodies are made to be like Christ’s. Our real hope in eschatology is found in the eternal state. John 17:3 defines eternity like this, “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”
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Israel, John Hagee, and Eschatology

More From John Owen

The Controling Power of Sin

We live in a turbulent time, let’s face it. But what weighs most heavily upon people’s minds is that of the Israeli-Lebanon conflict. Many Americans support Israel because she is our political ally. Many Christians support Israel because of our common ground in same God and same Old Testament. Here is my question to anyone who reads this post. What is the biblical grounds for supporting Israel in this conflict?

I ask that question because I read an article at Chrsitianity Today in which the academic dean of Arab Baptist Theological Seminary discusses the conflict. Many Lebanonese people, including our brothers and sisters in Christ, are fleeing to Hezbollah’s banner. Do we support an action that is causing our fellow Christians to flee towards terroists? What do you guys think?
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Thoughts of Piper on Proper Exegesis

Gearing up for Christmas

I cannot tell a lie?

Man if it didn’t happen again. One of my favorite Bible teachers, Chuck Swindoll, has just started teaching on Revelation. On my way to MBTS to double check my status with payments and everything, I heard him teach on the vision of Christ in Revelation 1. I like what he had to say because almost everyone agrees on the symbolic meaning of what John sees in the vision.

Something struck me in his teaching. He was saying that the visions John saw in the Revelation he had in the 1st century were describing things seen in the 21st century. That is a very peculiar statement to me. Many Christians today assume that the last book of the Bible was written to our generation or one that will follow. However, I ask if that is the audience John had in mind for his writing? Swindoll made sense when he talked about trying to take a 1st century Jew living in a Romanized/Hellenized world trying to describe a toilet or electricity. Indeed, John would have had problems in doing that.

One important factor when interpreting a text, as I learned in my methods of biblical interpretation course, is to identify the audience that the author was addressing. Then you can go and research that audience to see how the author’s words would have fit that place. Paul would not talk to the church in Rome as he would have the church in Galatia. They are two separate churches from separate backgrounds and cultures.

The question I pose to you guys at this blog, and any who read this post, is who is the intended audience of John’s apocalyptic writing? I ask that you use Scripture to back up your position, whether futurist, idealist, historicist, or preterist.
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I cannot tell a lie?

That’s a Good Question

Justification and Christ’s life.

In reading over an old Bible study I had preapred for a men’s group on Revelation, man I need to get off of this horse ;), I came across two verses that we discussed at length. I made little notes for it so that these verses could be a good point of debate. So I have one question, for both sides of the issue.

For the Non-Calvinist, how would you interpret Revelation 13:8 and 17:8, they are parallels of each other.

Revelation 13:8, “and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slain.”
Revelation 17:8, “And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come.”

For Calvinists, how would you interpret this verse in Revelation 3:5,

The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life.

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My Comfort in Romans 9

I cannot tell a lie?

The Future of Justificaiton

For most of my posts on this site, I have dealt with eschatological issues. One reason being that many radio teachers/preachers have been teaching dispensational premillennialism. Let me quote Henry’s response to my “musings” because many people have given a similar response

Ever since I got out of my hal lindsey phase around the end of high school, there has always been a ten foot poll attached to that book.

This breaks my heart. It does so for two reasons. John writes the following verses in Revelation,

1:3, Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.
13:18, This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.
22:7, Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.
22:10, And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. (cf. 22:10 with Daniel 12:4 where he is told to seel up the words of his book until the end.)

When a person does not study Revelation, they miss out on the blessings of God! We must study because we can understand this book and God wants to bless us with this book.

Secondly, we are ignoring parts of God’s word. We aren’t comfortable with it so we stay away. What message does that send to God? It says, “I don’t understand parts of your word so instead trying to make sense of it, like any other passage, I will just leave it alone. I only want to read and study those parts that I can understand.” It is because we don’t read Revelation and study it exegetically that we get crazy interpretations from Hal Lindsey and John Hagee.

One of the reasons I am on this horse, besides wanting to teach a view other than what is in Left Behind is because too many people ignore this book and miss out on seeing Christ in his glory as revealed through John’s writing. I do pray that all of the Church will begin to read all of God’s word for all its worth. Every book has something to say to us.

This Time Next Year…

Writing Scripture out

Always Been Curious

After making an attempt to give my interpretation of women’s roles in ministry (i.e. a woman pastor)and after my orientation at MBTS and looking at the passage in 1 Timothy 3:1-7,I have grown somewhat curious. In the list that Paul gives Timothy in his letter, only one of the items listed in is a function, the rest are character traits. In Ephesians 4 we see that the pastor there is in the same function as is listed in 1 Timothy. Acts 20 seems to indicate that the care the overseers are to give is by the word of God, which I take to mean the same as in 2 Timothy 3:15-4:5, that they are to preach the Word which is the tool to keep Christians from falling into wrong doctrine.

The deacon, on the otherhand, is different. Acts 6:1-7 is usually taken to mean the deacons were appointed to this duty. The role of teacher is not attributed to the deacon like it is to the overseer/eldor/pastor-teacher.

I pastor a very small church in which the entire burdon of the church is little by little being placed upon me. I’m not so sure that is my job as a pastor but rather the job of a deacon. So I ask, especially those who are vocational ministers, what is the true role, biblically speaking, of the pastor and of the deacon?

No related posts

Last night I was in my Prophetic Literature I class and we cover Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. We were giving some preliminary discussion about Isaiah and the back and forth Judgment-Salvation roller coaster that he writes. The Prof asked why that is. One student said that much, not all, of the Old Covenant writings are about God’s Law and wrath against sin. The New Covenant, again not all of it, is more about God’s salvation and Grace. The Professor then asked a great question that I am forwarding on to you guys, “define the term ‘Law’ in the Bible.” The definition he gave was one that many had never heard of before.

John 3:16 Part 4

When I think of “euaggelion” or “gospel”…

Redeemed in Isaiah

I was in class today and we were studying the two main types of revelation, general and specific. The professor said that a person cannot be saved by general revelation, salvation only occurs when the special revelation of Christ through Scripture is made known to them, (Gal. 3:1-5; Romans 10:9-10, 13-17). But God is just in condemning a person based upon general revelation. One person gave the following scenario and then asked a question to go along with it:

What if there is a person stranded on an island who is an unbeliever and never does get to hear the gospel of the glory of Christ, will that person when he dies without hearing go to hell? If a person never gets to hear the saving message of God, does God send them to hell?
The prof. answered with John 14:6, Acts 4:12, which say that only through Christ himself and trusting in him can we be saved. So this person came back with the following scenario: What about those people who live in the jungles of South America and have a god but they don’t know about Jesus, will they go to heaven?
Again the prof said they won’t because they don’t have the gospel message.

What really bothers me is that some people don’t want to embrace certain difficult truths of Scripture. They don’t have a problem with Ezekiel 18:23 and Ezekiel 33:11. But when God says that he has given enough revelation in the conscience of man and in nature that man stands condemned, they can’t possibly conceive of God doing that. It doesn’t fit Ezekiel or 1 John 4:8, 16 and so they try to dismiss this. It is my prayer for that person and all Christians to really think through just what the Bible means when it claim that unless you have Jesus, you cannot go to heaven. If you don’t receive the Gospel, you go to hell. It is harsh but it is still what Scripture says. I pray that the church, especially in more scholarly circles now, can come back to the Bible and abandon certain assumptions that contradict the rest of the Bible and embrace all of God’s word.

An Illustration of Faith In My Life

This Time Next Year…

A Hard Decision for Me