Are We Really on the Brink of Religious War?

Posted on 18 Dec 2009 by James Johnson

Professor Dan Caspi, Ben-Gurion University’s Department of Communication Studies wrote an article entitled “On Brink of Religious War?”. In that article he decried the rising religious sentiment that is sweeping Israel and referred to a popular movement he called “Messiah Now”. This is a new term to me, but taking it literally, it seems there is a growing movement in Israel that expects Messiah at this time. I find that very interesting in view of the fact that Israel is fixing to get whacked with nukes, but will emerge victorious. Notice what Isaiah says in chapter 17:

6 ¶Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in [Jacob], as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith the LORD God of Israel.
7 At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.

Jeremiah says a similar thing about Israel’s reconciliation to God and adds a comment regarding the Messiah (David their king), “But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them” (Jer 30:9).

“David their king” is the Messiah, the one that has already come, and they rejected Him, but Isaiah and Jeremiah both foresee a time when the present condition of rejection of the Messiah will end. The New Testament continued the theme of the reconciliation of Israel to the Messiah in Romans 11. Paul prophesied, “Blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in” (Rom 11:25), and the fulness of the Gentiles has now happened. Christianity among the Gentiles has peaked, and they are falling away in large numbers (cp. II Thes 2:3). More and more the Devil rules among the nations, and God’s people there become less and less, so it is time for Israel to accept their Messiah.

Paul goes on to say that “after that” (“houto”– so, G3779) time when the fulness of the Gentiles has come in that, “all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob” (Rom 11:26). In some way, after the fulness of the Gentiles has come in, that a Deliverer shall come out of Zion. This same idea of deliverance proceeding from Zion is also found in the accounts of the Day of Jacob’s trouble. In some way it becomes evident during that day that Jesus is the Messiah. That Israel was delivered by the Messiah becomes so evident during that time that the shreds of Israel that remain after this ordeal become absolutely convinced that Jesus is indeed the Messiah. Let’s investigate the ties between Paul’s prediction that a Deliverer that was yet future after the church was established shall come out of Zion at a time after the fulness of the Gentiles is gathered.

There is a prophecy in Isa 10 that the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE) calls “Isaiah’s ideal account of the Assyrian’s march against Jerusalem” (ISBE, “Nob”). What the ISBE means by “ideal account” is that no such invasion has ever taken place (cp. the Assyrian invasion of II Ki 19:32-36). However, if you couple the fact that no such invasion has ever occurred with the fact that Isaiah says he is talking about a time when God has finished all his work “against” Mt. Zion and Jerusalem (Isa 10:12), then the plot becomes very interesting in relation to our own time. The “Messiah Now” tide that is sweeping modern Israel indicates that God is almost done with all His work against Mt. Zion and Jerusalem in restoring their hearts to Him. Even the ancient book of Enoch says there will only be 12 last shepherds of Israel (En 90:19), and Binyamin Netanyahu is the 12th, so it is time.

Isaiah 10:28-32 mentions a series of small towns and geographical locations northeast of Jerusalem that Assyria will invade. Well, Assyria is modern day Iran and Syria, and Isaiah says that the Assyrians will invade in a precise sequence of locations, but they will be stopped at Nob, just outside of Jerusalem. A very interesting thing about this Assyrian invasion is that Isaiah says the Assyrians having arrived at Nob will shake their fist at Jerusalem, apparently in frustration at having gotten so close and yet failing once again to take Jerusalem. Their failure appears to be the result of a supernatural intervention, for when the Assyrians (Iranians) arrive at Nob Isaiah says,

“33 the LORD of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled.
34 And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.” (Isa 10:33-34)

The “tree” motif apparently refers to the army of the Assyrians, because earlier in the chapter Isaiah defined the “trees” to have “both soul and body” (Isa 10:18). The Septuagint uses “glorious ones” instead of “boughs”, “high ones of stature” instead of “lofty”, and “lofty ones” instead of “the thickets of the forest” further indicating that the 70 translators of the Septuagint believed that the forest reference was to the armies of the Assyrians.

As I was reading and studying Isa 10, I was struck by the repeated references to “the Lord of Hosts” acting out of Jerusalem to defend Israel. Three times in Isa 10 “the Lord of Hosts” acts to defend Israel (Isa 10:16, 26, 33). As we read earlier in Rom 11:26 where Paul quotes the Septuagint from Isa 59:20, a deliverer is supposed to come forth out of Zion, but who is it? The gospels identify Jesus as the Holy One (Mk 1:24, Acts 2:27), but Isa 47:4 further links “Redeemer”, “Holy One” and “Lord of Hosts” in these words:

“As for our redeemer, the LORD of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel” (Isa 47:4).

Jesus is the Redeemer (Rev 5:9), Deliverer (Heb 2:14-15), Holy One (Mk 1:24), and Lord of Hosts (Isa 47:4), and since the Deliverer is to come out of Zion and turn away ungodliness from Jacob, then it is Jesus who is supposed to come out of Zion, and He is the Lord of Hosts that is to deliver Israel. You can also tie “Hoy One” back in with the prophecy in Isa 17:7 that foresees Israel finally having respect to the Holy One of Israel and gather from Isaiah’s remarks that he agrees with Jeremiah and foresees Israel ultimately accepting their Messiah.

Isaiah says the Lord of Hosts will afflict the Assyrians by sending dishonour upon the Assyrians’ honour (Isa 10:16 [Septuagint] if the Iranians attack with nukes they will prove themselves liars and genocidal) and kindle a fire under his glory (Isa 10:16–the Israelis retaliate with the fire of nukes and the Deliverer comes in a lightning storm [Jer 30:23-24, Isa 17:12-13, Ps 83:12-15]). The Deliverer will lash the Assyrians as He did the Midianites at the Rock of Oreb down by the Jordan. The Septuagint says that the wrath of the Lord of Hosts shall also be by the way of the sea that leads to Egypt (Isa 11:26), and that would mean that His wrath will come against the Gaza strip. Finally, the Lord of Hosts acts against Lebanon (Isa 11:33-34) to crush it and bring it low. There will be so few left of their army when the Lord gets done with it that a child could write the number of the ones that were left (Isa 10:19).

So, you have an invasion of the Assyrians (Iranians) coming from the northeast (the direction of Syria) that is turned back just as it gets to Jerusalem. Then you have the Lord of Hosts (the Lord of the army of Israel) acting against Jordan (at the rock of Oreb, the direction of Jordan), against Gaza (the way to Egypt), and against Lebanon. It is extremely interesting that in this destruction by the Lord of Hosts the various objects of His wrath pretty much sum up the present day major enemies of Israel.

The activity of the Lord Of Hosts in the destruction of the enemies of Israel will in some way be identified with Jesus and show Him in fact to be the Messiah. The “Messiah Now” movement that is growing in Israel will prepare the hearts of the people for accepting the Lord’s miraculous deliverance of Israel as He on the Day of Jacob’s trouble yet once again shows Himself to be their Redeemer.

Malachi also promises that God will send Elijah “before the great and dreadful day of the Lord” (Mal 4:5), the day of Jesus return (I Th 5:2, II Pet 3:10), so Elijah must return before the end of the world. John the Baptist was merely a type of this prophecy. The real Elijah must still return and fulfill the type (II Ki 2:11) . Since Elijah is to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children (i.e. causes a national repentance that results in behavior that makes the ancient fathers proud of their children), perhaps his mission will start as early as the Day of Jacob’s trouble. A prophet would no doubt be needed to build the third temple (Ezk 41:4) just like Israel had with building of the first (II Chr 29:25) and second temples (Ezra 6:14). Whatever the ultimate cause, the result of the events of the war causes Israel to serve the Lord their God and David their king (Jer 30:9), that is, they finally accept Jesus as their Messiah.

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Egyptian Coins Bearing Joseph’s Image Found

Posted on 25 Sep 2009 by James Johnson

An Egyptian paper claims that archaeologists have discovered ancient Egyptian coins bearing the name and image of the Biblical Joseph. The report in Al-Ahram (http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/3663.htm) boasts that the find backs up the Koran’s claim that coins were used in Egypt during Joseph’s period (ca. 1850 BC).

Excerpts from the Al-Ahram report, as translated by Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI):

“In an unprecedented find, a group of Egyptian researchers and archeologists has discovered a cache of coins from the time of the Pharaohs. Its importance lies in the fact that it provides decisive scientific evidence disproving the claim by some historians that the ancient Egyptians were unfamiliar with coins and conducted their trade through barter.

“The researchers discovered the coins when they sifted through thousands of small archeological artifacts stored in [the vaults of] the Museum of Egypt. [Initially] they took them for charms, but a thorough examination revealed that the coins bore the year in which they were minted and their value, or effigies of the pharaohs [who ruled] at the time of their minting. Some of the coins are from the time when Joseph lived in Egypt, and bear his name and portrait.

“There used to be a misconception that trade [in Ancient Egypt] was conducted through barter, and that Egyptian wheat, for example, was traded for other goods. But surprisingly, Koranic verses indicate clearly that coins were used in Egypt in the time of Joseph…

“Research team head Dr. Sa’id Muhammad Thabet said that during his archeological research on the Prophet Joseph, he had discovered in the vaults of the [Egyptian] Antiquities Authority and of the National Museum many charms from various eras before and after the period of Joseph, including one that bore his effigy as the minister of the treasury in the Egyptian pharaoh’s court…

“Studies by Dr. Thabet’s team have revealed that what most archeologists took for a kind of charm, and others took for an ornament or adornment, is actually a coin. Several [facts led them to this conclusion]: first, [the fact that] many such coins have been found at various [archeological sites], and also [the fact that] they are round or oval in shape, and have two faces: one with an inscription, called the inscribed face, and one with an image, called the engraved face – just like the coins we use today.

“The archeological finding is also based on the fact that the inscribed face bore the name of Egypt, a date, and a value, while the engraved face bore the name and image of one of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs or gods, or else a symbol connected with these. Another telling fact is that the coins come in different sizes and are made of different materials, including ivory, precious stones, copper, silver, gold, etc.”

“The researcher identified coins from many different periods, including coins that bore special markings identifying them as being from the era of Joseph. Among these, there was one coin that had an inscription on it, and an image of a cow symbolizing Pharaoh’s dream about the seven fat cows and seven lean cows, and the seven green stalks of grain and seven dry stalks of grain.

“It was found that the inscriptions of this early period were usually simple, since writing was still in its early stages, and consequently there was difficulty in deciphering the writing on these coins. But the research team [managed to] translate [the writing on the coin] by comparing it to the earliest known hieroglyphic texts… Joseph’s name appears twice on this coin, written in hieroglyphs: once the original name, Joseph, and once his Egyptian name, Saba Sabani, which was given to him by Pharaoh when he became treasurer.

“There is also an image of Joseph, who was part of the Egyptian administration at the time.”

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Is the Resurrected Body Material?

Posted on 20 Sep 2009 by James Johnson

A querist asked:
Is it the fate for those righteous that die (the dead from the past and those of us who die in the future, basically everyone who has ever lived except for those that are still alive at the time of His coming) to go to heaven to wait for the end, until the time all of us will come back to get our spiritual bodies?

James replies:
Let’s begin with defining what is death. James 2:26 says that the body is what experiences death, and death happens when the spirit leaves the body. Before the cross both the spirits of both the righteous and unrighteous went to Hades. These spirits remained there until Jesus descended into Hades at His death and preached to the spirits in prison there (I Pet 3:19). When Jesus ascended in Acts 1, “he led captivity captive” (Eph 4:8) all the souls that believed His preaching. The “captivity” that Jesus led to heaven was the collection of souls of the servants of God that until Jesus’ resurrection (Mt 27:52-53) had been in the Devil’s prison in Hades (I Pet 3:19-20). Jesus led into heaven those souls of the righteous that He spoiled from the Devil when He rose from the dead. He entered heaven at His ascension (Acts 1:10, Dan 7:13) at the head of a mighty train of the redeemed (Eph 4:8) that He had purchased with His own blood (Acts 20:28) and wrested as spoils of war from the clutches of the evil one (Lk 11:22).

The souls of the redeemed that died before the cross entered heaven with Christ when He ascended on high. The souls of the righteous that die in the Lord after Christ’s ascension do not descend into Hades but depart to be with the Lord (II Cor 5:8), probably with the help of the angels (Lk 16:22). The souls of the wicked dead and deceased unbelievers remain in punishment (Lk 12:48, 16:24) in Hades (the unseen realm of the dead in the bowels of the earth; the Devil’s realm) until the general resurrection (Rev 20:12-13). The souls of the dead remain aware of their surroundings, and possess the form of men, but have very little tangibility. The righteous dead in heaven await the reuniting of their souls with their reconstructed material bodies (Ezk 37:7-10, Rom 8:11).

I fear that the term “spiritual bodies” may evoke in many the idea of some sort of etherial, ghostly, largely intangible “body” that is indistinguishable in any real way from a ghost. My understanding of “spiritual body” is that it is a fleshly body that supports the inward man (the spirit) instead of warring against it, as is presently the case (Ro 7:23-24). Because the new body supports the inward spirit, the new body, though it is tangible flesh, is a “spiritual body”. Jesus’ resurrected body, though different (Jn 20:19, Lk 24:31, I Cor 15:52), was tangible flesh (Lk 24:39, I Jn 1:1-3). When we rise, we will, like Christ (I Jn 3:2), rise in flesh and bone bodies:

Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

The essence of the resurrection is the reuniting of spirit and body (Jas 2:26), and the revival of the body. The spirit never dies. The body is what dies when the spirit leaves it (Jas 2:26). The resurrection IS the revival of the body. A ghostly “body” (an oxymoron) is not the body that is in the grave, and the dead body risen to life must maintain its tangibility, even as Jesus’ did, in order to be like Him. Jesus’ still has and ever will have a tangible flesh and bones body, and so will we, if we are counted worthy to walk with Him.

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Is the Account of the Rich Man and Lazarus a Parable?

Posted on 20 Sep 2009 by James Johnson

I don’t think Lk 16 is a parable. I think it is a sober description of what happened to the souls of all dead people before Pentecost (they went to fiery Hadean torment or the relative comfort of the Hadean place where Abraham was), and Lk 16 describes what still happens to the souls of the wicked and unbelievers. The account starts with the statement, “There WAS a certain rich man” and then it names Lazarus specifically. None of the actual parables names specific individuals and often start out with a statement something like “the kingdom of heavn is like unto…” (Mt 13:33, Mk 13:34, Lk 13:19, etc). Lk 16 does not do that but relates an actual incident from the underworld.

The place described in Lk 16 is a temporary place of punishment where the wicked are kept under punishment until the final judgment (Rev 20:13, Lk 12:48). It does not describe either heaven or hell, but describes the temporary abode of the dead until the Judgment. The eternal lake of fire is Gehenna, and it will be revealed at the Second Coming. No one goes to Gehenna/the Lake of Fire until after the final judgment (Rev 20:13-15). Those thrown into Gehenna/the Lake of Fire will be there for ever (Rev 14:11, Isa 66:24, Mt 25:41, 46). It is a place of being eaten by worms (Mk 9:44, Isa 66:24), eternal fire (Mt 18:8, 25:41, Mk 9:44), and a mist of darkness for each individual there (Acts 13:11, II Pet 2:17, Mt 25:30).

Before the cross, heaven was inaccessible to men living or dead (Jn 3:13, Heb 9:7-8). The souls of the righteous dead went to the Hadean realm where they were kept in relative comfort (there was water there–Lk 16:24). After the cross Christ opened the way to heaven and the souls of the righteous now go there (Rev 6:9, II Cor 5:8-9, Php 1:23-24).

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The Three Dispensations

Posted on 7 Sep 2009 by James Johnson

The Three Dispensations

While there has always only been one hope (Eph 4:4) in God’s eternal plan (Eph 3:11), namely, everlasting life with God, God has nonetheless dealt with man in various ways through the ages (Heb 1:1, Dt 5:3). In the earliest ages from Adam through 12 generations of the patriarchs to Arphaxed, God had a law that applied to all the descendants of Adam. This time of God’s dealing with men through this series of 12 patriarchs is sometimes called the Patriarchical dispensation.

That law of God to the nations was never repealed, but it was replaced among the descendants of Jacob by the Mosaic law, a preview of which God gave to Abraham in the days of Arphaxed. The Mosaical dispensation was characterized by the Law of Moses as administered by and fulfilled in the Son. During the Mosaical dispensation from Abraham to the Pentecost, Israel and the Law were God’s primary way of dealing with men (Ro 1:24), even though the Law applied only to the Jews (Dt 5:3). The Law has never been repealed (Mt 5:18) and continues to apply to Israel. However, the Law was replaced on Pentecost by King Jesus as God’s primary way of dealing with men. The law of Christ applies only to Christians and will continue in force until the end of the world. Pentecost was the beginning of the Christian dispensation

In the three dispensations, each of the three Persons in the Godhead was successively predominant. In the Patriarchical, it was the Father. In the Mosaical, it was the Son. In the Christian, it is the Holy Spirit. These three dispensations were typified by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The Patriarchical dispensation emphasized the beginnings that were in the past. The Mosaical dispensation emphasized the Lord working with Israel in their present day. The Christian dispensation emphasizes the Christians future hope of everlasting life that will be inaugurated by the Second Coming of Christ.

The Three Dispensations

Name: Patriarchical Mosaical Christian
Dominant Person: Father Son Holy Spirit
Duration: Adam-Abraham Abraham-Pentecost Pentecost-2nd Coming
Temporal Emphasis: Past Present Future
Theme: The beginnings The Messiah The Second Coming

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Types of the Exodus

Posted on 7 Sep 2009 by James Johnson

Types of the Exodus

The Bible furnishes abundant evidence of the legitimacy of types as a source of meaning in the scriptures (e.g. Rom 5:14, Heb 8:5 and Gal 4:22-31). The basic idea of a type is “likeness” where a historical event serves as a prototype, picture, and exemplar of some more significant future event. A type previews an antitype that is to follow, and the type is always inferior in some respect to the antitype.

The Exodus furnishes numerous types that are instructive to believers. It is clearly parallel to the Christian experience of coming out of the slavery of sin into the freedom of the sons of God. Likewise, the wandering in the wilderness corresponds to the Christian struggle against sin in the wilderness of the present world before we enter into the Promised Land of heaven. Crossing the Jordan has long been held to be typical of the death we must experience before we enter the land of rest.

Hebrews draws a striking type from Israel’s experience at Mt. Horeb and the giving of the Law. The Hebrew writer shows that like Israel had a national experience at the giving of the Law, so also God’s people will have a collective experience at the giving of God’s eternal law at Mt. Zion (Heb 12:22). Like Israel had a temporary and partial giving of the Law when they came out of Egypt that was in place for the fifty days before they came to Sinai, even so Christiantiy has the temporary law of Christ that will be reiterated in its eternal fullness at the general assembly of God’s creatures on the new earth (Heb 12:23-26, Rev 5:11-13). At that assembly, God will give the eternal law that will govern all men everywhere and will never change, just like the Law at Sinai never changed (Dt 4:2).

The wilderness showed Israel her utter dependance upon God for her very existence. God provided the necessities of food, water, clothing, and security in a howling widerness (Dt 32:10) where none of these would have otherwise existed. Likewise, the Christian is utterly dependant upon God for these necessities in a world that is generally hostile to Christianity.

The aspect of the Exodus where only 2 out of 603,550 men that left Egypt entered the Promised Land used to discourage me. I figured if Israel in the wilderness was a type of my journey toward heaven, then I had very little chance indeed of making it there. Then I learned that the antitype is always superior to the type, and therefore I should expect more to make it to heaven than made it to the Promised Land. Another factor that mitigates against the discouragement of so few entering the Promised Land is the fact that in the type of Joshua and Caleb they were saved by their works. We are saved by grace. So you can see how few would be saved by works, but God’s grace saves many more. Even faithful Moses was found wanting when his works were examined.

Another interesting type is found in the fact that it was the children that entered into God’s rest. Jesus said, “Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 18:3). The little children of Israel (those less than 20 years of age–Num 14:29-31) were the ones that were successful in entering in and it was these little children that were the ones that were faithful after they got there (Josh 24:31).

There are more types that can be drawn from the Exodus (e.g. the tabernacle), but these serve as an interesting sample of God using living exemplars and actual history to paint a picture of things that are yet to be. Truly, God’s wisdom is of surpassing greatness.

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The Millennium

Posted on 24 Jan 2009 by James Johnson

The Millennium 
The amillennialists eschew the literal 1000 years of the millennium and teach that it is a figure for a definite but unspecified length of time during which Christ reigns supreme in the church (See Hailey, Revelation, p391, 1979; Wallace, Revelation, p403, 1966; and Ogden, Avenging the Apostles and Prophets, p356, 1991), but the actual text of the Bible does not allow the millennium to be swept aside so easily. Wallace’s “it is figurative” explanation of the millennium does not permit the millennium to end as the scriptures requires. The text says,
 
Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
 
If the millennium is the reign of Christ in the church, by this theory the millennium cannot end before the Second Coming and therefore does not allow for the end of the millennium before Satan’s little season as the scriptures require (Rev 20:3). The scriptures teach that the church will abide until the Second Coming, so if the millennium is Christ ruling in the church, the millennium cannot ened before He returns. There will be Christians living when Jesus comes for Paul says,
 
1 Thessalonians 4:17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
 
Clearly some Christians will remain when Jesus comes (see also Lk 17:34-36, Mt 24:40-41, I Cor 15:51-52, Mt 16:18). Since there will still be Christians left when Jesus returns, then there can be no end of Christianity before He returns, and the idea that Jesus ruling in the church is the millennium is wrong, because there will never be a complete cessation of the church on earth and no end to the millennial reign as the scripture clearly requires.
 
As we saw in a previous article, the unanimous voice of the church fathers of the first two centuries is that there will be a millennium following the 6000 years of the present earth. The list of church fathers that wrote in support of a thousand year reign of Christ after the present age includes Barnabus, Clement, Hermas, Ignatius, Polycarp, Papias, Justin Martyr, Tatian, Melito, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian ranging from AD 70 to about 192. Not one father from the first two centuries, the very earliest days of Christianity, disagreed with the idea of a thousand year reign of Christ on the 7th day (George N. H. Peters, The Theocratic Kingdom of Our Lord Jesus, Vol 1, Funk and Wagnalls, NY, p451, 1884).  However, before anyone gets too upset with this statement, let me add that the view of the millennium held by these ancient saints is substantially different from the millennial views held by the dispensationalists. The first century saints held that Christ would rule for 1000 years at the end of which his reign would continue uninterruped into what they called “the eighth day”. You can see the change in character of things from the seventh day (seventh millennium) to the eighth day in this:
 
II Enoch 33:1 says, “And I appointed the eighth day also, that the eighth day should be the first-created after my work, and that the first seven revolve in the form of the seventh thousand, and that at the beginning of the eighth thousand there should be a time of not-counting, endless, with neither years nor months nor weeks nor days nor hours.”
 
The first century Christian, Barnabas, also concurs with the notion that the 6000 years of the present order are to be followed by a millennial Sabbath after which there will be an 8th day:
 
Barnabas 15:8 Finally He saith to them; Your new moons and your Sabbaths I cannot away with. Ye see what is His meaning; it is not your present Sabbaths that are acceptable [unto Me], but the Sabbath which I have made, in the which, when I have set all things at rest, I will make the beginning of the eighth day which is the beginning of another world.
Barnabas 15:9 Wherefore also we keep the eighth day for rejoicing, in the which also Jesus rose from the dead, and having been manifested ascended into the heavens.
 
As you can see from the above readings, neither of these authors supported the idea of a 1000 year rule followed by the end of Christ’s rule, rebellion, war, suffering and death. Later authors appear to have merged the description of John’s millennium in Rev 20 with the earlier fathers’ support of the 7th day millennial rule of Christ, but the 7th day Sabbath millennium and the millennium of Rev 20 cannot be the same. The millennium supported by the early fathers is to come after Jesus returns to earth (the 7th day). The millennium in Rev 20 must end BEFORE Christ’s return. The Rev 20 millennium must end before the end of the present world for the following reasons:
 
1) There are dead saints in heaven now with Christ (see Rev 20:4 in KJV and ASV, cp Php 1:23-24, II Cor 5:8-9), but there can be no dead saints after Jesus returns (I Thes 4:16).
2) Jesus cannot return at all until all of His enemies are destroyed (Acts 3:21, 2:34-35). The last enemy to be destroyed is death (I Cor 15:26). Therefore, Jesus cannot return until the resurrection of all His saints and the termination of death (Rev 21:4, I Cor 15:51-52). There can obviously never be any more death after death is destroyed, and if death is terminated, there can not be a battle wherein millions more perish at the end of the millennium.
3) When Jesus returns, He will sit on the throne of HIS glory (Mt 25:31, Rev 22:3-5). His throne is David’s throne (Lk 1:32). When Jesus sits on David’s throne, His rule can have no end (Lk 1:33).
4) The souls of some saints are in heaven as a result of being killed by the Beast (Rev 20:4). However, when Jesus returns at the end of the world (Rev 19:11-21), He casts the Beast into the Lake of Fire from which he will never emerge (Rev 14:9-11; 19:20; 20:10).
5) Christ fights the nations gathered from all the earth and led by Satan (Rev 20:9) when He returns to the earth (Rev 19:19-20), but Satan gathers these armies before Christ’s Second Coming (Rev 16:13-16) and fights Christ at the Battle of Armageddon (Rev 20:9, 16:14-16). The defeat of Satan is shown in Rev 20:9 at Christ’s return AFTER the end of the millennium.
 
The millennium of Rev 20 CANNOT transpire after the return of Christ, and it therefore cannot be the millennium of the 7th day. The millennium of Rev 20:4 I believe is typical of the millennium of the 7th day. I believe it is typical because the only ones alive during the reign of Christ in Rev 20 are the 144,000 of Israel (Rev 7:3-8) risen with Christ on resurrection day (Mt 27:52-53), and Israel serves as shadows and types of things to come (Col 2:17, Heb 8:5). The firstfruits of the dead (the 144,000 risen Jews–Rev 7:3-8, 14:4) that reigned with Christ serve as a type of the millennial reign of Christ during the Sabbath millennium. However, the 7th day Sabbath millennium antitype is superior to the type of the 1000 year reign in Rev 20, because when that 7th millennium ends, Christ’s rule continues uninterrupted into eternity (Lk 1:33).
 
The change from the 7th to the 8th day rule is a change of age because the way of counting time changes (see II En 33:1 above), hence there are two or more ages in the world to come, and the plurality of ages is supported by Paul’s claim that there are “ages” (plural) in the world to come (Eph 2:7).

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Is ‘Rapture’ a Biblical Term?

Posted on 3 Nov 2008 by James Johnson

A reader wrote:
This is my complaint against using the word rapture to discribe what is clearly taught in 1 Thes. 4.

Forget everything else and answer me this: what comes into your mind when you hear the English word “rapture” (as it is currently used)? I don’t know about you — you tell me — but I always interpreted that word like the typical dictionary definition given below …

rapture
n 1: a state of being carried away by overwhelming emotion;
“listening to sweet music in a perfect rapture”- Charles
Dickens [syn: ecstasy, transport, exaltation, raptus]
2: a state of elated bliss [syn: ecstasy]

James replied:
I don’t use the term in my writing except to talk to others that ask about it, because people like you resent the term. It is a Bible term, just not the English one. My thinking is that it is a name that is applied to a concept in the Bible that is not specifically in our English version, just like the Trinity is applied to a Bible concept, but the word is not in our English versions. I make none of these associations you mention myself, because the Rapture is always mentioned in the context of the Second Coming and is therefore not confusing.

Your comments make it sound like the proponents of the Rapture purposely designed a doctrine to deceive people. I don’t think that’s the case. It was designed to harmonze I Thess 4:14ff with the millennial theory that erroneously places the Millennium at Christ’s second coming. Maybe the motivation was to give some people hope that they would not have to experience the tribulation (another word to describe the series of plagues at the end of the earth) or would not have to die since they would be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye.

The idea of being “caught up” (the KJV rendering of “raptura”) is a Bible term that describes the concept of the righteous being raised and caught up from among the people of the world and lifted into the air to be with Christ. It will be an exciting time for Christians because they will rise from the dead and both they and Jesus will begin their eternal reigns. I know I am looking forward to rising from the dead, and the Bible describes Jesus coming as a time of joy for the righteous.

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Is the Rapture Pre or Post Tribuation?

Posted on 2 Nov 2008 by James Johnson

Barbara wrote:
Hi, I’m new and a lil confused. Is there a prevalant view on the end times in this group? some believe in the rapture, and some in a millenium, some dont. I dont know enough to have an opinion.

I’m Barbara. I was a Muslim until the late 90’s. I have been a secret Christian since then (long story about family who is mad). These days I am deciding if I want to stay as an Independant Baptist or join the JW’s.

James replies:
The rapture in its simplest form is the return of Christ, the resurrection of the righteous and their subsequent ascension up into the air to meet Him. This doctrine is taught in I Thess 4:14-17. Here’s what it says:

1 Thessalonians 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air:

You can see for yourself that verse 16 shows the Second Coming and the resurrection of the righteous. V17 shows the righteous being caught up into the air. The phrase “caught up” is the English translation of the Bible Greek word “harpazo”. Back in the days when the Bible was primarily in Latin, the Latin translation for “harpazo” was “raptura”. The Latin word is the source for our English term “rapture”, so while our English Bible does not use the term “rapture”, the Latin versions did, and that where it all started.

Most people that have any respect for what the Bible actually says accept that there will be a future event at which time Christ will return, the righteous dead will be raised first, and they will rise from the earth to meet Jesus in the air. The problem is the timing of when this event happens. There is a huge fight between people that believe the Rapture happens before all the terrible events described in Rev 8-14 and the people that believe it will happen after that. Scholars like Hal Lindsay, Tim Lahaye, Thomas Ice and John Walvoord believe the righteous are caught up at an invisible coming of Christ before the tribulation begins. Some scholars such as Anthony Hoekema and John McArthur hold the post-tribulation view.

It is clear from II Pet 3:10-13 that when the Lord returns He will burn what’s on the earth. When He appears with His mighty angels and their flaming fire (II Thes 1:7-8), He will be all to apparent to those on the earth (Rev 6:16). The coming of God and Christ are mentioned repeatedly in the scriptures (I Thes 4:14, I Cor 15:23, I Th 2:19, II Thes 2:8). His Second Coming is often called “THE Day of the Lord” (II Pet 3:10, I Cor 5:5, II Cor 1:14, I Th 5:2). It is a single day in which God will raise the dead, end unrighteousness, and cleanse the earth of all wickedness (Acts 17:31). At His coming, EVERY eye will see Him (Rev 1:7). The Bible never mentions an invisible coming of Christ. When Christ comes, it is the harvest and the end of the world (Rev 14:14-15, Mt 13:39). Matthew 24:29-31 and 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 both mention the same actors (Jesus, his angels) and the same events (Jesus coming, the trumpet of God, and the gathering of the elect) in the same order. The 1 Thes passage written by the Apostle Paul is seen as being based on Jesus’ comments in Mt 24. We know Paul ties his comments with Jesus’ remarks because of the usage of “by the word of the Lord” in verse 15 and that Jesus and Paul are talking about the same event–the coming of Jesus with His angels at the harvest. However, Jesus’ remarks in Mt 24 are explicitly dated “after the Tribulation”, and the Paul’s remarks are where we get the term Rapture. Hence the Rapture is after the tribulation.

Paul’s remarks in I Cor 15:52 are conclusive. He says that when the resurrection occurs that the dead in Christ will rise at the same time that some righteous people remain alive, just like the rapture passage in I Thes 4:16 does, but the I Cor 15 resurrection happens “at the last trump” (I Cor 15:52). Well, Rev 8-14 prophesies of those 7 trumpets, and when the last trumpet sounds, Jesus returns to harvest the earth (Rev 11:15, 14:14-15), and the harvest is the end of the world (Mt 13:39). Therefore, the trump of God (I Th 4:16) is the last trumpet and it is sounded at the coming of Christ, just as John describes it in Rev 11:15 and Rev 14:14-15. The last trumpet in Rev 11:15 happens at the end of the long series of plagues of the tribulation and it happens at the end of the tribulation, not at the beginning.

Jesus cannot return to the earth until the restitution of all things (Acts 3:21). The restitution of all things would include the abolition of death by the resurrection and restoration of man’s access to the tree of life, but the pretribulation theory has Jesus returning before death is destroyed, and God’s word forbids such an eventuality. Jesus MUST (Acts 3:21) remain in heaven until the last enemy is destroyed, but the last enemy is death (I Cor 15:26). In the pretribulation view, death is not destroyed until Jesus’ third coming, but Peter says that when Jesus comes, ALL things will be restored, and He must remain in heaven until the restitution of all things. Paul says that when Jesus comes that death will be destroyed, and it will be the LAST enemy (I Cor 15:24-26). There can be NO further tribulation once Jesus returns, for He will destroy death and all other enemies at His coming.

The people I know of that dispute the Rapture, dispute the pretribulation version of it, and they do so because I Thes 4:14ff does not use the word “Rapture”. However, no Bible believer disputes the resurrection of the dead at the Second Coming of Christ.

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The Apostacy and the Man of Lawlessness–2 Thessalonians 2

Posted on 27 Oct 2008 by James Johnson

This is my commentary on II Thes 2:3ff and particularly the Man of Sin.

Before the day of Christ comes,
1. There will be a falling away from Christianity (v3)
2. A specific evil individual will arise (v3)
3. He is doomed to eternal punishment (v3)
4. He opposes God (v4)
5. He exalts himself above every religion (v4)
6. He will set himself up in God’s temple proclaiming himself to be God (v5)
7. He already existed in Paul’s day (v6)
8. God was restraining him (v6)
9. The Man of Sin will be revealed at the proper time (v6)
10. The Man of Sin and his power was already evident (v7)
11. The one restraining would restrain until the Man of Sin was taken away (v7)
12. After the Man of Sin is removed, he subsequently will be revealed (v8)
13. The Man of Sin was present in Paul’s day, but he will be destroyed at the coming of Christ (v8)
14. The Man of Sin is backed by the full power of Satan (v9, cp Rev 13:2-8)
15. The Man of Sin works Satanic miracles (v9, cp Acts 16:16, Ex 7:11, 22, 8:7, I Sa 28:11-14)
16. The Man of Sin will work every sort of evil which will work to deceive those that are perishing (v10)

The narrative is clear that there will be a falling away from Christianity before Christ comes. Part and parcel of this falling away will be the rise of the Man of Sin (v3), a specific individual. There are, however, two very puzzling features of Paul’s description

1. The Man of Sin was active at the time of Paul’s writing (v6), but he would also be present at the end of the world (v8). How could a man be present in Paul’s day and also thousands of years later when Jesus comes again?
2. Who or what was restraining, and who or what was to be taken out of the way?

The Man of Sin is the same guy that John calls “the Beast” in Rev 13:1-8. I arrive at that conclusion because the Beast and the Man of Sin correspond in the following points. Like the Man of Sin the Beast

3. Is doomed to eternal punishment (Rev 19:20)
4. Opposes God (Rev 13:6)
5. Exalts himself above every religion (Rev 13:8)
6. Will set himself up in [Jerusalem] proclaiming himself to be God (Rev 11:8-10, 13:15, Zech 14:1-2)
13. Will be destroyed at the coming of Christ (Rev 19:20)
14. The Beast is backed by the full power of Satan (Rev 13:2-8)
15. The Beast works Satanic miracles (Rev 13:12, 16:13)
16. The Beast will work every sort of evil which will work to deceive those that are perishing (Rev 13:7-8)

So the Beast and the Man of Sin are the same man, but the Beast is present when the Lord returns (Rev 19:19). Therefore, we can establish the presence of the Man of Sin at the end of the world. He is the Beast that is captured and thrown alive into the Lake of Fire when Christ comes (Rev 19:20). That satisfies part of Paul’s prophecy about the Man of Sin being destroyed by the breath of Christ’s mouth and the brightness of His coming, but what about the part where “the mystery of iniquity doeth already work” (II Thes 2:7)? Lets look at what Rev 19:20 specifically says regarding the Beast. That will give us a big clue. When Jesus comes, the Beast “is taken”, not killed, but captured. He is summarily judged and cast ALIVE into the Lake of Fire (v20). In no place in the scenario does the Man of Sin die, but God REQUIRES that every man die once and AFTER that, the Judgment (Heb 9:27). We do NOT see the Man of Sin fitting God’s required pattern. He is taken alive, judged and thrown alive into the Lake of Fire. He did not meet God’s requirement of dying before the Judgment in the scenario described in Rev 19 or anywhere else in the Bible. He is a man (Rev 13:18), but he did not die at the end of the world before he was judged. Therefore, in order for God to be true, he died earlier and thereafter rose from the dead to appear at the end of the world. Since Satan had the power of death (Heb 2:14), we should not be surprised that he could raise someone to life (cp. I Sam 28:14). John assures us that one is coming that is the antithesis of Christ (I Jn 2:18–the ultimate Antichrist that is still to come, not the ones that were present in John’s day). Like Jesus rose from the dead to the glory of His heavenly Father, the Man of Sin will rise from the dead to the glory of the Devil. Like Jesus’ ministry lasted for 3 1/2 years, the reign of the Man of Sin will last 3 1/2 years (42 months–Rev 13:5), but I digress.

Since the Beast/Man of Sin is to rise from the dead, he could be anybody, for every man is appointed once to die (Heb 9:27). We could find him anywhere in history, including some individual from Paul’s day. In fact, there was a notorious man in Paul’s day that put Paul to death and shortly thereafter, this man himself died of a fatal sword wound. That man was Nero. His name, Nero Ceasar (Heb: Kaiser Neron), equates to 666 in both the Greek and Hebrew gematria. There were prophetic expectations among some of the early brethren that this man would rise from the dead (see footnote 1). Their expectation was based on the Beast coming up from the bottomless pit (Rev 17:8) and the Sibylline Oracles (see footnote 2) that teach that Nero would rise from the dead (see footnote 3), return from beyond the Euphrates leading an army of the Persians and destroy Rome (see footnote 4). The Bible also agrees that an army of the Kings of the East will invade the West (Rev 16:12) and says the Beast/Man of Sin allied with 10 kings will destroy the city of seven mountains (Rev 17:9, 12–i.e. Rome).

It appears to me that Paul corrects the error among the Thessalonians that Christ would return in their lifetime (II Thes 2:1-2) by pointing out that before Christ came there would be a falling away (v3). Because there had to be a falling away, the coming of Christ could not be in Paul’s time, for in Paul’s day the Way was growing rapidly (e.g. Acts 19:26). Paul reminds the Thessalonians that before Christ comes, the Man of Sin must arise (v3) and subvert the world by deceptive miracles and lying claims (v4, 9). The Man of Sin that would do this was already present, but God provided one of the beings in His service that restrained the Man of Sin until the Man of Sin was taken out of the way by death. After the Man of Sin is taken out of the way by death, he will return at the end of the world. Revelation calls this resurrected man, the Beast (Rev 13:18), and says he had received the deadly stroke from the sword, but then lives (Rev 13:3). He gains control over the whole world; even the saints are given into his hand (Rev 13:7). Very early in his career, he will destroy Rome (Rev 17-18), and he will thereafter proceed against the rest of the world (Rev 13:7, 19:19). In the process he will destroy a 1/3rd part of men (Rev 9:18). The Beast that destroys Rome comes up from the bottomless pit.(Rev 17:8). Since he comes up from the same place (the abyss–Rom 17:8) that Jesus came from when He arose (the abyss–Rom 10:7), the conclusion is that the Man of Sin is to arise from the dead, just like Jesus did. If you look at all the terms describing the Man of Sin and the Beast, Nero fits, or can fit, every one of them. He would have to rise from the dead. His name equates to 666. He lived in Paul’s day. Besides the Bible description, his identity is supported by the ancient Sybils. There were also first century Christians who believed that Nero would rise from the dead. Nero is the most plausible solution to the problem of the identity of the Man of Sin in II Thes 2:3. If you give the Sybils any credit, as the early brethren did, they make it all but certain.

Footnotes
1. “They believe that he who was the first persecutor should also be the last persecutor…[and] imagine that Nero is to appear hereafter as the forerunner of the devil, when he will come to lay waste to the earth and overthrow mankind”, Lactantius (ca. AD 320), Early Christian Fathers, Vol 7, p 302.
2. The Sibylline Oracles are obviously prophetic in nature and harmonize with the Bible. Justin Martyr (1st century) wrote to the pagans and said, “You may in part easily learn the right religion from the ancient Sibyl. For, by some kind of powerful inspiration, she teaches you. Through her oracular predictions, she teaches truths that seem to be similar to the teaching of the prophets” (Justin Martyr, ECF, Vol 1, p288). Lactantius says, “The Sibyl had foretold in advance that the miracle [feeding of the 5000] would take place, whose verses are related to this effect: ‘With five loaves at the same time, and with two fishes, He will satisfy five thousand men in the wilderness.” . . . And again, another says, ‘He will walk on the waves. He will release men from disease. He will raise the dead and drive away many pains. And from the bread of one pouch, there will be a satisfying of men’. Being refuted by these testimonies, some are accustomed to fall back on the claims that these poems were not written by the Sibyls, but were invented and composed by our own writers, instead. However, he who has read Cicera, Varro, and other ancient writers will assuredly not think this. For, they make mention of the Erythraean and the other Sibys, from whose books we bring forth these examples. And those authors died before the birth of Christ according to the flesh.” (Lactantius Vol 7, p116).
3. “There will come to pass in the last time about the waning of the moon a war which will throw the world into confusion and be deceptive in guile. A man who is a matricide [killed his mother] will come from the ends of the earth in flight and devising penetrating schemes in his mind. He will destroy every land and conquer all and consider all things more wisely than all men. He will immediately seize the one because of whom he himself perished [See Rev 17-18 where the Beast/Nero destroys Rome, but if he had perished, he obviously will live again if he seizes the one that caused him to perish]. He will destroy many men and great rulers, and he will set fire to all men as no one else ever did.” (Oracles 5:361-374; OTP 1:401-402.) Quoted in part in Lactantius (Early Christian Fathers, Vol 7, p302).
4. For there shall come a Persian on thy dale,
And like hail shall he all the land destroy,
And artful men, with blood and corpses. . . .
By sacred altars one of barbarous mind,
Strong, full of blood and raging senselessly,
130 With countless numbers rushing to destruction.
And then shalt thou, in cities very rich,
Be very weary. Falling on the earth
All Asia shall wail on account of gifts
Crowning her head with which she was by thee
135 Delighted. But, as he himself obtained
The Persian land by lot, he shall make war
And killing every man destroy all life,
So that there shall remain for wretched mortals
A third part. But with nimble leap shall he
140 Himself speed from the West, and all the land
Besiege and waste. But when he shall possess
The height of power and odious reverence [see Rev 13:7, 15],
He shall come, wishing to destroy the city
Even of the blessed [Jerusalem, see Zech 14:1-2, and Rev 11:1-10, esp v8]. And a certain king
145 Sent forth from God against him shall destroy [see Rev 19:19-21]
All mighty kings and bravest men. And thus
Shall judgement by the Immortal come to men.
Book V 125-147 Nero redivivus quote
5. More quotes from Sibyls on Nero.
Hellas, thrice wretched shall the poets weep,
When one from Italy [Nero] shall smite the neck
Of the isthmus [Isthmus of Corinth, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isthmus_of_Corinth], mighty king of mighty Rome [Nero],
A man made equal to God, whom, they say,
190 Zeus himself and the august Hera bore
He, courting by his voice all-musical
Applause for his sweet Songs, shall put to death
With his own wretched mother [Nero] many men.
From Babylon shall flee the fearful lord
195 And shameless whom all mortals and best men
Abhor; for he slew many and laid hands
Upon the womb; against his wives he sinned
And of men stained with blood had he been formed.
Sibylline Oracles, Book V, Lines 186-209

“Then Beliar will come from the Sebastinoi [i.e., the line of Augustus] and he will raise up the height of mountains, he will raise up the sea, the great fiery sun and shining moon, and he will raise up the dead. . . . But he will, indeed, also lead men astray, and he will lead astray many faithful, chosen Hebrews, and also other lawless men who have not yet listened to the word of God. (Sibylline Oracles 3:63-70; OTP 1:363.)

“One who has fifty as an initial [N for Nero] will be commander, a terrible snake, breathing out grievous war, who one day will lay hands on his own family and slay them, and throw every-thing into confusion, athlete, charioteer, murderer, one who dares ten thousand things. He will also cut the mountain between two seas [Isthmus of Corinth] and defile it with gore. But even when he disappears he will be destructive. Then he will return declaring himself equal to God. But he will prove that he is not. Three princes after him will perish at each other’s hands.” [Galba, Otho, Vitellius—symbolic of the three kings plucked up by the Antichrist?] (Oracles 5:28-35; OTP 1:393.)

“a savage-minded man, much-bloodied, raving nonsense, with a full host numerous as sand, to bring destruction on you.” (Oracles 5:96; OTP 1:395.)

“a terrible and shameless prince whom all mortals and noble men despise. For he destroyed many men and laid hands on the womb. (Oracles 5:143- 145; OTP 1:396.)

“There will come to pass in the last time about the waning of the moon a war which will throw the world into confusion and be deceptive in guile. A man who is a matricide will come from the ends of the earth in flight and devising penetrating schemes in his mind. He will destroy every land and conquer all and consider all things more wisely than all men. He will immediately seize the one because of whom he himself perished. He will destroy many men and great rulers, and he will set fire to all men as no one else ever did. Through zeal he will raise up those who were crouched in fear. There will come upon men a great war from the West. Blood will flow up to the bank of deep-eddying rivers. Wrath will drip in the plains of Macedonia, an alliance to the people horn the West, but destruction for the king.” (Oracles 5:361-374; OTP 1:401-402.)

“making himself equal to God.” (Oracles 12:79, 81, 86; OTP 14-47.)

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